by Hanna Hart
“You were twenty-five,” he enunciated. She was hardly a kid.
“I can’t go back and change the past,” she said firmly. “All I can do is beg for your forgiveness and hope that you want to know her because she loves you.”
He stared at her, and for the briefest moment, he considered whether what she was telling him was true. She had been saying earlier that Lincoln wasn’t interested in resuming his role in Ember’s life, so it would be convenient for Ember to have a new father enter the picture.
But June would never do that. She would never tell him this unless it was true.
Looking back, it made sense. The affection his mother had for Ember should have spoken volumes—she was extremely particular about the children she let into her inner circle.
He thought back to all of the instances that reminded him of Kennedy—the Brooks smile, the way she laughed—and then cursed himself for being so blind.
“Who does she think I am?” he asked.
“She thinks you’re...Bennett,” she shrugged helplessly. “You’re her friend.”
“And Lincoln is her dad,” he said bitterly.
“He was there for her all that time,” she said meekly.
“Because you took her from me!” he yelled. “I didn’t even get a chance! This is typical. Guys get no say in this stuff. You just wrote me off, and you had no right!”
“I’m sorry, Bennett. You have no idea how sorry I am, but I did what I thought was right for me at the time.”
“And now you’re telling me at the last possible moment.” He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger, squeezing in frustration. “You had a month,” he said, his words clipped with annoyance.
“I know.”
“You’re leaving tomorrow,” he said, sullen.
“I know that,” she pushed back. “I’m sorry. You can’t imagine how scary this is for me. Please, try to understand my side of this.”
“You know what, June? I don’t understand your side. I don’t understand you at all. I knew you were mad at me back then. I know you felt like I pushed you, but I would never in a million years believe you could ever do something like this. Ever.”
With that, he turned around and began walking the long road back to the surface.
Chapter Sixteen
June
When they emerged from the damp cave, Bennett had nothing to say to June.
He was quiet, and she could tell he was hurting. It killed her to have caused him such pain, but she didn’t know what else to do or say to make things better.
She was trying to do the right thing, not break his heart.
He was angry, and she could tell he was holding back as he spoke through clenched teeth. “I need time.”
“We leave at five tomorrow,” she said, and he gave her a pointed stare.
“I know that,” he snapped.
“Will I see you before then?”
“I just need some time to think, alright, June? Can I get five minutes to digest this?”
“Please,” she urged him, setting a hand on his arm. “Don’t waste this last night. Let’s talk about this before we do something we regret.”
Bennett looked at her hands, then back at her. His eyes were cold—changed, somehow. There wasn’t the love there she had felt there just an hour earlier.
“You dropped a bomb on me,” he said coldly. “And now I’m supposed to just be okay with it? Just act like nothing is different and I can still trust you?”
Her heart sank, sending a painful reverberation through her middle.
“Okay, go,” she said, hoping it didn’t sound like she thought she needed to permit him to leave.
Bennett left without a word. As she watched him walk away, she had an agonizing feeling that it would be the last time she saw him.
She hoped he would come to her later that night, but Bennett remained scarce from Brookside Ranch.
She hardly slept that night. She had been so restless that she’d woken Ember up with her wandering.
“Are you okay, Mama?” Ember asked, rubbing an eye sleepily.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she said, picking her daughter up and bringing her back to bed. “I’m just having trouble sleeping.”
“I can sing to you, if you want,” Ember said, and June couldn’t help but smile.
“Okay,” June agreed, crawling into bed with the girl and snuggling close to her.
She listened as Ember started singing all of her favorite lullabies. Her small voice carried through the room, soft and sweet until June found herself closing her eyes.
As soon as she felt the ghost of sleep wash over her, her eyes shot open.
Ember was sleeping, and June couldn’t help but trace the curve of her face with her fingertips. She looked so much like him. This little girl’s life was about to change so much, and she didn’t even know it yet.
June wished she could be that oblivious. She wished she could go back in time just a few hours and remember what it was like when everything was fine. She wished she was with Bennett and that he was looking at her with affection.
She spent the next morning packing up and cleaning the room before taking Ember to the ranch restaurant for breakfast.
The food was buffet style but cooked to order. She took Ember up to the pancake counter and her daughter ordered a short stack of buttermilk blueberry and honey pancakes. They watched as the chef flipped the golden discs on the griddle and stacked them expertly on a square plate for Ember.
Next, June went to the omelet station. She got a mix of bell peppers, onions, and bacon, but couldn’t bring herself to eat once they finally got to the table.
She thought Bennett would come that morning, but he never showed.
It wasn’t until four that evening that he set foot on the cottage porch.
She opened the door to him and hoped to see the love in his eyes, but they were dark. He looked past her into the entryway, his eyes darting toward the stack of bags by the front door.
“You’re still leaving?” he asked with mild surprise.
She didn’t know why he thought she would have done differently. He was the one who booked the tickets, and she didn’t exactly have the money to get a different flight.
“I’m not sure what else to do,” she said unsurely. “I think you need time to process.”
“Did you tell her?” he asked, and she shook her head. “Are you going to?”
“I won’t if you don’t want me to, but I think she has a right to know,” she said, trying to sound kind but diplomatic.
“Hm,” he mumbled, looking down.
“I was hoping we could do it together when you’re feeling...up to it. Maybe when you’re not so angry.”
An irritated smirk crossed the left side of his mouth and he challenged her, “How do you want me to be?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know how I would feel. I guess I would be upset; maybe I would feel betrayed, hurt, regretful,” she listed off.
“That pretty much hits the nail on the head.”
She turned to make sure Ember wasn’t nearby, then looked back at Bennett and whispered, “Don’t you think I feel the same way, Bennett? It hasn’t been easy for me all these years.”
“No?” he asked, not bothering to whisper. “You just got someone else to slip into my spot, isn’t that right? Did you even love Lincoln or what?”
June stepped forward, forcing Bennett out onto the porch and out of earshot of their daughter.
“I did. Eventually,” she said.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “If you didn’t love him at first, then why didn’t you come back to me? Do you know how different our lives would be if you have just been honest with me?”
She crossed her arms. “Here’s how it would have went: I tell you; you freak out and take me back out of pity or duty or honor or whatever it is; then I move to Montana and resent you for it for years and years and you resent me for dragging you back into our failing relations
hip.”
He winced. “That’s how you saw our life together?”
June shrugged.
“Or maybe you would have told me and we both would have stopped being so childish,” he argued. “Maybe we would have seen that there was a bigger picture to the story of us and I would have told you that nothing in the world mattered to me anymore except for having a life with you.”
“That’s a fairy-tale line, Bennett,” she said helplessly. “But it’s not what would have happened. You love this ranch. It’s who you are.”
“No,” he said firmly. “It’s what I do.”
“Well, I guess we’ll never know,” she said.
“No, I guess we won’t,” he snapped.
The two stood there, silent in their standoff, before Ember came running toward the screen door.
“Bennett!” she yelped in delight.
Bennett locked eyes with June. She knew he was furious, but he was ever the gentleman as he asked her permission to play with Ember for the last hour they would be at the ranch.
She agreed and went with them out into the stables where June was met by Apricot.
Ember had been obsessed with her since they had come to the ranch. She insisted on visiting her every day, and Bennett had made sure to make it happen.
The two played with the dog, tossing a ball for her and telling silly stories while June just watched.
Her heart exploded with love as she studied them together.
She had seen them interact so many times in the past, but seeing Bennett talk to her now that he knew the truth was a whole different experience.
Ember was his, and she could already see him take pride in that.
But when he looked at June, he was sullen.
When it came time for them to leave, Bennett called a car to take them to the airport. The driver loaded their bags into the trunk and Ember took that moment to run up to Bennett.
He picked her up and she threw her arms around his neck. “Promise not to forget me!” she said.
“Oh, I don’t think that’s possible,” Bennett smiled, squeezing her tight. “You’re my favorite person, ever. My new little buddy, and friends don’t forget friends, right?”
“Right!”
“Okay, kiddo, take care, alright?” he said, his voice thick with emotion.
“I hope we can come back soon,” her daughter said, and June could already tell that the little girl was going to start crying.
“Me too,” Bennett said, and Ember erupted in tears.
“Pet Apricot for me,” she sobbed into his shoulder.
“Aww, I’ll give her a cuddle every day.”
“You promise?” Ember asked.
“I swear. And you know what?” he said, and the girl looked up at him. “I’m gonna see you real soon. I’m gonna come back to Houston next month, and then you can come out to my ranch any time you want, okay?”
Ember nodded and wiped her eyes with her arm.
“Anytime you want,” he reiterated. “Alright, kiddo. I’ll see you soon.”
Bennett set the girl down, and she went running to June. She watched him swallow hard as he walked up and hugged June. It was light, but there was hope in it.
“Text me when you land to let me know you got home safe,” he said.
“I will,” she said.
Suddenly, she was overcome with memories of past goodbyes. She remembered dozens of airport visits between Texas and Montana—drawn out, tearful, kiss-filled farewells with Bennett and the heartbreak she felt as soon as he was out of her sight.
It hurt just the same now as it ever did.
Chapter Seventeen
Bennett
“Watch it!” Bennett called as he watched his sister try to mount Silvana, an older horse, down at the stables.
Kennedy had been training with the horses for the past month, getting ready for her first day hosting one of the children’s activities.
For a girl who grew up around horses, Kennedy was as graceless as possible as she mounted the animal, kicking one leg out and nearly booting Bennett in the face as she did so.
“I did! I was being careful,” his sister argued back.
“Do you want to hurt someone, Kennedy? Because if you do, then keep doing what you’re doing right now.”
Kennedy laughed as she adjusted herself on the saddle. “Relax,” she teased.
If this were a real class, Kennedy very well could have kicked one of her young students in the face as she attempted to teach them, but of course, she didn’t care to take it seriously.
“Of course, you don’t care,” he said with irritation, circling the horse. “You don’t care what happens to anyone else—our guests. You only care about yourself.”
Kennedy’s smile dropped and she searched his face to see if he was being serious or not. When she saw he was, she immediately turned defensive.
“Hey, I came to this stupid ranch trying to better myself, just like you said. That has to count for something,” she snipped.
“You can’t be stupid about this. This is serious,” he said firmly, crossing his arms and judging her riding stance as the horse trotted around the stables.
“What’s going on with you lately?” Kennedy said, pulling the reins and steering her horse toward him. “You’ve been absolutely miserable for a week. What, did you and June break up for the billionth time?”
Bennett clenched his teeth and gave his sister a hard stare.
Kennedy wasn’t wrong. He hadn’t exactly been in good spirits since June left the ranch over a week ago.
He’d been in regular contact with Ember, talking to her over video chat and maintaining a connection. He wanted a relationship with her, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t let go of the anger he felt toward June.
She deceived him, and even though he understood why, he couldn’t rid himself of the lightning strike of sickness that hummed through his stomach whenever he thought about the wasted years between him and Ember—at June’s hands.
“Oh no, you didn’t really break up, did you?” Kennedy said, concern settling on her features.
“No,” he said curtly.
“Then what?”
He shrugged, defensive. “What, what?”
“I know when you’re hiding something, Bennett. You get the same look on your face that Dad does.”
“What look?” he asked, and Kennedy rolled her eyes.
“The look that screams ‘I’m lying about something!’”
Bennett searched his mouth with his tongue, tracing the tip over his teeth as he looked out over the stables. He walked up to the horse and pat her on the side for a moment.
He thought about how to tell Kennedy what transpired between him and June, but no words were coming to him.
Finally, lamely, he said, “Ember is mine.”
“Is your...?” Kennedy began unsurely, then burst into an unexpected laugh. “No way, seriously?”
“June found out she was pregnant right after we broke up. Two months pregnant,” he explained.
“And you never noticed?”
Bennett narrowed his brows with annoyance and looked up at her. “How could I?” he complained. “She lived in Texas! She never gave me a chance to notice.”
Kennedy’s smile faded, and she went uncharacteristically silent. She pulled back on the reins once more to stop the horse from impatiently moving around.
Bennett sighed and shook his head. “I’m such an idiot.”
“Hey, no. You didn’t know,” she tried to comfort him.
“I should have—” he began, but Kennedy interrupted him.
“Don’t do that. Don’t do the woulda-coulda-shoulda. You both could have done things a million times different, but you didn’t. It is what it is at this point.” She shrugged her shoulders and watched him carefully as she said, “But I’m sorry.”
“Don’t try to empathize with me, Kennedy. There is no way to explain to you what this feels like.”
“That’s tr
ue,” she agreed, her voice pitching up. “Nobody pops on a girl’s doorstep with a baby and goes, ‘By the way, this is yours and you never knew it!’”
Bennett laughed, despite himself. He softened then and asked, “What am I supposed to do with this information?”
“I mean, what’s the problem?”
Her words took him aback. He stared curiously at her, waiting for elaboration.
“Okay, okay! The lying,” she said pointedly, gesturing with her hands as she spoke. “That’s a huge problem. Years and years of lies and opportunities to come clean is not the best foundation for a relationship. But, I mean, you’re together now, right? And you’re crazy about Ember. She’s the best, and—oh my gosh, I just realized that makes her my niece! I officially have the coolest niece ever!”
“Don’t try and butter me up,” he said.
“Dude, I’m not. She is legit the coolest kid I have ever met, and now I know why—she’s part Brooks!”
Bennett smirked. Ember was a blessing, and while he had no part in raising her up to now, it was a privilege to say she was a part of him.
“You love her, don’t you?” Kennedy asked, then shook her head. “You don’t even have to answer that. You’re crazy about her; we can all see it. Plus, you were going to be with June anyway, right? So, what’s the difference?”
“The difference is she lied,” he insisted. “A monumental lie that made me miss out on five years of my daughter’s life. She doesn’t even know I’m her father, and now it’s too late.”
“Too late?” Kennedy said with humor. “Bennett, she’s five! You have years and years left to embarrass her by being her dad,” she chided, then went serious as she said, “Or to teach her how to fish or how to ride a horse. Protect her from her first jerk of a boyfriend the way you protected me from mine. You’re a great brother, Bennett. That’s how I know you’ll be an amazing dad.”
He swallowed. “You really think so?
“I really do. What about you? You think you’re up for it?”
He stared into his sister’s brown eyes and took a moment to think about it. He wanted to be Ember’s father; there was no question about that. He wanted to have an active role in her life. He wanted to teach her and play games and bring her out to the ranch. He could think of nothing better.
