The Wildwood Sisters Read Online Free

father had done to her. The bruises had long gone but the scars on his mother’s heart would be there for eternity.
    Peter Anderson had never been a loving husband—his drunken mood swings becoming more and more frequent over the years and his belittling words breaking his mother’s heart into more and more tiny pieces—but smashing a fist into her face had been a first, and a last. If only he’d got a chance to get his hands on his useless father, he would have made him pay, but the coward had shot through before he’d got home from spending the night with his childhood sweetheart. And the day that had followed his father’s disappearance had been filled with even more heartache, his father’s aggressive behaviour raising suspicion with a girl that meant everything to him—and that had shattered his already crumbling world into a million pieces. It was almost ten years now and they hadn’t heard a word from him—he’d never even met his granddaughter. Although that was probably for the best—Annie didn’t need someone like that in her life, a man that would promise her the world and give her nothing, just as his father had done to his mother, and to him. Karma would get his father for what he’d done to Claire Anderson, Dylan was sure of it. Eventually, everyone paid for his or her sins, in one way or another.
    Feeling as though the weight of the world sat upon his shoulders, Dylan groaned and closed his eyes, rubbing his throbbing temples. He was tired, beyond exhausted. Why did things have to be so damn hard all the time? His heart couldn’t take much more sadness. He couldn’t stand losing much more. But no matter how hard he tried, or how much he prayed, the aching black hole in his life just seemed to keep getting bigger and bigger, and he was afraid at any given moment he was going to fall in and never resurface. But he didn’t have time to be defeated. He needed to stay strong for those around him. When was life going to give him the break he so desperately needed?
    Dylan opened his eyes, took his sunglasses off and wiped the sweat and dust from his face. Squinting, he stared out across his horse-dotted paddocks, admiring the fresh green pasture that had shot up after last week’s much-needed rain. Thank God for small mercies. Ironbark Plains was his dream property, and he and his wife Shelley had worked so hard to get it to where it was. It had been a two thousand-acre run-down farm when they had inherited it from his grandfather seven years ago, and even though it was still in need of some expensive TLC in certain places, he was proud of what they had achieved: well-fenced horse agistment paddocks now marked out neat sections of the fertile land; healthy Santa Gertrudis cattle wandered in the thousand-acre back paddock; and their three-bedroom cottage-style home had undergone impressive refurbishments, mainly thanks to his and Shelley’s dedication to do-it-yourself handiwork. They’d even scrimped and saved enough to put a pool in, much to Annie’s delight. It was all they had wanted, and more. If only life hadn’t dealt them the low blow, their lives would have been close to perfect.
    Now that the bank was on his back Dylan knew he really only had two choices: he could either sell off some of his land, or he could ask around town and see if someone was looking for a bit of casual hired help. He preferred the latter, as long as it didn’t interfere with him being here for Annie. Opals Ridge was a fairly widespread township—expanding almost sixty-five kilometres, with plenty of cattle and fruit farmers, so surely there was a bit of work somewhere. Exhaling a frustrated sigh, he shook his head sadly, his throat constricting as he tried to block out the memory that had haunted him since that fateful day, and still had the power to bring him to his knees every time he allowed the horrific images to fill his mind. Things