“I just miss you, I think. Like I said, it’s my problem. You should be devoted to your family. Of course they come before me.”
“Change is always hard,” Bear said. “I don’t think you’re the only one who feels this way.”
“No?”
Bear shook his head. “Mother texted me the other day that just because I was married now didn’t mean I could ignore everyone.”
“You don’t ignore everyone,” Bishop said.
“I didn’t think so either, but it doesn’t really matter what I think. If someone feels like that, it probably has some merit.” Bear finished his ice cream and got up to get more. “Sammy and I do eat up here quite often. The kitchen is just so loud, and we’re tired. I’m old, and she just carries a lot of stress.”
“You’re not that old.”
“Yes, I am,” Bear said. “Forty-six is almost fifty, Bishop. Things happen to a person at forty that you don’t understand yet.” He smiled like he couldn’t wait until Bishop experienced these “things that happen at forty.”
Bishop took a deep breath. “My letter says to be appreciative too,” he said. “Out loud. That people need to hear how appreciated they are, and I wanted you to know that I appreciate you, Bear. You did take me in when Daddy died, and I was so lost….” He trailed off, because memories from the days and months following his father’s death rushed through his mind.
“You were the anchor for me in a very dark time,” Bishop said. “And I appreciate that. Even now, just when I need something, you’re there.”
Bear nodded and took his barstool again. “What do you need right now, Bish?”
He took a bite of mostly melted ice cream. “I need you to tell me where I can build a house of my own.”
Bear’s shock wasn’t hard to find. “A house of your own?”
“Well, I can’t live with Montana in that one-bedroom suite.”
His eyebrows climbed higher. “You’re going to marry Montana?”
“Eventually,” Bishop said, tapping to wake his phone. “Now, I know there’s a house down here, on that other ranch that Daddy bought years ago, but I checked it out already, and it’s almost falling down. Plus, there are no trees.”
He glanced at Bear, who looked at the map on Bishop’s phone. “I was thinking about up here, on the main ranch, behind True Blue.”
Bear smiled and shook his head. “Just because you love that barn.”
“I do love the barn,” Bishop said, not seeing a reason to deny it. “There’s room there for a house, and we’d only lose half an acre of hay at the most. Those fields are dormant right now anyway.”
“Right at the beginning of the cycle too.”
That was as good as a yes, but Bishop wanted to hear his brother say it.
“I’ll talk to Ranger about putting it on the agenda,” Bear said. “With stuff like this, Bishop, we have to have Cactus and Ward there too. Sometimes it takes a couple of weeks for all four of us to get our schedules to align.”
“Okay,” Bishop said. “Thank you, Bear.”
Bear put his arm around Bishop. “I love you, brother. I honestly am sorry if I have added any poison to the air between us.”
“I love you too,” Bishop said. “I’m going to try to do what Daddy said in his letter. I hope it’s not too annoying for you.”
“I can handle annoying,” Bear said. “Just don’t expect me to be a teddy about it.”
They looked at one another, both of them bursting into laughter in the next moment. Bishop let the healing happiness move through him, and he felt the cleansing touch of the spirit of the Lord too, as his burden of negative feelings for Bear was lifted and carried away.
Chapter Twenty-One
Bear woke to the sound of Sammy humming to herself in the shower. A few times a week, she showered before him so he could sleep later and she could have all the hot water. He loved the sound of the spray as it twined with his wife’s voice, and he closed his eyes to listen to it.
The water turned off at some point, waking him again. In the following seconds, Sammy cried out. Bear sat straight up and got out of bed, seemingly in the space of a single breath.
“Sammy?” He started toward the bathroom just as she appeared in the doorway. She wore a towel around her body and one in her hair, and her whole face was filled with light.
“Come see this,” she said.
Bear wasn’t sure if he should be