When he sat on the horse, old memories and emotions hit him. He’d loved this horse, but first medical school then moving to New York had kept him away.
But really what had kept him away had been much more than physical location and distance.
His father’s disapproval had been what had driven him away.
In silence, he and his brother rode out across the fields, riding toward nowhere in particular, yet neither was surprised when they stopped at a pond where they’d often ridden out to, fished and played at as kids.
Although the air was brisk, the sun was shining and light glimmered across the water’s surface.
“You wanna talk about it?” Harry asked when they’d both dismounted and stood next to the pond just as they’d done hundreds of times in the past. They’d swum in this pond, played in this pond, camped at this pond.
Removing his gloves, Ty picked up a rock, skipped it over the water. One. Two. Three. Sink. He found another flat stone, tossed it toward the water. “Ellie’s pregnant.”
“Yeah, I heard.” Harry bent and studied the ground until he found a rock that suited him. “My wife isn’t known for her discretion, God love her.”
Ty shrugged. “Mom already knew.”
“Mom has this way of already knowing everything.” Harry gave his stone a fling and it skipped farther out than Ty’s had gone. “So, what are you going to do? You going to marry her?”
“I’m not sure.” He wasn’t even sure that if he wanted to get married whether Ellie would marry him. She didn’t need some man complicating her life. Not that he hadn’t already complicated her life enough by getting her pregnant. “Her father will likely get out his shotgun when he finds out.”
“His proverbial one, maybe,” Harry agreed. “I may not know Senator Aston, but I do know of him. Shooting you would cost him too many votes, so I think you’re safe.”
Despite his brother’s teasing tone, Ty didn’t smile. “She deserves better than me. A lot better.”
Harry stopped in midsearch for another stone, looked up at him and frowned. “Because she’s an Aston?”
“Because she’s Ellie.” Which summed up everything. He couldn’t care less that she was an Aston. What he cared about was the woman herself. He cared about Ellie.
Straightening, Harry seemed to consider his answer. “She could do worse.”
“Yeah.” Ty gave the stone he’d been holding a hard fling. “She could have ended up with you.”
Harry grinned. “Nah, Nita wouldn’t have been happy ‘bout that. I’m a taken man.” His brother hit his shoulder. “It’s not so bad, you know. Having a kid, being married. You might like it.”
“This coming from the man who still lives with his parents.” Ty could have bitten his tongue off the moment the words had left his mouth.
Harry’s face paled, then his cheeks splotched red, and not from the cold.
“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
“Sure you did,” his brother countered, cramming his hands into his jacket pockets. “In some ways, you’re right. I do live in that big house with Mom and Dad, because you know what? I love it there. I love having my wife and child grow up on this ranch, because I love it here. I love Swallow Creek, the Triple D, and there’s no place on earth I’d rather be than right here with my family.”
Ty didn’t say anything. He figured he’d already said too much.
“But that life isn’t for you,” his brother surprised him by saying. “The ranch has never been in your blood the way it has in Dad’s and mine. William’s, too, actually. But living on this ranch isn’t what I was referring to. I was talking about having a family, a place where you belong.”
That Ty understood. “I belong at the Angel Mendez Children’s Hospital.”
“Really?” Harry’s brows formed a V and he sank down on a fallen log, picked at a piece of loose moss before glancing up and meeting Ty’s gaze. “That’s enough? Your career?”
“It always has been.”
“Before Ellie.”
Before Ellie. The words seemed to echo across the plains, strumming louder and louder in Ty’s head.
“She’s a part of Angel’s,” he said slowly, wondering why the words wouldn’t quit sounding through his mind. Before Ellie.