Jessie looked up. Her gaze flicked over him and she smiled. "Nice jammies."

Brandt glanced down at the camo fleece pants and camo tank top. Okay, maybe they didn't match, but they didn't look that bad. "Hey, at least I'm wearin' jammies. Normally I sleep commando."

"Must be a family thing. Luke did too."

A perfectly natural comment, but for some reason it rubbed him wrong. He plopped right beside her. He leaned over and peered at the twisted ball of yarn on her lap. "Whatcha makin'?"

She held up a brown blob. "A mess. It's supposed to be a hat for my mom's husband for Christmas. It sort of looks like a cowpie right now, huh?"

"Maybe. But it don't smell like one."

"You're so sweet."

Brandt held his breath, expecting her to say something about Luke being sweet, too, but she just sighed.

"You wanna watch X-Files reruns? This is pointless tonight." She set aside her knitting. "I'm too wound up."

"I'm sorry you had a rough morning. Think tomorrow will be easier?"

"I hope so. I don't know if I can stand being the kid's last choice for the next four months." She expelled a soft, bitter laugh. "Although I should be used to it. Like father like son, right?"

That crack about Luke didn't sit any better with Brandt than the first one did.

Jessie sighed again. "Sorry. I should probably haul my cranky self to bed."

He reached for her hand. "Stay. Drink a beer with me. We'll heckle the bizarre plot line and wonder why in the hell Mulder and Scully don't just get it on already. Jesus. How long can they drag out the sexual tension when it's obvious the two of them belong together?"

She faced him and frowned. "It takes them a while, but they do end up together. We watched the last season, last year, remember?"

Not really. As usual, he'd been more interested in gawking at Jessie. "I must've forgot."

"You forgot that Mulder and Scully drove off toward a happy future?"

"Yeah. It's easier to believe in monsters because happily ever after doesn't happen in real life."

Jessie gave him a curious look before she tossed him the remote. "One episode. Then I'm going to bed."

Landon's behavior Tuesday at daycare was marginally better than Monday.

Landon's behavior Wednesday at daycare was markedly better than Tuesday.

Landon's behavior Thursday at daycare was good enough he stayed the entire day.

Brandt and Jessie had fallen into an easy evening routine-too easy. The three of them fed the animals together. They ate supper together. Brandt bathed Landon and tucked him in bed. Then he and Jessie watched TV together until one of them or both of them fell asleep. If she conked out first, he'd watch her like a fucking perv, but he couldn't keep his eyes off her. Something about seeing her so unguarded in sleep reinforced the idea she was vulnerable and strengthened his resolve to protect her at all costs.

Even if he was the one most dangerous to her.

So when they were offered a break in the routine, Brandt grabbed it, telling Jessie his mother wanted to have Landon for an hour or so after supper. But first on their to-do list was outfitting Landon for winter weather.

As far as shopping went, Brandt didn't mind the farm supply store. Tisdale's carried everything essential to ranching and he usually ran into someone he knew. It hadn't occurred to him that might not be a good thing until it happened.

He and Jessie were in the boot section of Tisdale's, trying to figure out if rubber boots worn over shoes were a better choice than simple snow boots. Since neither he nor Jessie had shoe shopped for a toddler, getting Landon to sit still proved a major obstacle.

"No. Put those back. We don't want anything with laces."

Brandt held up the camouflage boots. "But they have drawstrings on the top. They'll stay tied."

Landon reached for them with a possessive grunt.

"See? He loves them. They're hip. And manly."

Jessie grumbled and let go of Landon for two seconds. The kid was off like an antelope.

"Dammit, Landon, get back here." Shit. He wasn't supposed to swear. He snagged the boy by the waist and hung him upside down on the trip back to the boot department. Landon shrieked, the good kind of shrieks, but still, he was awful damn loud.

"Now sit on Jessie's lap and be a good boy so we can get this over with, okay?"

Landon nodded and Brandt grinned. The kid was already getting better at communicating and it'd only been a few days.

"Brandt?"

He whirled around and looked into the beady eyes of Margene Hieb. Margene and her husband Larry lived up the road from his folks. They'd been friendly neighbors for years until their oldest daughter, Pandora, became the walking wounded due to Luke's heartbreaking ways. Consequently, Margene took every opportunity to run her mouth off about anything less than flattering about the McKay family-and there always seemed to be plenty to talk about.

"Margene." Brandt peered over Margene's shoulder. "Where's Larry?"

"At home." She sidestepped Brandt and stood in front of Jessie. "Oh my. It is true. I wasn't sure, you know how rumors are, never know how they get started."

Usually by people like you.

"He really looks like his father, doesn't he?"

Jessie said not a word.

Margene sighed. "Such a shame that Luke won't be around to watch him grow up. It's an even bigger shame..." She shook her head at Jessie. "I don't know how on earth you're just sitting there, holding him, like he was your own. Granted, he is a cute little boy, and you were married to his father, but I don't see how you can overlook the fact he was born on the wrong side of the sheets."

"She can overlook that fact, Mom, because Jessie was used to Luke cheating on her, like he cheated on everyone before her." Pandora, mean, nasty Pandora, tossed her fat head and Brandt thought he might've seen a snake or two trying to slither out of her hair. "Honestly, the only thing that surprises me? That more of his secret spawn haven't shown up. The man couldn't keep his pants zipped to save his life."

Brandt looked back and forth between mother and daughter, mentally trying to slap a lid on his temper before his mouth opened and he said something he'd regret. But it didn't work. "Did that crack about Luke's character make you feel better, Pandora? You're still bitter that Luke dumped you...what? Ten years ago?"

"There is no time limit on the effects of infidelity, Brandt, as Jessie well knows," Pandora sneered.

"But there is a time limit on my patience and you've reached it. Now get out of here before I tell Pastor Jones you both need a personal sermon on learning and practicing forgiveness." Brandt looked over his shoulder. "I saw him around here someplace."

"You wouldn't."

"I would happily relay everything you just said and then some."

Huffing and whispering, they took off.

Brandt looked at Jessie. He started to say I'm sorry, but she shook her head.

"That's the first, Brandt, but it won't be the last." She pointed to the boots, the pair of snow pants and the University of Wyoming tasseled hat. "We're done."

After they'd paid and loaded Landon in his carseat, Jessie said, "I should've driven into town because after that fun time, I'm ready to go home. And no offense, but I can't stomach the thought of riding out to your folks' house with you."

"Okay. But my mom is expecting him-"

"Just take me to Dewey's. I'll grab something to eat while I'm waiting."

He started to reach for her hand, but stopped himself. "I'll keep it a short visit. But it'll be at least an hour."

"I can entertain myself, Brandt. I've gotten used to it in the last two years."

He pulled up in front of the Sandstone Building and she bailed out with a mumbled, "Later."

Landon was fairly good at his parents' place, considering his mother insisted on holding him all the time. And from what Brandt had seen of Landon, he wasn't the snuggliest kid. Brandt cut the visit short when his dad started in on him about prepping for calving season, which was still several months away.

Plus, he was anxious to get back to Jessie.

He texted her: You ready 2 go?

Her response was fast: Already gone. Walking home.

What the fuck?

Panicked, Brandt called her. "Jess? What do you mean you're walkin' home?"

"I couldn't stay in there another second. So I left. I figured you'd catch up with me."

Do not yell at her. "Where are you?"

"By the Shell station."

"Stay put. I mean it. I'll be there in ten minutes."

It took him eight minutes to reach her.

Jessie climbed in his truck without a word. She didn't turn around to check on Landon, who was asleep. She stared straight ahead. He was so freaked out about her fucking walking when it was fifteen degrees out, that he didn't say anything for fear of saying the wrong thing.

They'd gone about three miles in brutal silence, when she said, "Stop. I feel sick."

He eased the truck to the shoulder and she practically jumped out. He gave her a minute before he cut the headlights and checked on her.

With no moon, city lights or sodium glow from the interstate, everything was pure black-the sky, the ground, the hillside on the left, the sweeping valley on the right. The cold bit into him with sharp teeth.

No, the chill in his bones was from something else entirely. Fear.

Jessie teetered on the edge of the road, arms wrapped herself, nearly lost in that dark void.

Brandt moved in behind her. Close enough if she needed him, far enough away to offer the illusion of space.

"Get back in the truck and leave me alone, Brandt."

"Like hell. What happened?"

"The same thing that happened in Tisdale's. Not once, but ten times. I had ten different people, people I barely know, come up to me and tell me how fucking sorry they were for me. Sorry! For me. Like I'm some pathetic excuse of a woman that can't keep a man or birth a child. They're sorry that my husband ran around on me. They're sorry that Landon exists. It was horrible."

"Jess." He set his hands on her shoulders.

She flinched and shook off his show of sympathy. "Don't touch me. I'm so mad right now I just want to scream!"

Brandt could take it if she lashed out at him-physically or verbally. Instead of heeding her warning, he enfolded her in his arms, hugging her against his chest. Just as he suspected, she didn't fight him at all.

A minute or so passed and he whispered, "Still wanna do it?"

"What? Scream?"

"There's no one here but us. No one would hear but me and maybe a few mule deer."

Her body tensed.

"Come on. Let it out."

And she did. She screamed and screamed and it absolutely ripped his heart from his chest. Brandt closed his eyes and listened while she let that anger go. Let the frustration go. The hurt, she'd hang onto. He held her until the screams tapered off into sobs. She ended up facing him, her face buried in his neck.

"Oh God, it hurts."

"I know it does."

"I loved him. I loved him like crazy, so how can I hate him so much now?"

"You hate the position he put you in, not him."

She hiccupped. "This is so fucked up. Here I am telling you that I loved your brother, but I hate him, and you're trying to make me feel better about having those conflicting feelings, even when you can't possibly understand because you loved him."

"Yes, I did. But that doesn't mean I can't hate some of the things Luke did, Jess."

She tipped her head back and blinked away her tears. "Will this get easier?"

"The situation with Landon? I wish I could say yes, but I don't know."

"At least you didn't bullshit me."

"Honesty is always the best policy in my book." Brandt smiled and pecked her on the forehead. "I'm here for you. Anything you need."

Jessie shivered. "Thank you. We'd better get going."

"Good. And after hearing those excellent screams, I'm suddenly in the mood for a horror flick."