Texas Homecoming Read Online Free Page B

it. And it seems to just keep getting bigger!"
    Luke laughed aloud, thinking of the two expectant daddies in the clan, Wes and Elliot, and how close Taylor and Esmeralda were to their due dates.
    "But that's the beauty of it, Garrett. And that's what I want. I've spent a lot of time figuring that out So much that I can see it in my mind just as clear as I can see you standing there. I want what you have, Garrett. I want a home that opens its arms up to me when I walk in the front door." He turned and looked back at the still sad looking brick house, seeing only its potential. "I want a family that does the same. I want to find a woman who wants the same things out of life that I do. A good, clean, wholesome woman who can make biscuits and babies."
    Garrett laughed out loud, a deep booming sound. "Well, we got the home part covered, at least. This place goes up for auction next week. And you're the only interested party in town."
    "How do you know that?" Luke asked.
    "My wholesome wife, my wholesome sister, my wholesome sisters-in-law—they're not beneath snooping. And it's a small town, so snooping ain't all that difficult. If anyone else were planning to bid on this old place at that tax auction, we'd know about it by now. They aren't."
    Sighing deeply, Luke looked at his rig, all shine and polish, in the dirt driveway. She gleamed under the bright Texas sunshine like a gem in a spotlight. "Hell, I can't say I won't miss her," he said. "But I got a hell of an offer on her."
    "You gonna take it?"
    "Already did," Luke said. "The buyer will be here this afternoon to pick her up. He's paying me enough to buy this place outright."
    "It'll take a lot of fixing up, you know." Garrett gripped the old iron railing on the flagstone steps, gave it a shake. It wobbled loosely back and forth.
    "Like I could have rented this place for three months and not figured that one out?"
    Garrett shrugged. "It's solid, though, at the heart of it. Just needs some surface work done."
    "Of course it's solid—it's made of brick. This is the one that even the Big Bad Wolf couldn't blow down." He slid his gaze over the faded red brick, the thick green vines twisting up the sides, with huge pink blossoms trumpeting every few inches. Both floors were lined with arched, stone-silled windows, the bricks around them turned lengthwise in fancy fan patterns. "They don't build them like this anymore."
    "And don't forget the best part," Garrett said. "It's right next door to the Texas Brand."
    "Key selling point," Luke said, and they both laughed.
    Garrett's smile faded, and a sincere expression took its place. "I'm glad you came to us, Luke. And even more glad that you're staying."
    Lowering his head, Luke shook it slowly. "You all made me feel like family right from the first. That's something I've never had. Never thought I could have."
    "You
are
family. Don't forget that. In a family where family comes first, that means a whole lot." Garrett grinned. "Now I'm gonna head home before I wax any more sappy than I already have. See you for dinner, right?"
    "Depends. Whose turn is it to cook?"
    "Mine," Garrett said. "I'm barbequing ribs. You don't want to miss that."
    "Trust me, I won't."
    Garrett smiled from ear to ear and turned to go, his long strides eating up the distance to his oversize pickup nearby.
    Luke stood there a moment on the porch of his new home, the place where he'd come to find his roots, to start over, to make something of his own. He walked slowly to the rig, where she sat in the driveway. "Well, old girl, I guess this is just about it. We've come to a fork in the road. You're goin' one way, and I'm goin' the other." He took off his duck-billed bulldog hat, opened the truck door and gently set it on the seat. Closing the door again, he headed back to the house, up the stone stairway, across the porch. He took another hat from the rack just inside the door. The Stetson of dark brown felt, with the leather hatband around it. He put it on.
    He'd