The Maverick's Midnight Proposal. Brenda Harlen
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his eye was of his youngest brother, Jamie, standing next to a woman he thought he recognized as Fallon O’Reilly, with three adorable toddlers at their feet. The next frame contained a wedding photo, and the groom looked enough like Hudson that Luke guessed the man was his brother, but the bride looked vaguely familiar to him, too. Beside that picture was one of Danny, cheek-to-cheek with his high school sweetheart, Annie; beside it was a photo of Dana, all grown-up and proud at her high school graduation.
The smile that tugged at his own lips faded when his gaze shifted to the next photo—an older picture of all the Stockton siblings together with their parents, Rob and Lauren. A reflection of the happy family they’d once been. Before he ruined everything.
Suddenly Luke couldn’t bear the thought of facing his sisters and brothers again. He couldn’t face the condemnation he was certain he would see in their eyes when they learned the truth about the events of twelve years ago. It would be better for him—for everyone—if he went back to Cheyenne and forgot any ideas about a happy reunion that could never happen.
He retraced his steps to the door, eager to escape the house, the whole town and especially the memories and regrets that assailed him. He yanked his coat off the hanger and was reaching for the door when the sound of the bell stopped him in his tracks.
What was he supposed to do now?
He felt weird answering the door at a house he was only visiting, so he peeked out the window instead.
Almost eight years had passed since he’d last seen his second youngest brother, and his heart gave a hard kick against his ribs when he recognized him on the doorstep now.
He opened the door. “Danny.”
“I almost didn’t believe Bella when she called to tell me that you were in town,” his brother said.
“So you stopped by to see for yourself?”
“Nah, I stopped by because Bella was afraid you might have been spooked by her emotional outburst and decide to take off again before she got home.” He looked pointedly at the jacket in Luke’s hand. “Was she right?”
“I guess I can’t blame her for thinking I’d run...again,” he admitted, sliding his jacket back onto the hanger. “There are a lot of memories in this town.”
“More good than bad,” Danny said.
“The bad are more powerful,” he argued.
“Maybe more recent,” his brother acknowledged. “Because you’ve been away for so long.”
Danny stepped across the threshold and pulled him in for a man hug. “It’s good to see you, Luke.”
Luke slapped him on the back as he attempted to swallow the lump in his throat. “You, too, Danny.”
His brother cleared his own as he stepped away and moved down the hall toward the kitchen, obviously familiar with the layout of their sister’s house. “Bella also said that there were snacks and drinks in the fridge, and to make sure that you didn’t go hungry.”
“No worries there,” Luke said. “I grabbed a bite at Daisy’s before I came here.”
“Well, I could use some coffee,” Danny announced. “You want a cup?”
“Sure.” Luke warily eyed the programmable machine that could brew individual cups or full carafes. “If you can figure out how to use that thing.”
“It’s not as complicated as it looks. The harder task might be finding the coffee.”
But it turned out that Bella kept the coffee pods conveniently located in the cupboard directly above the coffee maker. When the coffee was brewed, they took their mugs to the table where Danny told his brother about his reunion with Annie and finally meeting Janie—his daughter.
“And the surprises keep coming,” Luke murmured.
“How do you think I felt?” Danny asked. “When I first discovered that Annie had a child, I assumed her husband—ex-husband now—was the father.”
“A reasonable assumption,” he agreed.
“When we left... I never even considered the possibility that Annie could be pregnant,” Danny admitted.
“You were eighteen,” Luke reminded him. “Most guys that age are only thinking about sex—not the potential repercussions of it.”
“And then I ran away, and I missed the first eleven years of my daughter’s life.”
Luke stared into his mug. “You didn’t run away,” he denied. “I ran away—and you and Bailey came with me.” And the fact that Danny had missed those eleven years with his daughter was one more thing Luke was responsible for. One more wrong he could never make right.
“But now you’re home,” Danny said, sounding genuinely pleased. As if he’d already forgiven Luke for everything he’d done.
But Danny didn’t know the half of it.
“This isn’t my home,” Luke said, regretting that it was true. “Not anymore.”
“Then why are you here?”
He lifted his cup to his lips as he considered his brother’s question. It was the same question he’d asked himself countless times since he’d tossed his duffel bag into his truck and turned it in the direction of Rust Creek Falls.
He still wasn’t sure he knew the answer, so he responded with a simple if incomplete truth. “I got a call from Hudson’s PI.”
“Good to know the guy’s finally earned some of the big bucks our brother-in-law is paying him.”
“It looks like Hudson has a few bucks to spare,” Luke noted, turning his head to encompass the whole room.
“That he does,” Danny agreed. “Although it was actually Jamie’s wife who started the search last year. Fallon tracked down Dana in Oregon, but she hit a lot of dead ends after that and Hudson offered to take the lead.”
It was obvious to both of them that Bella’s husband had a lot more resources to throw at the task—and more success as a result.
“Over the years, I’d given a lot of thought to reaching out to our siblings, but I’m not sure I ever would have found the courage to come back if Bradford hadn’t made contact.”
“We’ve all been carrying a lot of baggage for a lot of years,” Danny noted. “Maybe it’s time to let it go and make a fresh start.”
It sounded like a good idea to Luke, but he wasn’t sure it was possible. “Was it that easy for you?” he asked.
“It wasn’t easy at all,” his brother said. “But it was necessary.”
Luke swallowed another mouthful of coffee.
“So how long are you planning to stay?” Danny asked.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” he admitted.
“There’s no specific date that you’re expected back in Wyoming?”
He shook his head. “My boss told me to take as much time as I needed.”
“Then you can stay for my wedding.”
He recalled Bella mentioning plans for a Christmas Eve wedding. “December 24 is still two-and-a-half weeks away.”
“Two-and-a-half weeks isn’t a lot of time after so many years,” his brother pointed out.
But if he was there for Danny’s Christmas Eve wedding, Luke suspected that Bella would insist he stay for Christmas and he wasn’t accustomed to celebrating the holidays. In fact, he hadn’t celebrated anything in