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“Are you in Blessing?”
“Yes, Grandmother,” she said. “I wish you would have come with me.”
There was silence for a moment.
“I don’t think I can ever return to Blessing,” she said. “Too many painful memories.”
“Please, tell me, Grandmother,” she said. “Tell me what happened.”
“That, child, is none of your business. Let’s just say I lost a good man because of his stupidity and my unwillingness to forgive him. But I couldn’t do it anymore.”
Why wouldn’t she tell her what had caused them to move?
“I saw the bill of sale on the ranch. There was no money exchanged,” she told her grandmother. “That’s not right.”
There was silence on the phone. “Honey, there are a lot of things in this world that aren’t right. Your grandfather Paul owned the ranch. It had been in his family for generations, and it was his to lose.”
Lose. Why would she use that word?
How could he have lost the ranch?
“Grandmother, have you spoken to Grandfather Paul since we moved?”
“No, darling, he knows better than to call me,” she said. “When I ended our relationship, I told him why and that I never wanted to see him again.”
This was something new. She’d never heard that before. Sure, she knew they had ended their relationship, but she didn’t know she’d told him she never wanted to see him again.
That was why Grandpa Paul had never come around again.
“Do you want to speak to your mother?”
“No, I called to talk to you,” she said. “I wanted to see if you would tell me what happened. Living here at the Sweet B, that was the best time of my life,” she said wistfully.
There was a moment of silence.
“Are you there now?”
“Yes, Grandmother. I’m standing in the kitchen looking out at the pastures behind the old house.”
Her grandmother sniffled. “I know exactly where you’re standing. I loved that kitchen. That house, so much. Please, Lillian, don’t drag up the past. Let it go,” she said. “It’s too painful to remember.”
Her heart clenched with love for her grandmother. She didn’t want to hurt her. She loved her so very much and she didn’t want to cause her any more grief or pain.
“Wait a minute,” she said. “How did you get in that house? Old man Thomas moved in not long after we were evicted. That son of a bitch, I hate him. What are you doing there?”
Oh dear, what could she tell her? That she’d been sleeping with his grandson? With his best friend Nathan? What was she going to say?
“He no longer lives here,” she said, deciding to tell her the truth. “Ronald Thomas was injured in a horse accident. He’s paralyzed from the waist down. His grandson is over the ranch now. He invited me in to see the house.”
There was silence once again on the line. “I didn’t know he had a grandson. You be careful. Ronald Thomas is a snake in the grass. And if he raised his grandson, I’m sure he’s just as evil as his grandfather.”
She’d never heard her grandmother speak ill of anyone until now, and she was shocked at how the woman was responding.
“I’m going to get the ranch back,” she said.
“No, child, leave things alone. There are things you don’t know that are better left in the past. Your grandfather was no better than Ronald Thomas. That’s why I never wanted to see him again. We could have all been living on that ranch, but instead…Things happen for a reason. And it sounds like Ronald Thomas’s life took a decided turn for the worse. While I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, Karma is a bitch. And don’t ever forget that.”
Nathan walked into the kitchen and glanced at her.
