Now, as they were waiting to find out what their father had in store for them, all three fidgeted while John Fisk methodically spread his papers out on his lap. Satisfied that he had everything he needed, he cleared his throat. "So. Do you want me to drone on, or shall I just give you the terms?"
"Cut to the chase, John," Kate said. "We're not interested in any of Daddy's drama."
"Well, alright. The ranch and all of Langston's personal property and funds go to his daughters."
Jenny and Kate both raised their eyebrows and exchanged a glance. Kate shook her head. Her silent thought was clear -- that was too easy.
"What's the catch?" Jenny asked.
John grimaced, hesitated, and then said, "There is no catch so long as all three of you live on the land for the rest of your natural lives. The instant one of you moves off the ranch, the entire property and contents revert to the state of Texas for the creation of a state park in Langston's memory."
The stunned silence that followed his words stretched out for a long moment before Kate said, "That old son of a bitch."
Mandy's thunderstruck expression gave way to sputtered protests. "But . . . but I can't live at the ranch . . . the nearest Starbucks is 35 miles away!"
"Sixty miles," Kate said.
"Sixty?" Mandy wailed. "How close is the nearest Saks?"
"A hundred and twenty."
That information rendered her speechless. She collapsed against the back of her chair and gave her sisters a forlorn look.
"What happens if we get married?" Kate asked.
"Your husbands and families are free to come and go as they please, but the residency restrictions apply to the three of you for life."
"How is the ranch to be disposed of upon our deaths?"
"When the first of you dies, the deal applies to the remaining two for life. The last surviving sister may dispose of the land as she pleases," Fisk said. "Until the last of you is dead, you cannot break up the ranch, but you are allowed to acquire more land and increase the acreage."
"Of course we are," Kate deadpanned. She took a long breath. "Okay. We have a lot to absorb. How soon did he give us to take up residence?"
"Immediately," John said.
"How long are we allowed to be absent from the Promised Land?" she asked.
"No more than 60 days in any calendar year, and no more than 14 of those consecutively."
"You are NOT serious," Jenny said, breaking her silence with icy anger.
"I'm afraid I am," John answered. "The terms of the will are precise."
"And just exactly who is going to be our warden?" Jenny asked.
"Well, uh, my Dad asked Langston that," John said.
"What did Daddy say?" Kate asked.
"He said, 'The girls will enforce the terms themselves.'"
"Christ!" Jenny snapped. "So we're supposed to inform on each other?"
"I do not need the two of you babysitting me," Mandy protested.
"Stop it!" Kate ordered. "We don't even know how much the rest of the estate is worth."
"Well, good Lord," Jenny snapped. "I know the land must be valuable, but surely Daddy didn't have much cash."
"The three of you will inherit a total of $6 million in liquid funds and another $2 million in investments."
All three of their jaws dropped as each one relived their father's penny pinching, the cruel economies he'd forced on their mother, and then on them, while he sported thousand dollar Stetsons and collected antique guns. A dozen conversations and more played through Kate's mind. Improvements and innovations she'd begged him to make to the ranch before she struck out on her own. Now there would be money for . . .
"I don't care how much money he had," Jenny said. "I won't do it."
Kate felt the blood in her veins turn to ice. "Jenny, for God's sake. This is the 21st century. With that kind of money you can buy any equipment you like. You can do your work with anyone in the world."
Some of the color was returning to Mandy's face. "With a good espresso machine, broadband, and two weeks a year in France, we could manage," she suggested helpfully.
"I. Won't. Do. It." Jenny said, rising to her feet. "I'll see you two in the car." With that, she turned on her heel and marched out. A few seconds later they heard the front door slam.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" John asked.
"No," Kate said, also standing. "This is something for the three of us to work out. Just draw up the necessary papers to probate the estate and assume we're moving forward."
Fisk shook hands with them both and they left to deal with their sister. Jenny was sitting in the SUV, her stare fixed on the World War I monument on the courthouse lawn. Kate started the engine, backed out, and guided the vehicle down Main Street, across the bridge, and toward the ranch.
No one spoke for several miles until finally Jenny said, "The two of you cannot expect me to do this."
Kate's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. "The hell we can't," she said, trying to be diplomatic and failing. "Ten thousand acres of prime ranch land and $8 million . . ."
Jenny cut her off. "A gilded cage bought and paid for," she snapped.
"Look," Kate said, "I agree that the controlling old bastard had to have the last say, but there are no other restrictions."
"Ten months a year tied to the ranch is not what I would call freedom," Jenny snapped.
"It's not like we can't come and go as we please in the community during those 10 months," Kate said. "We just can't be gone from the land more than 60 days a year. That's not so bad."
"Maybe not for you," Jenny said drily. "When's the last time you left town for any reason?"
Kate thought for a minute. "Two years ago. A ranch husbandry workshop at Texas A&M."
"Exactly," Jenny said in clipped tones. "Some people have actual lives, Kate."
The instant the words were out of her mouth, she knew she'd gone too far. Kate set her jaw in a hard line and drew herself up behind the wheel.
From the back seat Mandy, ever the peacemaker, said, "That's not fair, Jenny. Katie has a life. Just because it's not like yours or mine, you can't talk to her like that. It's not nice."
"Let it go," Kate said in a hard voice. "We all need to think about this a little. I don't want to talk about it anymore now."
"Katie . . ." Jenny started.
"Jennifer, I said I don't want to talk about it."
They rode the rest of the way to the ranch in total silence. Kate brought the SUV to a stop in front of the gate, got out, slammed the door, and stalked off to the barn. Mandy and Jenny watched her go.
"We have a problem," Jenny said.
"You think?" Mandy asked, adding in glum resignation, "I would kill for a caramel macchiato right now."
8
The dim interior of the barn comforted Kate. She loved the earthy smell of the sacked feed and the way the dust motes danced in the slanting light of the setting sun. After she left her sisters at the car she'd come here to putter away her anger, meticulously arranging the tools on Langston's work bench, which she realized was hers now. He'd apparently been meaning to repair a broken halter snap before . . .
Without giving the chore much conscious thought, Kate found the bolt cutters and removed the old snap. She rummaged around for the right screwdriver to open the new hardware and fiddled to get it positioned so the flat side would be against the horse's cheek. The peaceful muscle memory in her hands took over as she secured the snap. Her roiling thoughts began to subside.
The whole chore took all of 10 minutes, but Kate always felt better when she was doing something. She had no idea if idle hands were indeed the devil's workshop, but idle thoughts created hell to pay in a person's mind.
She laid the tack and the screwdriver down and put her head in her hands, elbows braced on the workbench. Damn the man. Even in death he couldn't stop digging his spurs in their hides. She couldn't blame her sisters. They did have lives. Jenny was right about that. Kate was asking her to leave New Y
ork, asking Mandy to quit Houston, but . . . but damn it . . . the land.
She sighed, knowing how old-fashioned the notion sounded. She honestly didn't care about the money beyond how she would use it to make the Rocking L the finest ranch in Texas. Was she being selfish? She had her own place. She owed her accomplishments to no man.
But this place. This land. This was what was in her blood. She wanted this land, but she wasn't going to get it fighting Jenny and Mandy. They had to want to be here, too. This devil's deal Langston crafted had to be made to work for them all. They had to talk, not fight. Not do the very thing the old bastard hoped they would do.
Kate stood up and started for the house. The barn swallows circled and dived overhead and she stopped with her hand on the yard gate as the sun dipped low to the west, painting the sky in crimson streaks. The deep shadows under the live oaks and mesquites drew long lines across the earth. They seemed to tie the day to the coming night, anchoring the world on the promise the light would return with the dawn.
Kate thought her heart would break in her chest with the ache of this love for the land, but she loved her sisters, too. There was no anger in her when she walked in the house. Jenny had calmed down as well. She held out her hands to Kate who took them with a smile. "Reckon I lost my temper," she said. "Wonder where I got that from?"
"I'm sorry, Katie," Jenny said. "I had no right to speak to you like that."
"It's okay, Jenny," Kate answered, squeezing her sister's hands. "It's true. I don't stray far from home. I like being on the ranch. I always have. Daddy knew what he was doing when he put that will together. He fixed the terms to pit us against each other. You understand that, right?"
"Of course he did," Mandy said without hesitation. "But we're not going to let him get away with it . . . are we?" Uncertainty tinged the hopeful note in her voice.
Jenny smiled at her fondly. "No, honey. We're not. How about we all get some plates of leftover funeral food and go out on the porch. Talk while we eat. Okay?"
When they were each settled with a plate and a Mason jar of ice tea, Kate cleared her throat and began. "This is asking a lot of you both, but could we try this thing? I mean at least until we understand what happened to Daddy? Maybe if we can make this place our own . . . be here without him riding us so hard all the time . . . well, maybe we would finally be a family. There's more than enough land for everyone to build their own place and obviously more than enough money."
"This land means everything to you, doesn't it?" Jenny asked.
"Yes," Kate answered, her voice thick with emotion. "Land lasts. It doesn't lie or manipulate. I understand everything that happens in this country. I know who I am here. I never wanted anything but this ranch, in my whole life."
"It's not the same way for me," Jenny said.
"Tell me how it is for you." Kate said. "I want to know."
Jenny turned away with tears in her eyes. "Being here hurts me," she said. "Can't you understand that for me Mama is in every room? I can't forget the way the light died in her eyes. She just faded away the longer she listened to the things Daddy said. Did you even notice what was happening, Katie? Did you ever understand back then?"
"I wish I had, Jenny," she said, "but truthfully, I didn't understand Mama. All I saw was Daddy and how much I wanted him to approve of me. I did everything I could not to be like her so he wouldn't say those things to me, too. I . . . I wasn't a good daughter to her the way you were."
"That's not how Mama felt about you," Jenny said. "That's not the way she thought."
"What do you mean?" Kate asked in a small voice.
"Mama said she knew you would grow up to be a fine woman who would do something good with all the strength you got from Daddy. She said she knew you weren't mean. You wanted Daddy to love you and he kept you on edge all the time never knowing where you stood with him."
"She said that?" Kate asked, scrubbing at the tears she could no longer hold back.
"Just a few days before she died, when I was mad at you because you wouldn't sit with her."
"I couldn't sit with her . . . then," Kate said. "She was . . . there was nothing I could do . . . and . . . I just couldn't. I always thought she . . . that you . . ."
"She never held it against you for one minute and she made sure I didn't either, and I never have," Jenny said.
"But you held it against Daddy," Mandy said. "That's why you left."
"Yes," Jenny admitted. "I blamed him for everything. For how Mama died, for being so hard on us all. The few times I came back I convinced myself we would be different together. That enough time had gone by he would surely realize how wrong he'd been to be so hard. But he never changed, not one second."
"Well, this is what I think," Mandy said, looking down at her plate and using her fork to play with the macaroni salad. "Daddy and the ranch aren't the same thing. We can look at everything here and see him. We can see Mama's unhappiness and be sad about that. But then we could decide everything starts over right now with us. I think we can make something new and good. Is there any reason why we have to hang on to the past?"
Kate studied her across the table. "You think it's that easy?"
Mandy looked up. "I think it can be easy between the three of us if we just let it be. I'm not so sure about moving out here though. I mean this town is in the middle of absolute nowhere. I'm not sure how I feel about leaving Houston."
"Is there a guy?" Jenny asked.
"Not right now," Mandy said. "We broke up months ago. But all my girlfriends are there. Everything I like to do. I'm not sure what I would do here."
"With the kind of money we inherited today, could you make it work?" Kate asked practically. "What would you both need to at least give it a try?"
"Well," Jenny said, seeming to consider the question seriously for the first time. "I am a freelance designer. In theory I can work anywhere. I'd need good Internet, and a studio where I can work, and some place to live other than this house."
"All of that is easy," Kate said. "What about you, Mandy? What do you want?"
"I absolutely need good Internet," Mandy agreed. "I'm three days behind with my Facebook updates."
"That is tragic," Kate nodded solemnly, but there was a twinkle in her eyes. "What else?"
"An espresso machine for starters, and, well, a modern house to live in. I mean seriously, the tub here doesn't even have jets. How do people live like that?"
"It's a mystery to me," Kate said, smiling in spite of herself.
"Are you laughing at me?" Mandy asked suspiciously.
"No, honey, I'm not. You are clearly a woman who needs a jetted tub."
"I am, Katie. I really am," Mandy said seriously. "So I'd start with a lot of shopping. The UPS truck does come out this far, right?"
"Yes," Kate said with a straight face. "On days when the Indians aren't attacking."
"Now you are laughing at me," Mandy said, pointing an accusing finger at her.
Jenny giggled.
"Both of you!" Mandy declared indignantly. "Just because I have standards . . ."
"Okay. So if we meet your standards, Mandy, and we get you set up so you can keep working, Jenny, we're agreed we'll give this thing a chance?"
"Well," Mandy said, "Daddy said we can't leave for long, but he never said anything about us not being able to bring people here, right?"
"Not a word," Kate said. "You can truck'em out from Houston by the busload if you want to."
"Do you object to a pool?"
"No," Kate said, "but you might have a hard time keeping the goats out of it."
"Make that a fenced pool," Mandy said, her brain clearly starting to work overtime. "I need to start making a list."
"So," Kate said grinning, "are we going to try this thing?"
"Yes," Jenny said. "I'll try. I'm not promising anything, but I will try."
Mandy clapped her hands, "Then I can start shopping? How fast can you get me online?"
Kate laughed. "You can go to the library i
n town and use their computers, and I'll call in the morning and see what it will take to get us hooked up out here."
9
When Mandy walked into the kitchen at 9:00 in the morning Jenny almost dropped her coffee cup. "What in the world are you doing up at this hour?" she asked incredulously.
"Oh stop," Mandy said, grinning. "I have been known to get up before noon in cases of dire emergency."
"What's the dire emergency?" Kate asked from the table. She had already been on the phone with various Internet companies for an hour and was staring at the notes she'd scribbled on a legal pad with no small degree of annoyance.
"Why shopping, of course," Mandy said, as if her answer was the most obvious thing in the world. "I need to get to the library, update my Facebook page, and start placing some orders. How do I pay for it, please?" she finished brightly.
"I had John's office call the bank. We all get new debit cards to cover immediate expenses. Just go by and pick yours up, the number is activated."
"See you all this afternoon," Mandy said, with a happy little squeal. They listened to her sandals clacking down the hallway and out the front door.
"You do realize that a bottomless debit card is a dangerous thing in the hands of a woman like that?" Jenny asked, refilling her cup.
"I do, but let her have her fun. We did agree she could buy whatever she wants to turn this place into Houston west."
"As long as she leaves the humidity in Houston east, we're good. How are you making out?"
"I am now calling the phone company, I'll tell you in a minute."
Jenny sat down across from Kate and listened while her sister explained their location and their need for good Internet access. It was clear that she was getting the run around. Finally, Jenny had enough and motioned for her sister to give her the phone.
"Yes, good morning," she said. "And you are?"
Kate leaned back in her chair and smiled. She recognized the tone in Jenny's voice all too well. She wasn't the only one with some of Daddy's backbone.
The Lockwood Legacy - Books 1-6: Plus Bonus Short Stories Page 4