Page 99 of Second Start: Family
Kenzie blinked at the sound.
“He’d pass out if he thought I saw this issue from his point of view. When we met, it was the clash of the titans of looking out for other people. I resented the heck out of his trying to run anything, especially me. Took a while for me to realize I did a version of that, too, with my family. Took a lot of sorting out for Boone and me to find our equilibrium.
“But that wasn’t what I was going to say. There’s something else about Pete. Bodie’s his birth father.”
“What?What?”She gaped at the other woman and saw the truth of her words. “How…? How could he not tell me?”
Cambria rested a hand on her arm. “You weren’t in his life.”
The reminder wasn’t delivered as a blow, but it landed in her heart as one.
“And now…” Cambria’s expression mingled so many feelings Kenzie couldn’t define the individual ones, but knew they all added up to love. “Pete made the choice. He’s Bodie’s brother-in-law. He’s Ted Weston’s son. And that’s all anyone outside the family needs to know. Ever.”
“Oh.Oh.” Kenzie’s eyes filled with tears for her brother.
Cambria shook her head. “That’s the point — that’s why I’m telling you. In his own time, Bodie will tell you about coming to Wyoming to find Pete and how that all worked out, but he wouldn’t include how much he’s changed. How he found the strength to let go.” She turned to Kenzie. “To not onlynottry to take over, but to step back, while still loving Pete. To not only accept Pete’s decision, but to respect it. That’s who Boone is now. That’s who your brother is now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Here’s what I’ve got to say,” Gramps announced to the judge, the lawyers, and all assembled in chambers the next morning, “Dan and Hall can rub sparks off each other fast as anything, but that’s because they care so much what the other thinks but they’re both darned fools who don’t admit it.
“I should know, because I’ve been the same in my life and I know what it takes out of a soul. Don’t want that for my grandson. Not Hall, either, I suppose,” he added a bit grudgingly.
Kenzie followed the older man’s gaze to Hall and felt her heart clench.
He looked so tired. As did Dan.
Neither of them pale, because the fire’s heat had reddened their faces. But that didn’t hide that neither had slept much, if any, after physical labor that would have felled an ox.
Hall had messaged her. He was okay. Dan was okay. Lori Felton was coming to the schoolhouse first thing for the younger kids. He’d see her at the courthouse.
But he must have arrived earlier than her, because he was already sitting with Eric in their assigned seats when she and Vicky got here.
They’d left later than Kenzie had wanted, but she couldn’t begrudge those extra minutes while Vicky made sure Ned was comfortable in her trailer to catch up on rest after his labors.
When they arrived here, Vicky nudged her to go up and talk to Hall. Kenzie refused.
He needed to focus completely on Dan. She wouldn’t intrude on that.
Gramps cleared his throat, far from done.
“That boy’s at an age he’s thinking of getting away. But there comes a time in life you don’t want that anymore, but the decisions you made don’t let you go back. It’s not the going to school, it’s the way of how this thing’s being done. Don’t think the boy’s thought through what he’d be missing by cutting himself off from his sisters and his little brother and — yes — his father.
“As for Hall, he’s not a bad man. And he’s working on being a better one. He’s already a good father.
“Dan—” The boy’s head came up and he looked at his grandfather. “—don’t do something you’ll regret. Don’t close the door—”
Half rising, Naomi’s attorney said, “Judge, on what basis does this man purport to give advice, to be an expert on fatherhood or—”
“I’m the boy’s grandfather, that’s what basis. Got more direct blood in Dan and the others than Naomi does.”
“Isn’t it true that you left your wife and daughters decades ago and have been estranged from them.”
“Yeah, that’s all true.”
“Thank you, that’s all we need to hear.” The lawyer turned a shoulder to him.
From the back, Pauline said, “She left him and took the girls. That’s the truth of it.”
