Chapter 11
While his brother hurried to fetch Logan, Declan floated a quick idea. “Revamp supper plans? We can fire up the barbeque and do burgers.”
“Sounds great. We have tons of ingredients for salads,” Tansy offered. “And I can whip up a sauce for macaroni and cheese in the same amount of time it takes you to heat up the grill.”
Supper plans dealt with, Declan turned to check on Sydney, suddenly aware no one had questioned her continuing presence in the discussion.
She belonged.
Everything got quiet as Jake and Logan stepped into the house.
Jake settled next to Tansy, taking her hand in his.
Logan stood quietly in front of them. “Jake said something happened today that you need to talk to me about?”
“Deck, you go ahead. Easier for one person to tell it all,” Petra suggested.
Logan listened quietly as Declan gave a quick summary of the day’s events, the young man’s face growing whiter and whiter. “I’m so sorry. I really don’t know why they want Dean.”
“They’re looking for something,” Petra suggested. “Has he ever sent you anything? Asked to visit?”
“He has no idea where I am. And if he did message, I sure the hell wouldn’t have given him directions on where to find me.” Logan met Declan’s gaze. “They didn’t drop me anywhere near here, I swear. I walked forever before I collapsed.”
“I believe you,” Declan said.
Logan straightened up, resignation on his face but pride as well. “I’d never do anything to hurt any of you. Never, so I’ll just get my things together and leave.”
The front door flew open and Jinx stormed in. “Bullshit.”
Declan rose to his feet. “Jinx—”
“He’s not leaving. He didn’t do anything wrong,” Jinx all but shouted as she raced to the table.
“Hello to you, Jinx.” Petra raised a brow. “Eavesdropping again?”
“Bad habit,” Jinx admitted. “One I learned long ago to protect myself the best I could.” Before anyone else could speak, she got right up in Logan’s face. “So you’re saying that if the guys who abused me showed up at High Water and caused trouble, you’d want me to leave?” she demanded.
“Of course not. You didn’t—”
“Exactly. They’re the assholes, not me.” She jabbed a finger right into his gut. “Figure it out, hotshot.”
Logan gasped but didn’t take his eyes off her.
She rolled her eyes massively. “You didn’t do anything wrong either, except maybe be related to someone who is making bad decisions.”
“But Tansy and Petra could have—”
“They didn’t,” Declan cut in before Jinx could. “Jinx? Come here and let someone else get a word in edgewise. Because we never intended to let him leave.”
“Oh.” Jinx blinked. “Okay.”
She bumped Logan’s shoulder hard as she passed, stopping beside Declan to offer a brief, fierce hug. “He’s an idiot,” she whispered.
“Who means well. Now sit and be polite,” Declan ordered.
Oddly enough, it was Tansy who took the lead. “Like they said, you’re not leaving. I get where your head is at, but you’re not responsible for anyone’s actions but your own. The things that you choose to do. And right now, it seems you’re choosing to be a part of High Water. Yes?”
Logan looked as if it was a trick question. “I don’t want me being here to cause problems.”
“Ditto,” Petra said brightly. “I don’t want my presence to cause problems, but it’s entirely possible at some point, someone will show up and muddy the waters. And if that happens, we’ll deal with it.”
Jake cleared his throat. “Tansy has a broken leg right now because of my past coming to visit. You want me to leave?”
The kid looked closer and closer to tears. “You guys use two by fours when you want to get your message across.”
“We can use something even bigger if it hasn’t sunk in yet.
” Tansy leaned back in her chair and folded her arms over her chest. “The only way you get to leave High Water is when you’re a hundred percent fit and you have somewhere else you want to go.
We’re not going to keep you forever if this isn’t right, but stop trying to run away. It’s exhausting for us.”
For a second, Logan’s lips twitched. “I’ll do my best to stop being tiresome.” He turned his attention to Declan. “But can we put some safeguards in place to stop this from happening in the future?”
“We’ll do the best we can, but like Petra said, life is unpredictable.” Declan glanced around the table at his family. “Let’s talk about vetting our ranch hands a little more thoroughly.”
“We talked once about having some of my friends from the force get to stay for a while,” Jake reminded them. “Extra people on site who we can trust explicitly would be okay. We can brainstorm what other kinds of additional security we’ll need to put in place as time goes on.”
“The longer High Water exists, the more people know it’s here.” Aiden shrugged. “That’s just a fact.”
“And one we have to be comfortable with.” Declan stood and made a move before Logan could back off. He offered a hand, and this time Logan was the one to move forward and accept an embrace.
People moved in different directions to get dinner ready. Declan caught Sydney heading for the door. “You’re staying.”
She shrugged lightly. “I was out on a call this afternoon. I need to shower and unwind. Thought I might do that at home.”
“None of us mind if you stay.” He examined her face, trying to see if this was what she really wanted or if she was just taking an easy out. “I would like you to stay.”
She lifted her gaze to his, and for the first time that day, without her blustering energy as a distraction, every line on her face declared how bone-tired she was.
“Syd, grab a shower, and stay for supper.” The command came from Petra, sliding across the room and wrapping an arm around Sydney’s waist. Without another word, she guided her friend back across the room to the women’s quarters.
Declan didn’t know if he was more worried by Sydney’s quiet acceptance or the questioning look in Aiden’s eyes as his brother watched the entire exchange from a distance.
Screw it. If his brothers were aware of his plans, Declan might have backup.
Scratch that. If they all knew he wanted to get together with Sydney, he absolutely would have one hundred percent support from them and their partners.
They moved dinner outside by the fire pit, the makeshift table covered with quickly assembled salads and burger fixings and the massive pot of macaroni and cheese Tansy had miraculously produced.
All through the meal, though, Declan’s attention was riveted on Sydney.
A gentle bump to the shoulder got his attention back on Jake. “Tansy and I have plans tonight, but first thing in the morning, how about you, me, and Aiden talk through some options. Once we have some specific ideas we can have a family meeting, but I’d like to start with the three of us.”
“Sounds good.” Declan checked Petra and Tansy quickly. “The girls don’t look worse for wear after the excitement.”
“They’re tough,” Jake agreed. “I just don’t want them to have to be.”
“Amen.”
After the food was gone and most of the cleanup done, Sydney said her goodbyes to the girls and headed to her truck.
Declan had been watching closely and timed his interruption perfectly. “Come for a walk with me?” he asked.
“Deck, I’m tired,” Sydney began.
He held out his hand. “Just to the barn. You look like you could use some kitten therapy.”
Her lips twitched, but she slipped her fingers into his and let him guide her toward the animal rescue. “Is this a little bit of the hair of the dog that bit you? Returning to the scene of the crime so it’s doesn’t become a frightening spot?”
“I should’ve thought of that, but no,” Declan admitted. “This really is about the kittens.”
The current batch were old enough to be at the super-entertaining stage, but it was late enough in the evening they were tired.
Instead of pouncing all over Sydney, the little black and white female he dropped in her lap meowed prettily as she stretched her back and then eased her head under Sydney’s palm, begging to be scratched.
They sat on hay bales directly in front of the wide double loft doors that Declan swung open to the west. The sun had reached the top of the mountains, and sunset glows filled the sky with streaks of gold and orange.
For a long time, neither of them said anything. Just petted the kittens and stared at the sky. Side by side, Declan was content in a way he hadn’t been in a long time. Not even that afternoon, because now he was with Sydney—
Declan finally broke the easy silence. “Thanks for letting me know where you were headed today.”
“Yeah, maybe I should have let you drive out and join me.” Sydney let out a huge sigh. “Nothing dangerous to me,” she offered quickly, “but it was a tough one.”
Declan snuck his arm around her waist and eased her body against his, holding her there in a gentle embrace. “Want to talk about it?”
“Not really,” she said. “Other than to confess I do not like delivering babies.”
Huh. He hadn’t seen that one coming. “Everything okay?”
“Baby and mom are fine,” she assured him. “Just my least favourite doctoring drill, especially in nonmedical settings.”
He didn’t know enough to be able to offer advice, and frankly, she didn’t seem to be looking for it anyway. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and held her little tighter. “I’m sure you were brilliant as usual.”
“Of course,” she said, twisting to look up at him and offer a tired smile. “Thanks for this. In spite of everything, it has been a good day.”
He stared at her sunlit face, the glowing colours hiding some of the dark circles under her eyes and the tired lines bracketing her mouth. She was still so damn beautiful—but clearly hurting. And that couldn’t continue.
Not changing it up this instant, not on top of everything that had happened that day, but soon.
Later that night, after the kitten cuddling was done, he escorted her to her truck and waited patiently as she crawled behind the wheel.