“Let’s get right down to it, shall we?” he asked, using that pompous, vaguely British accent that made Trevor want to smack him a time or two.
“Yes,” Trevor answered for all of them with no trace of a smile. “We shall.”
The lawyer was already perusing the papers. “As I’m sure the three of you are aware, your parents did quite well for themselves and left considerable assets behind.”
“Gee, what a nice way to remember the folks,” Randy said sourly. Carson shot him a warning, disapproving look, but Trevor found himself smirking. Pissed-off Randy was one of Trevor’s favorite Randys.
"Fortunately for you lot, or perhaps unfortunately, depending on how you look at matters, your parents were well-prepared for all eventualities, even that of their deaths. All their ducks are in a row, so to speak, including the will.” His keen glance swept the brothers. “Which is ironclad, I might add."
“Okay, that’s a good thing, I guess,” Carson said, as ever the only one making a real effort to be agreeable. “What do we need to know?”
“It’s simple. The house, the ranch, and all the assets are all tied together. They’re a package deal.”
“Okay…” Carson said again, although he sounded more uncertain now.
"The terms are simple as well," Mr. Barnes went on, clearing his throat. Trevor leaned forward in his chair, studying the lawyer's face closely. Though he’d never been good at reading people, he had an idea that, for the first time, Mr. Barnes was nervous about the news he had to deliver. A faint sheen of sweat dotted his forehead, and he reached up and tugged at his collar, loosening his tie.
“So?” Trevor said, pressing hard now. “You going to tell us what they are?”
“Yes. Yes, of course. All three of the McCall brothers, all of you, that is, must reside on the ranch for one full year, or the property and everything that goes with it will be auctioned off. That would mean losing ownership of your parents’ multi-generational ranch,” he said, eyeing each brother in turn. “Letting go of their legacy.”
A silence followed, so complete that Trevor could almost believe all the air in the room had been sucked into a vacuum. He could also have said with one hundred percent certainty that not one of them had expected an outcome like this.
It was infuriating, and it took everything in him not to jump up and say so. The fact that this highfalutin lawyer could present the information so matter-of-factly proved how little he understood about the lives of the McCall brothers. None of them lived in Winding Creek anymore, for starters. Each had responsibilities of his own to see to. It was so like their parents to try to force them to give all that up to satisfy some kind of from-beyond-the-grave kumbaya. Trevor would have dearly loved to point those things out to good ol’ Mr. Barnes, and plenty of other things besides, but before he could get a word out, Randy beat him to the punch.
“I’m sorry, but is this some kind of joke?” the youngest McCall asked, leaning forward with a dangerous look on his face. “Because if it is, it’s not funny. Not in the slightest.”
“No, no joke. I don’t make jokes when it comes to this sort of thing. It wouldn’t be appropriate,” Mr. Barnes said in an oddly prissy voice.
"So we're supposed to uproot everything? Is that it? We blow up our lives, or we blow apart our parents' legacies. Is that what you're telling us?" Randy asked. Now he didn’t sound particularly angry, just tired and very much resigned.
“I’m sure your parents didn’t mean it that way. And besides, there’s something of a contingency here. As long as one of you immediately moves back to stay, the other two are permitted a grace period to wrap up your affairs,” Mr. Barnes blustered, throwing his hands up in the air as if to stop further protests.
"It's okay," Trevor said in a voice so low, it was almost a growl. As it was, the words weren’t loud enough to get through the racket the others were making, which was escalating with alarming speed. He watched them for a moment, then stood abruptly, clapping his hands to get everyone else's attention.
“Hey! Maybe you guys didn’t hear me. I said I’d do it, okay? You two take care of what you need to take care of—and get back here as soon as you can.”
“No, but what about you, man?” Carson asked, looking exactly the way he had as a little boy fighting tears. “You have your own stuff, right? What are you going to do about your construction business?”
"Don't worry about that," Trevor answered grimly. "I've got a good foreman. Very good, actually. We can work something out to keep things up and running. If it needs to be done, I'll do it. For you guys, okay?” he said, giving his brothers a meaningful look. “Not for them. For you."
3
Lacey starred at Mr. Barnes, willing herself to understand what he was trying to tell her. She’d been in Mr. McCall’s office on the ranch plenty of times, but never in such a capacity as this. Never for business in which she played an integral part, something she still had trouble believing was really happening. When the lawyer had told her about the money Mr. and Mrs. McCall had left her in their will, he’d come to Lacey’s apartment to give her the news. Being in her late employer’s office this way made things feel a little too real.
“Ms. Cameron? Are you quite all right? Are you hearing what I'm saying to you?”
“Yes!” she answered, speaking a little too quickly and too loudly to sound exactly calm. “I’m sorry, I’m listening. I’m just not sure I understand. You’re saying...what, exactly?”
"I'm saying that the McCalls expressed a wish to have your family stay on and take care of the property for the next year. They were very fond of your family, you know. After all the years that you, your mother, and your grandmother have looked after the place."
“Yes, they were always very kind, but—”
"And, as you can imagine, it's not easy for the boys to leave their lives to come back home for a year," Mr. Barnes continued.
Lacey had to hand it to him. He could be awfully persistent when he wanted to be—the kind of man who wouldn't take no for an answer. She supposed that was part of what made him so good at his job. There was no way the McCalls’ final document was the first oddball will he'd been in charge of, although she wouldn't be surprised to learn that it was high up there on the list.
“Of course, I’m sure it must be so strange. Especially on top of everything else,” Lacey said, keeping her tone agreeable. She tucked her hands discreetly underneath her legs, feeling the roughness of the distressed denim of her jeans in contrast to the smooth leather of the chair. Disagreeing with people wasn’t in her nature. So much so, she couldn’t figure out how to tell this man that she wasn’t planning on sticking around in Winding Creek for much longer.
Three weeks had passed since she'd learned about the money the McCall parents had left to her, but she hadn't wasted time putting it to good use. Receiving that money had almost felt fortuitous, as horrible as it was to even think such a thing. It had given her the opportunity to begin the life she had been fantasizing about since she was old enough to dream up a potential future.