Chapter 14

"So what was Guy like," Vin asked a few days later as he sat in the kitchen with Leigh.

Leigh smiled wistfully. There was a time when she could barely speak of her husband but it had been several years now since they lost him. And as the old adage said, time heals all wounds, even, as she had found, the most painful.

"Guy was quiet, strong, sure of himself and his place in the world. He belonged here," she continued, gesturing outside. "He was a part of this place and he loved it. I saw it the first time he brought me home to meet the family."

"You loved him," Vin stated.

"With all my heart," Leigh quietly confirmed. "He wasn't perfect though. He had the McKenna temper, though he wasn't as quick to anger as Jack or Brick. You remind me of him in some ways."

"I do?"

Leigh nodded, "In your patience and your obvious comfort with the outdoors."

"Jack and Brick seem pretty patient too."

"They haven't always been. I'd say that's one of the good things that came out of the attack on Brick. The worry and uncertainty over Brick's prognosis forced Jack to become more patient. When he woke up from the coma both men had to learn patience as Brick worked to overcome the disability that animal left him with. And even though they have a better relationship now than they ever had before I know Jack would gladly return to the days of nearly constant misunderstandings if it would mean Brick hadn't suffered."

Vin nodded. He could understand that. He would gladly give up the man he had become if it would have allowed him to keep his Mama with him.

"What was she like?" Cassidy asked as she and her newfound brother walked through the woods.

"Mama?" Vin asked.

"Mrs. Tanner," Cassidy confirmed. She tried to understand and on some level she did but still she wasn't comfortable referring to the woman as her brother's mother. True Vin had told them something of her that first night but strong and fought to stay alive didn't really tell her much. Anybody would fight to stay alive. What she was struggling to understand was the strength of his connection with a woman not his mother and who he couldn't possibly remember much about.

"From what Jack said, she was a lot like Mom." Vin was unwilling to dishonor either woman and had finally compromised with Mama for Cynthia Tanner and Mom for Elizabeth McKenna. "She was strong and loving. She fought to stay here, did everything the doctor said no matter how sick the treatments made her. And I never did without. She could barely hold herself up after a treatment but she made sure I ate, made sure to spend time with me just reading and cuddling. She was a good woman." Vin paused, he didn't know if he should say anything about that last day. He'd never spoken of it to anybody, not even Chris but he knew Cassidy was struggling to understand the bond he shared with a woman who wasn't his mother except she was.

"I guess. But now you know the truth."

"Reckon I do," Vin rasped. "But that truth is just the bare facts Cassidy. I never knew our mother," he glanced at the girl, "reckon you didn't either really."

"No, but I know who she was."

"Cause you grew up hearing about her?"

Cassidy nodded.

"I didn't have that and even though I'm hearing about her now that won't mean I stop thinking of Cynthia Tanner as my Mama." Vin inhaled deeply. "That last day was one of her good days. Ironic ain't it? Reckon God was giving me one last good memory to carry through the hard years to come. She felt real good most of the day, took me to the park and bought me ice cream. We hardly ever had the money for such a treat." Vin smile wistfully seeing himself as a small boy holding tight to the hand of the most important woman in his life. "When we got home Mama sat in her rocker and just held me in her lap, singing to me. She had a beautiful voice, like an angel."

Cassidy stared at her brother unaware of the tears streaking her cheeks, tears that matched those on Vin's face.

"I must've fallen asleep at some point. When I woke up I was laying in my bed, the covers tucked around me and my teddy bear in my arms. I got up and went looking for Mama. I thought she was just asleep; she looked so peaceful that I didn't want to wake her but I was hungry. I couldn't wake her up no matter how hard I shook her. I guess I knew she was gone but I was only five and I didn't really understand what that meant. The neighbor found me laying across her body, sobbing and begging her to wake up." Blinking rapidly he came out of the memory. Turning his gaze to his sister he was touched by the tears he saw on her face. Reaching out he gently wiped them away. "Do you understand now Cassidy? I can't stop calling her Mama just because she didn't give birth to me."

Cassidy swallowed past the lump in her throat as she stared into the pain filled blue eyes of her brother. She nodded. "I'm sorry Vin," she apologized as she wrapped her arms around him. Together they cried for the mothers lost too soon and for the little boy left alone in a hard world, a little boy that should have grown up happy and loved.

"Do you really have to go back?" Brick asked. He'd only met his twin but the moment their eyes had met it was as if a missing piece had been found. He didn't want to let him go.

"Got a job to do," Vin replied. "I wish I could stay longer," he admitted. "We've got a lot of catching up to do."

"A lot to make up for," Brick said.

Vin raised an eyebrow. "Make up for?"

"You spent a lot of years in foster homes. You said yourself some of them were pretty bad. And while you were living with strangers, maybe being mistreated," and Brick prayed that wasn't the case, "I was arguing with Jack over grades and curfews."

"You ain't got anything to feel guilty over little brother." As he'd hoped the little brother quip distracted Brick from his unwarranted guilt.

"Little brother? We're twins, how do you figure that?"

"Jack said I was born two minutes before you, so," he nudged the other man's shoulder, "little brother you are."

Brick chuckled. "Still you should've been here beside me, arguing with Jack over grades and curfews."

"Let it go Brick," Vin advised. "You can't turn back time. I won't pretend my life hasn't been hard but there's been good in it too. When I met Chris and the team I gained a family and because of them and an annoying little gnat I found the family I had been lost to. All we can do is take life the way it comes."

"You make it sound simple."

"I know it ain't easy to let go of the past, to stop thinking about all the what ifs but if you don't it'll just make you crazy. In your case, though, it might be crazier," Vin smirked.

"We are twins you know," Brick reminded his brother a wide grin spreading across his face.

"You got a point?"

"If I'm crazy then so are you," and now it was Brick who smirked.

"Reckon there's five men in Denver and one here that'd agree with ya," Vin laughed. "Come on little brother, we got another two weeks," Vin threw an arm around Brick's shoulders. "Let's not waste them dreading the ending of 'em."

Two Weeks Later:

Vin reluctantly packed his bags. The past three weeks had been some of the best of his life as he got to know the family that had been lost to him all these years. Or maybe he should say the family he'd been lost to. Either way he had found a piece of himself here in what Jack called the Great McKenna Outdoors, a piece he hadn't known was missing.

"You almost ready?" Chris asked. "They're expecting us you know," he reminded his younger friend. He had enjoyed watching as Vin almost blossomed before his eyes over the past few weeks. Being with his family obviously agreed with him and Chris couldn't help wishing they could stay longer. But work and Denver beckoned; there were criminals to put away and they were needed.

"Yeah," Vin smiled. Picking up his bag he headed out to the truck. From here they would go to the McKenna ranch once more for another of Leigh's wonderful meals before heading back to Denver. Vin couldn't wipe away the wave of melancholy as he thought of leaving his new found family behind.

"You'll be able to come back and they can always visit Denver," Chris reminded him, almost as if he had read his mind.

Vin nodded. Chris was right. He would be back again, as often as the job would allow. A few weeks ago he hadn't known the McKenna family existed or that he was a part of them, hadn't known what he was missing. Now that they'd found each other he wouldn't lose them again. "Damn," he suddenly cursed.

Chris looked up from putting the key in the ignition, "What?"

"I really do have to tell Steele thank you."

Chris laughed loudly as he turned the key.

The End.