Gone Country (Rough Riders #14)(70)

“We were all shocked when he married Joan Tellman. I’ll admit I wasn’t a supportive brother to Casper then, because that was right around the time Vi moved away. I moped for a few months. Then I thought; screw it, I’m the last single McKay and I’m gonna cut loose. I screwed any woman who’d have me, figuring that’d erase Vi from my mind, but it never did.



“Then my dad had a heart attack. He recovered but couldn’t head up the ranch. He put my oldest brothers in charge, moved out of the ranch house, giving it to Carson and Carolyn—and we set him up in a trailer between Carson’s and Calvin’s place.”


“Wait a second. Were you living in the house with your dad when he had the heart attack?”


Charlie nodded. “I was the one who found him out in the yard. At first he refused to go to the hospital. Swore he’d rather die on McKay land. I called Casper and we got Dad loaded up and hauled to town.”


“He sounded like a tough old bird.”


“Oh, Jed McKay was an * or an angel, depending on your point of view and the day. Anyway, we’d just bought this place, a couple thousand acres on the far south end of McKay land with two houses. Casper and Joan claimed one place and I took the other. Around that time, Casper had turned into a raging *. Everything changed in the family dynamic because I felt that Dad and my brothers were punishing me, making me live by Casper.”


“Did Casper know you felt that way?”


“Probably. Another year passed and Dad had another heart attack. He couldn’t live by himself. Logically he should’ve moved in with Casper and Joan. But Dad refused and insisted on living with Cal and Kimi. Casper took it as Dad would rather live with a West family enemy than live with him. Made him even more bitter and I didn’t blame him. Meanwhile, we’re all workin’ the ranch and Carson is buying land up closer to where he lives. Ticked me and Casper off because we knew we’d never get to use those grazing areas and technically, the acreage belonged to us too. Then our neighbors the Burkes wanted out of Wyoming and didn’t offer the land to us first. Not only is that an unwritten western tradition, but the Burkes sold it to a couple from out of state.”


“The Wetzlers,” Gavin inserted.


“Yep. They were an odd lot. So I gotta be honest, even though it’s been a long time comin’, I’m happy the biggest chunk of that land is finally in McKay hands.” Charlie shot him a sideways glance. “So to speak.”


As much as the McKays had wanted that section and the discord it’d caused when he’d bought it, no one had approached Gavin on utilizing it. And he was such a greenhorn he had no idea how to offer it.


“For a few years me’n Casper worked together. That’s why I’m more tolerant with him than Carson or Cal. Then Vi returned to Wyoming. I hadn’t seen her in four years and I knew the reason I hadn’t found a woman to share my life with was because I was waiting for her to come back.”


Gavin didn’t know what to say. He wouldn’t have believed Charlie was capable of telling him something so intensely personal.


“Most people think they know what kind of woman Vi is. She’s bossy, nosy and opinionated. But that ain’t what I see. That ain’t who she is with me or to me. Back then or now.” Charlie scratched his chin again. “Probably TMI as Sierra would say, huh?”


He laughed softly.


“I know you and Vi had words, Gavin. Alls I’m gonna say is you need to figure out a way to deal with it and her because I hate to see my wife hurtin’.”


“Have you always been so protective of her?”


“Yep. Wasn’t your…”


Gavin watched the rancher struggle to ask about the man who raised him.


“Wasn’t Dan the same way?”


“My dad had a lot of great qualities. But being a protective husband wasn’t one of them.”


Charlie didn’t respond. He just kept focused on Quinn and Ben’s activities.


So Gavin kept talking. “He wasn’t faithful to my mother. As a kid I didn’t know. When I started working for him, I noticed he took long lunches. Wasn’t smart, but I followed him. He’d gone to some woman’s apartment. When I confronted him he told me all men cheat.”


“Bullshit,” Charlie spat. “I’ve been married to Vi thirty-eight years and not once, even when we hit rough patches, did I consider climbing into another woman’s bed. A man loves a woman, he loves her. Period. He cares for her and he protects her. Not because that’s his job but because he oughta want to.”


“I agree. It was a point of contention for us up until the day he died. His excuse, or explanation, or whatever, was that as long as he provided for my mother, she didn’t mind.”


“Did you believe that?”


“No. I saw it hurt her, but she never told him to stop. Never threatened to leave him.” Gavin poked at loose splinters on the wooden post. “When I found out my wife was cheating on me? I was more pissed off than hurt. I knew it wasn’t my goddamn fault that she cheated. My mom was the most vocal person in encouraging me to divorce her. She said cheaters don’t ever reform.”