the new ranch hand. He’s going to live in my bunkhouse and work for us. Pax is taking him back to town for his stuff and then bringing him over to the Bar C to turn him over to Lucas.”
“Wonderful idea,” Iris hollered. “Welcome to Texas, Landon Griffin.”
He had already started toward the truck, but he turned and waved at her. “Thank you. I think I’m going to like it here fine.”
“Whew!” Pax shook his head in disbelief. “Just when I thought we’d jumped the last hurdle…”
“There’s another one,” Alana finished the sentence for him. “But we’re proving that we do a pretty good job of getting over them if we hold hands and jump together.”
Chapter Twenty-One
So how do you feel about this new kid brother?” Pax asked Maverick at the breakfast table the next morning.
“When I went to sleep last night, I was mad as hell,” he said. “She threw us away like we were trash because her new husband didn’t want to raise another man’s children, or so she said. But it doesn’t take a genius to know that she never wanted us, the way she left us with Mam and Grandpa so much of the time. Then she goes and has another baby less than a year after Daddy’s death?”
“That’s not Landon’s fault,” Bridget said as she put a platter of muffins on the table. “He didn’t even know he had brothers. I didn’t bloody well know you had secret cousins who could come out of the woodwork at any time. What are you going to do if your uncle’s kids come around wanting jobs or even handouts?”
Bridget’s Irish accent got thicker when she was excited, but she was right. He and Maverick hadn’t talked about their cousins in years, had in fact kind of pushed them out of their minds when Teresa had forsaken them. But somewhere out there were three guy cousins and one girl who would be somewhere in the neighborhood of the same age as he and Maverick. Pax remembered a couple of them coming to visit a few times, but he hadn’t been more than five years old at the time, and he couldn’t even bring up their faces or names in his memories.
Maverick raised a shoulder in half a shrug. “She’s right. It’s not Landon’s fault, but I have to admit that I’m glad Alana offered to house him at her place. I wasn’t real comfortable about bringing a stranger into the house.”
“I would have protected y’all.” Iris set a platter of ham and eggs on the table. “I didn’t have a bad feeling about that kid. I kind of felt sorry for him. I knew your mama very well, and Teresa was always high maintenance as you kids call it today. She was more into her looks than her marriage to y’all’s father, and poor old Barton loved her too much to see past her narcissism. Landon had to live with her without the benefit of a brother or grandparents to help him get through it.”
“Well, he’s close enough now that we can get to know him better,” Maverick said.
“Which is a good thing, and we owe Alana for that.” Iris pulled out a chair and sat down.
And I owe her for so much more than that, Pax thought as he bowed his head for Iris to say grace.
* * *
The wedding folks arrived on Monday morning to begin to get the basic decorations up. Alana and Matt were in and out all day, making decisions and overseeing the work with Crystal. By evening, they were dragging and decided to have fried chicken delivered to the house instead of making supper.
Alana noticed that Matt had been sitting more than standing throughout the day, and that he often asked for spicy food when she gave him a choice. Tonight, he was content to sit in his recliner with his legs propped up, and he didn’t even turn the television on.
“Just think, Alana. On Saturday you’re going to be a married woman,” Matt said.
And in two weeks from that day, your official time is up, she thought. I’m praying you will be spared a little longer than that, but I don’t want you to suffer.
“Yep, and right now I wish it was all over. I never thought that a wedding would be so much work and trouble,” she said.
“Trouble?” Matt frowned. “Honey, this has been so exciting, and these have been the happiest days that I ever imagined. You’ve given me a