Page 82 of Forgotten Desires

“Well, look who became a country boy,” Asher says as we walk toward them. “She broke him in in no time.”

Brynn shakes her head. “He at least helps, unlike you morons.”

“I’m pretty sure he has his reasons,” Rowan jokes.

Asher slaps him in the back of the head. “Gross. She’s still our sister.”

“We came to actually do this stuff for you, but you guys were already knee deep in animal shit, so we decided there was no point messing up our boots,” Grady tacks on and then looks to me. “Boss.”

“Grady,” I say, not really sure exactly what footing I’m on here. These are my brothers-in-law, but two of them work for me as well. Right now, we’re family, on their land. “Thanks for coming, but we’ve got it handled.” I look to Rowan. “We really appreciate all your help while we’re in New York during the week. I know you have a lot of responsibility on your own farm, but the fact that you’ve come here daily matters to both Brynn and me.”

He nods once. “Anything for Brynn.”

She scoffs. “Please, I had to beg.”

“I was able to find two people who will alternate starting tomorrow. They’ve already been paid, but they’ll come, do whatever they need to for Second Chances, and then we’ll be here most weekends,” I explain.

Brynn’s eyes dart to mine. “What?”

“I know you were worried about it.”

The two of us look at each other for a minute, forgetting her brothers are there. I’m not sure why she’s so surprised. This is something she was concerned about, especially once her surgery happens. I figured if we found someone now, then she’ll be more at ease later.

“He must really love her if he’s willing to care for the animals,” Grady notes.

Asher pushes off the fence. “Well, our work is done.” He makes his way to where we’re standing and Brynn turns to him, breaking our moment. “Get back safe. Love you.”

“Love you too.” She seems kind of dazed. She hugs her other brothers and I shake their hands.

We start to walk toward the house, and she stops. “You hired people to run the farm?”

“I hired people to help your animals.”

“Why?”

“Because you mentioned that things were hard for you. You had the animals, the coop that was falling apart that Rowan promised to fix, but hadn’t. You said you have the surgery, the costs of it, the never-ending repairs, your company. All of those things and more.” I push her hair behind her ear. “I know that my money makes you uncomfortable, and you’re more than capable of doing all these things, but I don’t want you to worry. I promised, hell, I vowed to take care of you, Brynn, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

And when we’re back next week, she’ll get another thing off her list. I plan to whittle them down until there is nothing left.

twenty

BRYNLEE

My leg is bouncing as I sit in the seat, waiting for my meeting with Guardian Angels. They’ll render their decision today and I wish I had Crew with me.

He asked, but I was adamant he didn’t need to cancel his meetings. He’s done so much of that since our whirlwind marriage began.

The door opens and a short, stocky man enters. He smiles warmly and I stand to shake his hand. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Ms. Whitlock. Oh! I’m sorry, I mean Mrs. Knight. I saw you in the papers,” he admits. “I’m Roger Bagwell and I’m your case manager.”

“Please, just call me Brynlee. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You as well. We went over your paperwork and everything looked to be in order. I just had a few items I needed to clear up before we can either approve or deny you.”

I nod. “Okay, I’m happy to help.”

“First, I know your marital status has now changed. Do you happen to have the paperwork for that?”

I reach into my bag, extracting my marriage license, and hand it to him. “Here, I did send an email to update my application.”

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