Always Room for Family
“Can’t an expectant uncle come and bond with his soon-to-be nephew without all the questions? I wanted to see how you were doing for myself and I missed Daye. The week you came to visit for her birthday wasn’t enough. That ranch is boring without her and Sutton’s whiny ass.” Lane kicked his feet up so his boots were resting on the coffee table in the middle of my living room.
I put a hand on my belly and felt his nephew kick in response. The baby always seemed extra active when the deep rumbling voice of one of the Warner’s was in the room. I was close to six months along, and while an unexpected visit from either of Sutton’s brothers wasn’t entirely out of character, I had a feeling the fact Lane was in my living room unannounced with a duffle bag at his feet had more to do with the fact that Brynn’s cowboy had popped the question over the weekend.
“You know you have an open invitation, Lane. Sutton will be excited to see you, but I warn you now,” I lifted my eyebrows and gave him a knowing look. “If you didn’t bring Daye some kind of present, you’ll never hear the end of it. So, if you don’t have something in that bag for her, you better run out and get it before they get home from their session.”
“Of course, I brought her something. I know what women want, even bossy, seven-year-old future women.” Lane gave me a grin but it didn’t reach his eyes, in fact, there was something off about him altogether. It was like the light that constantly burned brightly at his center had been put out, leaving nothing but shadow behind.
I’d had no idea that both Sutton and Daye were going to fall in love with California when we came to see my parents all those months ago. Sutton and my dad immediately hit it off. I think my parents loved him before I brought him to meet them because he was the reason I had the strength to finally come home. He held my hand while I told them everything I’d been through. My mom cried for me and my dad gave me a hug and told me he was proud of me. Proud I survived and proud I got something as great as the loves of my life out of such a horrific experience. My mother mentioned that she knew I would eventually find what I needed to be whole, and she couldn’t be any more thrilled that he came with a precious little girl. She was already in full-on grandma mode and Daye couldn’t get enough of the doting attention.
Our visit turned from two weeks into three and then into four. When it became clear we all were hesitant to move on or return back to Wyoming, my dad suggested that we look at the job market in the area. Sutton scoffed and replied that all he knew how to do was ranch and ride. My dad gave him a patient grin and informed him that California had a booming equine industry. Sure enough, within a week, Sutton found a ranch right outside of Sacramento that was looking for a horse trainer for their equine therapy program. The center focused on using horses to help autistic children, adults, veterans, and victims of abuse across all ages. Their previous foreman had retired and they were looking to fill the position as soon as possible. If the owner hadn’t been immediately taken with Sutton during their initial interview, he would have been offered the job the second he brought Daye in for one of the sessions.
She hadn’t been sleeping well, panicked when Sutton was out of her sight for more than a second, and had been suffering from wild mood swings that neither Sutton nor I could help her manage. She’s been through so much and we both knew she needed more help than we could provide. Since she was already comfortable on a horse, it was a natural progression to see if the equine therapy worked for her. She went once a week and saw a woman Sutton seemed to adore. She rode a horse he picked out specifically for her, and when they got home from the session, I could see relief emanating from both father and daughter.
The center also gave Sutton a place to turn when he started questioning whether or not he was enough. Instead of finding the closest bar and letting himself get caught up in the torrent of his doubt, he had someone to talk to, a safe place to admit that he didn’t feel like he was a good enough father, partner, brother . . . a good enough man. Luckily, he was slowly starting to see the only expectations he wasn’t living up to were his own. The rest of us would take him any way we could get him.
It was obvious before we left Wyoming that our less-than-stellar track record with birth control had led to a mostly unplanned—but not at all surprising—pregnancy. I waited for Sutton to freak out about the added complication to our uncertain future, but he never wavered in his commitment to stay by my side through whatever we had to face. Daye hadn’t taken the news that great when we sat her down to tell her our family was growing. She was used to being the baby and liked having all the adults in her life focused solely on her. Luckily, Cyrus had proposed to Leo right before we left for Sacramento, and after we all cried when she said yes, she promised Daye that she could be her flower girl. The little girl was thrilled with the idea of having such an important job, and the idea of a poofy, fancy dress just cemented her excitement. The baby was basically forgotten after that.
Now that I was starting to show, she seemed more interested and was asking more questions. Sometimes she would put both her hands on the little bump and talk to the baby. She told him that she would teach him how to tie his shoes and how to ride a horse. She told him stories about her dad and whispered that she would sneak him cookies after dinner even when Daddy said no more. She seemed to like the idea we were having a little boy because she wouldn’t have to share her toys or her clothes. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that wasn’t how things worked.
All in all, we settled into a new place without too much hassle. Who would have ever thought the place I would end up was where I started? We rented a house and were looking at building one on a piece of property my dad had found just outside the city. As soon as I had the baby and we had a permanent place to call our own, I was going to go back to work. I’d always been great at managing people in the workplace, but now I wanted to focus on helping people find the career they really wanted. As someone who had lacked passion for most of her life, I wanted to point others in the direction of something that would fulfill them rather than just sustain them.
Turning to Lane, I had to ask, “Can you afford to be gone right now? Doesn’t Cy need you?” I wanted to ask him about Brynn, but I figured he couldn’t admit to me why he was really here; maybe he hadn’t admitted it to himself yet.
Lane shook his dark head and leaned back on the couch cushions so he was looking up at the ceiling. “He’s got a whole staff now. That place is running like a well-oiled machine. Sometimes I wonder if he needs me at all. Webb knows as much as I do now. If he wasn’t such a pain in the ass, I think Cy would promote him to foreman.”
I gave him a hard look and told him flatly, “Webb isn’t family.”
He heaved a sigh that sounded both sad and weary. “I needed a break, some time to clear my head. Leo and Cy are caught up in wedding fever. Brynn is hardly around anymore. Sutton has a whole new family and is halfway across the country. Things changed so much in six months and some days I don’t feel like I can keep up. I feel like I’m falling behind everyone who matters to me.”
I made my way over to the couch and lowered myself next to him. I rested my head on his shoulder and he immediately wrapped an arm around me. “There is one thing about you Warners that will never change, Lane. You might be moving at different speeds and in different directions but you will never leave each other behind. No one is going anywhere without you, handsome.”
He sighed again and gave me a one-armed hug. “I missed you, Em.”
The quiet contemplation was shattered when the front door was thrown open and a pair of tiny cowboy boots pounded across the hardwood floors. Daye shouted my name, already telling me every single thing that had happened to her that day. We always had a daily debriefing right before I helped her with her homework or right after her ballet class. She still loved to dance and wouldn’t be swayed to play soccer, no matter how many times Lane teased her about it.
I was all but forgotten as the little girl caught sight of her uncle. She squealed so loudly my ears hurt as she threw herself at him, forcing him to catch her with his free arm. Those green eyes that were so like her father’s glittered with glee as she shamelessly demanded, “What did you bring me?”
“Hands off my lady, little brother.” Sutton’s deep voice teased as he made his way into the room. I lifted my lips for the kiss I knew was coming and giggled as he reached out to ruffle Lane’s dark hair like he was a little kid. “I didn’t know you were coming.” He looked at me questioningly. “Did you?”
Seeing that the line of questioning was making Lane uncomfortable, I gave a noncommittal shrug and responded with the truth. “Doesn’t matter. We always have room for family.”
No matter where we were or what we had going on, our door was always open for the ones we loved. Wherever we were, and no matter the situation, there would always be shelter from the storm.
The End
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