“Um,” I stammered.
Then the mustang neighed. The foal, on the other hand, walked toward the stall entrance. Mitchell moved to protect his daughter if need be, but the foal let her pet him. My mustang remained calm, and I hurried to the back to get dressed. It was one of the quickest changes ever. When I returned, I handed Mitchell his shirt.
I felt his smirk all the way to my toes before he pulled the shirt over his head while his daughter was still distracted.
“Have you named them?” Zoe asked, not commenting about my change of dress.
Until she asked, I hadn’t put much thought into it. However, the name came to me quickly. I pointed at the mare. “Etsi.”
Zoe said, “Esty?”
“No. It’s pronounced ‘eh-gee.’ It means mother.” I agreed with Levi that the mustang had done everything for the sake of her foal. The name that honored her most was Mother.
Zoe repeated the name, saying it right the second time. “Can we name him Patch, for the patch of spots he got from his mother?” she asked, pointing to the foal.
“Patch is a good name.”
Zoe grinned from ear to ear. “Can I ride him?”
The foal had taken to Zoe. He allowed her to nuzzle his face. “He’s still a baby yet,” Mitchell said. “It will be a while, but when he’s old enough, you can.”
I didn’t bring up that the foal was free and might not stay. I could already see the bond that was forming between the two. Who was I to stop it?
When the foal went back to nurse, Avery finally said, “Let’s go get something to eat.”
“I can go cook something,” I said.
Avery waved me off. “I’m leaving tomorrow. Nate is expecting me.” Zoe looked crestfallen. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon, and we can talk every day by video.”
Though she pouted, Zoe nodded, and Avery left with her.
James gave us a look. “I assume it’s settled, and you are staying. You don’t need to worry. I’ve got some buckshot for anyone who shows up around here wanting to start trouble.”
That reminded me. “I got a call this morning from my dad’s lawyer. Dad owned the mountain or did. Apparently, it’s passed to me.”
That got a few eyebrows raised. I told them the rest.
Mitchell said, “We should call Aiden.”
Apparently, he was already on his way over. We were waiting out front of the house when he pulled into the drive.
“Aiden,” Mitchell greeted when Aiden got out of his service vehicle. “We have news.”
“So do I. The two who shot at you are in custody. They were in a bar in Mountainside shooting off their mouths about trying to kill you”—he pointed at Mitchell—“and what they planned for you, Sunshine. An off-duty county patrolman was in the bar and had heard about the situation. They’re in county lockup. When they were pressed, they came clean about what they did.”
“They don’t have rights to the mountain,” Mitchell said.
“We know. They admitted as much,” Aiden said.
“I own the mountain.” Everyone looked at me. I gave Aiden the condensed version of the conversation I had with Dad’s lawyer.
“Do you want to press charges?” Aiden asked.
I opened my mouth, but Mitchell said, “Yes, I do.”
Aiden looked at me. “If you don’t, county could decide to let them go and who knows?”
As much as I wanted this to be over, I wouldn’t leave Mitchell and his family in jeopardy. Those two had intended on killing us or worse. “Yes, I will.”
Aiden explained we would have to go in and make a formal statement. They could get up to forty years for attempted murder, another ten years for use of a weapon, and five years for criminal endangerment. It was unlikely we’d ever see the pair again.
Mitchell’s arm was around me when we waved goodbye to Aiden.
“I guess I can sleep with both eyes closed tonight,” James teased before heading into the house.
“Your room or mine?” Mitchell joked.
Though everything was falling into place, the one thing that still worried me was how long I’d have Mitchell in my life before the bubble burst.
TWENTY-NINE
Mitchell
“We are going to have to tell Zoe eventually,” I whispered into Sunshine’s ear as I got ready to leave her room before my daughter woke up. This had become our morning routine over the past few weeks, and I was a happier man for it.
Sunshine had looked sleepily sex drunk, but now her eyes popped wide like she was watching a horror film. “What? We can’t tell her we are having sex.”
I chuckled. “No. But we can tell her we are in a relationship.”
Sunshine shook her head. “No. What if we don’t work out? She may think she has to choose between us.”
“That’s never going to happen.”
“You don’t know that. We can’t tell her.”
But we weren’t given much of a choice when a soft knock sounded on the door. “Dad, are you in there with Sunshine?”