“If you want me to.”
“I’ll always want you to.” I held out a hand to help her off the bed, ready to get started on spending the rest of our lives together.
9
DEVYN
Henry and Graham spent the afternoon with me at the farm. We fed and watered the animals together, then watched Shirley come back to life thanks to the brace Henry made. She was like a totally different bird now that she could move around again.
We were having such a good time together, I’d forgotten all about Duke stopping by. As soon as I heard tires crunching on the gravel, my gut twisted. I knew it was him. I also knew I’d have to talk to him about Henry at some point, but I wasn’t prepared to have the conversation this soon.
I was introducing Graham to Swinderella, our giant sow, when Duke arrived. Henry could immediately tell something was wrong.
“Are you expecting someone?” He was by my side in an instant.
“It’s Duke. I forgot he and Sariah were going to stop by this afternoon since they’ve been in town doing wedding research.” My hands shook as I ran my palm over Swinderella’s back.
Henry wrapped his hand around mine. “I’ll talk to him. This is a conversation we should have had years ago.”
“I’m coming with you.” My brother had made it clear he didn’t want me to have anything to do with Henry. It was time I stood up to him. I’d been content to let him take the lead for most of my life, but I was all grown up now and could make my own decisions. Whatever happened between him and Henry didn’t need to affect me.
“Are you sure?” Henry’s forehead creased with concern.
“Positive. We’ll talk to him together.” I turned toward Graham. He didn’t need to witness the argument that was sure to happen between my brother and his dad. “Hey, Graham, there are some ice cream bars in the freezer up at the house. You want to go help yourself to one while your dad and I visit with my brother?”
Graham’s eyes lit up. He was the spitting image of his dad and already had me wrapped around his little finger. “Can I, Dad?”
“Just one, okay?” Henry ruffled his son’s hair and tightened his grip on my hand. “Ready for this?”
“Yep.” I infused my voice with the confidence I wished I felt.
“Dev? Where are you?” Duke called out, his voice echoing through the barn.
“Coming.” I stepped out of Swinderella’s pen with Henry by my side.
“What the fuck is this?” My brother jerked his baseball cap off his head and slapped it against his thigh.
“You remember Henry.” The steadiness of my voice surprised me. Inside, I was a nervous, jittery ball of nerves. “We met up at that award banquet last weekend, and he was kind enough to make a brace for one of the animals.”
Duke set his cap back on his head. “I told you to stay away from her.”
“What are you talking about?” My gaze bounced between the two men.
“Told you to keep your hands off my sister.” Duke charged, his fist connecting with Henry’s jaw.
“Stop!” I tried pulling my brother away. Sariah stood there, her hands over her mouth.
Henry put his hands up. “I don’t want to fight.”
“Good. That’ll make it easier to kick your ass.” Duke landed another blow.
“What the hell is going on?” I stepped between them to stop the fight. Duke had a tendency to overreact. If we could just talk, we’d be able to work things out. My brother’s next punch grazed my temple. I went down, landing on my back in the dirt.
“Devyn, are you okay?” Henry picked me up and pulled me to his side. He gently prodded the area around the spot where Duke had made contact.
“Shit. Hell, Dev. I didn’t mean to hit you.” Duke hovered close by.
“Just go.” My head throbbed, and my backside ached from landing on the hard dirt. “I know you didn’t mean it, but you’ve got to leave. We’ll talk about this later.”