A Real Cowboy Always Protects by Stephanie Rowe

Chapter Nine

"What do you mean,it doesn't look like Mickey Mouse?" Chase Stockton leaned over the table, grinning as his four-year-old, J.J., pointed to the pancake.

"Those aren't ears, Dad."

"I think they're ears. Mira?"

His wife looked over from the sink, where she was wiping the face of a little boy named Alexander they were fostering. "Of course it's Mickey Mouse. Your artistic skills are perfect."

"Sarcasm is beautiful on you, sweetheart," Chase said with a laugh. "Alexander. What do you think?"

Alexander pulled away from Mira, ran across the kitchen and climbed onto his lap, tucking his little feet under him. Alexander was almost six, but he was small for his age and much too quiet.

Chase and Mira had been fostering him for only two months, and they were making slow progress with him. The most success had come with the horses, reminding Chase so much of his own past and how horses had helped him. "It looks like a ghost," Alexander finally said.

J.J. burst out laughing. "See? Not Mickey Mouse."

Chase threw up his hands in mock despair as the little boys giggled. His heart seemed to swell with happiness as Mira smiled at him. He sometimes couldn't believe this was his life. Married. With two kids he loved with all his heart. He'd thought he'd be a bachelor forever. That had been his goal. What he wanted.

And now, life had become so much richer than he could ever even have imagined, before Mira came into his life and changed everything.

Six of his brothers and his sister had moved back to Rogue Valley. They had spouses, kids, and a big Sunday morning Stockton brunch that had become chaos, craziness, and family. In two hours, Chase's family room, patio, stable, and newly installed in-ground pool would be overflowing with Stocktons. Including his brood, it was seven Stockton siblings, seven spouses, and ten kids. No, twelve kids, because Alexander counted, as did Liam Eaton and his grandfather, Frank, who had moved in with his brother Ryder and his wife Zoey.

And yet, with all those people, there was always an emptiness, because of those who weren't there. Logan. Quintin. And Caleb, who no one had heard from in almost a decade.

"Chase." Mira's hand slid onto his shoulder, drawing his focus back to the present. "That's your Sunday morning expression of melancholy," she said gently. "You've done so much, bringing everyone back together."

He put his hand on hers and looked up at her. "It's not enough, sweetheart. Not until everyone is home."

"They don't have to come home to be family."

"I know." He did know. But he also knew that for the Stocktons, family was all they'd ever had as kids, when life had been so brutal. He needed his brothers home, but more importantly, he knew all too well it was the shadows of their past that were keeping the last three away.

Until those shadows were healed, none of them would ever be able to truly live.

And they all deserved to live.

At that moment, he heard a car door slam.

"They're here already!" J.J. leapt off his chair and raced for the front window. Alexander scrambled off and followed his foster brother.

Chase glanced at the clock, and then frowned at Mira. "Did anyone tell you they were coming early?"

"No." She quickly wiped her hands off on a dish towel. "Why would anyone be two hours early? Maybe it's not the family."

"Or maybe something's wrong." Chase bolted to his feet and strode across the family room to the window that the boys were looking out of.

He frowned when he saw the truck. He didn't recognize it, but the truck was loaded with what looked like suitcases. "It’s not family," he called out. "I don't recognize the vehicle—" He froze when he saw Logan walk around the back of the truck.

He froze. Logan had brought luggage. Enough for an extended stay.

Disbelief kept Chase anchored to the spot as hope shot through him.

"It's Uncle Logan!" J.J. shouted, jumping up and down on the couch. "Uncle Logan's here!" He leapt off the couch and raced to the front door, trying unsuccessfully to pull the heavy door open.

Alexander stood quietly, watching. He'd never met Logan before, and Chase picked him up, settling him against his hip.

Mira came up beside him. "Logan has bags?"

"It looks that way. Do you think…?" He couldn't even say the words.

But his wife understood what he hadn't dared say, giving his hand a squeeze. "It's always possible. Who's the woman with him? Do you recognize her?"

"Woman?" At Mira's words, Chase dragged his stunned gaze off his brother long enough to notice a woman standing off to the side.

She was petite, with unruly blonde hair, and a curvy build. Her arms were folded across her chest, and she was periodically watching Logan and then scanning the ranch, as if she were trying to take it all in. "He brought a woman here? He's never mentioned a girlfriend. Or even a female friend. Ever." Any friend at all, for that matter.

As he spoke, Logan walked over to her.

She looked up at Logan, and he smiled at her.

Chase sucked in his breath at the expression on his brother's face. "Do you see that?"

"She means something to him," Mira said softly, her voice filled with excitement. "And look at the way she's watching him." Mira slid her hand into Chase's. "She can't take her gaze off him."

Holy shit. "You think he's brought her home? To stay?"

Mira squeezed his hand gently. "Chase, let them be as they are. Don't pressure them, or you could chase them away." She cocked an eyebrow at him. "I know it's tough for you, but try to be cool."

"I'm always cool."

Mira raised her eyebrows. "Cool isn't even in your vocabulary when it comes to your brothers. Other times? Yes, you're a total badass hottie. But when it comes to your brothers, you're all mush."

"I'm not mush."

"Mush."

Chase laughed softly and shifted Alexander to his left arm, so he could gather Mira against him with his right. "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"

Mira rested her head against his shoulder. "Not for at least ten minutes, but I can work with that."

"Dad!" J.J. was pulling on the door handle. "Open the door! I want to see Uncle Logan."

Logan and the woman were still talking in the driveway, standing intimately close to each other. Chase let out his breath. "Why aren't they coming to the door?"

"Who is that?" Alexander asked, his little arms wrapped tightly around Chase's neck.

"My brother, Logan," Chase said. "One who doesn't live in town." He looked at Mira. "Let's go find out what's going on."

She nodded. "Don't pressure him, Chase. You'll drive him away."

"I'll try." He tucked little Alexander more securely against his hip, then headed toward the door. He opened the door, and J.J. bolted out, running down the stairs and shouting for Logan.

His brother turned away from the woman and crouched down, opening his arms for J.J., who vaulted into them. As Logan picked him up, he met Chase's gaze.

Chase swore, reading Logan's expression immediately. All thoughts of trying to get Logan to move back fled from his mind, replaced with an instinct born of the childhood they all shared: a need to protect, a need to come together against the enemy, a need to make sure each and every one of the Stockton brothers survived yet another day.

"Something's wrong," he said to Mira. "Take Alexander. Something's really wrong."

He handed off his foster son, and almost sprinted down the front steps.