Her father turned fierce blue eyes on her. “He created a fake document that he’s going to use to cheat us out of our land.”
“Keaton wouldn’t do that.”
“Sure he would. He’s a Holt, isn’t he?”
“That’s ridiculous. Keaton is honest and honorable. He would never do something so underhanded.”
Where had this reasonableness been an hour ago when she was throwing accusations at Keaton? Maybe if she’d taken a moment to think it all through she wouldn’t have treated him so unfairly. Would he ever be able to forgive her?
“You are no different than your sister, siding with them against your own family.”
“I’m not siding with anyone against you, but if he’s had the document authenticated, surely that means something went wrong a hundred years ago.”
“That’s impossible. It was lost years ago.”
“Lost?” At first Lark was too shocked to understand; then as her father’s meaning penetrated, she gasped. “The Holts have always claimed there was a bill of sale. You’ve always claimed there was no such document. Now you say it was lost. Which is it?”
Her father glared at her, but uncertainty flickered for a moment in his gaze. “The land is ours.”
“But did the Holts buy the land first?”
“There might have been a sale, but there was no official record.”
“Because proof of the sale wasn’t recorded.” Appalled, Lark saw that her father wasn’t as certain of his position as he’d been moments before. Her heart softened. Had he taken his aggressive stance against the Holts all these years because of fear? “The land does belong to the Holts.”
Any doubt she’d glimpsed in her father vanished at her words. He stalked to the door and opened it. “Get out of my house and don’t bother coming back until you change your tune.”
While father and daughter stared at each other, a large figure filled the open doorway.
“Lark?” It was Keaton. He gazed from her to her father, assessing the situation. “Is everything okay here?” He hadn’t entered the Taylor home, but looked prepared to do so on Lark’s word.
Her heart floundered in her chest. What was he doing here? The concern in his gaze sent regret and shame rushing through her. She’d been so wrong to accuse him of using her. She’d let fear and old prejudices guide her to make terrible assumptions.
“I came to tell my father about the bill of sale you found.” She began to edge toward the door, toward Keaton, giving her father a wide berth. “I asked him to sit down and discuss the situation rather than getting the courts involved.”
Keaton looked surprised. She tried to convey her apology without words, but he’d switched his attention to her father. “Tyrone.” Keaton pitched his voice in polite and moderate tones. “I want to work out something with the land that will benefit both our families.”
“It’s not your land.”
“I have a bill of sale that says it is.”
“It’s a fake.”
Lark could see her father’s conviction had flagged. Yet he was a stubborn, single-minded man who’d been fighting a battle against the Holts all his life. He’d never admit that what he knew as truth might be wrong.
“Father, please listen to what Keaton has to say.” As she spoke, she moved to stand beside Keaton. His solid strength comforted her, enabled her to feel safe for the first time since she’d entered her father’s home. “He’s fair and honest. You can trust him.”
Tyrone’s upper lip curled in derision. “So you’ve chosen. Very well. From here on out, you are no more my daughter than that sister of yours.”
“Father!” Lark took an involuntary step backward. The movement put her outside the house on the wide front porch. She bumped into Keaton and felt him grip her upper arms, steadying her. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do indeed. You’ve placed your loyalty with the Holts. I am finished with you.”
Her father closed the door with an emphatic finality, underscored by the sound of a dead bolt being thrown.
Conscious of Keaton’s worried expression, Lark descended the porch steps. Her emotions whirled and dipped like a carnival ride. She’d just been tossed out of the family. Had her father lost his mind? Was two thousand acres of land worth more than her and Skye?
“Lark, I’m so sorry,” Keaton said, catching her arm and turning her to face him. “I never meant for any of that to happen.”
Of course he hadn’t. That was the sort of man he was. He’d suggested working with her father to give him a lease on water rights from the disputed property. Lark knew her father would never have made a similar offer to Keaton.