Page 134 of Legacy

“I’m pretty sure this is a storm shelter, or at least a tornado one. Not quite sure as it’s one of the only basements in the area.”

“It was probably the only one that they had the energy to make back in the day. Considering this whole place is built over clay and limestone.”

East nodded, looked around. “I’ll start the cleanup with this water, and we’ll look to see what we can do with the pipes.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I don’t want to have to replace the plumbing for this whole place.”

“At least it’s not the villa itself, or the farmhouse, or the winery. Just a single cabin.”

I glared at my younger brother, then reached out and knocked on a wooden pillar. “Shut your mouth. Don’t say things like that to me. We are just now getting our feet under us.”

East shrugged. “It’s the truth, though. However much you weigh it, it could have been worse.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Jesus Christ. You were in the military for how long? A Wilder your entire life, and you say things like that? When the hell did you lose that superstition bone?”

“About the time that my Humvee was blown up, and when Evan’s was, Everett’s too. Hell, about the time that you almost fell out of the sky in your plane. Or when Elliot was nearly shot to death trying to help one of his men. So, yes, I pretty much lost all superstition when trying to toe the line ended up in near death and maiming.”

I met my brother’s gaze, that familiar pang thinking about all that we had lost and almost lost over the past few years.

East muttered under his breath, shaking his head. “And I sound more and more like Evan these days rather than myself.”

I squeezed his shoulder and let out a breath, thinking of our brother who grunted more than spoke these days. “It’s okay. We’ve been through a lot. But we’re here.”

Somehow, we were here. I wasn’t quite sure if we had made the right decision about two years ago when we had formed this plan, or rather I had formed this plan, but there was no going back. We were in it, and we were going to have to find a way to make it work, flooded former tornado shelters and all.

East sighed. “I’ll work on this now. Then I’ll head on over to the main house. I have a few things to work on there.”

“You know, we can hire you help. I know we had all the contractors and everything to work with us for some of the rebuilds and rehabs, but we can hire someone else for you on a day-to-day basis.”

My brother shook his head. “We may be able to afford it, but I’d rather save that for a rainy day. Because when it rains, it pours here, and flash flooding is a major threat in this part of Texas.” He winked as he said it, mixing his metaphors, and I just shook my head.

“You just let me know if you need it.”

“You’re the CEO, brother of mine, not the CFO. That’s Everett.”

“True, but we did talk about it so we can work on it.” I paused, thinking about what other expenses might show up. “And what do you need to do with the villa?”

The villa was the main house where most things happened on the property. It contained the lobby, library, and atrium. My apartment was also on the top floor, so I could be there for emergencies. Our innkeeper lived on the other side of the house, but I was in the main loft because this was my project, my baby.

My other brothers, all five of them, lived in cabins on the property. We lived together, worked together, ate together, and fought together. We were the Wilder brothers. It was what we did.

I had left to join the Air Force at seventeen, having graduated early, leaving behind my kid brothers and sister. After nearly twenty years of doing what we needed to in order to survive, we hadn’t spent as much time with one another as I would have liked. We hadn’t been stationed together, so we hadn’t seen one another for longer than holidays or in passing.

But now we were together. At least most of us. So I was going to make this work, even if it killed me.

East finally answered my question. “I just have to fix a door that’s a little too squeaky in one of the guestrooms. Not a big deal.”

I raised a brow. “That’s it?”

“It’s one of the many things on my list. Thankfully, this place is big enough that I always have something to do. It’s an unending list. And that the winery has its own team to work on all of that shit, because I’m not in the mood to learn to deal with any of the complicated machinery that comes with that world.”

I snorted. “Honestly, same. I’m glad there are people that know what the fuck they’re doing when it comes to wine making so that didn’t have to be the two of us.”

I left my brother to this job, knowing he liked time on his own, just like the rest of us did, and went to dry my boots. I was working by myself for most of the day, in interviews and other “boss business,” as Elliot called it, so I had to focus and get clean.

I wasn’t in the mood to deal with interviews, but it was part of my job. We had to fill positions that hadn’t been working out over the past year, some more than others.

Wilder Retreat was a place that hadn’t been even a spark in my mind my entire life. No, I had been too busy being a career military man—getting in my twenty, moving up the ranks, and ending up as a Lieutenant Colonel before I got out. I had been a commander of a squadron, and yet, it felt like I didn’t know how to command where I was now.