Page 23 of Snowed In With the Mountain Man
“But this is my home.” Emma’s voice was soft and strained, a touch of pleading coating each word. “And it has to be a unanimous decision, remember? I don’t want to sell.”
Dahlia’s jaw set. Oh yes, the unanimous factor. The thought of it made her want to punch a wall. Or better yet, a picture of their dearly departed, useless, no-good father.
“It was completely unfair of Frank to put that in the will.” Dahlia tried to keep her voice calm, but some of the anger she was feeling toward their father seeped through. “He was a failure as a father when he was alive, and then… what? He thought he could somehow control us from the grave? I don’t think so.”
“You don’t know what he was thinking any more than we do,” Lizzy snapped. “Don’t pretend like you knew him.”
“I’m glad I never did!” Dahlia retorted, a burning sensation making her chest feel raw. “Look, this isn’t about Frank O’Sullivan. It’s about us.”
“Exactly,” Lizzy shot back. “Allof us. Not just you.”
“We can’t even get in touch with everyone,” Dahlia tried to reason with them. “Who knows if we ever will. I, for one, don’t want to be tied to this place for the rest of my life.”
Rose flinched at the raised voices, but Dahlia’s heart was pounding faster and faster with each new argument.
Lizzy shook her head. “The agreement was that we wouldn’t make any decision until every sister has seen the place.”
“That wasn’t in the will! It was a ridiculous rule that Emma implemented,” Dahlia argued.
All three of them winced at that, and Dahlia felt a sneer creeping over her face. Oh yes, once again she was the wicked witch picking on innocent, sweet little Emma.
It must be nice to be so perfect all the time.
Dahlia tried to lower her voice and be kind. “We can’t even find two of the sisters,” she reminded them. “What if we never do?”
Emma just shrugged, her big blue eyes wide and helpless. “Then we just don’t sell.”
“Which works out great foryou, doesn’t it?” Dahlia pointed around the table. “If we never find Madison and April, then you just win by default, right? How convenient.”
Lizzy leaned forward, her eyes sparking with anger. “Watch it. There’s no need to be so mean.”
Emma was blinking back tears, and Rose did that wilting thing she’d always done as a child when Dahlia and Daisy fought. Like she could disappear in plain sight.
Dahlia took a deep breath and focused on Lizzy, the only one who wouldn’t cry if her tone was a little too harsh. “I don’t recall ever agreeing to every sister seeing this place before we made a decision.”
Lizzy’s eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You could have made the rules, Dahlia, if you’d bothered to show up here when the lawyer called to let us know Frank had left us the property. But you didn’t show. Emma did.”
Dahlia was rendered temporarily speechless as emotions clouded her mind. Was Lizzy actually trying to say that she’d been irresponsible? That Dahlia was somehow to blame for not taking charge from the start?
Something bitter and ugly slithered through her veins. What did any of these women know about being responsible? What had any of them done to think they ought to be in charge?
“Not all of us have jobs we can just walk away from for a summer.” It was an effort to keep her voice even, and she couldn’t quite manage it. Her fuming emotions made the words tremble out of her mouth.
Lizzy waved a dismissive hand, like her accusations weren’t shredding Dahlia to the bone. “Fine, whatever. But since Emmawasthe one who stepped up, she’s got that right to make the rules about how this plays out.”
Emma was just sitting there, quiet as a church mouse with those big pleading eyes.
Dahlia’s stomach churned at the sight. Only someone who’d been coddled and protected their whole life wore that look. It was the look of a victim. A helpless child.
Dahlia turned on the sweet saint of a sister with a disdainful glare. “Do you always let Lizzy fight your battles for you?”
Emma’s lips parted on a gasp. “I don’t… I don’t want to have a fight at all.”
Useless.Dahlia turned back to Lizzy, but it was Rose who spoke next.
“Dahlia, don’t you think it’s the right thing to do?” Her voice was a quiet squeak. “I mean, he was our dad. All of ours. We… I think we owe it to him to at least see this place like he wanted.”
“We don’t owe himanything!” Dahlia couldn’t control her tone a second longer. She wanted to, but… seriously? Was she the only one who saw Frank for what he was? “Rose, that man doesn’t deserve to have any say over where we live or how we earn money. That man didn’t care about us when he was alive, so why should we care about him when he’s dead?”
