Chapter 7
Brookes
Wade doesn’t waste time or gas unless there’s a good reason to justify both, so when his truck appears, I know he’s visiting with purpose.
Dust rolls behind him in a long, pale cloud, and his tires spray gravel with urgency.
Mason’s halfway across the porch with two mugs of coffee when he stops, his attention locking onto the truck before Wade shuts off the engine.
“What’s he doing here?”
I lean against the porch post, arms relaxed, watching Wade as he opens the truck door. “Whatever it is, he didn’t want to say it over the phone.”
Wade walks across the yard and comes up the steps without saying anything. His boots hit the wood, each step sharp and full of purpose.
“Mason. Brookes.”
Mason sets the mugs down on the rail. “What’s up?”
Wade doesn’t answer right away. He looks over the yard, the barn, and the pasture, like he’s weighing everything before he speaks.
Our house sits low and wide on the land, worn but solid.
It’s been built and rebuilt by people who cared more about keeping it standing than making it look nice.
The porch is wide and cluttered with our things: boots, tools, a coil of rope Mason promised to put away yesterday.
The remnants of our family linger inside even though the people have all left for one reason or another.
The barn doors are open to the breeze, and horses graze beyond the fence, strong and beautiful.
It isn’t as pretty as his house, but it’s home to us.
His hesitation tightens in my chest.
“Janey called Joelle last night,” he says at last.
Hearing her name takes me back two months. My focus sharpens as memories of our night together return, losing me for a moment in her smile, her voice, and the way she looked at me.
Mason straightens immediately. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine.”
“Then what is it?”
Wade lets out a breath and rubs his jaw. “I overheard them talking.”
He puts his hands in his pockets and looks down, clearly wrestling with whatever truth he’s here to deliver. I’m immediately uneasy at his unusual behavior.
“I don’t like sharing other people’s business. It isn’t how I do things, but…”
“What did you hear?” I ask.
Wade looks at me, and whatever he finds in my face convinces him to come out with it.
“She’s pregnant.”
Pregnant.
The wind moves the chimes our mom left behind, the barn door creaks, and a horse whinnies. The world doesn’t pause at his statement, but I freeze at the word.
Mason turns away, one hand bracing at the back of his neck. “Jesus.”
He doesn’t say it out of anger or regret. I know my brother. It’s what a man says when he’s trying to steady himself after receiving big news. “Is it ours?”
“Of course it’s yours.” Wade shakes his head. “I wouldn’t have driven over here if it was someone else’s.”
“Is she alright?” I ask.
It’s the only question that matters right now.
“She’s scared.”
I picture her standing alone, shoulders back and chin up, hiding any fear. She’d keep it together, even when she shouldn’t have to.
My hands curl loosely at my sides. She shouldn’t be dealing with this alone.
“Does Joelle know you’re here?” Mason asks.
“No, and I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think you’d know what to do,” Wade says, putting enough weight behind the words to communicate his expectation.
“Does she want to keep it?” I ask.
Wade shrugs. “I don’t think she’s gotten that far. And she doesn’t have all the information, does she?”
“What information?” Mason asks.
I nod, getting what Wade means. “She doesn’t know we’ll be there for her. She doesn’t know we’ll give her and the baby a home.”
I look out toward the pasture, letting my eyes settle on the horizon while my thoughts catch up.
A baby.
Maybe it’s mine.
Maybe it’s Mason’s.
Either way, it’s family.
My mind starts racing, making plans. There’s room in the house. What needs fixing? What’ll Janey need?
“Brookes.”
Wade’s voice cuts through the rollercoaster of planning I was suddenly on.
I look back.
“Don’t get ahead of her.”
Mason frowns. “He’s not—”
“I am.”
Wade nods once. “Then don’t. You can tell her you’ll stand by her, but you can’t put pressure on her. This pregnancy… It’s unplanned, and she has a life. She has a family with expectations. You have to understand that what she wants might not be the same choice you’d make.”
I let out a slow breath and try to let the thoughts of home and family go, because he’s right. There’s a difference between offering help and making plans before she’s even decided.
“What does Joelle say?” I ask.
“That Janey’s trying not to fall apart,” Wade replies. “And that she doesn’t know what she wants yet.”
Mason drags a hand down his face. “Of course she doesn’t.”
“She’s allowed not to,” Wade says. “When I think about everything Joelle went through alone with Little Caleb…” His brow furrows in thought.
“She isn’t alone anymore,” I say. “And Janey doesn’t have to face anything alone. Not when she has two cowboys more than ready to step up to be whatever she needs.”
Mason nods. “Whatever she needs.”
Wade looks between us. “Then that’s what she hears first. Forget plans. Forget decisions. Forget what you think should happen or what you want to happen.”
Mason’s jaw tightens, but he doesn’t argue.
I step away from the post and walk a few steps down the porch, needing to move and clear my head.
The house sits open behind us, quiet and familiar, full of rooms we’ve never had much use for. I’ve never thought much about that space before. Now I can’t stop picturing her in it. Her boots by the door. Her voice breaking the quiet. Her mix of softness and strength. Her humor and her courage.
“We should ask her to come here,” Mason says.
I turn back. He’s looking at the house like he sees it too. “Not because we want to take over her life,” he adds. “She shouldn’t be by herself if she doesn’t want to be.”
I nod once. “She has a place here.”
“She can say no,” Wade says.
Mason answers immediately. “She can.”
“If she does?”
I meet Wade’s eyes. “Then we make sure she knows how to reach us. We give her space.”
That seems to satisfy him, or close enough.
I look around. It all looks the same, but everything feels changed. Somewhere out there, a beautiful woman is carrying a Fletcher child. A baby that’s part of us. An heir to this rough place we call home.
“Is she home?” Mason asks.
“As far as I know.”
Mason reaches for his hat. “Then we should go.”
“Not yet,” Wade says.
Mason stills. “What now?”
Wade steps closer. “You walk in there wrong, and you’ll make this harder for her.”
Mason exhales, tension riding high in his shoulders.
“I’ll tell her we know,” I say. “I’ll tell her I’m sorry she didn’t get to tell us herself. I’ll tell her we’re here for her.”
Wade waits.
“We’ll tell her she has options,” Mason continues. “That we’ll support whatever she decides.”
“And?”
Mason’s voice drops. “She doesn’t have to decide right away.”
Wade nods, then looks at me.
I hold his gaze. “I’ll tell her she can come here. Whenever. No pressure.”
“And?”
“We’re not asking for answers,” I say. “Not yet.”
Wade watches me a second longer. “And?”
I take a breath. “That she’s safe with us.”
Mason looks down.
Wade’s expression eases slightly. “Then make sure she is.”
We’ve gone over it twice now. We’re schooled on how to handle it, even though every instinct in me wants to grab her and drag her back here.
Fill her over and over. Breed her even though she’s already filled with our child.
Make a life with her and a home for our kid.
Demand she take her place as our woman and damn the consequences.
“Have you been in touch with her since you…” Wade trails off.
“Since we deflowered her in your barn,” Mason grins.
“Not the time,” I bark, but Wade’s shaking his head, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
“That barn's seen a whole lot of action before you.”
I shake my head. “We’ve messaged,” I say. “She’s replied, but…”
“She’s been wary,” Mason says. “If she wanted to date us, we would have seen her again. Taken her out and showed her a good time. We would have made it more.”
“It isn’t too late to try,” Wade says. “You’ve gotta handle it right. The baby’s a factor now, and she’s always going to wonder if you’d have chosen her if the baby didn’t exist.”
“She has to know we would have… that night…” I stop myself from saying more. Wade doesn’t need to know how right it felt when we were all together. He has his own complicated relationship. He’s aware of how intense it can be.
Wade nods, understanding my point, and heads back to his truck, pausing with one hand on the door. “Don’t make me regret coming out here.”
Mason shakes his head. “We won’t, Wade. And thanks. I hope there’s no fallout from you breaking Joelle’s confidence.”
“She’ll understand,” he says. “So long as you don’t make a mess of everything.
So long as you do right by her best friend.
” Wade looks at me anyway, like he’s checking, and I hold his gaze.
“She’s a good woman. She stood by Joelle when she had no one.
Put a roof over her head. Supported her through her pregnancy and all the newborn stress.
She deserves the same kind of support and security.
” He nods once, then climbs in and drives off, dust rising behind him as he disappears down the road.
Mason and I stay where we are, the house quiet at our backs, and our land stretching to the horizon.
This place has always felt like the center of my world, but now a piece is missing.
Janey is waiting, carrying a child who could change our lives for the better, and rather than being scared at the thought, a bubble of excitement rises in my chest.
We can do this. We can make her see that a life with us is what she needs.
At least, I hope we can.