Page 17 of Nashville Cowboy
Jackson spoke through a tight jaw. “Lincoln is my only brother and I’d do anything for him.”
“Good, good. Familyiseverything.”
But if that was true, why hadn’t Hank ever been to one of Jackson’s performances? The entire family had at one time or another, but Hank was always busy. Always. Sometimes Jackson couldn’t reconcile the loving father to the man who often withdrew from the family. Who answered the simplest questions at times with unwarranted hostility.
“How are you, Dad?”
“Who the hell is askin’?”
At one time, Jackson told himself that it was Hank’s deep anger at his wife having left the family. And, after Eve left him at the altar, for the first time Jackson understood. To be abandoned by the one person you loved most in the world was devastating. But while Hank was abandoned once, for Jackson it wastwice.First, his mother, Maggie Mae Carver. Then Eve. It was difficult to believe that wasn’t what he deserved.
Jackson’s anger was so big it didn’t fit anywhere. No place large enough, so he’d buried himself in the bottle for a while. The bottle might not be wide, but it was deep. He might have stayed in there longer, if not for his music.
For that reason alone, he wished that Hank would have a little more respect for how hard Jackson worked. And a musician, while maybe not the noblest profession in the world, could change people’s lives. But Hank didn’t want to hear any of that. He wanted to talk sperm.
Hank stopped his stallion at the top of the hill that overlooked the entirety of the Carver ranch. One hundred and fifty acres of rolling hills to the north ending at the Truehart horse ranch. A tiny cottage sat at the back of the Truehart ranch, the place where Eve used to live with her mother.
Hank pointed in the direction of the home Lincoln was having built for his family. It seemed far enough away for some privacy and near a creek that ran through the Carver and Truehart properties.
“Over yonder is where your brother will live, and the family he’ll have soon enough.”
Jackson braced himself.
“When you think you’ll settle down and have some children?”
Straight from bull sperm to Carver sperm. “Not in any hurry, Dad.”
“I don’t know about the women out there in Nashville, but I know here we grow ’em strong and beautiful. Like Eve. But, guess you know that better than anyone.”
“Right. Beautiful women in Stone Ridge. Though not plentiful, that’s for sure.” Jackson diverted from the subject of Eve.
“True enough. Wish we had more like Eve. Looks just like her mother. Prettiest women in all of Stone Ridge. Hell, maybe even Texas.”
Always like Hank to point out the obvious. Jackson resisted reminding him of just who’d left whom at the altar. But there was no point. His father favored Eve from the day he discovered she loved talking to horses. The fact that she’d not only become a veterinarian, but come back to Stone Ridge to practice, was sort of the blue ribbon on that deal.
“Right.”
“Got to be tough for you,” Hank said as they crested the hill that faced their farthest pasture. “Eve’s got no need for you.”
“Good,” Jackson said, his throat tight. “Got no need for her, either.”
Hank snorted. “Just keep tellin’ yourself that, son. Might someday believe it.”
Jackson resisted leaving Hank and his slow horse in the dust. Taco was up for anything.
“What was I supposed to do? I know you loved her, too, but she walked out on me, case you forgot.”
“Nerves. That’s what Brenda told me.”
“Hell, I was nervous, too. But I showed up.”
Hank nodded. “Yup. And left the next day.”
“Becauseshedidn’t show up.”
“Like I said, it was nerves. Should have gone after her, calmed her down. Talked to her. You’d be married to the most beautiful veterinarian in Stone Ridge, more like the entire county, and happy as a pig in shit.”
They’d talked about this before. About once a year. Hank even met one of Jackson’s old girlfriends when he’d been out to Nashville with the rest of the family. All beautiful women, though none exactly pierced Jackson’s heart with an arrow. Especially not Winona James, his ex-wife and a fellow country musician. He’d been married to her for about three months. And if Eve soured him on the idea of marriage, Winona finished the job.
