Coming Home to the Mountain: Complete Edition

13. Rye

CHAPTER 13

Rye

W atching Prairie leave breaks my heart.

But I also know the last thing I'm going to do is hold that girl back. I love her way too much to do that.

And the moment she tells me what she needs and what she expects of me, I realize that I made a promise to her to protect her, to love her, to do my part and be the man she needs.

I pull out my phone. “Dad?” I say when he answers. “I need to see you. The whole family. Now.”

“Where?” my father asks.

“Up at Rickshaw Ridge.”

I lock my cabin and get in my pickup truck, knowing that this is where the road ends for me. The secrets I've kept buried, thinking they're meant to protect, have only brought me more pain.

Prairie deserves more than heartache. She deserves love, light, the whole damn world, and if I’m gonna give that to her, then I need to set these demons to rest.

I drive up there with tears in my eyes. Remembering Luke, the man he was. He was a fun motherfucker, always up for a good time, a laugh.

I wish I knew what he used all that money for. Damn, I hope it gave him some peace, some sort of pleasure, because he died for that money.

I park my truck and get out, setting a lantern on the hood. Sitting next to it, I wait for my family to arrive. They come up in two cars, my dad's old Jeep Wagoneer and

Graham’s SUV. When they get out of the cars, I see them with tears in their eyes and fear written across their faces. They're scared.

“What are you doing up here?” Dad says, walking toward me. “Don't tell me you're doing something stupid.”

“No,” I say. “I'm not doing anything stupid. Shit, no, that's not why I brought you here. But I did bring you here for a reason.” I meet Rueben’s eyes. “Your girl okay?”

He nods. “I took Plum to Grandma Rosie's house.”

“Good,” I say. I look at Bartlett, Lemon, Graham, Rueben, Mac, Fig. Dad and Mom are holding one another tight, and they're all looking at me like I've just about cracked their life in two.

“Look, I'm not trying to be dramatic, though I know bringing you up here at nine o'clock at night is pretty fucking dramatic.”

“Yes, it is. So what are you doing?” Fig asks. “You're scaring all of us.”

“I knew if I didn’t bring you here, where it happened, I would chicken out. And I need to come clean,” I say. “The truth is…” I shake my head. “A week or so ago at family dinner you asked me why I was so mad. You want to know what was putting me in such a piss-poor mood all this time, right?”

“Yeah,” Lemon says, “because we love you. We want to understand you. You're making it really hard though, Rye.” She blinks back tears and I step toward her, pulling my little sister into a hug.

“I'm sorry I haven't been the big brother you need. I know things aren't easy for you. And you're carrying this load on your shoulders. Hell, I'm not being the big brother any of you need. I've pulled away and pulled back and that's not okay. I get that now. Prairie helped me see the light.”

“Your girl told you to come up here like this and say something?” Mac asks.

I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand. “Something like that. She talked some sense into me.”

“All right, then,” Mac says, crossing his arms. “Then tell us what you brought us up here to say.”

“It's about Luke,” I say.

At that, my father clears his throat. “Luke?” he asks.

“Yeah. It’s about Uncle Luke.” I tell them the truth of the story, the black and white of it. Beginning to end, just like I told Prairie an hour before.

I tell them how I was scared to bring up to Luke what I had discovered about his embezzlement that day in the bar but I knew I needed to let him know I knew what was going on.

I tell my dad about the shame in Luke’s eyes. How that was the last thing I was looking to cause—that I wanted to help him.

I tell them how he had a clear mind. Being drunk wasn’t the issue. It was the embarrassment of the whole thing that brought him up here to Rickshaw Ridge.

“Oh my God,” Lemon gasps. “It wasn't an accident.”

Graham wraps an arm around her.

Mac wraps his arm around Fig.

Dad, though, the tears in his eyes are the tears that break me.

“Oh son,” he says, stepping toward me, pulling me into a hug. The hug I've needed for the last year. And that's when it hits me: keeping this secret to protect my family, well, that was the dumbest thing I ever did in my life.

My family isn't going to break over the truth. That's not what happens when you're Rough.

We can get through anything.

“Oh son,” Dad repeats, holding me tight. “That's way too much for you to carry.”

“Oh, my sweet boy,” Mom says. “None of this was your fault.”

“Sure as hell don't feel like that,” I tell my family.

“And the money?” Graham asks. “Lemon, you and Dad never noticed it was missing?”

I run a hand through my hair. “I covered that up. I used my own savings and put it in the family business accounts.”

“Rye,” Lemon says, “you shouldn't have done that. That's money you need for your own nest egg. For you and Prairie.”

“Oh, you accept her now? I was under the impression nobody here wanted me to be with her.”

Lemon shakes her head. “No, that's not it at all. We're all just scared to death. The combination of whatever has been eating you alive this last year and the horrible things that woman has been through… that's just too much all at once.”

“It's that we're scared for both of you,” Mom says. “We want the best for you both.”

“We love you so much, Rye,” Lemon says, shaking her head and wiping the tears away. “I just want you to be happy.”

I realize that my little sister needed me this last year and I've let her down. I pull that girl into another hug. Making a promise. That I'll be better, do better by her.

Lemon doesn't have a husband, a man in her life to look after her. But I can be the big brother she needs.

“So where's Prairie?” Dad asks.

“She's with Leila,” I tell them. “She said if I didn't come and talk to you she wasn't going to be with me.”

At that, my brothers all laugh. “Well, damn,” Reuben says. “I guess you found the right woman, didn't you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.

“Well, she puts you in your place. She gave you an ultimatum. And you bent the knee,” Mom says with a smile.

“She pulled you out of your darkness,” Mac says. “Sounds like she's nothing but pure light.”

“I love her,” I tell them. “I need her to be my wife. She’s my world now.”

Bartlett presses a hand on my shoulder. “Then don't let that woman go, brother. Whatever you do, make her yours.”