Page 62 of Inheriting Miss Fortune

My stomach dropped. “You were behind the wheel?”

“No. But I gave him the car.”

It took a minute for the words to make sense because they didn’t actually make sense at all.

“You… gave him the car? How does that make a car accident your fault?”

He closed his eyes and held his breath for a beat, pulling his hand out of mine to rub his face. “It was a fancy sports car. He was too young… too immature. He begged me for it. I should have never listened to him. He wasn’t ready for that kind of responsibility.”

“How old was he?”

“Twenty.”

I blinked. What was I missing? “Dev. He was old enough to vote. Old enough to be in the military and get deployed in a warzone. To drive tanks. And you’re blaming yourself for how he drove a car? I don’t understand.”

He ran his hands down his jean-clad thighs. “You don’t need to understand. Just know it was my fault. I blame myself, and my parents sure as hell blame me. It was enough for them to kick me out of the family and tell me they wouldn’t take a dime of my ‘tainted money.’ They turned to their religion, which would have been fine, except they ended up going to the Church of Heavenly Victory. So instead of getting comfort from their faith, they learned how to be extra hateful and intolerant. Pastor Scott apparently made it very clear to his congregation around that time that greed and covetousness were the root of all evil.”

“That’s rich,” I murmured, thinking of the sprawling mansion Katie’s parents lived in with their retinue of servants to support it.

“Agreed. They thought I’d gone to the evil Northeast and been turned into someone they no longer recognized. An ‘Ivy Elite,’ even though I was literally working for free while wading knee-deep in horse shit every day. They figured I’d gotten my money gambling with rich kids, and nothing I said could make them change their minds. It took me a long time and a ton of therapy to realize it was easier for them to blame me than themselves or, god forbid, my brother, Matt.”

“So, did the therapist help you come to terms with the fact his death wasn’t your fault?”

I already knew the answer based on the way he spoke about it.

“Not really. He tried, but I figured he didn’t have the whole story.” He surprised me by smiling. “Don’t worry, I can hear how that sounds now that I’m saying it out loud.”

“Good.”

“I’ve spent a long time blaming myself,” he admitted.

“Sounds like it.”

He reached for my hand and held it between both of his. “It was why I didn’t want to know about Katie’s baby.”

It made a strange kind of sense. He was obviously fearful of getting close to a new family member and possibly losing them, too.

He took a breath. “But in avoiding it, I lost out on more time with Katie. I lost out on seeing her as a mom and meeting Lellie earlier. I missed things that would have enriched my life… made it immeasurably better.”

I nodded, suddenly feeling the sting of his regret in my own eyes.

“Life’s too short, Tully,” he said softly. “I don’t want to miss any more of it.”

I pulled my hand out of his so I could put my arm around his shoulders and pull him in tight to my side on the lush leather sofa. Lellie had fallen asleep with her mouth and hands coated in sticky strawberry juice.

As the sleek jet continued to rocket us toward the challenges that awaited us in Dallas, I considered how I’d felt the day I’d left Dallas with Lellie in tow.

I’d been overwhelmed with anxiety at the prospect of seeing Dev again, concern that Katie had been misguided in her choice of guardian, worry for Lellie, and reluctance to leave my work at Dunlevy, Pace, and Trumble even for a few days.

It was hard to believe how much had changed with just a short time in tiny Majestic, Wyoming…

In a short time with Devon McKay.

And I began to realize that going back to Dallas now didn’t feel at all like I was going home.

EIGHTEEN

DEV

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