Ladd Springs (Ladd Springs, Book #1) Read Online Free

doctors told him he had a few years at best,
but instead of enjoying his last days on God’s green earth, he chose to fight.
    Fight—to
his dying day. Ernie would rather jeopardize the Ladd Springs legacy than leave
it to her. And now he was threatening to give it to Clem?
    Delaney
shook her head and walked toward the steps. No way in hell would Clem Sweeney
take ownership of her home, but at this point, it was a matter for the courts. If
Ernie remained firm in his commitment to deny his son Jeremiah any right of inheritance,
then Delaney and Felicity were it as the only other blood relatives,. In
Delaney’s mind, there was no reason for him to go back on his promise to his
sister. Susannah made him swear that the property would stay within the family
and that he would take care of Delaney and Felicity—to which Ernie agreed. Wrote
it down so Susannah could see it with her own eyes. Albert would be looked
after, of course, maintaining his right to live on the property until his dying
day. His two sons were another story. One was in jail, the other on the run.
    Jeremiah
could certainly contest the transfer, but it was unlikely he would. Gone for twenty
years now, he wasn’t in the picture and no one around here would draw him in. Even
his ex-girlfriend, Annie Owens, wouldn’t call him, and she claimed to be
the mother of his child—the same child she was squawking about getting rights
to the property for. As if Ernie would ever agree to giving Jeremiah’s
offspring rights.
    As
it stood, if Ernie continued to refuse, it would leave Delaney to deal with the
probate process. It was a headache she didn’t need, one her mother would have
never wanted her to endure.
    “I’m
going home,” Delaney announced. She’d get nowhere arguing another second with the
man. “I’ll have Felicity come by around eight.”
    Like
a pacifier to a babe, it settled the issue as she knew it would. For all her
uncle’s bluster and blow, he had a soft spot for Felicity. Delaney rounded the
railing and caught the intensity in the gaze Clem fastened on her uncle. It
struck her as odd, coming from the dullest tool in the shed. She hesitated. Was
she missing something?
    When
Clem realized she was staring at him, he cleared his expression, replacing it
with sugar and sunshine. “Have a good evening, Dell.”

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
    Unsettled
by Clem’s sudden shift, Delaney returned to her hillside cabin. Located behind
the main house, her small home was situated on the ridge about twenty yards up,
tucked away within a cluster of trees and rocks. It was accessible only by a
narrow, winding trail—a steep path which she climbed with ease. Ease, because
she’d been hiking it for years. Upon reaching the top, she was only mildly winded
and closed the distance to the tidy hideaway that once belonged to her mother.
    Built
from roughhewn logs secured together by thick swaths of cement, it was square
in shape, single story with a tiny loft. It was precariously perched on the
mountain’s edge, built for her by Uncle Ernie and Albert during high school. They
dubbed it her private little corner of heaven, even screened the front porch to
keep the bugs away. Tears pricked at the memory. It was her mother’s special
place, the safe haven she sought when she needed to get away from the stress of
life, the demands of family, the gruff presence of her father. Grandpa Ladd was
no different from Ernie in that both were thorny by nature, the elder
compounding trouble when he drank, swelling his heart with anger and his mouth
with obscenity. Delaney remembered bits and pieces of his rage from her own
childhood, but it was the tales Uncle Albert told that set her heart on fire. Not
only was Grandpa Ladd’s heart hard as rock, but his hand was swift with a belt,
whipping the boys on a regular basis. Knowing them as she did now, Delaney
could understand they might have deserved some of it, at least on occasion. But
her mother?
    The
bastard even