She nodded and took the lemon poppy seed muffin I handed her. I’d made them for breakfast this morning, and there were several left over. “We are. We’re going to keep it pretty small. You know how much Cy hates being the center of attention.”
He did hate it. Having all eyes on him was more Lane’s thing, and I found myself wondering if we ever got to that point if I would have to put up with a giant production. I would be happy with a courthouse wedding in front of a justice of the peace, something quick and easy, but I doubted the youngest Warner would let me get away with that. He was too proud that we’d finally found our way to each other. He would want to show us off, to flaunt our love for the naysayers and detractors to see. I sighed at the thought and turned to lean against the counter.
“It’s going to be beautiful, and the only people who matter are the two of you. His first wedding was in an old, fancy church in Boston. I remember Sutton and Lane griping because they had to wear tuxes and Boyd fretting over how much everything cost. His first wife was all about the show and display, kind of like Lydia Warner was. She didn’t give a single shit if the wedding had any part of Cy, or his life before her, in it. The fact that you’re having it here already makes it a thousand times better.”
She smiled at me as she broke off the piece of her muffin and handed it to me. I popped it into my mouth as she asked, “What about you and Lane?” She lifted her eyebrows as I started to choke on the flavorful pastry. “What’s next for the two of you? You sort of skipped over the whole dating, boyfriend/girlfriend phase and went right to spending every single night together. I know you have a lifetime of love between the two of you, but do you want something more than that? Do you want to marry him?”
If it were coming from anyone else, it would have been invasive and annoying. Since it was Leo and she had been nothing but supportive I answered her honestly. “I would marry him tomorrow if it wouldn’t look so bad. He’s the only man who’s asked me that I really wanted to say yes to, Leo. Telling him no when we were teenagers was the hardest thing I've ever done. Telling his dad yes was the second hardest. I can’t tell one guy no, especially a good guy like Jack, and turn around and marry another one with barely any time between the two. People in this town already think the worst of me and say terrible things about how I became a Warner. I don’t want to add fuel to the fire and drag Lane into that. He’s given me so much.”
She shook her head and reached out a hand so she could pat me on the arm. “You wouldn’t be dragging Lane anywhere. He would walk willingly through any fire for you. That’s the thing about asking someone to marry you, you both have to decide it’s what you want. You can wait to ask him, and he’ll say yes. Or you can ask him tomorrow and get the same answer. That’s the thing, you’re both finally ready and the time is right. You’re deciding to do this together. No one else matters, Brynn. Not now and not ever.”
I didn’t have a response to her spot-on observation. I didn’t want anyone else to define me by the choices I had to make in the past, and here I was using my choices to dictate what I could and couldn’t do in the eyes of people that never wanted anything good for me. Sighing, I looked toward the front door and wished Lane was back from his weekend trip. I wanted to hold him. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to lose myself in his pretty eyes and listen to him sing me to sleep. I wanted him inside of me.
I wanted to ask him to marry me. I did. I really did.
Almost as if I had conjured someone up with the force of my longing, there was a hesitant knock on the massive, wooden front door. The sound made Leo jump and we exchanged a confused glance as the noise sounded again.
“Are you expecting someone?” I asked the question as I started moving toward the door. All the guests were out with the boys, and the mail carrier had already delivered for the day. Opal was spending the night at a friend’s house so they could cram for midterms, so it wasn’t her either. Every now and then one of the ranchers from a nearby property would drop in and let us know about a lost cow or a broken fence, but we were too far outside the city for random visitors which meant we were cautious when we moved toward the door.
She shook her head which sent her curls bouncing. “No. It could be Ten.” The forest ranger did stop by unannounced occasionally. She was usually looking for a free meal though, and it was still hours before I typically had dinner on the table.
I pulled the door open and didn’t bother to stifle the scream of delight when I saw who was standing on the other side. I stepped onto the rustic front porch, pulling the still frail looking teenager into my arms as I did so. I couldn’t believe Cameron Bauer was standing at my front door in the middle of nowhere Wyoming, but I’d never seen a better sight. I squeezed him so tightly that he started to struggle so he could breathe.
“Hey, Brynn. Long time, no see.” His smile was crooked and a little shy. His hair was cut and styled in a trendy undercut that resembled the way Cy wore his. His face was void of the bruises that decorated it when we met, and his clothes looked new and fitting for a fourteen-year-old. He was still too skinny and fragile looking, but his eyes were bright, and he looked as happy to see me as I was to see him.
I couldn’t stop myself from giving him another squeeze and dropping a hurried kiss on his forehead. “How on Earth did you get here?” I didn’t mean Wyoming, I meant the ranch. There was no easy way here from Sheridan, and all the back roads were dirt. They looked the same, and many were unmarked. If you didn’t know exactly where it was you were going, it was super easy to get lost.
“I took a bus to Casper and then caught another one that dropped me off in Sheridan. I was hitchhiking out this way when a cop stopped and asked me where I was going.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder, and I noticed the sheriff of Sheridan, Rodie Collins, was waiting in his Blazer. He touched his fingers to his forehead in a salute as I waved and pulled Bauer into the house.
“That wasn’t very safe. This isn’t the city, but hitchhiking is never a good idea. You never know who’s going to stop and pick you up.” I couldn’t keep the concern from bleeding out. All I wanted to do was take care of him. I felt it inside every pore. “I’m so happy to see you. Surprised, but so happy. I was worried when I didn’t hear from you all week.”
He shuffled into the house in front of me, stopping when he caught sight of Leo standing in the hallway, watching us with unvarnished curiosity. She tilted her head to the side and offered him a welcoming smile. “Well, hello there. Who are you?”
Bauer looked over his shoulder at me and then back at Leo with wide eyes. “I’m Cameron Bauer.”
Leo threw her head back and laughed so loudly it made the teenager jump. “Silly. Of course, I know who you are. Brynn and Lane wouldn’t shut up about this wonderful kid they met on their road trip home. You left quite an impression, young man. It’s lovely to meet you. Make yourself at home while you’re here. You picked a good day to visit. Brynn is making pot pie for dinner, yum.” She gave me a wink and moved toward Cy’s office. “I’ll let the two of you catch up.”
I turned Bauer toward the living room and guided him to sit on the comfy, overstuffed leather couch. I reached out for his hand, thrilled that he let me pull the delicate appendage into my own. “As glad as I am that you’re here, I need to know why you just showed up out of the blue, Bauer. What brought you to Wyoming? And why haven’t you answered any of my calls this last week?”
His thin fingers twitched in mine as I ran my thumb over the thick scar that now decorated the back of his hand. His gaze darted around the room landing anywhere but on mine as he softly replied, “Mikey has my phone. His kept running out of data and minutes. He took mine since you gave me unlimited services.”
I gritted my teeth and told myself I had to remain calm. I wasn’t going to get anywhere with him by telling him how selfish and immature I thought his brother was. “Okay. I’ll talk to Lane about adding another phone line onto the plan for your brother. Not being able to get in touch with you doesn’t sit well with me.
It makes me worry. I need to know that you’re doing okay. Did you talk to the school about getting enrolled? Are you eating enough? Did you go buy yourself some stuff for your room like I told you to?”
He tugged his hand free and used it to push at his hair. Finally, he lifted his eyes to mine, and I could see so many familiar shadows darkening them. “I can’t enroll without my parents’ permission. They refuse to sign legal guardianship over to Mikey, not that he really wants that responsibility. I can’t do anything without them; work, school, drive. Even with them out of my life they are still controlling everything.” He sounded so defeated it made all the broken pieces of my heart shutter.
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. That isn’t fair to you. Let’s look at what other options you might have while you’re here. I know in some cases you can ask to be legally emancipated from your parents. It’s like getting a divorce from them. You don’t need them to sign off on anything then.”
His face twisted up in a look of disbelief and then sort of wilted right before my eyes. His head dropped, and his shoulders fell. He put his face in his hands and shook his head back and forth.
“It’s so hard, Brynn. I thought it would be easy, well, easier, but it’s not. The cops are all over me about testifying and being part of the trial. They want me to make statements about RV guy and Goddard. They want me to identify the kid with the BMW. It’s all overwhelming, and Mikey is no help. He keeps telling me not to cooperate unless I get paid. He’s never home, and when he is, all he does is party. He brings home the kind of people I tried to avoid while I was on the streets. It’s nothing like I thought it would be. I’m still all alone, and now I feel even more alone than I did before.” He lifted his head, and I could see twin tracks of moisture on his cheeks as tears rolled down his face. “Talking to you when you called every week is the only time I didn’t feel like I was forgotten about. Knowing you still cared is the only thing getting me by. I missed you, Brynn. So, so much.”
He threw himself across my lap, shoulders trembling as he started to cry. I stroked the soft hair at the back of his head and patted him on the back. “I missed you, too, Cameron. Do you care if I call you that sometimes?” He nodded his head. “Good. Bauer was the boy on the run, Cameron is the young man with so many options in front of him. I’ve been worried about you since the minute we left Denver.” He swallowed so hard I could hear it. “Tell me what you need from me, and I’ll give it to you.” I would give him anything if it made him feel like he wasn’t alone anymore.
“I want to go to school. I want to get through this trial without feeling like every move I make is wrong. It’s so scary every time the police show up to talk to me. I don’t want to face the guy with the RV again, I don’t want to tell a courtroom full of people what he did to me. I want to go to bed and not have to push my dresser in front of the door. I want to like my brother again because right now I kind of hate him. I want to prove you can trust me and show you that I won’t take off every time something gets hard.” He lifted his head, and his eyes were shiny with unshed tears as he finally met my gaze. “I want to be the version of me you and Lane see. I want to be the guy who’s worthy of having people like you in my life. I want to be someone worth saving, Brynn.”
I cupped his cheeks in my hands, wiping away his tears with my thumbs as I offered him a wobbly smile. This kid hit right at the center of my heart without even trying. “You already are that guy, Cameron. You just need to see it.”
He nodded slowly. “I want to see it. Do you…uh…do you think…is the offer to stay with you while I figure my shit out still open? Do you think Lane will mind having me around?” Shyly, he asked, “Do you think he still wants to teach me how to ride a horse, and maybe he could teach me to play the guitar?”
“Oh, Cameron,” I leaned forward and touched my forehead to his. I closed my eyes and exhaled all the worry and concern I’d been carrying around for this young man since leaving him on his own. “Welcome home, kid.”
Chapter 19
Lane
More or Less
“He’s a good kid.” It wasn’t the first time Cy said that about Cam since the troubled teenager had taken up residence at the ranch, but it was the first time he sounded like he really, truly believed it. Slowly but surely, Cameron Bauer was finding his way on the Warner ranch. Webb was the one who taught him to ride, Cy was the one who helped him with his homework because they were both good at math and I sucked at it. I took him with me on weekend rides and shoved a fishing pole in his hands before he could argue with me. The kid was also a natural at playing the guitar, so there were quiet hours that I sat with him and taught him all my favorite songs—yes, even Taylor Swift.
We all wanted to give him something he could take away from this place that would stay with him long after he left to find his own way in the world. We were determined, as a whole, to give the kid everything he’d missed out on before he became ours, and then some. Every time he learned something new, got a piece of the people who were determined to teach him all about what home and family was, he got emotional. His old man hadn’t taught him anything but to hurt and to feel shame for who he was. He deserved so much better than that. We were all doing our best to prove that to him. The exact same way Boyd Warner did for Brynn Fox all those years ago. It was sort of ironic how full circle this whole thing had come.
It had taken some getting used to, having a streetwise, still skittish kid around the house. Cy watched the newcomer with careful eyes, but eventually, Cam won him over. It took a lot less work to get Leo on board. She was already hovering over the teen and fretting as much as Brynn did. The kid was smothered in affection and love, and it was obvious he couldn’t be any happier about it.
“The brother, though, he needs a boot up his ass.” Cy tipped the rocks glass he was holding up to his lips and finished the whiskey he was sipping on throughout dinner. Mikey Bauer was enough to drive anyone to drink. It was clear to see when the two brothers were together, that even though Cam was the one with the checkered past and questionable reputation, he was the Bauer who had been blessed with a kind heart and an endless well of consideration.
I nodded in agreement and took a pull from the beer I was holding. When Brynn mentioned she arranged for Mikey to come up and visit his brother for the weekend, I could see the apprehension in her eyes. The older Bauer boy was a bit of a disappointment across the board, but he was the only family Bauer had, so she didn’t want to drive a wedge between them. I didn’t think visiting a place with terrible cell phone service, and spotty WIFI was a good idea for a kid who couldn’t handle being out of touch with his friends for even a second, but Mikey seemed excited about the prospect of seeing a real-life ranch, so I kept my opinion to myself. The fact that Opal was also around for the weekend had proved to be a good distraction for the older teen as well. Brynn’s sister was pretty, soft-spoken and smart as hell. It was clear Mikey was interested, but every single time he said something shitty to his brother or made a snide remark about the ranch, she shut him down cold. There was a lot of her older sister in her, and that would serve her well when she got out into the big bad world. If I was being honest, I got a chuckle every time I witnessed the verbal beatdown Opal gave to the little shit. He deserved it for being an ass.
“He’s not all bad, just a little clueless.” I was thinking about all the times he put himself between his father and his little brother. And how he really did want Cam to have a safe place to go, even if he wasn’t the best at providing it. He tried, and that was more than their parents did. “I think he needs to do some serious growing up. I’ve been there, blind to how my actions are affecting those who cared about me the most. One day he’s going to get a wake-up call he can’t ignore.” I pointed the beer bottle in the direction of the kitchen where the brothers were playing a board game with Brynn, her sister, and Leo. The ladies were winning and having a great time lording it over the teenage boys.
“If I catch him trying to look down Leo’s shirt one mor
e time he’s going to get more than a wake-up call. He needs to learn some goddamn respect for women.” Cy’s deep voice was low and thunderous. He could tolerate a lot, but anyone disrespecting his woman was a no-go.
I nodded in agreement and sighed. “I’ll talk to him about it.” The “again” hung in the air unsaid because I’d already knocked the teenager upside the head once for openly ogling Brynn’s ass when she was serving dinner, and for the way he accidentally walked in on Opal when she was finishing her shower.
“It’s crazy how different they are. I mean for all our differences, me, you, and Sutton are still pretty similar at our core. None of us are night and day like those two.” He shook his head in bewilderment.
“Cam had to face a lot of obstacles Mikey didn’t. I think that changes you. For instance, maybe all of us would have had better luck in love if we hadn’t grown up with a mother who used it as a weapon against us.” All three of us still bore the scars from Lydia Warner’s version of love.
“I don’t know about you, but I feel pretty fucking lucky in love now. Doesn’t matter that I needed a couple of tries to get it right. All that matters is that I did.” He gave me a cocky grin and pushed to his feet. “Speaking of getting lucky,” he wiggled his black and silver eyebrows and moved toward the kitchen. “I’m going to collect my girl and take a peek at what’s under her shirt because I’m the only one who’s allowed to do that. I’ll see you in the morning.”
I waved him off, climbing to my feet as I heard Leo squeal and scream at Cy to put her down. Opal and Brynn’s laughter followed as I made it to the kitchen just as he was carrying his woman off toward their private wing of the house. I gave Leo a wink as she kicked her feet and swatted good-naturedly at my brother’s backside. I took her empty seat at the table, reaching out to swipe a finger through the frosting on the cupcake sitting untouched in front of Cam. He gave me a glare, but it was tempered by the grin on his face. Brynn had done a good job putting some meat on his bones, and he was slowly starting to relax and settle in. For the first week he was under our roof, he acted like any second he said or did anything wrong we were going to kick him out on his ass. I tried to explain over and over again that Brynn had worked so hard to get him here, that he was never going anywhere, but couldn’t seem to get through to him. Eventually, I learned that I was going to have to show him that he was home. Every day I made an effort to include him in some part of the ranch. I wanted him to feel like he earned his place here and then maybe he wouldn’t be so worried about someone taking it away from him.
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