Free Texas Hope: Sweetgrass Springs Stories (Texas Heroes Book 16) by Jean Brashear

Interfere? Wreak havoc?” Ian teased.
    Lacey laughed again. “She just loves all of us so much. Thus I’m not using those words, Ian.”
    “But you want to.”
    Another giggle. “She’s our Maddie…what can I say?”
    He had a thought. “What was it like for you? When Dev showed up and dropped the bombshell that you have family you had no idea existed?”
    A slight hesitation before she answered. “It was…cataclysmic. I completely lost my footing. My parents had never even told me I was adopted, you know.” Her voice went quiet. “And I wasn’t in the best of shape at the time. Plus I felt so betrayed by Dev.”
    “Why was that? You two are so crazy about each other.”
    “Oh, we are. He’s my world. But…we had a past. A very challenging one. Each of us had been lied to, and each of us believed ourselves abandoned by the other. Then here he shows up in my life again, and I’m falling right back in love…then he tells me I’m not who I thought I was.”
    Ian whistled. “And I thought my situation was complicated.”
    “You have a situation?”
    “Yeah. I tried to contact Dev to help me. Is there any way to get in touch right away? His phone went to voicemail.”
    “He’s with Connor.” Her voice was heavy with dread.
    Ian knew that Dev’s younger brother had returned from Afghanistan with problems, but that’s all he knew. “Oh. Never mind, then. I’ll deal with it myself.”
    “Would you want to talk?” She halted. “I don’t want to pry, but it sounds as if we might have something in common.”
    “Yeah. You might say that. I had a brother—or a guy who says he’s my half-brother—show up in Sweetgrass today.”
    “Wow.”
    “Yeah.”
    “I thought…”
    “That my mother was dead? So did I. My dad thought so, too. I haven’t seen her since I was not quite five.”
    “Oh, Ian…” Her voice was rich with sympathy. “You know Dev will want to help you. I’ll text him right now and get him to call you.”
    “No, don’t do that. His brother is more important. I’ll deal.”
    “What do you think of him, this new brother?”
    Wish to hell I knew . “He’s got some nerve, just showing up.” He exhaled heavily. “In truth, he comes across as reasonable.”
    “But you don’t want to know him?”
    “I don’t know. I mean, I always wished for more family, but…”
    “But what?”
    “I don’t want him upsetting my father. Dad really loved her. Instead, she left and he got stuck raising me alone. He never gave another woman a chance, best I can tell.”
    “Do you want to see her?”
    “No. I want nothing to do with her. She walked out on us when I was a little kid. Who does that?”
    “I can’t imagine it.”
    I cried every night for weeks , he wanted to say but never would. “I don’t want this. Not now, just when my dad had that stroke, and he doesn’t need more stress and—” He slammed a fist against the dashboard. “I’m sorry. This is not your problem.”
    “Ian, we love you, all of us. You do have more family—maybe too many of us.” There was a smile in her voice.
    It summoned a small one from him. “Thanks, Lacey. You all are the best. Even Maddie,” he added.
    “Maddie’s possibly the best of all of us, except you.”
    “Me?”
    “Everyone sees how you carry that whole town around on your shoulders. Sweetgrass would have dried up and blown away long ago, if not for you and Ruby.”
    He squirmed at the praise. “Not buying that—but I’ll tell you, there’s no chance of it dying now. Hell, yesterday Spike asked me if I’d try edamame. Then I figure out it’s just soybeans like you can find in a field.”
    Lacey’s warm laughter soothed him. “You do know that Maddie is why Spike is in Sweetgrass, right?”
    “What I know is that between the Goth girl pastry chef and Jackson’s geeks, this town will never be the same.”
    “Did you want it to be?”
    He sighed. “I guess not. But I am not trying sushi.”
    She smothered her laughter.