Page 2 of The Inheritance At Bourton

She'd thought that a dozen times since finding the photo, and it still caught her off guard. The evidence of her parents' happiness felt like a betrayal. She’d never seen or felt that happiness. She couldn’t get her head around them being happy and loving.

The knock at the back door wasn’t a surprise. Leah knew he’d show up eventually.

Leah opened the door and said nothing. He stepped inside, carrying a container she already knew held bacon and toast. It squeezed her heart. He had been taking care of her since she landed in England.

She made him a cup of tea while he retrieved two plates from the cupboard. He opened the container and plated the sourdough toast and bacon. She put his tea in front of his plate and sat down. They sipped their tea and ate in silence.

She waited.

"There's a clause in the original deed," he said after he finished his slice of toast. "The language is old. It was never updated, not in your grandfather's time and not in your father's. It requires the estate to pass to a legitimate heir of William Ellsworth." He paused. "Madeline's solicitor has raised the question of whether your parents' marriage was properly registered in England. The Las Vegas ceremony was always questioned.”

"Vegas marriages are legal,” Leah snapped. “British people have their rules, but trust me, in the US, they are very legal, and there are more than a few people who wished they weren’t.”

"Apparently, it was never formally registered here. In England. Under English law." He looked uncomfortable. Not guilty, exactly. "Madeline's position is that without that registration, the legitimacy question is open to challenge."

She shook her head, trying to understand why Madeline was determined to take away the only good thing she had in her life.

"When did you find out?" she said.

He didn't look away. "Shortly after I learned you were going to inherit the property."

She stayed quiet. The silence grew as she stared at her plate, trying to take in what he had just told her. Two months. He had known for two months that her right to be here was in doubt. For two months, he had helped her plan gardens, fix up greenhouses, and dream about a future that might never happen.

"You didn't tell me," she said. Her voice came out flat. Emotionless. All that joy had been packed up and put away once again.

"I was trying to⁠—"

"Find a way to fix it. I know." She set the cup down carefully. "That's what you always do, isn't it? Try to manage things for me. Protect me from information you think I can't handle."

"That's not what I wanted to do.”

"It is." She looked at him, really seeing him. This was the man who had kissed her last night, even though he knew what was going on. "You've been doing this since I arrived. You decide what I should know and when, like I'm a child who needs to be protected."

He opened his mouth and closed it, clearly realizing he couldn’t argue with facts.

"Did my father know?" she asked.

"I don't think so. The language in the deed is archaic. I don't think anyone thought about it until Madeline's solicitor started looking for angles."

"Angles." The word tasted bitter. "She wants me gone that badly."

"She wants the land. She's always wanted it. The Hargrove property borders yours on the east side. If she can prove you're not the legitimate heir, the estate would likely go to auction. She'd have first right of refusal as an adjoining landowner."

Leah pushed her plate away. The bacon had gone cold. She wasn't hungry anymore.

“She’s old. She’s not going to live another twenty or thirty years. What is she going to do with it? Does she not realize she can’t take the property or the money she’d get by selling it to the grave? I don’t understand!”

“I don’t know,” he said quietly. “It’s a personal vendetta.”

Leah seethed. She didn’t want to have hate in her heart, but Madeline had destroyed her life over and over. Why? Why keep coming after her? She broke her mother. Ruined her father. When was it enough?

"What were you planning to do? Wait until Madeline's solicitor shows up with papers and then tell me? Surprise, Leah, you might not actually own any of this? Bye-bye. I just spent most of the money in the account to pay Gerald off. And now you’re telling me I basically just paid them to take everything from me?"

"I was looking for the registration documents. I thought if I could find proof that your parents' marriage had been properly recorded here, it would resolve everything."

"And did you find anything?"

His silence was answer enough.