Page 95 of Knot The Only Onee
I let out a sigh and ran my fingers through my hair. My hat hung on the rack just inside the door. Mav's momma was just like Noah's in that regard. Hats off in the house.
Gods, I missed them both.
"Where is your momma, Heidi?" I asked quietly, unable to help my curiosity any longer.
She didn't meet my gaze, just sank into another of the overstuffed chairs. Tears filled her bright eyes, and her bottom lip trembled. Mav reached over and grasped her hand.
"She's at St. Francis," Maverick began slowly, swallowing past the lump in his throat. "Six months ago, she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. It's been pretty rough the last few weeks."
My mouth dropped open as I openly stared between the two siblings. Gloria Thompson had been fierce for such a small woman. She stood up to her husband and protected every one of her six children, even adding Noah and I to the mix when we were all still talking.
"Jesus fucking Christ," Noah muttered. "I'm so fucking sorry. Is there anything we can do?"
Mav shook his head. "We're just trying to keep her as comfortable as possible. She had a big setback a few days ago and had to be admitted." His voice broke, and he cleared his throat. "There's not much time left. I know she'd probably love to see you both."
Tears flowed down Heidi's cheeks, and she furiously tried to swipe them away. "Life is too short." She gave Mav a knowing look. "It's time to let all this shit go and move on. No more feuds. No more petty bullshit. That means you, Tuck, Mad" she shouted as the twins appeared in the doorway behind her.
Damn, the twins had filled out. They were built just like Mav was. Broad shouldered. Not quite as tall as his six-foot-three height, but not much shorter.
"Is it true, squirt?" Maddox asked with his arms crossed over his chest. "Mav said we were wrong about what happened?"
Heidi swiped away the last of her tears and stood to face off with the twins, fury radiating from her small frame. "Did any of you once think to ask me about what you saw? I get that you are all, ‘Must protect sister. Me strong man, take care of tiny female.’" The false voice she used would have made me laugh if she wasn't being so deadly serious right now.
"We were only thirteen." Tucker raised his arms defensively. "We just went with what Mav said."
The brother in question pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, I fucked up. Now you two are the ones who fucked up even more." Mav rose to his feet and pointed his finger at both of them. "You're going to help fix the damn fences, and you're also going to help them muck out their stalls for the next month.”
"But–"
"Enough," Mav shut them down quickly. "You're almost twenty now. Get your heads out of your asses and take responsibility for your actions."
I shared a glance with Noah, the tension in the room climbing to a fever pitch, and I felt as if we were witnessing more than just a reprimand about damaging some fences.
"We didn't really mean anything by it, Mav. C’mon. Mucking out their stalls? They have more horses than we do!" Tucker whined, sounding every bit of the immature twenty-year-old kid that he was.
"Didn't mean anything by it?" I asked, my fury simmering just beneath the surface at their nonchalant attitude. "If I hadn't been close and gotten there when I did, your last prank would have made me have to put two of my mares down. They were tangled in the wires of the fence and starting to panic. Who knows how much damage would have been done to their legs if I hadn't been there to cut them free."
Both boys blanched at my statement. Mav, on the other hand, cursed. "Fuck. I apologize for my fucking idiot brothers. I'm thinking I'll make it two months that they help you." He turned to his brothers. "Maybe you'll learn something from James while you're there about taking care of animals. He always was the best with them. Now say you're fucking sorry."
I'd absolutely take that compliment.
And the apology.
The twins had the decency to look contrite as they muttered their apologies. They disappeared up the stairs, and the silence in the room stretched on before Simon cleared his throat.
"Maverick, I wanted to ask you about a mutual acquaintance we all have."
What the fuck was Simon talking about?
"Oh?" Mav arched one brow as he sized Simon up.
"Fitz, or he's also known as Kellan Fitzpatrick."
The color drained from Mav's face at the mention of the name. So it seemed we did have a mutual acquaintance. Fitzy was the loan shark that extorted Noah.
"What do you know about him?" Mav leaned forward, his forearms braced on his jean-clad thighs. He was trying to mask the trepidation at the question but was doing a piss poor job of it.
"I know that he terrorized Noah and Second Chance for many years," Simon began. "I also know that you've been in a similar bind. Both of your fathers got in over their heads and indebted to some very bad men."
