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It was what she’d said from the beginning of all this.
West made a strangled sound and ran his arm roughly across his face.
Cole felt his own eyes watering. Some of it, he realized in shock, was for his brother. West had worked so hard to keep their momma alive. He’d set up strange deals with powerful and corrupt politicians to get her on that transplant list, defying the board who said that she wasn’t strong enough to make it through. He wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.
Even now, West still would’ve found ways to keep her breathing if she’d allowed him. Cole groaned.Therewas a guy afraid of death. His brother would only stop short of animating her body like Frankenstein’s monster… and he couldn’t blame him, not if West couldn’t see God’s plan in all this.
But their relationship with their momma wasn’t ending here. As hard as it was to have her ripped from them in this life, they would meet again in heaven… that same heaven that West had all but admitted he wasn’t worthy of.
“I don’t want some stupid funeral,” Momma said.
That made Nash burst into watery laughter next to her. “You don’t, huh?”
“Nope.” She gritted her teeth stubbornly. “I want a ceremony of life,” she whispered. “Do you hear me?”
“Yes ma’am,” Nash answered quickly.
“Good,” she said. “Hold it in my gardens on the brightest, most glorious day in December, and I’ll see if… I can’t call in some favors for a-a… snowfall.” She gasped in a breath at the energy it took for that kind of request, but she wasn’t through with her family yet. “Evenifmy garden is dead… it only rests until spring…” Her voice trailed off, like she could see her famous gardens with her own eyes.
Cadence had made the rose garden glorious for her these last few months. The men had been too busy on the ranch to take over the flowers after their momma’s illness, but knowing that Cadence was taking good care of her garden had been a blessing for them all.
“It will be in full bloom soon…” Momma breathed out. “Iwill too.”
West shot to his feet. “I can’t…” His stormy eyes met their momma’s. He found her side. Though he had difficulty saying anything dear to his heart, his expression said everything that he couldn’t. “I love you,” he said. “You know that, right?”
She rubbed his arm to comfort him. “Yes.”
He licked his lips. “Then let’s fight this.”
“We did,” she said. “Thank you for standing with me. It was glorious.”
He blanched. The failure had finally consumed him; Cole could see it in the bleakness taking over his brother’s face. West’s shoulders slumped with exhaustion. “I need some air. I’ll be back… I’ll be back.” Turning, his gaze went from brother to brother until it finally rested on Cole. “Don’t… let anything happen without me. You got that?”
Cole was taken aback. For some reason, West trusted him to be the one who wouldn’t forget him if Momma took a turn for the worse. Recognizing the honor of such a request, Cole nodded.
The spasm in West’s cheek as he wrestled with his emotions stopped him from saying more as he stalked from the room.
Cole wasn’t sure that he trusted West to be alone right now.
“Honey.” Their father nudged past his remaining children to take his wife’s hand. “We’ll have that ceremony of life. Make no mistake. And–and… all your family will be there andwillbe welcome.”
He was talking about West. They all knew it.
Momma seemed to melt into her bed with relief at his words. They meant a lot, of course, since she always worried that “her boys” would drift apart with her gone. They’d called her the glue. And strangely, Cole wondered if that bond would be stronger now that she was destined to be their angel.
If this was her final wish, they’d honor it.
“I love you, Jase,” she whispered.
He kissed her hand. His wrinkled lids drooped over his eyes as he watched the love of his life with the desperation of a man who meant to make every moment count while he could.
Cole finally understood the depth of emotion that he felt. Even after so short a time of knowing Eva, he suspected losing her would be devastating. And still, his father’s love for their momma would force their old man to stay strong and protect everything that she cared about,especiallyif she wasn’t there to do it herself.
Cole wanted to be that kind of man for Eva.
“Thank you for bringing all my babies to me,” she whispered to her husband. “Now, I have a gift for you… it’s in my greenhouse—flowers and letters. Don’t read them until you’ve brought our family together there for our celebration of life. Gather our dear ones, Jase… like–like the buds of spring.”
“I will,” their father said hoarsely.
