And, thank God, Xander’s brother could work at any wildlife refuge around the world and he’d chosen to stay on here and help him. That meant the world to him. Easton had done special projects here for Terri, but this place wasn’t on the scale of the other places where he could work.
Hell, it wasn’t on Xander’s scale. But for Terri, for Rose, too, he would put this place on the map. Whatever it took. This was his wife’s legacy to their child.
“Thank you.”
“No thanks needed other than getting this little one better.” Easton smoothed an affectionate hand over his niece’s head. “Well...and a bottle of top-shelf tequila to drink at sunset.”
“Put it on the list.” A long list, all he owed his brother. But he would find a way to pay him back someday. A kick of guilt pushed him to say, “If you need to move on to a larger job—”
“I wouldn’t be needed. Being needed, making a difference—” he shrugged, eyes flicking to Rose “—that’s what life’s all about.”
Xander swallowed hard. Terri had said that to him more than once. God, he missed her. “Fair enough.” And before he even realized the thought had crossed his mind, he stopped his brother at the door. “Might you really be sticking around because of a certain red-haired zoologist?”
“Maureen?” Easton said with such incredulity there was no doubting the truthfulness of his statement. “No. Absolutely not. There’s nothing going on between the two of us. We’re too much alike.”
Laughing lightly, he shook his head, scratched the back of his neck and chuckled again on his way out the door, leaving Xander more confused than ever. Not because of his brother’s denial.
But because of his own relief.