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“They’re Remingtons,” my mother insisted. “Montana is in their blood.”

“Cole said they’re going to breed horses,” I informed them. “And they have a bunch of other business interests around the world. Their tech company just happened to be their biggest one.”

“I hope they’ve gotten a little friendlier,” Kaleb said wryly. “I’ve reached out to Asher, but he never returned my calls.”

“Don’t count on it,” I warned. “I have a feeling they’re coming back to figure out who killed their father. I’m not sure why they care because they weren’t convicted of the crime, and I’m not sure they even liked the asshole.”

“Devon,” my mother said in a scolding voice.

I held up a hand. “Okay, I’m sorry for cursing, but you know it’s true.”

My mother shook her head. “I’m going to welcome them with open arms. They are my nephews. Your father felt horrible because there was nothing he could do for them, but they swore they weren’t being neglected. There wasn’t much he could do. I think he’d want me to welcome them back as adults. He’d be happy they were back. He’d want them to be part of our family.”

“Just don’t get your hopes up,” Kaleb warned. “They may not want to be part of the family.”

“Well, I’ll still defend them,” Mom said stubbornly. “I never thought they killed your uncle, and I don’t believe it now. I don’t think it’s fair that people call them the black-sheep Remingtons. It bothers me. Those two boys did nothing wrong.”

Kaleb rubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t think any of us believe that they killed our uncle, but it’s going to be hard for them to prove who did after all these years. If they couldn’t solve the crime years ago, I doubt it’s going to be solved now.”

“Did Cole say when they’re making their move?” my mother asked.

“He never really said,” I admitted. “He’s not the kind of guy who overshares anything or explains anything he does, but I’m thinking it will be before winter.”

“Everything looks ready there,” Mom said excitedly. “Even the barns.”

Kaleb shot me a concerned look, and I understood exactly why he was worried.

Mom did have her hopes up that we’d all become one big, happy, Remington family someday, but that was highly unlikely.

It was going to be heartbreaking for her when she realized that our cousins didn’t give a damn about being family.

Cole was cordial at best, and I was pretty sure that Asher held more than a little animosity toward the rest of the family.

Both of them were known to be ice-cold, both in their business dealings and in their personal lives.

Cole might be distant and cool with my mother, but I doubted he’d outright snub her.

Asher had a reputation for being an ornery and unpleasant guy, and I doubted that he’d feel the least bit remorseful about blowing my mother off and hurting her feelings.

Neither one of them were going to be neighborly, and that would end up pissing off both myself and my brothers.

Mom had been through a lot with the loss of my dad, and she was getting older.

We were all protective of her, and it would be trouble if they hurt her in any way.

That’s why I’d tried to reach out to Cole more.

I’d wanted to see for myself if he was as big of an asshole as he was rumored to be.

Unfortunately, he was pretty unreadable and distant, so I couldn’t be sure if the rumors about him were true.

Hell, people thought my brothers and I were sharks.

We were when it came to business.

But we gave a damn about our family.

My mother moved to the fridge, and I leaned closer to Kaleb.