style="font-size:15px;"> Alex smiled in that easy way the rest of them could never seem to manage. “You didn’t seem particularly thrilled to see me, Finn. Don’t try to act like I’m the cranky ass in the group.”
“There,” Finn said, forcing a smile. “I’m glad to see you.” He realized, as soon as he said it, that it was strangely true.
“You’re only saying that because if I wasn’t here it would be because I was dead or incapacitated in some way.”
“No, I’m glad to see you because you’re about the only one of us that knows how to defuse tension rather than adding to it.”
Alex shrugged. “We all have our gifts.” He looked around the room, the slow and thorough evaluation offering a slight glimpse of the intensity that lurked beneath Alex’s easygoing surface.
For all that he was the laid-back brother in the Donnelly clan, he was still a soldier.
“Is Cain around?” Alex asked.
“Somewhere. Look for the storm cloud and you’ll find him somewhere underneath it. Unless of course you find Violet underneath it.”
He’d had limited interaction with his teenage niece since her arrival, since her face had mostly been glued to her phone. But the better part of it had consisted of single-word sentences. Mostly, she’d been holed up in her room.
“What does she have to be stormy about? She’s just a kid.”
“A teenager.”
Alex swore. “I have been out of touch for too long. So, what’s happening? Are you having a lawyer read us the will, or...?”
“Not necessary. You all have a copy of the will. We just need to discuss what’s going to happen. We all inherited an equal share of the ranch. But I’m willing to offer a monetary payout.” He stared at his brother with purpose behind his gaze. “You don’t have to stay here.”
“I don’t have anywhere else to be,” Alex said.
There was something slightly haunted in his eyes then, but Finn wasn’t going to ask about it. That just wasn’t the Donnelly way.
There was another knock on the door and Finn knew exactly who that would be. “I guess the gang’s all here,” he said drily.
He walked back to the entry, jerking it open. Sure enough, there stood Liam, looking a whole lot like Alex. But where Alex smiled easily, Liam did not. His bags were down at his feet, his tattooed forearms crossed over his chest, his mouth pressed into a grim line. “Hey,” he said.
“Come in,” Finn returned.
Liam picked up his bags and walked inside before dumping them on the floor again. Alex came out of the kitchen and the two brothers acknowledged each other with a single head nod.
“Well,” came a gruff voice from the top of the stairs, “this is a helluva reunion.”
Cain chose that moment to walk in, his footsteps heavy.
“We’re all here,” Liam said, “I guess we can get down to business.”
Finn was never more conscious of the dysfunction of the Donnelly clan than when they were all standing in one room. There was—at any given moment—both a disconnect and a connection between all of them.
Brothers. Strangers. Both of those descriptions were true.
By the time the brothers had settled in the expansive seating area it was dark outside, the interior lights reflecting off of the floor-to-ceiling windows. Liam and Alex were sitting on the couch, at opposite ends. Cain was seated in a chair, one leg flung out in front of him and his hands in his lap.
Finn remained standing, taking the folded-up will out of his pocket and holding it out. “Was anybody confused about these terms?”
“Seems straightforward to me,” Liam said.
“We’re all beneficiaries. And I’m the executor. That means it’s my job to make sure that everybody gets what they’re supposed to. And of course, if you have any objections to the way I’m handling it, you’re welcome to talk to Grandpa’s lawyer.”
“Does Copper Ridge have a lawyer?” Cain asked.
“Sure, but I’m pretty sure he works at the local general store and also does weddings, funerals and burials,” Finn said.
“I can’t tell if you’re joking,” Liam said.
Finn just shrugged. “I’ll give you his number if you have a problem. That’s all you need to know. Anyway. After I received the will I got the property evaluated. I’m willing to buy all of you out. With projected appreciation up to five years. It’s a good offer.”
“You have that kind of money?” Alex asked. “I have my doubts about that.”
“I’ll have to get a loan for some of it, but that’s not really your problem. I can’t imagine you guys want to be here. I give you the money and you can go do whatever you want.”
“We’re all here,” Cain said, looking around the room. “Do you think the issue is I don’t have my own money? I do. I don’t get why you think you get to pull rank here.”
“Really?” Finn asked. “You don’t get it at all?”
“We’re all blood, Finn,” Cain responded. “We want what’s ours. So what is it you want?”
“I want control of the ranch. The Laughing Irish is mine. I’ve spent the past eighteen years working my knuckles bloody on this place. And where were you?”
“Serving my country,” Alex said, crossing his arms.
“Raising a kid,” Cain said, shifting his position.
“Pissing into the wind,” Liam added, because he was never going to give a sincere answer.
Finn gripped his elbows, then realized they were all glaring and crossing their arms. He lowered them quickly to his sides. “Well, you’re all welcome to keep doing that.”
“I’m out,” Alex said. “Of the military. And I’m not planning on reenlisting. I don’t have anything else, anywhere else.”
“You aren’t reenlisting? Is there a reason for that?” Finn asked. His brother had been in the army for more than a decade. Finn could hardly imagine him doing anything else.
“Nothing I want to talk about right now. Right now, we’re talking about the ranch. I don’t want money. I don’t need money. I’ve got pay from the army for my service as a veteran of a foreign war. But I need something to do. And this ranch is something to do.”
Something to do? His life’s work was something for Alex to do.
He had honestly never considered his brothers would want to stay in Oregon and work on a dairy farm when there was money on offer. This wasn’t a glamorous life. And as far as Finn was concerned, teamwork wasn’t the road to happiness.
