Page 44 of Boston (Coral Canyon: Cowboys #12)

“Are you kidding me right now?” he asked. “I am so the fun one.” He had to be something besides “the tall one.”

“I thought I was the fun uncle,” Blaze deadpanned.

Cora shook Otis’s hand. “I’m Cora.”

Boston grinned and grinned. “Blaze is the dark horse,” he said. “Trace is the silent observer. Otis is definitely the fun one, and Uncle Tex…fine, he’s pretty fun too. It’s a rotating title, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Blaze said as Tex started to help Denzel into the wheelchair. “Because your daddy is pretty fun, too. I mean, my kids beg to go over to your house.”

“My daddy is not an uncle to me,” Boston said as the group of them started across the park again. “Uncle Jem is pretty fun sometimes.”

Blaze scoffed again. “Yeah, he’s a barrel of monkeys.”

Tex could hear the bopping of balloons from at least a hundred yards away, and he looked down the line of his brothers.

“Who has a knife besides Morris?” Trace asked, his voice laced with menace.

“What is that sound?” Boston asked.

Tex laughed then, and what he’d thought was a good idea in the beginning morphed into a nightmare the closer to the red umbrella he pushed Denzel.

“I don’t have a knife, but I’ve got keys,” Blaze said.

The scene opened up before them, and Tex found his father in an oversized camp chair, a bright, wide smile on his face as he watched his grandchildren run around and play with balloons.

He held two-year-old Ridge on one knee and a can of Diet Coke in his right hand, and he seemed to be living his best life. That made Tex’s heart happy, though the bopping balloons definitely had to stop, and soon.

He positioned Denzel next to Wade, who reached over and held out his fist for Denzel to bump. He did, and Tex figured at least they had each other. Scout settled into the shade, and Tex said, “I’ll go get him some water.”

“Thank you, Tex.” Denzel met his eye and nodded. “Yeah, thank you.”

“Anytime,” he said easily, and he scanned for Abby, Cheryl, and Georgia as he went to get some cold water for Scout.

Jem and Sunny had arrived while Tex had been gone helping Denzel, and he caught sight of Cole introducing Rachel to Grams at the food table. He finally spotted Abby, Dani, Sterling, Georgia, and Cheryl on a blanket about thirty yards away, under a tree they’d expanded to last year.

He’d no sooner delivered the red plastic cup and cold bottle of water to Denzel when someone else called, “Howdy-ho, Tex.”

He turned toward the cowboy voice and found Graham, Laney, and Bailey walking toward him. Love and appreciation zipped through him, and he jogged over to the three of them. They’d become so important in his life, and he laughed as he hugged the trio simultaneously.

“You’re here.” He grinned at Bailey as he stepped back.

“Through next Saturday,” she said, giving him a grin too.

“Heya, Uncle Tex,” OJ said as he jogged up.

Tex’s heart only had more and more room for that kid, and he pulled OJ into a hug. “Where you been, huh?”

Bailey smiled at him as he came to her side. “He saw a friend as we walked by.”

“It was Billy Finley,” OJ said. “And he has a new snake, Uncle Tex, and he lets it out into the garden to find mice and stuff.”

Tex grinned at OJ. “Are there a lot of mice in a garden?”

“Or the barn or whatever,” OJ said.

“What kind of snake is it?” Bailey asked.

OJ turned his bright eyes on her, and oh, Tex saw so much of his son’s curiosity and excitement there. “You’ve done it now,” he said with a chuckle.

Bailey looked over OJ’s head as he started chattering excitedly about the different types of snakes and what they ate. “I did, right?” Still, she listened to him, even nodding along as OJ talked a mile a second.

Tex managed to extract himself before OJ got to pythons, which he was fairly certain no one in Coral Canyon owned, and he headed across the lawn to where his wife sat. She saw him coming, and he swore she put a cookie in her mouth before she got up and came to meet him.

“Are you eating cookies?”

Abby grinned at him as she finished chewing and swallowed. “Cheryl has a bunch in her bag.”

Tex chuckled as he wrapped his arms around his wife. “I’m pretty sure those are meant to placate children.”

“Yeah, right now, they’re placating all of us.” She gazed up at him. “She said she asked you to pay for Wade’s prosthetics.”

“Yeah.” Tex nodded. “Yep, I said I would—I brought it up.” He smiled over to Wes and Gray Hammond, noting that their adult children had come with them this year. They set up on the outskirts of the group, and he raised his hand in greeting to Cord, Gray’s son-in-law, who loved Country Quad.

“I’m sure it’s not a problem, right?” He looked down at Abby, who wore worry between her eyes.

“I’m going to go talk to my brother,” she said.

“Be nice to him,” Tex said, which caused Abby to turn back to him.

Her eyes fired just like Pippa’s did when he didn’t unlock the door fast enough. “I’ll be nice.”

“Baby.” Tex moved into her and took her hand, then forced his step to slow down. “You don’t get what it’s like to be a man, okay?”

“Thank goodness,” she said dryly.

“I mean it, Abs.” Tex forced her to stop. “Wade already feels like a failure. I know you don’t get why, but I do. He’s not going to spend his money on himself; hardly any man does.”

Thankfully, Abby had stopped, and she frowned, seemingly listening to him.

“He spends it on Cheryl and the kids,” Tex said. “And yes, Cheryl loves him to bits and pieces, even when she’s mad at him. But she also doesn’t understand what it’s like to be him; to be unable to protect and care for his wife and kids the way he really wants to.”

“So I need to help him see he has worth, even though he can’t pay for the prosthetics.”

Tex beamed at her. “Men struggle with their worth more than you might think.” He glanced over to where Denzel, Wade, and Daddy sat in a row. “Especially when they’re strong, talented, and perfectly sound in mind, and just have a body that they feel like has betrayed them.”

Abby followed his gaze over to the shady spot where they’d camped out. “We just want them to know how much we love them.”

“And they want to show you that they can take care of you.” He raised his eyebrows when she looked at him. “So make it about how, if he has better prosthetics, he’ll be able to do what he wants to do.”

She nodded. “Okay, I’ll do my best.”

“Daddy,” Carver said, running over to them. “Boston said he’d take us over to the candy market. Can I go?”

Tex found the young man holding hands with Cora, both of them smiling at the kids gathering around them. “I think they might need reinforcements.”

Abby patted his chest, grinning. “Good luck with that, baby.”

“Daddy,” Carver said, a definite hint of a whine in his voice now. “They’re leaving.”

“Well, then you better hurry up and go with ‘em.”

Carver cheered and galloped over to the group, and relief filled Tex when he saw Mav, Cash, and Rosie all queuing up to go with Boston and Cora.

“Hey, Uncle Tex,” Cole said, and he focused on his nephew.

“Hey, yourself.” He drew Cole into a hug, and clapped him on the back. “Introduce me, now.” He beamed at the blonde woman, and yes, she was pretty.

And, in Tex’s estimation, a lot older than Cole. He couldn’t help thinking about Bryce and Bailey, and his father-heart skipped a couple of beats.

“Rachel.” Cole grinned at her and took her hand as he settled back to her side. “This is my uncle Tex. He’s the one with the recording studio in his backyard, and he throws the best parties. He’s what I call the smart uncle.”

Tex grinned and grinned, because while smart wasn’t fun , it was a heckuva a lot better than tall . “It’s great to meet you.”

Rachel put her hand in his and shook it. “I think you know my daddy. Wyatt Walker?”

“Oh, sure,” Tex said, all the dots connecting now. “I just didn’t realize the relation.”

“Tex is the best,” Cole said. “He knows everyone, and everyone knows him.”

He nodded over to where Blaze and Jem had settled near Denzel. “Blaze and Jem know Wyatt too. They rode in the rodeo.”

“Yeah, we met them.” Rachel smiled, and she moved away with Cole.

He watched them settle into a couple of chairs, staying off the blankets where all the kids would be.

He leaned over and whispered something to her that made her blush, and then he straightened up tall when Sunny sat beside him and gave him a pointed look.

She too leaned closer and said something, to which Cole nodded and nodded and nodded, and then Sunny got up and headed over to Jem.

She leaned down and said something to her husband, and Jem shot a look over to Cole, then smiled at his wife as she went to sit with the little-littles who hadn’t gone to the candy market.

Tex took in the enormity of their space, at the triplets still trying to bop their balloons, and the way the wives sat together, and how his Momma still hovered at the food table.

Sighing, Tex joined her, and he threw his arm around her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Thanks for doing this every year, Momma,” he said. “It’s so fun to have everyone together, even if it’s only one day a year and only for a few hours.”

“And it seems like everyone’s crying, fighting, or scowling at one another?” Momma smiled up and him, and Tex released a laugh.

“Yeah, even then.” He moved a chair over beside his dad and sat down. “Hey, Daddy.”

“Tex.” Daddy reached over and patted Tex’s arm. “It’s good to see you, son.”

“It’s good to see you too, Daddy. You’re lookin’ good.”

Ridge looked at him with wide eyes, recognition lighting his face. “Teh, Teh.”

“Hey, buddy.” He reached over and took the little boy from his father, who seemed grateful for the release.

“Teh-teh-teh-teh,” Ridge babbled, and Tex closed his eyes and thanked the Good Lord Above for an amazing family, and a large circle of friends who cared enough about each other to argue, make up, ask for help, and offer it.

Every one of his brothers carried something here today, but the important thing was that they’d come anyway. He’d come anyway, and he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else—even if he did sometimes just want to stay home and go to bed early.