He accepted her offer of tea and followed his father out to the back porch.
“How did the new gear work?” he asked.
“Fine. No problems.”
His father tapped his pipe on the stone post and dumped his tobacco in the garden bed below. He pulled out a pouch from his pocket, refilled it, and brought it to his lips. The smell of his da’s favorite blend brought back so many memories.
“Are you sure it was him?” his father asked.
“DNA will tell us for sure but, yes, I am confident we took out Yasin.”
His father slowly nodded. “Good. Any casualties?”
“Negative.”
“Even better.”
“How are things here?”
“Fine.”
“What?” Kade asked when his father smiled and shook his head.
“Your mother is anxious for more grandchildren.”
The only one of the six siblings who’d had a child was his sister Skye. Kade had been the one who introduced her to her husband, MacLayne Campbell, and now they had a baby girl, Spencer, who was a year old.
“How is Skye?”
“Well. Collecting strays.”
Kade closed his eyes and pictured the oldest of his two sisters. Both had fiery red hair, but there was a softness Skye possessed where as Ainsley, the youngest of the six, could be a little imp.
Since Skye was a little girl, she’d collected strays, as his father had put it. No matter how many times their mother shrieked at the sight of the latest rodent or reptile Skye brought into the house, it never stopped her. As she got older, she collected more cats and dogs than snakes, but it still drove their ma crazy.
“Spencer is walking now, which keeps your sister busy.”
“I need to see them.”
“Aye, you do. I believe your mother has taken care of that on your behalf.”
Kade should’ve known; his ma had a family dinner planned for that night. He felt like an absolute shit that his first reaction was that it meant he wouldn’t get to see Peyton tonight.
5
When Peyton arrived at Stave after having an impromptu breakfast with Kade, Alex was already there. It appeared she got most of the work done she’d planned to do.
“Is it my birthday?” she asked, looking at the food that was already prepped, the wood that was stacked in the fire pit, and the tasting sheets that were printed and on the bar.
“Better. It’s Peyton-is-having-sex day.”
Both of them jumped when the back door opened and Addy walked in. “What are you two doing here?”
Peyton cocked her head. “I can see you asking the princess here that question, but I’m always here when you arrive on Saturday.”
“Yeah, but Kade’s in town.”
Peyton put her hand on her hip. “That makes no difference.”
“We can always hope.”
Alex laughed out loud and high-fived Addy.
“Shut up,” Peyton mumbled, walking into the office. She groaned when Alex followed and closed the door behind her. Peyton put her head in her hands.
Alex put her feet up on the desk across from where Peyton sat. “What’s wrong?”
“I saw him this morning.”
“Kade?”
“Santa Claus.”
“Those jokes are only funny when I do them.”
“They aren’t funny then either.”
Alex put her feet down and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the desk and her head in her hands. “Why does seeing Kade make you unhappy?”
“Not unhappy. Just frustrated.”
“Again, why?”
“He’s here for two months and then he’s gone again. Not exactly great boyfriend material.”
“On the other hand, it’s great fuck-buddy material.”
“You talk big, Alex, but I know you don’t believe that any more than I do.”
Alex shrugged. “I don’t know. Sounds good to me. Except for the two months he’s gone. Where does he go for all that time?”
“I’m not really sure. Something with the military.”
Alex’s eyes opened wide. “He’s still in the military?”
“I don’t really know.”
“You don’t talk about it?”
“No, Alex, we don’t. He’s made it clear that he can’t, so I don’t ask.”
“Wow. That would never work for me.”
“No kidding.”
“Well…how do you feel about him?”
Could Peyton admit to Alex what she could barely admit to herself? “I like him.”
“What are you? Fourteen?”Alex rolled her eyes.
“Last night you said I was thirty.”
“Except when it comes to Kade.”
“That’s who we were talking about when you said it.”
“Peyton, just tell him.”
“Tell him what?”
“That you want him. When he comes in tonight, bite the bullet and be honest.”
“We’ll see.”
6
When his conversation ended with his father, Kade took a walk in the vineyards. He looked up and saw the man he’d been searching for, headed in his direction on an ATV.
“You’re back,” said Naughton, after he’d stopped and climbed off.
“That I am.” He embraced the brother that was most like him. Naughton was six years younger than Kade, and the epitome of a middle child.
Kade worried about him more than any of his other siblings. Not that talking to Naught would doing any good. His brother was the most reticent person he’d ever known. Add in surliness and it wasn’t a surprise that the guy was still single.
“How are you?” Kade gripped his brother’s shoulder and looked in to his eyes. Naughton tried to shrug him off, but Kade wouldn’t relent. “How are you, Naughton?”
“I’m fine, Kade. What the fuck?”
“As if you’d tell me if you weren’t.”
Naughton turned his back. “Why do you always have to go straight there.”
“Time. Lack of it. Especially getting you alone.”
“Thought you were a physician’s assistant, not a psychiatrist’s.”
Kade laughed and changed the subject to the vineyards. “Much pruning to do this year?”
“Not yet.” Naughton kicked the dirt. “Wanna ride?”
“Thought you’d never ask.”
Kade met Naughton back at the stables where he found his brother saddling two horses. Huck was a nine-year-old American Cream Gelding draft horse—an his brother’s baby.
The other was Shazam, a purebred bay Leopard Appaloosa gelding with a bald face, four white socks, a black mane, and a salt and pepper tail. Standing next to Huck, the horse looked small but at sixteen hands, he was big enough for Kade to ride.
They rode for a couple of hours, all over the ranch, even stopping by the wine caves Maddox had invested a small fortune in.
The first wine cave on Butler Ranch was only about a thousand square feet, at the most. A few years ago, Maddox had hired an outfit out of the Burgundy region of France who specialized in subterranean caves to come and survey the site for expansion.
The project took five years to complete, two years longer than the original schedule, and then it had taken another six months to organize the various barrel storage rooms and move furniture into the private areas.
Kade had only been in them a handful of times and thought about asking Naughton if he’d mind walking in with him, but the caves were Mad’s baby. Later he’d ask his brother later to show him the latest additions.
They ended their ride along the northernmost edge of Butler Ranch, where it bordered Los Caballeros, land that belonged to the Avila family.
A feud began between the Avilas and Butlers the year Laird Butler bested Alfonso Avila with his first release of Zinfandel.
Alfonso couldn’t accept Laird’s gold medal win at the annual wine festival, when his own Zin hadn’t medaled at all. He accused Laird of paying off the
judges. Kade’s father had been furious, and the two men came close to blows before several other winemakers stepped in and separated them.
From that day on, the Avila name became unmentionable in the Butler house. It wasn’t easy for the two families to avoid one another, given their land was adjacent, but they managed.
“He still sees her,” Naughton muttered right before they turned to head back to the stables.
His brother’s news didn’t surprise him. Maddox had been seeing Alex Avila in secret since they were teenagers. One day soon, Kade hoped Mad and Alex would figure out that no one cared about the feud anymore and even if they did, their love could overcome anything. But that meant they’d finally have to admit their feelings to each other, which Kade knew damn well neither of them had.
“Speak of the traitor.” Naughton laughed and nodded in the direction of the stables where Maddox stood waiting for them.
“Hey, that’s my horse,” Maddox shouted when Kade rode up to him.
“Before he was yours, he belonged to me. You always seem to forget that part.”
The two men embraced after Kade dismounted.
“I’ll take him,” offered Naughton.
“You sure?”
“You two catch up.”
“How the hell are ya, Kade?” Maddox asked as they watched their brother lead the horses into the stable.
He rubbed the back of his neck, wishing he hadn’t. All four of the boys in the family had the same tell, and they’d gotten it from their father.
“Guess there’s no point in telling you I’m fine.”
Maddox laughed. “Have you see Peyton yet?”
Kade nodded. “I stopped at Stave last night.”
“And?”
“Same as always. I walked her to her car.”
His brother laughed again. “I’d say this isn’t like you, but I wouldn’t know.”
“I spend a lot of time at Stave. If this goes south, I’ll lose my hangout.”
“You’re both adults.”
Kade kicked at the dirt and leveled his gaze at Maddox. “How’s Alex?”
Maddox laughed harder than he had before. “You’re an asshole.”
“Naught says you still see her.”
Kade remembered coming home on leave and hearing Mad and Alex were secretly seeing each other. His brother was eighteen and she was fifteen. He made Maddox promise not to see her again. Even at the time Kade knew it was a promise his brother would break.
At least once a week, sometimes more, Kade would receive an email from Maddox in the middle of the afternoon, which for his brother, was three in the morning. He wondered if Alex was the reason. He wouldn’t ask, though. It might mean Maddox would stop sending him messages in the middle of the night, and Kade definitely wanted his brother to have someone to talk to when he needed to.
“It’s never been thing for either of us. We get together, fuck our brains out, and then we don’t see each other for weeks or months.”
“Are you seeing other people when you aren’t together?”
“I don’t know if she is.”
“Are you?”
“I used to, but not so much anymore.” Maddox waved his arm around the winery that they’d just entered. “This place takes up most of my time.”
Kade nodded, but he knew in his heart the winery wasn’t the real reason his brother stopped seeing other women.
Kade sat at the tasting bar and drank the wine his brother poured while he listened to Maddox’s plans for the fall releases. He found himself wondering, like he had before, what Mad would make if he wasn’t tied into producing the wines that Butler Ranch had been putting out year after year.
Before he could ask, the door opened and their youngest brother, Brodie, came in.
“Hey, little bro,” Kade said, getting up and embracing him. Brodie rubbed the top of Kade’s bald head like he had every time they saw each other after an absence.
“Why do you shave your head?” Brodie asked him what felt like years ago.
“I’m gettin’ a little thin up top. Decided to shave it instead of fighting it,” he’d told him, adding, “Chicks like bald heads, brother.”
Nine years separated Kade from Brodie. There were times that it seemed like to wide a gap to bridge. The older they got, the easier it seemed for them to talk, but it still wasn’t like it was between Kade and Mad or Naughton. Brodie was different. He couldn’t say how, he just was.
“Remember the day you took me surfing?” Brodie asked.
“God, Ma was mad,” said Maddox, shaking his head.
Kade remembered the day as if it happened yesterday. In reality, it was over fifteen years ago. A hell of a lot had happened in his life between then and now.
Kade had joined the Marines right out of high school, eventually being asked to serve in one of the Force Recon companies.
From there, he’d gone on to Navy SEAL training as well as attending Special Operations training in Fort Bragg—with the Green Berets. Shortly after that, he earned a degree as a physician’s assistant.
It was then he became part of Delta Force, officially known as 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, the most highly trained elite force in the US military. The Special Missions Unit performed various clandestine and highly classified counter-terrorism missions around the world.
More and more he found himself thinking about retirement. He wasn’t getting any younger and the last thing he wanted to do was jeopardize the members of his element because he was no longer fit to do their type of missions. His choices in retirement were to find a desk job, or strike out on his own and start a private black ops firm. He was leaning toward the latter.
“I keep forgetting you’ve never met her,” Kade heard Maddox say to Brodie.
“Who’s that?” he asked.
“Peyton Wolf.”
That surprised him.
“She went to the private school. Same place as Alex Avila.”
Brodie and Alex were the same age. Kade scrubbed his face with his hand. That meant he and Peyton were the same age too. Something about that nagged at him.
“You seein’ anybody?” Kade asked his little brother.
“Not seriously. I’m in no hurry to settle down.”
Kade shook his head trying to remember how he felt when he was twenty-nine like Brodie was. By then he’d been married, divorced, and had a kid—not that his brothers knew anything about that part of his life. Almost no one did.
“There’s the bell,” said Maddox, stuffing a cork into one of the open bottles of wine.
The bell he was referring to was one that had been affixed to a post on the front porch. Whenever a meal was ready, or she needed her boys for some other reason, their ma would go out and ring it. The punishment for ignoring the bell was so severe, no one ever did it twice. Even now, Kade felt himself growing anxious about how long it was taking them to get back to the house.
When he walked through the front door, the first person he saw was his sister Skye. Behind her stood her husband, MacLayne Campbell, holding their daughter, Spencer.
Mac and he had served together on a top secret mission long before Kade introduced him to his sister. She still had no idea that they’d known each other years earlier.
Kade kissed Skye’s cheek and shook Mac’s hand. When he did, Spencer buried her face in her father’s shoulder.
“She’ll warm up to you,” said Skye, putting her arm around Kade’s waist. “It’s good to see you.”
“You too.” He reached out and touched the baby’s red hair. “She looks so much like you did at that age.”
Skye laughed. “I can’t believe you remember.”
“I was eleven when you were born.” Kade looked around for his other sister. “Where’s Ains?”
“She’ll be here soon,” answered their mother, looking at her watch and scrunching her forehead. “She left three hours ago.”
“Might be traffic, Ma,” said Maddox, squeezing their mother’s shoulde
rs. “Don’t start worrying just yet.”
“Is she driving down alone?” Kade asked.
“Who would ride with her?” asked his ma, not realizing that by doing so, she’d answered Kade’s question. He looked at his brothers and sister one by one, and none looked like they knew what he did, that Maddox wasn’t their only sibling involved in a secret relationship.
He was sixteen when his youngest sister was born. She didn’t know it, but he was the one who chose her name. He was also the one who named Ainsley.
A few days before she was due to be born, his mother found him sitting on the front porch gazing off into the distance.
“What’s on your mind, lad?” she asked.
“If it’s a girl, you should name her Ainsley.”
“Should I? Why’s that?”
“It means meadow.” I remembered thinking at the time that to me, Ainsley meant more than that. It was every delicate flower, every fragile leaf, every blade of grass that blew gently in the wind.
“Aye, I like that.”
The door opened and in blew my sister, who was anything but delicate or fragile and yet, was more beautiful than any meadow I’d ever seen.
7
Both Peyton and Alex raised their heads and looked whenever anyone came in tasting room. When the clock struck ten, Peyton knew he wasn’t coming in tonight.
Alex came out of the prep room looking at something on her phone. “They had an unexpected family dinner tonight.”
“They?”
“The Butlers.”
“How do you know?” Peyton tried to peek at Alex’s phone, but she shoved into her pocket too quickly.
“I have my sources. What are you going to do now?”
“What can I do? He didn’t come in.”
“There’s always tomorrow.”
“I told you earlier, I’m taking the day off.” Peyton’s regular day off was Thursday but after missing riding with the boys this morning, she’d decided not to work tomorrow.
“Right. Sorry. If he does come in, I’ll call you.”
“I’m not playing this game, Alex. I’ll see Kade when I see him.”
Kade's Worth (Butler Ranch) Page 3