Page 16 of River Strong

Tilly swallowed, determined to keep control of her emotions. She wouldn’t let her mother get the better of her. She moved to hand her mother the ranch bill for the supplies she’d picked up in town.

Instead of taking the bill, her mother grabbed her left hand, twisting it painfully as she examined the engagement ring. “That’s her ring, his mother’s.”

Tilly was surprised that she would recognize the ring as Margaret Smith’s, the woman Holden had chosen over her mother—what had started this feud between the families all those years ago.

She flung Tilly’s hand away. “I want you out of this house.” Her mother seemed to be having trouble breathing.

“Aren’t we even going to talk about this?” Tilly asked calmly.

“We talked about it. I told you to stay away from him. You didn’t.” Her mother started to turn away.

“I love Cooper. He isn’t his father.”

“He’s a McKenna,” her mother cried, spinning back around to glare at her. “They’re responsible for all of this.”

Tilly drew back, shaking her head. “I guess I see where CJ gets it, blaming everyone for his problems. Now the McKennas are responsible for CJ shooting Oakley and almost killing me?” Tilly couldn’t hold back even as good sense warned her not to. “No, Mother, your hatred that you passed on to CJ is responsible for this. Aren’t you sick of playing the woman scorned? It’s over. Or are you still in love with Holden and that’s why you can’t bear the thought of me marrying his son?”

“I won’t have you marrying one of them,” her mother said, her voice shaking.

“You hate Holden McKenna that much?” Tilly asked. “Or it is that you love him that much? Either way, I feel incredibly sorry for you. I love Cooper and he loves me and we’re not going to make the mistake the two of you made. We’re getting married and as much as I love this ranch and believe I’m the one who should run it someday, I won’t let you blackmail me into becoming you.”

“Get out!” her mother screamed. “I never want to see you on this ranch again.”

“I will as soon as I pack up my things.”

“No, you won’t. I’ll have your things sent to the McKenna Ranch in the back of a cattle truck. You are no longer my daughter.” She raised her voice dangerously as she advanced. “Get out!” She raised her arm as she approached Tilly.

Tilly saw that her mother intended to strike her, and she would have if not for the front door opening and a man stepping in calling out, “Hello? I knocked but you must not have heard me.”

She saw her mother’s stricken expression as the man took a few steps into the house. “Jason Murdock, private investigator. I’ve called a few times, left messages, but you never returned my calls.” He stepped farther into the living room. “I decided to stop by so we could talk.” He was smiling at her mother. “I’m looking for your missing husband, Dixon Malone.”

All the color had drained from her mother’s face. She lowered her arm, appearing to be struggling to breathe.

Using this interruption to her advantage, Tilly turned and headed up the stairs. “I’m going to get a few of my things.”

Her mother was fighting to regain control in front of the PI as Tilly walked past her. “You’ll regret this,” her mother bit out under a ragged breath.

“So will you,” she said and headed to her room. Her heart threatened to explode. She’d known what her mother was like. This shouldn’t have come as a surprise. She’d known there was a chance it would come to this. Her mother’s fury, though, had been far worse than she’d imagined. She’d known she would be angry but not this furious. She was throwing her daughter out, disowning her, taking away something that Tilly loved—the ranch.

She refused to cry as she began to pack her things. She didn’t know where she was going. She would have to find a place to live until the wedding. She didn’t want to move into the McKenna house until she and Cooper were married and while their house was being built.

Just the thought of the wedding made her eyes fill with tears. Had she really thought there would be one with a flowing white dress, the church crowded with family and friends? No, she and Cooper would have to elope, go to a justice of the peace, not have a proper wedding. It didn’t matter, she told herself. All that mattered was that she would be with Cooper, the man she loved.

She packed what she could carry. Taking her suitcases out the back way, through her private entrance, she headed for her pickup, glad that after college, she’d earned money doing the books for other ranches so she could buy her own truck. Her mother had said it was a waste of money since they had ranch trucks for her to drive. Had Tilly intuited that one day she would need her own vehicle, her own money, because she couldn’t stay here any longer?

She put her suitcases in the back and opened the driver’s side door. As she did, she glanced back, taking one last look through her tears at the house that had been her home.

OAKLEYWASWAITINGdown the road from the ranch for her sister. She was still shaken by what her mother had said to her. She couldn’t even imagine what Charlotte had unleashed on her oldest daughter about the engagement to a McKenna. But she figured it wouldn’t take long before Tilly would be coming down the road.

Just as she’d suspected, she spotted her sister’s truck headed her way. That had been quick. Had their mother even let Tilly get some of her things? She felt her anger rising along with her determination to find out the truth and to stop her brother and her mother from destroying the family and the ranch because of their bitterness.

Oakley got out as Tilly pulled up behind her truck. She walked back. Her sister whirred down her window. “You okay?” she asked, even though she could see that her sister was devastated.

“She kicked me off the ranch,” Tilly said between the sobs she was fighting so hard to hold back. “She said she never wanted to see me again.”

“I’m so sorry.” She reached in to pull her sister into a hug. Oakley figured it wouldn’t be that long before she was in the same predicament.

“I can’t believe anyone could be so...bitter, so...mean and hateful.” Tilly took a ragged breath and let it out slowly. “Did you see that man who came to the house? If he hadn’t walked in when he did, I think she would have hit me.”

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