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“Thanks.” I turned to rush out.
“Holden.” When I faced him, he didn’t speak right away. Colt wasn’t a talker. He could bullshit, but he preferred solitude. Maybe he didn’t prefer it, but he sought it out. Whatever he planned to say, he wasn’t telling me anything superficial. “She’s been extra hard on your sister lately.” His brows drew in like he was afraid to say more. “I’m just saying it’s been worse than usual and”—he glanced around the shop like he was worried the walls had ears—“I wouldn’t be surprised if Nora found somewhere else to go for her next school vacation.”
It was my fault, and my purpose for being here wasn’t going to help. I’d have to let Nora know she was welcome to stay at my place when she wasn’t in her dorm. “Forewarning—what I have to talk to Mom about might put her on a rampage.”
Colt grunted but didn’t look otherwise concerned.
I crossed to the giant red barn. Mom was inside, her back to me, one hand on her hip, the other braced against a horse stall. I gathered all my determination. This conversation wasn’t going to be easy, and I didn’t know how Mom would react, but I needed real talk, not fucking backhanded comments.
“Mom, I’ve gotta talk to you.”
She jerked her head up but dropped it again. “If it’s not about this ranch, I don’t want to hear it.”
“It’s about Dad.”
She didn’t twitch, just lifted her gaze from the spot she was studying on the packed-dirt floor. “I don’t have anything new to say on the subject, Holden.”
“I do.”
She dropped her arm and propped both hands on her hips. She made a half circle to face me, her expression guarded. “And that is?”
We faced off like in a bad western. No weapons. No other people. Just the wind outside and the dim light of the inside bulb highlighting us.
“I want to help Emery,” I said, knowing Mom wasn’t going to like how I wanted to help. I was Mom’s support. I saw that now. She didn’t let anyone get close to her, not even her own kids, but I was the only exception. My purpose was to be here to support what she cared about—our land and our business.
“So she’ll stay?”
“So she can decide for herself where she lives and who she sees and when she gets her kids without her ex flexing our legal system to get her to do what he wants.”
“You could ask for something worse than a parent wanting to be with their kid.” She said it as if she’d given my dad or Nora’s a chance to be in our lives. I blamed my dad for giving up, but I blamed Mom just as much.
I’d heard enough whispers of what had happened between my parents. I knew Mom well enough to decide what was truth, and my last interaction with my dad had shown me his side. “You know what it’s like when a dad suddenly feigns interest in their kids to get what they want from a woman who isn’t willing to give it.”
Mom’s expression hardened, and she averted her gaze. “Yeah.”
“You knew about my daughter.”
“I did,” she said tightly.
Grief was hidden deep in her expression. She hated that I hadn’t told her, that it was another thing we didn’t talk about. Maybe someday we would. Maybe she’d never be that type of person. Maybe pushing back with Emery was her way of trying to keep me from getting hurt.
How this talk went would go a long way to understanding my mother. “Did you know that before she was born, I went to see Dad?”
Her brows shot up, but other than surprise, I couldn’t interpret her expression. “Did he contact you?”
I let out a scornful laugh. “No. But when I told him I wanted a prenup like you suggested, he refused to work with me. Refused to help me.”
“You should’ve gone to another lawyer.”
I would’ve had to ask her for the money, but she wouldn’t have helped me marry Teagan. “He’s good at what he does.”
“Yeah.” She shook her head. “He was good. It was what made me so suspicious of him and his ideas.”
“So I want you to tell me everything about him.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
Dad had always been a touchy subject. I suspected he was the closest thing to the one that got away. Only Mom wasn’t a woman built to settle down, and an ambitious lawyer would put her guard up permanently. She couldn’t bring herself to trust him, and she had enough with juggling her oldest brother’s demands and control over the business.
