Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
I sigh. “Yeah, I know. I get that. But she makes her desires clear.”
“So what? Mom is limited in some ways. We accepted that long ago.”
“Part of me feels like I’m letting her have her way.”
“Letting her have her way? Rory, you can’t help it that you fell in love with a man.”
“I know.”
“If you make Mom happy, it’s a simple side effect.”
“Now you make me sound awful. It’s not that I don’t want Mom to be happy.”
“You know she’d be happy if you were happy. The fact that she wants one scenario over the other doesn’t make her a bad person. It just means she’s…Mom.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“Don’t you dare hold back with Brock just because you think it’s making Mom happy. You do you. If Brock is the one who makes you happy, hold on to him. You deserve happiness and more, Ror.”
“Here’s the thing, Cal. I want Mom to be happy.”
“I know you do. You just want her to be just as happy either way.”
“Is there anything wrong with that?”
“There’s nothing wrong with that, and you know Mom would be happy either way. Just slightly happier one way.”
I sigh and hang the dish towel on the rack. “I know. And you know what I’m going to do right now? I’m going to join my boyfriend, your fiancé, and our father out on the deck. For a brandy. Or rather, for some water. Because women don’t always need to be in the kitchen.”
Callie laughs. “You’re telling me? I’m the one who’s going to be a freaking lawyer. Let’s go.”
We run into Dad going back out.
“You two done in the kitchen already?”
“Yeah,” Callie says. “We definitely are.”
Dad grins at us.
He knows Mom, and he understands.
“You all go on out. I’ll finish up in the kitchen with your mother.”
“How did we get such a great dad?” I kiss him on his cheek.
“Same way I got such amazing daughters. Go on out and talk with your boyfriends.”
I jar at Dad’s use of the term boyfriends. Donny is so much more than Callie’s boyfriend, and Brock… What are we, exactly? Boyfriend sounds so juvenile. We’re in love, but it’s still so new. Is there a correct term?
Or does it matter?
Maybe all that matters is that we’re happy.
That’s all that matters to my father. And to ultimately my mother…in that warped way of hers.
The four of us laugh and chat about nothing in particular, until Donny’s phone rings.
He regards it. “It’s Dale.”
“You should take it,” Brock says.
Donny nods. “Yeah, Dale?” he says into the phone.
Pause.
“I’m not sure. Brock’s with me now. We’ll be right over.”
“What is it?” Brock asks when Donny ends the call.
“Dale says we need to talk to my dad. Now.”
“Is everything okay?” I ask.
“Yeah. I mean, no one’s hurt.” Donny shoves his phone in his pocket.
Brock rises. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
“Don’t be,” I say. “Take care of business.”
Callie nods. “I agree. Unless you want us to come with you.”
“Not this time.” Donny drops a kiss on Callie’s lips. “We’ll let you know as soon as we know anything.”
I rise then, melt into Brock’s arms. “Call me after?”
He drops a kiss on my forehead. “Absolutely.” He holds me close and whispers in my ear, “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
BROCK
My two cousins and I sit in Uncle Talon’s office. In his hand, he holds the orange diamond ring that was stolen from his safe.
Donny’s eyes widen. “You found it?”
Uncle Talon clears his throat. “I didn’t find it. I’m the one who took it.”
“And left a feather in its place?” Donny says. “What the fuck, Dad?”
“I didn’t leave a feather in its place. The orange feather must have fallen off my new black Stetson.”
“Since when do you wear your best hat around the house?” Dale asks.
“I was going out, Dale, and I was wearing it when I opened the safe and took the ring.”
“Why?” Donny rubs the bridge of his nose. “You freaked me out. You should have told me.”
“I don’t make it a habit to inform my sons every time I open my safe,” Uncle Talon says. “I never have, and I don’t plan to start now. I took the ring to get it appraised.”
“I already did all that, Dad,” Donny says.
“You did. I wanted to have someone else look at it. Someone who might be able to determine what the LW stands for.”
“I wish you’d mentioned it,” Donny says. “I thought someone had broken into our house again. I was thinking all these really strange things.”
“Like what?” I ask.
“I was in a bad way. I kept thinking about the phoenix.”
“My horse?” Uncle Talon says.
“Well…yeah. How you named him after the phoenix, what the symbolism meant to you. And I kept thinking that the phoenix had fallen into ashes again, and we need to rise again. And then when I saw the orange feather…”