I leaned on the table. “You’re right. You didn’t. But you got pulled into something bigger than you. That happens sometimes. Now we’re going to make sure you and your sister survive it.”
Lucas opened his mouth like he wanted to argue. Then he glanced at Marisol. Something in his face shifted. The anger drained into something smaller that looked like shame or maybe fear. Probably a mix of both. He grabbed a piece of bacon and took a bite.
Marisol exhaled softly and slid into the chair next to him, her hand resting on his shoulder for a second. He didn’t shrug it off. That alone told me how tired he really was.
Lucas pointed his fork toward the window. “Why are there guys everywhere?”
“Because they’re family,” I said.
He frowned. “Your family.”
“My family,” I confirmed. “And if you’re on this land, you’re under their protection too.”
Lucas glanced at Marisol again. His shoulders loosened, just a fraction, like the idea of being guarded by something bigger than his own fear was finally sinking in. He tried to hide it with attitude. “Do I get a gun?”
“No.”
“A knife?”
“No.”
“A horse?”
I paused, then looked at him. “Maybe.”
His eyes lit up so fast it almost broke my chest open.
Marisol shot me a look. “Caleb.”
“I didn’t say yes,” I told her, then leaned closer to Lucas. “You eat. You listen. You do what I say. Then we can talk about horses.”
Lucas nodded hard while Marisol watched the exchange like she couldn’t decide whether to be grateful or annoyed.
I’d finally found a way to connect with him. If that meant putting him on the back of a horse, I’d do it.
CHAPTER 8
CALEB
After breakfast,I walked them to the main house. Mama Mae’s kitchen was chaos. Men wandered in and out, grabbing coffee, arguing about fence repairs, talking over each other. It was the kind of normal noise that almost made it possible to forget danger existed.
Lucas hovered at the edge like he wasn’t sure he was allowed. Then one of the younger guys tossed him a football without warning. Lucas fumbled it, then caught it against his chest, his eyes wide.
“You want to toss the ball around?” another one asked.
Lucas glanced at Marisol. She hesitated for half a second, then nodded. He jogged over to the side yard, where a handful of the guys I’d grown up with started tossing the ball around like they’d been waiting for a kid to show up.
Marisol’s shoulders sagged, and the relief in her expression made my throat go tight.
Mama Mae slid up beside her, pressing a mug into her hand. “Have some coffee.”
Marisol blinked. “Thank you.”
“You sleep any, sugar?” Mama Mae’s eyes flicked to me, then back to her.
Marisol let out a shaky breath. “Some.”
“Good. Now let’s sit a spell and you can tell me what happened in Valor Springs.”
