Chapter 29
JACE
“ S he got there, okay.” I sigh with relief as read the text Maddison just sent, and slide my phone back into my top pocket.
“ Now are you gonna relax?” Sawyer looks across to Grayson who's wearing the same clever smirk that he is.
“One day, you're gonna meet that woman who changes it all then we’ll see who's pulling faces,” I warn him, knowing full well that he’s got it bad for that new sheriff, even if she has come here to bust our asses.
“Not a chance.” He shakes his head and laughs. “Females ain’t nothin’ but trouble, ain’t that right, old man?” He kicks on his horse so he can go after a stray, while I continue to hold the left side with Grayson.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to ya.” I look across at him, I figure now is as good a time as any to broach the subject.
“You ain’t gonna try convincing me of that shit are ya, son?” he chuckles.
“Nah, but I’m hoping I can convince ya of something else.” I clutch my reins and pray to God this goes well. “You’ve worked for this ranch your whole life, and you were my dad’s best friend.”
He nods his head back at me and frowns.
“I know there's still a lotta years left in ya, and ya ain’t even close to retiring but I’d still like to show you some appreciation for your loyalty and dedication.”
“I get that in my paycheck every last Friday of the month,” he tells me proudly.
“Yeah, well, that's expected but it ain’t enough. Without you, I’d have never been able to keep this place going. You’ve forgotten more than you could ever teach me, you're as much a part of this place as I am. So, I wanna give ya some land of your own.”
He pulls his horse to a stop and stares at me.
“You wanna what? ”
“I wanna give ya some land, somewhere here on the ranch, where you can have your own cabin, and stable your horse.”
“I got a place,” he tells me, geeing up his horse to keep the pace.
“C’mon, you deserve better than the bunkhouse, and you know it. You can still manage the guys, you just don’t have to live with ‘em. I’m gonna speak to Uncle Jamie, get him to draw up some paperwork, and make it all legit. It’s the least you deserve.”
“Look kid, I appreciate what ya wanna do but there's no need. I’m happy right where I am.” I can tell from the look on his face that there's something he ain’t telling me. Something that goes beyond the pride of a hard-working man who’s starting to feel the winters.
“I’m not takin’ no for an answer. My dad always said hard work should be rewarded. And I know it was always in his plans to give you some land of your own. It’s my duty to see it through. I’da done it sooner but what with everything that happened with mo–”
“I said there's no need,” Grayson tells me firmly, kicking on his horse and yelling at the herd to keep ‘em moving. Now I know there's definitely something he ain’t telling me so I dig in my heels into Buck, urging him on, and catching up.
“What ain’t ya telling me?” I confront him, and when he tries to ignore me again, I cross Buck in front of his horse so he can’t get away.
“Grayson, what ain’t ya telling me?” I ask again. This time raising my voice.
“Don’t do this, Jace.” He shakes his head like he’s warning me.
“Don’t do what?”
“Just drop it, okay? For your own sake. Drop it.” He scolds me in the same way he used to when I was a boy, only I ain’t a boy anymore and I won’t back down.
“You tell me, right the fuck now, what you know!” I look him deep in the eyes so he can see how serious I am.
“You can’t give me no land, Jace. Because the land ain’t yours to give.” His words almost knock me off my saddle, and then I laugh to myself while my head shakes in confusion.
“Grayson, what the fuck are you talking about?”
The serious look on his face tells me that this ain’t no joke, and when he stands up on his stirrups, signaling across the herd for Miles and Lincoln to come over to our side, he looks back at me over his shoulder.
“C’mon, kid. We need to take a ride.” He waits for our backup to make their way around the back of the herd and get in place before steering Dixie away from the herd, and I follow after him.
“What I’m about to tell ya, ain’t gonna be easy for you to hear.” He stops when we're a few hundred yards away, keeping his eyes on the horizon, and refusing to look at me. Knowing that he just dragged us both away from such a big job has me real concerned.
“I wanted to tell ya after your dad passed but the time never felt right, then ya lost ya momma and I…I just couldn’t.” He loosens the bandana he’s got tied around his neck.
“Grayson, whatever it is, just tell me.” I’m gettin’ real suspicious.
“When your folks first got married, your daddy had big dreams. I was his best friend which meant I got to hear all about ‘em.” He smiles to himself. “He wanted to give ya momma everything. He built that big house you’re livin’ in, hoping that they’d fill it with kids.”
I keep listening, wondering at what point his story is gonna become relevant.
“Well, time went on, and those kids didn’t seem to be happening. Your dad came and spoke to me about it, told me your mom and him were having problems, the kind that are damn hard for a man to talk about. But, like I said, there wasn’t anything that man wouldn’t have done for your momma.”
I nod my head in agreement, remembering how much he loved her.
“So, he made himself an appointment.” Grayson takes out his smokes and when he offers one to me, I take it despite how hard I’ve worked at quitting. “Of course, he was too proud to tell your mom that he was worried. You know how she was, always such a positive thinker. Hell, she already had a nursery made up. I guess, for her, failure wasn’t an option.”
“So what happened?” I can see the herd getting further and further away from us, the boys are holding ‘em together, despite being two men down. But even if they weren’t it wouldn’t change anything, nothing seems more important than hearing the rest of Grayson's story.
“He went to the city, paid some fancy doctor to get all the tests done, and three weeks later when he went back for the results I had to drive out there to pick him up because he got blind drunk.”
“What did the results say?” I screw my face up because I got a horrible feeling that I can guess the answer.
“That the likelihood of your father ever siring a child was practically impossible.” I see the sympathy in his eyes when he finally looks at me.
“No, that can’t be true. It can’t be, because they had me.” I shake my head in denial.
“He was too weak to tell ya momma, said he had to come to terms with it himself first, and for months he let her go on thinking that there was a chance. I told him it was cruel and that he had to come clean, and then one day out of the blue, she told him she was pregnant with you.” He looks down at the front of his saddle and grips it tight.
“Grayson, what the fuck are you tellin’ me? Because I don’t think it’s that I’m a miracle baby.”
“It took me a few months to question your old man because he seemed so happy. He was taking care of your momma, same way you take care of Maddison. He was on cloud nine, couldn’t stop talkin’ about becoming a dad. But there were days when he couldn’t hide the pain and hurt in his eyes. So one day, just before you came along, I asked him how it was possible. He told me it must have been God's will, and then he broke down in tears.” I see the pity in Grayson’s eyes before I scrub my hand over my face
“What you’re sayin’...It…” I shake my head, refusing to believe him.
“The day you were born, that man was the proudest a man could be. He doted on you, he put you on the back of his horse before you could even walk. And as time went on and you grew, you just kept making him prouder. It all became so easy to forget. But then one night, he asked me to go out for a beer, and he shocked the hell outta me.”
I don’t wanna hear any more of this story, but it goes without saying that I have to.
“I’ve never seen a man so torn, he had a decision to make and it was between his love for you and his loyalty to the Sullivan generations. To me, the answer would have been simple. Your uncle never wanted this ranch, he wanted to be a big-shot lawyer, and that asshole never fails. But your dad knew you weren’t a true Sullivan, and he felt obliged to all the Sullivans that came before him to keep this place in the bloodline.”
I feel his words stab into my heart like a blunt dagger and I got no way of hiding it. My eyes start to prickle with tears and I have to quickly look away so he don’t see them.
“He rewrote his will, left this place to your uncle in the hope that he might have some kids himself, someday. He, of course, left everything else he had of value to you and your mom and had a clause put in his will stating that Jamie could never evict her and that you’d always have a home and a job here. After your mom passed away, I figured your uncle would have told ya.” He reaches out to touch my shoulder and I shift on my saddle so he can’t.
“All this time, he’s watched me work my ass off for this place, how could I have not known?” I feel like such a fool.
“Jace, I ain’t your uncle's biggest fan but I’m figuring it’s because, deep down in that cold heart of his, he loved his brother. You may not be his blood but he knows how important you were to your dad. You’ve lost everything these past few years, maybe he didn't want to take this place away from you too.”
I let the old man's words sink in as my world gets turned upside down. I loved my father, we fought sometimes but we loved each other. That man was everything I ever wanted to be.
“I’m sorry, son. I know it’s not what you wanna hear. But now you got a kid of your own on the way, it’s time you know.”
Suddenly it dawns on me that I have absolutely nothing to offer that kid. This ranch was my stability, it was gonna be Maddison's and my child’s too. I promised her that I’d always take care of her, how can I do that when I don’t even have a home?
Then something else clicks into place and I feel pure, undiluted rage start to sweep through my blood.
“You said there was a clause?” I narrow my eyes at Grayson.
“Your old man felt bad enough about not leaving ya this place, he was never gonna let you and your momma be homeless, even if she had been unfaithful, he never stopped loving her.
“He couldn’t evict her.” I clench my reins when it all starts to make sense. “He hated her,” I recall the way my uncle would look at her every time she walked into the room. He must have known that she’d cheated on my father, and he wanted her to pay. “Son of a bitch!” I turn my horse and kick him on so he starts to gallop.
“Wait! Jace, where ya going?” Grayson calls after me.
“I know who was in the car that night with my mom,” I call over my shoulder, leaning forward and digging in my heels to ensure we go faster.
I pass the herd and gallop all the way to the yard, tossing Buck’s reins at a confused-looking Taylor when I see her setting up the refreshment table outside. Then moving straight to Grayson’s truck, I speed off and head toward my uncle's house. My knuckles turn white as I grip the steering wheel and think about all the betrayal. How is it possible for my mom to have done that to my father? He loved her, he wanted to give her the world. I wonder if he ever admitted to her that he knew the truth and that he loved her so much he was prepared to live a fuckin’ lie?
My uncle Jamie would have known all along that the ranch I’ve been busting my ass for belongs to him, and he’s watched me struggle to make it pay. For years he’s convinced me that keeping this town safe is critical to the protection of my land and it’s all been for his own gain.
He’s listened to me talk on Sunday afternoons about my future, and what I want for my kids and our ranch. I’ve let him get close, and all this time he knew.
The one person I can’t blame is my father, he did the right thing and raised me, and I’m confident that he loved me despite how I came to be. I can’t begrudge him not leaving everything his family worked for to some bastard kid.
When I get to my uncle's house, I bang my fist at his door so loud the whole house rattles. His car ain’t in the drive, and there’s no sign of him here, but I need to find him. I need answers and I need to make him pay for what he did to my mom.
My phone starts vibrating and when I see Eli Kelley’s name flashing on my screen, I quickly answer it.
“Not now, Eli, I got shit to deal with.” I bark at him, making my way around the side of the house so I can check the back door.
“So you’ve heard? Is Madison okay? Isabel’s been real worried.”
“Wait, worried about what? What do you mean, is Madison okay?” Suddenly that red-hot anger inside me turns bitter cold.
“Eli?” I shout down the phone when he doesn’t answer fast enough.
“The girls were talking on the phone, and Isabel said someone came to the door. Madison answered it, she screamed and then…”
“And then what?” I lose my patience when he goes quiet on me.
“And then the phone went dead. Isabel tried calling back but there was no answer. I don’t know if you have a number for her folks, that’s where Isabel thinks she is…” His voice fades out as I grip my hair and take everything in. I hang up and immediately call Maddison, and when it rings straight through to voicemail, I feel panic starting to take over as I try again and again.
“ Fuck ” I punch my fist into my uncle’s door and rush back to Grayson’s truck.
I haven’t got time to deal with my uncle or worry about the sordid secrets of my past right now. There's every chance my girl’s in trouble, and there's a four fuckin’ hour drive between us.