AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He wouldn’t allow the Steels to help us when our vineyards burned down, and I understood then.
Now, three of his children are engaged to Steels, and he still won’t take their money.
I don’t know whether to be proud of him or to resent him.
“Anyway,” I say, “I don’t think the girls are going back to school anytime soon. At least not for another couple of days, so Daddy, if you could take me, I’d appreciate it.”
“Of course, Maddie.”
Today is Saturday, and I’m supposed to have lunch with Dave. Or at least he said so. I haven’t heard from him since.
If he doesn’t text me, that’s okay. I need to get my stuff packed up and ready to go back to school anyway.
Since I’ll be in the dorms, I’m going to need bedding and everything else for my room. I really lucked out getting a single room.
I give Mom and Dad a kiss and go to my room to begin packing.
I get a lot done, start a few loads of laundry, give my room a good cleaning, and by then it’s lunchtime.
I look at my phone.
No text from Dave.
Well, that’s that.
I lie down on my bed, wanting to cry.
But I don’t.
Chapter Twenty-One
Dave
I take Gary and head over to Mom and Dad’s house in the morning. I want to check on everyone, and I meet them for breakfast.
Dad looks a little better this morning, though he’s still not himself by a longshot.
Angie and Sage are still sniffling, but Henry is good. Mom is good.
This is Mom’s big brother, and she’s taking it better than Dad is.
I can’t believe I never saw how strong my mother is, but as I look back, I see it was always there—that gentle strength, so different from Dad’s. Mom is the only daughter of Bradford and Daphne Steel, full sibling to Uncle Joe and Uncle Talon.
We know so little about our grandmother, Daphne Steel, but we do know she went through a lot in her life and spent most of her adult life in a world of her own making to escape the pain of her past.
But there’s no doubt in my mind that she loved her children, even Uncle Ryan, who biologically wasn’t hers. She never knew about Lauren, who grew up with her birth mother, Wendy Madigan.
I’m supposed to have lunch today with Maddie, but I’m not sure I’m up to it. I feel like getting outside today, and for the first time since I was a kid, I wish I worked with Uncle Joe and Brock on the ranch. I could use a day of hard physical labor.
There’s no reason why I can’t, though, is there?
I don’t want to bother Uncle Joe, given what he’s going through.
But I know Brianna and Uncle Talon can use some help in the orchard, and working with trees seems more my speed than working with animals whose fate is to end up on someone’s dinner plate.
After breakfast, I take Gary and head back to the guesthouse where I change into work clothes.
I text Brianna quickly.
