Western Connection

Chapter 1

Brady was grinning ear-to-ear as he stood in the three-way mirror, and caught Jake's eye as they heard a thump and a muffled "fuck" from the change room beside them.

"This should be entertaining," Jake chuckled. "You okay in there, Tanner?"

"Fine, just fine," came the clipped reply.

The shop clerk raised a bushy grey eyebrow and looked over at them both. "He doesn't wear suits, I take it?"

"He lives in Carharrt overalls," Brady replied, tugging on the lapels of the jacket he was trying on, feeling uncomfortable himself. However, if asked, he would wear a sparkly sequined dress and a tiara, if it meant Liz was happy on her wedding day.

His older brother's torment aside, a lot had changed since Brett had died and chaos had descended over the ranch last year. This included Tanner's ability to put up with stuff he previously wouldn't have, even if they were pushing the envelope by asking him to try on suits in a fancy menswear store.

It felt like a lifetime ago.

Most of that change was because of Jake. A half-brother they never knew about had caused a ruckus that could have been a soap opera script, complete with fist fights, cattle thieves, and drunken tirades. It had ended when Jake had decided to stay, and not long after, proposed to Liz, who had grown up with them when Peony, her mother, married their father.

Thankfully, Jake had bargained Peony down from renting ridiculous tuxedos, by offering to buy them new suits. The ones he and Tanner had last worn, at Brett's funeral, were possibly older than their oldest bull. So here they were. Jake was at home in suits and ties, and was comfortable as he stood to get measurements for a new one. He'd grumbled not long ago that none of his fit anymore.

Fresh Alberta foothills air and the past eight months helping out where he could on the ranch was good for him. They were slowly working the city out of him, as Brady had joked one too many times for his own good.

"Gonna have to bust out the big boy sizes for you," he remarked, and earned a smirk from Jake.

"Ha-ha."

"Just sayin', Liz is workin' you too hard," he offered as Jake wiggled his eyebrows at him and chuckled.

"Well..." Jake drawled as he shrugged off the jacket and handed it to the clerk. "She's a taskmaster... And a mornin' person, if you know what I mean."

Brady groaned and covered his eyes. "I did not need to know that. Thanks. She's like a sister to me!"

Tanner reappeared at that moment, opening the door of his change room with a huff. He was tugging on his pants, the pissed-off look on his face speaking volumes about what he thought of the whole process.

"These ride up my ass, and I can't move in this jacket."

Brady looked him in the eye, grinning at him, which earned him a disgruntled sigh and eye-roll. He pulled out the collar of the suit jacket, smoothing it down, adjusting the shoulders while Tanner growled and gritted his teeth.

"Stop fussing, it's not like you'll be driving a tractor in it."

"It itches."

"You're fine, just need to get used to it. Maybe you'll find someone crazy enough to put up with you, and when you get married, you can wear it again?" Brady teased, deciding to poke the grumpy bear just a little.

The look of horror that crossed Tanner's face made it worthwhile, and Brady started to laugh, catching Jake's shoulders shaking out the corner of his eye. The clerk was chuckling as well, looking between Tanner and Jake.

"Well, I'll tailor it so it's a bit roomier for comfort. Maybe a different lapel style? Wouldn't want the bride confusing herself between twins, now would we?"

That made them all bust out laughing, and improved the mood considerably. The clerk looked confused.

"They're not twins. Different moms," Brady explained. "The bride is their dad's widow's daughter— no blood relation, in this case."

The clerk ahhhed, his face giving away he was trying to make sense of the family tree at that point, looking between them. He beckoned Tanner towards the mirror to take his measurements and smiled at him as Tanner's forehead wrinkled. He flinched when the clerk touched his arm to measure under it.

"Won't take long, soldier. Just need a few notes," the clerk murmured through the pins stuck in his mouth and Tanner nodded curtly.

"Sorry. Not used to this."

The clerk hummed in agreement, and bent over to pin the hem on the pants. Brady ran his hands over some ties splayed in a circle on a nearby table.

It was an honest mistake, because if you looked from Tanner to Jake, they were spitting images of each other. Tall, wide shouldered, dark hair, dark eyes, and that ruggedness that made you think they could chop down trees with their bare hands. Like their father.

Temperaments, though, were vastly different. Jake grew up in New York City, away from his father's influence, while Tanner had taken after Brett lock, stock, and stoic barrel.

"And you're the friend?" the clerk eyed over at him, obviously pointing out he was not a tall, dark haired bulldozer. He topped out at six feet, had hazel eyes and auburn hair instead.

"He's our baby brother," Jake replied, clapping Brady on the back. "He keeps us from killin' each other."

Brady sobered at that thought, but didn't correct Jake. He was no more their brother than a pig could fly, a reminder mocking him every time he looked in the mirror.

He wasn't a true West. In all the mess of Brett dieing and Jake coming into their lives, he had found out that Brett wasn't his father. His mother, Veronica - Tanner's mother as well - had an affair. In the paternity testing they had done to certify Jake was who he said he was, the results had been a surprise, but also strangely, he'd always wondered, never really bonding with Brett.

Now he knew why.

He'd long thought about it, and came to the conclusion that Brett had known, but had raised him anyways, the entire thing a big secret. Liz and her mother Peony had it figured out who his father was, based on the way they handled the subject when it came up. Thankfully they respected him enough to leave it be until he wanted it known.

He'd told no one that he had a good idea who his father really was too. There was a lot of proof, once you put it all together, it was pretty obvious.

"Brady. You gonna go change?"

Brady looked up from the ties to Jake, his suit over his arm, back in his jeans and t-shirt. He'd fallen down the damned hole again. The anxiety was always there, just below the surface, popping up more and more often. There wasn't a day that he didn't think about his real father, and what he should do about it.

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, and stepped into the far change room. "We need to get Grumpy a beer for puttin' up with this."

Jake laughed at that, and turned to talk to Tanner while Brady found his change cubicle. He needed a drink too.

-----

They were leaving the store when Tanner slapped Brady on the arm. "Isn't that Keith?"

Brady looked to where Tanner was pointing. Sitting on a bench not far from where they were, was a grey-haired man with a trimmed beard. It was Keith, their former stable manager. A beautiful younger woman was beside him, holding a shopping bag, her long, glossy dark hair shining in the mall lighting as she tossed it over her shoulder. Then he noticed her scrubs top under her jacket. A care worker? Brady's stomach dropped as he took in the shiny metal walker parked squarely in front of the older man.

Keith looked up, and Brady met his eye. The recognition was there, and for a moment, neither of them moved. Then, the older man stood shakily, waving them over with a smile that went from ear to ear, instantly recognizable.

Brady hesitated as Tanner and Jake started over. Tanner looked back with a questioning glance. "You comin'?"

Of course, he had no idea why Brady would hesitate upon seeing him, and he needed to not be a shithead right now. He steeled himself, and made his way over to greet his real father.