Page 77 of A Montana Rodeo Star

Tripp let his head fall against the hay and sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

There was no use voicing the thoughts in Brent’s head. His father hadn’t even known he was going to be born. Their mother had only found out a few days before and she’d planned on telling him after his next big win.

Tripp shifted, pulling something from his back pocket before handing it up to him. Brent grasped the piece of paper and his breath got stuck in his throat. It was a picture of his mother with a man who looked eerily like Tripp. The man held a baby boy in his arms.

“This him?” Brent rasped.

Tripp nodded.

The burning sensation that Brent felt behind his eyes sharpened and before he knew it, tears streamed down his cheeks. His sniffling was the only thing heard in the barn as he stared at the picture of his father. Then he let out a strangled laugh. “You want to know what’s stupid?”

His brother turned to look up at him. “What?”

“Here I was feeling bad for us—mostly you—because we didn’t have anything from him. I mean, I have his last name, so that’s something. But mom changed your name when she married Judd⁠—”

“Dad, Brent. He’s just as much our father as that man in that picture.”

Brent nodded, the lump in his throat even worse. “Dad.” He swallowed painfully. “Anyway, she changed your name, and I got to keep it in a way. I thought about how much that must have hurt you. But looking at this?” He sat upright, crossed his legs and peered down at the picture. “You still got something.”

Tripp watched him for a few moments, waiting.

Brent smiled despite himself. “You look just like him, Tripp. You can’t tell me you don’t see it.”

His brother nodded. “Yeah, I noticed.” He rubbed a hand through his hair and sighed. “I can’t stop thinking about something.”

“What’s that?”

Motioning to the picture, his brows pinched. “What must it be like to see me every single day and only see our dad?”

That question hit Brent like a ton of bricks. While dealing with every emotion under the sun, Brent hadn’t even considered that. Granted he’d only just found out that Tripp looked exactly like the man who gave him life, but still. “Mom had to see the man she loved every single day for the last decade at least.”

“And dad…” Tripp closed his eyes and let his head rest against the hay once more. “Can you imagine marrying a woman who was in love with someone else and having to raise the reminder of their love story? What our parents had to go through after Louis died must have been torture.”

“It doesn’t excuse⁠—”

“No, it doesn’t,” Tripp agreed. “They should have told us. A long time ago. But what’s been done has been done. There is no going back to change it. They made their mistakes and they’re going to have to live with them every single day of their life. But you don’t.”

Brent snorted. “Yes, I do. We both do. I can’t just forget what they did⁠—”

“I’m not saying you have to forget anything, Brent. I’m saying that you don’t have to suffer. You don’t have to let this knowledge drag you down and pull you under. You don’t have to drown. They’re still our parents. They still love us.”

He was right about a lot of it. Heck, he was right about all of it. “I don’t know if I can forgive them, Tripp.”

“I know,” he murmured. “It’s hard.”

“Yeah.”

More silence followed. What did Tripp expect him to do? Go home and pretend that everything was okay? It wasn’t. The lies. His dream. Everything he knew had been irrevocably changed.

“You don’t have to forgive them if you don’t want to. You know that, right?”

Brent snorted. “That’s not exactly how our family works. I might as well disown myself right here and now.”

Tripp chuckled. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that.”

“It’s true and you know it. We practically live on a compound ever since Uncle Eli asked all of us to move here. We’re family and family sticks together.”

“Well, if that’s what you believe… then all I can suggest is that you cool down. Wait until you’re ready to hear her side of the story.”