Drew Brand, Texas Brand Ranch, Quinn County, Texas
“I don’t know for sure how Willow’s doing with all this,” Drew said. They’d gathered outside the bunkhouse at the Texas Brand ranch. Elena happened to be the one standing closest. She was the newest member of the clan, a step-cousin, not a blood relative, but being a Brand was a matter of heart and character more than blood. Elena was their adopted cousin Ethan’s half-sister—they shared a birth father and not one drop of Brand blood—and she was a doctor at the only medical clinic in thetown of Quinn and one of only three in Quinn county. “Help me keep an eye on her?”
“Sure,” Elena said. “Anything in particular you’re worried about?”
“She’s tense as a bowstring,” Drew replied. “I just keep worrying she’ll snap or something, like her mom apparently did twenty-eight years ago. I already spoke to Maria and Lily, so I figure between us she-Brands, we’ve got her back.” Then she frowned. “What? You’re looking at me funny.”
Elena gave her head a shake. “I just… Do you know how special it is, what you all have? This family?”
“Whatweall have, Elena. We. And you know what? I appreciate the reminder, ’cause I’m so used to it, I forget. I get irritated sometimes with the way everybody knows everybody’s business, and nobody hesitates to offer passionate opinions on anybody else’s life choices. But we do pull together in times of trouble. And we put on a mean barbecue.”
“The two keys to family unity,” Elena said.
“You’re handling it all great, for an only child.”
“I always wanted a great big family.” Elena shrugged. “Kids always want what they don’t have, I guess.”
“Well, you got your wish. Come on, everyone’s here.”
The cousins had all gathered at the bunkhouse, a meadow removed from the main house on the Texas Brand ranch. All, that was, except for Willow, who was late.
But Willow already knew the plan. She had dictated the terms and assigned Drew to put it all together.
“Okay,” Drew said. “So Willow wants a road trip down near Big Bend, where our baby cousin’s blanket was found tangled on a limb in the Rio Grande. And she put me in charge, so you have to do what I say.”
“Willow put the littlest cousin in charge?” Ethan asked, pushing his hat back on his head. He towered over Drew like amountain over a pebble. “Welp, I’d interpret beingin chargeas you scoping out the route and food stops. Tell me, little cousin, what did you do instead?”
She pushed up her chin. “I booked us a river ride. We’ll be in canoes, with guides, and they’ll take us right to the spot where the blanket was found. Uncle Wes remembers it exactly. He and Uncle Garrett went there, I guess.” She stopped and lowered her head, wishing Willow would get there, so she could quit worrying. “But they only had three canoes available, so there’s only room for six of us, two to a canoe with a guide in each.”
“Lily’s too pregnant for a river ride,” Ethan said in his deep voice. “And I don’t much like leavin’ her.”
“You’re going,” Lily told her husband. “You have to go. I’ll be fine here at home for an afternoon.”
“I’ll stay behind, too,” Elena said. “I can’t leave the clinic without backup. Even on my day off, I can’t be that many hours away.” Then she smiled over at Lily. “I’ll keep a good eye on your bride, Ethan.”
A dust cloud appeared in the distance and Drew felt a little better. “Willow said Jeremiah’s staying behind with Frankie and the dog,” she told the others, “so that leaves me, Orrin, Trevor, Maria-Michelle, Baxter, Ethan, and Willow. Still one too many.”
“We’ll make room,” Ethan said. “Drew, you’re so little, you can sit on my knee.”
Everyone chuckled. Drew seethed. She hated being the littlest Brand. Nobody took her seriously.
“We’ll drive four hours,” she said. “That’s where the outfitter is. Then we take the river the rest of the way. It’s all booked and you owe me seventy-five bucks apiece. And,” she said, pointing to the growing dust cloud, “I rented a van to keep our energy use down.”
A few of the guys groaned as the van rolled closer. Willow was driving. The van was sleek, aerodynamic, and green, bothliterally—deep olive with a glossy shine—and figuratively—it was a hybrid.
Willow got out with a cardboard trayful of takeout coffees with lids, each marked with initials. She handed one to each of the cousins as they piled into the van. Maria hugged her nerdy husband, Harrison, way longer than Drew thought a daytrip called for, and Ethan had a hell of a time tearing himself away from Lily and her swollen belly, though she kept swearing she’d be fine.
Eventually, though, they were off. Willow drove and Ethan was co-pilot—mainly because his long legs needed the extra leg room up front.
Baxter, Orrin, and Trevor took up the third-row seat, leaving Drew and Maria-Michelle in the middle.
Several hours and one rest stop later, they were wearing yellow life vests and stepping into beautiful wooden canoes, two in each with a guide in between. Trev and Orrin paired up. Maria, Drew, and Willow got into a single boat, and Drew convinced the guides they were small enough to make it work. The female guide, Lupe, also the smallest of her crew, agreed and got in with them. Baxter shared a canoe with Ethan and the other male guide—dwarfing the poor guy.
They pushed off in a beautiful spot where you could see forever, and the current carried them easily. Soon the stone through which the river had cut for centuries rose ever higher, until they were floating between stone canyons 1500 feet tall.
“This is stunning,” Drew said.
“How’s your mom doing, Willow?” Maria asked. She’d tucked her wild red curls into a baseball cap. They were doing their best to escape.
