Forty

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~ ~ Maddy ~ ~

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~ ~ Maddy ~ ~

 ~ ~ Three months later ~ ~

Holding my mug of coffee with both hands, I was not so subtly staring at Jackson and Logan across the breakfast table as they talked animatedly.

They were chatting about their new business venture with the Timberfells from our neighbouring Ranch.  When I told Jackson and Logan about what Cooper had said about their land and them sitting on a small gold-mine and what the Stantons intended on doing.  They had quickly jumped into action rallying around all the surrounding properties and everyone agreed not to sell an inch of their lands to those wily snakes - The Stantons.   

But the Timberfells had fallen on harder times and were about to sign over everything they owned.  Until, Jackson and Logan stepped in and bought a third of it and together came up with a business plan, that would turn the Timberfells ranch into one of those working holiday ranches that all those fancy city folks love to visit. 

Them Stantons thinking my men were dumb as posts had us having the last laugh and  I was so proud of them.

My Nana had also made it public knowledge that all Lockwood land would be put into a protected trust and no drilling would ever be allowed.  

Not surprisingly, the Stantons claimed to have no knowledge of what Cooper had told me, telling us it was all on him. He'd gone crazy. And sadly, we had no proof.  But we all knew Cooper wasn't smart enough to have done it on his own.

That family was almost as unbelievable as mine. And speaking of family.

Mama.

Today was the day I'd agreed to go see her. She was currently residing at HeartLite Psychiatric Hospital. Two hours away from Lockwood.

On the night of daddy's shooting, down at the Sheriff's Department she had assaulted two deputies when they'd told her she couldn't leave. And going in front of a judge the next morning after spending the night in a jail-cell she'd told him she had every right to do what she did and they had no rights to hold her because in her own words... she was Mercy Jane Lockwood and she owned the town of Lockwood and apparently owned the judge too.

As you can imagine, that didn't go down well, and he clearly thought she wasn't in her right mind and sent her to HeartLite for a thirty-day evaluation which had turned into three months and counting.

They'd said when she was well enough she would go on trial, for the attempted murder. I wanted them to charge her with having a hand in what happened to Casey, but only armed with the words of dead man, that wouldn't happen. 

But I knew and I would never forgive her for that.

Why was I going to see her, you ask?

Well, I wanted to look her dead in the eye when I asked her why she'd done it and was she sorry.

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