Thirty-Three
Branwen
Last night, I had kept it together until Stevie fell asleep. Once she was breathing deep, I let the first tear fall. As I covered my mouth to keep my sobbing from waking her up, the bed shook. But I fell asleep, and rest had seemed to help.
Linc had yet to humiliate me today. I might make it through this day without crying myself to sleep tonight.
Stevie had been slow to warm up to Levi. I thought his appearance made her unsure what to think about him. When he spoke to her, she would get quiet, which was rare for her, and duck her head, as if she were shy. But it seemed they had found a way to bond.
I stood over by the fence post, where I used to sit as a child and watch my dad work with the jockeys who took the horses out to run the practice track. Levi was currently holding Stevie up so she could rub the mane on a large black thoroughbred.
Being here again made the past seemed like another world in one way and like it was just yesterday in another. Helping feed the horses, cleaning up the tack room, even cleaning out the stalls—it had all been a part of my life. There wasn’t much that went on here that I didn’t know about. These stables had been more my home than the actual house Dad and I lived in. When we were awake, we were here. We only ate dinner, took baths, and slept in our house. The best memories we shared had been on this property.
I glanced over at the buildings that were larger than they had once been. They’d been added on to, and the already-elaborate features had been upgraded. But the land was the same. The smell was the same. I inhaled deeply and wished I could hear my dad’s laugh one more time.
“Little Branwen Hester, all grown up,” a masculine voice said, bringing me out of my memories.
I turned toward the stables to see the older, more refined version of Kenneth Houston walking up to me. He’d been the worst one to tease me about my crush on Linc.
“You got old, Kenneth,” I replied.
He chuckled. “I’m surprised you didn’t follow that up by sticking out your tongue at me, then running off.”
“There is still time,” I warned with a grin.
He leaned up against the fence I was sitting on. “I gotta admit, I came by just to see you here with Linc. When Garrett told me about the two of you, I spit my damn whiskey out.”
I sighed. “If I’d only known then what I know now.”
“I think we all feel that way about something in our lives,” he replied. “She looks like you.” He pointed at Stevie with Levi.
“She has my hair and face, but Linc’s eyes.”
Kenneth smiled. “I have a granddaughter. That little girl is something else. Can’t imagine having a daughter. Those sweet smiles can wrap you right around their tiny fingers.”
“I know you have a son. Was he your only one, or did you have more kids?”
Kenneth’s family had their own stables, and I knew he’d had a little boy back then. I couldn’t remember much about him, but he had been young when I left.
“One boy. Saxon. He and his wife, Haisley, live on our land. Their daughter, Winter, is a raven-haired doll. She sure has livened things up for us. Melanie is owned by that child. I swear my wife lives and breathes to make her happy.”
The hollow ache in my chest when I thought about Stevie never meeting my dad or knowing him came uninvited. I didn’t want to be sad. I’d had enough of that yesterday.
“Well, I need to get up to the house. Garrett is expecting me. I just caught a glimpse of pale blonde curls, and it was like old times. Thought I’d come say hello,” he said, pushing off from the fence.
“I’m glad you did. It was good to see you, Kenneth.”
He nodded. “You too. And, Branwen, good luck.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but I didn’t ask as he headed back through the stables. I went back to watching Levi with Stevie. The familiar sound of a cantering horse caught my attention, and I glanced back to see a small blond boy on the back of a dark brown thoroughbred, headed in this direction. The confident way he held himself and the glint of mischief in his eyes left no question on who he belonged to.
He had to be a Hughes.
“CREE!” a deep voice shouted.
The little boy’s head snapped around to see who it was, and then he smirked.
“I told you that you could ride Titus! Not Shakespeare!”
“Titus is old and a quarter. I ride thoroughbreds,” the little boy called back.
I squinted against the glare of the sun toward the man stalking this way with a black cowboy hat, a pair of jeans hanging low on his hips, and a pair of boots. No shirt and…whew. I felt like I should throw dollar bills at him. Holy crap.
“Get your ass off that horse before your momma comes out here!” He scowled.
“I’m not a pussy! I don’t ride pussy horses!”
My eyes widened. He was about Stevie’s age. I really hoped she didn’t hear him say that. She’d be asking me what a pussy was.
“I swear to God, Cree Elias Hughes, if you don’t get down off that goddamn horse!”
And that had to be Blaise Hughes. It seemed the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree with his son. I remembered Blaise being just as wild at the stables when he had been that age. The current boss of the Southern Mafia had the body of a god now that he was all grown up.
“You let me when Momma ain’t here!” the boy shouted back.
“If you don’t shut up and get down, you’ll be riding Hopscotch until you’re old enough to drive a car,” Blaise threatened him.
“Hopscotch is an old mare. I don’t wanna ride her.” He sounded so insulted that I almost laughed.
“Then, get down,” Blaise said, grabbing ahold of the reins as he reached a hand up for his son to take. “Off. Now.”
“Okay.” He sulked. “But I don’t wanna play with a girl. I wanna ride.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling in case he looked my way.
“You will feel differently about that soon enough. Trust me, you don’t want to get on the pretty ones’ shit list at this young of an age. They remember and will hold it against you.”
Cree tilted his head up and looked at his father, scrunching his nose. “Why do they got a shit list?”
“Because guys can be shits. Now, come on over here and act sane for ten minutes, would you?”
Levi walked over to them with Stevie, who was studying Cree with interest. Poor girl thought she was going to have a playmate, but seemed like Cree wasn’t on board with that idea.
“You gonna shoot me if I say he looked good up there? Had complete control of Shakespeare,” Levi said.
Blaise sighed and took off his hat to reveal blond hair that was long enough to tuck behind his ears. He ran a hand over it to smooth it back and shook his head. “Yeah, well, his momma doesn’t like him on the faster ones,” Blaise said, then looked down. “You must be Stevie,” he said in a softer tone than he’d been using.
She nodded her head, not sure what to think about the overwhelming man in front of her.
“Stevie, this is Cree. Y’all are about the same age.”
She nodded and tucked herself back behind Levi’s leg some. The fact that she was using him as her security made me smile. I’d almost caused her to miss out on that. Having a big brother. Another fail for me.
“I like your hair,” Cree told her.
She smiled bashfully at him.
“It might take her a minute to warm up,” Levi told him. “She’s met a lot of new people the past two days.”
Cree shrugged. “I ain’t gonna hurt her. You wanna go get some cookies from Ms. Jimmie? She said she was making my favorite chocolate chip ones.”
Levi looked over at me.
I nodded my head that it was fine.
He patted her head. “You can go if you want. Your momma said it was okay.”
She smiled then. Chocolate chip cookies could bribe her to do just about anything. “Okay,” she agreed.
“Come on then,” he told her, acting as if he were older and maturer. It was cute.
When he broke into a run, she took off after him.
“Don’t run off and leave her like a little shit!” Blaise called after him.
I was going to have to go over all these curse words with her and what not to say when we left here.
Cree stopped, and she caught up to him.
Blaise swung his gaze over to me, then started in my direction. Levi fell into step beside him. I wondered if they had any idea how much they looked like their fathers back then. It was like watching a replay of my childhood.
Blaise put his hat back on his head and smirked at me. “Well, Ringlets, did you miss us?”