real deal.
“Don’t bullshit me either.”
“I met De one night in a club. I had no idea who she was beyond her first name.” He cleared his throat. “At the time, I didn’t care to know anything like that. Get the picture, mate?”
“And Big M?”
“M’s the best mate.” It was done now. No undoing the past. “I couldn’t bring myself to tell him I was the reason De wasn’t marrying him.” He stared his brother dead in the face. “Now you look me in the eye and tell me…if you’d been me, could you have?”
“I’d have wanted to…” Co rocked back on his heels. “I don’t know.” He didn’t know if Cohen would’ve been able to do it either. Hell his little brother had gone off to the university to please M. Co admired Miller as much as he did.
Ethan sighed. Christ, how he’d struggled over the decision. “Come on, mate. I want you to meet Nate.”
“Nathan? After dad?”
He nodded before giving Co’s shoulder a quick squeeze.
On the porch, his cell peeped, alerting him a message had been left. Stopping, he scanned the text. Shania Thorn Rose’s identity has been confirmed. Do you want the full file?
Oh, bugger me. He’d forgotten all about having the Yank checked out. “Listen, Co. I need to make a call. I’ll catch up, eh?”
“No problem.”
Fingers shaky, he dialed Miller’s number. His brother answered his cell on the second ring. “Yeah.”
“I wasn’t sure you’d answer.”
“I don’t have anything to fucking say to you, but if I’ve got service I always answer my phone.”
A breath shuddered through him. Time. All his brother needed was time. He’d keep telling himself that. “I just had Shania Thorn Rose’s identity confirmed.”
“Figures.” Miller snorted. “Considering the way my luck’s been running these days. Look, tomorrow evening, I’m going to sit Mum and Cohen down together and tell them about Shania.”
“All right, I’ll be there.”
Miller hung up then. Not a hooroo. Nothing. Just dead air. Ethan was half tempted to toss his phone in frustration.
Denae sipped her tea, watching Hayleigh drive away with Nate in the backseat. He was going home with his cousins while Cali took a nap. She laughed to herself, thankful she’d had a boy. God, Cali and Abbey were handfuls and then some. Three hours with Hayleigh and her daughters and Denae was exhausted.
What bad little influences they’d be on her son if they had Nate to play with every day. From her short observation, she wondered if discipline was in Cohen’s dictionary. What little sprites the girls were. She sighed. But out here in this wild land they suited it.
In the distance, Hayleigh stopped alongside an approaching truck.
Squinting, Denae couldn’t quite tell who the trunk belonged to. But after another minute or two, the vehicles parted ways. The truck made its way toward the house.
Her pulse sped up as the driver came into view. Miller . Had he come to visit with Ethan? On a wish, she crossed her fingers.
But instead, he slowed at the storage barn some distance away and maneuvered his rig to reverse the truck’s bed inside.
Inside the house behind her, she could hear Ethan carrying on with his cousins Aaron-Lee and Aaron-Matthew. The twins Lee and Matt didn’t appear to hold her relationship against Ethan. For that, she was thankful. He’d needed their company. Their support. She wished Cohen hadn’t had to get some work done. Several of Ethan’s cousins had yet to put in an appearance and she worried they wouldn’t.
Yet still, there went a man she owed a great deal to. And it was time she told him so.
She quickly drained her tea, then set the glass down. Not allowing herself to back out, she focused on the barn and put one foot in front of another.
Miller tossed a bale of hay into the back of the truck when she arrived. “G’day, Miller.”
“Denae.” Nothing showed on the man’s face. He didn’t even slow as he went to collect another
“Don’t bullshit me either.”
“I met De one night in a club. I had no idea who she was beyond her first name.” He cleared his throat. “At the time, I didn’t care to know anything like that. Get the picture, mate?”
“And Big M?”
“M’s the best mate.” It was done now. No undoing the past. “I couldn’t bring myself to tell him I was the reason De wasn’t marrying him.” He stared his brother dead in the face. “Now you look me in the eye and tell me…if you’d been me, could you have?”
“I’d have wanted to…” Co rocked back on his heels. “I don’t know.” He didn’t know if Cohen would’ve been able to do it either. Hell his little brother had gone off to the university to please M. Co admired Miller as much as he did.
Ethan sighed. Christ, how he’d struggled over the decision. “Come on, mate. I want you to meet Nate.”
“Nathan? After dad?”
He nodded before giving Co’s shoulder a quick squeeze.
On the porch, his cell peeped, alerting him a message had been left. Stopping, he scanned the text. Shania Thorn Rose’s identity has been confirmed. Do you want the full file?
Oh, bugger me. He’d forgotten all about having the Yank checked out. “Listen, Co. I need to make a call. I’ll catch up, eh?”
“No problem.”
Fingers shaky, he dialed Miller’s number. His brother answered his cell on the second ring. “Yeah.”
“I wasn’t sure you’d answer.”
“I don’t have anything to fucking say to you, but if I’ve got service I always answer my phone.”
A breath shuddered through him. Time. All his brother needed was time. He’d keep telling himself that. “I just had Shania Thorn Rose’s identity confirmed.”
“Figures.” Miller snorted. “Considering the way my luck’s been running these days. Look, tomorrow evening, I’m going to sit Mum and Cohen down together and tell them about Shania.”
“All right, I’ll be there.”
Miller hung up then. Not a hooroo. Nothing. Just dead air. Ethan was half tempted to toss his phone in frustration.
Denae sipped her tea, watching Hayleigh drive away with Nate in the backseat. He was going home with his cousins while Cali took a nap. She laughed to herself, thankful she’d had a boy. God, Cali and Abbey were handfuls and then some. Three hours with Hayleigh and her daughters and Denae was exhausted.
What bad little influences they’d be on her son if they had Nate to play with every day. From her short observation, she wondered if discipline was in Cohen’s dictionary. What little sprites the girls were. She sighed. But out here in this wild land they suited it.
In the distance, Hayleigh stopped alongside an approaching truck.
Squinting, Denae couldn’t quite tell who the trunk belonged to. But after another minute or two, the vehicles parted ways. The truck made its way toward the house.
Her pulse sped up as the driver came into view. Miller . Had he come to visit with Ethan? On a wish, she crossed her fingers.
But instead, he slowed at the storage barn some distance away and maneuvered his rig to reverse the truck’s bed inside.
Inside the house behind her, she could hear Ethan carrying on with his cousins Aaron-Lee and Aaron-Matthew. The twins Lee and Matt didn’t appear to hold her relationship against Ethan. For that, she was thankful. He’d needed their company. Their support. She wished Cohen hadn’t had to get some work done. Several of Ethan’s cousins had yet to put in an appearance and she worried they wouldn’t.
Yet still, there went a man she owed a great deal to. And it was time she told him so.
She quickly drained her tea, then set the glass down. Not allowing herself to back out, she focused on the barn and put one foot in front of another.
Miller tossed a bale of hay into the back of the truck when she arrived. “G’day, Miller.”
“Denae.” Nothing showed on the man’s face. He didn’t even slow as he went to collect another
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