Sweet Heart (The Hearts of Sawyers Bend #2) - Ivy Layne Page 0,41

there first. “Sheree, what makes you say that? Prentice was a bastard, and Ford could be cold, but I haven't seen any sign that the Sawyer children take after their father. More like they take after their grandfather. Now, Reginald was a good man. I always thought Prentice drove him into an early grave.”

“Drove him into an early grave? How?” I asked, curious. I got most of my Sawyer-related info from Hope, but suddenly, it occurred to me that Grams had been born in this town, and she probably knew more of the old history than Hope did.

“Well, Prentice talked his father into signing the company over to him when he was in his 30s and then pushed his father out completely. Said it was an early retirement, but Reginald was born to work. He just wasted away after Prentice put him out to pasture. Died not long after. I don't know where Prentice got all his mean, but it doesn't run in the blood, that's for sure.”

My mother crossed her arms over her chest, her jaw set mulishly. “I'm just saying you can't know that. There's nothing wrong with Daisy guarding her heart. Royal is a player. Everyone in town knows it. And he may put on a good act, but he’s still Prentice's son.”

I turned to study her, realizing that this wasn't my mom suspicious of a man who had an interest in her baby girl. This wasn't really about me. It was something more.

“What do you have against the Sawyers? What did they ever do to you?” I couldn't imagine. My mother hadn't spent that much time in Sawyers Bend despite her long marriage to my father. They flitted in and out of town, but they were never here long enough to make friends or cause any trouble.

My mother lifted that set jaw in my direction. “Prentice Sawyer took advantage of your father in a business deal not long after you were born. I don't care if he lived in that big house and wore a fancy suit, he was still a thief. When your father tried to get back the money Prentice swindled out of him, Prentice had him arrested.”

“Sheree!” Grams cried, “Why didn’t you ever tell me this? I could have helped! I could have—”

“It's ancient history,” my mother said quickly, and I could tell she regretted letting so much slip in front of Grams. “It happened right after Daisy was born. We might not have had to leave town for so long if it hadn't been for that.”

Maybe I was bitter about my parents' frequent absences. I tried not to be. I tried to focus on everything I had instead of the things I was missing, but I couldn't help thinking that if Prentice Sawyer had swindled my father out of money it was probably done before my father could swindle him out of the same.

For the life of me, I couldn't imagine any business Darren Hutchins could have with Prentice Sawyer that was aboveboard. Possibly because I'd never known my father to have any business that was aboveboard. Except the one he'd pitched to get my money.

I tamped down the sick feeling that rolled in my stomach, the revulsion at hearing my mother complain about being swindled out of money when she and my father had done exactly that to me.

I wanted things to be simple. I just wanted to love her and have her love me and leave it at that.

I couldn't help resenting the easy way she slipped through all of it.

How could she stand here and look me in the eye knowing we were both lying to Grams? Knowing she and my dad had effectively stolen from me, stolen from Grams?

If I managed to pin her down she'd just wiggle her way out, telling me to talk to my dad, that it wasn't what I thought, that nothing was what it looked like, and everything was okay.

I wasn't going to confront her about the money, not with Grams right here, but I couldn't ignore her comments about Royal.

“Mom, I get why you think you have a reason not to like the Sawyer family. That's your business. But Royal is a good man, and I'm not going to listen to you say otherwise. If he breaks my heart, feel free to call him all the names you want. Until then, I don't want to hear it.”

I squirmed under the pitying look in her eye. Her phone beeped just as she started