Page 7 of Chasing Bandit

Despite my dad being with Stevie's mom—my feelings on the matter aside—I did want him to be happy. However, I wasn’t sure how this arrangement would affect his management and ownership of the Cameron ranch. Not having him present meant that major decisions would need to be made by someone else.

He slowly turned to face us; the puppy-love smile gone from his lips. “That’s why I called you boys in here. I’m done managing the ranch.”

“What?” I asked, sitting forward.

My dad had been managing Cameron ranch since he was in his 20s and it was the one place he'd always said he'd live and die in. He sunk down into the chair behind his desk and nodded.

“I may only be 56 years old, but I’ve lived a long, full life and have done a lot with the property to improve it. I supported Clarence Ashwood while he battled cancer and made sure his granddaughter was set up to take things over properly. Turns out, I didn’t have to worry about that since Nash went ahead and married her.”

I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest. “Get to the part about what's happening with Cameron ranch,” I said pointedly as my dad chuckled softly, used to my impatience.

"Marianne and I are planning to enjoy our lives and embrace early retirement. We'll return eventually to Lonestar Junction, and I intend to build her a home on the land where we can grow old together. But besides that, I'm prepared to pass the reins to you. You're ready, Wylie, well, almost."

“What the hell does that mean?” I demanded, the whiskey catching up to my smart tongue now. I hated being doubted, especially about matters that I’d been training for since I was a child.

“You were born into this and have shown the initiative to learn everything you can. Hell, you practically manage it all on your own already with a little help from Clay and me, though that’ll be ending soon since Clay is shifting to help Nash more on Ashwood and I'll be leaving. But I'm confident you can manage Cameron ranch on your own with the help we have hired. There's just one thing you're missing.”

I clenched my jaw, ready to confront whatever it was my dad thought I lacked to fulfill my destiny on the land I intended to die on.

"What's that?"

“A wife,” he stated with a completely straight face.

I burst into laughter, rocking back in my chair, tears springing into my eyes as I looked over at Nash, who was smirking, but not laughing.

“You started drinking again, Dad?” I asked.

My dad smiled as he chuckled that same laugh that he always had when he was definitely not joking.

“Wylie, the ranch is a lot to manage. You know that more than any of my boys because you’ve been with me since the start. It can pull you in, suck you dry of a life, and spit you out as a broken man. Louisa stuck by my side through all of it until she passed, but without her, I don’t think I would have been able to do it.”

“I’ll hire more help. I don’t need to marry someone in order to successfully manage Cameron ranch." I insisted.

“That’s not why I’m telling you to marry. I’m telling you to marry so that you have a partner. There are things that you can’t do on your own here. Nash is focused on Ashwood ranch full time and helping with the co-op. Clay is focused on Ashwood and you’re losing me. We've all been involved in some way with management and upkeep of the property and the home. You don’t realize it now, but that’s going to put a lot of pressure on your shoulders to step up and keep things running here when I’m gone.”

I crossed my arms defiantly. “I can handle the pressure.”

He chuckled again. “I know you can, son, but think about the lonely nights when you don’t get done working until close to midnight. What about the weekends? Nash and Jovie are moving forward with their lives. Even Clay is with Savannah. Don’t you want what they have someday?”

Of course I do.

I struggled with his logic—it made sense and yet it didn't. The idea of being pressured into marriage just to secure my inheritance felt not only absurd but wrong. I couldn't see how marriage would enhance my life, especially given how consumed I already was with ranch responsibilities. Where would I even find the time to tend to a wife?

“And what if I don’t marry?” I demanded. “Are you going to sell Cameron ranch? A place that’s been in our family for generations?”

He shrugged as if it wasn’t his most cherished place in the world—the place where he grew up, fell in love with Ms. Vector, then my mom, and now found love with Ms. Vector once more.

As if it meant nothing to him anymore.

“Love means more to me, son. I’ve got hopefully a solid 40 years left on this earth, and I intend on spending them all with Marianne, no matter how that looks. If you can’t do this one thing and stop whoring around Lonestar Junction, then the ranch goes to Nash once he’s married to Jovie this summer.”

“What the hell? Why?”

“Your great-great-great-grandfather Homer Cameron purchased this land for just $200 and in the deed that he created, he put a clear provision that said the ranch would be passed down for generations to the oldest Camerons in the family with one stipulation: they must marry and remain married for at least twelve consecutive months before they become the new owners.”

“Are you fucking with me?”

He shook his head and smiled. “Even Homer Cameron knew it was a lot to manage without a partner.”

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