Cowgirls Don't Cry(24)

“Yeah, if I thought we could get part of our land parceled out to us and away from Dad’s control…”


Brandt snorted. “It’ll never happen. Dad’s gotta have something to lord over us.”


Dalton looked at both his brothers. “Think he’ll see Landon as something you’re tryin’ to lord over him?”


Brandt hadn’t considered that. God. He wasn’t like his father. Not everything he did was some sort of power play.

“We’d better get goin’, if we’re takin’ Landon over to Mom and Dad’s,” Tell said.

“The carseat is in my truck.” Brandt pushed to his feet. “Look, you guys can call me names, think I’m the biggest * on the planet, question my end game, but I’m askin’ that we at least pretend we’re on the same page in front of Dad.”


“Yeah, Dad will definitely home in on any weakness.”


“Do we let him know about Jessie helping out?”


“We have to. There’ll be hell to pay if he hears about it from someone else.”


“True.”


Brandt swung Landon into his arms. “Let’s get this over with.”


The meeting with his parents went about like Brandt expected. Rage on his father’s part, mostly directed at the woman who’d dared to keep Luke’s child a secret from his family. His mother cried a lot while she carted Landon around, enticing him to eat, then chasing him through the house. She looked happier than he’d seen her in years.

When Brandt relayed Landon’s childcare arrangements during the months he’d have guardianship, his father accused Jessie of trying to keep the boy from his real family out of spite. That was the last straw for the visit. Brandt pried Landon out of his mother’s arms amidst his father’s threats for legal action.

Dalton and Tell were quiet on the way back to Brandt’s place. They kept the boy entertained while Brandt loaded up Landon’s things and double-checked everything since he’d be gone for five days. After they agreed to meet at Dalton’s house to figure out the week’s work, Brandt made the forty-five minute drive to Jessie’s.

Something stirred in him when he saw Jessie sitting on the front steps with Lexie by her side. The afternoon had warmed up from the bouts of snow flurries earlier in the day and the wind blew random strands of her reddish blonde hair across her appled cheeks. She looked young, fresh and wholesome.

Which made him feel guilty as sin for the direction of his impure thoughts.

Landon kicked his feet to be let out of his seat. Brandt set him on the ground and the kid took off toward Lexie with a squeal of delight. When the dog cowered beneath the deck, Brandt plucked a plastic ball from one of the bins of toys in the back of his truck and tossed it into the yard. Landon held the ball, dropped it, threw it, moving as fast as his legs could carry him.

“Looks like he’s got some pent-up energy,” Jessie remarked.

“I figure it’ll be good for him to run around, get some fresh air, maybe he’ll sleep better tonight, bein’s he’s in a strange place.”


She scooted over, making room for him to sit beside her.

“How did it go with Skylar?”


“She’s one hundred percent on board with it. Probably more so than I am.”


Brandt said nothing.

“Sorry. It’s just… God, it’s really freakin’ weird, okay? I’m sitting here watching Luke’s kid run around, and I had such a close connection to Luke, but I also feel like I didn’t know him at all. I look at the kid and I don’t know what I feel. It didn’t help Skylar started saying all these things about how I should be nominated for sainthood for opening my heart and home to Landon, and I couldn’t take it. I had to leave.