Page 13 of River Legacy (Powder River #5)

O akley Stafford McKenna had just gotten off the phone with her brother Brand. She loved that Brand enjoyed relaying juicy news as much as she did.

Ryder had brought home a woman? That was shocking enough, but the woman was the daughter of the tycoon who’d been trying to buy the ranch?

“I’m going to pick up Tilly and go out to the ranch,” she called to her husband who had come in for a break from the construction work still being done on their house. It was almost finished, and she adored everything about it.

“Before you leave, we need to talk about your brother,” Pickett called back.

“Brand?” she asked in surprise as she walked into the kitchen still trying to get her earring on. Had her husband heard about Victoria Forester before she had and not mentioned it?

“Not Brand,” he said almost irritably, “CJ.”

“Oh.” She got the earring in and turned to face him. She’d known Pickett would be furious when he heard that CJ had been not just released from jail, but that the charges had been dropped after one of the witnesses had left the country and another had retracted his testimony.

“CJ is an attempted murderer,” her husband said with a curse. “You know your mother was behind getting him out. What was she thinking? CJ is dangerous, and now he’s running free?”

“He isn’t free. He’s on probation,” she said quickly. She would have loved to argue that her mother had nothing to do with getting rid of the two witnesses but saved her breath. Pickett knew Charlotte Stafford. CJ had always been her favorite offspring.

Pickett made a rude sound. “This has your mother’s fingerprints all over it. But I can’t believe she didn’t warn you about what she was planning to do.”

He wasn’t wrong. Oakley’s mother had come to her asking her to forgive and forget what CJ had done.

He’d shot her, claiming it was an accident, and when Oakley had tried to stop the drilling of another methane well on the ranch, he’d hired two men to do whatever they had to, to stop Oakley from interfering once and for all.

She hadn’t told Pickett, who would have gone through the roof at even the suggestion that she listen to her mother let alone forgive and forget. Nor did he know that Oakley had visited CJ in jail at her mother’s request.

She recalled the day at the jail when she’d watched CJ come in on the other side of the plexiglass and pick up the phone handset.

Oakley had hesitated to pick up hers on the partition that separated them.

A lot more had separated them their entire lives.

CJ had bullied his siblings, who eventually just made a point of staying clear of him—all except Oakley.

She’d always stood up to him, even when she got the worst of it. And suddenly she found herself in the middle. CJ behind bars and their mother wanting Oakley to forgive him when she’d almost died because of him.

CJ had looked nervous. He hadn’t expected her to come visit him. From his expression, he’d thought she’d come to the jail to tell him what she thought of him.

They’d been at each other’s throats since they were kids. True, he instigated it, but Oakley always held her own. She’d thought that sometimes he’d admired her for not being afraid of him when she should have been.

But then again, she was the reason he was locked up now.

“Mother asked me to come see you,” she’d said, making it clear it hadn’t been her idea.

“It’s good to see you. I heard you got married.”

Oakley had always been able to see right through his facade. Of course, that was why their mother had sent her to the jail. Charlotte Stafford wanted to believe CJ could change.

“What do you want me to say? I’m sorry for what I tried to do to you? I am. ”

“Sorry I’m alive or sorry you got caught?”

“Sorry I’ve been such a shitty brother.” He’d almost sounded truthful.

“Mother wants to believe that you’ve reached rock bottom and might now see the error of your ways,” she’d said, glaring at him.

“I think she’s deluding herself. You’re incapable of changing even if you seriously wanted to.

Oh, you’d say anything to get out of this.

But I know you, CJ. You’re rotten to the core.

If you get out of here, you’ll go back to your old ways in a heartbeat. No one will be safe from you.”

She’d seen that he was trying to keep his cool. She always could get under his skin.

“Then, why did you bother to come here?” he’d demanded.

“Because I had to look into your eyes to make sure.”

“And now you’re sure?” He’d held her gaze for a few moments before dragging it away. “You’re right. I’d do anything to get out of here, let alone not go to prison for years. Why wouldn’t I? But maybe I’m not all bad. Maybe there’s hope for me. Don’t you believe in second chances?”

He must have seen that she wasn’t buying it, because he’d continued. “How’s life with Pickett? I heard he’s building a house for the two of you.”

“You aren’t really interested in my life.”

“Heard Tilly’s pregnant. Do we know if it’s a boy or girl yet?”

“Stop it, CJ.”

“You think I don’t know that things have changed?

” he’d demanded. “Tilly’s married to a McKenna, and you’re practically married to one too.

Both of you will be living on the McKenna Ranch.

Brand and Ryder have taken over the family ranch.

Brand’s now with the daughter of Dixon Malone, mother’s murdered second husband?

I hear about all of it. Isn’t it possible that I wish I’d done things differently so I’m a part of it?

It’s like you’ve all written me off, forgotten about me as you all go on with your lives as if I never existed. ”

Oakley had smiled. “There’s the CJ I know. Poor you. If you’d gotten your way, I would be dead right now. You would have kept the feud going between the two families. It’s been a relief not having you around.” Her voice had broken with emotion. “You’re the family’s bad seed. You will never change.”

She’d seen the look on his face. He’d thought he was never getting out as she’d slammed down the phone and, without even a look back, walked out.

But her mother still wanted to believe that CJ could change, that being in jail all that time had put the fear of God in him.

“Your mother is delusional if she thinks CJ has changed,” Pickett said now.

“I’m worried about what he will do. CJ is dangerous when it comes to you.

I shouldn’t have to tell you that.” He didn’t.

She knew her brother better than anyone.

Anyone except her mother. Not to mention Pickett had been the one who’d saved her life that night when CJ’s hired thugs had almost killed her.

Charlotte desperately wanted to believe that a person could change, because she had finally for given her former lover Holden McKenna.

When they were both young, Holden had broken her heart.

While Oakley believed that her mother probably had forgiven Holden, Charlotte seemed to have forgotten her decades-long vendetta against him—a battle she’d dragged her and Holden’s families into.

“I know that look,” Pickett said, drawing Oakley into his arms. “The I want to believe CJ’s changed and to forgive and forget look.”

She smiled. She wasn’t about to do that. Nor did she trust that he’d changed—even though their mother apparently did. But then, CJ had always been her favorite.

“It doesn’t matter how I feel about CJ. I’m married to a handsome cowboy,” she said, snuggling up to him. “I’m living in this beautiful house you built for us and happier than I ever knew possible. I want to enjoy it. No conflict, no drama.”

After her last miscarriage, the doctor had told her that she needed to relax. Getting upset wasn’t helping. “Forget about conceiving for a while,” he’d suggested. “Find something you enjoy doing and throw yourself into that.”

She’d thrown herself into making her new house a home with the man she loved.

The doctor had been right. It had taken the stress off in the bedroom.

Instead of trying to conceive, she found she was enjoying the lovemaking more.

She’d convinced herself that they would have a child someday even if they had to adopt.

Pickett had assured her they would fill this new house with children even if he had to steal them from an orphanage.

“I don’t think we have orphanages anymore. Maybe you can steal a few from a foster care program,” she’d suggested, only partly joking.

He smiled at her now and gave her a kiss. “I just want to enjoy you too. But knowing that CJ’s out... I can’t help but worry about you.”

“We don’t have to see him. If our paths ever cross—”

“You’ll play nice,” he said as he let go of her. “And so will I. We want him to think that we’re not a danger to him. Otherwise...”

“Maybe all this time in jail waiting for his trial has taught him something,” she said, not believing a word of it.

Her husband scoffed at that.

She changed the subject. “I can’t wait to see Ryder and this woman he brought back from Billings. She’s the daughter of the developer who’s been trying to buy the Stafford Ranch.”

“That sounds suspiciously dangerous.”

“I’m going to get Tilly to go over there with me to check her out.” She didn’t mention that she’d been avoiding her very pregnant sister out of jealousy and felt guilty about it.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea to go to the Stafford Ranch right now?”

“It’s a great idea. You know Ryder. All my brother has thought about is running the ranch with Brand while Mother is gone. This is so out of character for him. He hardly ever dates. Now he’s brought a woman to the ranch. I have to find out what’s going on.”

He sighed. “Well, be careful if CJ is around. Or your mother for that matter.”

“Neither CJ nor my mother are staying at the ranch. She’s staying at the hotel in town. She got CJ an apartment in Miles City. Mother isn’t letting him back on the ranch.” At least for now.