Rising (Anderson Special Ops #2) - Melody Anne Page 0,52
they make a living, let alone take care of a huge family.”
“I guess it goes back to the days we settled the West. You either worked your ass off taking care of your land, your animals, and your crops, or you died. It was that simple. You didn’t have anyone to bail you out, and you didn’t have stores to supplement you if you decided you didn’t want to work. Farm life can be a great learning experience. There are people in cities who have no clue what it takes to get them the food they need to survive.”
“Yeah, I have to admit I’ve complained several times about the cost of vegetables. Now, you’re making me feel guilty about that,” Erin admitted.
“We worked our butts off, but my mom also made sure we had a great education. That meant we got up early, did our farm chores, and went to school all day. Then we’d get home, do more chores, and spend hours on homework. My mom was from Puerto Rico with very little education. She wanted a better life for her children than the one she’d grown up with. She didn’t allow us to settle. We weren’t allowed to have failing grades or we could kiss our already limited free time goodbye. We were taught a hard work ethic and how to exercise our brains just as much. I complained a lot as a kid, but I’m grateful for those lessons now.
“How was she able to keep up with ten children? Did it lessen with the younger kids?” Erin asked.
Brackish smiled fondly. He’d been really lucky having such a great mother. “She was on top of us. I honestly don’t know when she slept, because she was always up before us making breakfast, and she never went to bed before we did. I think she survived on about three hours of sleep a night, and she always did it with a smile. I rarely heard my mother lose her temper.”
“That’s rough,” Erin told him.
“It seems that way, but it worked out pretty damn great. All of my siblings, every one of us, have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree. Three of my siblings have a Masters, and three of us have PhDs.”
“That’s unbelievable,” Erin said. Then she looked sad. He waited for her to continue. “I was in school when my grandparents got sick. I had to drop out to help them. They tried fighting me, but they’d already given up so much to take care of my brother and me, and I knew the least I could do was give something up for them. They would’ve lost the restaurant if I hadn’t stepped up.”
“I would’ve done the same,” Brackish told her. He reached over and grabbed her hand again. “And you know, it’s never too late to go back to school.”
“I gave that up. I don’t know why, but I’ve put everything into the restaurant. Maybe because it keeps my grandparents alive for me.”
Brackish could see the pain on her face, so he decided not to push her on that right then. He’d have plenty of time to focus on her education later — if they were still together. He wanted everyone to reach their dreams and then surpass them.
Brackish lifted his sleeve, showing her a mangled sixteen-inch long scar. “See this?” he asked.
“What happened? Is that from when you fell from the tractor?” she gasped.
“Nah, that didn’t even break the skin. This was from when I was fifteen. I was running line with two of my brothers when we came up to a trapped cow. An injured cow in barbed wire is never a good combination. I jumped from my horse and went to investigate, seeing if there was any way to save her. I touched her head, startling her, and she freaked out, trapping my arm between her and the wire that instantly ripped into my skin.”
“Holy cow, please admit you felt that one,” she said with a gasp.
He laughed. “There’ve only been two times in my life I’ve gotten seriously injured. Both times were because I was doing something stupid. I knew better than to reach into barbed wire with a scared animal. That was bound to end in disaster.”
“It’s not stupid to want to save the life of an animal,” she said.
“It’s never stupid to save anyone or anything, but sometimes you have to know you can’t. That was one of those times. And yes, I felt that pain. But the adrenaline was pumping