Page 70 of Between a Rock and a Hard Cowboy

“Which one you talking about? That nice dark brown leather one with the US flag behind the eagle on the buckle?” Ethan asked.

“Yup.”

Rosie’s brows rose. “Emmett was wearing one just like that when he came in today.”

Son of a—

He let out a string of words not appropriate for a family restaurant before he could stop himself and say, “Sorry, Rosie.”

“No worries. It’s nothing compared to how Billy cusses when he’s working at the garage.” Waving off his apology, she made her way back around the counter and into the kitchen.

“What’s with all the cussing?” Wyatt asked. He’d walked in the door in just enough time to hear Linc’s outburst.

“Emmett stole my good belt when he was staying at my place.”

Ethan turned to their older brother. “See? What kind of bull shit is that? Linc opens his home to him and he steals from him.”

“Maybe he just borrowed it,” Wyatt suggested.

“Without asking,” Linc added.

Ethan shook his head. “I don’t understand what’s up with you. How can you not hate him?”

“I try not to hate anyone.” Wyatt was proving to be even more of a bleeding heart than Linc thought him capable of.

Ethan gestured wildly, throwing his hands up in the air. “Okay, fine. So don’t hate him. Peace, love and good will towards men and all that happy horseshit. But how can you…” Ethan glanced around, then leaned in, “…want to give him half of everything our family has worked generations to build?”

“Because maybe if he had been given the same opportunities as we were growing up, the same head start in life, he would have been different,” Wyatt explained, also keeping his voice low.

Linc wasn’t sure they should be having this conversation at all. They were in Emmett’s stomping ground now. He lived right upstairs. Who knew where he was lurking.

Deciding what to do with the will by a family vote would be a moot point if Emmett heard them talking and decided to get a lawyer.

Meanwhile, Ethan wasn’t ready to let the subject drop. “Well that’s very generous of you, but I think it’s a little late for him.”

Wyatt shook his head. “You don’t know that. You don’t know what can turn a man’s life around.”

Since Ethan had the cookies and Wyatt had the bag from the grocery store containing the things he’d been tasked with picking up for tonight, Linc decided to take matters into his own hands. “Can we please move this debate to the truck?”

Thank God they listened, but Ethan was barely out the door before he started up again. “I like to think of John T’s—”

“Shh! Dammit. Wait a damn second, will ya?” Glancing over his shoulder at the stairs to the apartment to make sure Emmett wasn’t outside, Linc flung open the doors of the truck. “Now for the love of God, please get in.”

Ethan huffed his way into the back seat as Wyatt took the driver’s seat. Linc trotted around the hood to take the front passenger seat, but only after he yanked his pants up one more time and silently cursed Emmett.

He didn’t breathe freely again until all the doors were closed and they were in relative privacy.

“Now you may proceed,” he told Ethan, not that he really wanted him to.

“As I was saying, John T. wanted to make sure his second wife and her son were taken care of. And they were. Even though this new will wasn’t the one the law honored at the time of his death, as far as we’ve found John S. let Dora live in the house until the day she died.Andhe put her son through college and gave him a job in the family business. That side of the family was afforded the same opportunities as our side. What they did with them was up to them.”

It was a sound argument. Coming from Ethan, that was a bit of a surprise. But Linc had to agree with what he’d said. The spirit of John T’s intentions were honored. His family was cared for back then, like he’d wanted. That will said nothing about giving half of everything to a dirty rotten belt thief a century later.

Linc shot a sideways glance at Wyatt and asked, “No comment? What are you thinking?”

“That we need to table this topic for tonight and give my daughter the best cookie night ever.”

That’s what Wyatt had said, but Linc could swear he felt, even if he didn’t hear, the unspoken words still hanging in the air…in case this was their last Christmas in the house.

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