Page 17 of A Surprise Wedding for the Cowboy

“By accident.” Tate chuckled. “Look, I have to get this monkey into bed. How about you get out of our room?”

“If you’ll meet Max and me in the great room as soon as Jamie’s down.”

He wasn’t going to get out of this. “Fine. I’ll be a few minutes, but we’ll need to keep it short. I’ve been on the road for three days.”

Bryce swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up. “Think you’re the only one? It’s an even longer drive from Chicago.”

“Did you have a toddler screaming in your ears every single minute you were driving? Pretty sure you didn’t.”

Bryce winced.“Every minute?”

“Close enough, bro. He caught a breath a time or two.”

“Don’t be long.” He pointed at Tate with pistol fingers. “I’ll rustle up some drinks.”

“Rustle? Seriously? You’re trying too hard to fit in on a ranch.”

“I think I’m going to like it here.”

Tate shook his head and laid Jamie on the bed to change him then tucked him into the sleep sack and lowered him into the playpen. They’d eliminated the night-time bottle just before the trip, and so far, so good. Jamie tucked his thumb into his mouth and fell back asleep.

If only Tate didn’t need to face his brothers, but they hadn’t had a chance to touch base after the meeting, since Tate had driven Stephanie to Jewel Lake right afterward. And maybe it was a good idea to evaluate Grandfather’s news.

He shook his head as he pulled the door closed and checked the baby monitor app on his phone. An aunt and two cousins, just like that? Didn’t that only happen to other people? Seemed the Sullivans had skeletons in their closet, same as the rest of the world. At least, Grandfather did.

“I found some soda in the canteen,” Bryce announced as Tate joined his brothers. “Coke? Sprite? Root beer?”

“Sprite, thanks.” He popped the tab on the can and settled in a leather armchair before glancing around. This wasn’t exactly a private conversation area, not with so many bedroom doors off the open hallways above. “Where’s Grandfather’s room?”

“There’s a hallway to another wing behind the staircase.” Maxwell thumbed toward the flight Tate had just descended. “Want the grand tour, or wait until morning?”

“Morning’s fine.” Tate rested his ankle on his other knee. “How’s Chicago? How’s Dad?”

“Don’t you mean, is Grandfather off his rocker?” At least Bryce kept his voice down. “Never thought he, of all people, would have slept around.”

Tate shot him a hard look. “You mean, like you?”

“Don’t even. Just because you’re the perfect goody-goody…”

Max held up both hands. “You’re making me think I’m the middle kid instead of the youngest, trying to keep peace.”

Tate had grown up a middle child. All the pressure had been on Wally, Grandfather’s namesake. The names alternated as they were passed down, generation after generation. Grandfather and Wally were Walter James. Dad and his own grandson were James Walter, but no one had ever dared call Dad Jamie or even Jim. He was James all the way.

It was up to Tate to raise Jamie to be a proper Sullivan, Dad had said, worthy of his name. Mostly, Tate figured on helping the kid stay a little better balanced.

“So, Stephanie…” Bryce’s eyebrows waggled.

“She just missed running into me in Butte last night and did some damage to her car. I helped her figure that out and find a mechanic to look at it, and I’ll probably be taking her back to pick it up when it’s ready, in a few days.”

“Are you in lo-ove?” Bryce mocked.

“Did you miss the part where I met her yesterday?” Love wasn’t a word he’d ever toss around without a great deal of thought. In fact, he and Mom had had a long talk about it one night this past winter in Gilead, how when Tate admitted to love, it would mean he’d committed for life. Unlike Bryce, who fell in and out of love like a yo-yo on the end of a string.

“Did you miss the part where you left Jamie with a near stranger?”

Tate sighed. “And I’ll do it again. I’ve hired her to be Jamie’s nanny. I’d figured on easing back into things at the office in Chicago and continuing to work from home, but I don’t think I can trust a toddler loose on an entire ranch. An apartment was a worrisome enough thought.”

“You hired her?” Maxwell’s eyebrows shot up.

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