“I didn’t see any point in getting y’all riled up, especially not with you in your condition.”
“My condition?”she shouts.“It’s a baby, West, not a freaking disease.”
“Lemon, please,” Mama says.“Let’s all just take a damn breath here.”
I hold my hands up placatingly.“All I’m saying is you don’t need the added stress.”
“I’m fine.You don’t need to hide shit from me, from Mama.We’re not fragile womenfolk, West.”
“Which is exactly why I said something,” Colt agrees.“Brother, I know the toll this place takes on you.We all do.We’re all here, living and working on this land.You need to let us share the burden of running it before it runs you into the ground the way it did your daddy.”
“Fine,” I snap.“You want everything on the table?Here it is—someone poisoned our herd, it just cost us half a million dollars.We don’t have any evidence yet, but make no mistake, someone is determined to watch this family fall.”
“Then what do you plan to do about it?”Lemon asks.Once, I would have chastised her for pretending to give a shit.Barely eighteen and she left us for the Big Apple without a glance in her rearview, but she wasn’t outrunning this place.She was outrunning her pain and grief over losing a baby that she and Colt weren’t ready for.It might’ve taken her ten years to see it, but this land is buried as deep in her veins as it is mine, and their baby is the future of Winchester Wild.
“I plan on finding him before Rhett Williams does.Until I do, Mama and Lemon, you don’t go anywhere alone.We don’t know what they’re capable of.It could just be idiot kids from town, or, it could be something much more sinister than that.”
With that sobering news, no one really has much to say.I eat quickly and wash my plate in the sink and head for home.That was the kind of chaotic family dinner that makes me miss the peace and quiet of Daisy’s house.But I can’t show up there now, not after letting her down.
When I’m sitting on my porch with Ham, whiskey in one hand and my phone in the other, I call Daisy.She doesn’t pick up, so I send a text.
Me: I’m sorry.I’m so fucking sorry I let you both down.
There’s no reply.I wait for hours, drinking my feelings, and wishing I could be there with her, with them.Heartsore and full of self-loathing, I fall asleep in the lawn chair with Ham beside me.
Chapter Twenty
West
The next morning atbreakfast is as infuriating as last night’s dinner.I’ve barely even hung my hat and entered the kitchen, when Lemon starts in on me.“Did you drop by Daisy’s last night?”
“Good morning, Mama,” I kiss her cheek and head for the coffee pot, ignoring my sister’s question.“Lemon.”
“Well?”
“She has a newborn,” I remind her.
