Page 20 of River Legacy
Tilly tried to quit crying. “I’m just so tired. I can’t sleep, if I eat I get heartburn, I can barely walk, and I haven’t been out of this house for weeks.”
“That’s all? Well, I can’t do much about some of those problems, but I did come to get you out of the house.” Tilly perked right up, blew her nose and quit crying. “Ryder went to Billings on Friday and brought back a woman.”
Tilly wiped her eyes, sick also of feeling sorry for herself. This wasn’t the way she’d pictured being married, pregnant and about to have her first child any day. Had she not fallen in love with Cooper McKenna, the son of her mother’s worst enemy, she kept thinking things would have been different. Cooper assured that she wasn’t cursed. Tilly wasn’t so sure.
“I talked to Brand this morning,” Oakley said after she’d helped her sister find her shoes and a jacket and had gotten her into the pickup cab and buckled up. “She’s staying in your old room.”
“Really?” Tilly said, trying to imagine the sortof woman her brother might have brought home to the ranch.
“See, even Ryder is enjoying not having Mother and CJ living in the house, although I wonder how long that will last,” Oakley said. “Have you seen CJ?”
Tilly shook her head. “I still can’t believe Mother got him out of jail, let alone found a way to have the charges dropped. He almost killed us both.” Tilly had been at the house the day her brother had realized the sheriff was looking for him. He grabbed her, forced her to go with him in the pickup and made a run for it. When he crashed the truck, he’d been injured. But Tilly had thought for sure she was going to die.
“You know Mother,” Oakley said. “She would have pulled strings, paid off everyone she could and probably even promised to sleep with the judge.”
“Honestly, Oakley!”
“He’s an old judge, so it really was a nice favor.”
“Stop it. You’re going to make me pee my pants,” Tilly begged.
“You’re right. This is serious, Ryder bringing a woman back to the ranch. He’s never done that before. Why would he do it now?”
“Because our mother isn’t there?” Tilly suggested. “Who is this woman?” she asked, feeling like the protective older sister she was.
“That’s the kicker. According to Brand, she is Victoria Forester, daughter of billionaire and real estate tycoon Wendell Forester. The same man who’s been trying to buy the ranch. Pickett thinks it’s dangerously suspicious. Don’t you love it?”
“Why would Ryder bring her back to the ranch and put her inmyroom?”
Oakley laughed. “Apparently, she’s rich and sexy and our brother was saving her from a fate worse than death. Her father was trying to marry her off to one of his handpicked flunkies, Brand said. So, we are going to stop by the ranch and check her out.”
Tilly groaned. “Like we did when Brand had Birdie Malone out at the ranch.”
“Exactly. The snoopy sisterhood is back. Hopefully, it will keep your mind off all that,” she said waving a hand in front of Tilly’s giant baby bump. “I hope you brought crackers. You aren’t throwing up in my pickup, are you?”
Ryder and Victoria returned to the ranch after their ride to find his sisters waiting for them. At once, he realized that they’d already gotten the lowdown from Brand. In fact, that must be why they were here, he realized. Brand had called Oakley to tell her about Victoria, and Oakley had dragged her very pregnant sister out to the ranch to check her out. He groaned, hating to think what all Brand had told them.
Inside the barn, Tilly was pacing the floor, holding her stomach and looking as if she could drop this baby at any moment. “Shouldn’t you be on your way to the hospital?” he asked her. She waved a hand to silence him in answer. He turned to his younger sister, no doubt the ringleader of this little escapade.
Oakley gave him a Cheshire smile. “Tilly wasjust dying to get out of the house, and I said, ‘Let’s go see Ryder, and see what he’s up to.’”
“Brand called you, didn’t he?” her brother said with a curse, hating to think how much Brand had enjoyed that as Oakley’s gaze went to Victoria.
“I didn’t realize you had company,” his sister said innocently. There was nothing innocent about Oakley.
“Right,” Ryder said and looked at Tilly. “Do you need to sit down?”
She shook her head. “Can’t sit. Can’t sleep. Can’t do anything until this baby comes out.”
He shook his head in commiseration and turned back to Oakley. “Victoria Forester, these are my sisters, Oakley Hanson and Tilly McKenna.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Victoria said. “Tilly? Thanks for the clothes and your room.” Tilly waved it away as if it was nothing and speaking would make her even more miserable than she was.
“It’s not like she’ll ever need either again,” Oakley said. “So, Victoria, are you really Wendell Forester’s daughter?”
Ryder rolled his eyes. “I apologize for my sisters. They’re very... protective and nosy. Oakley is the worst.”
“I don’t admit this to a lot of people, but yes, I am his daughter. I’m here for the weekend after your brother saved my life,” Victoria said.
