Page 9 of Cowboys Next Door

“Maybe we should give the ladies some privacy?” I say bluntly, folding my arms over my chest as I glare at my childhood friend.

“It’s all right,” Katherine sighs. “You’re the closest thing to family I’ve had since Cory left, boys. I have no secrets from you.”

Rose pales more as she bites her lower lip, not knowing what to make of this relationship we have with her grandmother, but she doesn’t realize we’re just as protective of Katherine in our own way.

She has been a landmark in Stannich for five decades, a widow for four of them, handling the rundown land on her own.

Our fathers and grandfathers had done their best to be neighborly after her husband died. But it wasn’t until I took over my ranch that I found out Katherine Winterbourne had sold part of her property to my father under the condition that she remain a tenant on the land.

The whole thing is messy, but I make it work for Katherine’s sake, knowing that she won’t be here forever. It’s a thought I don’t like to entertain much. I’ve already had too much loss in my life, and in her own way, Katherine has always been something of an eccentric aunt to me.

I assume Katherine has a similar deal with Connor, and perhaps Hudson, too, but I have never asked them directly. It’s not my business, and if they do have such an arrangement, they’re sure to be of the same mind as me in the matter—let the old lady live the last of her days in peace.

We can work out the semantics on the land later.

“Please, darling,” Katherine begs, reaching for her granddaughter’s hand. “I know this must be painful for you, but he was my only son. I just need to know what happened to him, where I went so wrong…”

Rose bites on her lower lip, compassion sweeping over her face. Despite the fact that the subject clearly fills her with agony, she inhales deeply and obliges her grandmother’s request.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Katherine.” Rose drops her chin to avoid any eye contact with her grandmother or anyone else. “I didn’t know him all that well. He wasn’t really around when I was born, off doing ‘his own thing,’ as my mother used to say.”

“Who was your mother, dear?” Katherine asks nervously, as if she worries the question might rouse terrible memories for the girl. “Your father left here on such bad terms, he never even bothered to send a letter. I thought…”

She purses her lips, and I feel a stab of sympathy so intense that I hate Cory Winterbourne for putting his mother through so much agony. The feeling surprises me. I never knew the man, but he grew up with my father, the way that I grew up with Hudson and Connor. I have no recollection of Katherine’s only son, but suddenly I’m very interested in what drove him to hurt his mother and daughter so badly.

I find myself looking at Rose again, my position toward her softening.

Rose pulls her chin up and looks sadly at Katherine, but I catch her giving me a look through her peripheral vision, then a glance toward Connor before answering. “She was very similar to Cory. They… ran in the same crowds.”

Katherine inhales sharply. “Drugs, then?”

Rose leans forward and reaches for her grandmother’s hand, grabbing it tightly. “It was a long time ago,” she tells the older woman quietly. “And their end was inevitable, the way they were living.”

“You poor baby,” Katherine moans, tears filling her eyes. “Why didn’t I know about you?”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Rose insists, squeezing her hands. “I’m here now, and we can’t change the past, can we?”

Sniffling, Katherine shakes her head. “I’m still very sorry that I didn’t know then. How did you manage, Rose? Did you get an education? Were you in foster care?”

It’s clear to me that these questions are making Rose very uncomfortable, but she does not want to upset her grandmother. I’m impressed with her ability to keep her composure.

She has experience keeping it together,I realize.She’s been doing that for years.

“I was twelve when my dad died, fifteen when my mom passed. I… lived with friends until I managed to graduate high school,” she admits. “I was lucky—two of my good friends had parents who had been through the system themselves and let me stay in their basement as long as I kept my grades up and got a part-time job.”

Shocked, I gawk at her, mimicking Connor’s and Katherine’s expressions.

“It was good for me.” Rose notes our stunned looks and flashes a smile, as if to minimize her experiences. “It kept me straight, and I ended up at the University of Washington with scholarships.”

Sinking back in my chair, I shake my head in disbelief. I would have never imagined that this pert, bright-eyed woman had endured so much in her young life.

“Oh, Rose—” Katherine moans, bowing her head as tears stream down her cheeks.

“Katherine, I really believe that everything works out the way it does for a reason.” Rose swallows. “I’m here now, and I don’t want to dwell on the past. I only want to look to the future. I’m sorry about Cory. This isn’t the news you wanted to hear, I know. I wish you could have had a chance to reconcile with him.”

“I have come to terms with the fact that my son was lost a long time ago.” Katherine raises her chin and shakes her head. “I never thought I would hear his name in this house again.” She glances at me, and then at Connor, who is the quietest I’ve ever seen him in one sitting. “I suppose that’s why I’ve made these three my surrogate sons, forcing them to do my bidding more than I should.”

“We like doing things for you, Miss Katherine,” Connor chimes in, and I nod in agreement.

---