Gran nodded.“I don’t blame her one bit.She wanted the best for you.Every mom would.”
“But?”
“But Michael could never leave Grace or the boys.He’d created an impossible situation for himself.Even if he did love you and your mother.”
“So, you think my mom kept him away?”
“I think he took the easy way out and didn’t want to risk Grace finding out, so he didn’t pursue his legal rights.”
“Do you think he made the right decision?”
With obvious pain in her eyes, his grandmother reached out and placed her warm hand on his.“I do not.And I think Grace found out anyway.All those lies and missed memories because he was too scared to own up to what he’d done.He hurt all of us.”
“I could see why a man would be real hard pressed to leave the woman he’d sworn to love and his children.Especially when he realized he’d made a mistake,” Renn offered.
“I’d never say you and all the love and joy you gave your mama was a mistake.You’re not.And you do have family.If you want us in your life, it won’t make up for the lost time, but there’s no reason we shouldn’t all be a family now.If that’s what you want?”
“No pressure.”
Gran squeezed his hand and smiled.“Something you seem to handle pretty well as of late.I saw your last season, Let it Rip Renn Walker.”
Renn smiled at the nickname he’d earned after a fifty-eight-yard pass he’d thrown in a game that sent his team to the play-offs last year after the starting quarterback got injured.
“You watch football?”
“I have watched every televised game you have ever played in, since college.”
Renn gulped the instant swell of emotion.“The thing is I don’t know how to be in a family any more than I know how to lead an NFL football team.I’m completely out of my depth in every aspect of my life right now.”
“I see.You’re afraid to have everything you want?”Gran smiled again and sipped her coffee.
But before he could respond there was a loud roll of thunder, and then a crack of lightning lit up the room from outside.
“Woo, looks like that storm rolled in while we were talking,” he said standing to look out the window at how dark it was for the afternoon.Then another crack and the power went out.
“Whelp, what better way to get to know your grandson than in a big storm with no electricity.”
Renn pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight.“I’ll go turn on the generator Dalton mentioned.You just sit tight.”Renn stepped out front to hit the switch on the generator Dalton had shown him earlier and the kitchen lights turned back on.
“See you’re already like your brothers, bossy.”
“Tell me about them,” he said, sitting back down.They spent the next half hour talking while the rain whipped and beat down on the windows.But then there were several more cracks of lightning, like two storms were fighting for attention.
“That one seemed too close,” Renn said, standing to look out the side door.But he couldn’t see much between the torrents of rain.
“I hope Andy is doing okay out at the Sutton Ranch.I’ll bet her horses are spooked.”
Just the mention of Miranda had his pulse quickening.
“Your neighbor, is she out there all alone?”
“No, but she’s the muscle.Her stepmother has MS and her brother is only fifteen.”
Another loud roll of thunder and crack of lightning had him standing up from the table again to look outside.Something was wrong—Renn could feel it in his bones.As he opened the side door he could smell smoke in the air.“I’m just going to do a quick walk around the property to make sure that lightning didn’t strike closer than we think.”
“Alright, but use one of the raincoats by the door.”
Renn walked to the side door where he’d left his boots and grabbed a raincoat that seemed a size too big.A reminder his half-brothers were huge men.Outside the rain was still coming down in sheets and the sky had turned dark even though it was technically still daytime.He walked the length of the porch to the front of the property, when he heard the distinct sound of a horse neighing.Sure enough a beautiful black horse stood with no saddle or bridle next to his truck.It was Miranda’s horse he’d seen her riding earlier that day.If he didn’t get a rope on him, the horse would probably bolt off with the next strike of lightning.He had rope in his truck, but would the animal let him get close enough?The smell of smoke was thick in the air and if he had to bet that last strike of lightning set something on fire.
