Page 47 of A Whisper of Summer Magic

What? No. Mothering hadn’t even occurred to her although at thirty-three it should have, she supposed, even though many of her friends from law school—including Elise—were still unmarried and childless and not a bit sorry.

Lusting after Jackson didn’t count, but the way both of her parents now focused their attention on her, Meghan felt exposed.

“Who’s the young man?”

“Ahhhh,” Meghan desperately tried to pull a name out of her memory bank for someone appropriate who could conveniently disappear and who wasn’t named Jackson.

“Your father and I have several friends we regularly do business with. We can put feelers out if there is no one special yet.”

“I… thank you.” Meghan had learned long ago that a direct no didn’t fly so well with her folks. “I’m still adjusting to the move—learning more about family law, taking on a few corporate cases that this firm has been asked to work on, and of course getting settled in with Jessica. I’ve made jam that I’m selling—well I gave it away during the open house, but when more fruit varietals ripen along with Jessicas herbs and botanicals, I’m going to sell jam and pickle vegetables to sell in the small farm store we added to the nursery.”

Both her parents stared at her as if she’d suddenly started speaking Iroquoian, the language of one of the earliest Native American tribes in the area.

“It’s a good stress relief. Creative.” What was she doing—trying to sell herself as the next Pioneer Woman? But why stop digging when she could make the hole bigger?

“It makes me feel closer to my sisters and Grandma M,” she confessed in a rush, horrified when tears welled that she blinked back. “I wish you’d both come up to see the nursery and the botanic garden Jessica’s been working on. Her vision astonishes me—and her skill at building something beautiful reminds me of you.”

Their father had been set on developing the property. His well-educated daughters gardening, pickling, and jamming was probably not how he’d imagined his golden years—although their father showed no signs of slowing down. Had he ever dreamed of anything more?

He looked like he smelled something bad. “So family law,” he said.

“Yes, but I will still also cover business law, tax law. The firm is expanding so my corporate expertise and experience with some IP law was a selling point—why I was hired.” She was proud of that and continued to tell herself that it didn’t matter, that she didn’t care that her parents would see it as a downgrade.

“And contract work from your former firm just like Jessica’s doing some… bookkeeping and taxes for some local companies.” Her father sounded like he was chewing on chalk.

She schooled her face and tongue to not react.

“So if I want to redo my will, I would come to you, now?”

She blinked at him. What was this?

“I could advise,” she said slowly, “but since we are family, I would counsel working with one of my other partners.”

He nodded. “With my mother’s unexpected death…” he began and paused.

Meghan’s breath went raggedy, and her eyes stung again.

“There have been changes, and you three girls now have two prime properties between you. None of you is married to a man who is in the development business. None of my three daughters has expressed any interest to join my firm.”

He let the words hang there. An explanation. A threat? Not that any of her sisters had ever once thought about an inheritance. They wanted their parents alive and with them. They’d been so devastated by G. Millie’s death and overwhelmed to learn that she’d put the farm in trust to them. And the historic Maye house, too, which they’d always thought would be their father’s as it had been passed down for generations.

“Papa,” she began reverting to what she’d called him when she’d been a child.

He jerked, and she paused, not sure what to say, how to make it right when it felt so wrong.

“So much for us to think about.” He held out his arm and her mom slipped hers through his.

They walked through the door, her father leading, but her mom turned back as if to say something or mouth it—something she’d often done when they were little, but her father pulled her door firmly shut behind him.

*

Meghan arrived atSarah’s a little later than she’d planned, but she’d brought takeout from Nell’s, one of their favorite restaurants, and her laptop in case Sarah wanted her to take notes on anything. She placed the food in the large, elegant kitchen, turned the oven on to warm, poured out two glasses of sweet tea and went in search of her sister.

She found her in Grandma Millie’s bedroom, with the large, cedar-lined trunk open.

“I imagined you would be in Grandma Millie’s office,” she said, drily.

“Oh, you startled me.” Sarah sat back on her heels. “Why didn’t you call out when you arrived?”

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