Chapter Twenty-One
Trish never failed to surprise Brett. He’d thought she would be so emotionally fragile after visiting her father’s grave that she wouldn’t be able to deal with her mother and her ex-husband.
Maybe part of him had even worried that they would manipulate her again like they once had, and that she might wind up leaving with them.
That was why he’d tried standing between them and her.
He hadn’t wanted her to leave. The very thought of it had made his chest ache like his heart was being ripped out. She belonged here. But her mother had never seen that, and so he’d worried…
But she hadn’t needed his protection. Or Frankie’s. She’d handled the visitors on her own. Just as Frankie had said, she’d been fierce and fearless.
Or so he’d thought, but he saw a flicker of something cross her face as she turned to head into the house. “Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes, but we need to tell everyone else what just happened.”
“We should take an ad out in the paper,” Frankie said. “I wish I had taken a video of you telling them off. You were amazing.”
Trish smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I still don’t trust them,” she said. “And we need to tell the others what happened.”
“We’ll get everyone together,” Brett assured her. “Why don’t you lie down for a while? Take a nap.” He didn’t like the way she kept rubbing her belly. Was she having contractions and just assuming that they were false?
“I’m not tired,” she said.
“I don’t think I could have handled going that round with your mother,” Frankie said, “and I’m not pregnant. Brett’s right. You should take it easy for a bit. Watch your blood pressure.”
She uttered a groan of frustration.
“We know you’re tough as nails,” Brett assured her. “But you visited your father’s grave today and then came back for this…”
“Oh, that’s right,” Frankie said. “I knew I should have gone with you.” She glanced at Brett. “Did you go?”
“We just ran into each other there,” he said.
Like it was fate or something. Usually a thought that fanciful wouldn’t have entered his head.
But there was something about Trish that had him feeling it was all inevitable, that no matter what he’d planned for his life, it was going in another direction, one he’d never envisioned for himself.
“That must have been hard, Trish, and then coming home to those two…” Frankie shook her head, and her big eyes were full of admiration for her cousin.
Brett was in awe, too. “It was a lot, Trish, and as tough as you are, you’re also carrying two babies. You need to make sure that you don’t overdo it, for their sakes. I know they’re the most important thing to you.”
Clearly, the babies had meant nothing to her mother, which had infuriated Brett.
After seeing them on that monitor and feeling them kick from time to time, they were so real to him and already had their own little personalities.
The girl was going to be feisty like her aunt Frankie and her mom while the boy was going to be the quieter, more contemplative one. Kind of like him…
But these weren’t his kids. And instead of feeling relieved about that, he felt oddly disappointed. He already cared about them.
But their grandmother wanted nothing to do with them.
She’d been disapproving of everything Trish had done that mattered to her.
He couldn’t imagine how tough her childhood must have been with that woman as her mother.
No wonder the ranch had become so important for her; it hadn’t been just fresh air and animals and fun times with friends, like she’d said.
It had been her sanctuary away from disapproval and criticism.
Trish let out another sigh, but this was one of resignation. “Okay. I will lie down for a little while. But make sure that everyone is here for dinner, so we can talk.”
He nodded. “I’ll do that for you.” He would do anything for her, he suddenly realized. But she didn’t want that, and she didn’t need that. She really could take care of herself and her babies. And once again, instead of feeling relief, he felt disappointed that she didn’t need him.
As she walked toward the house, some of the tension eased from him. She hadn’t left with her family like he’d momentarily feared. But he couldn’t help but feel like he was still losing her somehow. Maybe just to herself.
* * *
Brett kept his promise, not that she’d had any doubt he would. Just as she’d told her mother, he was an honorable man. He made sure that everybody was at dinner that night. He’d even asked Elise to pick up pizzas on her way home, which she had happily done.
They all sat around the big round table in the kitchen, eating pizza and drinking soda. Joking and laughing. As Trish looked from smiling face to smiling face, her heart swelled with love and appreciation for all of them.
While Lucy and Elise had moved in after her dad died, the others had been here with him. Had kept him company. Had made him so happy that he’d wanted them to stay here even after he was gone.
She knew that now. And she wanted to make sure that wish was honored no matter what.
“The pizza party was a great idea,” Elise told Brett.
“It wasn’t my idea,” he said. “Trish wanted everyone to be here for dinner.”
“More plans for the ranch?” Liam asked hopefully. “Maybe we can stage kiddie rodeos. I’m sure my big brother can find a liability policy to cover those.”
Brett groaned, and Liam and Blake laughed.
“I could train them to become rodeo riders,” Liam continued. “I’m sure I can get Caleb Haven to sign up.”
“I’m sure he would prefer his uncle Dusty to teach him,” Blake said, but he grinned as if he was teasing his brother.
“I would, too,” Liam agreed. Then he glanced back at Trish. “I’m sorry. What are your plans? I’m sure it’s something great.”
He was so sweet. She used to wish she had a younger brother. She’d felt like she had sisters in Frankie and Maci, but she’d really wanted a brother. And she would have been lucky to get someone like Liam.
She shook her head. “That’s not why I wanted you all here.”
“What is it?” Elise asked with concern.
“Her mom and ex-husband showed up today,” Frankie said, her voice sharp with resentment.
Maci gasped. “Are you all right?”
She nodded.
“She was fierce.” Frankie praised her like she had earlier.
Brett didn’t agree this time. He just sat in his chair, his body tense as if he was bracing himself for her to continue.
So she told them the rest. About the accusations of fraud and the threats to go after the ranch.
“Can they go after it?” Blake asked Maci.
She sighed. “They can try.”
And knowing her mother and Harold, Trish had no doubt that they would.
“I should have invited Nolan to this meeting, too,” she said.
Frankie sucked in a breath. “He isn’t family, and you don’t need him anymore. You have Maci.”
“I understand,” Maci said. “He represented you in the divorce. And they could even go after him over that. He should be informed.”
Frankie groaned. “Let me know when he’ll be here, and I will make sure that I am somewhere, anywhere, else.”
Trish wondered about that. The estate was settled, so why was Frankie still here and not back on the road?
The ranch was probably in her blood, too, like it had been in Trish’s dad’s and like it was in Trish’s.
She loved it here. But if there was any chance that her mother or her ex could get their hands on a share of her share, she would rather give it up to the others.
To the people her father had really wanted to inherit and stay here.
But she hoped it wouldn’t come to that, that between Maci and Nolan, they could make sure that Trish’s father’s wishes were granted.
She glanced around the table then and she wondered for the first time if her father might have had other intentions. Everybody talked about how Sadie and Lem liked to matchmake.
Could her father have intended something similar? Blake and Maci were together, but that was more in spite of the will than because of it. Could he have wanted her and Frankie with Brett and Liam?
Elise hadn’t met Liam until after Trish’s dad died. She couldn’t imagine Liam with anyone but Elise. They were so in love. And Brett and Frankie were so much like brother and sister.
But she and Brett…
They were definitely not like brother and sister. He wasn’t family to her like Liam and Blake and the others felt like. But he wasn’t exactly her friend either.
He was just her partner. And it would have to stay that way for both their sakes now. She had already caused too much drama at the ranch, and now it was about to ramp up again. She touched her belly where a little foot was insistently kicking.
They wanted out. They would be here soon. And she wanted to raise them here on the ranch. She wanted to raise them without the drama, without the turmoil. But she wasn’t sure how to make sure that she ensured their future without risking everyone else’s.
* * *
Nolan shouldn’t have answered his phone, and he stared down at the cell in his palm as if it had betrayed him.
But it wasn’t as if he’d had to answer it.
He’d been pretty sure who’d been calling because the persistent woman had kept trying to reach him at his office. Then she’d figured out where he lived.
And now she’d somehow learned his cell number. She was as resourceful as she was persistent and so he’d finally answered her call. Maybe he shouldn’t have been avoiding her all this time. Maybe it was inevitable that it all come out anyway. All the secrets.
His cell rang again, and he swiped to accept. “Stokes.”
“Nolan, it’s Trish Dempsey.”
For a second he’d thought it might have been her calling back, making sure that he would really keep his word. She didn’t know him; he always kept his word.
But it was Trish.
“Haven’t heard from you in a while,” he said, and he sat up a little straighter in the chair in his home office. “Is everything okay?”
“No,” she replied.
He sighed. “I don’t want to say I told you so…” But he wasn’t surprised that he could.
“It’s not about the ranch,” she said. “Well, it is about the ranch. But not in the way that you’re probably thinking it is.”
He smiled at her vagueness. “What are you talking about?”
“My mother and ex-husband showed up at the ranch today,” she said.
“They found out my father died, and they’re claiming I defrauded them for not disclosing that during the divorce.
They’re going to try to get the ranch away from me and from the others.
” Her voice cracked in his phone. “We have to make sure they can’t do that. ”
“They can’t,” he said.
“If there is any chance, though, I will do whatever I have to so that they don’t get even a share of it,” she said. “If I have to give up my share to the others, I will do that.”
“Trish—”
“No, I’m serious,” she said. “My mother getting her hands on this ranch again—” he could almost hear her shuddering over the phone “—that would be the ultimate betrayal of my father.”
Nolan believed her father had betrayed her when he’d split her inheritance up with strangers. “Are the Lemmons making you think that you have to give up your share so that she doesn’t get it?”
“No, of course not,” she said. “They don’t know that I would sign away my rights.”
“And they don’t have to know,” he said. “There is no way that your mother or your ex-husband can get their hands on your inheritance.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, and I would be happy to show you the laws about inheritance,” he said.
“I need you to meet with my partners and Maci and assure all of us of that,” she said.
Her partners.
She had just as fully embraced the Lemmons as her father had. What was the deal with them?
“I presume I will see you all this weekend at the party?” he said.
“What party? Where?” she asked.
He chuckled. Sadie March Haven was certainly living up to her legend with her persistence in tracking him down and making him promise to appear at her party. “At Ranch Haven,” he said.
“You were invited to a party at Ranch Haven?” she asked. “What kind of party?”
“A welcome home party,” he said. “For you, Trish.”
Now her gasp rattled the phone.
“I must have ruined the surprise,” he said, but he didn’t feel guilty about it. There would be other surprises at this party. A lot of them.