Page 15 of Pretend To Be My Cowboy
“Yes, I understand that,” she said when he was through. “My sister Lizzy and I have discussed the matter and we would like to sell the property.”
“I thought that might be the case,” Mr. Billman said with a paternal smile. “We’ll just need signatures from all Mr. O’Sullivan’s daughters before the property can be put on the market.”
“Oh, yes, of course. I’m sorry Lizzy couldn’t make it on this trip but I’ll arrange for her to sign it remotely and we’ll get that back to you as soon as possible.”
Mr. Billman stopped fussing with a stack of papers in front of him, his smile frozen and fading fast. “Er, Miss O’Sullivan—”
“Emma, please,” she corrected.
“You do realize you need seven signatures altogether, don’t you?”
She blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Emma, this property has been left toallyour father’s children, not just you and Elizabeth.”
Emma was hearing things. That was the only explanation.
“Allhis children?” she repeated.
Mr. Billman’s smile fell away completely, and her stomach dropped along with it. Dread had her belly churning, and confusion made her head so fuzzy it was hard to speak. “What...uh, what other children?”
His brow furrowed. “You don’t know?”
She shook her head, an anxious pit growing in her gut until she was swallowing down a wave of nausea.
Mr. Billman picked up a pen and twisted it between his fingers. “Well, uh, this is awkward.”
She leaned forward. This anticipation was killing her. “Mr. Billman, would you please tell me what’s going on?”
He cleared his throat. “I thought you were aware, but you and Elizabeth are not Frank O’Sullivan’s only children.”
Emma’s jaw fell open and she gaped at the kindly lawyer. Her heart started to pound erratically as her brain registered his words. “Did he have children with Loretta?”
“One child, yes.”
Her mind’s eye was filled with images of a purple bedroom with bunk beds and a desk.
Her stomach heaved. She’d assumed it was for her. For Lizzy.
And just like that she remembered Nash’s confusion. The way he’d looked like he might protest.
She shut her eyes as humiliation joined the mix of emotions. A near stranger knew her family better than she did. Her father had confided in his foreman and his attorney, but hadn’t thought to tell her and Lizzy that they had a sister.
Or...sisters?
Seven signatures, he’d said. Seven. The words cut through her shock. Her brow furrowed and she gave her head a shake to clear it. Resting her hands on the edge of the desk, she gripped the cool wood as if that could ground her and stop the spinning. “So, he had one daughter with Loretta,” she said slowly. “But you said we neededsevensignatures.”
“That’s correct.”
Heat swept through her, making her even more lightheaded. She tried to keep impatience out of her voice. “So, who else is there?”
“Well, there’s...” He turned his gaze to the stack of papers before him, shuffling through the pages. “Let’s see, there’s Sierra, you, Elizabeth, Dahlia, Daisy, Rose, and April.”
Emma blinked stupidly, completely at a loss for words as Mr. Billman recounted the names and nodded. “Yes, indeed, that makes seven.”
“Seven d-daughters?” Her voice came out way too high and tight. Her heart was hammering so loudly she could barely hear herself think.
“Yes,” Mr. Billman said. His kindly gaze wasn’t without a good deal of pity, which only made her more tense. “And if you want to sell this land, then you are going to need all of them to agree unanimously.” He nodded to a separate file. “The will stipulates this very clearly.”
