My family has been treated like trash going back as far as I can remember. My father had an eye for women, and he made a lot of enemies in town. They took it out on his children.”
“Did they take it out on you?”
“Oh yes. That’s the reason Silas let me go. He didn’t want me to be raised with the stigma of being a Coleman. His attempt was a miserable failure for me. You can take the girl out of the mountain, but you can’t take the mountain out of the girl. I missed my mountain. I still do. When I find out who my stalker is, I’m going to build my home on the spot that me and Leah used to watch stars from.”
“If you’re going to build a house there, why did you buy the house in town from Willa?”
“No one in town would give me a loan, but Willa. When I had enough equity built in that house, I could have sold it and built the one I dreamed of having. My children will be raised on the same mountain I was,” she warned Gavin.
“Are your brothers okay with you building a house there?”
“Of course. It isn’t a secret. Leah and I both were going to build our homes close to each other before she died. Her property was right next to mine. Freddy left each of his children a piece of property.”
When Gavin took the eyes off the road long enough to glance at her, Ginny saw he was frowning at her.
“You don’t have any property registered in your name.”
Ginny shrugged. “The property Pa left me doesn’t go into my name until I turn twenty-eight or get married. Until then, it’s in Silas’s name. Freddy didn’t exactly believe in lawyers. He wasn’t paying one hundred dollars an hour to be told how to handle legal matters when the library in town is free.”
“He did his own will?”
“Yes.”
“Was it notarized with witnesses?” he asked.
“Of course. We’re not hicks.” Giving him an exasperated sigh, Ginny turned the radio back on. “Each of my older brothers witnessed it after Pa wrote it out.”
“Did he use an ink pen?”
Ginny stared down her nose at him. “You don’t have to be so sarcastic about it; it’s perfectly legal.”
“Who says? Because I’m pretty sure it isn’t. If Silas filed your father’s will in the courthouse, Shade would have found it during a record search on you.”
“Shade did a record search on me?” Fear bloomed in her chest with the force of a paint gun being aimed at her, splattering her with all the lies she had told since she was three years old. She had every intention of telling Gavin all the details of her life; she had just been waiting until he liked her a little better. She couldn’t jeopardize Trudy’s safety. Her sister hadn’t placed her in jeopardy when she fell in love with Dalton. She had to confess to Gavin soon. Ginny understood his issues with trust, and each day that passed, she would only make it worse when she confessed to having another identity.
“Ginny?”
“Hmm …? I’m sorry I didn’t hear what you said.”
“I was saying, you had to know Shade had done legal search on you when he started trying to find out who your stalker is. Shade wouldn’t have missed it. He might not have found out who your stalker is, but it’s not from lack of trying.”
“I didn’t think he would.” Ginny reached for her lukewarm water in the cupholder to take to take a sip, hoping to ease her dry throat. “Gavin, it doesn’t matter if Silas filed the paperwork or not. When I’m ready to build, he’ll sign the property over to me. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill.”
She could see Gavin wasn’t convinced, but there was no way she could prove it until she had the paperwork in her hand, and if it was legally filed and notarized. He was looking for deception in the wrong place. She was the one who was deceiving everyone she cared about.
“Give me one.”
Her hand stilled in her pocket. “Huh?”
“You can turn the radio back down. I can hear you eating that candy.”
“I’m doing you a favor. It’ll rot your teeth.”
“My teeth are fine. You’re the one who’ll need a root canal before we get to Treepoint.”
“Maybe so, but I have a dental plan with no co-pay.” She unashamedly popped another candy drop in her mouth, refusing to share. She loved his pearly whites.