technical sense. Except I just know it when I feel it. It’s not always DNA. But...through no fault of our own we are all tied to Hank. All to each other. The world is a pretty harsh and lonely place, so we might as well band together.”
“Yeah, I’m just saying... I don’t really blame Tammy for buckling down and protecting her own when she felt like she needed to.” He didn’t feel like he was being generous. He didn’t feel like he was being especially kind.
The truth was, when he had found out about all of it, he had admired Tammy. He had envied those boys that had her for her mother. He had never really cared much about Hank. But he had been in awe of the woman who had stood firm when three other women came to her door and had tried to extort money from her.
He had always thought that if Tammy Dalton were his mother, things might’ve been different. That he might’ve felt different.
He had too much respect for her to try and inflict himself on her even now. She’d done her best to protect her boys, protect her home, and he couldn’t forget that he was what she was trying to protect it from.
She’d been cordial to him in every meetup they’d had. Almost friendly.
But he still felt like respect meant giving her space.
“I think your mom is a hell of a woman,” West said. “Everyone should be so lucky to have someone who protected them like that.”
Gabe shook his head. “In the end, though, I just can’t get on board with the idea that she protected me from you. Because you’re our brother. And we care about you.”
Caleb nodded. “Hell, if it weren’t for you, West, I might never have figured things out with Ellie.”
“I would’ve been fine,” McKenna said, leaning over across the table and bumping his shoulder. “But, I sure do appreciate having gone from nothing to having all these great older brothers. And a husband. And all my husband’s brothers. And his sister.”
“I appreciate your husband’s sister too,” Gabe said, winking.
“He would punch you in the face if he heard you say that.”
Gabe had ended up married to McKenna’s sister-in-law, after she’d come to work for him at the Dalton ranch. West had heard that her three older brothers had taken a very dim view on the whole thing initially.
“Hey,” he said. “I married her.”
“Still. Grant’s pretty sore about the whole thing. He doesn’t think you’re good enough for her.”
“Really?” Gabe asked. “And what did you say?”
“I told him to watch himself, because he was talking about my brother.” McKenna grinned.
Family. He wondered if, a lot like the way Carl Jacobson had reacted to Emmett’s misdeeds, versus the way Barbara had reacted to it, family was a lot about making a choice.
More than anything else. A choice to band together.
That was what Pansy’s family had done. They had made the choice to stick strong together. Not just her brother, but their friend, their cousins.
And he was included now. Wound up in this thing that he wasn’t even sure he understood. But it was what he was here for, wasn’t it?
Family.
He’d come back for Emmett, and he’d come back for them.
He’d come back to be part of something different. Bigger than himself, because he’d reached the end of himself when he’d been sentenced to prison and he’d been damned tired of what he was. Of who he was.
It wasn’t just Monica’s betrayal that made his old life into a fraud, it was the life itself. He’d never loved it, not really. He’d been trying to be something he wasn’t. Trying to fit into skin that wasn’t his.
He hadn’t known for sure he’d find a fit here, but he’d hoped.
And here it was.
He’d been without this all his life, and he knew it wasn’t something that could be taken for granted. Sentiment tightened his chest. He’d like to blame the beer, but he hadn’t even had a whole one.
“I wasn’t really sure why I came to Gold Valley,” West said, slowly. “Not at first. Because I would have told you that I didn’t care about family. That it didn’t mean anything to me. I lived a life that was designed around not needing one. But I came here for this. I came here for you all. And that was hard as hell for me to admit. Even now. Because I don’t like feelings. I don’t like them at all.”
It was the truth. He