AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lillian didn’t feel happy. She’d thought learning the truth would fill the empty hole in her heart, but instead, she just felt grief at what had happened. Nothing felt right.
“What about you, Momma? Do you want to live here?”
“No,” she said. “Your father and I were so happy here. But he’s gone, and no, I don’t want to come back. You were the one who always wanted to return.”
It was true.
“And now I sense hesitation on your part,” her mother said.
Only her immediate family remained on the land. The preacher, Nathan, everyone had left after the graveside service in the family burial plot.
“I’ve known so much happiness here. But I never considered what it would do to the people who were living here when they lost the place. And I’m not talking about Ron. That man can rot in hell for all I care. But his grandson, Cal, didn’t deserve to be evicted. Nathan didn’t deserve to have to leave.”
Her family didn’t say anything.
“I fell in love with Nathan and Cal while we were trying to learn the truth. They’re who I’m concerned about.”
Her grandmother walked over to her side. “Honey, if you love them both, that’s all right with us. But you need to go after them. You need to find them and tell them your feelings. Love is the most important thing on this earth. Not this old house.”
“Or maybe you’re all supposed to be here in this house together. A new generation here, sharing, giving, and creating a new family who will not let people destroy what they have,” her mother said.
Kenneth who was always very standoffish and quiet, gazed at her. “Give him the house back. Show him how much you love him by giving him the property. Even if things don’t work out between you, you will have sacrificed yourself to make certain this house and land remain intact. You, girl, cannot run this ranch by yourself.”
After fighting for this property for so long and so hard, could she give it back to Cal?
“Will you accept Cal into the family, knowing what his grandfather did to us?”
Her grandmother smiled. “He’s the reason the property came back to us. This man has a lot of courage and is honorable to do what he did. Of course, we’ll welcome him. If he loves you and treats you with respect, we will welcome him with open arms.”
Tears welled in her eyes.
“What do you want, Lillian?” her mother asked.
“I want to marry Cal and Nathan, live here on the ranch with my husbands, and have a very large, loving family,” she said, crying.
Her mother wrapped her arms around her and then her grandmother and Kenneth joined her.
“Go get what you want,” Kenneth said. “Don’t let them get away.”
Hugging her, she burst into tears. “I love you all so much.”
“And we love you; now get going. We won’t be here when you get back. Call us and let us know how things go,” her mother said.
Lillian ran out the door. She had no idea where Cal was, but she knew where she could find Nathan. She prayed he knew where Cal had gone.
CHAPTER 17
Nathan had attended the graveside service of Lillian’s grandfather and then left. He didn’t know what he wanted and felt so lost.
All he knew was that his best friend was hurting. Even Lillian was hurting. All of them were grieving because of what Ron had done.
Somehow he wanted to fix it so all of them were together as one happy family living in that big old rambling house, thrilled to be together, with Lillian as their wife expecting one of their babies.
For the last two weeks, they’d had sex multiple times, and not once had they used a condom. Stupid. But it just happened, and now all he could think about was what if she were pregnant. What if they had created a child together?
And God, how he wanted that to be real. Because then they would have to be together for the child. But he knew that was not reasonable.
There was so much hurt in Cal, that he didn’t know if the man would ever recover from the loss of the Sweet B and the betrayal of the man he loved, his grandfather.
