Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
A loud pounding sound interrupted Faith’s sleep.
She was groggy enough that she thought she’d been dreaming about it.
As she opened her eyes, blinked a few times, the sound got louder.
Not only was it the loud banging sound, but the chaos of her brother’s deep voices filtering through the walls of her ranch style home.
Faith shot up in her bed. There was still a faint light in the sky, so she had to have only been in bed for a half hour. She’d gone to sleep early due to a headache.
The noise continued and she strained her ears. There was too much going on for her to know what exactly what was happening. The fact that her brothers were still shouting at whoever had come to their door put her on edge. She tossed aside her covers and headed for the door.
Faith poked her head out into the hallway and the voices got louder.
“I want to see her.”
“And I told you that isn’t going to happen.”
“You don’t understand. I have to talk to her.”
“Yeah, well, you’re angry. And I’m not going to put her in that position.”
The ringing in Faith’s head intensified and she pressed her fingers to her temples. She recognized the voice. Brent was here. And based on what she could tell, he was angry. Tate was protecting her.
But she didn’t need protection.
It had been a couple weeks since she’d spoken to Brent. After their argument, she’d chosen to keep her distance, to figure out what she wanted to do next. The secret she still held close to her chest still weighed on her and she was contemplating going to speak to Heather herself.
“Tate, please.” Brent’s voice was void of the pleading she would have expected to come with that request. It was as if he were speaking through gritted teeth. Yes, he was angry. Which made her wonder, what had happened?
Had Brent gotten tired of giving her space and he wanted to talk her into accepting what he needed? Or worse, had he found out that she’d kept the secret from him? She shivered involuntarily. She didn’t want to have to confront him.
And yet, her feet seemed to argue with her based on the way she currently headed for the stairs. When she rounded the corner of the hall, her eyes clashed with Brent’s. He stood in the doorway and she remained at the top of the stairs.
His focus must have clued Tate into her appearance because her brother stiffened and swung around to look at her. “Faith, you weren’t feeling well. You can go back to bed.”
She ignored him. “What’s wrong?”
“You don’t have to worry about—” her brother started, but Brent’s voice rose above it.
“Did you know?”
Brent didn’t have to clarify what he was asking. There was only one reason he would ask her that question.
He looked utterly haggard. Even from where she stood, she could tell he’d been through the ringer. His clothes were disheveled. His hair was mussed beyond anything she’d seen before. There were bags under his eyes.
Yes, Brent’s life had been turned upside down and she knew the reason.
“Faith?” Jason had moved into her line of sight, blocking Brent from view.
She shifted her eyes to her brother before shifting so she could see Brent again.
“You don’t have to speak to him like this,” Jason murmured quietly.
“Just tell us to make him leave and we’ll do it. He’s clearly not doing well.”
She didn’t miss the dark look Tate gave Brent and the subtle way he stepped closer, making it clear he would make good on Jason’s promise.
Her heart hurt for the broken man in her doorway. And yes, he deserved some answers though she wasn’t sure they’d be the ones he wanted.
“It’s fine,” she whispered.
“What?” Jason asked. He was a good ten steps away from her. His hand gripped the railing as he stared up at her.
“Let him in. It’s fine.” She said it louder, but her voice trembled a little.
“Well, we’re not going to leave him alone with you.” Tate turned to Brent. “We heard all about you and your priorities. After what you promised…” he shook his head with disgust. “You’re lucky we didn’t kick you to the curb the second you showed up here in your state.”
Brent didn’t look at Tate. His hard stare remained locked on Faith. She fidgeted then nodded to herself. She could do this.
Each step she took closer to him was painful.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she gestured for him to head for their front room.
It was a more formal sitting area with two high-back chairs, a coffee table, and a couch.
It was where she’d played the piano as a child.
This conversation wasn’t one they could have around the kitchen table or the family room.
Brent eyed her brothers when they took up space behind the chair she’d chosen.
Then he settled onto the couch, but he remained perched on the edge of the cushion.
His hands were clasped together, and his elbows were braced on his knees.
For a moment he hung his head and the silence in the room stretched to uncomfortable levels.
Then he lifted his head and his eyes shone with tears. His voice remained hard. “You knew.”
This time it wasn’t a question. She hadn’t answered the first time, but she also hadn’t denied it. All she could do was give him a short nod.
“Knew what?” Tate demanded.
Brent ignored him. “How?”
She cleared her throat. “Hallie told me.”
The man she loved muttered a curse and shot to his feet. He ran both hands through his hair before lacing them behind his neck and looking up at the ceiling. Her brothers tensed and moved closer but nothing more.
“I can’t believe this. How long?”
Faith watched him pace back and forth, growing increasingly on edge. She swallowed hard and shifted in her seat. “I don’t know. A couple weeks?”
His eyes cut to hers, slicing her straight through her heart. “Weeks?” His eyes darted away and took on a far-off quality. “The research.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“How could you,” he ground out.
“Brent—”
“No. You don’t have any excuses. You kept this from me for weeks. Weeks, Faith!”
Tate moved forward, his voice dark. “Brent…” there was a warning in that one syllable. Brent needed to take a breath. While Tate probably thought Brent was directing his anger at the wrong person, he couldn’t be more wrong.
She’d been the one to hold this secret to herself when he deserved to know. She’d nearly told him. She’d wanted to. Keeping this information to herself was the ultimate betrayal. Brent had only ever been honest with her. And she’d thanked him with this.
Faith pressed her lips together. She waited, expected him to blow up again.
“Why, Faith?”
She stared at him blankly. Why what? Why did she keep the secret? Why did she try to manipulate him from following his dream? Why didn’t she just cut ties with him before any of this had happened? She didn’t have the answers to any of it.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Brent said under his breath, taking a step toward her. But one look at her brothers and he stopped.
“Anything I could say to you wouldn’t be enough.”
“Humor me,” he muttered.
She squeezed her eyes shut and wrung her hands together. “I told Hallie I wouldn’t.”
He snorted. “Not good enough.”
“You’re right.” She forced herself to look at him. “You’re completely right. I don’t owe Hallie anything. But you know what? I do owe you everything. I didn’t want to be the one who shattered your world. It wasn’t my secret to keep. Your parents—”
“Don’t bring them into this. I’m talking to you about why you refused to give me anything. All you had to do was tell me.” His voice cracked and with it, her heart fissured.
Faith wanted to burst into tears at this very moment.
She wanted to tell him she was sorry. That this wasn’t how she wanted everything to come out.
But at this point it wouldn’t help. There was no cleaning up this oil spill.
It had spread far too much, and they were all covered in it.
So she nodded to herself again and kept her mouth shut.
“That’s it? That’s your excuse? You thought my parents who had kept this from me for over two decades would come clean?
What proof is there that they would?” He barked out a laugh that almost sounded manic.
“You know what’s ironic? Hallie was the one to spill the beans.
For all her manipulation, she was the one to shatter my world as you so quaintly put it. And right in front of Tripp, too.”
Her eyes widened. Tripp’s wedding was tomorrow. He didn’t need this on his plate. He had bigger things to think about.
“Yeah, pretty cruddy thing to do, right?” Brent shook his head derisively.
“And the best part of all of this? It actually makes sense. The reasons my parents have for me to stay away from the rodeo. I want to say that if they’d come clean to me when I first started showing an interest in the rodeo, that it would have made a difference…
” His voice went quiet and she had to strain to hear it.
“Did you know they changed his name? Tripp. He was supposed to be Tripp Brent. I wasn’t even born yet when Louis—my dad died.
So they gave me his name. At least I have that.
But my brother?” His voice cracked, laced with broken emotion.
“They took everything from him. He was supposed to be Tripp Brent. He doesn’t remember anything about our dad. He was so little.”
Faith became all too aware that her own brothers had grown deathly still behind her.
What did they think of this? Their last name was everything.
It was what they got to pass on to keep the family line going.
She wanted to jump over the coffee table and pull him into her arms. She wanted to let him cry into her neck while she told him that he was still his father’s son even though Louis hadn’t raised him.
Heck, his natural talent on the back of a horse proved that.
But she couldn’t.
There was something holding her back.
The guilt.
The sense that she would never be able to fix this.
Then something from what he’d said triggered her. She sat forward. “You’re not seriously thinking about competing tomorrow, are you?”
Brent lifted his sullen eyes to meet hers. “I’m not going to walk away from everything I’ve done to get to where I am.”
“Brent—” Both of her brothers spoke together. Brent must have just remembered they were in the room because he startled and peered at the two of them.
He didn’t give them a chance to speak. “No one can stop me from chasing my destiny. My father—my biological father—would have wanted me to do this. Competing is the only way to honor his memory.”
Faith gripped at her shirt just above her chest and whispered, “Brent, you can’t honestly think that’s the only way.”
His expression hardened once more. “He was a star, Faith. He had everything going for him.”
“I know.” This time her voice broke. “There was no one like him. His instincts were like nothing the world had ever seen, but—”
“But nothing. I’ll go to Tripp’s wedding ceremony, but then I’m going to compete.”
“You’re not in the right mindset,” Tate pointed out. “This news… you’re going to hurt yourself.”
Brent worked his jaw. He clearly didn’t agree but when he didn’t argue, Tate continued.
“Look, I get where you’re coming from—”
“I doubt that,” Brent scoffed.
“Yeah, probably not entirely, but hear me out. Your mother lost the love of her life. She had a young kid and she found out she was pregnant. That had to be a traumatic experience at the very least. It probably changed her brain chemistry.”
“That’s not an excuse!” Brent’s voice rose.
Faith flinched, not willing to meet his eyes.
“I’m not saying it’s an excuse. All I’m saying is put yourself in her shoes. Try to see things from the other side.”
“She lied to me! She told me that Judd Gilley was my father—”
Jason was the one to step forward this time and the cool tone of his voice dropped the temperature of the room by several degrees. It was enough to give her goosebumps.
“That man is every bit your father. He raised you, if you haven’t forgotten. Just because he doesn’t share blood with you means squat. Don’t you ever make him feel differently.”
Faith turned and peered up at the brother who rarely spoke. But she knew his views on family were deeply rooted. The Dennison family hadn’t experienced the trauma that Brent was currently dealing with, but that didn’t mean Jason didn’t make an excellent point.
Judd Gilley had stepped up when his friend had died.
A flicker of remorse was all they got from Brent before he shook his head and stormed toward the door.
Neither Faith nor her brothers went after him.
There was no point. He was still hurting so much, and he needed to come to his own conclusions where his family was concerned.
Though he hadn’t outright broken up with her, she wasn’t sure if he’d ever see her the same way.
Maybe this was for the best. A clean cut. Everything out in the open.
All she could do was pray that he’d make it through this hurdle without permanently damaging the most important relationships in his life.