by Linda Warren
“What will you gentlemen have?” she asked politely and pointed a pencil at Elias and then Paxton. “And keep the sexist remarks to yourself.”
Elias held a hand over his heart. “Oh, you’ve wounded me.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Don’t pay him any attention,” Paxton said. “These are our brothers and we’re out to have a good time tonight.”
She pointed the pencil around the table. “All of you are brothers?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“My, your poor mother.”
Laughter echoed and Brianna smiled. Falcon didn’t react. There was no zing. As he’d told his daughter, a person knew when something or someone was right for them. Brianna wasn’t even in his sights because a dark-haired green-eyed woman was all he could see.
“What will y’all have tonight?”
She took their beer and hamburger orders and disappeared behind the bar. An old Willie Nelson song, “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” played on the jukebox and a few couples shuffled around the sawdust dance floor. The evening went well and everyone was on his best behavior. Or at least Elias, Phoenix and Paxton tried. Phoenix pinched Brianna’s butt and she slapped him. That was the only altercation of the evening, until the McCrays walked in.
Gunnar was followed by his three brothers: Malachi and the twins, Ashton and Axel. Ruger, Ezra’s son, and Homer, Isadore’s son. This wasn’t good. Gunnar was known to always make trouble.
Gunnar walked up to the table, followed by the others. He stopped next to Falcon. “You know, Rebel, I haven’t seen Leah in town lately. Let’s see, it’s been about eighteen years now, hasn’t it?”
“My wife is none of your business.”
“She should have married me instead of a loser like you. How long did it last? Not even a year. I would’ve treated her like a queen. She probably knows that by now.”
Falcon clenched and unclenched his fists, wanting to smash them right into Gunnar’s face, but he remained still with superhuman strength. He took a sip from his beer, letting the cool taste calm his nerves.
“If I remember correctly, your wife, Cindy, left because you used her as a punching bag, so don’t tell me how to treat a woman. That’s the last thing you know anything about.” He took another gulp of beer.
“Don’t you know, Rebel, that drinking will kill you.”
The reference to his dad took more restraint than Falcon had. Before he knew it, he’d stood up, his chair flying backward, crashing into the next table. The jukebox stopped playing and people scurried for the door. Without thinking, his fist connected with Gunnar’s jaw and Gunnar fell backward, his body sliding on the hardwood floor right into the jukebox. He jarred it so hard “Unwound” by George Strait blasted from the box.
But Falcon didn’t have time to listen to the music. Malachi and the twins jumped him and knocked him to the floor. His brothers immediately joined the fight and all hell broke loose as tables splintered, glass shattered and bodies wrangled together in anger.
The blast of a shotgun brought everything to a standstill. Wyatt Carson, the sheriff, stood near the bar with a shotgun in his hand.
“Everybody on their feet,” he shouted. “If any of you think of making a crazy move, this shotgun’s gonna be aimed right at you.”
Falcon’s head felt as if it’d been pounded against the floor, which it had. His muscles ached and his fists were bruised, but he managed to get to his feet, as did the Rebels and McCrays, each family on different sides of the room, glaring at each other.
Wyatt walked a little closer, the shotgun pointed toward the ceiling. Stuart, his deputy, was behind him.
“You know I really hate having my supper interrupted and I’m not in the mood to do a lot of paperwork tonight, so here’s what we’re going to do, boys.” He motioned to the bar with the shotgun where Bob was standing. “Put your cash on the bar, no change. If you have enough money to cover all the damages, I’m gonna be nice and let y’all go home because I don’t have a big enough jail to hold a bunch of idiots.”
Falcon felt like an idiot. He’d chastised his brothers for years for drinking and fighting and here he was right in the middle of it, the head of the family, the leader, the one they looked up to. It was strange to explain what was going on inside him. Adrenaline pumped through his veins and his pulse raced. He was living. Maybe not the right way, but he was alive and he was never more aware of that than he was at that moment. For years he’d been going through the motions, but tonight was different. He’d stepped out of his comfort zone and he wasn’t all that upset with himself.
He laid cash on the bar like everyone else, maintaining his distance from the McCrays.
“Is there enough money to cover the damages?” Wyatt asked Bob.
“Well, Sheriff, you shot a hole in my ceiling. That will cost a little more.”
“Stop complaining and count the money.”
Bob nodded with a fistful of cash. “Yeah, that should do it.”
Wyatt laid the shotgun over his shoulder. “You know I spend most of my time dealing with the Rebels and the McCrays. It’s a good thing I’m a patient man. There’s no need to give you a lecture because I know you won’t listen. You never have.” He glanced at Falcon. “I’m surprised at you. I usually can count on you to keep the peace.”
Wyatt and Falcon had gone to school together and they knew each other quite well. Wyatt was right, though. Falcon had spent years trying to keep his brothers under control. He wasn’t going to apologize for losing it tonight.
He reached for his mangled hat on the floor, trying not to wince. “Sometimes, Wyatt, a man just has to fight.”
“He started it,” Malachi said. “He hit Gunnar, and there’s no way we’d let him get away with that.”
Wyatt turned his attention to Malachi. “According to what Bob told me on the phone, Gunnar started it with his big mouth.”
Malachi looked away.
He pointed toward the door with the shotgun. “Go home, clean up your bruises and don’t come back into town until you cool off.”
“Why do we have to go first?” Axel asked.
“Because I told you to, or you can spend a few nights in jail. Your choice.”
The McCrays found their hats and filed out the door, casting angry glances their way.
“What a pitiful sight you guys are.” Wyatt shook his head, taking in the bloody noses, black eyes, scrapes and bruises. “Go home, and please stay there for a while. Give me a rest for about a month.”
His brothers ambled toward the door and Falcon stopped by Bob. “If that doesn’t cover everything, just give me a call.”
“Thanks, Falcon. I wanted to hit Gunnar myself.”
Falcon tried to smile, but his face hurt too much. As he passed Wyatt, he said, “You’re a little wild with that shotgun.”
“You guys don’t usually come into town at the same time. It’s enough to make my heart stop.”
“Yeah, right.” Falcon followed his brothers out the door. They stood outside in the moonlight, looking at each other.
“Damn, can you believe it? Falcon lost it.” Phoenix slapped his leg in amusement. “He hit Gunnar so hard the man’s head will never be the same. He turned on the jukebox.”
They all laughed, standing as brothers against a common foe. Egan rubbed his bruised jaw. “Now I have to go home and explain this to Rachel.”
“She’ll kiss it and make it better,” Elias chortled in a weird voice. “Lucky dog.”
“Let’s go home and nurse our wounds,” Falcon said.
“I bet ol’ Gunnar won’t be able to open his big mouth tomorrow.” Phoenix threw an arm over Elias’s shoulder, either in camaraderie or for the support. Falcon couldn’t tell which. “Falcon came unwound, didn’t he? Bam. He put Gunnar in anot
her time zone.”
Their voices trailed away and Falcon made his way to his truck, followed by Quincy and Jude. Yep, he’d lost it. It was a night of bonding with his brothers that Falcon wouldn’t forget anytime soon. He was definitely moving on. He got a lot of anger and resentment out of his system, mainly on Gunnar.
But it wasn’t enough to shake her image from his mind.
Chapter Nine
A time for reality...
Moving on came with a headache—a big one. Falcon crawled out of bed with moans and grunts. He wasn’t sixteen anymore, but last night he was wild, reckless and crazy. Responsibility was supposed to have curbed all that. As he’d told Wyatt, sometimes even a levelheaded man could be pushed to the edge.
He managed to shower, shave and get dressed. There was a knot the size of an egg on the back of his head where Malachi had tried to beat his brains out against the hardwood floor. Falcon had finally got a fist in his face and Quincy and Jude pulled Ashton and Axel off him. Hitting heads with the McCrays was a waste of energy. Why hadn’t he learned that by now? Maybe because the fight had just been about letting off some steam.
In the hallway, he banged on Eden’s door and winced. That wasn’t smart. It made his head pound more. “Time to get up.”
“I’m already up, Dad,” Eden called.
Now he had to face his mom and he wasn’t looking forward to that. She was pulling biscuits out of the oven and gaped at him, taking in his bruised face. “What happened?”
He poured a cup of coffee, not even considering lying to his mother. “We had a little altercation with the McCrays last night.”
“What?”
“Gunnar was goading me and I reacted. I usually let his slimeball words wash over me. But last night I’d had enough.”
She set the biscuits on the stove, her eyes worried, and Falcon felt a kick to his heart. “I’ve always told you to use your judgment, so he must’ve said something hurtful and vile.”
“Yeah, and I’d just as soon forget it.” He sat at the table, hoping the discussion was over.
“Did all my boys get in the fight?”
“Yes, ma’am, we tore up Rowdy’s last night and the sheriff was called. Luckily, no one was arrested, but we had to pay for the damages.”
“Was anyone hurt?”
“No, just some bruises.”
She wiped her hands on her apron. “You haven’t been the same since Leah was here. I’ll never understand how she can hurt you and Eden like she has.”
He took a sip of his coffee, not wanting to talk about Leah. “She’s out of our lives for good now. At least we don’t have to wonder anymore.”
“That’s what makes me so...”
Eden bounced in, preventing his mom from going off on Leah. “Dad, I’ll be late today. I have school stuff.” She grabbed a piece of bacon off a platter on the stove and turned, her mouth falling open at the sight of his face.
“Dad?”
He shifted uneasily, since he preached good behavior to his daughter all her life. “It’s nothing.”
“But you’re hurt. Did you get in a fight?”
Jude walked in and poured a cup of coffee, and his mom and Eden gaped at his black eye.
“Did you fight with Uncle Jude?” His daughter glared at him.
“No, I didn’t fight with Jude.”
Zane ran into the kitchen. “Eden, did you see...? Oh...” His voice trailed off as he noticed Falcon.
Falcon scooted back in his chair. “Okay, listen, Jude and I and the other brothers got into a fight with the McCrays last night. It’s over and I don’t want to hear any more questions.”
“Did you kick a—”
“Eden.”
“I was just gonna say, well, yes, I hoped you kicked butt.”
Falcon got up and placed his cup in the sink. “I’m going to work.”
As usual, his daughter couldn’t let it go. “Bryce McCray is always saying snide things to me and if he does it again, I’m going to smack him.”
He pointed a finger at her. “You only smack if he touches you inappropriately. Do not react to silly words. He just wants you to react.”
“But—”
“No buts.”
“Dad!”
“If you hit for no reason, you will not barrel race. You will not do a lot of things.”
“You need to do what I did,” Zane told Eden. “Dudley McCray is always calling me a nerdy geek and I told him if he didn’t stop, I was going to tell my daddy and he would tie his big fat neck into a knot and my other uncles would make a pretzel out of him. He hasn’t bothered me since.”
Jude frowned at his son. “You never said Dudley was bothering you.”
“I handled it, Dad.” Zane stuffed bacon and eggs onto a biscuit. “I didn’t hit him or anything. I used my mind instead because Dudley has only one oar in the water, if you know what I mean.”
“I don’t like you keeping secrets from me.”
Zane shrugged. “Okay, Dad.”
“I’m not taking anything off Bryce anymore, either.” Eden wasn’t letting it go but his head hurt too much to get angry.
“You’re not fighting a boy, that’s all I’m going to say. If I hear anything to the contrary, you’re going to have one upset dad on your hands. You got it?”
His daughter glared at him and he walked out of the room, followed by Jude.
“I don’t want to go through that again,” Jude said. “I don’t want my kid to think fighting is good. I don’t want him to think I approve of it.”
“Yeah, it’s hell when you’re trying to teach your kids things, and then you turn around and do exactly what you’re trying to tell them not to do. I guess you never get too old to screw up.”
“Yeah.”
“The legacy lives on,” Falcon murmured. “The Rebels and McCrays will be fighting until the end of time.”
“Mmm.”
Nothing else was said as they walked to the barn. As they neared the entrance, Jude said, “I’m sorry about Leah. I know that was hard on you.”
“Last night was about moving on. Now I’m wondering just how many bad decisions a man can make in a lifetime.”
“You did all the right things, Fal. Don’t beat yourself up. Women are just hard to understand.”
“Really?” He slapped his brother on the back. “We picked doozies, didn’t we? Love wasn’t enough. That’s just about all the introspection I’m doing today. Eden is all that matters to me and I’ll make sure she’s happy no matter what I have to do.”
“But you’ll never forget Leah.”
Falcon knew his brother spoke from experience. Jude would never forget Paige. The Rebels had no problem finding women. It was holding on to them that was the difficult part. Yep, he would never forget Leah. He would check the mail once again today to see if the divorce papers had arrived. Then it would be over and he had to face reality. His life did not include Leah anymore.
* * *
“I CAN DRIVE YOU,” Anne Thornwall said from Leah’s bed, eating Truman Chocolates.
“You’re supposed to be taking it easy. The baby’s due in six weeks.”
Anne made a face. “I feel like a cow. I was never this big with the girls.”
Leah sat at her dressing table, combing her hair. “Alma’s been driving me to my appointments. It’s not that far to the medical center and she’s a very good driver.” She laid her brush down. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I feel so sick. Dr. Morris is afraid I might have a virus or the flu. He’s run more tests and I have to go in and get the results. The surgery is in three days and nothing can go wrong now.”
Anne pushed up from the bed, which was an effort for her. Anne was blonde and blue-eyed just like her daughters. She was not
only beautiful on the outside she also had an inner beauty that encompassed everyone around her.
“It’s probably just nerves. You’ve been very jittery lately, which is understandable. So much is at stake with this operation, but I’m optimistic that everything is going to work out. They’ll remove the tumor and you’ll get a chance to go back and be with your family.”
Leah gripped her hands together. She wanted to be optimistic, too, but life hadn’t been too kind to her, so she couldn’t get her hopes up. In a way she felt this was her punishment for doing what she’d done to Eden and Falcon.
“I want that more than anything, but too much has happened and I can’t live with daydreams.”
“Just be positive.”
Anne rubbed her stomach. She did that a lot. “This baby is a real kicker. The girls didn’t kick like this.”
Leah touched Anne’s swollen stomach. “I’m trying not to think unhappy thoughts, but I may never be able to see this precious angel.”
Anne’s face crumbled. “Don’t say things like that.” She gave Leah a hug. “To cheer you up I’ll tell you a secret if you promise not to tell.”
Leah turned in her chair to face Anne, a light in her eyes. “You know, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Anne whispered in case David was near and she didn’t want him to hear. “I know we promised we’d wait until the birth, but I couldn’t stand it.”
“Does David know?”
“Heavens, no.” Anne waved her hand. “We decided to wait and he’s waiting. He wants a boy so bad and I just had to find out.”
Leah tilted her head and stared at her friend. “From the look on your face I’m guessing it’s a boy.”
Anne smiled. “Yes. I’m so happy. Of course, David says he’ll be just as happy if it’s another girl, but I know that man sometimes better than I know myself and he wants a boy. This time he’s going to get one.”
Leah stood and hugged her friend. “I’m happy for both of you. The baby couldn’t have better parents.”
“Oh, please. Look how we screwed up with Callie.”
