“But someone found out?” I hedge.
He dips his head. “Unbeknownst to us, we went camping near Duporth’s estate in Spring Mountain.”
A knot forms in my chest at the mere mention of that name. “What happened?”
“Forrester Duporth, Ridge’s great-grandfather, caught us in a, let’s just say, compromising position by the lake.”
“Shit.”
“If you think Ridge Duporth is a piece of work, he’s got nothing on Forrester, that duplicitous piece of scum.” Clancy shakes his head, visibly upset. “The Duporths didn’t give a shit about the horses, but they always wanted the land the sanctuary was on so they could expand their winery. Forrester gave me an ultimatum—sell the land to him, or he’d expose us.”
“The fucking prick,” I mutter. “So you sold the land?”
Tears well in the old man’s eyes. “I agreed to sell aportionof it, not the whole thing. I was so scared he’d give us away, and if that happened, I knew it would destroy your grandmother. So I didn’t get a lawyer to look over the contract. I stupidly signed away something that had belonged to my family for generations. It was the biggest mistake of my life. In more ways than one.”
“What do you mean?”
“Rick was furious with me when he found out what I’d done. I tried explaining what had happened, but he didn’t believe that it was a mistake on my part. He thought I did it deliberately to betray my family.”
“Didn’t you try to convince him otherwise?”
“Of course I did. So many times.” He glances down at the letters. “But no matter what I said or did or wrote, it didn’t make any difference. I even tried to buy the land back, but by then, Forrester had died, and his son sold it to new owners, who wanted double what I’d sold it for. I lost my family’s land and business, and I lost the second of my two great loves.”
“I can’t believe Grandpa shut you out like that.”
“His mind was made up. Rick was a man of resolute conviction, which is a nice way of saying he was stubborn. When he made his mind up that something was over, it was over.”
I never knew that side of him. To me, he was just Grandpa Rick, the guy who’d take me out horse riding and let me eat all the sugary sweets I wanted.
“Are you like your grandfather, Maverick?” There’s an unmissable undercurrent to Clancy’s question. “Once something is over, it’s over? Or do you fight for it?”
“Subtle, Clancy.”
“Well?”
“Is that why you came over? To berate me? You were pretty angry when I opened the door.”
“I came to talk some sense into you. Jackson has been moping around, miserable, ever since you…”
“Fired him?” I complete his thought. “I didn’t mean to do that, and I clarified that immediately.”
His expression hardens. So does his tone. “Yeah. I read the email.”
“What was wrong with the email? I made a mistake, and I fixed it.”
“You mean your lawyers fixed it.”
“What?”
“Come on, son. That wasn’t written by you. You didn’t think it’d be better to call or, heaven forbid, talk to Jackson face-to-face?”
“Is that what he’s upset about? The email?” Now,mytone hardens. “Did he happen to mention he ended things with us?”
“He did.” Clancy lets out a weary sigh. “I know you’ve been angry at him, and you have a right to be.”
“I’m noticing that honesty doesn’t come naturally in your family.” He recoils in surprise. That was a low blow. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
He glances at the letters beside him and the piles stacked on the coffee table, his face long and drawn. “Being honest isn’t always a black-and-white matter. Your grandfather and I weren’t able to be honest about our feelings for each other because we wanted to protect the people we loved. And that’s what Jackson was doing, protecting you.”
