“It’s not a problem. Mr. Robins just came back from court and is still waiting for the rest of the party. Let me show you to our conference room where the meeting will take place. I have coffee, bottles of water, and freshly baked strawberry cheesecake muffins from the Bluebonnet Bakery. It’s all set up for you inside.” She opened the door to a room and motioned for them to enter.
They stepped in and Brennan went straight for the muffins as Baxter poured himself a cup of coffee, not bothering with any cream or sugar.
“Man, these are good.”
Watching his brother demolish the muffin in two bites, Baxter took his cup and a seat at the end of the table and stretched his tired legs. “The coffee’s not so bad either. Beats that black tar we got back at the gas station.”
“So far I like this town. Pretty women, good food, and in their own words, “friendliest place in Texas’.” Brennan popped crumbs from his palm into his mouth, then reached for another muffin.
“Pretty women?” Baxter pushed back the brim of his hat with one finger and lifted a brow. “You’ve seen two.”
“And both are pretty. That must mean the ratio is in our favor.” Brennan grinned.
“Get your mind off that no end path. We’re only here for an hour. Two at the most. Then we’ll be back at Dragonfly.” He took a long sip of his coffee. “There are prettier women back where we belong.”
“Uhh…the lady on the street. Didn’t you see her, or were you wearing a blindfold like she accused you?”
“All I saw was water and a green death stare.”
Brennan shrugged and pulled out a chair beside Baxter and sat down. “The receptionist isn’t bad either. She was very friendly. Had a nice smile too.”
“That’s her job. Don’t take it personal.”
“Come on, bro. I’m a little surprised at your reaction.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know you’re not that into Sabrina. Isn’t it about time you stopped using her as a salve for your broken heart? What’s it been now? Five, maybe six, years since—”
“Don’t say her name,” Baxter interjected. He refused to talk about the one woman he’d fallen hard for and lost.
“Sorry.” Brennan held his hands up in defense. “I just wanted to point out the obvious. We’re in a new town. Maybe we should hang out a few days and get to know the locals.”
Baxter blinked, swiped off his hat and hooked it on his knee. “Are you listening to yourself? You’ve gone plum crazy. Get your head back on straight and realize Tarnation isn’t the town for us. We have a ranch to get back to.”
With a disgruntled moan, Brennan didn’t say another word but concentrated on his muffin, and Baxter was glad, hiding his smile in his cup that held the best coffee he thought he’d ever tasted. He lifted up the cup and read the name Bluebonnet entwined with dark blue flowers against a white backdrop.
After he drank the last drop of coffee, he watched the clock.
Fifteen long minutes passed and finally the door came open.
A short man with a trim white beard, thin round glasses wearing a wrinkled suit marched in, dropped a folder down at the end of the table and looked from Brennan to Baxter. They both glanced at each other before looking back at the man who had sweat-slicked skin and obvious concern etched around his slitted eyes.
“I’m Mr. Robins. You can call me Roe. Thank you for coming.” He gave them each a surprisingly firm handshake, then took the chair, opened the folder, and flipped through the paperwork. “I just came from court, handling a civil matter. Divorce is never pretty. Don’t ever do it.” He rubbed his temples with his thumbs and sat back in the chair. “I’ve asked Genevieve to show in the others when they arrive. They should be here any minute.” He pushed his glasses further up his nose.
“Others?” Baxter raised a brow.
Several expressions slipped across the man’s face before he turned two shades redder that made him take on a resemblance to Saint Nick. “I think it’s best we wait a few minutes so that I can speak to all of you at once. I think I hear them now.” He stood as the door opened. Three men stepped in, all similar in physical appearance with their hats removed and pressed against their chests. There was something eerily familiar about them, but Baxter couldn’t quite place it. Had he met them before? Not possible. He had a memory like an elephant.
“Please come in,” Roe ushered the men to the table. The three unenthusiastically looked from Baxter to Brennan, then back to the attorney with even less appreciation.
The tallest narrowed his gaze and removed his hat. “Are we interrupting?”
“No, no. You’re all here for the same reason.” After closing the door, Roe came back to his chair and waited for the men to sit, and when they didn’t, he cleared his throat. “Please. Have a seat. I’ll explain everything.” Roe shuffled the paperwork, then looked from each of them as if studying their faces. “Wow. This is all a little uncanny.”
Baxter leaned in and planted his palms flat on the table. Instinct warned him that he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear. “Look, Mr. Robin—”
“Please, Roe will be just fine. We’re all on a first name basis here in Tarnation.”
“Fine. Roe, you said you needed to speak to the sons of Buzz Colt. You didn’t say there would be others in this meeting.”
“Yes.” Roe clasped his hands and looked at each of them over his fingertips. “I’m sure you’re very curious why I’ve asked all of you here today. I know I left things a bit vague, if not a bit ominous, but you’ll understand once you hear me out. First, I’d like to give you my condolences. Buzz Colt was my client, and a friend. Before he passed, he wished for changes to be made to his will—”
“Maybe some introductions are in order before we proceed,” Baxter said, glancing at the three men sitting across the table who looked as sideswiped as he felt. They were all about the same height and build, and every one of them pierced him with blue eyes. Feeling his gut twist, he ripped a hand through his hair as the puzzle pieces were starting to come together. The men looked like Buzz. And like him and Brennan. Dark hair. Strong, angular jaws. Muscular, broad shoulders. He made a quick visual examination, looking for that familiar dragonfly mark.
“That’s right, you don’t know one another.” Some of the ruddiness had disappeared from Roe’s features. He cleared his throat and separated his hands. “I assure you that I don’t know the details except what I’ve been told by your father, which wasn’t a lot. He was a private man. Kept to himself a lot. He always enjoyed spending time with his horses rather than people.” He laughed, but it quickly fizzled when no one else found it funny. Roe gave them an apologetic sigh.
The breath left Baxter’s lungs. “Did you refer to Buzz as our father, as in father to all of us?” His voice came out in a rasp. His head spun. His palms turned sweaty as truth formed.
Roe nodded as if the simple action was crucifying.
“We’re all his sons?” one of the men across the table blurted.
“I think it might be best if you introduced yourselves. Will you go first?” Roe nodded at Baxter.
What the hell?
He didn’t want to say a word. He’d rather be on the back of a bull, thrashed around like a limp noddle than be here in this stuffy conference room being stared down by three identical, yet different, sets of eyes.
“Baxter Colt,” he forced out.
His brother sat up straight looking a bit sickly around the edges. “Brennan.”
The tallest, rugged-looking cowboy sitting across the table shifted. His jaw tightened under his whiskered jaw. “I’m Arc Colt.”
The one sitting in the middle said, “Adam.”
“And I’m the youngest. Ash.”
Baxter glanced from each of them, attempting to size up the situation in seconds, but it would require much longer to absorb. “I didn’t know Buzz had three other sons.”
“And neither did we,” Arc muttered.
“Is this why we’r
e here? Our father wanted us to meet?” Baxter aimed his attention on the attorney who seemed to shrink deeper into the chair.
“Seems a little late in the game for that,” Ash said in agitation.
Brennan and Adam remained quiet.
“As I said, I don’t know all the details except that Buzz left clear conditions in his will regarding each of your homesteads. Dragonfly Spurs and Stillwater Spurs, which belonged to your father.”
“Wait! What?” Baxter scooted to the edge of his chair, trying to wrap his brain around the lawyer’s numbing words.
“The deeds of those properties belonged to Buzz,” Roe repeated.
Baxter swiped a hand down his aching jaw from where he clenched his teeth so hard. He blew out a long breath. “Dragonfly Spurs belongs to my mother. When she and my father divorced, he signed over the property to her.”
“I’m afraid that’s not quite accurate, Baxter. I have the deed to the property.” Roe reached in and took out several sheets of paper, sliding one down the table to Baxter and the other to Arc. “You are holding the deeds to the properties where you each reside.”
Skimming the legal document, Baxter saw that it appeared just as the attorney stated. Buzz owned Dragonfly. This made the situation very grim.
“What happens now?” Arc dropped a beefy fist to the table, upsetting the empty cup that rolled onto the floor. “Stillwater is ours, my brothers’. We’ve worked our asses off every day on that land. Long after Buzz took off.”
“Yes, but—”
“But?” the word fell from Baxter as he stared down Roe.
“That’s what I’m getting at.” The attorney kept his gaze lowered. “Your father has a few stipulations that you’ll want to hear.”
Clenching his hands into fists, Baxter clamped his mouth shut and gritted his teeth. How could there be conditions? Dragonfly was his and Brennan’s home. Their livelihood…their legacy. Anger coursed through him like a jackhammer, but he needed to hear every last detail before he reacted. Then he’d need to speak to his mother who had kept the truth from her sons. Why? What could she have possibly gained by not admitting to them that Buzz owned their land? The house. The livestock and horses. Everything. Would they have a home to go back to?
He heard the men across the table mumble something, but he didn’t listen. Instead, he anticipated what Roe would say next. It could very well be the noose that would hang their future.
“I’m not sure if you men are aware that your father owns…or rather owned a ranch here in Tarnation. Grinning Spurs. You should have passed it on your way into town. It can’t be missed.”
They didn’t respond.
Roe tapped his fingers on the stack of papers. “Two hundred acres of a working ranch. Prime land. Expansive house. Worth millions.”
“Is there a point to this?” Brennan bit out.
“Your father also owned real estate, many of those being business properties in town.”
“Where is this leading?” Baxter’s patience was waning. He didn’t care what Buzz owned or didn’t own. All he wanted to do was find out what was going to happen to Dragonfly.
“Well, your father has a proposition.”
“He has a proposition? How can a man who is buried have a proposal?”
Roe nodded. He must have sensed the growing tension. “Anyway, I’ll get to the point. Buzz stipulates that before the deeds to the respective properties are transferred into your names, you must first successfully run Grinning Spurs, and his real estate properties, for six months, together.”
Baxter clenched his jaw. And there was the hammer. “Together? As in all five of us working the land?”
“And maintaining the real estate properties,” Roe added.
“Fine. We can take turns running things. There’s technology these days we can use to communicate as needed. We’ll travel back and forth—” At Roe’s shake of head, Arc stopped.
“Buzz specifically stated that you and your brothers must reside at Grinning Spurs the entire six months. There’s more…you must all come to the agreement that you’ll move to the ranch and take responsibility because if one of you decide you don’t want to do this, the proposition is null and void and the properties, all the properties will be sold and the profit which is made, along with the money in his accounts, will be divided up and given to the charities Buzz had identified in his will.” Roe’s shoulders slumped some.
“How can he do this?” Baxter grumbled. He wanted to drive his fist through the table, but he’d been taught from an early age that handling things peacefully would get you further than throwing a temper tantrum.
“I assure you he has every right to do this,” Roe said confidently. “He had proof of property ownership and his will is binding.”
“Maybe we should speak to another attorney,” Adam said.
“You could, but I promise you it’d be a waste of time and money. I’ve drawn up five copies of the will and other documentation for each of you to read in case you do decide to have it read by another counsel. I’ll make sure you have everything before you leave here today, including the bank statements of Buzz’s accounts. After all, it is rightly yours, as well as the properties. I believe you’ll see that six months is nothing.”
“How long do we have to decide what we will do?” Brennan asked. “Something like this takes time.”
“You have twenty-four hours after the conclusion of this meeting to decide if you choose to stay, and one week to make the full transition to living in Tarnation.” Some of Roe’s color had returned. “However—”
“Ah, shit! What else can there be?” Baxter squeezed the bridge of his nose. He stayed calm, reminding himself that Roe was only the messenger.
His color faded some again. “I’m afraid there’s something else. Something just as important as maintaining the properties and ranch.” Several long, drawn out sighs echoed off the walls. “Buzz also specified that each of you must be married by the end of the six months. If any of you, even one of you, isn’t wedded six months from tomorrow’s date, the proposition will be off the table and the properties will be sold.”
Breaking out into laughter, Baxter shook his head. “Is this some kind of joke?”
“I’m afraid not.” Roe closed the folder as if in conclusion. “Like I said, I’ve had all the paperwork copied so that each of you can read through the specifics and have your prospective attorneys, if you choose, explain the details, but everything is self-explanatory. Of course, I don’t mind answering any of your questions because in cases like this—”
“There have been other cases like this?” Arc muttered.
Roe shrugged. “No, I guess not, at least not in my office. I can say Buzz had a flair for…assurance of commitment.”
“You call it assurance of commitment? I call it fucking ridiculous.” Baxter stood up from his chair, sending it hard against the wall. “Did he even give a damn that we have our own ranches to run during these six months? That we have lives that don’t include him?”
“Arc did mention the ease of technology,” Roe said quietly.
“Do you think this is funny?” Baxter wanted to ring the man’s neck—. Anyone’s neck at this point. He couldn’t believe he drove all this way to hear this.
“I assure you, Baxter, this wasn’t an easy meeting to prepare for. I’m not your enemy. I’m here to help each of you. Buzz had planned ahead. He gave this a lot of thought. If you’ll sit back down and let me explain.”
Baxter hesitated, but finally he did as Roe requested.
“Your father left monetary provisions in an account under each of your names to help with living expenses incurred in the next six months, enough to use as you please while you’re here, including hiring extra help at your ranches, and at Grinning Spurs, if you deem necessary. I promise you, there is plenty for the five of you to live comfortably during the next six months, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. This will all be over then and in the past. You’ll own your properties and can d
ecide what you wish to do with Buzz’s ranch and the rest of his properties.”
“How will our homesteads be divided?” Arc asked Roe.
He must have felt like he was getting somewhere because he squared his bulky shoulders. “The title of Stillwater Spurs will be transferred to Arc, Ash, and Adam Colt. Dragonfly Spurs will be transferred to Baxter and Brennan Colt. Grinning Spurs and the other real estate, as well as the money, will belong to all of you. Everything divided equally.”
“So, the stipulation about marriage…” Baxter squeezed the edge of the table. “What the hell is Buzz wanting?”
“There are no details other than that each of you must be legally married. What you do after the six months is entirely up to you five.”
“Are you suggesting that we marry and get a divorce after six months?” Baxter gave his head a shake.
“I cannot advise you what or what not to do on this subject,” Roe replied.
“Why the hell is he doing this? Making us jump through hoops? Brennan and I don’t want his money, or his ranch. We just want our home.” Baxter gnawed his teeth.
Roe adjusted his blue silk tie. “Buzz and I never spoke about his reasons behind the stipulations, but if I had to guess I’d say he worried that you fellows would sell off before you had a chance.”
“The chance for what?”
This was the first time the attorney looked Baxter straight in the eye. “Before you had the chance to understand him and why he did the things he did. It’s like looking at a diamond. You only see one solid form until you place it in the light, and that’s when you see all the different facets.” Roe stood, then opened the door and asked Genevieve to step in with the paperwork. “The house at Grinning Spurs has enough room for all of you to stay, relax, and get a good night’s sleep. Take the necessary time to discuss this matter. I know it’s not easy.” He rubbed his jaw. “The address is in the paperwork, but like I said, I’m sure you saw the homestead on your way into town. I think you’ll be satisfied with the accommodations. Buzz had in his employee a housekeeper, Melba, who relied on the money she made working at Grinning Spurs, but he saw to it that she will be well taken care of. From my understanding, she wishes to stay on longer, that is if you fellows decide to keep her. If there’s anything else you need, just stop by or call me.”
Cowboy Hank (Cooper's Hawke Landing Book 3) Page 21