Surprise Inheritance

by Charlotte Douglas

  I’ve been a foolish and stubborn man, and those qualities have kept me from seeing what’s most important in life, even when it was staring me in the face. For my entire life, I took for granted that I was married to the most wonderful and loving woman in the world. In the early days of our marriage, we both had to work hard to keep the farm and the hardware business going and to earn enough to pay our bills and set aside enough for your father to finish college. After he married your mother, things were easier for us, and when I retired, Dolly and I were not wealthy, but comfortable.

  I should have seen that she was lonely here at the farm, but I was always anxious to spend time with my friends at the barbershop. On days when I should have been with her, I went to town instead, to hang out with “the boys.” Don’t get me wrong. Your grandmother, God rest her soul, never complained. She was always happy to see me and never said a cross word. But after she died, I realized what I’d lost, what I’d taken for granted, and the guilt nearly drove me crazy.

  That’s why I sent you away, my darling granddaughter. Old fool that I was, I couldn’t stand the sight of you. You look so much like my beloved Dolly that all you did was remind me of my loss—and my guilt. In the depths of my grief and pain, I made you leave.

  Later, when I realized what I’d done, I was too proud to admit my mistake and ask you to come home. I guess I was afraid, too, that if I did ask, you would refuse. And I wouldn’t blame you after the horrible way I’d treated you.

  For years, I wondered how I could make up to you for what I’d done. I’d always planned to leave you Cottonwood Farm, of course, but I know it’s not the most prime piece of real estate in the world, even though I love it. That’s why, when I won the lottery, I felt as if a weight had lifted from my shoulders. Now I can at least repay a part of the huge debt I owe you, even if only by guaranteeing your financial security.

  I’ve thought about you every day since you went away, Jennifer dear, and even though I acted like the world’s biggest idiot, your old grandfather always loved you. Just like he loved your grandmother, but was too dumb to show it.

  Take the money and have a happy life. And when you marry—and I hope you’ll find a good man worthy of you—don’t ever take him or your life together for granted. Treasure each and every day with each other as God’s precious gift.

  Forgive me, Jennifer. I love you.

  Grandfather Henry

  Luke folded the pages and slipped them back into the envelope. “No wonder your grandfather was so depressed. Not only was he grieving for your grandmother, he was also suffering guilt for the way he’d ignored her, and for sending you away.”

  Jennifer nodded. “That explains the large debt he owed that Finn Hollis told me about, too. But Grandpa was too hard on himself. I don’t think Gramma felt all that neglected.”

  “But if she loved him as much as she seemed to, I know she would have liked more of his time,” Luke said.

  He thought with regret of all the time with Jennifer that he’d lost because of the old man’s guilt, and he swore to himself not to waste another second. He’d wanted to marry her all those years ago. After their lovemaking last night, he was more certain than ever that he wanted to spend his life with her.

  “Jennifer—”

  A loud banging on the front door interrupted his planned proposal.

  “Who do you suppose that is?” Jennifer asked. “Aren’t the roads still closed?”

  She started for the front of the house, but Luke, remembering the strangers in the black Expedition, pulled her back. “Let me go first, just in case.”

  She stepped aside, then followed him to the front door. Luke spotted Tim Cates, the deputy who’d helped him during the media blitz after the lottery win, through the glass pane.

  Luke opened the door and spotted a sheriff’s van with all-terrain tires parked behind his demolished vehicle. “What brings you out here, Tim?”

  “Power company linemen have been out since before dawn. One of them spotted your car and radioed the Pine Run office. They sent me out to pick you up and take you back to town.”

  Luke nodded. “Got room for another passenger?”

  “Sure,” the deputy said.

  “I can stay here—” Jennifer began.

  “I wouldn’t recommend it, ma’am,” Tim said. “If you have a place to stay in town, power’s already restored there. Can’t guarantee how soon it’ll be before you have electricity and phones out here.”

  Jennifer didn’t protest again. “I’ll get my things.”

  Minutes later, they were in the van headed back to Jester. With Luke riding shotgun, and Jennifer in the back seat, he didn’t even have a chance to squeeze her hand, much less pop his very important question.

  FOUR DAYS LATER, Jennifer sat across from Vickie in her friend’s cozy breakfast nook. Warm spring sunlight streamed through the window as they watched the children playing in the backyard.

  Vickie took a sip of her coffee and tapped a newspaper folded on the table between them. “Have you seen this?”

  Jennifer shook her head. “The Plain Talker?”

  “Plain talk I could stomach,” Vickie said with a grimace. “The column is ‘Neighborly Nuggets from Jester.’ More like flat-out gossip, I call it.”

  “What’s it say?” Jennifer was glad for anything to take her mind off Luke. She hadn’t seen or spoken to him since he and the deputy had dropped her at Gwen’s the morning after the storm.

  Vickie picked up the paper and began to read. “Rumor has it that Ruby Cade has officially filed for divorce from her husband, Sam. No one in town has laid eyes on Sam Cade since before the Big Draw win, and everyone’s wondering what’s happened to the military man. In addition, neighbors are speculating over Ruby’s purchase of the old Tanner farm and her plans to work it herself.”

  “Who writes this stuff?” Jennifer said.

  Vickie shook her head. “No one knows. If they did, half the population would ride the columnist out of town on a rail.”

  “And the other half?”

  Vickie grinned. “They’d watch and applaud.”

  “You can’t take it too seriously,” Jennifer said with a shrug. “There’re always rumors.”

  Vickie raised an eyebrow and fixed her with a stare with eyes so much like Luke’s, Jennifer found herself thinking of him in spite of her efforts not to.

  “You’re in here, too, you know,” Vickie said in a voice a bit too casual.

  “Me? What on earth could anyone find interesting about me?”

  “Listen to this. ‘What handsome Jester lawman spent the night of the ice storm stranded with which Jester millionaire? Will there be wedding bells in their future? A bundle of joy for Christmas? Stay tuned for more.’” Vickie tossed the paper aside. “Well?”

  Jennifer had almost dropped her coffee cup at hearing the rumors. “Definitely no bundle of joy.”

  Vickie nodded knowingly. “You unpacked the grocery bags and found my little present.”

  “As for wedding bells,” Jennifer said with a shake of her head, “I wish I knew the answer. I haven’t even talked to Luke since the storm.”

  “He’s been busy,” Vickie explained. “Even though it’s not part of his job description, since the storm my brother has visited every outlying farm within twenty miles of Jester.”

  “Why?”

  “He worries that people could be stranded without heat, food or water, especially some of the older folks.”

  A warm appreciation for the man she loved filled Jennifer. “That sounds like Luke. He really cares about people, doesn’t he?”

  Vickie cocked her head. “How about one person in particular?”

  “Me?” Jennifer shrugged, trying to act as if she didn’t care. “The storm’s long past. Now that my car’s fixed, I’m heading back to the farm today, and I still haven’t heard from him.”

  “You could always give him a call.”

  Jennifer had thought about contacting him, but what would she say? W
hat if their lovemaking had been only a one-night stand for Luke, a way of keeping warm on a cold night? After all, he hadn’t once said he loved her. But then, she hadn’t told him she loved him, either.

  And she did. So much it hurt.

  “But even if you call today,” Vickie said, “you probably won’t reach him. He’s meeting with the structural engineer from Billings about the pavilion.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “I took supper over last night when he dragged in dead tired around ten o’clock,” Vickie said. “Waved his favorite casserole under his nose and swore he wouldn’t get a bite unless he told me what he’d been up to.”

  “Did he mention me?” Jennifer couldn’t help asking.

  Vickie studied her nails. “As a matter of fact, he did.”

  “And?”

  “And what?”

  Vickie’s pretense at not understanding made Jennifer want to kick her under the table. “What did he say about me?”

  “He asked if I’d seen you, if you were okay.”

  “And?”

  “I said yes and yes.”

  “And that’s it?” Disappointment washed through her.

  “The man was exhausted,” Vickie explained with a sympathetic expression. “I’m surprised he could even talk at all. If I see him, should I give him a message?”

  Jennifer shook her head and pushed herself to her feet. Anything she had to say to Luke would have to be said in person. If she ever saw him again. “Thanks for the coffee.”

  THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Luke headed his pickup toward Cottonwood Farm. Jennifer’s voice on the phone, asking him to please come right away, had sounded strange.

  “Are the strangers back?” he’d asked.

  “No, this is personal,” she’d said. “Please come as soon as you can.”

  Personal.

  He hadn’t had time for a personal moment since the morning they’d left Cottonwood Farm with Deputy Cates. Between checking on outlying farms, extricating his sheriff’s vehicle from beneath the downed maple and overseeing the engineer’s inspection of the pavilion, he hadn’t had a moment to himself, except for the brief seconds between falling into bed and falling asleep. At those times, he’d ached to hold Jennifer in his arms again.

  He depressed the accelerator, anxious to see her and equally anxious to put as much distance as he could between him and the mayor. Yesterday, the mayor had had a city crew hovering like vultures, waiting for the engineer to complete his survey of the pavilion wreckage so they could cart it away to the landfill. Luke hadn’t wanted to hang around this morning while Bobby Larson was politicking in the Brimming Cup, pushing his plans for a hotel built on land in the city park.

  Jennifer’s call had come as a welcome excuse to get out of town, and most of all, to see her again. He wouldn’t hesitate this time. He intended to ask her to marry him and stay in Jester, just as they’d planned ten years ago.

  Better late than never.

  As he slowed the pickup for the turn onto the Cottonwood Farm road, he caught sight of bright red-and-black No Trespassing signs posted on the gate posts. Jennifer had followed his advice. If strangers showed up again, he’d have reason to arrest them and hold them for questioning, long enough at least to make sure they weren’t a threat to any of the folks he was sworn to protect and serve.

  The front of the old farmhouse seemed bare with the one large tree missing, but Luke immediately forgot its absence at the sight of a strange car parked in front of the porch. Luke pulled behind the dark green, late-model Mercedes and noted the Illinois license plates.

  No strangers, Jennifer had said. Luke took the front steps three at a time, wondering who the visitor could be, and knocked at the front door.

  “Come in,” Jennifer called in a voice that sounded strained, as if she were attempting to be pleasant. “We’re in the living room.”

  We?

  Luke stepped inside and entered the room. A tall, good-looking man with blond hair and pale gray eyes stood beside Jennifer.

  “Luke,” she said, “this is Brad Harrison, my boss from my old job in Chicago. Brad, Luke McNeil.”

  The man grinned like a toothpaste ad, offered his hand and pumped Luke’s in a greeting. “Glad to meet you. You can be the first to hear our happy news.”

  “What news?” Jennifer demanded.

  Harrison moved toward her and draped his arm around her shoulder in a proprietary gesture. “That we’re getting married.”

  Luke felt the breath leave his lungs as if he’d been sucker-punched. “Married.”

  “No—” Jennifer began, but Harrison cut her off.

  “We’ll sell the farm,” he said, “then move back to my place in Chicago.”

  Luke forced his expression to remain impassive. After their night together during the ice storm, he would have sworn Jennifer loved him, but apparently she’d been planning to marry Harrison all along.

  “Congratulations.” Luke forced the word through stiff lips. “Now if that’s all you had to say, I have work to do.”

  Jennifer wrenched herself from Harrison’s grip. “But it isn’t—”

  “You don’t owe me any explanation,” Luke said.

  Harrison merely grinned like a man who’d won the lottery. Which, in effect, he had. Third-hand.

  Luke was already at the front door when Jennifer’s call stopped him.

  “Sheriff McNeil!”

  Luke turned to find her standing in the doorway to the living room. “Yes?”

  “This man is trespassing. I’ve asked him to leave and he won’t go. I need your help.”

  Luke could read the pleading in her eyes. “You’re sure?”

  “But, Jennifer, sweetheart—” Harrison whined behind her.

  “I am not now nor have I ever been your sweet heart, Brad. Now for the last time, please get out of my house and off my property.”

  With a shrug of resignation, Harrison picked up an expensive cashmere overcoat from the rack in the hall. “Don’t you even want to hear what my appraisers found out?”

  Jennifer’s eyes narrowed. “Appraisers?”

  “Property appraisers. I sent a couple of them out to assess the value of your farm.”

  Bingo, Luke thought. That explained the strange men in the black Expedition.

  “You had no right to do that,” Jennifer said hotly, her cheeks glowing a mesmerizing pink.

  “With the sale of the farm and the investment of your inheritance,” Harrison said, “we’ll be set for life.”

  “There’s one little thing you’ve never mentioned,” she replied in a cutting tone, “not that it would make any difference.”

  Harrison looked puzzled. “What’s that?”

  “Love,” Jennifer said, and the look she turned on Luke was filled with so much love it took his breath away.

  He turned and opened the door. “Your car’s waiting, Harrison. If you’re not off the property in five minutes, you’ll be under arrest.”

  “I came as soon as I could after you quit to come out here.” Harrison rammed his arms into his coat and glared at Jennifer. “You’ll be sorry you passed up a catch like me.”

  “I’ll take my chances,” she said with a grimace of disgust.

  Harrison stormed out the door and slammed it behind him. Jennifer threw herself into Luke’s arms, and he’d never known another human being could feel so good.

  “Was Harrison why you called me?” he asked, his lips against her hair.

  She shook her head. “He showed up right before you arrived. He was always full of himself. I guess he thought I’d keel over with gratitude at his proposal.”

  Luke leaned back and gazed into her eyes. “You weren’t tempted?”

  Jennifer shuddered. “The man’s too much in love with himself ever to love anyone else. I’m glad you were here to get rid of him.”

  Luke hugged her again. ‘Me, too.” He held her for a few delicious moments, drinking in her warmth and the fragrance of roses. “Why di
d you call me?”

  “I wanted to show you something.” Jennifer pulled away, took his hand and led him to her grandparents’ bedroom. “I was going through Gramma’s things this morning and discovered this.”

  She pulled open the top drawer of the dressing table. There, nestled atop a pile of neatly folded silk scarves, was an envelope, yellow with age and addressed to Luke in Jennifer’s handwriting.

  “I did write you, Luke. It’s right where Grandpa must have dropped it, then forgotten it. I doubt he ever opened that drawer again after I left.”

  Luke reached for the envelope. “May I read it?”

  She nodded. “It’s addressed to you.”

  Luke tore open the envelope and removed two sheets of paper covered in tearstained ink. His own eyes filled with tears as he read the heartrending letter Jennifer had written a decade earlier. Her hurt and confusion at her grandfather’s banishment were evident, but what came through loud and clear was her love for Luke and her plea for him to contact her so they could make their plans.

  She hadn’t lied about leaving him a message, and he cursed the misunderstanding that had kept them apart.

  He dropped the letter on the dressing table and drew her into his arms. “I love you, Jennifer. I can’t believe the time we’ve wasted.”

  His lips sought hers and she melded to him in a kiss that held the promise of so much more.

  “I love you, too, Luke.”

  He studied her face, but all he found was love shining through. No deception. No lies. Only the truth of her feelings for him.

  “Marry me, Jenny. I earn enough to support a family, and if you want to raise them here on Cottonwood Farm, we can do that.”

  “We don’t have to worry about money,” she said with a laugh. “Have you forgotten I’m a millionaire?”

  “We’ll need that for the kids’ college,” he said solemnly. “You wanted a big family, remember?”