Susan Sleeman - High-Stakes Inheritance

“Once I finish this paperwork, you can get dressed and we’ll get you out of here in no time.” Humming quietly as if she loved her job, she input data into Mia’s file.

Mia smiled over the lilting melody. Her mom used to sing this same song when she was happy. Mia closed her eyes and urged her muscles to relax. The notes rushed up the scale and plunged down bringing with them the last good memory Mia had of her mother.

Mia could almost feel the warm breeze skipping off the lake and into their cabin at Pinetree. Their family had just arrived for a much-needed vacation and her mom’s face lit with happiness for the first time in months. Her parents didn’t think she and David knew they fought over their father’s neglect of the family for his job. But their vacation was supposed to fix all of that.

They had no sooner unpacked when her father pulled out his laptop and sat at the worn kitchen table to work on a medical book he was writing. Mia’s joy evaporated along with her mother’s. She issued an ultimatum. If Mia’s father spent his days at Pinetree working on the book, the marriage was over.

Mia couldn’t stand by and do nothing. She begged her father to take them for a ride in the country. He agreed and she was thrilled. She’d kept their parents together. Until she pointed out a deer coming from the woods and her father took his eyes off the road long enough for the car to slip onto the steep shoulder. He tried to wrestle the car back onto the pavement, but lost control and they slammed into a monster pine tree killing her mother instantly.

Mia sighed. Life would have been so much easier if God had let her mother live. If her father never blamed her for the accident. She’d blamed herself until counseling helped her see the futility of misguided guilt. Now she was able to enjoy thoughts of her mother.

Not so with Ryan and her father. She’d tried to let go of the drama with them as easily. But she’d dated too many men who reminded her of her controlling father to let go of the pain and bitterness.

A knock sounded on the door and Karen’s humming ended.

Mia clung to the memories of her mom but they drifted away with the music. Expecting Ryan, who’d offered to give her a ride home today, she opened her eyes and looked at the door.

Not Ryan. Her father.

His alert eyes searched the space and took in her appearance before creasing in a critical assessment and focusing on the computer.

She drew in a quick breath and held it.

“Doctor,” Karen said, a hint of awe settling into her tone.

“I’ll just have a quick peek at Mia’s records.” The raspy, yet firm voice instantly transported Mia back ten years.

Head bent low over the cart, the sound of his fingers clicking on the keyboard pinged through the room. Mia stared at a large void on the back of his head replacing thick black hair that had once thrived like shag carpeting. He didn’t seem so intimidating anymore. More fragile and old. She eased out her breath. She could do this…

As if he sensed her perusal, he looked up. “Everything looks good, Mia,” he said waving a hand over the computer. “You should make a full recovery.”

This was so like him to put up the facade of being a concerned father in front of others. She couldn’t stomach the two-faced behavior in high school and had rebelled against it, but after yesterday’s stress, she didn’t have the strength to fight him. Besides, if she was going to get him to confess his part in the fire, she’d better not embarrass him in front of Karen.

Mia smiled tightly. “I appreciate your taking the time to stop in. Do you have a few more minutes to talk?”

Pure astonishment took hold of his face. She hadn’t responded positively to him in years. He didn’t know what to make of this sudden about-face, and she didn’t know what to say. An awkward silence descended on the room.

Karen cleared her throat. “If you’re finished with the computer, Doctor, I’ll get out of here so the two of you can catch up.”

“Yes, of course,” he said with a kind smile reserved for those who met his exacting standards.

As Karen departed, Mia grappled with what to do. She wanted to say something to keep him looking open and receptive, but when the nurse exited the room his door of kindness snapped shut, and his hard shell returned.

He picked a piece of dark lint off his white coat and flicked it into the air. “What is it you want, Mia?”

She felt like he’d just flicked her away as easily as the fuzz. Tears dampened her eyes but like so many times in the past, she willed them back and located her armor. She slipped inside the steel plating and drew a deep breath before firing her accusation.

“I received an interesting letter in the mail warning me to keep away from Pinetree or I would pay.” She fixed her gaze on his steely gray eyes. “I immediately recognized it as something you would do, but I never thought you’d want me out of here so badly you’d hire someone to burn down the barn.”

He studied her, his eyes blank and unreadable. After a few painful moments, right when she was ready to squirm out from under his microscopic intensity, he heaved a sigh.

“As usual, you’ve made it very clear what you think of me. I won’t respond to your accusation.” He spun and exited the room.

What? He left. Just like that. He couldn’t even be bothered to answer her. But why was she surprised? This was exactly what she’d expected from him. But not what she’d hoped he’d do.

Her lips quivered. Tears trickled out.

Even after years of his rejection, she’d hoped he’d deny the charges and declare he’d never hurt the daughter he loved and welcome her back. After all, that’s what Uncle Wally had wanted when he structured his will to bring her back here for a year before inheriting Pinetree…and his plan had given her hope of the reconciliation. Her father didn’t appear to have the same goal in mind.

No, with Uncle Wally dead, she was all alone and the finality of her loss swept through her like never before.

Ryan walked down the hospital hallway. He’d been surprised yesterday when Mia agreed to let him pick her up this morning and drive her home. Not that he should read anything into it. She likely agreed because Logan Lake had no public transportation and he was her only way out of this place. On the bright side, she was willing to take under consideration his request to fill in as a counselor at Wilderness Ways.

With the students arriving tomorrow, he hoped for a firm commitment from her. The last thing she needed with everything going on in her life was pressure from him, but he wasn’t opposed to encouraging her to accept. Turning her focus on to the students could be just the thing to help take her mind off her problems.

He rounded the corner and spotted Mia’s father exiting her room. Lips puckered, he slammed his hands into the pockets of his white coat and rushed down the hall. He didn’t appear so much angry as dejected.

This was a good sign. Conversations between Mia and her father had always escalated into fights so boisterous it was a wonder they didn’t end in violence. If the same thing had happened today, he’d have been fuming and storming away.

At the open door, the sound of crying surprised him and pulled him into the room. Mia lay back on the raised bed, her moist eyes as vulnerable as little Jessie’s had been when he’d left her with the EMTs. The large gashes on Mia’s cheek taped closed with butterfly bandages kicked him in the gut again. He’d thought she’d look better this morning but her appearance was as delicate as fine china.

What could have happened to upset her this much, yet not affect her father the same way?

Ryan hated to bring it up, but if she needed to talk about the conversation, he would be more than willing to listen. “Mia, are you all right?”