Casey (The Seven Brothers of Elko: Book Five), page 1
The Seven Brothers of Elko
Book Five
Casey
~
Raeann Blake
CASEY (THE SEVEN BROTHERS OF ELKO – BOOK FIVE) Copyright ©2016 by P.O. Milligan writing as Raeann Blake.
All rights reserved.
Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in any part in any form is forbidden without the written consent of the author, P.O. Milligan (Raeann Blake).
Edited by Barbara A. Smith
Cover design by P.O. Milligan
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Dedicated to my parents, my sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins who made growing up in the country an adventure and a treasure. There’s no place like home and we had a great one.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter One
Casey walked through the house. Everything was in place, exactly as he’d pictured it in his head. The large window on the front that gave a perfect view of the creek beyond the trees that surrounded the house. The one the sun would light up like it was on fire late in the day.
The large stone fireplace to his left with wood already stacked there, waiting for the first fire to be built. The mantle above it lined with photographs of his unusual family, including one of his late brother Carl. The brother he still missed nearly fifteen years after he’d been killed in a motorcycle accident.
One loveseat and four chairs covered in a dark burgundy fabric and arranged in a u-shape in front of the fireplace so that the loveseat faced the fireplace with two chairs on each side. Square tables at each end of the loveseat formed the corners between it and the chairs. One end table between each pair of chairs. Not enough seating for the entire family but they could always use some chairs from the kitchen table if there were enough of them there at one time to be needed.
A large entertainment system nestled between the fireplace and front window. Wide-screen television, DVD player/recorder, radio, all the normal things in an oak cabinet that complemented the inside walls of the log house.
To his right, a picture wall patterned after one that one of his brothers had created in his house. This full of pictures that had either been taken by one family member or the other along with some that had been made at some of the weddings held at the main ranch house. Each house on the ranch was built from the same floor plan as that house. Living room, dining room, kitchen all open at the center of the house, giving the feeling of one room. A place for the family to gather. Two hallways running from each side of that great room. Three bedrooms and bathroom down one hallway. Office, another bedroom, another bathroom, and the master bedroom with a private bath down the other.
He sighed and looked around the room again. Cozy, homey. All the touches he’d wanted, comfortable throw pillows, splashes of color. The women in his family had helped him pick the things that fit the picture in his head that he’d described to them more than once. And it was perfect.
So why couldn’t he make himself stay there? So far, he had not been able to spend one night in the house. He shook his head and walked out on the front porch that ran the full length of the house and was surrounded by a railing, lined with chairs and a porch swing at each end. The house was sitting in the middle of a large stand of trees, mostly aspens. There had been an opening in the center of the trees just large enough for the house and a few cars. Just right to remind him of living in East Texas among the pine trees, pecan trees, oaks, and multitude of other trees that grew there. So often people would cut the trees to build, but some like him refused to cut a tree, opting instead to nestle their houses among them. That was one reason this place had seemed so perfect. And the creek beyond it that lit up in the late afternoon was another. That creek had given him the name that he called his portion of the ranch. Fire Creek.
He sighed and glanced at his watch. It was time to head to the main house. He closed the door to the house and walked down the steps then around to the side where the Elko County Sheriff’s Department SUV was parked. He’d been a deputy with the department for more than a year now and was fortunate that he’d been assigned to the area of the county where his family lived. He had waited for that length of time before he decided to finally build the house. His sister’s husband had offered him a thousand acres and a house when he’d first moved there from Texas. He had accepted the land but had waited to build the house that had just been completed.
He climbed in the vehicle and started it then drove out through the one opening in the trees that was large enough to accommodate a vehicle then made the turn to go over the bridge they had built to cross the creek and started for his sister’s place.
Casey pulled into the ranch yard and grinned at the number of vehicles. The whole family was there, waiting on one of the brothers and his wife to arrive home from their honeymoon. He sat in the car for a few seconds reflecting on what a group they were. It included four women now. His older sister, Brinley, the oldest of the four and the first one to join this family when she married Jake Reardon, the oldest of the brothers. Next was Dusty, married to Jake’s little brother Davis. Trisha, married to Michael Cavanaugh. And now Carley, married to Tommy Branden. Then the bachelors, Lonnie Howard, Bo Canton, and himself.
Jake and Davis were the only two of the brothers who were biologically related. But Brinley had claimed each of the seven as ‘her guys’. And when they had all been drawn together, Jake and Davis had made them all true brothers, a real family. There wasn’t any one among them who didn’t feel that they were all brothers and thought of themselves that way. And not one would hesitate to lay down his life for any one of the others.
And the three pint-sized Reardon children were the love of each of their lives. J.D. and Case, Jake and Brinley’s sons, now two and a half and one respectively. And Sammy, two months younger than Case, Davis and Dusty’s son. And they were all three miniatures of Jake and Davis who could almost pass for twins and had confused people more than once, sometimes on purpose. And now there were four more on the way. Brinley, Dusty, and Trisha were all three pregnant... Trisha with twins.
Tommy and Carley had been married just two weeks ago, but maybe there would be a fifth one on the way soon. He knew that Tommy desperately wanted to add children of their own to this unconventional family. All of the men did, but the three remaining bachelors were all waiting for that special woman who could make them whole, the way that the four married men had been completed when they had each found the one woman they were meant to be with. Casey felt like he had found his, but so far that had not worked out the way he hoped.
He shook his head as he pushed out of the car. He was determined not to think about that today. Today was a day to celebrate Tommy and Carley’s homecoming. They were supposed to fly in here first. Although Tommy’s ranch adjoined the Reardon place, it took thirty minutes by car to drive between the two houses. The plan was to land Tommy’s jet here then send it on to their place and somebody in the family would drive them home later.
Casey laughed when he heard the squeal and started for the house before he realized that J.D. was outside. He stopped when he saw him barrel around the corner of the house and straight for him.
“Uncle Casey, Uncle Casey... Uncle Tommy and Aunt Carley come home today. Daddy said,” J.D. said excitedly as he caught the little bundle of energy and swung him around in the air then pulled him close to him for a hug as J.D.’s little arms went around his neck.
“Yes, they are. They should be here soon. Told you they’d come back. Just like Uncle Mike and Aunt Trisha did a while back,” Casey said with a grin. Michael and Trisha had taken a two-week motorcycle trip across country for their honeymoon and the longer they were gone, the more J.D. had become convinced that they weren’t coming back. His delight had been evident when they had arrived, and he had not let Michael put him down for nearly an hour after they first got home.
“Where is everybody, little man? In the house or in the back?” Casey asked as he set J.D. on his hip.
“Back,” J.D. answered and
“Okay, then. Let’s go see,” Casey said and started around the side of the house. When he rounded the corner, he couldn’t help but laugh at the group assembled there. He heard the round of hello’s and knelt on the ground to catch the other two children as they both toddled to him with Case grunting out ‘Unca’ with each step. He called all the brothers ‘Unca’ the same way J.D. had at that age. They never knew which one he was calling, but it didn’t matter. They all paid attention when they heard him. Sammy wasn’t talking just yet except the constant jabbering that they sometimes swore J.D. understood perfectly. And he had just recently started walking so his gait wasn’t quite as steady as Case’s, although Case still had times when he stumbled across the floor more than walked.
“Hey, you two. You boys bein’ good?” he asked as he hugged each one close.
“Hey, little boy. It’s about time you showed up. Sheriff’s Department workin’ you too hard?” Michael asked with a grin.
“Somebody has to work around here. And who you callin’ little boy, old man,” Casey replied in their usual greeting.
Bo shook his head and said, “These kids. No respect. They just have no respect. Work our fingers to the bones day in and day out and he comes strollin’ in here from ridin’ around in a cushy car seat all day talkin’ about somebody havin’ to work around here.”
Casey dropped his head and shook it when they all laughed at him. He grinned at them as he sat down then raised his eyebrows at J.D. when he didn’t scramble down to go close to Sammy and Case the way he usually did. Normally, whenever either of the two boys was awake and they were together, J.D. would stay close by them, watching them, playing with them. This time he settled back in Casey’s lap. Casey turned his surprised look to Brinley and saw her shrug her shoulders.
He glanced back down at the little boy again then looked up at his daddy. “Jake, how old will Viho be before you start working with him?”
Viho was the Appaloosa foal he had wanted to buy from Tommy, but Tommy had refused to sell him the horse, making him a present instead. He was only a couple of months old now.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about that. You know you won’t be riding him for two and a half or three years, but you should go ahead and start gentling him as soon as he’s weaned. You could take him through several of the stages and they’ll just be reinforced as time goes by. Spend time with him often between now and when he’ll be ready to train for riding. He’ll be following you around like a puppy dog long before that time comes,” Jake said with a little smile. He’d already seen Casey’s frown and knew what was coming.
“What do you mean ‘I’ should go ahead? You and Davis are the trainers. I thought one of you would train him. I don’t know anything about gentling a horse,” he said in confusion.
Jake, Davis, and Bo were all partners in the ranch. Bo handled the business side of the ranch, buying and selling horses. But, Jake, Davis, and most of the ranch hands gentled the horses then trained them for whatever purpose their new owners needed. They ran a herd of their own that customers could pick from or would train a horse brought in that was bought somewhere else. A lot of those came from Tommy’s horse breeding ranch next door.
“Now, son, you know more than you think you do. And I think Viho would be a perfect horse for you to learn more with. I know you don’t have a lot of time after you get off from work, but it won’t take much time each day to start working with him. I’ll work with you. We’ll gentle him together. He’ll develop a stronger bond with you if you work with him from the very first. I’d like for us to work with him together,” Jake said as he held Casey’s gaze.
Casey frowned and glanced around at the other brothers then back at Jake. “You really think I can do that? Do what you do?”
Davis chuckled and said, “Well, of course you can. You’ve got a gentle touch with the horses. You can do it, bubba. And you’ll love it. He’s already bonded with you. He comes to you as soon as he sees you headed for the fence over there at Tommy’s. Just try it. Give it a shot.”
“Well... okay. But I want to make sure he’s trained right so if you’ll work with me and make sure I don’t do something wrong... okay. Sure. Yeah. I think I’d like that,” Casey said and finally smiled.
“Okay. You keep goin’ over there and spending time with him just like you have been. We’ll start as soon as he’s weaned and we go get him,” Jake said with a nod.
They all stopped when J.D. jerked upright in Casey’s lap and laid a little hand on each side of Casey’s face. “I hear it. I hear it. They’re comin’,” he whispered.
Every pair of eyebrows went up as they listened. Nobody else heard anything for a few seconds then finally heard the whine of jet engines as they grew closer.
Casey chuckled and said, “You’ve got the best ears of anybody I know, little man. You’re right. That’s them. Come on. We’ll walk down that way.”
He stood up and settled J.D. back on his hip as the little boy started scanning the sky, watching for the jet. He waited for Jake to get Case and Davis to get Sammy before they all walked in the direction of the landing strip to wait for the jet to land.
“There it is. See it, Uncle Casey? There it is,” J.D. squealed.
The entire group chuckled at him and Casey said, “I see that. Hold on, squirt. Gotta wait on them to land. Just a couple of more minutes.”
Tommy Joe Branden was a country-western star. He had only retired from touring and public appearances just a little over two months ago. They all knew that J.D. still remembered the times Tommy would fly away and be gone for weeks at a time. He’d always been upset whenever that happened and would hold tightly to Tommy’s neck on the way to the jet each time. And he had brought tears to each person’s eyes when he would say ‘I love you, Unca Tommy’ every time just before Tommy would hand him to Jake then board the jet.
Tommy had reached a point where he decided life was too short to miss out on so much of the lives of the three kids as well as all the other members of this family. Having made that decision, he had canceled all future concerts and public appearances unless it was for a charitable cause. But he was still recording. After trying for months, he had finally convinced Trisha and Casey to record some songs with him on a new CD that had only been released right after Tommy and Carley had been married. But the first single released prior to the CD hitting the store shelves was one with Trisha singing and Casey and Tommy joining her on the harmonies. And it had gone to number one in three days. It was still there two weeks later.
They all laughed when J.D. grew more and more excited as the jet’s wheels touched the ground and roared past them then turned to taxi back. And Case and Sammy were both pointing at the jet and jabbering as well. When the jet stopped and the engines slowly shut down, the door finally opened. As soon as they saw Tommy and Carley in the doorway, Casey set J.D. down and he was off like a shot.
They could hear both Tommy and Carley laughing at the little boy running to them and Tommy barely made it to the ground before J.D. reached them. Tommy grabbed him just before he barreled into his legs and lifted him up with a laugh and hugged him close.
“You came back. Uncle Tommy, you came back,” J.D. squealed in excitement.
“Well, sure we did, little man. Didn’t Uncle Tommy tell you’d we’d be back? Oh, I missed you, buddy. I surely did,” he said as he hugged the little boy tighter. When he eased his hold on him, J.D. straightened up but kept one arm around Tommy’s neck.
He grinned at Carley and said, “Aunt Carley, you come home now?” J.D. asked with his little eyebrows up the way he did so often.
Carley chuckled and leaned over to give J.D. a kiss and ruffled his hair. “You bet, sugar. We’re home now. Did you miss us?” she asked with a chuckle.
“Yes, ma’am,” J.D. said with a big nod then jerked his head around to find his family.
“Daddy, they come home now,” he said smiling.
The whole group laughed and Jake said, “Yep. Told you they would. Welcome home, you two.”
Tommy started to set J.D. down to give everyone big hugs, but J.D. wouldn’t let go of his neck. Michael grinned and said, “It ain’t happenin’, bubba. Trust me. Everybody else will just have to get one-armed hugs for now.”
