Free By Summer's End (Christian Fiction) by Rosemarie Naramore Page B

well.  He was like a second father
to me.”
    Holly gasped and smiled with pleasure. 
“I’d love to hear about him sometime.”  Her eyes widened, as if she remembered
something of import.  “Oh, I didn’t mention it, but my uncle left us this
house.”  She glanced around, smiled, and shrugged.  “I don’t know why he
thought of me, but I’m so grateful.”
    “But … you didn’t know him?”
    “I’m afraid not.  I believe I met him
once, but I just don’t know why he chose to remember me in his will.”  She
sighed. 
    “Is something wrong?” he asked.
    “Oh, well, as Brianna told you, we moved
in six weeks before, but we have yet to manage a meeting with Uncle Ben’s
attorney.  Since Uncle Ben sent me a key to the home, we were able to move in,
but we just don’t know any other details.”
    Ryan suddenly felt a sense of guilt
descend over him.  Ben had asked him to be his executor, but he had suggested
using the family attorney.  He knew Ben was in failing health and feared he
wouldn’t be on hand when the old man passed.  And his trip had lasted
longer than originally planned.
    Thankfully, he had managed to get home,
to be with Ben when he died, but he’d barely made it.  His sister would never
have forgiven him had he not.  Nor would he have forgiven himself.
    “Ryan, are you feeling all right?” Holly
asked.  She felt a bit strange—continuing to inquire about his health—since she
didn’t even know the man, but it was obvious he’d gone pale beneath his tan.
    “I’m … fine.”  And I have all the
details you could ever need … he thought to himself.  With a shoring breath,
he opened his mouth to apprise this woman of the reality that she owned the
manufactured home, but not the property beneath it, when Brianna returned
carrying a cat.
    “I found Dave,” she announced. 
    Ryan noted she had washed her face and
seemed to have pulled herself together.
    “Dave?” he repeated.
    “Yes.  He’s a stray,” she told him,
nuzzling the cat.
    Ryan smiled grimly.  He didn’t have the
heart to tell her that ‘Dave,’ like the property beneath them, belonged to him.

Chapter Ten
     
    “You look sick,” Annabelle said, watching her brother with concern.  “I’m not
kidding.  You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
    Ryan eyed his sister curiously.  “Have
you been by Ben’s place lately?”
    She shook her head.  “Can’t say that I
have.  I haven’t had occasion to drive that way.”  She sighed and admitted,
“Frankly, it makes me sad.  I miss him so much.”
    “You’re telling me you haven’t driven
Meadow Lane for over six weeks?”
    She gave a shrug.  “I guess I haven’t. 
I’ve been busy around here too, and more often than not, I use the new road
into town.  Why?”
    He raked a hand through his hair. 
“It’s…”
    “It’s what?” she asked, as she followed
him out of the well-appointed kitchen in the family’s expansive home. 
    He strode into the den and dropped into
a sumptuous leather chair.  He registered the luxury of the chair—the feel of
the fine leather against his hands—and suddenly remembered the chair in Ben’s
place.  He recalled the young girl talking about having an appreciation for
that chair, since it was the only one they had in the room.
    But, it had been clear the girl had
lived a different lifestyle previously.  She’d spoken about her parents as if
they had been wealthy, or rather, lived as if they had money.  Where were her
parents now?  And since she and Holly were sisters, why did the girl speak as
if she was divulging new information to her older sister?  He was thoroughly
confused, but what confounded him even more was that he’d left the home wanting
to know more about its occupants.
    “Earth to Ryan,” Annabelle intoned. 
“Speak.”
    “It seems there are people living in
Ben’s place.”
    She smiled uncertainly.  “I don’t
understand.”
    “A young woman and her teenaged