CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
ELAINE WAS WITH HOLDEN, along with his doctor, when the sheriff walked into the room. He saw Holden’s anxious face and was immediately waved forward.
“Tell me everything,” the rancher demanded.
Stuart didn’t know where to start since he was sure that Elaine had filled the rancher in on the high points. “Darius Reed burned down your house. It couldn’t be saved.”
“I don’t give a damn about the house. How is Holly Jo? I want to see her.”
“She is being held for observation here at the hospital.” He raised his hands quickly and hurried on. “For smoke inhalation. She’s fine. The doctor also wanted to check her over, given what she’s been through.”
“I need to see her,” Holden repeated and started to get out of the bed.
“You aren’t going anywhere yet,” the doctor said. “We’ll bring her to you just as soon as we can.”
The rancher growled at the doctor but lay back on the bed. Turning to the sheriff, he said, “Tell me about Darius Reed.”
“He’s dead.” Stuart thought about the figure he’d seen running out of the house in flames. “He was caught in the fire.” He cleared his throat and continued. “The ransom money was found in his pickup. I didn’t count it, but I suspect most of it is still in the briefcase.”
Holden waved that away. “He never wanted the money. He just wanted to destroy me.”
The sheriff hated to point out the obvious. “He almost killed you.”
“But he didn’t. So he burned down my house.” Holden waved that away, too. “I can build another house. I’m just worried about Holly Jo, what she’s been through because of me.”
“I’m sure she was traumatized, but from what I can see, she’s tough, like you,” Elaine said.
Stuart nodded. “Brand Stafford and Birdie Malone saved her life. If they hadn’t gotten to her when they did...”
The rancher frowned. “I need to see my son, too.”
“He’s also here at the hospital,” the sheriff said. “Darius hit him pretty hard when Brand was trying to free Holly Jo. She was tied up in the house. Brand has a concussion and smoke inhalation, but his doctor said he should be fine.”
Holden shook his head, his eyes suddenly filling with tears. He wiped hastily at them, clearly angry with himself for even that sign of weakness. “This is my fault. Every bit of it.”
“We’ve all made mistakes in our lives,” Elaine said.
He scoffed. “Not like me.”
“You might be surprised,” she said and rose from the chair where she’d been sitting beside his bed. “I’m going to see if Holly Jo is ready to come up and see you.” He nodded, his eyes filling again.
“I’ll leave you to get some rest,” Stuart said and left the room with Elaine. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. “I will be. This almost killed him.”
He looked over at her, realizing she wasn’t talking about the bullet wounds that had put him in the hospital.
HOLDEN COULDN’T WAIT to get out of this hospital bed. He had so much to repair and rebuild, the house the least of it. When his hospital room door opened, he wasn’t sure who would come through it. He thought he remembered Charlotte in his room, but even if it had been her, she hadn’t come back that he knew of.
Right now, he just wanted to see Holly Jo. He couldn’t rest until he saw the girl, saw with his own eyes that she was all right.
He couldn’t imagine what she’d been through. Elaine had suggested that she might benefit from some counseling. Whatever she needed, he would get it for her. He’d never forgive himself for putting her through this.
But the person who came through the door was Brand Stafford, his son. He swallowed the lump that rose in his throat. He’d never felt so much emotion since this nightmare had begun. He felt weak with it. He needed to be strong now more than ever.
As he looked at Brand, he was filled with his own recriminations. How could he not have known? he thought as he took in the young man. How could he not have seen himself in that build, in those eyes, even in the expression on that face?
His throat went dry as Brand moved toward his bed. He searched for words and found none even as his heart constricted in pain. He didn’t think about the lost years or Charlotte’s deception. None of that mattered.
This was his son.
There was so much he wanted to say, needed to say. He promised himself that there would be time for that as he extended his hand, his eyes brimming with tears. “Brand. My son.”
BRAND HAD PLANNED to wait to see Holden until the rancher was out of the hospital. But after waking up in the same hospital this morning, he knew he couldn’t put it off. The nurse assured him that Holden was on the mend and could have a visitor, especially when told about Brand’s relationship to him. “He’s my father.”
But even as he pushed open the hospital room door, he hadn’t known how this was going to go. He had no idea what he was going to say. He wasn’t even sure still how he felt. He just knew it was time. He had to get this over with.
Seeing Holden lying in bed, his face as pale as the sheets, he’d been taken aback at first. The man had always seemed so big, so powerful, so in control of everything—a lot like Brand’s own mother.
As he’d approached the bed, he’d had no idea what Holden’s reaction would be to him. So when the man offered his outstretched hand and called him son, Brand had taken that large weathered hand and let Holden draw him closer.
They’d stayed like that, just looking at each other for the first time as father and son. To his surprise, a kind of wordless understanding seemed to pass between them.
Then the door opened again, and Holly Jo rushed in, calling his name, “HH!” Holden squeezed Brand’s hand before Holly Jo reached his bedside. “You paid the ransom for me,” she said, sounding near tears as Brand stepped back.
“Of course I did,” Holden said.
“I thought maybe...since I don’t like beef and I wasn’t very good—”
