Maggie gasped.
What could Brady say? He hadn’t been aware? All he could do was stand here and take it. Josh wasn’t going to be done until he’d had his say. The tips of Brady’s ears burned as every eye in the diner turned on him. What did they expect of him? What they always expected from him?
To be the better man. To be their champion. But in this case, he wasn’t.
“I wouldn’t have sent her ‘hush’ money.” Josh looked down his nose at Brady.
The diner went silent as if everyone held their breath to see what Brady would say.
“Brady?” Maggie touched his arm. “Let’s go.”
“That’s right, Maggie.” Josh stepped away with his arms wide, inviting Brady to hit him. “Protect the man who did you wrong.”
“Please, Brady,” Maggie said.
Brady had never been the type to fight. He’d always solved his battles through negotiation. Luke had been the passionate one who had been in more fights than Sam and Brady combined. But in this case, Brady had no standing. He deserved whatever this man flung at him.
Brady took his gaze from Josh and searched Maggie’s eyes. What had he done? What had he forced her to live through alone?
“Let’s just go.” Maggie tugged on his arm. “I’m sorry, Rachel.”
“Men.” Rachel seemed to think that was the most reasonable explanation.
Brady let Maggie lead him out. The stares of the people who had once deemed him the golden boy of Tawnee Valley burned through him. He wasn’t even worth their regard now. He’d used Maggie for one night of passion a long time ago and had never once thought about the possible consequences. He’d barely thought of her at all throughout the years.
When they were seated in the car, he said, “I’m sorry, Maggie.”
It would never make things right. It wouldn’t change the past eight years. But he had to try. He had to fix this.
“It’s not all your fault.” Maggie didn’t meet his gaze.
“I never even checked to make sure you were okay. For all I knew you could have been killed driving home from our house at four in the morning.” Those looks. Brady would never get them out of his head. Disappointment, disapproval.
“I could have tried harder to reach you. I knew you and Sam didn’t get along.” Maggie’s voice was soft. When he turned to her, she was gazing out the window away from the diner.
She could have married Josh. Amber would have had a dad and maybe even some brothers and sisters. But she hadn’t. She’d chosen to stand on her own.
“I admire you.” The words came out softly, almost unintentionally.
Finally, her hazel eyes met his. Her smile was wistful as she took his hand. “Let’s go get Amber, okay?”
It didn’t matter what the town thought of him and Maggie. It mattered that she was with him now.
The drive to the farm didn’t dispel Brady’s sour thoughts. With every mile, one fact burned in his mind. If Sam hadn’t been such a control freak, Brady would have known about Amber from the beginning. Whether he would have returned or not would have been on Brady. He could have been the deadbeat, but they would never know.
When he parked near the house, the anger Brady had been repressing for years churned within his gut. Maggie had been silent the whole car ride.
“Why don’t you go in and get Amber. I need to talk to Sam.” Brady didn’t wait for Maggie’s reply before heading to the barn where music played.
He pushed open the barn door and stopped. Amber was in the process of painting a wooden chair while Sam tinkered with his tractor.
“Morning, Daddy.” She smiled at him from her task.
“Morning. Why don’t you run in and get cleaned up?” Brady waited while she rushed to the house.
Sam wiped his hands on a greasy rag. “That kid can sure pack away the food. I think she ate more than me.”
The whole world was off-kilter this morning. First the diner and now Sam acting as if Amber had always been a part of their family. “Don’t act like you like having my kid around.”
“Why not? She’s a good kid.” Sam looked over the tools on the workbench.
“If you thought she was such a good kid, why wait eight years to tell me about her? All you had to do was tell Luke, if you were worried about being the first to cave.”
“Is that what you think happened?” Sam was a little too cool for Brady’s taste.
“Just another way for you to control everything on this farm.” Brady paced the barn door opening. “You interfered with my life. With Maggie’s and Amber’s lives. Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
Sam set down the tools as if he didn’t trust having them in his hand before he faced Brady. “I was protecting you.”
“By keeping Amber a secret? How the hell was that protecting me?” Brady could feel the burn on the back of his neck as anger pulsed through him.
“What would you have done if you’d known?”
“I sure as hell wouldn’t have expected Maggie to take care of everything. I would have done something.” Brady felt flustered. He had no idea what he would have done.
“For God’s sake, Brady, Mom raised you better than that.”
“Where do you get off—”
“Do you think my life has been all that great? Do you think I wouldn’t have given anything to be able to get away for at least a while?”
Brady hadn’t given it much thought. It had always been Sam who would take over the farm.
“I did everything in my power to make sure you and Luke were able to live the lives you wanted. Did I make some crappy decisions along the way? Hell, yeah. What do you want? I was only twenty years old with the responsibility of two younger brothers and a farm to deal with. I was happy Luke graduated at all.”
“You didn’t have to—”
“Didn’t I? Think, Brady. Who did Mom turn to when Dad died? She asked me to stay and I did. I don’t regret the decision, but sometimes I hate it. I hate the farm and I hate our parents for leaving me with everything.”
“I tried to help.”
“Your ambition has always outstripped this town. Did I want to see you get stuck here in a marriage you felt obligated to offer? Watch you turn bitter and disillusioned about life?”
“It was my life. My choice. You could have trusted me to make the right one.” Brady’s chest hurt as if Sam had punched him. “And even if I had been impulsive at twenty, why wait eight years before letting anyone know?”
Sam’s lips tightened and his brow furrowed. He turned to the tractor without another sound.
His silence was the only proof Brady needed. As much as Sam had claimed he needed Brady, he hadn’t wanted him around.
“Dammit, Sam. Not this time. You don’t get to turn your back on me and act like a freaking martyr. If you aren’t going to say anything, you might as well listen.”
Brady took a deep breath to clear his mind. “Eight years. You could have told me anytime in eight years. You could have waited until