The Bad Boy of Redemption Ranch - Maisey Yates Page 0,49
the hell out of that.
He looked out at one of the arenas and saw his half brother Gabe out there, with a few of the boys from the school, his wife, Jamie, riding a horse in the arena, likely demonstrating something. Jamie was not wholly unlike Pansy, he thought. Small and determined, and stubborn as hell.
He didn’t know why he was thinking about her right now.
Except that he was appreciative of her stubbornness, because she had gone to bat for Emmett today and he was grateful for that.
As they approached the house, he looked to the left and saw Hank Dalton sitting in his big chair underneath the giant gazebo that overlooked the lawn. “Come on,” West said. “Let’s go meet Hank.”
They got out of the car, and West walked Emmett over to where his dad was sitting. It was strange to him, to think of this man who had his same eye color as his dad. But he could see it. It was the oddest thing. To recognize his own features in the face of a stranger.
“Hank,” West said. He still didn’t call him dad. Probably never would.
“What can I do for you?”
“I want you to meet Emmett,” West said.
“Is he your boy?”
West looked at Emmett, and realized that there would be nothing at all strange to Hank about the possibility that Emmett was his son. Not that West would had to have been eighteen when he was born. Not that he wouldn’t have brought him by to meet Hank until now. That the kid didn’t live with him. No, none of that would be weird to Hank.
“My half brother. Other...half.”
Hank laughed. “Shit, boy. Had me worried for a second that it was another one of mine.”
As far as West knew, Hank had given up his philandering a while back, but he didn’t know how long ago that while was.
“My mom’s kid,” West said. “He’s going to come live with me for a while. I was hoping he could...come to school here.”
“That depends.” Hank met Emmett’s gaze. “Are you a troublemaker?”
Emmett shifted. “I think so.”
“Good,” Hank said. “We only have space for troublemakers here.”
He could tell that Emmett and Hank would get along just fine. The thing about Hank was he never had trouble getting along with people. It was controlling his behavior, and not doing anything terribly selfish and hurting people with his thoughtlessness, that was the real issue.
“I suppose I need to talk to Gabe,” West said.
“Probably,” Hank said. “Though, this place is still mostly mine.”
“Gabe runs it as far as I can tell,” West said.
“I reckon so,” he said.
“So that’s Hank,” West said. And then he turned back toward the arena. “And now we’ll go meet my half brothers.”
“This is so weird,” Emmett said.
“Yeah?” West asked as they walked toward Gabe.
“Your half brothers, your dad. And we’re half brothers, but they’re not related to me.”
“Yeah, that is the thing about being half brothers. I have a half sister too.”
“Geez,” Emmett said.
They went over to the arena, and Gabe turned. The boys did too, but they immediately turned back toward Jamie, who was now whipping through a barrel course in the arena. “I think I have a new student for you,” West said.
“You do?” Gabe asked.
“Yeah,” West said. “This is my half brother. Emmett.”
Gabe stuck his hand out. “Pleased to meet you.”
Emmett shook it, giving him a slight side-eye as he did. He imagined that he hadn’t been treated with this much respect by adults in a long time. If ever.
That had made a big difference in West’s life. Getting a job on the ranch in Oregon when he’d been young, and then when he’d been eighteen and going out to Texas, finding more men who had treated him like he was a man too. Like he was worthy of respect, rather than a boy who was just in the way.
He’d always had that burning desire for independence in his chest. And who wouldn’t, with the childhood he’d had? But he hadn’t been able to find that kind of respect in his own home. Other places, he found it. And it had shown him the kind of man he wanted to be. He could do that for Emmett. And all these people would too.
“Your mom’s kid?” Gabe asked.
“Yeah, your dad had to verify that too.”
Gabe huffed a laugh. “Does your mom know you’re here?”
“No,” he said. “She doesn’t know where I am.”
Gabe met West’s eyes. “I am going to need some guardian stuff.”