AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Brock rises. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
“Don’t be,” I say. “Take care of business.”
Callie nods. “I agree. Unless you want us to come with you.”
“Not this time.” Donny drops a kiss on Callie’s lips. “We’ll let you know as soon as we know anything.”
I rise then, melt into Brock’s arms. “Call me after?”
He drops a kiss on my forehead. “Absolutely.” He holds me close and whispers in my ear, “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
BROCK
My two cousins and I sit in Uncle Talon’s office. In his hand, he holds the orange diamond ring that was stolen from his safe.
Donny’s eyes widen. “You found it?”
Uncle Talon clears his throat. “I didn’t find it. I’m the one whotookit.”
“And left a feather in its place?” Donny says. “What the fuck, Dad?”
“I didn’t leave a feather in its place. The orange feather must have fallen off my new black Stetson.”
“Since when do you wear your best hat around the house?” Dale asks.
“I was going out, Dale, and I was wearing it when I opened the safe and took the ring.”
“Why?” Donny rubs the bridge of his nose. “You freaked me out. You should have told me.”
“I don’t make it a habit to inform my sons every time I open my safe,” Uncle Talon says. “I never have, and I don’t plan to start now. I took the ring to get it appraised.”
“I already did all that, Dad,” Donny says.
“You did. I wanted to have someone else look at it. Someone who might be able to determine what the LW stands for.”
“I wish you’d mentioned it,” Donny says. “I thought someone had broken into our house again. I was thinking all these really strange things.”
“Like what?” I ask.
“I was in a bad way. I kept thinking about the phoenix.”
“My horse?” Uncle Talon says.
“Well…yeah. How you named him after the phoenix, what the symbolism meant to you. And I kept thinking that the phoenix had fallen into ashes again, and we need to rise again. And then when I saw the orange feather…”
“Come on, Don,” Dale says. “You didn’t actually think it was a phoenix feather.”
“Of course not. But guys, all this shit that’s coming down? Our dad was shot, for God’s sake.”
“Not by a phoenix,” Dale says dryly.
I stifle a chuckle.
“Of course not,” Donny says. “But the ring was gone, and a feather was there. My mind went places. I figured whoever stole it was trying to tell us something.”
