Chapter 7
When they returned from horseback riding, it was like they all needed time apart. After cleaning up, they each went their separate directions.
Lillian found her notes, and then she called her grandmother. She needed to know what the woman knew. It was past time.
When her grandmother answered the phone, she could hear the excitement in her voice.
“Are you in Blessing?”
“Yes, Grandmother,” she said. “I wish you would have come with me.”
There was silence for a moment.
“I don’t think I can ever return to Blessing,” she said. “Too many painful memories.”
“Please, tell me, Grandmother,” she said. “Tell me what happened.”
“That, child, is none of your business. Let’s just say I lost a good man because of his stupidity and my unwillingness to forgive him. But I couldn’t do it anymore.”
Why wouldn’t she tell her what had caused them to move?
“I saw the bill of sale on the ranch. There was no money exchanged,” she told her grandmother. “That’s not right.”
There was silence on the phone. “Honey, there are a lot of things in this world that aren’t right. Your grandfather Paul owned the ranch. It had been in his family for generations, and it was his to lose.”
Lose. Why would she use that word?
How could he have lost the ranch?
“Grandmother, have you spoken to Grandfather Paul since we moved?”
“No, darling, he knows better than to call me,” she said. “When I ended our relationship, I told him why and that I never wanted to see him again.”
This was something new. She’d never heard that before. Sure, she knew they had ended their relationship, but she didn’t know she’d told him she never wanted to see him again.
That was why Grandpa Paul had never come around again.
“Do you want to speak to your mother?”
“No, I called to talk to you,” she said. “I wanted to see if you would tell me what happened. Living here at the Sweet B, that was the best time of my life,” she said wistfully.
There was a moment of silence.
“Are you there now?”
“Yes, Grandmother. I’m standing in the kitchen looking out at the pastures behind the old house.”
Her grandmother sniffled. “I know exactly where you’re standing. I loved that kitchen. That house, so much. Please, Lillian, don’t drag up the past. Let it go,” she said. “It’s too painful to remember.”
Her heart clenched with love for her grandmother. She didn’t want to hurt her. She loved her so very much and she didn’t want to cause her any more grief or pain.
“Wait a minute,” she said. “How did you get in that house? Old man Thomas moved in not long after we were evicted. That son of a bitch, I hate him. What are you doing there?”
Oh dear, what could she tell her? That she’d been sleeping with his grandson? With his best friend Nathan? What was she going to say?
“He no longer lives here,” she said, deciding to tell her the truth. “Ronald Thomas was injured in a horse accident. He’s paralyzed from the waist down. His grandson is over the ranch now. He invited me in to see the house.”
There was silence once again on the line. “I didn’t know he had a grandson. You be careful. Ronald Thomas is a snake in the grass. And if he raised his grandson, I’m sure he’s just as evil as his grandfather.”
She’d never heard her grandmother speak ill of anyone until now, and she was shocked at how the woman was responding.
“I’m going to get the ranch back,” she said.
“No, child, leave things alone. There are things you don’t know that are better left in the past. Your grandfather was no better than Ronald Thomas. That’s why I never wanted to see him again. We could have all been living on that ranch, but instead…Things happen for a reason. And it sounds like Ronald Thomas’s life took a decided turn for the worse. While I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, Karma is a bitch. And don’t ever forget that.”
Nathan walked into the kitchen and glanced at her.
“Grandmother, I have to go.”
“Listen to me, child. Don’t investigate why we lost the Sweet B or why your grandfather is no longer with us. Things are better left in the past.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she said, knowing she couldn’t obey her, knowing she had to find out the truth. “I love you.”
“Love you too. Now get home back to San Antonio,” she said.
“Soon, Grandmother, soon,” she replied before disconnecting the call.
Nathan stared at her. “Problems?”
“My grandmother wants me to stop trying to learn what happened, but I can’t.”
He nodded. “I think Cal would like for you to stop as well.”
She shrugged. “If I learn what happened, maybe I can put the past behind me.”
“Or if you continue digging, you might uncover something you don’t want to know,” he said.
There was that.
“I would like to find my grandfather, Paul Bradley, and speak to him,” she said. “Do you think you could help me find him?”
Lawyers had access to databases that often gave the last known address of people they were searching for.
“You’re not going to stop until you uncover the truth, are you?”
“No,” she said.
“Come on, let’s go to the office. Maybe we can find out something about him there.”
They hurried out the door. She rode in his truck as they bounced down the lane that led to the ranch.
Memories of riding down this lane came rushing back, the last time they’d driven down this road, her grandmother and mother crying, Her grandfather Kenneth driving, his face hard like stone while she knelt and gazed out the back of their car at the disappearing ranch.
The days, weeks, and months after had not been easy.
Often, she remembered seeing her grandmother crying and her grandfather comforting her.
“As much as I hate to admit it, I’d like to understand what happened. It’s not every day that a man gets a million-dollar ranch for nothing. What happened that Ronald received the ranch,” he said to himself. “Did your grandfather drink too much, grow anything illegal, or gamble?”
“My grandmother refuses to talk about what happened, so I don’t know,” she said, thinking about her warnings to let the past remain in the past.
They arrived at the office. His clerk was still there working. When they walked through the door, she handed him a handful of messages. “I’m leaving for the day. See you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” Nathan said glancing at the messages she’d taken. “Nothing of importance here that can’t wait. Let’s see what we can learn about Paul Bradley.”
In his office, he pulled up a chair so they could work on the computer together.
It took only a matter of minutes before he found him.
“Last known address is in San Antonio,” he said. “Hmm…”
“Oh no,” she said, glancing at the computer screen. “Look, he has a criminal record.”
She scanned the screen at the long list of offenses. Most of it was either stealing or driving while intoxicated. He’d even gotten married and divorced once again.
She wasn’t ready to return to San Antonio, but she would if she could see him. She wanted answers.
“Wait…he’s moved back to Blessing. Here is his current address,” Nathan said excitedly.
“Write it down and let’s go,” she said. “I want to speak to him.”
They jumped up and all but ran to the door.
“Do you know where this is?”
“No, but we’ll find it,” he said.
In his truck, he put the address into his navigation system.
“Why didn’t I know he was here?” she said. “I should have looked before I left San Antonio.”
Nathan didn’t reply but took the road that led out of town. They traveled for about ten minutes before the road turned off onto a dirt road.
There were shacks along the lane, and a nervous twinge zipped along her spine. She remembered him as a lively man who laughed and played with her. He was always working on the ranch. Would he remember her?
Occasionally, Grandpa Paul would argue with her grandmother, but they also laughed and smiled and were so very happy together. At least, that’s what her memories told her. But what if they were wrong?
What if her grandmother was right and she should’ve left the past in the past?
They pulled up in front of a small house that needed paint. It looked abandoned.
They stepped out of the truck, and Nathan pulled her behind him. “Stay behind me.”
The wooden porch creaked when they stepped on it and she feared they would fall through the rotten wood.
Nathan knocked on the door. “Paul Bradley, are you in there?”
There was no answer.
He knocked again, and a woman living next door opened her screen door and stared at them. “He’s not home.”
Nathan gazed at her and Lillian thought she’d never seen a woman who looked like she’d been through hell. A cigarette dangled from her lips and she would puff the smoke out through her nose.
“Do you know when he’ll be back?”
She shrugged. “His rent is due, so he’s hiding out until he gets his check. Then he’ll come back and pay me. Who are you?”
Lillian stepped in front of Nathan. “I’m his granddaughter. I would like to talk to him.”
The woman shook his head. “He told me he didn’t have any family.”
“We haven’t seen each other in years.”
The woman nodded. “I look for him to be back the day after tomorrow. His check comes in at the end of the month, and he usually gets drunk. Then he comes back and pays me. That is unless he loses all of his check. Then I’ll be looking for a new renter.”
This didn’t sound like the man she knew. Her grandfather had been an outstanding man who laughed and pushed her on the swing, colored with her, and had even gone to her school play. The man she described didn’t sound the same.
Lillian wished she had a photo of him, but she didn’t.
“Tell him Lillian came by to see him and that I’ll be back,” she said, knowing there was nothing here for her.
The woman nodded. “You might think about paying his rent.”
The woman looked desperate enough to cheat anyone she met out of money.
“I want to wait and speak to him,” Lillian said.
“Suit yourself. If some other drifter comes along and needs a place to stay, I’ll just throw his shit out in the road for the local trash pickup.”
With a sigh, Lillian reached into her purse and pulled out a one-hundred-dollar bill. “Will this hold the shack?”
The woman grinned and ran across the yard to collect the cash. When she reached Lillian, it was all she could do not to gag. The woman reeked of beer and cigarettes.
“It’s a start. I expect the balance of what he owes me no later than Tuesday.”
Since today was Friday, that didn’t give them much time. But she wasn’t here to bail out her grandfather, though she would consider helping him if he needed help.
Nathan and she turned to the truck and quickly climbed in.
When they were safely inside the vehicle with the doors locked, he pulled away from the house and turned around.
“Don’t come out here by yourself. I don’t trust that woman. Though I remember your grandfather from when I was a child, I don’t like the place he’s living. You must take one of us with you when you come out here.”
A shiver rippled through Lillian. “Maybe my memories of him are tainted. Or maybe he’s not the man I thought him to be. Why in the world would he live in a place like this?”
Nathan turned his truck back onto the highway.
“It’s probably very cheap.”
What happened that caused the man she knew and remembered so fondly to find himself living in such a dump?