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Sophie bit her lip. “Please don’t be angry with us.”
She looked so anxious that Gina kissed her cheek again. “I’ll live. But from now on, please don’t keep secrets from me.”
“Understood.” Uncle Redd eyed the folders she’d set on the counter. “What’s all that?”
“Papers I took to the attorney. I’m going to put them away and drop these trash bags and boxes in Uncle Lucky’s office. I’ll be back.”
In the office, Gina removed the painting and opened Uncle Lucky’s safe. She returned the folders and then searched for the packet the attorney had described. She found what she was looking for in the back corner of the safe.
She didn’t have to fold back the layers of tissue paper to know what was inside—the watch Uncle Lucky had inherited from his father, who’d gotten it from his father. According to the attorney, for some time now, Uncle Lucky had thought of Zach as the son he’d never had and had asked that the watch be passed on to him. Gina knew that Zach would be touched.
Over his seventy-four years, Uncle Lucky had known his share of ranch hands. As far as she knew, he’d never grown as close to any of the others as he had to Zach. It was comforting to know that someone her uncle cared about had lived on the ranch these past few years.
She should’ve been here, too. Once again, her guilt stirred. Every year, Andersen, Coats and Mueller closed from December 24th through January 1st, and she could easily have flown home last year. Her uncles and cousins would have loved that.
Instead, she’d spent Christmas Eve at a party with Wayne. That night, he’d stayed over, but early the next morning, he’d left for a family get-together, and she’d gone to Lise’s townhouse for brunch. She’d spent the rest of the day alone, filling the time with work.
This Christmas was bound to be even more lonely, but she wasn’t about to come back here in a month.
She locked up the safe, placing the package in her purse.
When she returned to the kitchen, mouthwatering smells greeted her. Her stomach growled, demanding to be fed. Someone had set the table, and the family was seated around it. “That smells so good, and I am so hungry,” she said, licking her lips.
“The casserole needs to bake at least another thirty minutes, so I’m afraid dinner won’t be for a little while yet, but sit down and relax.” Gloria patted the chair next to her. “Tell us what else Matt Granger had to say.”
“You all know that Uncle Lucky wasn’t exactly flush with cash. There’s enough money in the bank to pay salaries and the bills for a few months but not much extra.”
The next part was difficult, but Gina needed to say it. She cleared her throat. “Mr. Granger explained that even though Uncle Lucky left the ranch to me, I’m not legally bound to keep it. He said that what I do with the ranch is up to me.”
“What do you plan to do?” Uncle Redd asked, but his resigned expression told her he already knew the answer.
“This is what I told Zach and Mr. Granger.” Gina made sure to look each of her relatives in the eye. “I’ve had some wonderful times here, but I can’t keep the ranch. I guess I’ll put it on the market, hopefully before I leave town.”
In the beat of silence that filled the room, Gina’s family traded looks.
Sophie shook her head. “I’m afraid that won’t work. You see, next Thursday is Thanksgiving, and Carole Plett always closes her real-estate office for the entire week.”
“Then I’ll talk to her tomorrow. She’ll be at the funeral, right?”
“Unfortunately, she won’t,” Gloria said. “I was at Anita’s Cut and Curl this morning, getting my hair done for tomorrow. Carole happened to be there, too. Her daughter in Elk Ridge just had a little girl, Carole’s first grandchild. As you can imagine, she’s eager to get her hands on that baby, and since the real-estate business is slow this time of year, she decided to close up shop this afternoon. She’s probably pulling into Elk Ridge just about now.”
“That reminds me,” Uncle Redd said. “We got a sympathy card from her today. She donated a big bouquet of flowers for the funeral.”
“That was real sweet of her.” Sophie looked pleased. “I was over at the church earlier today, making sure everything is ready, and those flowers look just beautiful.”
So much for listing the property while she was in town. Gina sighed. “I guess I’ll call her from Chicago.”
“That’s a real good idea, honey,” Uncle Redd said. “It’ll give you more time to think about whether you really want to sell.”
“I don’t have to think, I—”
Uncle Redd fixed Gina with a stern look she rarely saw, and the rest of her words died in her throat. “This land has been in our family for generations,” he said. “It ought to stay in our family.”
“He’s right, cookie,” Sophie said. “You should pass it on to your children—when you have them.”
Gloria narrowed her eyes. “Speaking of children, how much longer are you going to wait before you get married and start a family?”
Gina gave her a wry look. “Gee, Gloria, why don’t you ask me something really personal?”
Undaunted, her cousin settled her hand on her ample hips. “I’m family. I can ask you anything I please. And don’t try to put me off.”
“Fine. At the moment I’m not dating—I just don’t have time. You know how busy I am with work.”
“What happened to Wayne?” Sophie asked. “He sounded like a nice fella.”
“He is,” Gina said. “But things didn’t work out.”
Hating the pitying looks on her cousins’ faces, she added, “It wasn’t a bad breakup or anything. We realized we didn’t love each other and that we didn’t have a future together. We parted on good terms.” She shrugged. “I promise you that someday I’ll get married and start a family. But it won’t be for a while.”
“But you’re thirty years old.” Gloria frowned. “You should already be married and settled down. Why, when I was your age, I’d already been married and widowed.”
Gloria’s husband, Harvey, had died in Vietnam and she’d never recovered. As far as Gina knew, she hadn’t dated since.
“Tony and I tried to have kids.” Sophie gave her head a sorrowful shake. “But I kept losing them early in the second trimester.”
“My first wife couldn’t get pregnant at all,” Uncle Redd said. “The second one said that taking care of me was enough and my third had had her tubes tied. If this family is to continue, it’s up to you.”
The constant pressure to marry and have babies never stopped. “Hey, this is the twenty-first century. I’m still young and I have a career, remember? I love what I do, and I’m darn good at it. That’s why I was promoted to the assistant vice-president position last spring.”
“And we’re all real proud of you,” Uncle Redd said. Sophie and Gloria nodded enthusiastically. “But couldn’t you hold on to the ranch?”
Gina hated to disappoint her family, but they needed to understand. “Who’s going to pay the ranch crew’s salaries when the money runs out? Even if I paid them with my own funds, and I’m not going to do that, we all know that sooner or later, the ranch will need even more cash to stay afloat.”
She wasn’t about to confess that despite her large paycheck, keeping the creditors off her back kept her virtually broke. She was too humiliated. “Besides, I live more than eleven hundred miles away,” she went on. “How could I possibly run the ranch? And don’t tell me I should move back here. I have a good job in Chicago, and I like living there.”
A stony silence met her words.
“Times are tough,” Uncle Redd said. “There’s no guarantee you’ll be able to sell the Lucky A.”
Gina hoped he was wrong. “Well, then—”
A knock at the door cut her off. Relieved at the interruption and wondering who had come to pay their respects, she jumped up. “I’ll get that.”
She opened the door and found Zach.
* * *
“HEY,” ZACH SAID, wiping his feet on the mat.
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