Page 37 of Calder Strong (The Calder Brand #5)
“It’s a good time.” Mason extended his hand. Joseph accepted the handshake, his gaze meeting the green eyes that were so like his own. This man was his father. But Joseph would always be the son of Blake Dollarhide.
“Daddy, who is this man?” The child tugged at Mason’s free hand. She was a lively little thing with coppery curls and a spill of freckles across her nose. Her eyes were as green as Joseph’s.
Good Lord, she’s my little sister . Joseph’s knees weakened as the realization struck him.
The child looked nothing like a Dollarhide.
She appeared to be made in the image of Mason’s red-headed, strong-willed mother, Amelia Hollister.
The child would be Lucas’s aunt. But why was he wasting thoughts on his disconnected kin? He had no claim on them.
“Who is he, Daddy?” the little girl demanded again.
Mason gave her a smile. “This is Joseph, Grace. He’s a friend who’s come to visit us. Say hello to him.”
“Hello.” With no trace of shyness, Grace held out her small hand.
“Hello, Grace.” Emotions surged in Joseph as his palm enclosed her fingers. Maybe he should have stayed away. He wasn’t prepared for what he was feeling.
His father. His stepmother. His half-sister. Family .
“Let’s go back to the house, Grace.” Ruby beckoned her daughter to her side. “You can help make some lemonade to go with the cookies we baked this morning.”
Hand in hand, the two of them headed up the path, Grace dancing with each step. Joseph watched them go. “I don’t have to tell you who she reminds me of,” he said to Mason.
“My mother was a hellion,” Mason said. “She took over the ranch when her father died and ran it for years. She even outfoxed both Benteen Calder and Joe Dollarhide to buy the parcel that almost doubled the ranch’s size.
Time will tell whether Grace inherited her determination as well as her looks.
” Mason released the horse and turned it into the paddock. “Let’s walk,” he said.
Joseph fell into step beside him, their strides matching as they walked along the paddock fence. The silence between them was awkward but not as uncomfortable as Joseph had feared it might be.
“You’ve got the ranch looking good,” Joseph said.
“Thanks. My mother had to let things go in her later years, when I should have been here for her. Getting the place back into shape has taken a lot of work, as much for Ruby as for me.
Mason paused to watch a pair of leggy spring colts romp across the paddock. “I’ve been hoping you’d come, and I couldn’t be more pleased to see you. But what made you choose today? Is something going on?”
“Not really. It was just a day when the house felt too big and empty. Nobody to talk to except my grandpa’s picture.
” Joseph gazed out across the pastures to the distant hills.
“This might sound strange to you, but I had a premonition that there could be hard times ahead. If they come, I don’t want to face them alone.
We’ll be stronger as one family—you, me, Kristin, and our people. Does that sound crazy to you?”
Mason shook his head. “When I was in prison, I did a lot of reading—newspapers, magazines, books on history and economics. I kept it up after I got back here, and I’ve figured out some things.
It’s like the country’s on this carnival wheel, going faster and faster.
Stocks climbing, more and more people investing, banks overextending credit, surplus grain that nobody wants …
It’s complicated as hell, but if that wheel keeps spinning, things are going to start flying off.
Pretty soon, the country will be in the worst depression you ever saw—banks closing, people losing their savings and jobs.
It won’t be a pretty situation, not even for you and me, with nobody buying beef or lumber. ”
“You really think it’ll be that bad?”
“We can always hope it won’t be. But I’d say if you’ve got money in the stock market or even the bank, don’t wait too long to get it out.
And yes, you’re right about the family needing to stick together.
Right now, I’m just grateful to have this ranch, a good woman by my side, and a daughter who makes me smile.
After the things I’ve done, it’s more than I deserve. ”
“I have a son,” Joseph said.
Mason didn’t reply. He began walking again. Joseph fell into step.
“I was nineteen when I got his mother pregnant. She married another man without telling me. I just found out. The boy’s name is Lucas.”
Mason cleared his throat. “You didn’t ask me for advice. But leaving your mother to marry Blake was the only good thing I ever did for you. My brother was a far better father than I would have been. And you turned out fine. All you can do is hope the same for your boy. You’ve got no claim on him.”
“That’s the problem,” Joseph said. “Annabeth’s husband is a brute. They’re dirt poor, he hits her, and he’s liable to get arrested any day for moonshining. She won’t leave him because he’s threatened to take her children away.”
“Children?”
“Lucas and a little girl. They’re her world. He doesn’t care about them—he even calls Lucas a bastard—but he uses them to control her.”
Mason shook his head. “It sounds like you’re already involved with them.”
“I didn’t plan it that way, but yes. She’s even given me a handwritten will, asking that I take her children if anything happens to her. It’s almost as if she’s afraid he’s going to kill her.”
Mason stopped walking and turned to fix Joseph with a piercing look.
“Listen to me and listen good. Your situation has all the elements of a tragedy in the making. Take my word for it, Joseph. Give the will to a lawyer. Then back off as far and as fast as you can. I know you care about the woman and your boy. But there’s nothing you can do without making things more difficult for them.
“If Annabeth decides to leave her marriage, that’s on her. But you need to walk away now. If you continue to meddle, I can almost guarantee you one thing. Somebody is going to die.”