Chapter 1
Abby stopped the small rental car and fell back against her seat. She was late. Her three siblings would have already arrived home, and they would want to hear about her wedding plans. She snorted and squeezed the steering wheel. There would be no wedding. They didn’t need to know the details.
She let out a loud sigh, and stepping out of the car, gazed at the house she had grown up in. She bit her bottom lip as memories flashed through her mind of laughing children chasing their father around the house. Although times like that were few and far between, Abby had to admit, she and her siblings had happy times growing up.
She peered up at the massive white brick building, a shiver running up her backbone.
The few occasions she had been home before her parents died, she hadn’t felt anything unusual. This time, though, her senses were heightened, as if something wasn’t quite right. She tipped her head and took in the entire building. Maybe she was just feeling uneasy because this was the first family get-together since their parents’ fatalaccident. The first timeshe, her sisters, and her brother would be home at the same time. The first time without their parents either about to go somewhere or coming from somewhere.
Once she’d pulled on her suit jacket, she slung her overnight bag over her shoulder. She had worn her favorite black pants suit for the trip to cheer herself up, but she regretted the decision. She felt overdressed. She twisted her hair into a spiral ponytail and clipped her auburn locks to the back of her head.
Drawing in a deep breath, she stepped up onto the porchand rested her hand on one of theheavy oak doorsfor a moment to center herself.
Physically, the house didn’t appear any different from the last time she saw it, but emotionally, it had her nerves aquiver. She didn’t like feeling apprehensive. She was usually the one who had it all together, the person her younger siblings looked to for strength when they werebeaten down by life. Maybe she was hungry.After all, she hadn’t eaten since that horrid snack on the plane. She hoped someone had made dinner.
She unlocked the door and slowly opened it inward, stepping over the threshold. Her shoulders relaxed as she spotted her brother’s paintings hanging on cream walls. Her eyes widened as her gaze caught on a painting with a black stallion rearing at the edge of a cliff, with a magnificent multicolored sunset fillingthe background. She knew immediately it was her brother’s work, but she hadn’t seen this one before and wondered when Garrett had hung the painting.
Before she took another step, Maxine swooped down the curving staircase.
Abby eyed her younger sister’s familiar blue jeansand low shoes, but her eyes lingered on the soft lemon shirt for a second. She thought it suited her sister’s dark looks to perfection, and it was much more feminine than the black or gray shirts she usually wore.
“Max!” Abby rushedforward and hugged her. Max, being shorter, wrapped her arms around her back and gave her a quick squeeze before letting go.
Taking Max’s arm in hers, Abby leaned back. “I love that shirt.”
“Thanks.”
Max allowed the show of affection for as long as it took to walk into the dining room then she moved away. Abby scanned the room. The table had been set for four, but no one else was there. “Where is everybody?”
“They’ll be here soon enough. Garrett might not talk much, but he’s a darn good cook.”
The sisters sat down in the same Elizabethan chairs they had used since childhood.
Max held the coffee pot up to her. “You still take sugar?”
Abby grinned. “Yeah, I’m still not sweet enough.”
Max laughed. “You’ll never be sweet enough.”
They sipped from their mugs in comfortable silence, and after a while, Abby eyed her sister. “I’ve missed you.”
Max smiled. “I’ve missed you too.”
“How do you like your work at the veterinary clinic? Is Rowan a good vet?”
“He’s the greatest and I love it, at least I love helping the vet with the horses and of course the dogs and cats are wonderful.” She made a face and shivered. “Not the mice and rats though. Why on earth would anyone want to keep a rat for a pet?”
“They’re supposed to be quite intelligent.”
“So Rowan keeps telling me.”
Although Abby was interested in Max’s career change, she really wanted to know how her sister was doing in the wake of their parent’s deaths.
“I can’t believe it’s been a year since Mom and Dad died,” Abby said, looking into her coffee cup. “You know Izzy’s been spending a lot of time with me this last year? She took Mom and Dad’s deaths badly, but I don’t know what Garrett is feeling. He’s so hard to read.” Abby smiled. “Maybe having all of us here it will help them move forward.”
“They’ll be fine. How are you, though?”
Abby’s smile wavered and she scratched a small itch on her neck. “I’m okay. What about you?”
