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a lot.”

“Did you see Brittany around much?” Isaac asked.

“You know me. I keep busy at the ranch. Don’t get in to town more than I have to.” Noah and Eli had always seemed most protective of Quinnland. The other five brothers had moved away after graduation. Those two had stuck around and worked the land.

Gina, who had been listening intently, spoke up. “I don’t see Brittany as the type to put up with abuse. Her step-father must’ve left her alone. It’s hard to believe she wouldn’t stick up for her mother, though.”

“She was pregnant and alone. She might not have felt like she had much choice.”

“True.” Gina could personally attest to how much those hormones could change a person. And then seeing her child had unlocked a whole new level inside her—one she had no idea was there. “If there were no other options I could see where she might not be able to stick up for herself or her mother.” Even so, having Everly had made Gina ready to face a bated bull before she’d back down from someone who might try to hurt her child.

“She shouldn’t have had to lose her life no matter what problems she had.” Isaac’s voice was low, reverent.

Gina and Noah nodded at the same time.

“Bo Stanley is supposed to come in and speak to Griff today,” Isaac said.

“Does anyone know where he’s been?”

Good question. “Out of town on business according to Mrs. Stanley.”

“His step-daughter is murdered, and he can’t get home faster than that?” Noah’s face twisted in disgust.

“Exactly what I was thinking.” Isaac issued a sharp sigh.

Everly chewed on her toys and pretty much anything she could get her hands on these days. She piped in with very loud baby chatter and flung her plastic keys onto the table.

Isaac immediately laughed—a hoarse, low rumble.

“Well, I guess we know what Everly thinks now,” Noah teased.

“She definitely has a strong will.” Gina could attest to that.

“Good. She’ll know who she is in life and no one will be able to push her around. Just like her mother.” Isaac’s compliment brought more of that campfire-style warmth to life in her chest. Gina would definitely agree with that statement now. Not so much in her late teens and early twenties when she’d still been figuring out who she was and what she wanted.

Looking back, she and Des should’ve stayed friends. Being married to him, and especially at such a young age, made her realize there’d never been fireworks for her and she seriously doubted there’d been Fourth of July going off inside him, either.

Had they settled for friendship instead of love?

“Anyone else need a refill?” Isaac stood and looked to Gina and then his brother. Noah held up his cup and Isaac took it. “I’ll be right back.”

As soon as he was out of earshot, Noah leaned in and said, “It’s good to see my brother with a smile on his face again.”

She nodded even though she wasn’t sure where he was going with this. “Has he been okay?”

“Not since losing the one person he’d loved. He hasn’t been the same since.”

“Right. His fiancé. Wasn’t her name Brooke?”

“Brooke?” Noah’s brows creased. “He cared about her a lot. Not her. I was talking about you.”

Isaac returned to the table. Noah and Gina got suddenly quiet. He looked at Gina. “Don’t believe anything he says about me.”

Noah winked at her before staring at Isaac like he was crazy. “We would never talk about you behind your back.”

Seeing the two of them get along so well as they sat there pretending they weren’t just talking about him warmed his heart. He’d known something was missing from his life for the past couple of years, probably longer. And he was pretty damn certain this was it, a table full of people he loved talking easily to each other. And despite all the craziness going on around them with the investigation, he hadn’t been this good in longer than he cared to remember. Did T.J.’s apparent change of heart have anything to do with Isaac’s mood? Maybe. He wouldn’t let himself get too optimistic about a real change in the man. Time would tell and Isaac was a patient man.

The door opened and Mikayla Rae Johnson walked in. She scanned the room and straightened her back the minute her gaze landed on Noah. Instead of going to the order counter, she did an about-face and exited out of the door she’d just walked in. Her sour expression had Isaac wondering what his brother had said to her.

“That was weird,” Gina noted.

Isaac reclaimed his seat and stared at his brother, trying to get a good read on him. “There something going on between the two of you?”

Noah threw his hand in the air. “I don’t know what her problem is with me. We went out a couple of times. I thought we were getting along fine until one day I saw her in town and she did this. Saw her in the grocery store a few days later and she stormed off then, too. Good luck figuring out what a woman thinks.” He glanced at Gina. “Present company excluded.”

“From being a woman or someone difficult to figure out?” Gina smirked. It made Isaac laugh.

“Both.”

She laughed in earnest that time.

“Try not to frustrate the entire female population in the vicinity,” Isaac teased.

“She likes me.” He pointed to Everly, who was happily smacking her hand on top of her tray.

“To be fair, she isn’t looking at you.” Isaac needled his brother. That was another thing he missed living so far away for so long. His family. The comfort of being around people he’d grown up with who probably knew him better than he knew himself.

Granted, the Quinns kept in touch as best they could but there was nothing like being part of each other’s day-to-day lives. The idea of moving back to Gunner was growing on him. The thought of working alongside his father was not.

“How’s Eli doing?” Their eldest brother was a single father with two young kids. His wife had left him after the birth of their second, saying she couldn’t take ranch life anymore. She’d gone with a good chunk of Eli’s money and never bothered to come back to Gunner to see the kids as far as Isaac knew.

Apparently, the kids had been financial security to her. Eli was smart, so it was a surprise he hadn’t seen that one coming. But then, people let their guards down every once in a while. He’d been smitten with her. They’d only known each other a few weeks before he came home and announced they were getting married.

To her credit, she’d put on a good show. Isaac and several of his brothers had been fooled. She was either the best actress in the world or got herself mixed up in a life she wasn’t cut out for. Living on a ranch wasn’t for everyone. Isaac should know. Eli’s wife had grown up in downtown Dallas; being on the ranch might’ve seemed like a romantic idea. Once the honeymoon phase had ended, she’d ditched her life and hooked it out of Gunner.

“Between the kids and work on the ranch, he stays busy.” Wasn’t the same as telling how he was doing except to say that he must be putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes, moving forward was all a person could do. It had been that way for Isaac when he’d heard that Gina married Des.

Even though Isaac knew he was the one who’d walked away, it still stung like hell. Des was ready to offer marriage and family to her. Isaac had been a kid, unsure of everything but serving his country. Somehow, even then, he’d known the military would help him get his head on straight. He’d had nothing to offer.

Noah drained the contents of his cup. “Speaking of the ranch, I should probably head back that way. I need to check on one of the calves I’ve been keeping an eye on. When are you stopping by?”

“We’re staying at the ranch tonight. T.J. suggested it. Gina and I thought it was a good idea. We can use all the extra security we can get until the…” he glanced at the baby before lowering his voice, “jerk who hurt Brittany is behind bars.” Another word for him had come to mind but Isaac didn’t want to use it in front of Gina’s daughter. The little girl was innocence wrapped in a pink hairbow.

Noah stared at a spot on the wall for a second. “Damn. Maybe T.J. is turning over a new leaf.”

“Crazier things have happened, right?”

Noah made a show of looking at the floor. “And I guess it’s possible for hell to freeze over, too. I just didn’t think I’d witness it in my lifetime.”

Isaac took a sip of fresh brew. He wasn’t touching that one.

“You staying at the main house?”

“Figured it would be easier that way what with Marianne around to help with Everly. Gina’s been through a lot and she needs to rest if she can.”

“Marianne will go crazy with excitement. Not sure how we got so lucky to end

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