And he had to choose now. Love or fear. And as he looked up into the stars, at the moon, swollen with light, even in the darkness, he knew the answer.

Because fear wasn’t the greatest, and it never would be.

No, the greatest was love.

And for him, the greatest was Jamie Dodge.

And he was going to have to do whatever it took to have her in his life. No matter the cost.

And just like that, as soon as he accepted it, all the things that he feared seemed small. Like stardust in the sky.

And he knew exactly what he was going to do.

* * *

“I NEED TO talk to you both,” Gabe said as he looked between his mother and father and saw the tension there. But it wasn’t his job to fix that. “I need to talk to you both, because we need to sort some shit out.”

“Well, if you didn’t know, we’re kind of in the middle of sorting something out ourselves,” Hank said.

“I do know,” Gabe said. “But it doesn’t separate from me. It doesn’t separate from us. And that’s the thing. All of the stuff between the two of you...it affected us. It always did. And it still does.”

“I don’t know what you expect anyone to do about the things in your life you’re unhappy with,” Hank said. “You’ve been pissy with me for months. But I can’t change the past.”

“Neither can I,” Tammy said. “But you’re doing an awfully good job of hanging on to my mistakes, when I just had to put up with yours for the past thirty-five years.”

“You hid the fact that I had other children from me,” Hank said.

“I was trying to protect my children,” she said. “Those children were a mistake, and you shouldn’t have had them. I accepted McKenna. I did it without question.”

“That you did that because you felt guilty is hardly my problem.”

They were acting like children, and Gabe didn’t have the patience for it. Not now.

“I wrote to West,” Gabe interrupted. “West Caldwell. That’s his name. One of them. I have yet to track down the other brother. When I do, I’ll let you know.”

Hank looked pale. “Have you heard from him?”

“Not yet. I don’t know if I will. He may not want anything to do with us, and I can’t say I would blame him.”

“Don’t say that,” Hank said. “Don’t make it sound like it’s our entire family. Like our whole lives together is nothing but a mess for you. We had good times.”

“We did,” Gabe said. “And what I did or didn’t do with my life...that was my choice. That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Dad, I was angry at you for years for the way that you tried to manipulate me into going to school instead of ranching. And I get what you were trying to do. I even understand that it came from a place of caring for me. But it was caring for me in the wrong way. About what you wanted, and not about what I wanted. And I let that anger I felt make my choices for me. And, Mom... When you admitted that you told me about that situation because you wanted me to hurt him...I got angry at you. You shouldn’t have lied to me. You shouldn’t have kept that from Dad. But nobody chose my life for me. I chose it. The same, Dad, as you chose not to honor your vows. The same as you chose to stay, Mom. How angry can we be, for how long, about our own choices? I can’t blame other people for the shit I’ve done anymore. I’ve got to take responsibility.”