“I want you to stay away from that girl, Calvin. Do you understand me? Her whole family is just bad.” Avery was pacing back and forth in the family waiting room. Her feet made a soft shuffling noise on the aged patterned linoleum. Avery waved her hand in the air as if to emphasize her thoughts. “We tried to raise her right, but sometimes there’s just no changing someone’s heart.”

Cal stared at his mother and tried to decide if she honestly believed he was going to respond to her comments. Then she looked up at Cal, and he felt the pressure of her expectancy so strongly that he could no longer remain silent.

“Mom, that’s ludicrous.” Cal cleared his throat. “Jesse is a good person. She’s not responsible for her mother’s behavior any more than I’m responsible for my father’s behavior.”

“You don’t understand!” Avery said shrilly.

Cal pressed his lips together. What was it about Jesse’s mother and that whole situation that drove his mother so far out of her sanity? The way this topic could make his mother act was disturbing!

“Mom,” Cal said sharply. “I don’t want to hear any more of this. Do you understand me? I don’t want to hear another word against Jesse. I love her. I think I’ve always loved her. And I think you have always known that.”

“Don’t be silly.” Avery’s dismissive tone stung. “She’s your sister.”

“No. She isn’t my sister. She never was.” Cal shook his head. “I was nineteen when she came to live with us. She was a sad little thing, but I could tell that someday she was going to grow up to be an incredible person. So, I sat back and I waited for her to grow up. I didn’t make moves on her. I didn’t try to pressure her or somehow make her think she had no choice. I wasn’t trying to be her guy, Mom.” This was so important to Cal. He needed to know that people realized that he hadn’t ever taken advantage of Jesse. “But I love her, Mom. And now that we’re both adults, I want to be with her.”

Avery’s nostrils flared, and she stomped her foot on the floor. “I won’t allow it. Do you hear me? I won’t allow that! It’s for your own good.”

Cal shook his head. “No, Mom. I don’t understand why, but it’s for your own good.”

Thank goodness someone knocked on the door. And it was even better when Cisco and Met stepped into the room. If anyone could keep his mother from behaving like a lunatic, they could.

“That was fast,” Cal grunted.

Cisco gave a nod. “We were already on the way here so that Mom could go home and get some sleep and a shower.”

Met was already putting his arms around their mother. Cal was relieved. Met was her favorite, her youngest, her precious baby boy, and pretty much the only one who could both understand her and talk sense into her when necessary. Cal could not help but hope that Met would be the one to help Avery see that Jesse was not their enemy.

“Oh, Met,” Avery moaned. “He was still so young! I just can’t believe this happened. I can’t believe that he’s really gone.”

Cisco looked squarely at Cal. “Can we see him?”

“I’m not sure.” Cal hadn’t even considered the possibility of his brothers needing to see the body. “How about we wait until everyone else gets here and then we can ask to be let into the room.”

“He’s still in his room?” Met’s blue eyes were wide with surprise. “They just leave him in there?”

“It’s late in the day, and they want to make sure they have a spot for him, I guess.” Cal shrugged helplessly. “How am I supposed to know? I only came to see Mom and Dad.”

“He brought Jesse,” their mother accused. She turned an angry gaze toward Cal. “I don’t know why you would do that! She got your father upset with all of her ranting and raving about her parents and all of that nonsense!”

“It isn’t nonsense, Mom.” Cal bit back any further comments. The problem wasn’t whether or not it was nonsense. The problem was that his mother was simply not in a good frame of mind to be realistic about anything right now.

“Laredo just drove in. He’s got Darren with him.” Cisco looked at the display on his phone. “How about we just wait until we’re all here and then you”—Cisco gestured to Cal—“can tell us exactly what happened.”

“That woman happened!” Avery snarled. “It was all her fault!”

Met’s brows drew together. “Jesse? You’re blaming Jesse for Dad’s death?”

“Who?” Avery looked confused. “Amelia. Jesse. They’re the same!”

Met exchanged a look of concern with Cisco and then turned to Cal. “Would you like to stay at Laredo’s place in town tonight? I’ve been staying with Daphne at her place anyway, so the mansion is currently empty anyway.”

“The mansion?” Cal snorted. “I thought I saw an email about some scheme to auction that place and its contents for charity.”

“Daphne’s working on it,” Met said almost defensively. “Talk about paperwork! Sheesh!” Then Met pointed suspiciously at Cal. “But you can’t destroy the place.”

Cal shook his head. “You of all people have no right to even suggest that I would. If the place can survive you staying there, I think it can handle one night of me and…” He managed to stop himself just in time. Saying that Jesse would be sharing the house with him for a night was one surefire way to piss off his mother. Cal grunted and headed out of the family waiting room. He would try his luck in the hallway searching for his middle brothers.

It was quieter in that sterile-smelling white hallway than it was in the family waiting room with his mother’s wailing and bemoaning every poor decision anyone had ever made in their life, whether it affected her or not. Cal knew that grief did funny things to people, but he was having a lot of trouble understanding what was going on with their mother.

He had made it almost all the way to the bank of elevators when he spotted Laredo and Darren standing at the end of the hallway deep in conversation. Both men seemed engrossed. Aria and Maggie, their respective fiancées, were with them. All four of them seemed to be much more disturbed and even depressed by the recent events. Maggie kept swiping at the corners of her eyes with a tissue, and Cal wondered how well she had even known his father. It all seemed strange to Cal.

“Cal!” Darren turned and spotted Cal a short distance down the hallway. He waved Cal over. “We were just talking about you.”

“Talking about me?”

Cal felt uncomfortable with all of the attention. Although, why should it matter? They all talked about him anyway because he was the brother that never came into town. He hadn’t participated in family events or joined family dinners or other get-togethers. Sometimes he wondered if anyone really missed him. He was that guy who stayed back on the ranch where none of them wanted to be anyway.

“Yes.” Laredo’s subdued smile did not make Cal feel any better. Their last conversation had been bad. This did not promise to be any better.

“I can’t imagine why you’re talking about me.” Cal hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and rocked back and forth on the heels of his cowboy boots.

Laredo’s gaze narrowed. Those blue eyes were just as bright as every other Hernandez brother, but Laredo’s were laser sharp. He stared at Cal as though he were trying to eviscerate him. “I’ve been telling our family members what you refuse to talk about.”

“Oh, really?” Cal could barely contain his anger. “Are you telling them your version of events, or are you telling them the facts that you don’t have a freaking clue about?”

“Excuse me?” Laredo snorted. “We’ve talked about this. You wouldn’t even stick around to listen to reason or do the right thing.”

“You were wrong, Laredo,” Cal said in a clear, concise voice. “You were spouting bullshit that you don’t know anything about. You think you know, but that was the problem with Dad. You might think that you know, but you never really do. And believe me,” Cal said bitterly. “That man took his most important secrets to the grave. Although, since I was standing there when he died, I will tell you that our mother’s grieving is a bit on the bullshit side. She’s the one who got him nice and worked up. Then she wouldn’t let it drop until he went into cardiac arrest. Pretty convenient for a woman who wanted to leave him anyway, don’t you think?”

Aria Callahan reached out hesitantly to touch Cal’s shoulder. “Cal, think about what you’re saying!”

“I know what I’m saying. I stood right there and watched it happen.” Cal suddenly realized that Aria might be the one person who would care enough about Jesse to go and make sure that she was all right. “Jesse left the floor and headed down to find some food. Aria, could you please go and find her? I’m sorry to ask, but I don’t want her to be alone, and this is going to take a lot longer than I first thought.”

Aria glanced up at Laredo. It was obvious that he didn’t have any interest in her being anywhere but at his side. Fortunately, Aria was very much her own independent-minded woman. She touched Cal’s arm again and nodded before heading back to the elevator.

At the last second, Aria pointed at Laredo. “Don’t you dare do or say anything stupid. We talked about this!”

Cal frowned as he tried to put that together. They had talked about what? Laredo’s dedication to his version of events? If that was the case, then they needed to talk a little more. With that in mind, Cal glared at his next youngest brother. Why did he have to be such a pompous ass all the time? He’s been better lately, but sometimes he was still insufferable.

“Now.” Cal pointed in Laredo’s face. “We’re going to go in there, and we’re going to talk to Mom. So help me God, Laredo. You are not going to breathe a word about Amelia Collins or Jesse. Do you understand? It will set Mom off, and we can’t afford for that to happen again.”

“Fine.” Laredo held up his hands. His expression was mild, but Cal could tell from the dubious stare of his brother Darren that things were not exactly what they might seem.

Cal, Laredo, Darren, and Maggie walked down the hallway. As they got closer and closer to the family waiting room, the sound of Avery Hernandez’s voice grew clearer and clearer. She was obviously having more than a little trouble processing everything that was happening. The tone of her voice went from shrill one second to low and sobbing the next.

“Holy crap,” Darren muttered. “Is that Mom?”

“Yeah.” Cal wondered if there was any way for him to just turn around and leave. Except he wasn’t letting his mother get away without telling the truth about what had happened to Joe Hernandez. Cal wasn’t letting her get away with blaming Jesse.

Laredo was the first one to reach for the door handle. He pushed it open and stepped inside. At that point, Avery spun around and flung out her arms. It appeared that she’d been pacing through the center of the room’s worn linoleum. Now she held out her arms and embraced Laredo and Darren as though they were her favorite people on the planet.

“Oh, my boys are together at last!” Avery gushed. “It’s so wonderful to have you here! And Maggie! Welcome!” Avery grabbed Maggie’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

At least Laredo and Darren looked as confused as the rest of them felt. Apparently, Avery had been ranting or something similar the entire time Cal had been out of the room. Met and Cisco sidled closer to Cal, and Met flung his arm around Cal’s neck.

“Finally,” Met muttered. “Now Laredo and Darren can absorb some of this crap. What’s wrong with our mother, Cal? It’s like her mind has snapped or something.”

“Let’s see if Maggie will stay with her for a minute while we go back to Dad’s room to view the remains,” Cal said darkly. “That way we can hopefully keep Mom from lying about what really happened.”

“Maggie?” Cal motioned to Darren’s fiancée. “Could you stay with Mom for a minute? My brothers would like to pay their last respects to Dad.”

“Of course!” Maggie focused her full attention on Avery. Since she was an actual mental health professional, maybe this was for the best. Sure. She was a school counselor, but at this point, Avery was just acting crazy and needed help of any kind.

The five brothers filed out of the family waiting room and went back into the hallway. Cal led the way across that sterile expanse of white tile to their father’s hospital room. There was a nurse inside tidying up the room even though the sheet-covered body still lay on the bed. She took one look at the brothers and politely excused herself with nothing more than a nod.

Once the room was closed, Laredo walked over to the bed and flung the sheet back. Their father’s slack-jawed, pale appearance was probably more shocking than anything Cal had ever seen. He’d just gotten done hauling dozens of dead animals from a low spot on the ranch, and that did not begin to compare to this moment or this sight.

“Well, hell,” Met muttered. He put his hands on his hips and sighed as though he were trying to fight back tears. It was unexpected from the one brother who had been the most vocal in criticizing their father over the years. “I hated the old bastard,” Met said hoarsely. “But seeing him like this is disturbing.”

“It sure is,” Darren murmured. “He doesn’t look like Dad.”

Laredo was still all business. Cal could have sworn it was his brother’s personal coping style. “So, Cal, tell us what happened.”

“Mom and Dad were arguing. Jesse and I came to visit. Mom got upset that Jesse was here. She started in on Jesse’s mother and saying how she didn’t want Jesse around, that they’d done as much as they could for her, but that she was no better than her mother. And since her mother had an affair with Dad, that made Jesse no good for me and no good for our family.”

“For you?” Darren raised his eyebrows. Then he looked around at the other brothers. “So, are we acknowledging that now? Are we all saying out loud that Cal and Jesse are a romantic couple?”

“We can’t,” Laredo said shortly. “Jesse is our father’s child. They’re biologically related.”

“Bullshit,” Met said loudly. “That’s not true, Laredo. Do the math. Do you really think Dad was screwing Amelia for over twelve years?”

Cal almost laughed out loud at the expression on Laredo’s face. It was plain to him that he’d had it all figured out but hadn’t really considered the timeline. This was where things got murky.

Cal pressed his lips into a line and tried to figure out the best way to say what had to be said. “Dad was arguing with Mom about his relationship with Amelia. He was stressing that it was something beautiful and not something sordid. I hate to say it, but I think he really loved her. For a long time.”

“I don’t believe it.” Laredo shook his head. “Our parents wouldn’t have stayed together if things were really like that.”

“Mom pushed him into dying,” Cal announced quietly. “I kept telling her to stop talking. I kept telling him to calm down. They were arguing about Jesse and about Amelia. Mom told him that she wasn’t going to leave him. She was going to stay with him to make him follow her rules for the rest of his life now that he was too sick to care for himself. She was spiteful. She was mean. And you could see it in her eyes.” Cal hated having to say this to his brothers, but it had to be said. “I think our mother did everything she could to give our father a massive heart attack. And I don’t think she’s sorry that he’s gone.”