Page 78 of A Montana Rodeo Star

“I know her side of the story.”

“No, you know the facts. You don’t know what she was feeling when she made these decisions. You don’t know the pain she had to suffer. There’s a lot more to this story than meets the eye.”

“Not likely. Besides her personal experiences, I mean.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Brent smiled at his brother’s words. Then Tripp got to his feet and Brent handed him the photo.

His brother shook his head. “You keep it.”

Brent pulled the photo back and stared down at it as Tripp made his way down the ladder and the light slowly faded into utter darkness.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“Relax, will you? You’re allowed to be here as much as the rest of us.”

Faith glanced up at Tate. She’d known that her brothers were friends with not only Brent but his older brother. She just hadn’t realized that they were close enough to be invited to the wedding.

“This is a bunch of bull,” Jason muttered.

When she looked to her other brother, she found him staring daggers at the best man. Brent stood a foot behind his brother as the guests found their seats. Jason was probably referring to the fact that Brent still planned on leaving the celebration early. He’d put his foot down and he was going to compete in that event tonight.

She shrank deeper into her seat when Brent flicked his eyes over to her. To see the look of hurt in his eyes—the blame he undoubtedly placed on her—she couldn’t take it.

Jason patted her knee and she managed to look up at him again. He offered her a reassuring smile. “If it makes you feel any better, we’re not going tonight. We already talked about it and we’re not going to support Brent. Not after this.”

“But didn’t you know? You got the wedding invitation. And you knew about the competition. You knew he was planning on competing.”

It was Tate who explained. “We knew he was going to compete, but we didn’t realize he was keeping everything from his brother.”

Her own brothers shared a knowing look.

“Oh, so it’s fine that he wanted to keep his plans a secret from his parents, but you draw the line with his brother?” She hated the way she sounded at that moment. She hated that this whole thing happened the way it had. Brent was allowed to be hurt. His parents could have saved their sons so much heartache if they’d only been willing to open up. Their pain was deserved, and perhaps her opinion of that made her a bad person.

She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that they’d kept something so big from their sons.

Faith peeked at Brent and startled when his eyes met hers. It was brief because seconds later the Bridal March started playing. The crowd hushed and turned as one toward the beautiful figure striding down the aisle.

Wendy looked like a vision in her dress. But it was the look of utter adoration on her face that sent Faith into a different kind of tailspin. She only had eyes for her future husband and the same could be said about the look on Tripp’s face.

He’d gone through the same devastating news and yet here he was, showing everyone that he wasn’t going to let the bomb that had detonated change his path.

As if against her will, her eyes slid to Brent. He was watching the ceremony, now, a thoughtful look on his face. She studied his features from where she sat and all she could think about was how much he’d wanted to be a rodeo star. For the last couple of months, he’d turned his whole life into chasing that dream.

It was a dream his biological father would have been proud of. He would have followed in his father’s footsteps, she had no doubt. Brent was a rising star and if he’d only had the support system when he was younger, there was no telling how far he could have gone.

Did it excuse him from treating his family the way he was?

No, of course not.

And that was her problem.

Faith had never been able to avoid finding empathy for the people she cared about. Brent deserved to make his own choices without the fallout of his family’s moods.

She swallowed down the bitter taste in the back of her throat. There was only one thing left for her to do even if her brothers hated the idea.

The ache in Faith’s chest never extinguished. Yes, it had only been a day, but the distance Brent had put between them made her wish she could turn back time to when Hallie had asked her to keep the stupid secret and Faith chose to refuse instead.