This Hick?

Chapter 38

CHAPTER 38

CASSIDY

I walked to the bunkhouse feeling like I’d been struck by lightning. None of this felt real. If I didn’t feel the cold, I would think I was in a dream. But it was all very real.

The paperwork in my hand felt heavier than anything I’d ever held. My mind just refused to accept what they said. It just didn’t make sense.

I had always been a simple man, a ranch hand who knew the dirt beneath his feet and the sweat on his brow. A guy that never expected to own anything or be anyone. When I died, I might have a few buddies that remembered me. When they were gone, my name and my bones would be dust in the wind.

Now the world had just opened up in ways I never could have imagined.

Ginny and Kenny were sitting at the table. Ginny was practicing calligraphy with Kenny giving her pointers, which was about the most ridiculous thing ever.

Ginny looked up at me. “What’s wrong?”

“Looks like he saw a ghost,” Kenny joked.

“Did you talk to Karen?” Ginny asked.

I looked at her. “What? Karen. No. Why?”

“Nothing,” she said. “Knock off the dramatics. What’s happening?”

“What’s that in your hand?” Kenny asked.

I couldn’t find words at first. I didn’t even know how to say it because I still couldn’t get my head around it.

“Uh, I know who my mom is,” I said. “Was.”

Ginny frowned. “Your biological mom?”

“Yeah. My mother. I didn’t even know her name until fifteen minutes ago.”

They both looked confused. “What does that mean?” Kenny asked.

“My mother was Winslet Josephine Scott. She was the daughter of a Canadian oil tycoon. She chose her inheritance over me. She preferred a life of luxury over being a mother.”

They both stared at me.

“No shit?” Kenny said.

I sank into one of the chairs, rubbing a hand over my face, feeling as though I’d aged a decade. “She was nineteen. Got pregnant with me and decided she didn’t want to be a mother. She was afraid her rich parents would disown her and she would lose her trust fund. She abandoned me.”

Even saying the words stung. She wanted to live her life of luxury unencumbered by a kid. I was left to live a life of nothing. No love. No home. Nothing. I couldn’t get my head around the idea that a woman would choose wealth over her child.

Kenny and Ginny exchanged glances.

“I’m trying to understand here,” Kenny said. “I thought you were an orphan.”

Ginny shoved him. “You dumbass. He didn’t hatch from an egg. He was still born to a mother.”

“I know, but how do you know all of this now?” Kenny asked.

“There’s a will,” I said.

“Will who?” Kenny asked. “Will Mackie from up the hill?”

“No, idiot,” Ginny said. “Like when someone dies.” She turned to look at me. “You’re telling me she abandoned you, her own son, because she wanted to keep some money?”

“She didn’t even think twice about it,” I said. “She wrote in her will that she never felt like I was hers.” I tried to swallow down the lump in my throat. “Didn’t even care enough to try and be a mother.”

Ginny’s face reddened. I could practically see the smoke pouring from her ears. “What a vile, heartless?—”

Kenny cut her off and gestured at the paperwork. “You said she wrote you in the will? Did she leave you something?”

“Yeah,” I muttered, feeling the weight of it hit me once again. “She left me everything.”

“What is everything?” Ginny asked.

“The whole estate. And it’s not small, either.”

“How much are we talking here, Cassidy?” Kenny asked.

I could hardly say the words aloud. “Billions.”

I swore I could hear them blinking. I gave them a few seconds to process the news. I felt the same way when I read it. Hell, I still felt the same way.

“Holy horse balls,” Kenny said.

“Billions?” Ginny repeated.

Kenny reached for the letter in my hand. I let him take it, feeling like I was detached from the entire moment, floating above, watching myself. He skimmed the words, his eyes widening with each line he read.

“ This is family money ,” he read her words aloud. “ And you are family. My blood. I am an old woman now, and what I didn’t regret then I regret now. I never ?—”

“Stop.” My voice came out sharper than I intended. “I don’t want to hear any more.”

Kenny put the letter down. “Got it, man. Sorry. At least it sounds like she felt bad. Better late than never, I guess.”

“Are you okay?” Ginny asked.

I gave a shaky laugh. “No. I’m still processing.”

“She mentioned your bio dad,” Kenny said.

“She did?” Ginny asked.

I snorted. “Not his name.”

“What’s the story?” Ginny asked quietly.

I took a deep breath. “She said he was an ex-con. Older than her. She said he was trouble from the first day they met. She didn’t want to be tangled up with him. With the way she writes it, she was doing something amazing by not telling the guy about me. She was afraid he would find out they shared a child, and he would use it to get money out of her.”

Kenny and Ginny were once again staring at me.

Kenny scratched his head, looking uncomfortable. “Man, that’s rough. To think someone would just calculate their life like that. That’s cold-blooded.”

Ginny blinked back tears. “I’m sorry. I know it might be hard to believe, but I think you were better off without her. Yes, I know you had a rough childhood, but I think she would have been a terrible mother. She would have fucked you up.”

Somehow, her bluntness brought a smile to my face. Growing up without Winslet might have been a blessing in disguise. The lesser of two evils.

“Thanks, Ginny,” I said. “Maybe you’re right. It doesn’t make it sting any less, though.”

“So, what are you going to do now? With the inheritance, I mean?” She shot me a grin. “Maybe a new truck?”

“A truck?” Kenny said. “He could buy a whole dealership.”

I leaned back, staring up at the ceiling as if it held the answers. “First things first, I need a good lawyer. Someone who can help me navigate this without getting swallowed up by sharks. I don’t even know if it’s real. Part of me still thinks this might be some fucked-up joke or a scam.”

“It looked pretty real,” Kenny said.

“Which is not good,” I said.

“I get what you’re saying,” Ginny said. “There’s bound to be other relatives crawling out of the woodwork, especially with that kind of money on the line.”

“Exactly.” I sighed, rubbing my temples.

“Do you think her family knows about you?” Kenny asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I know nothing about her family. Zero. She doesn’t mention them.”

“This might mean you have to brace yourself. If they didn’t know about you, your existence alone is going to stir things up. And if they did know and kept quiet, well, that’s a whole other can of worms.”

I nodded slowly, the reality of the situation beginning to settle in. It was another layer of chaos. “Yeah. And here I was thinking my life couldn’t get any more complicated.”

Kenny started laughing.

Ginny and I both looked at him.

“What?” I asked. “Why are you laughing?”

Kenny gestured at the papers and black pens on the table. “We’re doing all this stuff trying to put on a big party that none of us knows shit about to make a little money. Why? We don’t need to do all of this. Cassidy you could buy Rocking Horse Ranch six hundred times over now.”

I looked at the paperwork, then I stuffed it back into the envelope. I knew what money like this could do to a man—and to the people around him. I’d seen folks change for a hell of a lot less. Greed did strange things to people. And I didn’t want to deal with the drama that came with a windfall.

“This money isn’t mine yet,” I said. “It’s sitting in probate. There are a lot of legal hoops to jump through. Like you said, there might be some cousin or uncle or someone else that contests it.”

“Damn,” Kenny said. “You’re an heir to an oil fortune. It’s going to happen, man. Your life has changed with that one letter.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it.” I got up and tucked the envelope in my back pocket. “As far as anyone knows, I’m still just Cassidy Scott, same guy I always have been. No one knows about this. I’m dead serious. Don’t tell anyone.”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to us,” Ginny said. “You’re you. Money or no money.”

Kenny gave a quick nod. “Got it, man. Our lips are sealed. But next time we go out, you’re buying.”

I laughed. “Absolutely. We’ll drink the top shelf stuff.”

“Hey, if probate ends by next Christmas, there’s this beautiful pair of cowboy boots in town,” Ginny said. “Absolutely darling. Think I’d look real nice in them.”

I chuckled. “Ginny, if it all works out, I’ll buy you those boots in every color they make.”

“Hey, what about me?” Kenny said. “One of those fancy Stetsons?”

“Guys, you’re spending money I don’t have,” I said. “If I get rich, I will absolutely take you on one hell of a shopping spree.”

Ginny got quiet. “You know we’re only teasing, right?” she asked quietly. “We would never use you for your money or expect anything from you.”

I knew in my heart they were true friends. “I know, Ginny,” I said. “I know.”

Kenny clapped me on the shoulder. “I’m mostly joking. I do expect a couple of free drinks though. I don’t need a fancy hat. It’d just get ruined anyway.”

I laughed and nodded, “Drinks are on me, no worries there.” I picked up my own hat from the back of my chair. “Enough business talk for now, yeah?”

“Will you be accepting Christmas wish lists?” Kenny asked.

“Of course. For now, you better keep working on those fancy little cards. If the money doesn’t come through, we’re going to need that party to be amazing. Or we’re all going to be fighting for the biggest cardboard box we can find.”

“Well, I’m going to work on this then,” Ginny said. “I don’t want to be stuck in a box with you two. The bunkhouse is bad enough.”

“You’re the one that snores,” I reminded her.

“Keep talking and you’re going to want to sleep with one eye open,” she warned.

“Let’s go,” I said to Kenny. “We’re not going to be eating caviar and drinking champagne anytime soon. We’ve got fences to fix and shit to shovel.”

Kenny groaned. “Can’t you just be rich already?”

“Sorry. I’m still the same broke bastard you’ve always known.”

“I can’t believe I’m hanging out with a soon-to-be oil baron,” he said. “Are you going to start combing your hair?”

“It could still be nothing,” I said. “You know what they say about counting your chickens before they hatch. Let’s just pretend it never happened. We go on like we always have.”

“That’s how you want to play it?” Kenny asked. “You don’t want to do a little dreaming?”

I shrugged. “It’s the safest way.”

“Alright, we’ve got your back.”

“Let’s go. Those fences won’t fix themselves.”

I might be on the verge of being a billionaire, but the ranch still needed our attention. The cows weren’t going to feed themselves and the fences certainly weren’t going to magically mend themselves. I didn’t want to get stars in my eyes.

“So, talked to Karen today?” Kenny asked.

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?”

“I was just wondering. I haven’t seen her around.”

“She’s taking a couple of days off, apparently,” I said. “We get to pick up her slack.”

“You mean Ginny’s chores?”

“Yeah, same thing. She’s got her friends. Basically, she’s a guest, no longer one of us.”

“Bummer.”