Page 32 of Sean

“They’re fine. Having fun. Everyone is.” He looked past her to the open laptop. On the screen was a picture of a younger Amos and Lucy along with a woman he knew to be Mira.

“I’m going through some pictures and organizing them into folders for the kids. I want them to have every photo of their mother that I can find.”

“She looks happy,” he commented with a nod toward the smiling Mira.

“It was her birthday the year before the accident. I was in town for a few weeks, and we went to the beach.” She tapped the mouse pad and moved through a series of images from the day. The kids played in the water and built sandcastles with their mom. “It was the perfect beach day. I wish I’d have realized how bad her life was. I should have. What kind of sister am I for not seeing it?”

“She hid it from you,” he said. “You couldn’t have known.”

“I wish…I wish I’d have been there for her more, but I was always flying off to some place for a photo shoot. I’d be back in town for a couple of days, maybe two weeks at the most, and then I’d be off again. If I’d been around more, maybe I could have helped her and the kids leave Wilson before it was too late.”

“You can’t think that way.” He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in for a brief hug before she pushed away from him. He’d been hoping to give her comfort, but she was all business.

“I did make a decision this morning. I sent Sophie the information that the Westmans told us and gave my permission to turn that and the video over to the police.”

“Good. It was the right thing to do. They’ll do a thorough investigation, and if they don’t, Sophie will prod them.” That got a small smile from her. He didn’t know Sophie personally, but from everything he’d heard, she seemed fierce and relentless. Julia had those characteristics, too, and it would be a mistake to underestimate her. Wilson apparently had, and now he was paying for it.

“I hope they see how important it is without Sophie or Owen needing to get in the middle of it. It may not be as high profile as the other things he’s done, but Mira mattered, and I want Wilson to do time for what he did to her. He’s a terrible person, and he’s never…never coming within a hundred feet of his children again.” Her ferocity was fully on display—as it often was when it came to the kids. Maybe that’s how he could lure her out of the room and away from the melancholy task of looking at old photos.

“Come play with us.” He drew her toward the bedroom door. “Lucy says it’s a game her mother taught her—the floor is lava.”

Julia laughed. “We played that all the time when we were kids. Since we moved around so much, it added an extra challenge to the game. Furnished apartments and motel rooms are always arranged differently.”

“Lucy is large and in charge down there. You’ve got to see her in action. Even Eden is taking directions from her.” His oldest niece tended to be bossy, just like her mother.

“That I have to see,” Julia said and let him lead her downstairs.

The kids were delighted to have another adult, and even more so when Julia introduced a twist on the game that involved cool spots on the floor. It turned out that half the fun was landing on a cool spot only to have three other people trying to use the same small chunk of floor. They tumbled over each other and contorted themselves to try to share. Sean laughed more in the next hour than he had in the past four years.

Finally, the kids got tired and were happy to agree to Kelly’s suggestion of a Disney movie marathon for the remainder of the rainy afternoon. Lucy and Amos got hold of their aunt’s hands and drew her down on the couch with them. Tara, Emmy, and the other kids found places in the living room. Sean wasn’t much for sitting around and decided it was a good time to slip away to the stable. He needed to continue to work with Maverick.

“You headed out?” His dad caught up with him in the kitchen.

“Thought I’d do some work in the barn.” Sean was almost at the back door.

“Not a bad idea.” Joe grabbed a raincoat from a peg and put a tattered Stetson on his head. He’d been wearing that hat since Sean was a kid. It was stained and frayed but conjured up all sorts of memories. “I’ll join you.”

That wasn’t at all what Sean had planned for the afternoon, but he didn’t object, so they walked in silence to the barn. Since their reacquaintance a few days earlier, Sean had visited the surly horse several times a day until Maverick was more trusting. Sean continued to be cautious, but he was able to get in the stall now.

“Hey, boy,” Sean said, offering a handful of his mom’s homemade sweet feed over the stall door. Maverick gobbled it up without hesitation, which told Sean it was safe to get closer. He grabbed a curry comb and went into the stall to groom the horse.

While he worked, he was aware of his father two stalls away grooming a dappled mare, named Lady Gray. She was a beauty of a horse with a gentle nature. Joe was talking to her as he worked, the same way that Sean was with Maverick. They worked, ignoring each other for several minutes. Despite the fact that he’d been on the ranch for several days, it was the first time that he and his father had been alone.

Sean had concluded that his father was avoiding him. But he had insisted on coming to the barn with Sean that afternoon. Sean wasn’t sure what to make of that. His thoughts went to his conversation with Tara. She’d claimed his father felt guilty about JP’s death. Sean got why that was, and he had to admit that deep down maybe he did, too. How had he not prevented the death of his own son while in training when he was a trainer?

It seemed…heartbreaking. That was true for everyone in the family. They were all just handling it differently. Was it time for Sean to stop thinking of his own grief and consider his father’s?

“That’s a sweet mare,” he said to open the conversation. “Who does she belong to?”

“Tara bought Lady Gray last year,” Joe replied. “Eden’s ridden her some, and the other girls will soon, when they’re ready.”

“She was a good buy.”

“Yeah.”

More silence. Sean was going to have to be the one to brave bringing up his brother. “Remember that dappled gelding with the bad attitude that JP wanted?”

Joe shook his head, even as he was smiling at the memory. “Kid was only eight. No way he could have handled that horse.”

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