Dinh leaned forward, between the two front seats, and answered, "Amy's been out since we left the rental company's parking lot, back at the airport. Pat's asleep, too. Why don't you and Karen concentrate on getting them to bed?"
"Yeah, Dad," Kevin chimed in from the back seat. "Dinh and me can handle the luggage."
"Dinh and I," Steven corrected absently. He glanced across the cab at his wife, who shrugged agreement, then passed the van's keys to his oldest son. "Park her over by the barn when you're done," he instructed. "Kevin can show you where the gear goes."
Dinh nodded, tucked the keys in a pocket, and began unbuckling his half-sister.
Kevin shook his younger brother by the shoulder as his mother slid the side door of the van open. "C'mon, Patrick, wake up. We're here. You gotta walk to the bunkhouse, bro."
His 12 year old brother mumbled and opened sleep-filled eyes. "Huh? What?" he muttered, but allowed his older brother to steer him toward the door. He stumbled to the ground and leaned against his mother as she caught him.
"I'll take him over to the bunkhouse," she told her stepson. "All the menfolk sleep there at these things. We women take over the house." She smiled and steered her half-conscious youngest son toward the long, low building behind the house.
Steven reached the side door just then, and Dinh poured his sleeping five year old daughter into his arms. "Come into the house when you're finished unloading," he suggested. Dinh grimaced, and Steven added, with what he hoped was a confident smile, "Aunt Katie's probably waiting up for us, but the rest of them should be sound asleep by now." At least I hope Jake is, he thought. I'm too tired to deal with that old bigot tonight, and I want Aunt Katie on our side if-- no, when-- Jake decides to make a scene about my son. Since Grandma Michaels died, ten years ago, Aunt Katie was the only one who could keep Uncle Jake in line.
"I'll be in," Dinh agreed with a rueful half-smile. "Where else would I go?"
Steven chuckled at that, and headed toward the warm yellow light streaming through the ranchhouse windows.
Ten minutes later, the van was emptied of luggage and Kevin began hauling his parents' share inside. Dinh sighed tolerantly at the size of the pile left to be shifted. Exactly one bag, a battered duffel, was his. It amazed him how much this family seemed to need to haul along for a simple three-day weekend.
He climbed into the van and pulled it behind the barn, parking next to an ancient, battered pickup. Locking the doors was automatic, even though he realized it was wildly unlikely the van would be stolen out here, and he started back to the house.
Andy Travis jumped off the fence he'd been sitting on and headed back to the main house to see who had arrived in the van. He'd come out here two or three hours ago, when Jake had begun another of his tirades; this one had been against the Korean family who had taken over the grocery store in town last month. Andy'd never had much tolerance for Jake's nonsense, but he also didn't want to start the weekend by arguing with his cantankerous uncle, so he'd slipped out of the house and come to the back pasture, to starwatch and cool his temper.
As he came within sight of the main yard, he saw a slim, dark-haired figure round the corner of the barn and lean up against the paddock, watching the thoroughbreds. The horses stood, hip-shot and relaxed in the cool night air, brushing flies away from each other with their long, flowing tails.
Andy reached the other side of the pasture and ducked under the fence just as the barn door slid open and Jake emerged. Even from this far away, Andy could see that his uncle was still in a mood, his face set in a bad-tempered scowl.
The young man leaning on the fence was half-hidden by a pile of barbed wire, and Jake was a good five feet out from the barn before he noticed the stranger. "Hey, you!" Jake growled, belligerent as ever, "What're you doing there?"
The lanky figure turned to face him, and Andy sped up to a swift walk, just in case the young fellow needed to be rescued from Jake's bad temper.
"Just looking at the horses," the slim young man said easily.
Jake leaned forward a little, and his scowl deepened. "You one of them chinks moved into town last month?" he demanded. "I don't want you people hanging around my property, hear?"
The young man's back stiffened, but he showed no other outward reaction. "No," he answered, his tone a little cooler than before. "I'm not Chinese, I'm Vietnamese." As Jake's jaw dropped, he added, letting the words fall like pebbles into the silence, "You know, a gook."
Suddenly, Andy realized who the boy must be. Steven's kid, he thought, panic rising. My God, Jake'll eat him alive-- and began to jog toward the barn.
"Then what the hell are you doing on my ranch?" Jake shouted, face flushing with building temper.
Andy was near enough to see the boy's face now, and he was surprised to see only detachment there. "I'm here for the reunion." His tone was still completely level, if a little cooler than before. "You must be Jake. Didn't they tell you I was coming?" He folded his arms and rocked back on his heels. "I'm your nephew Steven's bastard son."
Andy stopped at the corner of the machine shed, near enough to interfere, if it became necessary, but far enough away to keep out of sight.
Jake paused a moment, obviously off balance, and snarled, "Why, you little son of a--"
"Whore?" the boy-- Dinh, that was his name-- interrupted, voice icily calm now. "She was, you know. A professional to the end, my mother."
Jake just stared at the teenager in blank astonishment. His jaw waggled up and down a moment, but no sound came out.
One side of Dinh's mouth quirked up in a mocking half-smile. "Nice talking to you, Uncle Jake," he emphasised wryly. "You're exactly like I imagined you." He turned on his heel and walked across the yard, hands stuck nonchalantly in his pockets, head high.
Andy watched in delight as Jake, struck dumb for the first time in living memory, gaped after the departing figure like a beached fish. After a moment the older man turned and stomped into the barn, slamming the door with enough force to rattle the hinges.
Andy stepped out of hiding and strolled after the lanky figure disappearing into the darkness, a huge grin plastered across his face.
Dinh managed to keep his control until he was behind the bunkhouse, out of sight of anyone watching. Then he collapsed against the wall and let the anger sweep through him, hands clenching into fists and gut tensing in reaction. He leaned his head back against the rough wood and took deep, ragged breaths, from his belly, fighting simultaneous urges to break his great-uncle's neck and run away from this place as far and as fast as possible.
After a moment, the shaking passed and he regained enough control to moderate his breathing. He called on old, old habits and began chanting the fourth precept of Buddhism under his breath, in Vietnamese, using the cadences to slow his breathing and settle his churning stomach.
As his heartbeat slowed and his mind calmed, he became aware of the sound of footsteps approaching the bunkhouse. He moved away from the wall and tensed, expecting Jake to come storming around the building. Instead, a broad-shouldered man with shaggy blond hair and a cowboy hat perched on the back of his head swung around the corner. He had an ear-to-ear grin plastered on his face and one hand held in front of him. His first words were, "Man, I wanna shake your hand!"
Dinh backed a half-step, warily. "Who are you?"
"M'name's Andy, Andy Travis? I'm one o' Steven's cousins," the man explained, still grinning. "Man, I gotta tell you, I've know Uncle Jake for thirty-five years, and I never thought I'd see that old buzzard at a loss for words! Congratulations, cousin. That's an accomplishment to be proud of!"
He extended his hand again, but Dinh kept his hands at his sides and backed off another pace. This fellow seemed genuine enough, but you could never tell... and now that it was over, he wasn't particularly proud of what had just happened.
Andy held out his hand for another moment, then let it fall at his side. The young fella seemed awful tense, but then, if Andy'd had to face down Uncle Jake, cold, when he was 18, he'd probably have been in knots, too.
He sighed. "Look, I didn't mean to barge in on you, if you need time to yourself, but I don't think you realize what you've just done."
Dinh, his face dimly lit by the glow from the bathroom window, scowled slightly. "I told a bigoted asshole I was everything he thought I was, and he didn't know how to deal with it," he snapped defensively. "They never do. So what?"
"Cuz, half of Jake's relations would pay money to see him taken down a peg," Andy explained patiently. "He's bullied, humiliated and abused me, your uncle Murphy, and just about everyone else in this family for years, and you just backed him down." He grinned. "You're gonna be a hero when this gets out. No doubt about it."
Instead of looking pleased, the teenager narrowed his eyes and put his hands on his hips. "Who's gonna tell 'em?" he demanded, a faint note of belligerence in his voice.
Andy's jaw dropped. "What?" he gasped. "Well, if you won't, I sure as heck will."
"Why?" was the completely unexpected answer. "It won't make Jake stop being a jackass. It sure as hell won't make staying under his roof for three days any easier." Dinh folded his arms and glared at his astonished cousin. "Why humiliate him? What's the point?"
"But--" Andy gasped, and stopped. To get back at him for all the times he made my life miserable, he thought, and realized how completely childish that sounded.
Dinh took a deep breath, let it out, and turned his back on the older man, hands clasping and unclasping at his side. "Look," he explained, "I'm a Buddhist. Not a very good one, but I try, usually. One of the basics of my religion is that your family comes first. Before you. No matter what." He turned back and crossed his arms, rocking back on his heels in the same pose he'd used to face down Jake. "So unless you can explain how humiliating Jake Michaels in front of his whole family will make things around here better this weekend, I'd just as soon no one else found out about this. OK?"
Andy thought about that for a long minute, and realized the young man was right. Rubbing Jake's nose in the fact that he'd been backed down by an 18 year old would only make him determined to make Dinh pay for it, somehow. As things stood, no one but Andy and Dinh knew about it, and Jake didn't even know about Andy. If they spread the story around, Jake would probably order Dinh off the place-- it would be just about his speed. And that would put Steven in the unpleasant position of backing up his son, and leaving-- which would make it damn near impossible for Steven's family to ever come back here again, while Jake was alive-- or staying, and looking like he agreed with Jake. Not to mention that the teenager was living with Uncle Robert right now, and forcing Robbie to make that choice would be downright cruel. Still, it would have been nice to rub Jake's nose in it, just a little....
He sighed, and nodded. "OK," he conceded, reluctantly. "I'll keep quiet about it. You've got my word."
The tall, lanky teenager relaxed a little at that, and his mouth curved into a rueful half-smile. "Thanks." He yawned suddenly.
"Look," Andy suggested, as inspiration struck, "why don't we go back into the house? I know for a fact there's half a blueberry pie in the fridge, and my mom's probably still up. I'll introduce her to you. That way, if Jake shows up before we finish, she can run interference for us."
"Blueberry?" The right side of Dinh's mouth curved up to match the left.
"Homemade," Andy assured him. "And you and my mom are sure to hit it off. She's the only other one in the whole Michaels clan, besides my grandma, could ever back Jake down." He jerked his head toward the lighted windows of the main house. "C'mon, what do you say? Beats standin' out here in the cold."
"Lead on," his young cousin agreed, and followed him into the light.
The Pewter Gryphon's Lair