Chapter One
The big black car drove up the lane toward the barn, pulling up just short of the doors. Dust swirled, coating the shiny paint with a fine film of good country dirt.
Liz leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, a frown on her face. The only time black cars like this showed up was when something bad was coming. The past few weeks had been nothing but bad, so her radar was up. She straightened and steeled herself to deal with whoever it was that had arrived.
The driver-side door opened and her stepfather’s attorney poked his salt-and-pepper head out, expensive sunglasses winking in the early afternoon sun.
“Hello, there!” he shouted as he waved, a big, lawyer-sized grin on his face. Liz’s insides clenched. It wasn’t that Frank was a terrible person; he was nice enough. It just meant dealing with more of the shit left behind when Brett West had keeled over three weeks ago, dead as a doornail, leaving the entire ranch, and her family, in the lurch.
“Frank! What brings you out this way?” she asked, being as friendly as possible and walking toward the car, wiping her hands down her jeans.
Frank grabbed her hand and shook it vigorously as he lifted his sunglasses.
“Elizabeth, my girl! I’m here with some paperwork for your mom, Tanner, and Brady to sign. Going to finally read this dang will too. They about?”
Liz nodded and pointed back at the cattle operation barns. “I’ll walk you over to the boys. Good drive from the city?”
Frank nodded and hefted his briefcase, smiling again, a flash of perfect white teeth punctuating the moment as he slammed the car door. Liz wondered why he couldn’t have couriered the paperwork, but then she didn’t pretend to understand how legal stuff worked. Plus, you had to be in person to read a will, didn’t you?
They walked in silence, Liz’s well-worn work boots a contrast to Frank’s shiny dress shoes. They were expensive leather; she could at least tell that. They’d buried Brett in his best boots, a beautifully tooled pair of Boulets that he hadn’t been able to wear for years because his gout made wearing them painful. She hoped, wherever he was, that he was enjoying the fact that he’d gotten to wear them one more time.
Tanner was coming around the corner of the barn when they walked up, and he stopped, his frown mirroring Liz’s.
“Frank! What brings you out this way?”
Frank chuckled and stepped forward, shaking Tanner’s hand. Tanner’s eyes narrowed, and he shared a look with Liz. Obviously he was also feeling apprehensive about an unexpected visit from his dad’s lawyer.
“I have some papers for you to sign, son, and I need to chat with you, Peony, and Brady. I also have the will ready to read.”
Tanner nodded and gestured to the office off one side of the large cattle barn. Liz turned to go. This was none of her business; she wasn’t blood family. She had things to do.
“Liz, wait. You’re part of this family too.”
She turned. Tanner was beckoning her with an outstretched hand, waiting for her to follow them. She sighed and followed him reluctantly. Damn it, he was right. Her mother might need her.
Tanner jabbed angrily at his phone with one finger as they entered the office, and a few minutes later her mother poked her head in the door.
“Frank! What brings you out this way?” she said as she sat in one of the beat-up old chairs by Brady’s desk, shooing a cat from it with little kissy noises. The cat scurried out the door toward the main barn, hissing. Liz wished she could do the same thing, hightailing it out instead of clamping down on the uneasy feeling something bad was about to happen.
Frank chuckled again and threw up his hands, his grin wider, the humor in him bubbling out. “If Brady asks me the same thing, I may just lose my mind.”
Liz smiled despite her sour mood. Family thought alike, it seemed.
“Now, Frank, don’t you dare. I need that mind to deal with the mess my husband went and put us in,” Peony chided, her own large smile mirroring his. Liz watched her mother delicately cross her legs, wincing slightly at the pain, and she gave her a concerned look, to which her mother made a sourpuss face back.
“Frank! What brings you out—” Brady said, then stopped as everyone else broke into laughter.
Frank threw up his arms, and Brady looked around in confusion, but let it go as Frank pulled his briefcase over and opened it, signaling it was time for business.
“Okay. I have some standard forms for the old man’s personal bank accounts, that kind of stuff,” Frank said as he passed a sheaf of documents to Peony. She glanced at them quickly then handed them to Tanner, who then proceeded to read them over carefully.
“Says here to transfer all remaining personal balances to the working accounts on the ranch, then close them. Can he do that? What about Peony?” Tanner asked abruptly, looking up sharply from the papers. “Doesn’t she get to have a livable income?”
“Now, hang on, Tanner. I’m sure that’s not the case,” Peony said, while Brady peeked over Tanner’s shoulder. Tanner pointing out the line to him, and Brady sucked in a breath.
“All of it?” he murmured, eyes swiveling to his stepmother.
Frank folded his hands, and Liz’s guts clenched. Here it was. The real reason he’d driven out with the documents and the will on the same day, instead of sending them by fax or email. She knew it. Bad was happening.
