“Love you, Mama,” Michael said, and slid his arm across her back. “Yes, we’ll walk with you. Just lean on me.”
Aidan cupped her face and then kissed her forehead. “We love you. Let us be strong for you this one time, okay?” he said.
Tears rolled down her face as her gaze moved from face to face, and then back to Samuel.
“Did you call Bowie?”
“Yes, ma’am, but he was unavailable. I left a message for him to call me.”
She nodded, leaned against Michael’s chest and reached for Aidan’s hand, and then said in a soft, shaky voice, “I want to go home.”
They started up the mountain with Michael and Aidan on either side of her, as Samuel led the way with the dogs. Despite Leigh’s determination to walk, she kept stumbling, until finally Samuel turned around, handed the dogs off to Michael and picked her up in his arms. She never said a word. She just leaned her head against his chest and let him carry her home.
*
The sisters-in-law had cleaned up the kitchen and were doing their best to keep Jesse entertained, but he was bothered, and they knew it. He kept walking out onto the porch and then back into the house. Finally they all decided to sit outside with him, and once he settled in his rocker, he seemed to calm.
Jesse was the first to see his brothers walking up the road. He abruptly stood.
“Mama’s not walking,” he said.
Before they could stop him, he was down the steps and running toward his brothers with a long, loping stride.
“Oh, boy,” Samuel said. “Mama, you need to wake up. Jesse’s coming.”
“I wasn’t asleep,” Leigh said, and quickly wiped her eyes as Samuel set her on her feet.
“Are you okay?” Michael asked.
Leigh fixed him with a look. “Are you?”
“No.”
She reached out and squeezed his hand. “Sorry. I’ve been emotionally gutted. I lose my manners when I feel threatened.”
“We know, Mama. Don’t apologize to us. Just brace yourself for Jesse.”
Leigh turned around just as Jesse came to a skidding stop and took her in his arms.
“Mama? Are you hurt?”
She took a slow breath, and then took his hand and laid it against her chest.
“No, I was just tired, and Samuel carried me so I wouldn’t have to walk.”
Jesse wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on the crown of her head.
“You are my mama. Did I make you sad?”
She knew he’d seen the tears in her eyes, and she hugged him fiercely.
“No, my sweet boy, you did not make your mama sad. Come walk with me. I need to talk to you.” She then took him by the hand and led him toward the house, talking all the way.
The brothers watched, but their hearts were breaking. They knew the minute their mother cupped Jesse’s face that she was saying the words. And they knew from the way Jesse flinched and doubled over as if he’d just been gut-shot that one of the legs to his world had just been cut out from under him.
“God Almighty, why is this happening?” Aidan asked, his voice thick with tears.
Samuel shook his head and then swiped a hand across his face, and when Jesse fell to his knees, he started crying again.
Michael wiped his tears and grabbed the dogs’ leashes.
“I’m gonna tie them to the porch. You guys go help Mama with Jesse.”
Samuel took two steps forward, and then his phone began to ring. He looked at it and groaned.
“It’s Bowie. You all go on. I need to do this alone.”
They patted him on the shoulder and then walked away.
Samuel cleared his throat and then answered. “Hello.”
“Hey, brother! It’s me.”
“Bowie, I’m not going to beat around the bush. We have bad news.”
There was a moment of silence, and then Bowie spoke, but this time the delight was gone from his voice.
“What’s wrong?”
Samuel tried to say the words, and then the crying got the better of him.
Bowie Youngblood couldn’t remember seeing Samuel cry after he’d turned eighteen. Now he was scared.
“Is it Jesse? Did something happen to Jesse?”
“No, it’s Daddy. He’s dead, Bowie. Mama found him shot in the back.”
Bowie’s knees went out from under him. He sank down into a chair inside the office on the drilling platform and then curled his fingers around the arm of the chair.
“What? What did you say?”
Samuel sighed.
“Daddy’s dead. Mama said to call you. Mama said to tell you to come home. She needs you.”
“God in heaven,” Bowie whispered, and felt like he was going to throw up. “How did it happen? You said someone shot him? On purpose?”
“Yes. He scratched a name in the dirt before he died.”
Bowie tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come.
Samuel kept talking.
“The name was Wayne. I didn’t get the meaning, but Mama did. She’s certain the killer’s someone from her family.”
The shock of that reality transformed Bowie’s sorrow to instant rage. He stood abruptly.