“Braden, my boy.” The voice at the other end of the line crackled. It was more statement than greeting.

“Who is this?” I asked the question even though I know full well who it is. I hadn’t spoken to my grandfather in nine years — and really, it should have been longer than that. It took me a full eighteen months to realize he was the one who pushed Adele away.

I had accomplished that feat myself, really. But Grandfather hadn’t helped. He set me up with that girl. He told me to lie. He said again and again that Adele’s family wasn’t good enough for us.

He didn’t make me ashamed of Adele. He’d made me ashamed of my own family, and myself. Ashamed enough that I’d opted to keep Adele away from them in the end. Ashamed enough that I didn’t stand up for myself when Adele and I had fought.

And then she’d left. After all these years, I couldn’t say I blamed her.

And here was Grandfather on the phone, like it had been no time at all.

“It’s your grandfather, Braden. The man who raised you. Sent you to school. Though I can’t say you’re using your degree running that godforsaken farm and playing firefighter on the weekends.”

I sighed audibly, bringing my hand to my forehead. It had been thirty seconds, and the man was already giving me a headache.

“I know who you are. I thought you were done with me.”

“Blood is blood,” he said, pausing. “And I’m getting old.”

“I’d imagine you are. That’s what time does. I’m nearly thirty.”

“Yes, you are, Braden. And still no one to carry on the family name.”

I groaned. I should have been angrier than I was, but I was just annoyed. I was sure he knew that I’d split with my wife, and she had taken a payoff in lieu of keeping the house out here on the farm. I was betting he also had a good idea about my shitty finances and the deplorable state of the Custer County fire station. The whole building was in disrepair and was about to be seized by the state. Our fire services were to be absorbed into the next county over, leaving me and ten good men without a job.

I was sure that he knew all of that, just like I knew the nose on my own damn face. “That’s right, Grandfather.”

I didn’t add anything. Not about the wife. Nor about my desperate need for money. A chunk of his pocket change wouldn’t hurt right about now. But it had always come with strings attached. And those strings ultimately made Adele leave all those years ago.

She was the only woman I’d ever actually wanted to have children with. And like Grandfather noted — time marched on relentlessly, leaving us all behind. I’d be thirty soon, and I’d hoped to have two or three kids by now. Not that I was old. The life I had then just wasn’t the one I’d always had in mind.

And the old man had called to — what? Gloat? Rub salt in the wound?

Something like that.

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. My grandfather cleared his throat. “You know, your father wasn’t like a son to me, Braden. He squandered his inheritance and ended up squandering his short life as well. But you—”

Before he told me any fake mushy bullshit about my own childhood, I stopped him in his tracks. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but I really need to go. One of my mares out here needs me, and my stallion needs to be exercised.”

“How rustic,” Grandfather said, chuckling.

“You paid for all those horseback riding lessons. It’s your fault I am the way I am.” I actually had to hold back a grin when I said that last part. Horses were the only thing the old man and I had in common. He just hadn’t intended me to breed or care for them. He was more on the betting and racing end of things.

But I guess I’d gotten confused about what he’d intended for me to do with my life — or so he thought.

“I suppose it is,” he said, sighing again. I might have been mistaken, but I caught a crackle in his breathing. It could have been the static on the phone, but whatever it was didn’t sound good.

“Well, like I said, I need to be going.” I had one finger hovering over the end call button. But out of curiosity, I stayed on the line. Call it a hunch. Call it fate. Call it whatever.

“I’m having some papers drawn up,” Grandfather said, continuing even though I’d told him twice I had to go. “And I’d like you to take a look at them. Estate papers.”

“I don’t want your money,” I said, cutting him off. In fact, I needed his money to make it through the next year. But I’d figure something out.

“That’s all good and well, Braden. But I want you to have something when I’m gone. I just want it to be attached to a legacy. To our name.”

“You mean, a kid? You can’t be serious with this.”

“I am. And I’m sending my lawyer your information, whether you like it or not.”

“Jesus, well, don’t expect me to fulfill whatever guidelines you set out for me. I don’t need anyone’s money that bad.”

“You and I both know you do.”

“Stop,” I said, groaning. “Just stop.”

“I think you ought to have a child. You need a family, someone to carry on our name.”

“I’m done with this.” My finger went to the end call button again.

“You can expect a call from my lawyer. Or a visit. Whichever he gets around to first.”

“Jesus, I —” Before I could think of a good response, my grandfather hung up on me.

Goddammit. That crusty old man had gotten the better of me again.

Some things never change.

* * *

Like I said, it could have been chance, and it could well have been fate. I’m not one to believe in fate itself, but strange things happen in the world all the time. Exactly three weeks later, Dahlia Cartwright sent me a text message.

Adele’s sister.

And that text message was about Adele.

The woman I’d wanted to marry. The only person in the world I’d ever wanted to carry my child. My destiny — my fate. If you could believe that sort of thing.

I wasn’t entirely sure how Dahlia had gotten my number, and at first I thought it was a joke.

But the words were there.

She’s back.

That’s all it took. Those two words changed the course of my life and set me down a path towards finally growing up and coming home.