“It was great to get out,” she mumbled. “I’m sorry I slept so long. Thank you for looking after Trevor.”

“Trevor is a great kid,” he replied. Trevor was sitting at the table coloring and hadn’t even noticed his mother’s absence.

“How you doing, Love?” she asked him, as she walked over to kiss him on the head.

“Good, Mom. I got to stay up till after midnight,” he said with awe.

“Wow, that’s really late. You’re simply getting too big.”

“Mom I’m five,” he said like it was such an old age.

“I know. I just want you to stay my baby forever,” she told him a little sadly.

“You can have another baby and then I would be a big brother,” he stated matter-of-factly.

Emily was taken aback by the desire his statement caused inside of her. She’d always wanted several kids but her ex had said one was more than enough. He’d never been the kind of father Trevor deserved.

“Maybe one day,” she whispered wistfully.

“I can help you with that,” Mark murmured in her ear, as he entered the kitchen.

Emily turned an even darker shade of red and glanced at both Edward and Trevor, to make sure they hadn’t heard. They weren’t paying any attention, thankfully but his words put such a yearning desire in her heart she felt an ache there and unconsciously rubbed at her chest.

She didn’t see the dark desire in Mark’s eyes. He may have been goading her but he was incredibly surprised to realize he would be ecstatic if she were to become pregnant. He realized they hadn’t once used protection.

She was turned sideways, so he glanced down at her flat stomach, imagining it blooming outward as his child grew there. The desire was so intense he could barely breathe. He was going to make sure she didn’t leave his life.

“I need to go tend the horses,” he suddenly said and practically ran out the door. Emily breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t know how she was supposed to be acting around him. She didn’t know if he wanted Edward to know they were a couple. She didn’t know anything. Oh well, she figured they had time to figure it all out.

Chapter Five

Emily felt like someone was following her. She kept looking back but the eerie feeling wouldn’t go away. Trevor was at school and Mark was working somewhere on the ranch so she’d wanted to get some fresh air. Now that she was a couple of miles away from the house and felt someone was stalking her, she was thinking maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea.

Just calm down she told herself. You’re just letting your vivid imagination get to you. Everything is fine. Even though she was trying to calm herself, she picked up her pace a bit to head back for the safety of the house.

When she heard a shuffling in the bushes, not far from where she was, a little squeal escaped her lips and she began to jog. She looked over her shoulder the entire way back and breathed a huge sigh of relief when she saw the barn come into view but she still couldn’t shake the eerie feeling.

“Where have you been?”

Emily’s heart jumped into her throat as a light scream escaped her lips. She whipped around, to see Mark astride his huge horse and he was eyeing her suspiciously.

“Calm down boy,” Mark soothed his animal. He gave her another curious look.

“Sorry Mark, you startled me,” she said, completely out of breath.

“I can see that. Are you okay?” he asked, as he jumped down from his horse and walked over to her slowly, like she was a scared animal.

“I’m fine. I just spooked myself out on my walk. I got too far away from the house and started picturing evil forces following me,” she said with a laugh. Now that she was back in the safety of the ranch, she realized how silly she had been.

“Were you out that way?” she asked him, while pointing in the direction she’d just come from.

“No I just came in from the East fields,” he replied and looked quizzically out into the woods she had come from. “Did you see something?”

“No it was nothing like that. I’m sure some squirrels were playing around in the bushes. I seriously have got to stop reading all those Stephen King Novels,” she said sheepishly.

“I agree. You do tend to jump at the smallest sound.”

“Come with me, I want to show you something,” he added and then took her hand. He led his horse with the other one.

“Do you never get enough?” she teased him.

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her gently, before reluctantly releasing her and then heading towards the smaller of the barns. “Baby I never get enough of you but that’s not what I want to show you,” he answered, with a gleam in his eyes.

They fell into a comfortable silence, as they strolled toward the barn. Mark handed his horse off to one of the men and then led her to the loft. Inside a hole in the hay lay a mamma kitty and five brand new kittens. They were crawling all over her, looking for food.

“Oh, Mark they’re adorable,” she cried and sat down to pet the mamma. She purred and leaned her head into the rub. “I can’t wait to show Trevor,” she added, as she gently ran her finger down the little orange one’s head.

The mamma got tired of being used for only her milk and sauntered off, leaving the kittens crying out. “Will they be okay?”

“Of course they will. She just went off to get some food. She won’t leave them long,” he said gently.

“Can I hold one?” she asked him with hope.

“Sure.”

She carefully picked up the pretty little orange kitten and cuddled it to her breast. It rooted around for a moment and when it came up empty, let out a frustrated cry, then quickly fell asleep. Emily didn’t know how long she sat there cuddling the new kitten but soon it’s mamma returned, so she reluctantly laid it back down to nurse.

“Are you keeping them?” she asked hopefully, trying to come off nonchalant but he wasn’t fooled.

“Do you want to keep them?” he asked her.

“It’s up to you,” she stalled, trying to sound as if it didn’t matter.

“You’re so stubborn. Just admit you want to keep the kittens.” He exhaled as his hand combed through his untamed hair.

“Fine, I want them to stay,” she mumbled and folded her arms across her chest, pouting a bit. She knew it was irrational to be so against asking for even the smallest thing but the more Mark did for her and Trevor, the more she was afraid of losing it all. She was already impossibly attached. The kittens were just one more piece of a puzzle, linking her to the ranch.

“Now was that so hard?” he asked.

She realized she was being silly but she didn’t know how else to protect herself. They’d been making love nightly for almost a month and he treated Trevor like a son. She was afraid everything was to perfect.

“We like to have a lot of cats around. They keep the mice and rats away,” he told her.

“Rats are so much bigger than them,” she exclaimed, looking around as if a huge rat was going to come pounce on the innocent things at any moment.

“I think the other cats will take care of the rodents until these guys grow up a bit more,” he said with a chuckle.

Mark left her with the kittens, while he finished his chores. She hadn’t realized how much time had passed, when suddenly Trevor was racing into the barn.

“Mom, Mark said you have a surprise to show me,” her son said, trying to gain his breath, as he laid his head between his legs.

“Come over here and don’t be loud,” she whispered.

Trevor’s eyes got big as he walked over to his mom and then he squealed when he saw the babies. “Are they all ours?” he asked with excitement.

“Yep, Mark said we get to keep them all,” she told him.

“Yeah, can I hold one?”

“Sure you can. But you have to be really gentle and pet their mamma for a few minutes first.”

Trevor obediently gave attention to the adult cat and then gently held the tiger stripped one. They stayed there for a while longer and then Emily had to head up to the house to get dinner ready.

“Can I stay out here with Mark, please?” Trevor pleaded. Emily looked down to where Mark was and he shook his head yes.

“Okay but be good and when Mark tells you it’s time to come in, no fussing,” she told him.

“Of course, Mom,” he said like she was the one who was a child.

Strange things kept happening to Emily. It was several different occurrences, not one single thing that was too alarming but when all the things added up it was starting to creep her out. She’d received a dozen red roses, with a note in them that said they were from a secret admirer.

She’d thought Mark was trying to be cute and hadn’t thought much about it, until he asked her where they had come from. When she showed him the note, he laughed it off and told her it was probably John, the young ranch hand who had a slight crush on her. She thought he may be right and didn’t want to embarrass the kid, so she displayed the roses on the kitchen table and thought nothing else of them.

Then over the next few weeks she found little notes in the mailbox at the end of the road saying she was beautiful and smart. None of them were harmful in the least and she still wasn’t concerned but then she also had the feeling someone was secretly watching her. When everything was put together, it was enough to really give her the creeps.

She thought the flowers could’ve come from John but not the notes. She knew he had a slight crush but he wasn’t the stalker type. Plus the eerie feeling of being watched would happen to her when she knew for a fact John was nowhere near the house. She thought some of it could be the creepy ranch hand but again things were happening when she knew he was nowhere near the house.

She figured she was just overwhelmed and kept all the little incidents to herself. She didn’t want to concern Mark with any of it. Feeling a little freaked out wasn’t a reason to call in the National Guard. She attributed it to her overactive imagination and decided to take a few more safety precautions.

The next day though, when Emily went to check the mail and found an envelope in the box addressed to her, everything changed. There was no return address on it but it had been mailed locally. She opened it, not thinking much about it until she read the words.

I have been watching you. I love how your hair blows in the breeze when you step out onto the balcony late at night. You are truly a vision. I know you’ve noticed me as well but have to keep up appearances. I just wanted to let you know I’m here for you and will always be here. We were meant to be together. Nothing will keep us apart. I know you’ll enjoy what I have planned for us. It will be magical. Until we’re together, know I’m keeping an eye on you. I hope you’ve appreciated my poetry and the gifts I have left for you. Just know if I can’t have you, then no one else can either. We will be a true family soon.

With my love always,

Your Secret Admirer.

Emily dropped the letter and started shaking uncontrollably. She looked around the place, fearful there was someone watching her at that moment. A shiver of fear ran down her spine and tears filled her eyes. She was terrified to know her fears had been real.