* * *
Trish uttered theone word like she had the day that Nolan Stokes had been fighting with her partners. And like on that day, everyone fell silent with shock for a moment. Her shouting had to be even more of a shock for Harold and her mother than it had been for the others.
“My father was not gullible,” Trish said first. Her heart still felt raw from her visit to his grave. She glanced at Brett. “He was stubborn and proud but not stupid.”
“Still idolizing your daddy,” her mother remarked bitterly.
“No,” Trish said. “I see him clearly for who he was.” She stepped around Brett, who’d tried wedging himself between her and the visitors. “And I see the two of you very clearly, too.” She had no doubt about why they’d shown up here.
“So you’ve come to your senses,” Harold said. “You’re ready to come home.”
She snorted. “You don’t want me back. You don’t want them.” She patted her belly. “You’re only here because you’re afraid of my mother and you’re going to do whatever she tells you to do so you keep your job.” She lifted her chin and studied her beautiful mother. “And I get it, Harold, because I think I was afraid of her, too. I never wanted to disappoint her, but it was all I ever seemed to do.”
“Never more so than now,” Belinda said. She gestured at Trish’s belly. “You did this to yourself…and then you insisted on that messy divorce.”
“It was only messy because you kept telling Harold to fight me,” she said.
“But you hired that fancy lawyer, Nolan Stokes,” Belinda said. “Now I know how you were able to afford him. He knew you were due to inherit the Four Corners soon.”
“He started the divorce proceedings before Dad died,” Trish pointed out. “He didn’t know.”
“But your dad died before the divorce was final,” Harold said, “so you cheated me out of my share.”
Trish snorted. “You weren’t in my father’s will. He didn’t want me to marry you, and he was right. And he was right to split up the ranch like he did, too.”
“We’ll see about that,” Belinda said. “As a former deed owner, I should have had the rights of survivorship. This should be mine.”
“Former,” Trish said. “You’re not on the deed now. The five of us are.” She gestured at Frankie and Brett, who’d been curiously quiet. “It’s done. There’s nothing the two of you can do to get your greedy hands on it. So you better leave, or I will have Brett call the sheriff to cite you for trespassing. Sheriff Cassidy is his cousin, so he would be happy to do that.”
“What happened to you, Patricia?” her mother asked, her voice sharp with disapproval.
Trish smiled. “I’m not afraid of you anymore, Mother. I don’t care what you think of me.”
“And this man…” Her mother shook a perfectly manicured finger in Brett’s direction. “A ranch hand—”
“He’s not a ranch hand,” Trish said. “He’s my partner.”
“He’s like your father.”
“Yes,” Trish agreed. “A hardworking, honorable man.”
Her mother shook her head. “No. He’s not. And you’re not honorable either, Patricia. How you handled the divorce is despicable. Fraud even. Harold and I will be taking you to court.”
Finally, her mother turned and stiffly folded herself back into the limo. Harold quickly followed her like the lapdog he was. The chauffeur slammed the door behind them and shot an apologetic glance at her before getting into the driver’s seat. He backed slowly past them and their vehicles and back onto the road.
As the limo drove off, all the tension drained from Trish’s body.
“Wow!” Frankie exclaimed. “You were fierce, Trish.”
She smiled. “Yes.”
“You really were,” Brett said. “You didn’t need us at all.”
She only wished that were true, but she was very afraid that she needed him much too much.
* * *
“That visit wassure a surprise,” Sadie said with a smile as Bob drove off. Lem stood next to her on the porch staring after his son with such love and yearning. She squeezed his hand. “You can’t worry about the years you lost,” she reminded him. “Just about the time you have now.”
