Ladd Springs (Ladd Springs, Book #1) by Dianne Venetta

signed a sworn affidavit that says
she saw you write down your promise to my mother about giving this property to
Felicity.”
    Ernie
glared at her, bitterness dripping from his gaze. If he’d been an ax murderer,
her head would be rolling on the ground.
    “Mom
wanted this land for me and Felicity and you told her you’d do it. You should
be happy that I’m relieving you of the pain of giving anything to me.” Delaney
gestured toward Felicity, hating that she had to hear any of this ugly
business. But to deprive her? It was unthinkable.
    “There
ain’t no such paper,” he said to her, sidestepping Felicity’s gaze as best he
could.
    “There
was until you destroyed it.”
    Ernie
grew very quiet. He flicked a glinty eye toward Felicity then settled his wrath
on Delaney. “You’re nothin’ but a greedy gold-digger. Ever since you took up
with Jack Foster, you showed your true colors.”
    “Felicity,
go on up to the cabin,” Delaney directed. “I’ll catch up with you.”
    Felicity
didn’t hesitate. With a curt nod, she scrambled off the porch and up to their
cabin. Her mother’s cabin. Susannah’s cabin.
    Delaney
quieted the chaos of emotion churning in her heart. “This isn’t about me,
Ernie. This is about Felicity.”
    “I
don’t believe that for a second.” Ernie leaned on the arm of his chair. “You’d
steal that sweet girl blind, the minute I signed it over to her. Just like you
tried to do to Jack.”
    Delaney
ignored the insult. “You’re a miserable old man, hell bent on making everyone
around you just as miserable. It makes no sense, Ernie.”
    A
glimmer of satisfaction trickled into his expression. “You ain’t denyin’ it,
are you?”
    Jack
Foster came from a wealthy family, that much was true. But Delaney had never
been interested in him for his money. She had loved him. First love, only love,
she had believed in ‘til death do you part . Problem was, it was likely
to be her death that parted them. But Ernie didn’t care about the truth.
He only cared about being hurtful. “Do you know this property is scheduled to
go up for auction?”
    Awareness
registered in his gray eyes.
    “Are
you willing to let a stranger have this property over Felicity?”
    “No
stranger will take this property.” He jabbed a thumb to his chest. “I decide what
happens to it.”
    “I
can assume, then, that you’ll pay the taxes you’ve neglected to pay, putting
this land at risk in the first place?”
    “My
financial business ain’t none of your affair.”
    It
was mind-boggling. He was incendiary, spiteful, dead set against her getting
anywhere near ownership for years, then turns around and offers her ten acres
to live on if she released her legal claim to the title. As though she were
that stupid. As though she were that easy to placate. “Why are you doing it? Why
make Felicity suffer? She spends night after night playing her flute for you,
yet you’re unwilling to give her a dime towards college. It doesn’t make
sense.”
    He
lowered his gaze. “I don’t answer to you.”
    “But
what about Felicity? Your sister? Do you answer to them?”
    Ernie
shut down. Jamming the pipe back into his mouth, he sat back in his rocker and
closed his eyes, a grim expression carved into his face. He was a bitter man,
an unhappy man, and Delaney wondered if he wouldn’t fight her to the end just
to prove it.
    Ernie
had lost his will to care about those closest to him. A foreboding settled upon
her shoulders. Would he take that despair to the grave and leave them out in
the cold?
     
    Delaney
returned to her cabin to find Felicity pacing the living room. At her mother’s
entrance, she blurted, “What happened?”
    “Ernie
tried to bribe me with ten acres for my release on the rest, plus fifty
thousand cash.” Delaney closed the door with a smooth thud.
    “What
did you do?”
    “I
didn’t sign,” she said, and pulled the hairband from her ponytail.
    “What?”
Felicity asked, shocked.
    “I
didn’t