The instant he heard the words, Quint felt all sick and scared inside. It was his grandfather, that big, tall man who had always seemed so rock-solid and strong. He had been hurt.
“He’s all right, isn’t he?” his mother rushed the words, then never gave his father a chance to answer. “We’d better call and have the plane fueled so we can take off as soon as the storm lifts.”
“Cat.” The name was spoken with firm command, and something died inside Quint. He didn’t even notice Trey making like a monster, teeth bared and fingers curled in menace as he stalked his pirouetting sister. “It’s no use. He was killed on impact.”
Not wanting to hear any more, Quint swung blindly away from the den. It felt like there was a hand at his throat, choking off his air while not letting a single sound escape. In a kind of trance he moved toward the living room, barely aware of Trey racing to get there ahead of him while Laura skipped alongside him, blond curls bouncing.
He threw himself onto the sofa, slumping in a heap, conscious of the tears welling in his eyes and the awful pain in his chest. Trey clambered onto the cushion beside him and bounced on his knees.
“Come on, Quint. Let’s play,” Trey urged with growing impatience.
“No.” His voice sounded strangled to his own ears.
Trey pushed his face close to Quint’s and peered intently at him. “Are you crying?” he said in disbelief.
Laura tipped her head to one side. “Did you hurt yourself?”
“No.” Quint worked to recover his speech. “It’s Grandpa. He died.”
Laura immediately propped her hands on her hips and declared with exaggerated scorn, “He’s not dead. He’s in Texas.”
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Looking at the twins, he forgot his own pain and struggled to find a way to make them understand. “You’re right, Laura. He went to Texas. But he had an accident while he was there, and he died. Now he’s in heaven with your daddy.”
Her brown eyes grew big and dark, the brightness leaving them. “But Grampa said he’d come back.”
“When he told you that, he didn’t know he’d be in an accident,” Quint explained.
“He died and went to heaven like my daddy.” Laura spoke the words slowly as if trying to grasp the exact significance of them. “Does that mean he’s only gonna be a picture for me and Trey to look at?”
“That’s right.” But the thought that he would never see his grandfather again, never ride on roundups with him, never hear him tell the stories about the cattle drives, was beyond Quint’s imagination. His grandfather had always been there for him. Always.
“No!” Trey’s denial was instant and explosive. His mouth took on a mutinous set. “My grampa is not dead.”
“He is so, Trey,” Laura declared with great importance. “He’s up in heaven with Daddy.”
“He is not!”
“Is too!”
“Is not!”
As he listened to their war of wills, his own feelings of grief washed over him. Suddenly Quint didn’t know how to stop this battle of tempers. When his father appeared in the living room, he looked up with gratitude.
“All right, that’s enough shouting.” Logan broke up the pair.
Trey glared up at him, chin quivering in a mixture of rage and hurt. “I don’t care what she says—my grampa’s not dead!” With that, he raced for the stairs.
Logan threw a sharp, probing glance at Quint. Quint ducked his head, admitting, “I listened at the door.”
“I see.” Logan sat down at the sofa’s edge next to him and cupped his hand over the boy’s knee in silent comfort. “I’m sorry, Quint. I know how close you were to him and how much you are going to miss him. Anybody who knew him will—including me.”
The tears came in earnest. Quint tried to sniffle them back. “Why, Dad?” he murmured brokenly.
Logan curled a hand around the boy’s neck and pulled the nine-year-old into his arms. “I wish I knew.” He slid his fingers into the boy’s raven black hair, unconsciously ruffling it. “Your mother and I are going to fly down to Fort Worth in the morning.” He continued to talk in a calm, even voice while Quint sobbed against his shoulder. “We need to make arrangements to have his remains brought home for burial. While we’re gone, Jessy would like you to stay here and help her look after the twins. Can you do that?”
“I guess.”