I woke up, it was Sunday, Easter Sunday. I put on my best Sunday dress and fixed my hair nicely. We got into our car and drove to church.
The service was boring, the same thing every Easter. Jesus was crucified. Then on the third day, he rose from his tomb. I knew the story by heart.
After we sang the last song, we walked out of the church. Got into the car and headed home for our Easter Sunday meal. Twelve minutes out of town, we were talking and laughing like we always did after Sunday service.
A car swerved into our lane. Dad didn't see it in time. Before I knew it, I was unconscious. When I woke up, I was in the hospital with my left leg and right arm in casts.
A nurse walked in. "Oh, good, you're up." She said. She paged the doctor to come in.
A few weeks later
I was sitting in our lawyer's office. Waiting for him to speak. My arm was in a brace, and my leg was still in a cast. "Hedli, I hate to say this, but I'm going to have to read you your parents' will."
He got up and went over to a filing cabinet. I watched him pull out a piece of paper. He returned to his desk and cleared his throat. "Everything goes to Hedli since her sister married that 'city slicker.' The inheritance, along with whatever is on the nine thousand acres, goes to Hedli. All the horses, along with Buckey, go to Hedli. The cattle go to Hedli as well as the trucks, tractor, and their equipment, the house, bunk house, barn, everything."
Once he finished, I felt better that mom and dad left me something to live off of. That now means that I have to grow up at age sixteen. Make my own living on my ranch that mom and dad gave me legally.
The only one that I have to explain this to is Paige. She'll think that she gets most of the inheritance, including the ranch. I own everything on it. If she wants to start something, then she'd have to take it up with the law and my lawyer.
If she thinks that selling it is the best thing ever, she's got another thing coming. Because this sixteen-year-old isn't giving anything up.