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found Mike’s stash of coffee and brewed a pot. After drinking three cups, his nerves were even more on edge by the time the jet rolled to a stop in front of the hangar.
    He and Deidre rushed outside and waited at the base of the metal stairway. When he saw his parents’ stricken expressions as they stepped onto the airstrip, he knew for sure without being told.
    They’ve found Mom has cancer, and it’s terminal. If it weren’t, they’d have kept her in the hospital for treatment.
    Later, after Four had settled Mom in bed, he called Bye and Deidre to the ranch office and confirmed what Bye had already guessed.

Chapter Three
     
    She wants to enjoy the time she has left with her family, not spend it being pumped full of poisons the doctors say won’t buy her much, if any, time. His father’s words rang in Bye’s ears even as he railed inside at the sickness that was making Mom weaker every day. Seeing the pain she tried to hide tore at his heart, but he welcomed the emotion.
    Without it he couldn’t have had the joy of talking with her, learning what she loved most about the ranch, her life and her family. Bye knew he’d always treasure hearing how proud she was that he’d put his own spin on ranching with his wind farm and how happy he’d made her by doing something that would help preserve the beauty of the land she loved while providing another source of much-needed energy.
    For the past two months he’d been able to see his mom as more than the woman who’d soothed his bumps and bruises and always looked for the best instead of the worst in him. He’d gotten to know her as a person and a friend, learned what meant the most to her on a level he’d never explored before. For a guy who’d always fought the bit and tried to escape at every opportunity from the responsibility inherent with being heir to the huge Bar C, he’d enjoyed spending every day and every night here, trying to make enough memories of his mom to carry him for a lifetime.
    Now that time was coming to an end. He stood on the porch, looking out at Mom’s flowers and mourning because she no longer had the strength to go to her sitting room window and look out at them. Weeks ago she’d had to give up the morning rides around the Bar C with him, first on horseback and later in the Jeep once she’d become too weak to ride.
    An hour ago he’d had to leave her room or else worry her with the tears he could no longer hold back. “I love you, Mom,” he’d told her, a catch in his voice as he bent over her bed and kissed her dry, hot forehead. Then he’d left on the excuse of needing to talk with Doc Baines.
    Deidre had more fortitude than he. She was still in Mom’s bedroom, listening to her struggle for each labored breath. His little sister was determined to stay the course as long as there was life left in Mom’s ravaged body. It had taken all the strength Bye had to sound calmer than he felt when he’d called Four on his cell a few minutes ago and suggested he might want to come back to the house.
    There he was now, kicking up a cloud of dust as he roared into the driveway in one of the ranch pickups. “Why aren’t you in there with your mother?” he spat out as he bounded up the few steps and stomped mud off his boots. “You seemed to think I needed to hightail it back here from the northwest pasture.”
    “Doc Baines thought it was necessary. He doesn’t think Mom will make it through the day. I’m not in there with her now because it would hurt her if she saw me crying. Men don’t cry, or at least that’s what you’ve always told me.” Bye was hurting too bad to hide his feelings. He didn’t give a rat’s ass what his old man thought.
    “You’re damn right. I’ve let you spend the last two months entertaining Mae because that’s made her happy, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let you snivel like a little girl now that her time’s almost up. Get hold of yourself and come with me. It’s time we see that she goes in