“Women like that shit,” Nathan said.“Wedding pictures, anniversary pictures, engagement pictures, family photos, senior portraits.”
“How the hell do you know about that?”
“Have a friend who’s a photographer.Always looking for great places to shoot.”
Then he mentioned the Koozies.
“We have some with the Donovan Worldwide logo on them.”
“Even you know what it is?”
“Anyone who drinks beer knows what one is.”
He frowned.
“Get all this down on a spreadsheet, let’s crunch the numbers.Based on the success we’ve had in section one, I wouldn’t say no right away.Since the Running Wind is closer to a town and access is easier, Sofia could be right that this is a good place for events as well as outdoor activities.”
“What do you think about opening the house to tours?”
“Why anyone would want to visit a mausoleum is beyond me.”
He’d taken exception to Sofia calling it that.
“I meant it when I said burn it down.Well, after we make sure the insurance is solid.”
Cade looked at Nathan.“You seriously have no attraction to this place?”
“Hell no.”
“No animosity toward me for living here?”
Nathan exhaled.“I’m going to sock you one myself.”
“I’m being serious.”
Nathan tipped back his own cowboy hat and seared Cade with his intense green eyes.“So am I.If had been up to me, we’d have sold the house.The land isn’t in our blood like it is yours.We’re grateful it matters to you.”
He was dumbstruck.
“Dad loved Stormy.No one can change that.And when she refused to marry him and vanished, he married my mother.My mother, and I bet yours, loved him.Who wouldn’t?From what I remember, from what I was told, he was outgoing, fun, reckless, in and out of trouble, even jail.”
Cade put down the mug he’d been about ready to drink from.
“He wasn’t perfect, Cade.Even if you want to think he was.He wasn’t.Not ever.Story goes that he was out at the Running Wind on college break.Truth is, he was banished.He’d knocked up a woman somewhere in Europe.”
Cade felt his shoulders collapse under the burden.“We have…”
“No.She miscarried.He loved women, Cade.Even when he was married to my mom, he was picked up for a DUI.The Colonel got him off.But left the hooker to fend for herself.”
“Thewhat?”
“You didn’t hear those stories.You were insulated out here.He was a decent man, most times.And there was the Donovan image to uphold.But he had lapses.And man, he rode his motorcycle too damn fast.He was lucky he didn’t die on that.”
It was as if the man he’d built up, adored, had never existed.
“I’ve come to terms with it.He loved us.All.In his own way.We all read the coroner’s report.It was an accident.A fucked-up, wished-it-had-never-happened accident.If you want to carry the burden, so be it.”He shrugged fatalistically.“Can’t say how I’d feel in your shoes.But no one blames you.Not me, not the Colonel, not my mother.”
“I got the ranch out of it.”
