Texas Heroes_ Volume 1(6)
Why did it all go so wrong, Dad? Did you hate us so much you couldn’t even leave us the only place that ever felt like home?
Instead Sam had left it to a woman who couldn’t possibly appreciate it. A woman who didn’t belong. Maddie had said it was payment for a wrong Sam had done her father. What on earth had Sam done?
Too many questions. Too little sleep. The house wavered in his vision.
Get inside, Boone. You can move to the barn tomorrow. Right now you’re no good to anyone without some rest.
But first he had to see if he could find Sam’s foreman Jim Caskey or any of the hands. He needed to understand where things stood. Placing one foot in front of the other, Boone didn’t look back toward the house that had once been all he’d wanted of heaven…until the day it had turned into hell.
Chapter Two
When Maddie stepped inside the back door and saw the kitchen, it only confirmed her first impression. This house would never make the pages of Architectural Digest, but she could swear she felt the pulse of generations in this room.
To think that her grandmother had cooked here…even saying the word grandmother gave Maddie a charge. To a woman who had never known any family but her mother and father, lost in a plane crash four years ago, the concept was almost unimaginable.
Maddie ran a hand across the counter and wondered if her grandmother’s hand had touched this very spot. For a moment she went still as though by listening carefully, she might hear the whispers of her father’s hidden past.
Suddenly, Maddie realized that Vondell was watching her closely. She jerked her hand away as if burned. “I’m sorry.”
“No need to be, child. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Maddie smiled. “Did you know my grandmother Wheeler?”
“Old Rose?” Vondell nodded. “Not well, but everyone knew the story. After Dalton…” She fell silent. “Well, never mind about that.”
Maddie’s heart stuttered. These people believed her father a murderer. “I know what you’re thinking, but he didn’t kill anyone. Sam’s lawyer was satisfied about that.”
“Well, it’s not my place to be talking about Dalton Wheeler.” Vondell turned away toward the refrigerator, dropping ice cubes into a glass. “I’ll get you that tea that I promised you.”
“You don’t believe me.”
“Hon, I—it’s just that for years, everyone knew—well, it’ll take some getting used to, is all. But it’s old news. It really doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. It matters to me. The man I knew never even got a traffic ticket. Did you know him?”
The tiny redhead shook her head. “That was before I moved here. It was a long time ago, Maddie. Water under the bridge.”
Vondell was being kind, but once again Maddie felt very much alone, very much the outsider. Very sorry she had agreed to come. She remembered the brief, unguarded glance she’d had into Boone’s blue eyes. That man had been hurt badly by his father. Now she was helping to hurt him more. Why did you do this to me, Sam Gallagher? How could a man who would seek to make peace with a total stranger use that stranger to hurt his own son?
“Here, child, sit down and drink this tea.” Vondell placed the glass in her hand.
Maddie took a sip, vaguely registering the cool freshness of mint. She watched moisture bead on the outside and thought of her daydream of porch swings and iced tea. This sure wasn’t the vacation she’d expected. Her head jerked up.
“Why didn’t he just give the house to his sons, no matter what he owed my father?”
“Sam was powerfully troubled in his last weeks, and he seemed determined to make things right.”
“But why didn’t Boone know about this already?”
“Sam waited too long to let anyone contact him.” Vondell’s eyes darkened. “Sam has a lot to answer for, the way he treated those boys. I can’t explain Sam Gallagher to you, Maddie. I doubt anyone could. He was a complicated man who was never the same after his wife Jenny died. He destroyed a whole family in his selfish grief, just flat abandoned Boone, who was only fourteen at the time, and tried to have Mitch arrested when any fool could see her death was an accident.
“I’ve never seen anyone lose his mind in grief like that. If it hadn’t been for Boone, Sam would have lost this place, too. Young as he was, Boone kept this place running until Sam took the reins again. But Sam was never the same after that, and he lost two fine sons anyone would be proud to claim.”
Vondell brushed away angry tears, her eyes sparking. “I kept trying to talk sense into that man, but a more stubborn sonofagun never walked the face of this planet. When Boone left, I think Sam realized some of what he’d lost, but he just hardened his heart and went on as if those boys had never existed. If I hadn’t gotten in touch with Boone back when Sam had his heart attack a few years ago, I don’t guess they would have ever spoken again. And the way things turned out, maybe Boone would have been better off.”