Chapter Four
Once Trish pulled the front door closed behind herself and her lawyer, the room fell as eerily silent as it had been when Brett first walked in a short while ago. Even Lucy had stayed quiet after Trish shouted at everyone to stop.
“So that went well…” Maci remarked. “I’ll be surprised if you don’t get sued for slander, Frankie.”
Her voice sharp with defensiveness, Frankie said, “He can’t sue me for speaking the truth.”
Brett wondered what the truth was. He glanced out the window to where Trish stood with Stokes in the narrow space between Brett’s truck and the Hummer.
Were they more than client and attorney?
If they had a personal relationship, it would explain why Stokes seemed so protective of her and so invested in what happened with the ranch that he’d personally spied on them.
Or maybe Brett just thought that because of the constant coupling up and matchmaking happening all around him. It was possible that Stokes was actually the good guy his reputation claimed he was, and he just felt sorry for Trish and all the suffering she’d endured.
He wondered what exactly Trish Dempsey had been through besides what sounded like a nasty divorce. But, more importantly, why did he even care? Was it just because he’d been close with the man who’d loved her most, her father?
“You still need to be careful,” Maci told Frankie. “He seems to have a lot of influence over Trish, and we don’t want him to turn her against us any more than he already has.”
“Why?” Brett wondered aloud now. “Why would he do that? I don’t understand what he stands to gain.” Unless he had a personal interest in Trish or maybe in the Four Corners.
“A bigger fee,” Frankie said. “More money in his already deep pockets.”
Brett shook his head as he studied them through the window.
“This seems personal to him for some reason.” But as he studied them, he didn’t pick up on anything romantic between them.
He had definitely just let Lem and Sadie’s matchmaking make him suspicious of a romance.
The man didn’t touch Trish, and she didn’t touch him.
They really didn’t even look at each other; instead, they kept glancing at the house.
They probably saw him standing there, watching them, but he didn’t care.
He wanted Stokes to know that he was keeping an eye on him.
He definitely didn’t trust the man. There was something about him, something that crept under Brett’s skin, needling him.
Did he remind him of someone?
Brett’s sister had once been engaged to a narcissist, but that neurosurgeon hadn’t looked or acted anything like Stokes. He had been very controlling of Livvy, though. Was Stokes trying to control Trish?
She’d made it clear that wasn’t going to happen, that whatever she was doing would be her decision. But what was that decision?
Was she going to keep fighting the will? Or would she find a way to work together with the other heirs?
Finally, Stokes hopped into his Hummer—or, rather, squeezed in between his vehicle and Brett’s truck. Then he backed slowly down the driveway.
Trish seemed to take a deep breath, then square her shoulders before she headed toward the house, as if she needed to brace herself to deal with them.
Brett thought back to how she had looked when he’d finally glanced up and realized she’d overheard everything he’d said about her, and he could understand why Stokes would feel the need to protect her. She seemed so vulnerable, and all alone.
He’d apologized once. But she was right.
He was only sorry that she’d heard him. It was how he felt—that she hadn’t treated her father well, that she didn’t really deserve any part of the ranch.
But she was Frank’s family, like Frankie, and Frank had included her in the will just like he had Brett and his brothers.
The hinges creaked as the door opened, and she stepped back inside the house.
Elise broke the silence now, jumping up from the couch to greet her. “Trish, I’m sorry we didn’t have a chance to introduce ourselves yet. I’m Elise, Liam’s wife.” She gestured for Liam to stand and join them near the door. She pointed at him. “This is Liam and our daughter, Lucy.”
Trish smiled at the baby, and something about the look on her face, the wistfulness of it, struck a chord inside Brett. “She’s beautiful,” she said. “I’m happy to meet you, Elise. And Liam.”
“This is Blake,” Maci said, as she grabbed his hand and pulled him forward. “Stokes probably already told you about us. That we’re seeing each other, but that just happened recently.”
Trish shook her head. “I didn’t know for certain. But the way he looks at you…” That wistfulness was in her voice now. “That’s great.”
“You don’t care?” Maci asked with surprise.
Brett nearly chuckled.
“Why would I?” Trish asked. “I’m not a fan of marriage anymore, myself, but that’s my personal choice.”
She sounded so much like her father now.
And like Brett. After seeing how Frank Dempsey’s divorce had nearly destroyed him, Brett wasn’t a fan of marriage either.
He didn’t want to risk getting hurt like his friend had.
His dad hadn’t divorced, but losing Brett’s mom to cancer had nearly destroyed him. No, he was definitely not a fan.
While he chuckled, Maci and Blake heaved huge sighs of relief.
“What?” she asked looking from him to the couple. “I don’t understand…”
“These two were worried that you or Stokes would use their relationship against the rest of us,” Brett explained. “Blake was even willing to sign away his rights to his inheritance to avoid any backlash against Maci or the other heirs.”
“Backlash?” Trish shook her head. “I don’t understand how that could be used against anyone.”
“You were contesting the will I wrote,” Maci said. “I did everything right. The only way to legally contest it would be to prove a fraud of some kind had been perpetuated. Like I wrote the will that way because I would benefit from it somehow.”
Trish shook her head. “I would never think that of you, Maci.”
Maci let out another huge sigh. Then she blinked as tears rushed to her eyes.
Blake put his arm around her, drawing her close to him. “See, I told you.”
“I did wonder about the rest of you, though,” Trish said. But Brett was the only one she looked at as she continued, “I wondered how ranch hands were suddenly included in his will. It didn’t make sense to me.”
Brett sucked in a breath. “Ranch hands?”
Frankie laughed. “You really have no idea what was going on with the ranch,” she said. “Uncle Frank nearly lost it because he had to refinance to buy your mom out in the divorce. The mortgage payments were so high that he struggled to make them.”
Trish shook her head. “That’s not true. He didn’t do that. He chose to have less custody of me, so that he could keep the ranch.”
“Let me guess? Your mother told you that,” Frankie said, stepping closer and staring intently at her. “That wasn’t true.”
“It wasn’t like she told me that outright,” Trish said. “I accidentally overheard her saying it.”
“When?”
“When I got home after that last summer, before I left for college.”
“The last time you were here,” Frankie said. “I wish you had talked to me about that. I wish you had talked to me before you hired Stokes. Why did you shut us all out, Trish?”
Brett cleared his throat. “Uh, maybe you, Maci and Trish should have this conversation in private,” he said to Frankie.
He didn’t think it was fair for Trish to have to share everything with strangers.
He looked at his brothers and Elise. “We can head out to the barn for a bit.” He started toward the door, confident that the others would follow his lead.
But when he reached for the handle, a hand closed over his. A small female hand.
It wasn’t Elise’s.
He knew that from the jolt of awareness that shot through him. Elise was like a sister to him. So were Frankie and Maci. But Trish was not.
For some reason, he found this irritating, independent, very pregnant woman attractive.
And now knowing that she hadn’t stayed away from her father because she hadn’t cared, but because she’d been hurt, changed a lot for Brett.
He didn’t resent her anymore; he understood that she hadn’t thought she’d mattered that much to her own father.
And his will must have reinforced that false notion she’d had, hurting her even more.
But understanding her was more dangerous than resenting her because now he didn’t want to fight with her anymore.
He wanted to fight for her.
* * *
Trish had reached out to stop Brett from leaving, but once her hand touched his, she lost all reason for a moment. She actually felt a little lightheaded as sensations rushed through her, making her nerves tingle.
What was this?
She hadn’t reacted giddily to a touch like this in…ever, maybe? This was even headier than when she, Frankie and Maci had had a crush on a very attractive ranch hand years ago. But Brett wasn’t a ranch hand; he’d seemed to take offense when she’d said that.
What was he?
More sensitive than she would have thought, because he’d been willing to leave her alone to have this conversation with just Frankie and Maci. That was what she’d wanted when she’d driven to Maci’s house that morning.
But now…
She knew that it didn’t matter. Her father’s will had entwined her life with the Lemmons’. Hers and Maci’s and Frankie’s.
“Stay,” she said. “I promised that I would explain what was going on to everyone.”
“Why you’re contesting the will,” Maci said. “We all deserve to know the reason.”
Maybe Maci most of all, because she’d written it. And as Frankie had told Trish in a voicemail, Maci had been incredibly stressed out over it. So much so that she’d even passed out once or twice.