“I appreciate everything you just said, Chloe.”He meant those words from the bottom of his heart.“Congratulations to both you and Travis.”
“Thank you, Beau.”She touched his arm before joining Hudson at the fridge, where he was rooting out food.
“I’m going to check on my wife, if everyone’s good here,” Conrad said.It was understandable that he would be nervous after the ordeal he and Nikki had been through, plus the pregnancy.
Turned out, there was something in the drinking water at the ranch causing everyone to get pregnant, Beau mused.His gaze shifted to Ivy.The image of her holding their infant child in her arms assaulted him.He should want to pull back and run.Instead, he wanted to lean into the picture, and that shocked the hell out of him.
“Everything okay over here?”he asked, joining her.
Forehead wrinkled in concentration and maybe a little disappointment and frustration, she barely glanced up from the screen.“I pulled up my phone records, and there is no sign of a message from Clay or Royce, or anyone else.”
“That’s a good sign,” he said, figuring that probably meant her father was still alive.
“Is it?”she asked.
“They took your phone from you.”Why would they text a phone they’d broken?
“They could assume that I got a new one,” she said.“You don’t have to have a SIM card anymore to activate a new phone, not with all the tools they have available.”
“Right, and they might assume you bought a new one by now.”It made sense to him.“Admittedly, I’m not someone whose phone is glued to their hand, and I never got into tinkering with tech in the way some did.”
“I see that as one of your better qualities, actually,” she said.“I can’t count the number of people who have almost walked smack into me in Austin while staring at their phone screens.It’s annoying as hell.”
“Agreed.”
“You make a good point,” she said.“I need to buy a new phone.”
“We might have an extra here at the ranch,” Beau said.“There has to be a cabinet somewhere in this house with extra supplies, most likely in Beaumont’s office.”He glanced around the room and received a couple of nods.
Owen chimed in.“There is.I’ll go grab one.”He disappeared down the hallway.
Ivy’s gaze widened.“What is it like to snap your fingers and be able to make something appear?”
“I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
She shot a look of apology.“I didn’t mean to say you’re spoiled.It’s just…this place…it’s surreal.”
“Believe me when I say that I can relate to that sentiment.”He wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to living here and being part of this family.Overwhelmed was a damn good word to describe how he felt most days.Everyone here had a history with this place, except for him.He’d always felt like he was the odd man out in life, and walking into this situation had only amplified it and made it even clearer that Beau didn’t belong anywhere, except for recently.His brothers and sister, showing up this morning, had cracked some of the protective ice encasing his heart.Strangely enough, being here with Ivy made the ranch feel the most like home it ever had.
“I can’t imagine growing up with almost nothing to suddenly finding out this is yours.”She looked around, half in awe and half in shock.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it.”The money wasn’t as important as belonging with his siblings.
“How could you?”
Archer walked over.“If it makes you feel any better, I grew up here, and I’m only just beginning to feel like I belong now that Beaumont is gone and we’re making the place into something different.”He rolled up his sleeve to reveal scars on his forearm.“Beaumont put these here.”He lifted his shirt to reveal part of his back.“And here.”
“How awful,” Ivy said under her breath.
“Growing up here was torture, which is why we all dipped out as soon as humanly possible,” Archer continued.“We might appear to be a family unit to outsiders now, but Beaumont pitted us against each other when we were kids and pretty much made sure we couldn’t bond with each other, except for Owen and me.Not even Beaumont could tear us apart, even though he tried.”He glanced around the room.“We should’ve pulled together anyway.We all let each other down.”His gaze shifted to Beau.“We’re just now really getting to know each other and becoming a family.So, if you feel out of place, you’re in the same boat as we are.If I’m being honest, I was jealous that you didn’t have to grow up around Beaumont.In my mind, however wrong that was, I thought you were free.I never once considered that you had a shitty upbringing because you had the name and no money to go with it.Not that Beaumont lavished any of us, but we had food on the table every day.I don’t take that for granted because I know that’s not the case for everyone.I wrongly assumed that since Beaumont wrote you into the will, he must’ve been taking care of you all these years.I can see now that I was completely off base.I, for one, apologize for not being a better brother when you first walked through the door.I…we…should’ve known that everything Beaumont touched was ruined.The man tried to destroy as many lives as possible while looking like some big shot to the outside world.”
Archer walked over and bear-hugged Beau.Beau was so taken aback that he didn’t immediately respond.Then, he embraced his brother.Owen returned to the room, set the phone down on the table, and said, “Hey, man, I don’t know what’s going on, but I want in on it.”
Archer laughed, and the three of them backslapped each other along with a round of bear hugs.
Kade joined in, followed by Hudson.
Chloe stood in the kitchen with the biggest smile on her face that Beau had seen to date.“This is how a family should act.”
