24. Warren
Sleep comes in five-minute pockets.
It’s the worst night of my life, and even my rabbits sense I’m off. Nibbles usually does her own thing after breakfast, but she keeps bouncing back to me, butting me with her head.
“Okay. I’ll snuggle more. You’re right. I need a hug.” My voice hitches as I pet the attention-seeking rabbit. While they’ve always comforted me, I need more than my bunnies right now.
I need my dads.
After splashing water on my face and hoping I don’t look like death warmed over, I finally make my way downstairs.
The scent of coffee still hangs in the air, and I know Dad has been up for a few hours.
I heard him moving around at chore time, and I usually help, but this morning I couldn’t pull myself out of bed for it.
We have a morning farm hand who shows up to for chores, and Dad doesn’t even need to go, but it’s a habit he doesn’t want to kick.
Peeking out the picture window, my dads sit together snuggled up on the porch swing.
A blanket over their laps, Pops leans into Dad, and I close my eyes when Dad tips his chin to kiss him. It’s a private moment I don’t want to intrude on, and one that I’ve seen so many times while growing up here. It’s also what gives me the strength to interrupt.
Opening the patio door, I clear my throat as I step out. They both smile as Dad rocks the swing with his foot.
“Sorry to interrupt.”
“You’re not,” Dad says. His gaze meets mine, and I almost lose my nerve.
“What do you need us for?” His voice is gentle.
There’s no yelling or name-calling. It’s just my dad being there for me.
Even if our time together didn’t start until I was fifteen, this is the man with whom I feel an impossibly close bond and trust implicitly.
Pops too, but Dad is…we just get each other a little better than anyone else.
Kind of like how Pops and Clarence are two of the same.
Huffing a breath, I lean against the railing across from them. The gentle squeak of the swing chain is oddly soothing. It reminds me of all the talks I had as a teenager out here with them. The back porch and the swing will forever be my safe zone.
“It’s Dane,” I begin and clear my throat again. “He’s in trouble.”
Dad’s foot stops rocking, and Pops sits up straight. “What kind of trouble?” Pops asks in his lawyer voice, and I’m insanely grateful to have both of them on my side right now.
I take several minutes to tell them everything about Dane and what he shared. I tell them what Jesse found out and what I’ve seen. They listen the entire time, and when I’m finally finished, I feel almost heavier than when I started.
Pops frowns and looks at Dad. Dad has his I’m gonna burn down the world to protect my family look, and I’m a little nervous about that. He said he likes Dane, but that might change.
“Warren, I’m going to ask this once. Do you think he’s using you and the school to get at our wealth? Be honest. Don’t think with your dick.”
My dad has always been blunt that way, and I’ve been thinking of that very thing for the past eight hours. Ever since I watched him drive away alone. Ever since I held him weeping against my shirt in my favourite pocket of solitude.
“He’s not. That’s an answer from my head and not my dick. I think he meant it when he didn’t see any other way out of it, and I think he honestly thinks he can’t go to the police.”
Dad and Pops share a long glance, an entire conversation without words, before Pops stands.
“I have people I can call. He won’t be charged if he has evidence against Henry.
The poor kid needs a break. He’s lost everything, and after finally finding a place to land with us, he gets that taken away, too?
No. Not on my watch.” Pops opens his arms, and I step into his hug.
“If he needs help, we’ll get it for him. Leave it to me.”
Pops leaves me and Dad alone, and he pats the space on the swing next to him.
“You didn’t come out for chores this morning.”
“No. I wasn’t ready for…I had to get my thoughts straight before you started your inquisition.” He snorts, and his lips curve into a smile.
“I ask a lot of questions, but it’s only because I care. You’re my son. Doesn’t matter how you came to be my son, either. The day I signed those papers to officially be your dad is one I’ll never forget, Warren. Raising kids isn’t something I dreamed of until I met you.”
“What? Really? You’ve never said that before.”
“Yes, really.” Dad rocks the swing with his foot.
“That night at 4-H, you were blazing mad, and I’d never heard such profanity.
” We both chuckle. I was awfully upset that night.
“But underneath all that, the lost little boy that reminded me of myself just popped out and reminded me how it felt to just need something to anchor to. In that single moment, I knew it had to be me, and I wanted you to become the fine young man you are now. It was always there.”
“Sometimes we’re so alike I think it’s why we fight so much.”
Dad chuckles and nudges me with his shoulder.
“Probably, but I don’t call it fighting. It’s passionately debating.”
Leave it to my dad to positively spin every argument we’ve had.
“I understand how Dane feels alone and abandoned. We connect in the ring together because we connect well out of it. You know what I mean?”
Even when I hated Dane for beating me every time, every year, I was drawn to him in ways that I’m only now understanding. I don’t want to call it fate, but maybe it is something as profound as the universe pushing the right person into my path when I’d all but given up.
“This is more than just sex?” Dad asks.
“Yeah. I think…I think he’s a good man, and I’d be proud to share my life with him.”
Now those words lift a weight. I’ve not even said them out loud to Dane, but just saying them to someone sounds right.
“This might get messy for you and the school. You’ll need to loop your brothers in. Is he worth it?” Dad likes to get everything out front right away. No surprises. His question isn’t one filled with judgment, and I know that. He’s making sure this is what I want.
“Absolutely.”
Dad smiles and claps his hands together like we just ended a conversation about who has to mop the floor, and not me pouring my heart out and admitting I’m about to potentially risk everything he’s built for love.
“Great. Let’s get him over here and see what Pops needs.”
“Wait, Dad. What if the school’s reputation is harmed? Are you ready for that? You left it to us to build and protect, and now…” I trail off because it hurts to say out loud that I’ve let him down.
He stuffs his hands in his pockets, the fondness for me on his face clear.
“I’m ready for whatever my family needs. A business like this can recover if we lose people, but you know what won’t recover?” I shake my head. “Family that thinks we don’t support each other. I’ll always choose you over the school, Warren. Or Jesse or Clarence. That’s what family does.”
My eyes burn, and I swallow the emotion clogging my throat. “Thanks, Dad.”
He motions for me to stand up and hug. “One thing you learn as a parent is that the only thing better than helping your child is helping your child as an adult. Whether it’s giving you your room back while you sort out your life, or something a little more serious like this, it makes me feel needed.
You didn’t just grow up and move on. You still need your dad now and then.
It also means I did a pretty decent job with you. ”
He drops a kiss on my head and ushers me forward.
“Come on. Let’s call your brothers and create a plan before you find Dane.”
Scrubbing a hand down my face, I ask Clarence to repeat it all back to me.
“Okay, the short version is we can make a deal for information that will keep Dane out of jail. What I can’t guarantee is the future in rodeo. He’s about to admit to fixing an event. Even off the pro circuit, they may sanction him.”
“Fuck. So it could end his career.”
I don’t know if he can handle that right now.
“It might. I can find someone with experience with that. Because he was under duress, they might just suspend him. I really can’t predict that one, Warren.”
Jesse rubs my shoulders. “He could still work at the school if the rodeo bans him. I know the background and why he did it.”
“It’s not the same. He needs rodeo money for Darla. What happens to her if he can’t pay?”
“Actually, when you told me about that, I was shocked to hear he’d been paying for her all this time.
He’s eligible for help from the province, so he shouldn’t be paying out of pocket as much as he has.
Do you know why he did that?” Clarence shuffles some papers around and produces one that he reads from.
“I don’t know a lot about care like that, so I did a quick search.
It’s usually based on income. If Dane gave his income and said he was a primary caregiver, he shouldn’t pay more than a percentage of his income for her place.
Private care is a little different, but still…
he should have been getting assistance this entire time. ”
My heart cracks for Dane all over again. Stubborn or scared, he made his life harder than it had to be in the past few years.
“So he could have been doing better all this time if they’d just given him the right information!? What the fuck?”
“Maybe? I can make some calls to the home she’s in. If he didn’t give them all the information, they wouldn’t be aware, either. People lie on forms all the time.”
Dane said he just filled in information to get the space. He lied about income, and why would they think otherwise if he presented the money as asked?
Dad clears his throat. During this family meeting, he’s mostly sat silently and let the three of us with Pops discuss all the ramifications. There is some hope, but not being able to compete will break Dane. I know it.
“I think it’s time Warren finds Dane and shares all this information with him, but before he does that, you three need to be united on how this affects the school.
If he can compete later, he’s tied to the Burke rodeo school.
If he teaches, he’s still with the Burke school.
Even if things don’t work out with him and Warren… how do you want to present the school?”
“I’ve already said I support Dane. The school might take a hit, but I don’t think it would be big enough to make a huge loss.
We still have loads of talent to back us if people choose to snub him.
I’m in for supporting him, and we ride it out.
” Jesse speaks with conviction, and I was confident he’d be on Dane’s side. It’s Clarence I’m unsure of.
“Clary?” My voice cracks because even though I love my brother, he’s been a straight shooter his entire life.
I was the rule breaker and the rebel, and he’d always do the thing that wasn’t quite disappointment, but he’d point out my errors.
We’ve always butted heads, but I was the one who held him when he had nightmares and got him talking when he said nothing for weeks.
Clarence exhales and stares at the floor for a beat. When he finally meets my gaze, I almost burst over the table to hug him.
“From what Warren has told me, Dane is a good man and, like us, he experienced hardship that nobody should have to navigate alone. We can help, and I trust Warren’s opinion. If he works at the school or still gets to ride representing us, I’m on board.”
“Thanks, Clary.”
“Don’t thank me yet, Warren. I need to spend a lot of time with him to prepare him for the lawyers he has to deal with. He might hate me after.”
“Not a chance. You’re too cute to hate, and…” With a breath, I settle myself and look around the room at my two brothers and two dads. “I don’t take any of you for granted. Dane won’t either. Thank you all for giving this your time today.”
“You need to go find him,” Pops says as he stands. “He’s probably a mess waiting to hear from you.” He crosses the room and squeezes my shoulder. “We’re in this together, but go find him so he knows he’s not alone.”
I don’t need any more encouragement to find him. After tugging on my boots, I run to my truck and hit dial before I pull out of the driveway.
“Warren?”
“Dane. Where are you?”
“Um…I’m not sure. Some country field.”
His voice sounds slurred, but now is not the time to accuse him of anything.
“Can you share your location on the phone, babe?”
“Why?”
“Because I’m coming to get you. You’re coming home, and I’m not taking no for an answer.”