“I am going to make you sorry!” he screamed. “I’ll make all of you sorry!”
Bowie palmed the knife from one hand to the other while watching Justin Wayne’s face turn an ugly shade of purple.
“You had every intention of putting this knife in my mother’s back, so you need to know that the urge to slit your throat is strong. But in my family, we don’t kill our kin,” Bowie said.
He circled the table and laid the steak knife across Jack Wayne’s plate.
“Sir, I believe this belongs to you.”
Leigh scanned the expressions of the people sitting at the table with a look of disgust on her face.
“You saw him, and none of you even seem bothered that he was about to kill me? None of you can bring yourselves to even look at me? Not even the mighty Jack Wayne?”
They still wouldn’t look at her, and they didn’t respond.
Leigh kept staring at Justin, trying to remember if there had ever been a time of peace between them and drawing a blank.
“So, little brother, you just proved yourself the bully and coward I always knew you to be. You waited until my back was turned. You seem to favor the coward’s way. Did you shoot Stanton in the back, too?”
Justin growled at her from across the table, like an animal on a chain.
Blake reacted as if his brother had just bitten him and pushed his chair back from the table, literally distancing himself from Justin’s madness.
Nita was openly crying, and Fiona kept making the sign of the cross over and over.
Jack Wayne was in shock. He didn’t know what surprised him more, Justin’s behavior or Fiona pretending to pray.
Leigh turned her back on them again, and this time it was in defiance.
Bowie frowned.
“Mama, I don’t care if these people are your blood kin, you do not turn your back on them again. I hope you’re done with what you came here to say, because we’re taking you out of here right now.”
He slid his arm around her shoulders and headed her toward the door, with his brothers right behind them.
Before anyone could react, they were gone.
“I am going to fucking kill him,” Justin muttered, as he grabbed a napkin to stem the flow of blood.
“Like you killed her husband?” Jack asked.
Everyone turned to look at Justin.
And that was when it hit him that they were about to lay the guilt for the murder on him just to make all this go away.
“I will not take the blame for that!” he shouted.
The front door slammed, their signal that their uninvited guests were gone. At that point the room erupted in chaos.
*
Leigh was silent on the ride home until they started up the mountain.
“I don’t know whether that was a good move or a mistake, but I’m still glad I did it,” she said.
Bowie glanced at her briefly as he drove.
“I know one thing. Your twin brother is a mean son of a bitch.”
She nodded. “We never had any pets when we were growing up because Justin always killed them.”
The hair stood up on the back of Bowie’s neck. “Really?”
She nodded.
“Do you think he killed Dad?”
“I think he’s fully capable of it, but I have no idea who did it. It all depends on who had the most to lose when Stanton and I unknowingly stalled the resort project.”
“Are you afraid they’ll come after you, too?” Bowie asked.
“No. They won’t come into my world. It frightens them, and now that they’ve seen my sons, you frighten them, too,” she said.
“Because of our size?”
Leigh reached across the console and gave his arm a quick squeeze.
“No. You have something they’ll never have. You have each other,” Leigh said.
“I got the idea that the level of competition between them is high.”
“And the bond a family should have is sadly lacking,” she added. “By the way, thank you for making sure that knife didn’t wind up in my back.”
Bowie couldn’t fathom a hate like that between siblings and was still a little shaky over how close she’d come to being hurt.
“You’re my mother,” he muttered. “You don’t have to thank me for that.”
She sighed, and then was quiet for another mile. Next time she spoke, her mind was on another subject.
“How is Talia?”
“She’s going to be okay, but she’s not there yet,” he said.
“If she doesn’t want to be alone right now, you know you can bring her home to us,” Leigh said.
“Thank you for the offer, Mama. Maybe after she has a better handle on everything she has to do.”
“I am happy for you, Bowie. You’ve lived alone long enough, and she’s sacrificed enough. It’s time for you both to know happiness.”
Bowie couldn’t bring himself to comment, because he knew she was thinking of Stanton with every beat of her heart.
The sun was setting as they pulled up to the house.
They went inside to find the women washing quart-size canning jars and filling them with the fresh green beans.
Leigh was grateful to see how far along they were in a job she’d dreaded facing.
“This is wonderful,” she said. “As soon as I change my clothes I’ll join you.”