Chapter Thirty
The Bennet Ranch
Nate had not done a ranch chore in over fifteen years. Some things came back easily, kind of like riding a bike. Some things felt as foreign as if he’d been born in New York City and never seen a cattle ranch before.
They didn’t go to the courthouse for the rest of the trial. Everyone agreed they’d done all they could do. Now it was just waiting for the sides to rest, and then jury deliberation.
The five of them met up at the ranch every afternoon, waiting to hear from Mr. Vanderbilt what it would be.
For three days after both sides had rested, no answer came.
Nate didn’t have a case for Honor’s Edge at the moment, so he’d offered to lend a hand at the ranch to work off some of his excess energy today.
Mostly because Sam had suggested it, because she’d said if he didn’t stop spending his day pacing or trying his hand at fixing things around the Honor’s Edge building, she was going to tie him to a chair.
He smiled in spite of himself. It had felt normal. After all these weeks of just being mired in shit. Waiting wasn’t normal. It was nerve-racking as hell, but there were pockets of time in the wait, now that they weren’t chained to court every day, that almost felt like real life.
He’d really like the whole thing to just be over, but there was still a chance the jury hadn’t seen what they’d all seen. That they thought Ben was just overwrought. That what he’d done wasn’t enough to keep him in jail forever.
Nate blew out a breath, tried to blow out the tension with it. Tension didn’t change anything.
Cal, Landon, and Aly appeared on their horses outside the stables Nate was working in. Nate hadn’t quite made the return to riding. He’d once loved it, but he wasn’t sure his leg, no matter how healed, could handle it these days.
So he’d been relegated to grunt chores. He hung the shovel in its spot as Cal and Landon led their horses, and Aly’s horse, into the stable. She’d no doubt gone to the house to start dinner.
“I think I’m done shoveling shit. Not just for the day, but for good.”
Landon studied him with his mouth curved upward, ever so slightly. “Suit yourself. You’re almost a decent enough grunt though. You could give up investigating things, work your way up the Bennet Ranch hierarchy.”
“Yeah. Pass.”
Landon laughed.
The three of them worked in some silence to get the horses stabled. It was still early to head in for dinner, but Nate figured they were all hoping for a call from Vanderbilt.
When they stepped outside, he noted Sam’s car was coming to a stop in front of the house. Aly had paused on the porch to watch her approach.
“She’s early,” Cal said.
Nate wondered if that meant news. But she got out then pulled some pizza boxes out of the back seat. Just bringing dinner. He blew out another breath as they started to walk through the snow toward her.
Cal slapped him on the back. “So, you going to ball and chain it like our old Landon here?”
“Jesus,” Nate muttered, striding for Sam at a quicker pace. Leaving his brothers laughing behind him.
Yeah, he was definitely not ready to think about balls or chains, even if he didn’t mind hearing his brothers laugh together.
When he approached Sam first, she grinned up at him. Definitely no real news or he’d see it in her eyes.
“Don’t you three make a handsome trio,” she said.
Nate just grunted, but he knew she was glad they were all laughing too.
“I’ve got a bag in there with some salads and bread. Can you grab it?”
He did as she asked and then they all headed up to the porch.
“I brought dinner,” Sam announced to Aly, who was frowning a little.
“Early,” Aly said, like she was expecting it to come with bad news.
“So you didn’t start cooking,” Sam replied with a shrug as they all started to pile inside. “Plus, I heard some rumblings.”
“Define rumblings,” Landon demanded.
“Detective Hayes texted me. The jury was getting ready to come back to court. They’ve made their decision. We should have an answer tonight, whenever court adjourns and Vanderbilt calls.”
No one said anything. They stepped into the warm house, shedding outer layers. Sam put the food down on the coffee table in the living room, so Nate put the bag there as well.
“I’ll get plates,” Aly said quietly, turning and moving for the kitchen.
Landon followed her presumably to help. Cal collapsed into one of the armchairs, and Nate settled himself on the love seat that wasn’t quite big enough for two people.
He pulled Sam into the small space next to him.
It was a tight fit, but she leaned into him and let him sling his arm across her shoulders.
Aly and Landon returned with plates, and everyone began to get food. For a good few minutes, no one ate or spoke. They just poked at their meals.
Sam was the first one to break the silence. “If it goes bad, we’ll get that DNA to prove him wrong. We’ll find a way to appeal or whatever. Right, Cal?”
Her relentless determination really never failed to amaze Nate. Even more now having seen underneath all that to the vulnerable, soft, tired spots she tried to keep hidden. But she never let those win, not for long. She just kept fighting.
It was no wonder he was in love with her.
Cal surveyed the room. Nate didn’t know that Cal fully agreed with Sam, but he wasn’t going to disagree.
“Yeah. We’ll do whatever it takes,” he said, whether he believed it or not.
They ate. Each of them tried to hold some kind of light conversation. About the ranch, the weather, but nothing held except silence. Enough silence that they all jumped when a phone started ringing.
Aly spilled her drink, Sam’s salad had upended a little into both their laps, and Landon now had pizza sauce on his shirt.
But no one moved to handle these things. They all looked at Cal. Who was pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.
“It’s Vanderbilt.”
“Put it on speaker,” Nate said.
Cal looked up at him briefly, then nodded.
He answered. “This is Bennet. I’ve got you on speaker here with … everybody.”
“Cal, everyone, the jury returned with their verdict and sentencing.”
Cal looked around the room, then nodded. “Go ahead with it.”
“Benjamin Bennet was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to spend life in prison. He’ll make appeals. I don’t have any doubts about that, but … he’s going to have a tough case after that outburst.”
No one spoke. Nate didn’t even breathe.
They’d … done it. Cal had done it. Or they all had, one way or another.
Dad was going to jail. Forever.
“Thanks for the call,” Cal said. “I’m going to make sure everyone knows. I might have some questions for you later.”
“Call my office. We’ll set up a postmortem. Good work, Cal. All of you.”
Cal ended the phone call, and they all sat there in a kind of dazed silence.
Guilty. Dad had been found guilty. Given life in prison. Nate knew it wasn’t over over. Maybe it never could be. But it was a step toward over enough to move on with their lives.
“I should call Jill,” Aly said abruptly. “They should know.” She stood, then just … didn’t move.
There was a big water spill on the leg of her pants, and she seemed to be looking down at the puddle on the ground.
“I’ll clean up the mess. You call Jill. Jill and Glenda should know,” Sam said, with enough authority Aly started moving.
Sam picked the salad out of their laps then got up to follow Aly out of the room. Aly to make the phone call. Sam to get something to wipe up the water with.
Leaving the brothers in the living room they’d grown up in. Manipulated and traumatized and pitted against each other. The living room where now they’d come together, and put a stop, once and for all, to Benjamin Bennet’s reign of terror.
No matter what happened, no matter what scars were left, that was over.
They didn’t celebrate. It wasn’t something to celebrate no matter how much a relief it was. Like Vanderbilt said, Dad could still appeal. And like had always been the case, Mom was still dead.
But it was like a chapter had closed.
Like a new one could open.
Nate turned to Cal. “You did it.”
Cal sat there for a moment and then shook his head. “It started when you came back. It gained traction once Landon took it seriously enough. I had to … face…” Cal made a vague motion to his head.
“It was all of us,” Landon said, a little stiffly. “Glenda. Jill. Sam. Aly. We all played a part. We did it together.” Landon looked up at each of them. “That’s why he wanted us apart.”
It felt unfathomable. Even as Sam cleaned up the mess and Aly returned.
Even as they all forced themselves to sit and eat, Nate realized it was just going to take some time to settle in.
To fully absorb and accept. Everything that had started in the spring—or fifteen years ago—or when they’d been born, had come to a conclusion on this night.
Once they were done eating, everyone helped clean up dinner, then Sam and Nate made their excuses to leave. They put their winter gear on and stepped outside with muted goodbyes.
The night was clear. The air icy. The snow crunched beneath their feet. Sam looked up at the brightly shining moon. She let out a breath that puffed in front of her.
“You sure you don’t want to spend the night here? Everyone seems kind of subdued. It’s a lot to take in, I know, but if you need to be support … you can stay. We can stay, if you want.”
He wound his arm around her shoulders, pulled her close and pressed a kiss to her temple. It was a nice offer. Kind, because that was Sam at the heart of her. But he didn’t think it was necessary. “Let’s go home, Sam.”
Because he’d found his home, and yeah, this was a lot to take in. A lot to deal with. And they’d do it together, even if they weren’t all physically on this ranch.
They were all back home.