Jeremiah (Stud Ranch 5)

I felt loose and magnanimous—two words that were usually much more often ascribed to Reece than me. I was the uptight twin. The stuffy one with a stick up my ass. I knew that was what people thought of me, but tonight I didn’t give a fuck.

It felt like this afternoon I’d finally cleared the air with Reece, maybe once and for all.

Reece hadn’t even laughed when I’d gotten thrown—he’d immediately jumped off Sally Anne to make sure I was okay, and when he’d reached down a hand to help me up, I’d clasped it in confidence.

Yes, after he’d made sure I was alright, he had hopped back up on his horse and continued the race, finishing long before me since I’d finally decided safety was the better part of valor and took it slow, getting to know our new stallion rather than put my neck on the line again.

But when I finally caught up to Reece at the ridgeline, he wasn’t smug. No, he was in one of his rare contemplative moods, staring out at the vast vista of the Texas plane, wheat-colored Bermuda grass as far as the eye could see. It was almost time to harvest again.

“You know,” he said, hand loosely on the pommel of his saddle, “I don’t know if I ever told you how grateful I am that you decided to drag me along on this little adventure of yours.”

“What are you talking about? It’s both of ours.”

I’d brought my horse right up beside his and he looked over at me with a yeah, really? expression. He shook his head. “No way Xavier would’ve trusted me with this much responsibility on my own. Hell, I wouldn’t’ve trusted me.”

“Well.” I held the reins loosely as we looked out on the sloping hills that seemed to go on forever, huge wide Texas sky overhead. “A lot can change in a year. Moving down here, taking on the ranch—”

Reece laughed. “C’mon, we both know it was Charlie that made the difference. I hate to be one of those men who needed a good woman to turn him around. And I was trying before she got here. I don’t know if you’ll believe that, but I really was working on my shit. But she just…” He’d trailed off. “She gave me a reason for it to stick, ya know? The future wasn’t just this hazy maybe someday anymore. And I know you don’t believe it’ll stick, but I swear—”

I shook my head, “No, no, man. I’m sorry I gave you such shit about it at the beginning. I can see it. You have changed. I’m sorry I was holding onto the past like that. You and Charlie are something special. It’s why I wanted to bring you out here. I’m proud of you, man. I know I’ve given you a harder time than anyone, but I’m proud of the man you’ve become.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small box. “It’s why I wanted to give you this today.” I handed it over to him.

Reece’s brow scrunched. “What is it?”

“Open and find out.”

He took the box and his big fingers fumbled, but he finally managed to tear the brown paper I’d taped around it and pulled out the simple gold cardboard box inside. He cracked it open.

Reece’s eyes immediately shot up to me in surprise. “Holy shit, how do you have this?”

“I kept hold of it since it was the only thing we had left of her.”

Reece gingerly lifted our mother’s tiny gold locket out of the box. “How? You’re telling me you had this the whole time? Even when we were broke in San Fran? You never pawned it?”

I swallowed and looked away from him. “I always took care of us, didn’t I? We never starved. A family is supposed to have heirlooms to pass down.” I shrugged. “And it’s just gold-plated. Don’t get too excited, it’s probably not worth much.”

“Well, Jesus, I’m not gonna sell it now, I’m just saying!”

“I thought you could give it to Charlotte.”

He nodded and gently dropped it back into the little box. “It’ll mean so much to her.” He looked up into my eyes. “It means a lot to me. Jesus, even more knowing you held onto it considering everything…” He’d trailed off and then met my eyes again.

“Will you finally tell me what happened during the six weeks you disappeared?”

I closed my eyes and took another long swig of wine. No need to replay that part of the day. Wasn’t anything to say about it anyway. I shut Reece down like I always did whenever he ever brought it up, turned my horse around and said we needed to get back because the women would be back soon. I’d been right, too, because as soon as we’d finished brushing down the horses, Charlie had pulled in with Ruth in tow.