There was no reason to explain what he meant. They knew.
“And you’ll do it because Bart says it needs to be done?”
Garth rolled his eyes at his youngest brother, Maverick, who’d been quiet up to now. “No, I’ll consider doing it because I think it’s about time I settled down. I’m thirty-eight, and dating gets old.”
“Speak for yourself,” Maverick said, grinning. “I happen to enjoy dating a lot of women.”
Garth shook his head. “And Walker got me thinking. Look how long he was a loner before he got married. If he can do it, then anyone can.”
Walker Rafferty was Garth’s best friend. A couple of years ago, Walker had met his current wife and now they were parents to twins, a boy and a girl they’d named Walker and Westlyn. Nobody thought Walker would ever remarry after losing his first wife and son in a car accident. Surprisingly, ten years later, Walker had fallen in love again. Garth was happy for Walker, and inspired to settle down, but honestly, he couldn’t see himself falling in love. He was convinced Karen was the only woman he was meant to love.
He and Karen had met in the Marines. They’d fallen in love immediately and made plans to marry after their enlistment. They’d dated six months and then one morning during a routine border check in Syria, her military chopper had crashed, killing everyone on board. He’d never even gotten the chance to bring Karen to Fairbanks and introduce the woman he’d loved to his family.
“Walker certainly does seem a lot happier these days, thanks to our cousin,” Cash said, intruding into Garth’s thoughts.
Garth nodded as he studied his cards. Yes, Walker had become the Outlaws’ cousin-in-law after marrying Bailey Westmoreland. Bailey was a cousin they hadn’t known existed until it was proven that the Westmorelands and the Outlaws were related. The physical resemblance between the two families could not be disputed, although for some reason their father still would not accept the fact that the Outlaws and Westmorelands were kin. However, like Garth and his siblings had told Bart, it didn’t matter whether or not he accepted the kinship, it was the truth.
The Westmoreland extended family spread from Georgia and Texas to Montana, Colorado and California. After growing up with no other relatives, it was fun joining the Westmorelands whenever they had get-togethers or family events, like the annual Westmoreland Charity Ball in Denver. Garth loved it whenever the Westmorelands and the Outlaws got together.
Hours later, after the poker game ended with Cash winning all their money, everyone retired to bed except for Garth and Jess. Although all six Outlaw offspring owned homes in Fairbanks, every once in a while, to appease the old man, they would stay under his roof at the Outlaw Estates.
Some people found it amazing that the six Outlaw siblings were as close as they were, considering each one of them had a different mother. Unfortunately, some of those women had turned out to be gold diggers. When the divorces became final, Bart’s attorneys made sure he was given full custody of his children.
Garth was the oldest. His mother had been Bart’s first wife and had come from a wealthy family. She had married Bart against her parents’ wishes. And when her family finally got to her, she had asked Bart for a divorce. He told her he would give her one but she couldn’t take his child. In the end, she’d left without Garth. She’d remarried a couple years later, to the man her parents had chosen. After marrying her second husband, Juanita pretty much forgot Garth existed. However, his maternal grandparents had left him a pretty hefty trust fund when they’d died twenty or so years ago.
Jessup or Jess, as he preferred to be called, was thirty-six and the second oldest, and had always wanted a career in politics. Jess’s mother, Joyce, had been the first gold digger, and Bart had ended his marriage to Joyce before their first anniversary rolled around. Bart had taken her to court for custody of Jess.
Cashen, who was usually called Cash, was thirty-four and the third-born son. Cash’s mother, Ellen, had been a decent woman and Bart’s third wife. In a way, she’d been too decent for Bart. She was soft-spoken and had tried bringing out the good in Bart. When she’d realized such a thing wasn’t possible, she’d left. Even with Bart’s threats, Ellen had called Bart’s bluff and tried to take Cash with her. In the end, she’d lost the custody fight after finding out Bart had friends in high places.
Sloan was thirty-two. His mother, Barbie, had been another one who’d picked Bart for his money. Although the marriage had lasted less than six months, that was long enough for Sloan to be conceived. Barbie’d had no problem leaving Sloan behind—for the right amount—when she split. She hadn’t been seen or heard from again.
Maverick, at twenty-nine, was the youngest Outlaw son and the most womanizing. Granted, all of them enjoyed their share of the opposite sex from time to time, but Maverick had his share and then some. His mother had been an exploiter, too. Rosalind was the one who’d been caught having an affair right under Bart’s nose. However, there hadn’t been any question that Maverick was Bart’s kid, since he favored the old man more than any of them. Right down to the cleft in his chin.
Last but certainly not least, was Bart’s only daughter, definitely his pride and joy, twenty-five-year-old Charm. To this day, Charm’s mother, Claudia, was the only woman Bart had ever loved and the one he couldn’t handle. And…she’d been the only one Bart hadn’t married, but not for lack of trying.
Claudia had refused to accept Bart’s marriage proposals. All five of them. The most recent was four years ago, when Charm had turned twenty-one. The Outlaws saw Claudia frequently because, unlike the other mothers, she had an open invitation to visit as often as she liked, but she never visited as often as Bart would have wanted. Claudia didn’t tolerate Bart’s grouchiness and seemed to bring out the best in Bart…if there was such a thing.
Bart hadn’t known Claudia was pregnant when their affair had ended. She’d left for parts unknown. Fifteen years later, Claudia reappeared with Charm in tow, telling Bart she couldn’t handle Charm’s sassiness anymore and for him to now deal with it.
Unfortunately, Bart dealt with it the wrong way by spoiling Charm even more rotten. It had taken the five older brothers stepping in and applying the firm hand their father had refused to apply. In the end, their spoiled sister had settled down. That didn’t mean she didn’t try their patience every once in a while, because she did.
“So, what’s the real deal with you and this marriage thing, Garth?” Jess asked, intruding into Garth’s thoughts. “Unlike what Dad thinks, I find it hard to believe you’ve gotten over Karen…although it has been close to ten years now.”
Garth glanced over at Jess as he took a sip of his wine. Garth was close to all his siblings, but there was a special closeness between him and Jess. Jess had confided his intentions to Garth when he’d decided to run for United States senator. Jess had won the election in a landslide victory. And he knew just what Karen had meant to Garth, because it was all in the letters Garth would write home to Jess.
Garth leaned back in his chair. “It could be twenty years and I still won’t get over Karen, Jess. I loved her too much. But I’m not getting any younger, and I want the same happiness I see that Walker and our cousins have. Besides,” he said with a chuckle, “I figure if I make the first step, the rest of you will follow suit.”