Page 104 of Texas Destiny
“We’ve already discussed this. We’ll get a new stallion in the spring.”
Austin shook his head. “You must not have taken a good look at those horses in the canyon, the ones those horse thieves had.”
“No, I was only thinking about Amelia and getting her out of there.”
“Black Thunder was there. Dallas brought him back. I put him in his pen.”
Houston rubbed his shoulder, the ache intensifying. “What do you mean he was there and now he’s here? You shot him.”
“Nope, I lied.”
Houston stared at his brother, wondering when he’d stopped being a boy. Austin swallowed.
‘The thieves took me by surprise and stole Black Thunder. I was ashamed that I didn’t try and stop them. It didn’t matter that there was six of them and only one of me or that they had their guns out and I didn’t. I thought I’d let you down. Figured you’d never trust me again if you knew what had happened. So I lied. And because I lied, you got shot.”
“I didn’t get shot because you lied—”
“If I’d told the truth, you would have gone after them. They never would have taken Amelia.”
“We don’t know that. You can’t start second-guessing what might have happened.”
“Dallas said the same thing, but I needed to hear it from you.”
“Well, now you’ve heard it, so take Black Thunder and head on back to the ranch.”
“Take Black Thunder?”
“Yep, he’s yours. I’d like to borrow him from time to time, of course, but he belongs to you.”
“Why?”
Houston leaned forward. “Because I don’t want you spending the rest of your life thinking I blame you for what happened. It wasn’t your fault.”
Austin laughed. “You don’t have to give me the horse. Dallas told me that a man who wallows in his regrets lives a miserable life. I got a dream that I want to hold in my hand. I ain’t planning on doing any wallowing.”
“Take the horse, anyway.”
Austin stood. “All right, I will.” He walked to the door and stopped, his hand on the latch. He gazed back over his shoulder. “That woman you love … Do I know her?”
Houston forced himself to meet his brother’s gaze. The boy only knew one woman, if he didn’t count the whores in Dusty Flats. “Yeah, you do.”
“She never left your side, not for one minute.”
“She should have.”
“Well, I’m not learned in these matters, but I’d like to think if a woman ever loved me as much as that one loves you … I’d crawl through hell to be by her side.”
Chapter Twenty
Houston sat at his table, running his fingers back and forth over the cloth Amelia had embroidered for Dallas, a gift he’d kept for himself.
He’d tried to sleep after Austin left, but Amelia was still here with him. He could smell her sweet magnolia scent filling his house, filling his bed.
He wondered how long it would be before her fragrance faded, before he became like Cookie, living on memories until they became so worn with the years that they would be discarded carelessly as hand-me-downs. Houston had already spent thirteen years wallowing in the regrets of his youth. He had a lifetime ahead of him to flounder in his latest regrets.
Whether intentional or not, she’d left her mirror on the table, glass side down.
He could see her so clearly, holding the mirror, smiling at her reflection. How simple an action, how difficult a step after all these years. The rippling waters of a pond always gave a distorted image with no depth, no clarity.
