Jarret and I dig into our food as Jake leads Conor out the back door. Through the window, I watch him kiss her. She moves to leave, and he pulls her back to kiss her again.
“How’s she doing?” I ask Jarret.
“She has good days and bad days, but the good far outweighs the bad.” He glances over his shoulder, watching as she leaves Jake standing on the porch. “He’s helped her a lot, Lorne. He gets her in a way no one else does.”
“I know.”
To think, Raina’s been through the same hell. Conor was raped by two men in one night. Raina was raped for two years. She might not see it that way, but it wasn’t consensual. John forced her by threatening her family.
Conor was abused by our dad, and Raina was abused by the other man who raised us. I’m indebted to Jake for helping my sister when I couldn’t. But is it my responsibility to help Raina? I can train her to shoot a gun and defend herself. Beyond that, I wouldn’t know where to begin.
The back door opens and shuts, and Jake returns to the table. “What’s wrong?”
I meet his eyes and look at Jarret to find him watching me.
“I didn’t fuck her.” I sit back and rub a hand against my thigh. “You know what your dad did to her.”
“Yeah.” Jake scowls at his plate. “She filled in the blanks last night. Her sister…” His jaw clenches. “That’s fucking brutal.”
“Then you understand what she’s dealing with.”
Jake nods. “I support whatever you decide to do with her and John Holsten.”
“Same,” Jarret says.
A weight I didn’t know I was carrying falls off my shoulders. “Where are my guns?”
“Locked up in my safe,” Jarret says. “You remember the combination?”
“Yeah.”
My attention drifts back to Conor, and a sudden gnawing urge tugs at me to run after her.
I move before my brain forms the words I want to say. I stride out of the house, off the back porch, and cross the field with quick, determined strides.
In the distance, her red hair gleams in the sunlight, flickering like the flames in my soul that are reserved only for her.
“Conor!” I quicken my gait until she pivots a few feet away.
As her green eyes search mine, affection and love glistens along her lower lashes.
Our relationship has taken some significant hits, but we’ll never stop fighting for this bond between us. If there’s one thing I can count on, it’s the certainty that none of us will ever allow our family to disintegrate into a dysfunctional mess.
“I’m sorry.” In two long strides, I erase the gap, with my hands twitching at my sides. “I’m sorry for abandoning you and leaving you with Dalton and being such an anti-social dick the past few—”
She throws herself into my arms and buries her face in my neck. “You’re forgiven a thousand times over. God, I missed you, Lorne. It’s just good to have you home again.”
When she leans back, her smile penetrates my insides and soothes my blood. Her happiness forms a sphere of energy around her, radiating outward, like a tiny world of its own.
“Conor, listen.” I rest a hand against her face. “I don’t know when I’ll get back to the way things were, if it’ll be tomorrow or next week, or if I’ll ever be the person you remember. Sometimes, it feels like I’m starting over.”
“It’s okay. Starting over is good. As long as you do it with us.”
I close my eyes and absorb her positivity, letting it recharge my neurons until they rekindle and spark.
“I love you,” she says, drawing my gaze to hers. “Dammit, Lorne. I just… I really missed my big brother.”
“I love you, too.” I pull her against me and kiss her hair. “More than you know.”
“What can I do to help you?”
I don’t know.
“I need time.” I grip the back of her head and put my face in hers. “No matter what, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll never abandon you again.”
“I know.” Her eyes brim with tears, her smile glowing with trust.
“Go on.” I release her and step back. “My brilliant sister is a big fancy doctor now, and she has critters to save.”
“That’s right.” She walks backward. “I’m the smartest one in the family.”
“Let’s not get carried away.”
She flips me off, grinning, and turns back to the trail. I watch her go until she vanishes beyond the hill. Then I return to the kitchen, where Jarret and Jake are discussing ranch business.
After breakfast, we clear the dishes. The guys head to the field, and I make my way to the suite that now belongs to me.
Raina sits on the bed, surrounded by denim and armed with a pair of scissors.
“Are you going to stab me with those?” I step into the room and close the door.
“We’ll see how my training goes.”