Surprise Inheritance

by Charlotte Douglas

  “You look wonderful.” Jennifer meant every word. Except for the whiteness of his hair, the thin, lanky retired librarian appeared exactly as she remembered him from her childhood days, when she and Vickie would escape the summer heat in the coolness of the stacks of the library. Finn had always had just the right story to recommend, and he had nurtured in them—and every child in Jester—a love of books and reading.

  Moisture gathered in his eyes. “That’s sweet of you to say so. And you—you look so much like your grandmother it’s uncanny.”

  “Thanks, Uncle Finn. That’s one of the nicest things anyone could ever say to me.” She remembered Luke used to tell her the same thing.

  Jennifer glanced up the street after Luke. His long-legged stride ate up the pavement, reminding her of the heroic lawmen of the reruns of old Westerns she’d watched as a kid. Over six feet tall, with broad shoulders, narrow hips and a subtle confidence, he was an imposing presence, one she was certain folks in Jester found comforting, knowing he was safeguarding their lives and belongings. Just being near Luke had always made her feel safe, secure. Treasured. She pushed the old emotions and the longings they created away. That had been another life, another time that she would never capture again.

  She noted that Luke hadn’t yet reached the town hall, and she could be in for a long wait. She turned back to Finn. “Let me buy you a cup of coffee. You can tell me all about your family.”

  At the door of the diner, Shelly, looking pretty and healthy in the first blush of her pregnancy, greeted them cheerfully, showed them to a booth and poured them cups of steaming coffee.

  “Come by the house while you’re here, Jenny,” she invited. “We have a lot to catch up on. And I want you to meet Connor.”

  Once Shelly had left them alone, Finn ran through the activities of his children and grandchildren, who had kept his life full and active since the death of his wife, Hester, twenty years earlier. Finally Jennifer broached a subject that had weighed on her mind for the last ten years.

  “Tell me about Grandpa Henry, Finn.”

  He reached across the table and gently squeezed her hand. “He died peacefully, in his sleep.”

  “You told me that in your letter. I want to know about the last years of his life, after I left Jester.”

  Finn shook his head sadly. “Henry was a sad case. First Dolly’s death, then your leaving… You broke his heart, Jenny.”

  “I broke his heart? Uncle Finn, he threw me out!” Jennifer clasped a hand over her mouth in horror. She hadn’t meant to tell her awful secret, but at the unfairness of Finn’s accusation, the words had flown out, of their own accord.

  Shock registered clearly on the old man’s face. “I can’t believe that.”

  Indignation burned through her. “Do you think I’d lie about something that terrible?”

  Finn squeezed her hand again. “Of course not. You’ve always told the truth.” He paused, as if trying to assimilate what she’d told him. “Why did he make you leave? An argument?”

  She shook her head. “We never exchanged a cross word. The day after Gramma’s funeral he told me I had to go and never come back. He wouldn’t say why. I was hoping you could tell me.”

  Finn scratched his head, and the fine lines of his face settled into a perplexed expression. “That just doesn’t sound like Henry. But then he was never the same after your grandmother’s death.”

  “How?”

  Finn dumped extra sugar into his coffee and swirled it with his spoon. “He rarely smiled, even at a good joke. Lost all interest in the farm—and his appearance. Most of the time, he looked like a vagrant. Didn’t eat. Couldn’t sleep.”

  “Grieving?” Jennifer felt her heart clench with guilt. Her grandfather had been terribly unhappy, and she hadn’t been there to help him through his sorrow.

  Finn sipped his coffee, then shook his head. “He mourned your grandmother, but it went deeper than that. I think it was a deep depression he couldn’t shake.”

  Jennifer wrapped her cold hands around her cup to warm them, but nothing could shake the chill in her heart at the image of her grandfather’s unhappiness.

  “I’m no therapist,” Finn continued, “but I read every book on depression I could get my hands on, and Henry had all the symptoms. I tried to get him to talk to Doc Perkins. Figured one of those new antidepressants might perk him up, but Henry flat-out refused. Said pills couldn’t undo what bothered him. That nothing could undo it now.”

  “Did he ever talk about me?”

  The old man’s shoulders slumped. “I wish I could tell you otherwise. At first I tried to convince him to contact you, but he wouldn’t.”

  “Grandpa always did have a stubborn streak,” she said, “but it was usually more endearing than irritating.”

  “Well, he irritated me plenty when he wouldn’t get in touch with you. Then he outright refused to talk about you at all. I would have tried to shake some sense into him, but he was so blue I couldn’t stay angry with him for long.”

  Jennifer fought back tears. “So Grandpa was unhappy all those years until he died?”

  As if lost in the past, Finn gazed out across the street, squinting in the early-morning sunlight glinting off the shop windows. “Some days he seemed almost his old self. He still hung out at the barbershop every day. I think being with his friends, especially Dean and me, kept him going.”

  “But nothing really cheered him up after Gramma died?”

  “There was one thing,” Finn admitted, returning his gaze to hers. “Henry was tickled pink about winning the Big Draw.”

  Jennifer frowned. “That doesn’t sound like Grandpa. He never cared much about money as long as he had enough to pay the bills.”

  Finn nodded. “He was so elated, I was curious. Asked him how he planned to spend his winnings. His eyes teared up then, and his hands shook. ‘This will go a ways toward paying off a debt I owe,’ he told me, looking like he wanted to bawl.”

  “What debt?” Jennifer asked. “He invested the income from the sale of his hardware store after he retired. And he owned his farm free and clear. Even if he hadn’t, that property’s not worth one million dollars, much less two, so the debt can’t be a mortgage.”

  “He never would elaborate, and I didn’t press him. A man’s money is his own business, I always say.”

  “Whatever the debt was, he never paid it,” Jennifer said. “According to Hank Durham, Grandpa’s attorney, he never got around to spending his winnings. He left everything to me—unless someone has a claim against his estate that I don’t know about.”

  Finn grimaced. “I doubt that. If there’s a claim, we’d have read about it in that ghastly gossip column in the Pine Run Plain Talker. No one can sneeze in this town lately without being written up in that rag the next day.”

  “Maybe whoever Grandpa owed hasn’t come forward yet,” Jennifer said.

  “Could be.” Finn drained his cup and signaled Shelly for a refill. “Henry apparently had a lot of secrets he never shared with anyone. I’d never have guessed in a million years that he turned his own granddaughter out.”

  After all that time, Jennifer still suffered pain at her grandfather’s rejection. “It’s been ten years, and I still can’t believe it.”

  Suddenly she sensed Luke’s presence, as if an internal radar attuned to him had alerted her, even before she caught sight of his approach out of the corner of her eye. She glanced up to find him standing at the edge of the table, nodding a greeting to Finn.

  “Hey, Luke,” Finn said. “What’s the law up to these days?”

  “Trying to strike a balance between doing my job and keeping the mayor happy,” Luke replied with a scowl.

  Jennifer guessed the meeting at city hall hadn’t gone well, but before she or Finn could ask any questions, Luke was turning to leave.

  “Ready?” His deep, pleasant voice rumbled in her ears, the sensation setting off another deluge of memories and longing.

  Wondering how she’d sur
vive the return from Pine Run in Luke’s company as a stranger instead of the woman he loved, Jennifer said goodbye to Finn and followed Luke from the diner.

  Her thoughts whirled as she climbed into her car, and she breathed a sigh of relief when it started without difficulty. She was anxious to reach Pine Run. Maybe Hank Durham knew to whom her grandfather was indebted. Not that Jennifer cared about his money. As alluring as the prospect of being a millionaire might be, what she really wanted was an explanation her grandfather might have left her, one that finally revealed why he’d sent her away ten years ago.

  CHAPTER SIX

  THE FAINT BUT unmistakable subtle rose fragrance of Jennifer’s perfume was driving Luke crazy, stirring up old memories, igniting old passions. If the outside temperature hadn’t been in the teens, he would have rolled down the windows of the SUV to disperse the exquisite torture.

  Jennifer sat on the front seat beside him, oblivious to the havoc she was wreaking on his psyche as they returned from their day in Pine Run.

  He’d hoped the mechanic at the dealership could repair her car in a few hours so she could drive herself back, saving Luke this forced encounter, but no such luck. A part had to be ordered from Billings and would take two working days to arrive. With the weekend looming, Jennifer faced four days without a car. From now on, however, Luke swore to himself, if his conniving sister wanted her friend chauffeured somewhere, she could drive her herself.

  More than anything, Luke wanted to ask Jennifer why she’d left without a word all those years ago, but his pride wouldn’t let him. No man wanted to risk hearing that he simply hadn’t mattered in the life of the woman he’d loved.

  Thinking about the past was driving him nuts, so he turned to conversation. “Get everything done you needed to?”

  Jennifer nodded. “After I left my car at the garage, I went to Hank Durham’s office to sign the papers for Grandpa’s estate.”

  Luke stifled a groan. Cassie Lou Carwise was Hank’s paralegal, and he couldn’t help wondering if she was still spreading the rumor of her imminent engagement to Luke. Not that it mattered whether Jennifer had heard the gossip. She wouldn’t be hanging around long enough to know—or care—one way or the other. Her next words confirmed that.

  “And I went by the real estate agency to inquire about listing the farm.”

  “Sounds like you covered all the bases.” He tried to keep the bitterness from his voice. At one time, Jennifer had sworn she wanted to spend the rest of her days in Jester. With him. Now it appeared she couldn’t get out of town fast enough. “As soon as your car’s fixed, you can make tracks.”

  From the periphery of his vision, he could see her face scrunch in the delightful expression she’d always assumed when something troubled her. The sight made him want to pull the car over and kiss her senseless right then and there, but he reined in his galloping emotions, reminding himself that if he tried, she’d probably knock him senseless for his efforts.

  “I’d planned to leave as soon as my car’s ready—until I talked to the real estate agent,” she admitted.

  “What’s the delay? Paperwork?”

  “More like hard labor,” she said with a sigh.

  “You’ve lost me,” he said.

  “The Realtor said if Grandpa’s farm’s not in tiptop shape, not only won’t I get the best price, but in an economically depressed area like Jester, it might not sell at all.”

  “The farm’s in pretty bad condition,” Luke said gently, hoping to ease the blow. “I was the one who found Henry’s body. When he didn’t show up at the barbershop that morning, Finn was worried. Had me drive out to check on him.”

  Luke had loved the old man and still mourned his loss. Finding him stone cold in his bed had grieved Luke deeply.

  “You were saying about the farm?” Jennifer prodded, making Luke realize a long moment of silence had hung between them while he remembered his old friend with sadness.

  “Your grandmother would be spinning in her grave if she knew what a mess the place is. I don’t think Henry lifted a finger there after she died.”

  “Sounds like I have my work cut out for me,” Jennifer said, a little too brightly, as if covering her true feelings. “Good thing I took time to stop by the utility offices to have the electricity and phone turned on. With that much work needed, I’ll probably live at the farm until it’s ready to show for sale.”

  Hope swelled inside of him, only to be doused by his own common sense. How long Jennifer stayed in Jester didn’t matter. If he hadn’t won her heart ten years ago, he wasn’t going to win it now. Not when she’d already expressed her intentions of leaving town ASAP. She’d made it clear she had nothing to hold her here, especially not him.

  “How did your day go?” she asked in an interested tone, though he guessed she was just being polite. “Sounded like you got off to a bad start with the mayor.”

  “That pompous—” Luke bit back the descriptive noun, which wasn’t appropriate for mixed company. “What he doesn’t know about law enforcement would fill southeastern Montana.”

  “He’s giving you grief?” she asked in a sympathetic way that reminded him what a good listener she’d always been, one of the many qualities he’d found so endearing.

  Going down memory lane was too painful and futile, so he jerked his thoughts back to Bobby Larson. Technically, the mayor was his boss, and Luke never ran down the man to anyone, no matter how angry he made him. But Bobby had pushed Luke to his limit today, and he needed the opportunity to vent his anger. Jennifer had never been a gossip, and she’d be leaving town soon, anyway, so he responded to her offer of a sympathetic ear.

  “The day before you arrived, the pavilion collapsed,” Luke began.

  “I heard about that at the boardinghouse. Surely the mayor’s not blaming you?”

  Luke shook his head. “Not directly, no. As soon as it happened, I marked off the area as a crime scene—”

  “You think someone destroyed the place on purpose?”

  He shrugged. “I’m no construction expert, but my instincts tell me something’s fishy about the way that structure came down.”

  “And the mayor disagrees?”

  “The mayor doesn’t care why the pavilion fell.” Luke felt his earlier anger welling up again. “All he cares about is having it repaired as soon as possible. He doesn’t want the unsightly wreckage marring the town image.”

  “The town image?” Jennifer giggled. “Jester has a town image?”

  The delightful sound of her laughter cooled the anger boiling inside him. “Silly, isn’t it? But the mayor is determined our town is meant for bigger and better things. And a collapsed pavilion in the town park is an eyesore he can’t endure.”

  “So you’re letting them clear the wreckage?”

  “No way. I told him if he tried, I’d arrest him for obstruction of justice and interfering with an investigation.”

  “I’m sure that didn’t make him happy,” she said with a worried look.

  “I intend to avoid him for a few days. Give him time to cool off. One of my errands today was at the Pine Run Construction Company. I got the name of a structural engineer in Billings who’ll come inspect the damage. I could be wrong, but before I take that crime scene tape down, I want every assurance that the collapse was an accident. If it wasn’t, I don’t want the evidence destroyed.”

  “Jester’s lucky to have you, Luke.” Her throaty voice caressed him, soothing his irritation over the mayor’s heavy-handedness. “You take your responsibilities seriously, and that helps keep people safe.”

  Her words touched him, because Jenny had never been one to dish out compliments lightly. Sincerity was another of her qualities he’d valued.

  “My other errand wasn’t quite as successful,” he admitted, warming to her company and glad for a chance to talk about the worry that had troubled him since the lottery win. “If I tell you about it, will you keep it to yourself?”

  “Cross my heart.”

  A
single glance at her assured him his secrets were safe with her. Jennifer might have broken his heart, but she was as honest and trustworthy as the stock she came from. If she promised not to divulge his secret, he could count on her discretion.

  “I tried to get the county to assign me another deputy,” he admitted.

  “Because of the pavilion?”

  “That I could handle on my own,” he said. “It’s the lottery winnings that concern me. When the Main Street Millionaires were first announced, Jester was flooded with media, and I was assigned an additional deputy for crowd control. Then the brouhaha died down, and he was recalled.”

  “The town seems pretty quiet,” Jennifer said, “but I arrived in the middle of a blizzard, so maybe it’s livelier than it appears.”

  “I’m not concerned about crowds or media now,” Luke explained. “I’m concerned about our millionaires.”

  “People in Jester don’t strike me as the type to raise a lot of sand,” Jennifer said with a teasing edge to her voice. “The winners aren’t likely to cause you much trouble.”

  Luke laughed. “You’ve got it all backward. I don’t expect the winners to make trouble. But I do want to be on guard against anyone who might make trouble for them.” He paused and glanced at her, meeting those tropical-sea-blue eyes before returning his attention to the road. “Guess you’re included in that elite group now, too, what with Henry’s leaving you his winnings.”

  “You expecting another media blitz?”

  Uneasiness had crept into her tone, and he recalled what a shy and private person she’d always been. The glare of publicity would make her miserable.

  He shook his head. “The press has pretty much milked this story for all it’s worth. It’s the criminal element that worries me. With all the nationwide attention the Main Street Millionaires have had, every scumbag in the country knows Jester is filled with people with lots of money.”

  “I suppose most of that money’s deposited in the Jester Savings and Loan,” Jennifer said. “Isn’t it safe enough there?”