Four weeks later, Stetson drove his half-ton Dodge down through the panhandle of Oklahoma. He'd decided on driving six hours a day. That would make it about a four day trip. Any more than that seemed to push Shay past her limits. He could hardly believe that he was really headed back to his hometown. He'd sworn to never return and yet here he was. He pulled off the freeway near Boise City, Oklahoma and searched his phone for the nearest gas station. He still had almost nine hours until he reached Quitman and he wondered if he should just drive through the night. It would be nice to finally be there. He was getting sick of hotel rooms even though it had only been three days. And he could sense that Shay was burning out. She'd always hated long car rides. He cringed remembering her screaming when she was a baby. The car seat was equivalent to prison back then.

"Daddy?" Shay asked. He opened the door while his truck was filling up.

"Yeah?" Stetson responded.

"When will we be there?" she asked. Was this the fourteen or fifteen thousandth time she asked? He was losing track.

"Two more days." He decided to keep his nighttime driving plans to himself. Why not surprise her? She said nothing more and he was grateful. Not because he didn't love to hear her talk, but because he was more than a little stressed out with the whole ordeal and pretending to be nice when he was in a bad mood wasn't his best trait.

Once he'd finished fueling up, he went through the drive-through at the local burger joint and ordered food for Shay and him. He'd skipped lunch for himself but not Shay so the burger hit the spot. Shay, he reasoned, would eat whatever you set in front of her. Which suited him just fine. He'd never understood picky kids. By the time eight rolled around, he was driving through Amarillo.

He couldn't help but hum a little tune from the song "Amarillo By Morning". George Strait had always been a favorite of his. He couldn't remember a time when he preferred any other artist. The mechanics that he'd worked with had groaned when he picked the radio station. At least most of them had. They seemed to prefer rock and roll. Old country was apparently distasteful to lots of folks. He would never understand it.

Lisa had rolled her eyes and whined every time he'd switched the channel to his favorite. He realized, with a small measure of regret, that he'd completely bowed to every one of her preferences. He'd thought it was loving but now he was realizing that, in striving to please her, he had lost himself. The confusion and horrible balance of love and compromise. It was exhausting.

A quick look in the backseat confirmed that Shay was sound asleep. Seven hours to go. He should be there at three in the morning. He couldn't help but wonder how his other brothers had aged. Wayne was much the same guy he'd always been—though much more mature. And he was a husband. And a father. The changes, he was sure, would be shocking. Between Luke and Hank, the Dalton and Sons Ranch was nearly forty thousand acres. His dad had built a monstrous house when he'd moved out in hopes of having a large family. Stetson often wondered why his father had only had five children. Luke Dalton had done the same thing. So far, the huge houses seemed to be working well. His grandmother had turned their house into a bed and breakfast once all of her kids moved out and it offered a nice supplementary income. Not that they were hurting in a financial sense. That would have been an entirely inaccurate statement. They just did it for fun. The men of the family all built their own houses and earned their keep by running the ranch.

The women did it by cooking. And the kids helped out wherever they were needed. They were unified. And that was something Stetson had always craved. Instead of being part of the family, he'd felt like the weird cousin that's always imposing. The thought made him smile. This turned his thoughts to one of his favorite cousins—Tucker. He couldn't help but wonder if he had a family of his own now too. If so, he wanted to meet the woman that had married the talented young cowboy. Tucker had always been the showman of the family. He'd won plenty of championships in reining and cutting and tended to be the most outgoing of all of them. Perhaps besides Austin, another one of Stetson's brothers.

Stetson drove up the ranch driveway at 3:15 a.m. Not surprisingly, he could already see some of the hands out working. Their theory was, "It's better to get up early and work when it's cool out than to have to work in the heat of the day." And, at face value, that made a lot of sense, but everyone knew that, by the time it was scorching out, they were all on a roll and no power in heaven or on earth could stop them. They were some of the hardest working men he'd ever seen. And he liked that about them. He halted when a man came up and stood in front of his truck. He approached slowly, and Stetson climbed out—shutting the truck door as quietly as he could. He didn't want to wake Shay up just yet. Heaven knew she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep.

"Can I help you with somethin', mister?" Joe Cruz asked. He recognized the man as one of the linebackers from his high school football days.

"I reckon, Joe." The man paused. He stepped a little closer. With the moon only half-full, it was difficult to see.

"Well I'll be darned. If it ain't the fancy-pants quarterback." He laughed. "What in tarnation are you doing back in these parts, Stetson? Your daddy would tan your hide if he knew."

"Oh he knows. And he half-invited me." Stetson said.

"Sounds like quite a story there. I see you traded the old chevy for a dodge. What's gotten into you?" He laughed at his old friend's accusation.

"What? You gonna slash my tires or something?" he questioned.

"No. Jake might though." Joe said with a chuckle. He grimaced at the mention of his old foe. Jake Wright and him had long been enemies. They were the smartest, most talented, best-lookin' guys at Quitman High. And that gave way to some pretty nasty competition.

"He's still playin' rooster?" Stetson asked. Joe chuckled.

"Why sure! He's got Lily now, ya know." He remembered the beach-blonde beauty well. She'd always favored Stetson and Jake couldn't stand it. He smirked. High school drama was so dumb.

"I'm sure he does. He always wanted what I had." Stetson said.

"True enough. But I'm tellin' you, he ain't gonna want that truck." Joe said jokingly. Stetson punched him on the shoulder.

"Joe!" A man shouted. His old teammate looked at him.

"Better run! That's Kyle." Stetson rolled his eyes. Joe was probably right but he wasn't quaking. "Over here!" Joe replied. Kyle walked closer.

"Dad wants you boys to start loading that hay. We gotta deliver it by seven this morning." Kyle said.

"Sure thing, boss. Oh, and Stet," he said looking back in Stetson's direction, "you can help load if you want." He laughed when Stetson glared at him. "See ya later, buddy!"

"See ya, Joe." He watched him walk away. It was good to catch up with an old friend. To hear that Jake was still sour over their past bothered him. But Jake would get over it...eventually.

"Stetson." He hadn't heard his brother walk closer. Standing here in front of him, Stetson's anger over how things had always been for them seemed to dissipate. Right now, he felt a great admiration for Kyle.

"Kyle." They stood opposite each other.

"Dad mentioned you'd be comin' home. Said you had a daughter."

"Yeah. I do. Her name's Shay." Kyle looked down at his steel-toed boots.

"We didn't expect you for at least another day." Kyle's voice sounded almost disappointed.

"She was getting tired of all the hotel rooms. And so was I."

"Did you drive all night?" He asked.

"Yep." Kyle said nothing for a minute.

"Are you rested enough to help out today?" Stetson nearly laughed. No fattened calf for him. But it was just as well. If they treated him like his returning was something special, he'd be a bit worried.

"Sure. I just want to make sure I'm close by for the first couple days. In case Shay needs me or something." He was sure she would settle in fine but it wouldn't hurt to make sure. The poor kid had been through a lot in the past month.

"Well, then. You'll be loading hay." He almost laughed at the irony of it. Loading hay.

"Of all the jobs." He couldn't keep the sarcasm from his voice.

"Listen, Stetson, if you're stayin' here, I don't want to hear your complaints, okay? I heard enough of those seven years ago to last me a lifetime." His brother's face showed that he was irritated.

"Sorry, Kyle. I'm exhausted and mad at life right now. Just let me work through it." His brother seemed surprised at his apology. And that made Stetson realize that he'd never been the kind to apologize for anything.He wanted that to change.

"You want to talk about it?" Kyle's offer touched him. He figured it couldn't hurt to share. He sighed.

"I think I've won the award for worst son, husband, and father ever." Kyle half-smiled. "I think I completely messed my life up and I don't think I can fix it."

"It's never too late, Stet." Kyle said.

"Maybe for you. You were the perfect son though. You couldn't do a thing wrong."

"That's not true. There were plenty of times when I got in trouble." Stetson scoffed.

"Kyle, I think we both know that you have always been dad's favorite. Nothin' you say is gonna change that." Kyle huffed. But he didn't deny it. Because he couldn't. It was as plain as the nose on his face. Dad had always made special allowances for his oldest boy.

"Is your wife with you?" Dad never told him?

"Nope. She's dead." Kyle's eyebrows drew together and sympathy filled his eyes.

"Sorry. I didn't know." He truly sounded grieved.

"I'm not sorry at all." Stetson said. Kyle's eyes bulged.

"What? Why not? I mean, the woman was your wife. How could you not be sorry that she died?" He sounded horrified.

"You married, Ky?" He nodded. "Do you love your wife?" He nodded again. "Does she love you?" One more nod. "That's good. Now let me guess. Has she ever gotten mad about being pregnant and threatened to abort?" Kyle gulped. "Does she get drunk nearly every night and chuck furniture at you because you try to keep her from drinking? Did she start cheating on you after a year and a half of marriage no matter how hard you tried to please her?" His brother's eyes reflected pain. "She isn't like that at all, is she?"

"No." His reply was hushed. They just stood there for a while. Neither one said a thing. As the first rays of sunlight shone over the desert, Kyle put his hand on Stetson's shoulder.

"Somethin' tells me you aren't givin' up despite everything you've gone through, Stet. You always were the type to buck up." He wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not but he decided to take it as one.

"Thanks, Ky."

"Are you ready to eat?" Stetson laughed at the sudden change of topic.

"Sure. And Kyle," he said as his brother started to walk away, "I'm sorry. For everything." His older brother nodded but offered no comment. They both climbed in their trucks and Stetson followed Kyle up to the house. Their conversation had left him actually liking his brother. It felt kind of weird if he was being honest. They'd never had such a positive conversation in their entire lives. Kyle parked off to the side of the garage and Stetson followed his lead. He heard his brother shout when they got out.

"You know Jake's gonna hate that truck, right?"

"Not you too!" Stetson shouted back. Kyle laughed and started toward the house.

"Hey!" Stetson called after him. Kyle looked back in confusion. "You want to meet your niece?"

"Sure!" He started toward the truck. Shay had said very little since she had woken up just minutes earlier. He gently picked her up and set her in the wheelchair. Then Kyle walked around the back of the truck. His daughter looked up at him nervously.

"Shay, this is your Uncle Kyle." She watched him for a moment before a smile spread across her face. "Kyle, this is my daughter, Shay."

"Hi, Uncle Kyle."

"Hey, sweetheart. It's real nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too." His brother offered her a grin. "So...what do you think of the ranch?" She looked around before responding.

"I don't know." Three little words. Three little words that summed up how Stetson felt about life's decisions in general. Kyle chuckled.

"We'll have to show you around." She nodded once as if that settled the whole ordeal. "Are you ready to eat breakfast?"

"Yes! I'm so hungry." Shay said. Kyle laughed and led the way to the house. He helped Stetson get the wheelchair up past the steps before opening the door. Stetson closed it behind him and pushed Shay into the dining room. She had said very little about the wheelchair but he knew his daughter well enough to know two things. First, she hated it. And second, she hated it because she was embarrassed.

Stetson was glad his brother hadn't made a big deal out of it. The first person he saw was his mother. She stood in the kitchen at the stove talking with two other women. One of whom was very pregnant. His third oldest brother, Aiden, walked up behind her and kissed her. So that's his wife. It was amazing to see them as men. Not gangly teenagers. His mom turned and her eyes widened.

"Stetson! I thought it would take you a few more days to get down here!" She rushed over and hugged him before kissing Shay on the forehead. "You look exhausted." There was that same concerned look again.

"I'm fine, momma. Nothin' a little of your coffee won't fix." he said with a tired grin.

"Oh, of course!" She walked back to the kitchen and poured him a cup.

"So the prodigal returns." He looked over at Austin, the final brother. He was only a year older than Stetson but he acted like he'd been around since the creation of the universe. Stetson nearly rolled his eyes at the thought. His brother wasn't a bad guy. In fact, of all his brothers, Stetson got along with him the best. But he did possess that Dalton pride. "I suppose you're ready to load some hay." Austin said. His gaze held a challenge.

"Yeah. I reckon. I'm a bit out of practice though." He smiled. "Okay. A lot out of practice."

"Oh yeah? What have you been doin' for work?" It was Aiden that asked the question.

"I've been workin' as a mechanic up in Idaho." He thanked his mom as she handed him a cup of coffee.

"I guess you always did know how to keep them motors purrin'." He smiled. His brothers knew how to use proper grammar but they'd never tried. Their English teacher in high school had been from New Jersey. He remembered her saying one time that moving down South had been the worst mistake she'd ever made. He had heartily agreed—earning him a scathing glare from Ms. Perriwinkle and plenty of laughs from his classmates.

"Yeah. Well. Chevys and John Deeres as least. The first time the boss asked me to work on a Ford, I looked him dead in the eye and told him I was there to fix trucks—not recycle trash." Even his dad laughed at that. He had just walked into the room.

"What did he say?" The question came from a chuckling Kyle. Stetson thought about how to word it.

"Let's just say, he didn't think it was funny. I can't tell you what he said. It wasn't wholesome." His mother's tsk-tsk made him remember some of his last words. It was amazing how the shame had never died. He still felt that gnawing guilt whenever he thought of that conversation. He was lost in his own thoughts and nearly missed Autsin's question.

"So who's this pretty little gal?" his older brother asked. He looked down to see his daughter watching him.

"This is my daughter, Shay." His brother locked eyes with him. There was a new light in his eyes. Something that suggested Stetson might not be the total loser he'd previously thought.

"Well, my dearest niece, my name is—"

"Uncle Austin, right?" He seemed surprised.

"That's right. How did you know?" he asked.

"Daddy told me a lot about all of you guys. And he showed me some pictures." Austin shot his little brother another look before directing his attention back to Shay.

"I'm glad, sweetheart. I look forward to getting to know you better." he said. Her dimple appeared when she smiled and he couldn't help but fall in love with her all over again. After nearly ten hours of labor, Lisa had given birth to the most beautiful baby girl he'd ever seen. The nurses had rushed off with her but had returned relatively quickly and handed his sweet little daughter to him. He'd just stared in amazement at her. Then she had reached up and grabbed his finger, and he'd been wrapped around hers ever since. He remembered looking into those earnest little eyes of hers and promising to never let anything hurt her.

And then he'd failed. He realized now how foolish it was to promise something like that. He could never protect her from everything. But oh how he wanted to! His mother started introducing his brother's wives and children and, though he responded accordingly, his heart wasn't in it. He felt alone in his world. No way to relate to his family's lifestyle. Besides his daughter, he was a loner. As he'd always been.