Epilogue
Lara
I sit in the living room of our lovely suburban home, holding our son while tears stream down my face. Words can’t express the grief that floods my heart. Landon’s packing our things as we speak. My dad’s gone. My dad’s dead. How? It can’t be. The words are indescribable to me and yet, I know they’re real by the aching sobs I heard come from my mother as John, the foreman, broke the news to me. Of course, my mother couldn’t even speak, and I can’t blame her.
My world would never be right if I lost my husband.
“My heart, look at me. Give Junior to me.” I shake my head, holding my baby tightly to my chest.
“Yes, my sweet. I want to hold you.”
“Okay.” He settles our boy in his play yard and then scoops me up in his arms on the sofa, cradling me like a baby.
“I love you, Lara. I’m here for you, and I always will be.”
“I can’t lose you.”
“And I can’t lose you. I’m sorry about your father. I know this is hard and in time it will ease, but it will never go away. I’m here for you, and I’ll do everything in my power to always be here.”
“I know, because if you go, I go.”
“Well, then, it’s a good thing I take safety to an insane level.”
“I suppose it is, Mr. Black.”
“Good. Tobias should be here any minute, and you need to be strong for him as well.”
“Please. He’s a football player and uber strong.”
“Too strong, and he’s going to take blame for this. You know that, right?”
“Why?”
“Because he should have been on the ranch, learning to take over and not playing.”
“Oh my goodness. You’re right. He’s going to put this on himself.”
“So we don’t let him. Understand?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Landon
A few months later
“Tobias. Stop. Fucking listen to me.” Tobias slams down another drink. I pull the bottle away from my brother-in-law. This has been brutal on him as he copes with his father’s death.
“It’s all my fault. If I’d been here.”
“Listen. We can’t change the past. If you’d been here, that wouldn’t have stopped your father from helping on the ranch. He loved this place as much as he loved every single one of you. He wanted to work the land because it meant the world to him.”
“Still, I could have been the one working in the area and he wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
“Stop the what ifs. There’s something I need to share with you. Something I never told anyone but your sister. I’m telling you this because I love and trust you. You know that my father wasn’t really my father right?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry that it took a long time to find out the truth.”