I fight a smile as Mira’s eyes grow wide.
“I brought your mother here after she was delivered into this world,” Lolly says to Mira. Her voice hitches, causing a lump to form in my throat. “And I came back to these walls after she left.”
My attention swings to Mira as tears fill her eyes. I take a hurried breath, clutching the armrests to keep myself from going to her and pulling her into my arms.That pain… I know thatpain so well, and it kills me to have her sitting this close to me but still so far away. I’d do it, but it’s not my place.
“When I stand outside,” Lolly says, “I still hear her voice playing in the fields. Sometimes I glance out the window and think I can see you and your sister playing on the old tire swing that used to hang from the old hickory tree out back.”
Mira smiles through her unshed tears.
“I held your grandpa as he fell apart after losing his mother in this room,” she says, licking her lips. “When money was tight, this land fed us. When we needed a place to celebrate or grieve, we came home. Pop worked this ground with his hands … he touched every damn part of it. And that means something.”
I nod softly, understanding her point.
“I know you get it, Hartley,” she says, turning to me. “Your family did the same thing here.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I say.
Lolly takes another drink, steadying herself. Mira uses the end of her shirt to not-so-discreetly dab at her eyes. I try to keep my thoughts from scattering around the room.
I have no idea where she’s going with this. She said she doesn’t want to sell to Beardsley.So … what? What does that mean, and what does it have to do with me?
“So, kids, I have a proposition for you,” she says, sighing as she places her mug back on the doily. “You can take it or leave it.”
“What is it, Lolly?” Mira asks.
“I trust the two of you more than anyone to understand what this place means,” she says. “And I fear that when I’m gone, it’ll just be sold away like the memories didn’t mean a thing.”
My heart pounds as Lolly’s voice grows more serious. I run my palms down my thighs again, wishing that I had worn a T-shirt beneath this flannel.
“Of course, if you do decide to sell it, that’s up to you,” Lolly says. “And that’s fair.”
If we sell it?I sit up. “I’m sorry, Lolly, but I’m not following you.”
“I’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” she says. “And I think I’ve found a way to do right by the property, Mira, and you, Hartley.”
“Me?” I ask, my brows pulling together. “I don’t understand.”
“Yes, you do.” Lolly looks me in the eye. “This land means as much to you as it does to me. And my granddaughter?” She glances at Mira. “I think it goes without saying that she means something to you.”
Mira’s eyes flash to mine. I’m not sure what Lolly means by that, but there’s no time to consider it.
“I can’t just leave the land to you, Hartley, and the house and front acreage to you, Mira.”
“Why?” Mira asks.
I hold out my hands, my blood rocketing through my veins so fast that I think I might pass out. “I’m flattered, truly. Humbled, really. But Lolly …”
“Because if I let you inherit it separately, you’ll both do what you always do.” She looks at her granddaughter. “One of you will run.” Then she looks at me. “And one of you will stay until there’s nothing left of you besides the responsibilities you weren’t asked if you wanted to carry.”
I turn my attention to the hardwood floors, unable to make eye contact with either of them.
“If I give you this, independent of each other, I won’t just lose this place. I’ll lose both of you to it,” Lolly says softly. “And both of you deserve better than that.”
Her observations sting, but I can’t argue with them because she’s right.
But she wants to give me a piece of the property?
My mouth goes dry as I fully wrap my brain around this revelation. It can’t possibly be true. Even though it makes sense after listening to her, people don’t do this. They don’t give hundreds of acres to another human for nothing.
