Dawson grinned and grinned. “Maybe,” he said with a light laugh. “Their kids are more stubborn than ours, and maybe he’ll hold on until after midnight.”
6
Brandon checked his rearview mirror, his stomach tightening when he saw he hadn’t lost Duke.
Of course he wouldn’t, not on this dirt road, only going thirty-five miles an hour. But still, he’d hoped.
You told them it was going to be a rough go, he reminded himself. But talking about the homestead and it’s disrepair of it was a far cry from actuallyseeingit.
Brandon knew, as he had done this drive onto the homestead once before. He made the turn, the bright October sun lighting the morning ahead of him.
Here we go,he thought as he once again checked his mirror.
Duke made the turn as well, and Brandon returned his gaze out the front windshield. Then he wouldn’t be able to see his brothers’ reactions. Duke, as grumpy as he was, wouldn’t be able to hide his real feelings, and Dawson certainly wouldn’t hold back. Brandon didn’t need to see anything on their faces before they could conceal it.
He trundled down the road, where tufts of grass grew between the tire tracks. Ignoring the chaos around him on all sides, he gave Lenore’s cabin a cursory glance and kept going,having half a mind to ram his truck straight into the cabin at the edge of the trees.
Hiscabin.
Of course he wouldn’t do that, as the cabins were the only structures on the homestead that didn’t look one breath away from falling down.
He pulled around in a big U-turn and then backed in so that his tailgate would open right to the bottom of the steps. Duke did the same beside him.
As he’d discovered, Brandon owned more than he thought. Not only that, but Zona and Caroline had put together several boxes of things for him to bring to live on his own—towels, sheets, cleaning supplies, a new set of dishware and utensils, and lastly, a homemade blanket.
Arizona had said, “So you won’t miss us too much.”
She and April had come with Dawson and Duke to help Brandon move in today, leaving the rest of Duke’s kids at the ranch—and Caroline with her and Dawson’s two small children at Hidden Hills as well.
Nerves pounded through Brandon’s veins as he killed the engine and dropped to the ground. He looked over to the second truck and found Dawson looking around in complete disbelief. The back door of the king cab truck opened, and April emerged.
“Wow, Uncle Brandon,” she said. “This place is….”
Brandon waited for her to go on, but April seemed at a loss for words. That had never happened before, that Brandon knew of. If he hadn’t known before the homestead was a complete wreck, he would’ve then.
After another couple of moments, the other doors started to open and Brandon’s family emerged from their state of shock.
“This is it,” he said, gesturing to the cabin. Maybe if he kept his back to the rest of the homestead, it would transform itself into a thriving piece of land by the time he turned around.
“This is ridiculous,” Zona said.
“Zona,” Duke muttered under his breath, though he wore the look of an angry bull himself.
“You sure you want to do this, brother?” Dawson asked. “Look at it.” He faced out toward the homestead, and Brandon reluctantly turned to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him.
“I’ve seen it,” he said. “I know it’s rough.”
“This iswaybeyond rough,” Duke said.
“This place should becondemned,” Zona said. “A woman lives here?”
Brandon rolled his eyes. “We don’t all grow up on billion-dollar ranches, Zona.” With that, he walked around the front of his truck to get to the back, as Dawson and April were blocking the narrow alley between the two vehicles.
“I know that,” Zona said, her familiar red-headed fire emerging. She said something else to Duke in a much quieter voice, and he whispered back to her.
Brandon ignored them both, something awful and dangerous pounding through him now. They didn’t have to live here. He did.
Why did they care?
