Page 25 of An Endless Memory

“Morning, baby.” I held my arms out. I couldn’t look at Eliot. It would sear my retinas as thoroughly as staring at the sun. “Thank you. I haven’t had that much sleep in years.”

“I can see why you needed it. Little man likes to party at all hours.” He lifted his chin to the fridge. “I hope you don’t mind. I called in a favor from Vienne and Austen. They brought us some food.”

“I’m sorry. I was going to get groceries tomorrow if I was still in the house.” I grimaced. Not only did I fail to impress his siblings with my scant pantry options, but they had to ask why he’d been here that late. “Did you tell them?”

He nodded. “They’ll keep it quiet until we can explain. Which brings me to this weekend.”

“What about it?” Kellan was wiggling around and self-consciousness was digging in. I had woken up after being nearly comatose for fourteen hours. All night, I’d risen like a zombie to nurse and then went back to my grave. I hadn’t showered or brushed my teeth since I’d woken up. How bad did I look? Was my shirt crooked? It didn’t feel askew.

“Cody’s having a Fourth of July picnic on Sunday. We can tell everyone then.”

“Everyone? All at once?” Another Knight family gathering? He had a big family. I was used to the same, but my siblings were all currently single. They could be a force among themselves. If they had spouses, did the scrutiny and questions double, or was it different for Eliot? He wasn’t the youngest like me.

Could I plant myself in the center of a giant unit of supportive siblings and tell them I entrapped their brother for the next year? My heart rate crept up.

“It’ll be fine,” he said.

Did I look ready to bolt? I had nowhere to go, and the diaper bag needed to be reloaded with fresh diapers anyway. “There are a lot of you.”

“Yeah.” He huffed out a laugh. “I told you about Aggie and the inheritance money?”

I nodded. Kellan squirmed. The last time I nursed must’ve been around nine. He’d be rooting at my shirt. I swayed side to side with him.

“She got away free and clear. Barns—that’s my dad, Barnaby Knight—wrapped up our ranching and oil well operation into a trust. In order to get any inheritance, my brothers and I have to work for the family company.”

I didn’t understand. His family lived in Crocus Valley.

He nodded like he wanted me to know he was getting there. “Cody runs Knight’s Oil Wells. He used to be the accountant for the ranch, but with his growing family, we were able to justify hiring a bookkeeper that he oversees. And that’s the loophole Wilder used. We hired another guy, but technically, Wilder is still a ranch employee. He comes out to help with moving cattle and working them and the horses.”

“Right, you breed Arabians.”

“Then there’s Austen. Barns was actually a little considerate with him. He let Austen choose between a bigger inheritance if he got out of the army and worked the ranch, or he’d give him a smaller cut if he went on to get his full military retirement. Austen picked retirement.”

“That leaves you.” Was it all dumped on him?

“Yep. Mine’s a little more complex. I was ranch manager when Barns died, and if I want to keep my job and have a place to live, I have to stay ranch manager. My inheritance is my paycheck, like my siblings.”

“But it’s your only job. The others had different careers.” Sutton said Wilder had been a deputy in Buffalo Gully.

“Yep.” A dark shadow crossed his face. He was as tied to his place as I was mine.

“That sucks.” I wanted to live in this house, but he didn’t sound fond of his home. Dedicated, yes. Nostalgic? Nope.

“Sure does. But I’m telling you that to point out that my family will understand and help us out as much as possible. We’re going through it with our own trust.”

The idea crawled along the back of my neck. I wasn’t dragging his family into my problems any more than I had. “I’m fine. I mean, as long as we have the marriage certificate… How are we going to do that?”

“We can ask Sutton and Wilder what they did for their second round of vows.”

“They got married twice?”

“They were divorced for a year, separated for longer.”

“No kidding?” Sutton seemed to have her life pieced together perfectly, but she had made comments that alluded to how it hadn’t always been like that.

Cali wandered in, her headphones still on.

Talk of marriage would have to be tabled. Eliot and I had a lot to cover, and I needed time to figure out what to say to Cali. The divorce had been a lot to talk through, and occasionally, she still needed reassurance that it hadn’t been her fault. “Hey, kiddo. Hungry?”

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