Heart of Texas Volume One by Debbie Macomber Page A

inheritance a little early.”
    â€œWe almost lost the ranch,” Savannah felt obliged to tell him. Surely he must have realized that? “Richard, I don’t think you have a clue how hard it’s been for Grady and me,” she said.
    â€œI’m sorry,” he repeated with what sounded like genuine regret. “How many times do I need to say it?”
    â€œSorry?” Grady said the word as though it were the foulest obscenity.
    Richard ignored the outburst. “I’ll admit that what I did was rotten, but would it really have been such a bad thing if you’d been forced to sell the land?”
    â€œWhat do you mean? ” Savannah asked, certain she wasn’t hearing him correctly. This land had been in the Weston family for generations. Their ancestors had settled here, worked the land, raised cattle. Generations of Westons had been buried here in a small cemetery plot overlooking the main pasture. This land was their heritage, their birthright. Their future. That Richard could suggest selling it revealed how little he understood or appreciated the legacy.
    â€œThese days everyone knows it’s not a good idea to eat a lot of red meat,” he explained when it became apparent that his words had upset her. “The beef industry’s been declining steadily for some time, or so I hear. Actually I’m surprised you’ve held on to the old place this long.”
    Savannah’s heart sank. It seemed impossible that Richard shared the same blood that flowed through Grady’s veins and hers. But he was her brother and she refused to turn her back on him, despite his shortcomings. Despite his betrayal.
    â€œYou think because you say you’re sorry it makes everything right?” Grady asked, his voice shaking with such rage Savannah feared he was near exploding. “Do you honestly believe you can walk back into our lives as if you’d done nothing wrong? I’m here to tell you it’s not going to happen.”
    Confused and uncertain, Richard looked to his sister for support. “But I’m willing to do whatever’s necessary to make it up to you.”
    â€œGive me back six years of constant hard work,” Grady shouted. “Days that stretched fifteen hours without rest. Days in which I did the work of two men. Back-breaking work. Can you do that, little brother?”
    Richard stood still and silent.
    â€œFor six long years I fought off the wolf at the door. For six years I dealt with grief and stress and worry so bad I couldn’t sleep.” He climbed down the steps, one step for each statement. Anger seethed below the surface unlike anything she’d ever seen in Grady. Not the explosive kind common with him, but the deep bitter anger that gnawed at a man’s soul.
    â€œI can’t change the past,” Richard muttered, his shoulders hunched, “but I’d hoped we could put all this behind us and start fresh.”
    â€œNot on your life,” Grady said. He stood face-to-face with Richard now, glaring at him. “You haven’t shown any true regret. Not once have you asked Savannah and me to forgive you. As far as I’m concerned, you got your inheritance, and you wasted it. Now get off our land.”
    â€œYou want me to leave?” Richard sounded incredulous. He looked at Savannah but she turned away. “You’re my family!” he cried. “The only family I’ve got. You don’t mean this. Okay, okay, you’re right, I should have asked you to forgive me. I meant to—that was the real reason I returned. Like I said, I want to make it up to both of you.”
    Savannah wavered, ambivalent.
    â€œYou should have thought of that sooner,” Grady replied, his voice clipped.
    She’d hoped they could resolve their differences and make Richard a part of their lives again, but Grady was right. Richard hadn’t revealed any sincere sorrow for the agony he’d caused