5. Cash
Chapter Five
Cash
I have every intention of going another week before I see Haven again.
I’m slowly reading the thriller book, and I’m busy between the garage and my family ranch. I’ve got a lot to keep me busy.
That doesn’t mean that I’m not constantly thinking about her sweet mouth, the dinner that we shared in her cosy little apartment, or the hurt in her eyes when she accidentally revealed that I was her only friend in town.
I hate that so much. It chewed me up inside, so much so that after pacing back and forth in my apartment for 20 minutes, I gave Mercy a call and sent her to go befriend Haven because I can’t be her only pal. It’s dangerous enough that I’m already this close to her. On so many levels.
She made it clear that she is not ashamed to be associated with me, because she’s an incredibly good person, kind and earnest. She believes the best in people, sees the best in me, god knows why.
But if her own past is causing her this much grief, having her present revolves around the tattooed ex-con mechanic who works across the street from her… that’s a disaster waiting to happen.
And Mercy accepted the mission from me, but now her lips are sealed. When I went into The Friendly Table the next day to ask her how it went, she just gave me a thumbs up and told me to mind my own business.
Which leaves me counting down the days until a week has passed, and I can check out a new book and flirt with the pretty librarian a little bit.
The date is circled on my calendar.
The night before, I go out to the ranch to have dinner with my mom and my brothers—and the newest members of our family, in a manner of speaking, Hope Waterford and her three-year-old daughter, Bellamy.
The forecast calls for rain, and I’m not a dumbass anymore, so I leave my motorcycle at the garage and take my truck instead. That makes it easier to take a stack of books I bought for Bellamy, too.
When I arrive, Zane and Hope are throwing rope in the paddock. Ridge and Dax are leaning against the fence, watching them in the late afternoon sun.
Our mother is nowhere to be seen, and neither is the little girl, so they’re probably together somewhere.
I give my brothers a wave. “Where’s the rugrat? I brought her some new books.”
Zane lifts his voice and points. “With Luna, feeding the chickens.”
I lean against the fence next to Dax. “I won’t interrupt that, then.”
Zane twirls the rope he’s holding over his head as he looks at the three of us. “I’m glad you’re here,” he says, grinning, “because I’ve got some news.”
“What’s that?”
He flicks his wrist, sending the lasso high into the sky before it whistles down around Hope, who gasps and shakes her head at him, but her eyes are warm and her smile is so private it makes my chest hurt.
“I asked Hope to marry me,” Zane says, a bit of emotional gravel in his voice as he pulls her in close. She tugs off her gloves before she wraps her arms around his neck, and sure enough, there’s a fancy ring on her hand. “She said yes. And we’re having a baby.”
“Holy shit,” Dax says.
Ridge just grunts.
And I can’t say I’m surprised, given all that these two have been through already, but I’m…jealous. A few months ago, we were all bachelors, and that felt right. Our father was a monster. We’re a feral bunch. Somehow, we survived a stormy, chaotic youth and settled here on the ranch.
It felt like gift enough that we managed to establish Kincaid’s Refuge. Asking for anything more would be gluttonous.
Of course, Zane didn’t ask for Hope to appear on our doorstep.
But the ease with which my brother shifted from bachelor to family man...
I wish it could be that easy for all of us.
I swallow around the rough brick in my throat. “Mom knows?”
Zane’s grin is ridiculous. “Yeah, she knew before I took Hope out to Lover’s Canyon.”
Jesus Christ. He asked her in our family spot, too?
Fucking blessed.
“Well, I’m real happy for you,” I say, and it’s true. But it’s the kind of happy that makes me want things I can’t have.
From the other side of the barn, a high-pitched giggle carries on the breeze. Followed by a squawk, and then tears.
“Oh, no…” Hope says, immediately letting go of Zane and starting for the fence, only to be stopped by the lasso still around her waist.
Laughing, Zane frees her, then hands her the coil of rope. “I’ll get Bellamy, you keep practicing.”
He launches himself over the railing and strides away.
Hope gathers up the rope, but instead of tossing it at the roping dummy again, she just squeezes it in her bare hand, that engagement ring glinting in the golden light. “I hope you know that I love your brother very much.”
“Sure,” Dax says.
Ridge just grunts again, but he adds a nod, too.
“We do,” I promise.
“And we don’t want to make any of you feel like this isn’t your home anymore, even though we have taken over more of the house.”
When we first bought the ranch, Zane took the lower level, Ridge built himself a small cabin set back from the main house, and Dax and I took the second floor. Luna has a studio on the third floor, which includes a bedroom and bathroom all her own.
Hope and Bellamy arrived after I moved to town six months ago, so they took my old room, across from Dax’s—and after Hope’s ex stalked her here and Zane confronted him, the upstairs had to be renovated anyway, so he took that opportunity to move Dax to the basement.
Now Hope and Zane share his old room, across from Bellamy, and…
I don’t have a room here anymore.
I could stay with Ridge, of course. I still own a quarter of the ranch. I could build my own cabin, too.
But right now, everything I want is in town. “It’s good to see the house being lived in, don’t worry. All I care about is having a seat at the table sometimes for dinner.”
“Always,” she promises. “We made a roast for tonight, with carrots and parsnips and fresh peas from the garden.”
“Fuck yeah,” Dax says, laughing. “Welcome to the family officially, Hope.”
She blushes again. “I think it’s not official official until we actually say vows, right?”
“We’re not big rule followers,” I say.
“Fucking should be,” Ridge mutters. To me, not to Hope. To her, he nods again. “But you’re already family. Don’t need to marry Zane for that to be true. Especially with a baby on the way.”
“Thank you,” she says softly.
Zane comes from around the barn, carrying a sobbing three-year-old.
Our mother is behind her with a basket of eggs on her arm and a brand new I Choose The Bear t-shirt draped over her petite form.
She likes to collect t-shirts that remind us to live our values out loud, and it doesn’t get louder than that.
“Nice shirt,” I say as I fall in beside her, shortening my stride to match hers as we head to the house.
She beams at me. It’s an easy bar to clear, reminding my mom that I know the world is unfair, and I’ll always have her back.
Inside the house, Hope disappears with Bellamy to soothe her chicken-offended feelings, and Zane checks the roast in the oven. Dax fills us in on the latest from the rodeo circuit. Ridge tells us what’s going on with the cattle herd, and Luna talks about a new art project she just started.
It’s exactly like we’ve spent countless family dinners over the last five years.
For the first time, it feels like something is missing.
That thought sticks around as we eat, but it gets drowned out a bit by the fresh chaos that descends with Bellamy’s rambunctious return.
Dinner is different with a toddler. Louder in some ways, quieter in others.
Four grown men stifling our instincts to pepper all stories with expletives.
And there’s a softness in my mother that I haven’t seen maybe ever.
Her eyes glow as she looks at Bellamy as she coaxes the little girl to try a yummy parsnip.
After dinner, we’re just about to have dessert when Dax looks at his phone and abruptly announces that he is going to head out early.
“I’m going to head to Bar None. Looks busy tonight, and I want to catch up with some people before I head out of town again.”
“Do you want a ride back into town?” I ask. It’s a good excuse for me to cut out early, too. “Then you don’t have to worry about your truck at the end of the night.”
“Sure, thanks.” He grins at Ridge. “You want to come with us?”
“Fuck no,” our oldest brother growls. “I’ve got an early morning.”
We all do, but that won’t stop Dax.
My plan is just to drop him off, not go in with him, but that plan goes out the window as soon as I pull up in front and see a dark red ponytail swish under the entrance sign.
Haven’s here, with Mercy.
At the start of the summer, the diner owner asked me for a favour. She had a frightened woman in her restaurant who had a broken down car and needed a quiet job. Could I fix the car, and wait until she found some work to charge her for the labour?
Of course I could. And I could do one better—I knew that Luna needed help picking her spring kale harvest.
Now that favour is marrying my brother, and everyone is happier than can be.
So I asked Mercy for a small favour in return, because she owed me one. Haven wasn’t properly welcomed back to town when she took the librarian job, and that was an oversight. Maybe Mercy could hang out with her a few times.
I was thinking the farmer’s market on Saturday mornings. Maybe a book club.
Not bringing the sweetest, most innocent woman in all of Dragonfly Creek to Bar None on a Thursday night, when deep fried pickles are half-price and the beer is flowing extra hard.
“I’ll come in for a drink,” I mutter to Dax.
He grins widely. “Yeah? Gonna get up to some trouble?”
More like make sure nobody else tries anything funny with someone who shouldn’t be here. “Sure.”
Inside, the music is blaring.
Dax’s friends wave from a table near the entrance. I follow my brother in that direction, but I’m scanning for the girls at the same time. I don’t see them at first. No sign of the silky dark red hair or that pretty dress I noticed Haven was wearing.
But then I catch sight of Mercy near a booth at the back.
“I’m going to grab a drink at the bar,” I say to Dax under the loud twang of country music.
I order a Coke to nurse, then move down the bar to try to get a better look at who they’re with in that booth. Haven is tucked inside—and she’s alone. Mercy slides in across from her.
Haven’s face lights up.
I breathe a little easier, and toss enough cash on the bar to cover my pop and whatever they might order, too. “Hey, you know Mercy Lane?” I ask the bartender. “Her and her friend’s drinks are on me tonight.”
“Sure thing.”
I head back to Dax’s table just in time for them to decide to play darts.
“You want to join us?”
I shake my head. “I’ll sit here, save this space in case you come back.”
With my back to the wall, I have a perfect vantage point to watch people come and go—and across the bar, two women start to drink in a booth.