Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
CORD
Getting It Right
I’d been wrong that night at the Falls about snow, yet right about so many other things. The weather set in the next day, covering the homestead and the golden grasslands around us in an early blanket of pure white crystals.
Lanie worked magic in my life over the following weeks at Coyote Falls.
West disappeared from the property with a promise he might bunk back at the homestead, but only if there was company in the main house when he returned.
I laughed my ass off at the not-so-subtle hint, making a note to tell Lanie that the worst gossips around are cowboys, especially ones with crushes on single-mom paramedics from out of town.
Afterward, the house seemed… too empty. The guest wing takes up an enormous amount of space, and with only two people occupying the wing I claim for myself, I know it can’t stay that way forever.
The changes my girl has made to the homestead have affected us all, in the best of ways, despite how we got here.
Or maybe that’s the point, that this is the path we took because life has built up to where we are now. I don’t believe in fate or destiny, but it seems like I was always headed in this direction. I’m just glad Lanie was at the other end of this ride to catch me when I landed.
Even with only us in the house, it’s far from a quiet space.
The blender cranks as she makes smoothies for us both while I finish the last of my stretches.
The PT cleared me of major issues a week ago, and my brain unjumbled on its own, just as Lanie described that first night back home on the ranch.
As long as I don’t do anything too sharp or jarring, I should be fine.
Like ride a bull. Or fall off one.
“I thought about maybe filling the house. You know. With people.” I lean in to kiss Lanie, sliding my hands beneath her wild-cherry hair to bare her shoulders and find a tender spot that makes her draw in a sharp breath when she slides a green smoothie my way.
“You’re a tease, Cordell Rand,” she berates me tartly. “Wait. Family people, or people people?”
“Family people. The little people sort that belong to us,” I clarify, snagging her waist. Her curved hips mold to mine as I breathe her in. That perfect Christmas-morning scent I’ll never get enough of fills my head to intoxication point. “Our little people sort.”
Lanie’s eyes widen. “You want us to start a family?”
“Yeah. One day.” I press a kiss at the corner of her mouth.
It’s something I’ve been thinking about since I came home, knowing that I want the homestead to fulfill its original purpose.
Because I’ve finally found the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.
“Not too soon, but not too far in the future, either.” I stroke her hair gently, hoping I’ve read her right.
“We haven’t talked this over before, so I’m kinda flying blind. ”
Lanie knots her hands in my shirt, her thick lashes jeweling with unshed tears.
“You really want me to stay that long?” she asks in a quiet voice I almost miss as the blender stops.
The silence is deafening, blanketing the homestead in its pensive presence.
I haul her against me, needing to remove that seed of doubt that’s been in her since the day we met.
“Lanie, I want you to stay forever. I can’t imagine being without you.
Coyote Falls won’t be right without you here.
” Neither will I. Ignoring her protests, I trail kisses along her collarbone.
“Help me make this place noisy. Help me break things. I want to fix things badly. Make West a grumpy old man, if he wants to stay. Hell, I wanna break things and curse about shit. But mostly, I want to love you. Will you do that with me?” I run my fingers along her cheek.
She nuzzles into my palm, releasing a sigh.
“I love you, too, because that’s what I think you just said?
And yes, I’d love to fill the house with children, as long as they stay off bulls, Cord.
But you might have to put up with other people in the interim.
You get that, right, you old hermit?” She sends me a sassy smile, standing on her toes to press a kiss to my lips.
“Actually…” Lanie bites her lip and pulls away, her fingers winding through mine.
I frown. “I know that look. What did you do?”
She shakes her head. “Um, nothing?” Her voice pitches an octave or two higher than usual.
“Bullshit,” I call her out, stroking her cheek tenderly to take the sting out of my words. “Tell me,” I demand, winding her into me.
“Come with me?” She takes a tentative step toward the front door, her smoothie forgotten.
I follow her, smiling when I spot Winnie’s car parked in the yard. Sally hops out, making a beeline for me, and then diverges at the last minute and aims for Lanie instead. I let out a bellowing laugh that feels damn good to release.
My humor dies a short death as I realized my sister’s car isn’t the only one parked in the yard. The white sedan is easy enough to recognize because I bought it.
Lanie offers me an encouraging nod, taking Sally’s hand to draw her over to Billy, who begins a game of Red Rover on the veranda.
I love seeing the boy who came from a string of foster homes find himself a version of family he can accept here, even if it’s not a forever home.
I hope he’ll find what he’s looking for one day.
But there’s more that I need to deal with than someone else’s domesticity right now.
I have my own family to deal with, of the immediate sort, and for me, that’s rare.
My feet move down the steps without my permission.
I’m surprised to find I move with them, reaching the bottom as my father emerges from the driver’s side of the car I bought for him years ago.
My lips tighten in a stiff smile. If this is what Lanie wants, I’ll give it a go, but I could have saved her the trouble of setting up the family reunion.
Hell, no wonder West took off for the week.
That man’s heart always belonged to the drifter in him.
I’m surprised he’s stayed at Coyote Falls as long as he has.
“I’m shocked you drove this far out.”
“Your mother refuses to let me give up on you,” my father grouses. A hand shades his eyes, lines crinkling the edges I swear weren’t that deep the last time I saw him. “Lanie called, said we need to settle up some things.”
“Some things, like what?” I halt a few steps away from the man who sired me, but Dad never moves once he’s planted his feet.
He never gives any indication of affection or that this is the first time we’ve spoken since I’ve been out of the wheelchair… nearly eight years ago.
“Cordell.” My mother stands slowly from the car, her hand on her hip as she takes increasingly small steps.
I break the impasse, heading straight for her, and wrap her in my arms. Hell, she’s tiny. Fragile. “Feed her,” I hiss at Dad, trying not to break Mom.
She sighs, thin arms rising as she pats at my shoulders.
I kiss her head. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too.” She taps my cheek. “You earned a second miracle. I’m proud of you, Cord.”
I stare down at her. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say that before.” My heart squeezes at the white lie. I know I’ve never heard either of them say that.
“Well, she’s saying it now. I’m sure she’s right,” Dad mutters, his feet planted wide, hands folded at his sides. Expecting a fight, even when his opponent backed down long ago.
Lanie slips into my side as my mother steps back. My girl’s hand wraps around mine and I grip her tight, needing the contact desperately right now.
“Your father struggles with the idea that you no longer need him to support you,” she says, squeezing my fingers.
I turn to face her, my mouth hanging open, but she holds up a finger, stalling the many objections that fly to the forefront of my mind.
“Although he’s monstrously proud of you, he feels he’s somehow let you down by not being able to achieve in his lifetime what you’ve achieved in yours.
That his job as a father figure is obsolete. ”
I stare between Lanie and my father and finally find my voice. “That’s—Is that true? And how do you know?”
“You’re not the only one who sits up late at night while someone else sleeps,” she teases gently.
I rub the back of my neck. Shit. “You could have warned me,” I mutter under my breath.
“What’s the fun in that?” she murmurs back.
I squeeze her hip to let her know we’re having a different conversation in the bedroom later, and that one of us will have fun during it.
Then I focus on the job at hand. Because it’s a necessary one that I’ve been hiding from for a long, long time.
“Dad. Your job isn’t obsolete. The reason I’ve earned my way into the world so well is because you made sure I studied and formed a hell of a work ethic.
You showed me all the ways to tell if the man in front of you is lying.
You taught me to get up early and not quit until the job is done for the day.
That alone got me to where I am right now.
And Mom’s cooking,” I add, winking in her direction.
She smiles back, rubbing her hip.
My father shifts his feet back together. “Well, it looks like you have a smart girl and all the family you need right here, then.” He nods his decision, catches Mom’s arm, and turns away, heading for the car he just left.
It’s so like the man who provided the basis for everything that made me who I am right now, the man who gave me all the tools to work my ass to the bone and taught me how to manage money and income and business skills, to run away the moment that emotional shit gets tough.
Maybe that’s why I struggled with all the worst parts of my life so badly. Thank God for West and Lanie and all the family I found at Coyote Falls.
Mom frowns, making no move back to the car. I spot the keys clutched in her hand and grin.
“That car’s not going anywhere, Dad.”
My father freezes, his head turning to the side, and notices Mom’s silent protest. His shoulders slump as he kicks up a dust bunny and mutters something uncomplimentary under his breath.
Clarity slams into me with all the grace of a delayed train. I just hope it’s not too late.
“Actually.” I clear my throat. “It’s a pity you have to leave at all.
Because there’s a place for you here, always.
I have an empty house and not enough people to fill it.
I’d love to make it a home.” I make eye contact with both Mom and Dad no matter how uncomfortable the moment is. “With all of you.”
Winnie and Sally, too. That way I’ll get my best friend back, at least some of the time.
Mom trades the car keys for a tissue. Dad folds his arms.
“Looks like you’ve got more manners and brains than I thought,” he says gruffly, stretching forward to clap my shoulder.
I don’t bother to hide the wince. Dad can deal with the way I live, or not. Neither his judgment nor anyone else’s will be a deciding factor in my life ever again, unless it’s Lanie’s. My focus involves a redheaded bombshell and building the family she’s helping me rediscover.
Winnie emerges from around the corner of the wraparound veranda where she’s obviously been listening. “We’re going to find our rooms,” she announces, holding Sally’s hand in white-knuckled fingers. The other hand, she extends toward Mom.
My heart swells. “Does this count as no unnecessary exertion?” I ask Lanie in a stage whisper.
She turns her pretty face up to me, a frown marring her brow. “Why?”
“Because my heart is about to burst.” I swing her into my arms, kissing her deeply. “Thank you,” I whisper.
Lanie’s smile is a thousand watts bright, and I swear it stops my heart. Screw the exertion.
I promised changes. Well, we’re starting with some of the biggest. But between Lanie and the boys, my moral compass points in the right direction. Mostly.
Winnie grins at me over her shoulder. “We’ll stay for a bit.
But I have a job, which I love, by the way, in case everyone is listening, and a townhouse of my own.
We’ll be here often enough that you’ll want us to leave.
” She motions for Mom to follow Sally along the hall, the door shutting behind two of them.
“Any time. That door is always open. Actually, here’s a key.”
I work a spare off my key ring and deposit the shiny metal into my sister’s palm.
She studies it and slips the key into her pocket without another word. Her eyes flicker over my shoulder. I don’t need to follow her gaze to know who has drawn her attention and that I have an extra mouth to feed tonight.
“Anytime,” I remind her.
Lanie slips under my arm as Winnie disappears inside the house, following her offspring.
I leaned down to kiss the top of Lanie’s head. “I need a little help with packing a picnic.”
“I knew she’d steal my job,” Levi mutters good-naturedly, pretending to stomp away after my new family tribe. Or my new-old family tribe.
Lanie studies me with a speculative glint. “Where are we going?”
I tuck her close to my side as we walk back into the homestead. Levi holds the door open for us with a flamboyant flourish.
“We’re not wolf hunting, are we?” she asked with a pitiful show of disappointment. The dire wolf is her current obsession. I know she has a draw to the cryptid critter, but to be honest, that it exists at all and always has still freaks me out. Not that I’ll fess up to that.
I swat a palm at her butt, then remember my father still stands in the yard, watching us. Gotta get used to that. I clear my throat.
“I thought we might go up to the falls.”
“Mmm?” Lanie snuggles into me. “Wolves?” she asks hopefully. “I have a report to file with the boss of this new division I work for.”
“Hmm. Good guy? Nice?”
“Utter tyrant.”
I laugh. “Maybe later, wolf girl. This time is for all of us.”
Lanie glows. Knowing I’ve made her happy is the simplest pleasure I can take. The body that could have been a hollow shell feels everything. My house is full and noisy and the people around me are the ones I trust most in this life.
What the hell. Wasn’t that the whole point of Coyote Falls, this place of peace where the land speaks and the mountains call to something deeply primal in each of us?
I had everything I needed right here all along. It just took a girl with wild-cherry hair to disrupt my world and help me see it. I press a kiss to her temple and let her tow me along on her crazy ride, hoping she never stops.
I’m here for the girl with the nomadic heart who healed a broken cowboy.
The girl I love with wolves in her eyes.