Jenny had no idea what they were talking about, and she’d never ask. She figured that she’d either eventually figure it out or they’d tell her.
Jackson met her gaze. “Our cousins Parker and Dale called a couple of days ago from Billings. Apparently, they were in a restaurant when Norah and her best friend, Liz, came in. The women didn’t even see them. Long story very short, Norah was telling Liz about her new sure-fire plan to, in her words, ‘beggar’ our father. She planned to tell her lawyer that Dad sexually abused four of his six children.”
Jenny’s mouth dropped. “Oh, my God, that’s a horrible lie to tell! Someone accuses you of that, and you’re innocent, there’s almost no way to escape the fallout!”
Jackson gave her a small smile, and she realized it was because she hadn’t even questioned their father’s innocence.
“I’ll second Chase’s question. What are you going to do?” Trace asked. He shook his head. “This is too much, even for Norah.”
“What we’re going to do is already done,” Cord said. “We had a conference call—Dad, all of us here in Lusty, and Veronica and her husbands over in Divine. Parker had been on the ball and actually got a video of Norah revealing her grand plan, including her admission that it was all a lie, along with Liz offering to find some teenage girl and pay her to say Dad abused her, too. She even offered up her own sons as past victims.” Cord shook his head. “Parker forwarded the video to us so we’d all be able to see it. After some discussion, we decided to ask Parker to release the video on YouTube.”
“That was asking a lot of him, and Dale,” Jackson said, “because they’re there, and that would no doubt put them in the middle of a shitstorm they don’t deserve to be in. But they agreed as soon as we asked, no hesitation at all. They said they didn’t care about the fallout. They just wanted to do what was right and to discredit Norah. The video was posted yesterday, and it’s already gone viral.”
“You’ve mentioned those cousins before, haven’t you?” Jenny said.
“Likely,” Cord said, “because they’re about the only ones left up there that any of us even speak to.”
“How are your cousins handling the fallout?” Brian asked.
Laci came to the table, handed Jenny a plate with a personal-sized pizza cut in four and a green salad. Then she scooted around the table and kissed her own husbands before heading back to work.
Ari made room for the plate and grinned at Jenny. “You ever eat anything else, girlfriend?”
“Not while working, no. I can get up and let this sit for a bit if I’m needed, and it’ll be just as good when I get back to it—because I like my pizza cold or hot, my salad cold or warm, no difference.”
“Jenny Collins, I think you’re the most practical person I know.” Ari shook her head.
Jenny grinned, used her fork to stab some salad, and returned her attention to the conversation. She smiled down at her plate because this was a comfortable rhythm for them. She couldn’t count the number of times she and Ari had inadvertently—or not—interrupted larger conversations. Tonight, as usual, Carrie snickered, and the guys waited until they were done with their back and forth to continue.
“They immediately came under fire from just about every damn one in the family.” Cord sounded disgusted. “What we didn’t mention is their older brothers had been riding them, giving them a hard time—being the belligerent asshole bullies they’ve always been. A week or so before their encounter with Norah and her friend concocting conspiracies, Parker and Dale had finally thrown in the towel and quit. They moved off the family ranch and into the city and have been looking for work ever since.”
“You should have them come down,” Chase said. “We were thinking of hiring a couple more hands to help with the ranch anyway. Who better than family to fill those spots?”
“We’ve already extended the invitation,” Jackson said. “They’re on their way as we speak. We didn’t mention the possibility of work because we have an idea what their immediate response to that would be.”
Jenny hadn’t often seen Cord angry, but right then, he looked pissed.
“Of course, they’re traveling this way, angry as hell.” Cord said. “The guys have friends they were going to board their horses with while they were gone. Parker called this morning. Marcus the Terrible—their oldest brother—wouldn’t let them have their own horses. Claimed they were property of the ranch.”
“That fucking bastard. I should have punched his fucking lights out years ago,” Trace said.
Jenny didn’t even blink at the words that tinged the air blue as all the rest of the men weighed in on what they thought of some fuckwad named Marcus the Terrible. She’d never had a horse, but she understood the importance of one to a rancher—to a cowboy. And that was what all these Benedicts here were, to their core. Even Cord and Jackson, who’d left the ranch long enough to play professional football and net themselves a Super Bowl ring or two, were really cowboys at the heart of it all.
Ari had been comforting her husbands a few minutes before, but there was such a pinched look, such sharp anger on her face. She gazed around the table. “Do you know what I hate the most about this entire mess? That bitch, crying wolf like that to shake down a man for money does unspeakable harm to those of us who’ve actually been abused. No fucking wonder we women are not believed when we finally get up the nerve to tell someone what’s happened to us…it’s because of bitches like her, crying rape and abuse just to be selfish and get their own way.”
Jenny reached over and laid her hand on Ari’s shoulder and rubbed
