Defiance: A House Divided (The Defending Home Series Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

mounting. He could feel it churning his insides, working his gut in an uncomfortable, almost sickening way. Still, he felt it was best not to let on what an agonizing decision it had been. In spite of the differences between him and his brother, Shane was blood and deserved every reasonable action to ensure his safety. The real question was, how could any responsible person jeopardize the safety of those in his charge for a single life? It was a conundrum that had likely challenged folks throughout history.
    Sandy grunted as they tossed one of the bodies onto the front lawn. Like the men, the grass was yellow and devoid of life. From around back they could hear Zach and Colton engaged in what sounded like a jovial conversation.
    “They seem to be making up for lost time,” Sandy observed, stopping long enough to fan herself with the straw cowboy hat she was wearing.
    Dale took in what she said. “I guess right about now I can’t find anything worth laughing about.”
    Sandy stopped, removed her gloves and touched his arm. The soft pads of her fingers felt nice against his skin.
    “Don’t take it to heart, Dale. Not everyone deals with trauma in the same way.”
    A cup of water was resting on the steps between them and Dale drank from it, offering some to Sandy, which she gladly accepted. “Believe me,” he told her, “it takes more than that to ruffle my feathers.”
    “You’re upset he called you out in front of the others.”
    “I won’t lie, it did sting,” he admitted. “I’d do anything for Shane.”
    “I know you would. But you also know the way Zach is.”
    Dale nodded, took the cup back and set it on the stairs. “Far as I see it, that’s the problem. He and I are like oil and water. Put us in a bottle and mix real well, you’d think we were simpatico, but before long both parts start pulling apart from one another.”
    “I see what you mean,” Sandy said, looking thoughtful. “Maybe you could talk to him.”
    Dale laughed. “This isn’t Dr. Phil, Sandy. Right or wrong, that’s not how men work. We don’t sit down and have a heart-to-heart and talk out our differences.”
    “Why not?”
    Dale started back for the house and stopped. “Beats me. Ask that short little guy who wrote Men are from Mars, Women are from Neptune .”
    Sandy couldn’t help but giggle. “Venus. Women are from Venus.”
    “You know what I mean.”
    “You know, my mother never once told me to my face that she loved me,” Sandy said and Dale furrowed his brow, wondering where she was going with this. “I knew it, I suppose in the way kids know lots of stuff adults neglect to tell them. I also knew she was lonely in the years after my father died. She’d always claim she was too old to start chasing after men and too tired to worry about whether they wanted to be chased in the first place. Became something of a mantra for her. But in spite of a child’s intuition, it wasn’t until after she passed and I had to sort through her things that I realized how little of her I really knew. She was a knockout when she was young, probably beating the boys back with a stick.”
    “I see where you get it from.”
    Sandy grinned. “That’s when I found a bunch of letters she’d written me, but never mailed. There was one for every major turning point in my life, when I graduated from high school and then college, and later when I was hired by the sheriff’s office.”
    “What were the letters about?”
    “She was telling me how proud she was and how much she loved me. I was too young to help her bridge that gap, to overcome whatever was keeping her from expressing how she felt. My point is that sometimes you gotta be the one to reach out, even if it’s not your responsibility. Sometimes you gotta be the adult.”
    Brooke appeared in the gaping hole by the front entrance. She was holding a handwritten piece of paper.
    “It’s done,” she said, proud and somewhat relieved.
    Dale went over and read it.
    To Sheriff