Page 110 of The Cattleman's Unforgettable Love

“You never even looked for us,” she spat out.

Amelia stood a little straighter. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t look for you because I didn’t know you existed.”

It was a horrible admission to have to make, and even worse to have to live with. Silence hung in the air after she spoke, and she felt as though every single one of them must be judging her – knowing what a terrible person she was that her own brother hadn’t even told her he had children.

Ford came and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

She wanted to be stronger than that. Wanted to stand on her own two feet to face the awful truth, but she wasn’t that strong. And so, she leaned against him gratefully.

“That’s right,” Natalie spat out. “Mom didn’t want you to know about us because you would have taken us away from her!”

“I would never have done that. I would have wanted to help. I want to help now – if you’ll let me.”

She watched as Hunter went to his sister, and Natalie hugged him close to her.

“We should get out of here,” she told him.

“You should,” said Ford. “You should come with us. You’ll be safe, I promise.”

Natalie stared at him, and it was easy to see the mixture of defiance and something that might be longing in her gaze.

Amelia wanted to be able to say something that might persuade her, but she was lost for words. The voice of guilt in her own mind sounded a lot like Natalie’s.

Emmett stepped forward and said, “I can’t say I know how you feel, Nat. But Cash was right that you have a choice to make. And while you’re weighing that choice, I want you to think about this… If you don’t come with us, then you’re asking Hunter to stay here with you.”

He turned deliberately and looked toward the end of the hallway where the bigger boys had disappeared – including the one who’d pushed Hunter to the ground.

“I know you want to take care of him,” Emmett continued. “But do you really think you can defend him against them?”

He pointed at Amelia and Ford and then around at the rest of them. “Or would you rather have these guys – and all of us – looking out for the both of you?”

Amelia’s eyes filled with tears when Natalie’s shoulders sagged.

“It’s okay,” Hunter told her. “I promise. Auntie Amelia and Uncle Ford will take care of us now.”

Natalie glanced at Amelia before turning Ford. “You saved him from those kids,” she said.

Ford nodded.

“Thanks.”

Cash stepped forward with a big smile on his face that would seem out of place if Amelia didn’t know him so well. He was good at that – at moving situations along, at stepping out of tension and danger as soon as they were over and moving on. Not only moving on to whatever came next but also making it seem like nothing untoward had ever happened, and everyone needed to just chill out and cheer up.

~ ~ ~

Ford clasped his hat to his chest and rested his head back against the seat. The cabin of the jet was dark. He glanced over at Amelia. She'd fallen asleep a little while ago, and he was glad. She needed to rest.

This whole situation had stressed her out to the max. And he knew that it wasn't just stress, but guilt that was getting to her. He didn't believe that she was guilty of anything. From what she'd told him, she'd done her best to support her brother Danny until she'd reached the point where she knew she couldn't do any more.

He looked over to where Hunter was curled up over two of the club seats. He got the impression that the kid needed sleep even more than Amelia did. She'd had a stressful day – Hunter had been living in a stressful situation with that so-called foster family.

Ford shook his head. He'd probably been living in stressful situations his whole life. He leaned forward in his seat a little to check on Natalie. She wasn't sleeping. She sat sideways in her seat, her feet up on the one next to her, arms folded across her chest defensively.

Amelia had tried to talk to her a few times but hadn't made any progress. When Cash had tried, the girl had been openly hostile. Although Ford could kind of understand that, since Cash had been the one to manhandle her earlier.

Of all of them, Emmett was the only one who'd managed to get through to her. But that wasn't so surprising since Emmett had daughters himself. Alana was a couple of years older, and Tanya was right around the same age.

Ford sucked in a deep breath and pushed to his feet. Of course, he'd wanted to talk to her before now, but he'd kept waiting to give her a chance to gather her thoughts first – and each time he'd left it too long, and someone else had gone to try to get through to her. As he stood, he checked on the other guys. Wade gave him a chin lift from his seat in the back. Ty looked up from tapping away on his phone. Cash and Ace, who were sitting together further forward, glanced in his direction, and Cash gave him a nod.

---