Chapter Nineteen
West
That evening, my headpounds as I walk into the ranch house.My brothers, along with Colt and Cash, are already seated at the oak table, but they fall eerily silent when I hang my hat beside the back door.I kiss Mama on the cheek before sitting at her table and she wrinkles her nose at me.
“West Winchester, is there something wrong with the plumbing in your house?”Mama asks.Wyatt and Wade are snickering to themselves and Colt’s staring pensively at his phone.
Cash just shrugs as if to say, “You didn’t wanna wash up?”
“Sorry, Mama.Rough day.”
She sets a platter of garlic buttered steaks on the table in front of my brothers.“There’s still time.We’re waiting on your sister.”
I nod, because my mama has two rules at her table—you come tidy, and you eat your fill—and I was absolutely raised better.I take myself off to the nearest washroom and clean my hands of all the dirt and wash my face, then I use the corner of my shirt to wipe down her pristine porcelain vanity, so she doesn’t take me out to the barn and shoot me.
We’d moved all of the livestock closer to the house, and Cash, Wyatt, and I spent most of last night on horseback watching the herds in case the gutless bastard who was killing my cattle got ballsy enough to try it again.We’d set up trail cams at all of the water sources, and I had live feeds running from all angles of the barn because the asshole may try to target our horses next.That would definitely put a halt to our breeding program.
When I wasn’t trying to stop myself from falling asleep on horseback, I was patching fences and overseeing the burn of the cattle and north pasture.I’d never been more bone-weary than I am right now, and I miss the peace I found on Daisy’s couch—oh, shit.Daisy.Oh, I fucked up so badly.Fuck.How could I forget them?I spend most of my waking hours thinking about that woman, so to forget I’d arranged to pick her and Waylon up from hospital was inexcusable.
I pull out my phone and check the screen.Nothing.No texts.No calls, though I did have a voicemail and a missed call from Lemon.How long did Daisy wait for me?
When I leave the washroom, Lemon has joined us at the table.One look at her livid expression, and I know she knows.“Oh, everyone’s here now.Great.We can get started.Sorry I’m late, y’all.I had to make a stopover after my scan.Wanna guess where I stopped, West?”
My heart sinks.I grimace.“Is she okay?”
“No.She’s not okay.She sat around outside the hospital with her newborn all fucking morning waiting for—”
“My dumb ass.”
“Exactly.You’re a dumbass.”Lemon says, sipping her sweet tea and slamming down her tumbler with more force than necessary.
“West?Is that true?”Mama asks, looking like she might just have kittens over this.Fuck.I’ve failed a few people in my life, but there’s just something so demoralizing about knowing you’ve disappointed your mother.
“I forgot.I was up all night with the cows.”
“What’s wrong with the cows?”Mama says.
“Nothin’.It was just—”
“Someone’s been poisoning them,” Colt says.Every pair of eyes turn in my brother-in-law’s direction.
“What?”Lemon says.
At the same time mama asks, “West, what the hell is Colt talking about?”
“I hadn’t planned on telling either of you”—I glare pointedly at Colt— “until we had something to go off.We’ve lost two herds.Seventy cows in total, including springers.”
“Oh my god,” Mama says.
“And you decided to keep it from us?”Lemon’s face turns red and she gets that look in her eye that usually sends me and my brothers running for the hills.If I thought my sister was irate before, I hadn’t even scratched the surface.
