Page 33 of Rancher's Pride

Kipp’s chair scraped along the floor of Julie’s diningroom as he stood. Not saying a word, he walked out of the house. I didn’t hear him stomping down the steps, so he must have stopped. Much quieter, I moved to my chair and stood from the table.

Julie was also heading out of the house. Gently, I put my hand on her shoulder and stopped her. “I’ll talk to him.” Julie looked up at me and nodded. Glancing at Griff, Ryder and Linc, they all followed me out to the porch.

There was a soft snow falling and off in the distance a cow or two moo’d at the moon. Nothing was more quiet than a winter night in Montana, but I swore you would have heard a pin drop on this porch tonight. I needed to break the tension. “Well, can’t say this is the nicest night to be porch sitting, but I suppose it will do.” I shoved my hands in my pockets and stood against the wall of the house, hoping to absorb some of the heat from inside that escaped through the poorly insulated home.

“My sister slept with my best friend, and my mom is dating the man I rely on for information. How did I lose control of this family?” He slammed his fist on the post supporting the roof and snow slid off in one large sheet, landing in a tuft all over the steps of the porch. He turned back to me, and I saw a fire in his eyes I hadn’t seen for a while. Not since we’d stopped our “security” team. Not many people knew the true nature of our business was intimidation, rescues and thesecure return on property and investments. We weren’t repo men, but that was the closest description we had.

“Well, Fallon’s twenty-eight, and your mom’s well, your mom, so I’m pretty sure they don’t need you controlling them.” Linc said as he grabbed a shovel from beside the door. I had to agree with him, but I knew better than to voice it. Linc was the levelheaded one of this group. What he said was usually all we ever needed for logic.

“I can’t think of anyone better for your mom than Phil.” Griff said, shrugging as he paced. He had his arms crossed tightly across himself, and he was hunched over. I imagined he was trying to keep warm. “Look, I know we had to get Phil out of a dangerous situation when he was undercover, but he hasn’t gone back to that life. I don’t think he even had a blip off the straight and narrow since.”

“He hasn’t.” Ryder added. Of course he would know. He’d kept tabs on Phil for a long time, making sure his old life didn’t come knocking. Being a PI had its advantages, but Phil had gotten in too deep on a case and was seconds away from meeting his maker. Had his sister not contacted us worried when he hadn’t checked in, the man wouldn’t be holding Julie’s hand now.

I watched Kipp’s shoulders relax slightly. “I’ve already apologized for going behind your back about Fallon, so I don’t think we need to keep bringing that up.” I shoved my hands in my pockets, keeping myarms tight to my side, trying to preserve some body heat, but I also wanted to look unaffected by his words.

He took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m an ass.”

“Yes, you are.” The screen door slapped against the wall as Fallon, Tayla, Lark, and Nora walked out of the house. Fallon was leading the charge, and I wasn’t surprised. “Our mother has been through hell and back and you’re out here ready to have a pissing contest because she’s seeing your friend? And Nash says I’m immature.” She smacked my chest with the back of her hand again as she talked.

“He what?” Kipp turned and moved closer to me. I didn’t move. I knew there was no reason to. Kipp clenched his jaw and stared at me.

“Nothing, god, put your dick away and go talk to our mom,” Fallon said as she pushed him. He wasn’t expecting it and tumbled over his enormous feet. He tripped down the stairs and landed in the pile of snow Linc had cleared from the steps.

Nora laughed, bent down to make a snowball and threw it at Kipp. “That was for acting like a child.” She laughed and as she turned, Kipp hit her in the back of the head with his own snowball. “Oh, now it’s on, big man. I suggest you start running.” She made another one and hit him square in the face this time, and chaos ensued.

Laugher filtered through the night around us and by the time Julie came out to the porch and shouted we were all covered in snow. Julie and Phil looked at thescene before them. “Are you finished?” She arched her brow. “Because if you are I have hot chocolate ready and yes Nash, there are marshmallows.” Her frown turned into a grin.

“I’ll go get the towels.” Phil said, shaking his head.

“How does he know where the towels are?” Kipp asked. We all groaned, and Nora took his hand.

“Come on big man, I’ll explain it to you.” Sputters of muffled laughter couldn’t be stopped, and we all began to laugh at Kipp’s expense.

“I hate all of you.” He brushed the snow out of his hair and walked up the steps with his arm around Nora. Reaching out, I took Fallon’s hand in mine. She looked down at us and I smiled. She didn’t pull away and didn’t stiffen at my touch. And tonight we’d felt like a team, a family, something I’d been missing for too long.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

FALLON

Nora stood in the room she’d originally stayed in and looked in the mirror. “I can’t believe it’s finally happening.” Her hand fell lightly on her expanding abdomen.

“You look beautiful,” I said, walking up behind her. “Before anyone else comes in, I just want to say you’re perfect for him and this family. I’m so happy to have you as a sister.” Tears welled in her eyes. “Oh no, none of that. Lark will kill me if she has to fix your makeup again.” Pulling tissues from the box, I dabbed at Nora’s eyes before the tears fell.

“Hormones.” Nora giggled, and I joined in.

“They’re as bad whether they’re spiking or dropping,” I said, dabbing at my own eyes. Nora embraced me and I was truly happy she was the one marrying my bear of a brother.

The door swung open as my sisters and Kristinwalked in. “Are we ready for this wedding to start?” Tayla looked from me to Nora. “Why are you both crying?”

“Hormones.” We replied in unison.

“God, remind me never to get pregnant,” she said, rolling her eyes, handing Nora her bouquet of beautiful flowers. The red roses stood out with the branches of pine and spruce branches surrounding them. Small sprigs of mistletoe were scattered through the bouquet and the stems were wrapped with a green ribbon.

Another knock on the door made us all turn. Nora’s father walked into the room and moved his hands to his mouth. “You’re more stunning than anything I could have imagined.” His eyes glistened, and I shrank back from the group.

What I hadn’t realized is my sisters had done the same and now our arms were around one another. We were watching a moment none of us would ever have. We didn’t have to say anything or look at one another; the heaviness over us was palpable. And this time, our silent tears had nothing to do with hormones and everything to do with our grief.

“Let’s take our places and let Nora and her father have a moment.” Tayla said quietly. We left the room and walked to the kitchen.

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