Hanging by a Moment

After giving themselves some time to settle in and get used to not being on tour anymore, Ash and Rebel packed up their daughters so they could take them out to Missouri to visit his grandparents. The elderly Purdys couldn’t wait to meet their great-granddaughter, nor could they wait to meet the woman and little girl who’d pulled the love out of their grandson’s heart, kicking and screaming. And that was in addition to being excited to see the grandson in question again, as it’d been a while since his last visit.

When they finally arrived at the airport about thirty miles from his hometown, Ash was beyond glad. Trying to keep Legacy entertained and quiet on a plane was even harder than it’d been on the bus. At least on the bus, there was enough room for her to crawl around and play; on there, she’d been pretty much confined to his or Rebel’s laps.

The pair waited by baggage claim till their bags showed up, and since he was holding their daughters’ carriers again, Rebel took the liberty of grabbing them. Even though they’d been startled awake by the jarring bumps of the plane’s landing gear hitting the runway, thankfully they’d been able to calm them down. Neither of them doubted that Logan and Legacy were staring at the receiving blankets in front of them with wide eyes, but at least they weren’t crying. It was easier to think straight as they headed off to get a rental car after collecting their luggage without them crying.

Once they’d obtained transportation, given that the bassist refused to tell his grandparents exactly when they’d be flying out, they just had to find what he’d rented. Thankfully it was a Tahoe, so there was plenty of space for them, their girls, and all of their luggage with some to spare. The young woman could only sigh in relief as they found the vehicle, ready for a bit of a nap now that they were on the ground again.

“Ready to go?” Ash asked as he climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Ready for a nap,” she answered, her head laying back against the head rest.

“It won’t be long till we get there,” he assured her, chuckling as he turned the key. “Probably no more than half an hour, depending on how traffic cooperates.”

“So how far away is your grandparents’ house?” the young woman asked curiously.

“About thirty miles. I grew up in the tiny town of Aurora,” he answered as he pulled out of their parking space.

“Yay,” Rebel cheered weakly. “I hate jet-lag.”

“Oh, you’re not the only one.” He quickly checked for traffic before turning onto the highway that would take them into Aurora. “I hate it just as much, but I’m a little more used to it since it’s part of touring.”

“Touché, mio subdulo angelo,” she chuckled.

Their drive was fairly uneventful, both babies now sleeping fairly soundly in the back seat, their conversation light and quiet. Rebel wasn’t really aware of just how quick they arrived at the outskirts of his hometown till her boyfriend said something. He was grinning when he announced that they were getting close to their destination, and that was the first time she realized it’d been nearly half an hour since they left the airport.

Before they could even reach what could be considered the town square, Ash made a turn onto what was obviously a back-country road. Clearly, they weren’t going to very close to town, but that suited the Hell out of her. She’d spent enough time only a couple miles from the dead center of a small town growing up.

Shortly thereafter, the bassist slowed down to make another turn onto what she’d have called a dirt road. He insisted that it was just a really long driveway, but she didn’t buy it and still claimed it was a dirt road. All the while, despite their playful banter, he continued down whatever the Hell it was till a quaint, two-story farmhouse came into view. Rebel considered it a beautiful place to live already, and she hadn’t even gotten out of their rental truck, much less had the grand tour.

“Well, here we are,” he said, grinning as he took the truck out of gear. “This is where I grew up, believe it or not.”

“Oh, I believe it,” the young woman chuckled, grinning and leaning in for a kiss once her seat belt was unbuckled.

“Just be ready for my grandparents to damn near glomp you…well, Gran, anyway,” Ash chuckled. “She’s excited to finally meet you, and she tends to like giving bear hugs.”

“Oh, really, now?” she chuckled, shaking her head as she got out.

“Just watch and learn, my steel rose,” the bassist answered as he, too, climbed out.

“Aaaash-leeeey!”

Within moments, he was letting out a soft Ooof! and wheezing slightly as his grandmother barreled into him and just about killed him with a bear hug.

“I don’t even think I’ve ever seen fans do that to ya,” Rebel chuckled, standing back.

“Trust me… She’s…worse,” he gasped. “Gran…lemme go…”

“Don’t you tell me to letcha go, boy,” the elderly woman said, squeezing him a little tighter to get her point across. “I ain’t seen you in a good long while! Hell’s bells, ya chopped your hair off and changed its color again since the last time I saw ya!”

“It got too long for my taste,” Ash groaned once she turned him loose. “And it’s been black all my life…I wanted something different for once.”

“That’s what happens when you’re part Cherokee, boy,” his grandmother grumped before turning to his companion. “I’m gonna hope I’m not making an ass outta you and me by assuming, but I’d bet it’s safe to say you’re Rebel.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the young woman answered, nodding.

“’Bout time I get to meet the woman this boy’s been singing the praises of the past few months!” She wrapped her in a bear hug this time, though not for as long, before stepping back. “Leana’s the name, and lighting fires under his rear’s my game.”

Rebel couldn’t hold back her laughter at that, figuring this tiny tornado of a woman had something to do with him asking her out.

“Now, where’s that cutie of a great-granddaughter of mine?” Leana asked, her attention buckled on her grandson once again.

“Jeez, Gran…we literally just got outta the truck when ya tried to kill me,” Ash grumbled playfully.

“Don’t worry; we’ll get her and her little companion out now,” she assured her, smiling as she pulled open the back door. She gave the man she’d grown to love a hard look so he’d keep his mouth shut, sensing that anything he wanted to say would just dig his grave deeper, so to speak.

The bassist merely grumbled under his breath as he waited for her to unlatch his daughter’s carrier, then smiled as he took it. Moments later, she’d unlatched Logan’s, as well, and to keep her from falling and getting hurt, he gladly took the second carrier. With her hands free, she was able to grab their daughters’ diaper bags from the floor board, then climb out and close the door behind her. Considering that it was a bit warm outside, she suggested they head inside so the girls didn’t get too hot.

Almost before they could even sit down in his grandparents’ living room, Ash was being hounded about which carrier concealed his daughter. He chuckled and refused to say anything until he was sitting down, considering that he was exhausted. Only once he was seated did he hand over Legacy’s carrier, warning his grandmother to keep her squeals quiet.

He smiled almost giddily as he watched Leana flip the receiving blanket up, just as eager for them to meet as she was. The second she laid eyes on the sleeping baby in the carrier, tears welled up in her eyes and she started murmuring in Cherokee. He understood every word she said, although Rebel was confused as to what she was saying, since she’d made him learn the language in his youth. He quickly translated what she was saying, which amounted to praise for contributing to the creation of such a beautiful baby. That brought a smile to his sweetheart’s face, which made him smile even more.

Once done cooing over her great-granddaughter, whom she refused to take from the carrier until she woke, Leana turned to the young woman. Since she could feel her squirming slightly, Rebel pulled up the receiving blanket and unbuckled her own daughter. Logan looked around with a bit of a sleepy look in her eyes, yawning as she took in her surroundings while resting in her mama’s arms.

“Oh, she’s such a beauty, Rebel,” the elderly woman cooed, letting her grab her finger.

“Can you say Hi to Miss Leana?” she asked, looking at her daughter.

The eleven-month-old greeted her as best she could before calling out a word she hadn’t heard her say yet. “Da-da?”

Unsure of what to tell her, she refused to say that Daddy wasn’t there and got another shock.

“Da-da!” Logan cried again, reaching out to Ash once she caught sight of him.

“Did…did she just…call me Da-da?” he asked, his eyes widening.

“Yeah, she did,” Rebel answered, just as surprised. “Apparently she either never knew who her daddy really was, or she just hated him.”

The toddler grimaced at the mention of her natural father, which she took as her having hated the bastard, and with good reason.

“Well, I have practically been her daddy since March,” the bassist admitted, smiling sheepishly when his grandmother gave him a curious look. “Yeah, Gran…Rebel and I haven’t been dating that long, but we have known each other that long.”

“So how’d you two meet?” Leana asked curiously.

As she handed her daughter over so she’d behave, Rebel started regaling the story of their first meeting to her. She couldn’t help but chuckle when she recalled the cute blush and the desperation clearly written on his face when he’d begged her to help him shop for his daughter’s nursery. This, of course, made him blush just as pretty a shade of pink now as he had then, and she laughed a little louder.

It wasn’t long afterward that Ash passed Logan back to her mother as he heard his own little princess start sniffling. The soft sounds were common when she was fighting to stay asleep, a fight she was losing. Just as he pulled up the receiving blanket that was draped over her carrier’s visor, the baby in question slowly opened her eyes and yawned.

The bassist couldn’t help the smile that curved his lips as he unbuckled her and lifted her small but growing body out. Her realization that she was in an unfamiliar place was instantaneous, judging by the way she wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled as close as she could. Rebel couldn’t help but chuckle as she watched Legacy’s wide eyes take in her surroundings, which drew the baby’s attention to her. She was also more than happy to take her, despite Logan sitting in her lap, when she reached out to her.

“Oh, Ashley…she looks just like you,” Leana breathed, her wide eyes tearing up.

“Thanks, Gran,” he said sheepishly. “I thought so the first time I ever saw her face.”

“She looks just like you did in your baby pictures,” the elderly woman said. “I mean, it’s almost impossible for me to tell the difference.”

Rebel didn’t say a word since she’d never seen baby pictures of the bassist as she unbuttoned her shirt, knowing both girls were ready to be fed now that they were awake.

“She really does, though. If you were a baby again and sitting right beside her, I wouldn’t know who was who.”

“Yeah, she really did get very little from her mother when it comes to her looks,” Ash agreed. “I mean, I’ve never met her when I was sober enough to remember, but I don’t see anything she didn’t get from me.”

Leana gave her grandson a dirty look, which made him blush furiously.

“Well, I don’t remember her mother. The only things I can think of why I wouldn’t are that either I had way too many one-night stands, or I was plastered when we met.” He shrugged, a sheepish look on his face. “Do I like not remembering my daughter’s mother? No, not really, but considering how she left her on my door step…”

“What?” His grandmother’s eyes widened at his words.

“Did you really think I was kidding when I said that I literally found her outside my front door that night in March?” the bassist asked, cocking a brow slightly.

“Actually, I saved the note he showed me that was taped to her carrier,” Rebel spoke up. Using the hand that didn’t have to hang on to Logan, she grabbed a small piece of paper from the younger baby’s diaper bag.

“Oh, my word,” Leana breathed after reading the slightly scrawled message. “Well, at least she gave her up instead of keeping her when she knew she didn’t have the means to take care of a child.”

“Honestly, I’d have rathered she went through the record label to get in touch with me.” Ash shrugged before taking Legacy back, who’d finished nursing. “At least then I’d have gotten to see the face of my daughter’s mother one last time. I mean, granted, since I have her name and what not, I could go to a PI, but that seems extreme since our lives are fine the way they are, and I have Rebel.”

The elderly woman nodded her agreement as they heard a door open and close nearby. With a grin on his face, the bassist rose and crept into another room off the living room, causing both women to laugh when they heard a cry of surprise. Clearly, the surprised voice was male, but it wasn’t her boyfriend, so Rebel suspected it was his grandfather.

Both men were laughing as they returned to the living room moments later, although the elderly man at her boyfriend’s side looked a little irritated. Ash laughed and slung an arm around his shoulders since he was just a hair taller, apologizing for startling him quite that bad. He waved him off and removed his arm, saying that it was really no big deal, giving him a curious look as the smaller of the babies she held tried calling the younger man Da-da as she reached out to him.

Rebel smiled as he bent over enough to lift the seven-month-old infant from her lap and cuddle her against his chest, gently kissing her temple as he did. Legacy giggled and tried to return the kiss, although she ended up merely sloppily licking his cheek instead. That drew a laugh from everyone in the room, even the elderly man she hadn’t been introduced to just yet.

Within moments, Ash smiled as he introduced him, and she was pleased to find out she’d been right in her suspicion of him being his grandfather. Daniel Purdy was clearly a weathered man who’d likely spent his life working the land, maybe chasing a few babies aside from his grandson. She was a bit surprised to find out that the bassist’s father, Dillon, was the only child he and Leana’d ever had. Granted, they’d loved him to pieces and were more than willing to take their grandson upon the deaths of him and the younger man’s mother, Amara Crosswhite-Purdy, but he was still their only son, nonetheless.

“Of course we miss our son, and we’d give anything to have him back, if only so Ashley could know his parents like he knows us,” Leana told her. “But then again, he’s had a fairly happy life, despite that, and has more than he could’ve asked for now.”

“Yeah, I have to agree there,” the younger woman said, nodding. “I don’t think he ever expected to have a child, and if he did, I doubted he expected to be a part of their life.”

“When you have as many one-nights stands as I used to, ya kinda expect to have at least one kid running around somewhere, considering that protection and birth control don’t always work,” the bassist said. “But you’re right; I figured that any child I ever had would never know who I was, much less be a part of my life and vice versa.”

“Well, regardless, what matters is that she’s loved and well cared for,” his grandmother told him. “Not that I’d let you intentionally do otherwise to her.”

“Oh, I know you wouldn’t, Gran. And if you didn’t, I know Gramps would be coming after me instead, at your behest,” Ash chuckled.

“Hmph…damn right I would…” Daniel grumbled. “I’m not saying that your parents were horrible, but after their deaths, I know for a fact that your grandmother and I raised you better than that, young man.”

Rebel chuckled as his face flushed bright red, which made even Legacy giggle from where she sat in his lap when she saw it. “Daddy looks like he kissed a tomato, doesn’t he?”

The little girl giggled harder and reached up to poke his cheek.

It wasn’t long afterward that Leana shooed them up to the guest room, saying that she could handle watching the girls for a little while so they could catch a nap. Ash tried to argue, saying that since they were their daughters, they were their responsibility. The elderly woman wouldn’t have any of it, though, saying that it was obvious they were both jet-lagged and tired from caring for them constantly, anyway.

Deciding that it’d do them some good not to worry about them, if only for a couple hours, the younger woman grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the staircase. Since she’d never been here before, he knew the layout of the house better than she did, so she made him lead the way from there.

In the guest room, the bassist flopped down on the bed, more tired than even he’d realized he was. A gentle smile crossed his features as she laid down beside him, snuggling up to his side with her arm draped over his belly, her leg draped over his thighs, as she used his chest as a pillow. Rebel sighed happily as he wrapped his arms around her, more than ready to get some well-deserved sleep. Even without the jet-lag, keeping up with the girls sometimes got hard, despite the fact that they were both old enough to sleep through the night unless they were sick or something.

Once they were settled, Ash gently kissed her forehead as he held her close, always enjoying when they got time to themselves. Even if they were merely sleeping, considering that he hadn’t gotten laid in months, he didn’t care; all that mattered was having the woman he loved by his side. Nothing aside from knowing the girls were safe, healthy, and happy made his heart warm and swell with love the way having Rebel in his arms did, which was why he kept her there as much as he possibly could.

“Ready for our nap?” he murmured, his words slurring a bit.

“More than, Ashie,” the young woman yawned, gently nuzzling his chest.

He paid no mind to the fact that she’d nuzzled right next to his nipple, which was normally a turn-on for him. “Sleep good, and have sweet dreams, mio acciaio rosa.”

“Buon pomeriggio e sogni dolci, mio subdulo angelo,” Rebel answered sleepily as she snuggled against him even more.

Ash tightened his grip on her slightly and readjusted his head on the pillow, then both of them were out like lights for the next few hours.

Notes