by D. L. Roan
“This is the best birthday present anyone has ever given me!” Gran exclaimed.
“I guess I’m going to have to carve another name into the table soon,” Papa Jake said with a slap to Jonah’s back.
Stunned, Dani rose from her seat and made her way into the McLendon hug-fest.
“Congratulations.” She hugged Pryce first, then Chloe. “I knew you were hiding something,” she teased. “Nobody glows like that unless they’re pregnant.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t notice,” Gran said, cupping Chloe’s cheek. “When are you due, honey?”
“December twenty-third, or there about,” Pryce answered for her, beaming with pride as he stole a kiss from Chloe.
“A Christmas baby!” Gabby squealed again, and then sobbed again.
“Way to go.” Dani dragged Jonah into a hug. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks, Aunt Boo,” Jonah said with a laugh. “I’m still a little shocked myself.”
“Yeah. Way to go, asshole,” Carson grumbled, giving Jonah a shove before they shook hands and Jonah pulled him into a backslapping hug.
“You’re just jealous my dick works better than yours,” Jonah snickered.
“My dick works just fine, little brother,” Carson boasted with a cocky grin. “Got the tests to prove it.”
“Car! Shut up, man,” Connor growled through gritted teeth.
Breezy choked on a sob, catching Carson’s attention and flipping on the one brain cell in his head that still had cognitive reasoning ability. “Oh, baby, no. I didn’t mean it that way!” Carson rushed to Breezy’s side, but she’d quickly sobered.
“It’s fine. I’m fine,” Breezy insisted, wiping away her tears.
“I’m an idiot,” Carson said, pulling her into his arms.
Breezy laughed, nodding in agreement. “Lucky for you, I knew that when I married you.”
“Smooth move.” Dani poked Carson’s arm as he and Connor walked Breezy toward the creek bank for a little privacy.
“What was that about?” Jonah asked, his gaze following Connor and Carson.
“Bad timing,” was all Dani offered.
“I tried to stop you,” Chloe muttered to Jonah.
“Don’t worry,” Dani assured her. “She’s just sensitive right now. She’ll be okay.”
A chorus of urgent, masculine shouts roared above the chatter and Dani whipped around to see what was happening. Her blood turned cold and drained from her face when she saw Uncle Cade tumbling to the ground on top of Matt.
“Uncle Cade!” Dani rushed into the crowd of McLendon men corralled around them.
“I got it,” Cade insisted as Grey and Papa Daniel helped him to his feet. “Slipped on some loose rocks, is all. I said, I’m fine,” he snipped, twisting free of the dozen or more sets of hands trying to help him.
“I think I caught the brunt of it.” Matt grunted, taking Mason’s offered hand to pull himself up. “Sonofabitch!” Matt crashed back to the ground, cupping his groin, his face scrunched in agony.
“What’s wrong?” Gabby crouched down beside him.
“Dad? You okay?” Connor and Jonah asked at the same time.
“Yeah.” Matt huffed, trying to catch his breath. “Just need to walk it off.”
“Did I elbow you in the nuts?” Uncle Cade asked, dusting himself off.
“Na, It’s not that.” Matt stood carefully, but remained hunched over, his fist pressed into the top of his groin.
“You didn’t give yourself a hernia, did ya?” Papa Joe bent over to check on him.
“Do you feel any unusual knots or lumps?” Breezy asked, placing a hand on Matt’s back to guide him to the picnic table. “What does it feel like.”
Matt lowered himself onto the bench with a grunt. “It feels like someone’s stabbin’ me in the groin with a hot poker.”
“Let me see,” Breezy insisted, kneeling in front of him.
“I ain’t lettin’ my daughter-in-law look at my junk.”
“Don’t be silly,” Gabby insisted. “She’s a physical therapist. Let her help you.”
“Hell no.” Matt twisted away. “I’d rather go to the hospital.
Dani’s pulse started racing again. If Matt was asking to go to the hospital, it must be bad.
“Go get the truck,” Mason instructed Jonah. “We’ll run you into town.”
“I didn’t mean today!” Matt winced again, drawing an agonized breath through his teeth.
“If it’s a hernia, you need to make sure you don’t lose circulation,” Breezy warned. “You should at least go get checked out.”
“Go get the truck,” Gran ordered Jonah.
He and Pryce didn’t hesitate, racing up the hill through the pasture.
Three hours later, Dani sat between Uncle Cade and Papa Daniel in the emergency room, surrounded by a dozen other family members as they waited for news on Matt. Gabby had accompanied him back to wherever they were performing the ultrasound on what had been confirmed to be a hernia. A pretty bad one, from the sound of it.
“I’m going to go see if I can find out anything.” Grey had been pacing the room for the last hour. The hallway before that.
“I’ll go with you,” Mason said, pushing off the wall he’d been leaning against.
Dani chuckled. Grey’s hatred for hospitals was no secret. She had no doubt Mason was tagging along to keep him out of trouble.
“I need to hit the men’s room.” Uncle Cade stood and stretched. “Anyone need anything?”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Dani asked him again. Seeing him slip like that, and then fall hard enough for Matt to get a hernia trying to catch him…she couldn’t help but wonder if the side effects from the medicine were the reason he fell in the first place.
“I’m fine, Ace.” Uncle Cade dismissed her with a wave. “Just a little tired. It’s been a long day.”
“How do you do it?” she asked Daniel when Cade was out of earshot. “How do you go through every day acting like nothing’s wrong with him?”
Papa Daniel didn’t answer right away, and she glanced over at him. The pain in his eyes took her breath away.
“It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” he finally admitted, “but…” He swallowed, then cleared his throat, his lips turning up into a weak smile. “Through all of this, it’s the only thing he’s asked of me. It’s the only thing he’s asked of any of us.”
He closed his eyes, giving her hand a squeeze before he let it go and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Don’t get me wrong. I have plenty of moments when I want to yell and punch a wall, curse the unfairness of it all, and sometimes I do one or all those things. I’ve patched so much drywall in the last six months I could’ve built us a new house.”
Dani swallowed the lump in her throat. “But you don’t let him see you?”
Papa Daniel nodded. “I was angry for a while. Still am sometimes. It may sound strange, but on those hard days when I think I can’t hold it together another second, I think about Breezy.”
Dani glanced across the room where her sister-in-law sat with Connor and Carson.
Papa Daniel leaned close and lowered his voice. “She didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to her brother.”
Dani gasped. She hadn’t thought about the accident that had killed Breezy’s brother, as well as Connor and Carson’s first girlfriend, in ages. How could she have forgotten?
“You were probably too young to remember, but on a night just like this, in this very hospital, she clung to me beside Ford’s hospital bed, begging for a chance to say goodbye.”
Dani’s eyes stung with tears, but she managed to blink them back. She’d been seven or eight maybe. She remembered the accident and her broken arm, and how upset everyone was, but she’d never heard that part of the story.
“We have no control over the disease that’s taking Cade away from us, honey, but at least we get the chance to say goodbye. How we do that is important, and I don’t want to waste it.”
>
“Well, it’s official.”
Dani sobered as Grey walked back into the room, Gabby and the rest of the family trickling in behind him. “Matt has a hernia,” Grey confirmed with a disappointed frown. “They want to schedule surgery for this week.”
“Tuesday, if they can get the pre-op bloodwork back in time,” Gabby added.
Every male in the room winced.
“Surgery?” Dani pushed from her seat. “Is he okay? Is he staying overnight?”
“No, honey. It’s not an emergency sort of thing,” Gabby reassured her. “They’re sending him home with pain medicine until the surgery.” She handed Dani a pamphlet on the procedure. “It’s fairly routine from what I understand, but he won’t be working for at least six to eight weeks.”
“Which means we’ll have to cancel our trip to Texas,” Grey said with obvious disappointment. “Sorry, baby girl.”
Clay! Oh my gosh! In all the chaos, she’d completely forgotten he was coming tomorrow.
“Damn,” Mason cursed. “I have that conference. Do you think you can handle the ranch while I’m gone or should I try to cancel?”
“There’s no reason to do that,” Grey assured him. “Dani and I can handle things until you get back.”
“Car and I can help,” Conner offered. “It’s been a while since we’ve done some good, honest ranch work.”
“Speak for yourself,” Carson scoffed, “but yeah. We’ll help.”
“That’s a great idea,” Gabby said. “With the two of you helping, Dani can still go to Texas.”
“What?” She couldn’t go to Texas now. Surprisingly disappointed as she was, she couldn’t leave her family when they needed her the most.
“I’m not letting her go by herself. Are you crazy?” Grey’s mocking chuckle set Dani’s teeth on edge.
“What do you mean, you’re not letting me?” She crossed her arms over her chest and stared up at Grey. “You were the one who said I needed to get some ‘real world’ experience.”
“Baby girl, there’s no way I’m sending you to Texas by yourself.”
Dani raised a brow, glaring at her dad. “Seriously?”
“You didn’t want to go in the first place!” Grey reminded her.
“I leave for ten damn minutes to take a leak, and you two are at it again,” Uncle Cade grumbled as he marched back into the room. “What are you bickering about now?”
“Matt needs surgery and won’t be able to work for a while,” Mason recapped for Cade. “Grey wants to cancel the Texas trip, but Dani still wants to go.”
“I didn’t say I wanted to go,” Dani clarified, “but that’s not the point.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to go, Ace? You said yourself it was a good opportunity.”
Dani glanced at Papa Daniel.
“Oh no you don’t.” Uncle Cade shook his finger at her. “I told you I was fine. You are not cancelling this trip because of me. It’s bad enough my clumsiness got us into this mess in the first place.”
“It’s not just because of you,” she argued. “I should be here, helping where I’m needed.”
Connor gave her a nudge. “We’ve got this, Boo. Go to Texas.”
“I second that motion,” Mason chimed in.
“We should talk about this at home,” Grey insisted, glaring at Mason.
“Home sounds great,” Matt said from behind them.
“Dad!” Dani rushed to Matt’s side and knelt beside the wheelchair he was sitting in.
“Damn,” Uncle Cade cursed beside them. “Sorry about this.”
Matt grimaced, adjusting the icepack in his lap. “It’s not your fault,” he said with a grunt. “I felt somethin’ give a few weeks back while I was wrestlin’ a stubborn heifer into a pen, but I ignored it. Guess that wasn’t such a good idea.”
“What is it with men and doctors?” Breezy griped with an incredulous sigh.
“If they didn’t insist on a prostate exam every damn time, we might go more often,” Connor argued, and the men in the room grunted their agreement.
“If you went more often, they wouldn’t have to insist every time,” Gabby said, giving each of her husbands a pointed glance.
“And on that note.” Mason moved through the huddled group and clapped a hand on Matt’s shoulder. “Let’s get you home.”
Chapter Ten
Dani sat on the edge of her bed staring at Clay’s last text message. He was in Flat Range, only a few dozen miles away, and completely oblivious to the day she’d had. He’d texted her hours ago, but she’d left her phone in her truck while they were in the hospital. She’d typed out and erased a dozen replies, some of them telling him she was ready for their trip, some of them telling him she couldn’t go.
Her gut said she should stay for Uncle Cade, despite his insisting otherwise. Her pride wanted to prove Grey wrong and go anyway. An entirely different and unfamiliar desire made her want to see Clay again. No matter what she decided, she was screwed. If she called Clay, he would try to talk her into coming with him, and probably succeed. If she didn’t call him, Grey would, and take the decision out of her hands. There seemed to be no right answers.
A quiet tap on her door saved her from sending her latest attempt at a final decision.
“It’s open.” She discarded her phone onto her nightstand and picked a shirt from the open suitcase on her bed.
The door creaked open and Grey stuck his head inside. “Hey, can I come in for a minute?”
Dani shrugged. “It’s your house,” she said, retrieving a hanger from her closet.
“Don’t be like that.” Grey leaned against the doorjamb, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Be like what?” she asked. Intentional obtuseness wasn’t her usual style, but nothing else seemed to work. “I’m unpacking. I thought that’s what you wanted.”
“What do you want?”
Dani paused at the unexpected question but shrugged it off and retrieved more clothes from her suitcase. What she wanted didn’t seem to matter. “Did you call Clay?”
“No.”
Dani paused at Grey’s curt reply, turning on her heels to face him. “Why not?”
Grey dropped his arms to his sides and shuffled into the room. “Because your mom took my phone,” he said with a defeated huff as he sat on the edge of her bed. “She must have turned it off, too, because I tried calling it with Matt’s phone and got nothing.”
Dani dropped her head into her hands, unsure if she should laugh or cry. Seemingly incapable of either, she walked over to her dresser, picked up her phone, scrolled to Clay’s number, and then handed it to Grey. “Here. Use mine,” she said and turned back to the closet, but Grey snagged her wrist.
“Sit down and talk to me.”
Exasperated, she sank down onto the edge of the mattress.
“Do you want to go to Texas?” Grey asked.
That was the question of the day. All the questions and conflicting answers she’d already hashed and rehashed still swirled around in her head. No closer to knowing the right thing to do, she sank back and let out a frustrated groan. “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t want to go because I’m scared something will happen to Uncle Cade, and because I’m supposed to be here to help you.”
“I hear a but at the end of that,” Grey prodded.
“But…you were right.” Just not about the right things.
Something Grey had said kept buzzing around in her head like a stubborn horsefly. She didn’t know when, or how, but despite their prior misunderstandings, over the last few weeks she’d come to like Clay, a lot. He was funny and smart, classically overconfident but not the cocky asshole she’d originally thought him to be. And that smile… He’d liquefied her bones more times than she could count with a simple smile and a wink. She’d daydreamed of kissing him at least a thousand times. Just thinking about it made her lips tingle.
He may not be the one, but Grey was right. How would she ever know what was right for her unless she experienced t
he real thing for herself? She didn’t know what would happen if she went to Texas with Clay, but she’d never know if she didn’t go, and she may never get a chance like this again. After the next year she was home for good, and would probably be a virgin forever with three dads and four brothers lurking around every corner.
She sat up and pulled her legs beneath her, but avoided looking Grey in the eyes. The second she did, he’d see the hidden truth in what she was about to say. “I need this experience, Daddy.”
Dani waited for him to argue. When he didn’t respond at all, she glanced over at him. “Daddy?”
Grey snapped his head up. “Huh?” He scrubbed a hand over his face and handed her phone back. “Sorry.”
“Did you hear anything I just said?” Dani asked.
Grey pushed from the bed and paced to the center of the room. “I think you should go.”
She drew her head back at his unexpected capitulation. “You do?”
He nodded, shoving his hands into his front pockets. “You’re right. Or I was.” Uncertainty creased his forehead, but he took several deep breaths and nodded again. “You’re ready for more responsibility. You’re ready for this.”
Dani launched off the bed and threw her arms around him. “Thank you, Daddy.” She knew that hadn’t been easy for him to say, which made the hug he gave her that much sweeter. “But what about Uncle Cade?”
“Uncle Cade will never let up if you don’t go,” he said with a chuckle. “I wouldn’t worry too much. That old dog’s got some fight left in him. And you’ll only be a flight away. I’ll call you if anything happens.”
“Promise?” she asked, still not a hundred percent convinced she was making the right decision.
“Promise.” Grey took her face into his hands. He studied her for a long moment, long enough to be awkward.
“Daddy?”
“You know I love you, right?”
Dani nodded, as much as she could with her head trapped in his hands. “I love you, too.”
Grey pressed his lips to her forehead, then gave her a weak grin, pulling her into his arms again. “You’ll always be my baby girl.” He held her for another long minute before finally letting her go. “Finish packing,” he said with a wink, closing her door on his way out.
