Page 104 of Drifter’s Heart

My mouth dries. “After everything that’s happened, do you think your sister will want this?”

Brad was carted away by the police, who turned up on time for once and did the job they were asked to do. Cordell’s pet lawyer had a bunch of friends who specialized in the sort of law we needed, and now Brad’s not going to bother Winnie or Sally for a long, long time.

That doesn’t prevent her fear of what might happen in the future to her daughter, and the man beside me knows that.

Cord shifts in my periphery, blurring. “Maybe not to start. But if she has someone who can⁠—”

“Winnie doesn’t want a protector.” You arrogant motherfucker, I add harshly in my head.

“—who can help her survey the land, and build a house that she and Sally can understand and commit to the design with themselves, have what they want, then perhaps she will.” Cord continues speaking smoothly like I haven’t just interrupted the most important pitch of the little girl’s life. The one who’s currently berating Jesse Duke for not staying on a bull when she can’t even catch her own sheep.

And Winnie, lying right behind me on the veranda, doesn’t say a damn thing.

I swallow hard. “I’m not making decisions for anyone.”

Cord draws in a long breath. “Do you remember the day I told you to touch dirt?”

“No.” It’s a lie. I can feel the dirt drifting between my fingers like it’s the heart blood of this land.

“And told you to pick out a plot beside mine so we can be planted together at the end of this life?”

“You’re a remorseless son of a bitch, aren’t you?”

Cord huffs a laugh that’s not really a sound, more a reverberation. “Stay, West. Your heart is here, dug into Coyote as much as mine is. Let me give you a home.”

“I’d rather earn it.”

“You have.” Winnie stands next to me, having detached herself from the baby’s grip.

“I didn’t think Rand Rand would ever let you go.”

Cord closes his eyes. “Don’t do that.”

I shrug. “Kids at school are gonna do it. I’m just giving them a head start.”

“Then we’ll homeschool him.” Cord shoves the words out between his teeth.

“Already insulting him? Nice work, man. Sure you want me around?” I smirk.

“Yeah, you’re awesome,” Cord grumbles, rubbing the back of his neck. His fingers linger over his scar out of habit.

I want to knock his hand away, but maybe that habit is what keeps him going, keeps this man alive. I push the surveyed land across to Winnie. “This is your call, and Sally’s. Not mine.”

“Of course it’s yours. You’ve been here longer than me.” Her soft words halt me.

“What?”

Her soft smile is sweet and utterly unnerving. Because Winnifred Rand is never sweet. “This is why he’s telling you and not me, West. This is your choice. Cord also knows that I can’t do this for her without your support.”

I study her face. “Are you telling me that you approve?”

“Of my daughter living with the dire wolf in the woods?” Her head tips to one side. “No. But also…” A memory flickers across her face. One of icicles layered across my bedroll and the sun rising over the mountains in a place no one else gets to see.

Raw. Untouched. Like the parts of us we share together that are for no one else.

“You want to do this?” I touch her face, her skin soft and warm beneath my rough, callused hand.

Her quiet nod unarms me. That’s the answer that I need. It started here, and it ends here. Coyote has been everything to me for so long. A place. And the people. All that I need.