Page 21 of My Cowboy Sweetheart
“It says they had two sons. Flint and Kannen.”
“So it’s Flint,” Jude says.
“We were both little when we were abandoned. I was found on the side of a highway. Flint was nowhere in sight,” I tell them as I read.
The report doesn’t say how he ended up there, but Flint went to a children’s home, and I can’t even continue reading. It hurts finding out about his suffering while I was raised in a good home.
I found him. My brother. It’s surreal. I’m excited but also filled with grief over all the moments that were lost between us.
Jude makes a phone call and I hear him explaining everything.
I touch my fingers to the laptop screen, running them across the words that describe what happened to my brother. I wish I could erase them. I wish we could have traded places. I’m still trying to manage my emotions when several trucks pull up out front.
“Come out with me,” Jude says.
The whole Richford family is here. I search and then see Flint. I’ve had casual conversations with him in town and at his family’s ranch when I was there with Jude.
I can’t speak. I can only stare at the man I didn’t know was family.
Flint strides forward. “Brother,” he says, his voice thick and breaking. He wraps me in a bear hug. “My brother,” he says again, thumping me on the back.
I grip him tightly and we stand that way for a while.
Finally, he steps back and puts his hands on my shoulders. “I’m older than you so I missed out on a lot of years bossing you around. That’s a shame.”
I laugh, then moving in unison, the rest of the Richford brothers surround us. Each one of them hugs me. “My brother,” they all say.
And just like that, I’m part of the bond they forged not by blood but by choice.
Gavin and Frances Richford, Flint’s adoptive parents, also hug me and welcome me into the family.
“Well, I feel like a fucking third wheel,” Jackson says.
And everyone laughs.
“Get over here and I’ll hug you,” Frances says.
I’m glad that my brother has this family after all he went through.
The hours fly by filled with conversation and questions and laughter and a few tears.
Eventually, everyone but Flint and Jude leave and then the three of us continue talking and comparing our histories. Flint tells me about his wife, Arizona and his kids.
Jude talks about the funny memories growing up in the Richford house and some of the growing pains they all experienced when all the boys were first adopted. Gavin and Frances took in all eight boys at once and Gavin was instrumental in getting the children’s home shut down for good.
Then Flint tells me about the former ranch manager who forged paperwork to get a loan using the Richford’s ranch as collateral. They nearly lost the place and are still hunting for that con man.
I don’t know the guy but I’m angry on their behalf.
We talk until the sun starts to fade, then Flint stands. “I got get home to my wife, but we have plenty of days ahead of us to get together.”
As I walk with him to the truck, I say, “I’m sorry things were bad for you as a kid. I wish it had been me instead.”
He stops walking. “I wouldn’t have wanted that. It was hard, but I ended up alright. If I hadn’t gone through it, I never would have been adopted by the Richfords. And if that hadn’t happened, then I wouldn’t have known Arizona.” He claps me on the back. “Where are you heading?”
“I’m meeting Stormy. We’re still working on plans for the rodeo.”
Jude grins and tells Flint, “If Kannen gets his way, Stormy will become our sister-in-law. But he’s been trying to be with her since high school.”
