Her Cowboy Inheritance. Danica Favorite
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for a snack?”
“I no have no lunch,” he said, whining at the end.
“We can have sandwiches,” she hugged him, enjoying the feeling of having her son back safely in her arms. Even though she already knew he was safe, holding him made it real.
“I hate sandwiches,” Dylan said.
“I’m sure we can find something else that’s tasty. Let’s go see what’s in the kitchen.” Leah held out her hand, hoping that her son would take it.
But Dylan was still focused on the horse. “I want to ride the horse.”
She took a step in his direction. She could feel Shane’s eyes on her like he wasn’t sure what she was going to do and wouldn’t approve. He’d approved of nothing she’d done so far.
“We’ve already had this discussion. You need to come with me, so we can all have something to eat.”
“No.” Dylan crossed his arms over his chest, and Leah braced herself for what was coming.
The psychologist had told her it was a gift to see the signs of a tantrum forming, but right now, it felt like a burden. Especially with her little boy clinging to her and Shane’s disapproving glare. Leah turned to her sister.
“Can you take Ryan inside for me? Dylan and I will be there shortly.”
Erin nodded. She’d been her rock these past few months. At first, Leah had felt guilty relying so heavily on her sister when Erin was dealing with a tragedy of her own. Erin’s daughter, Lily, had died in a tragic accident, and her marriage had ended as a result. But Erin had told her that helping with the boys was healing for her, and now Leah had no idea what she would have done without her.
“Come on, Ry-guy. Let’s go eat and then we can figure out which room is yours.”
Ryan eagerly went over to his aunt. He loved his Auntie Erin, and he was the sunshine to Dylan’s thunderstorms. Once he and Erin had started toward the house, Leah turned her attention back to Dylan.
“You had your chance to do the right thing,” she said. “Come now, or there will be consequences.”
She already knew how this was going to end. But it was important to make Dylan aware that he was making a choice. Dylan picked up a rock.
“I told you I want to ride the horse.” He turned and threw the rock at the horse, narrowly missing it.
“That’s enough,” Leah said, closing the distance between her and Dylan and taking him by the arm. “We do not throw rocks. And we especially don’t throw them at another living being. You tell Mister Shane you’re sorry.”
“No.” Dylan wrestled himself from her grasp, which hadn’t been that tight, and threw himself to the ground. “I want to ride the horse.”
He started wailing, kicking and screaming. This would go on for a while, and there was nothing to do but let him finish it out.
Leah took a step back and turned to Shane. “I’m sorry my boys scared your horse. You’d best take him and be on your way. It’ll be easier if the horse isn’t here to distract him.”
Shane shook his head slowly. “What are you going to do to him?”
“Nothing. He’s going to sit here and throw his fit, and then we’ll go back to the house and have something to eat.”
“You said something about consequences. What are they?”
She knew the look on his face. It was the same one she got whenever Dylan threw a fit in public. Shane sounded like he thought she was going to beat him or something. But neither Shane nor the people who thought they could insert themselves into her business had spent countless hours in therapy with her son.
“He’ll lose some of his privileges, including screen time. He and his brother had too much of it on the drive anyway. I’m sure that’s why he’s acting up now.”
Shane looked doubtful. “I’d like to check on him later.”
Who was this man to think he knew everything there was to know about her family?
“What do you think, little guy? Can I come see you later?” Shane bent in front of Dylan only to get a handful of dirt tossed in his face.
“Hey!” Shane jumped and wiped at his eyes. She probably should have warned him not to go near her son while he was in the middle of a fit. For a seven-year-old, Dylan could be incredibly violent. But it wasn’t his fault. The past few years had been chaotic for him, and he was acting out of the fear and insecurity planted in him by his unstable father. Jason was a great dad when he was clean, but his relapses turned their lives upside down. Things had gotten worse since Jason’s death from a drug overdose. In a child’s mind, a terrible father was better than a dead father.
“Please ignore him,” she said, motioning for Shane to come near her.
Wiping the dust from his face, Shane sputtered as he walked in her direction. “He just threw dirt in my face.”
“Maybe you should have waited for my response before stepping in. Right now, he is so deep in his animal instincts that he can’t be rational or reasoned with. As I said, you should go now. I’m going to sit here and wait this out.”
It was exhausting enough having to deal with Dylan’s fit. But having to once again justify her actions made Leah even wearier. She’d hoped that coming out to this isolated ranch with her sisters, who also understood how to handle Dylan, would allow her to get a break from the judgment of everyone around her.
To help Shane see her resolve, Leah sat on a nearby rock. But instead of doing as she asked, Shane came and sat next to her.
So much for getting a break.
* * *
The last thing Shane needed was to get involved with a single mother desperately in need of a daddy figure for her children. Been there, done that and even had a World’s Greatest Dad coffee mug to show for it. But when Gina had ridden out of town on the back of a Harley with a guy who promised more excitement than he could, she’d taken Natalie, and there hadn’t been a single thing to do about it. Unless a man legally adopted a child, he had no rights to the kid in the future.
And yet, there was something about Leah and the pain written on her face that drew him. She might not want him here, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave.
When Helen was alive, she’d told him about her ex-husband, the Colonel, and how her biggest regret in divorcing him had been leaving his three daughters behind. She’d loved them like her own, but she’d been given no visitation rights. However, she’d continued to pray for the girls every single day. When Gina left, Helen had been his rock. She’d told him about her love for the girls, and while he had been comforted by the fact that he wasn’t alone in his pain, he also wasn’t ready to befriend a beautiful woman with two kids he’d never have any right to.
Except he’d promised Helen he’d look out for the girls. Only they weren’t girls now but grown women, and keeping his promise wasn’t looking as easy as it had been to make it. Still, Helen had been there for him in his darkest days. In many ways, she’d been like a mother to him. He owed it to her to be there for the girls she’d been unable to love the way she’d have liked.
Dylan continued to scream and flail in the dirt. Shane had moved Squirt to a safer spot where the little boy wouldn’t be tempted by him and Squirt wouldn’t be spooked. Leah said she had everything under control. But, from Shane’s perspective, this was a mess. How could she let her son act like this?
Worse, he couldn’t believe she’d gotten into this mess in the first place. Though he was in no position to judge, it seemed like poor parenting to leave your children alone like she had. He’d often watched Natalie for Gina because otherwise Gina would have left Natalie alone. Once again, he wondered exactly how much his promise to Helen was going to cost him.
He