even if the courts dismissed Avery’s claims, they were likely to view Kate’s situation sympathetically. She had been raised to believe she was Ron Raven’s legitimate daughter, as well as his only child, and she was an innocent victim of her father’s bigamy. Cody believed that a substantial award to Kate was entirely possible. Still, Liam and Cody were both confident that Ellie would eventually be left in sole possession of the ranch, and that the courts would ensure she had sufficient income to continue living comfortably while any legal challenges wound their way through the justice system.
Megan had been relieved to learn that, at least in terms of making financial provision, her father had behaved decently toward their mother. Ron’s total silence regarding his Chicago family ought to have been welcome, but Megan had found herself fighting the impulse to feel sorry for them. She wasn’t quite willing to admit that Ron’s other wife and daughter deserved better treatment than they’d received, but she’d worked out in her own mind that if the fancy Chicago penthouse where they lived turned out to be titled in Avery’s name, she wouldn’t be altogether unhappy.
“Megan, how are you doing?” Cody reached up to touch a couple of fingers to the brim of his Stetson, then remembered he wasn’t wearing what amounted to the uniform headgear for men in Stark County. He let his hand drop awkwardly to his side. “We don’t get all the neighbors together like this nearly often enough. I’m sorry today’s gathering was for such a sad occasion.”
“Yes. The neighbors have been great. We’re grateful for their kindness.” Megan searched for something more to say and came up flat empty.
Cody abandoned his fleeting attempt to pretend the circumstances were normal. “Discovering the truth about your dad has been a hell of a shock to me,” he said. “Can’t begin to imagine how much of a shock it’s been for you and your family.”
Megan wasn’t sure they had discovered the truth about her father. She had a depressing suspicion they’d merely lifted off the outer layer on a Chinese box of multiple deceptions.
“We’re coping with a lot of unanswered questions, that’s for sure,” she said. “There are dozens of decisions Mom needs to make, but it isn’t easy when we seem to be missing so much vital information.”
“Wish I didn’t have to add to your troubles.” The lawyer scratched his head, visibly uncomfortable. “I guess there’s no point in beating around the bush, Megan. I’ve got another problem to add to your list.”
“The Chicago family is fighting the will already?” She drew in a quick, shallow breath. “They couldn’t even wait until the weekend was over?”
Cody grimaced. “Worse than that. Fact is, I received a special-delivery package yesterday afternoon. A set of documents that came from a firm of fancy lawyers in Chicago. I thought I recognized the name of the firm, but I looked them up just to be sure. Fenwick Jaeger. They’re a sixty-year-old law firm, entirely reputable. Twenty active partners, another forty associates and God knows how many paralegals. The covering letter came from somebody called Walter Daniels, senior partner. I decided not to trouble your mother with the details of his communication, at least until after today’s services, but I’d like to give you a heads-up.”
Megan’s stomach lurched in anticipation of disaster. “What were the documents Mr. Daniels sent you?”
“A will.” Cody cleared his throat. “Your father’s will.”
“But we already have his will.” Megan’s forehead wrinkled in puzzlement.
“This is another will, with completely different provisions from the one I drew up for Ron. Mr. Daniels claims it’s the last will and testament written by your dad. By Ron Raven,” Cody added, as if she might have lost track of who her father actually was.
She and Liam had obviously rejoiced way too early about her mother’s financial security, Megan thought bleakly. From the way Cody was shuffling his feet, he clearly didn’t like the provisions of this new will.
“Do the documents look authentic to you?” she asked.
“As far as I can tell, they’re the real thing. Format’s impeccable and it looks like Ron’s signature to me. Of course, we can dispute it—”
“The signature or the will?”
“Either. Both. Don’t know where that might get us. Like I said, Fenwick Jaeger aren’t exactly fly-by-nights. I doubt if we’re going to prove that this is a forgery. They have their reputation on the line in sending this to me. No way they’d knowingly be party to any hanky-panky.”
Hanky-panky? Megan was too worried to find the lawyer’s quaintly old-fashioned turn of phrase amusing. How about total betrayal, if he needed words to describe Ron’s behavior toward his wife of thirty-six years? “What are the provisions of the Chicago will, Cody? Are we going to want to dispute them?”
“Yes,” he said flatly.
Megan’s hand was shaking enough that she had to put down her punch. “Give me the main points.”
Cody actually winced. “From our point of view, there’s only one main point. You, your mother and your brother aren’t even mentioned.”
Her mother wasn’t mentioned? A shiver ran down Megan’s spine. “If Mom isn’t named as a beneficiary, what happens to the ranch?”
Cody stared down at the floor, then up to the ceiling. Apparently he found the help he was seeking in neither place. “It’s not good, Meg. According to the Chicago will, your father’s other daughter gets the ranch. That would be Kate Fairfax Raven. She gets the land, the breeding stock, everything.”
Megan stared at the lawyer, literally incapable of speech.
“We can fight,” Cody said quickly. “We’ll fight those particular provisions tooth and nail, trust me.”
“How could he?” Megan was suddenly ice cold with fury. The rage that she’d been struggling to hold at bay ever since hearing of her father’s bigamy spewed out with volcanic force. “How could he give my mother’s property away like that? He had no right!”
Cody laid his hand on her arm. “We’ll certainly make that argument to the probate judge. Don’t know exactly where it will get us. The fact is, none of the Flying W land ever belonged directly to Ellie—”
“What do you mean?” Megan realized her voice was rising and that they were surrounded by people who didn’t need to hear this latest installment in the humiliation of Ellie Raven. She forced herself back under control. “The whole eastern third of the Flying W ranch has been owned by Mom’s family since 1886!”
“Yes, but that’s the problem. It was owned by her parents and her grandparents, not by your mother herself. Ron bought the land from Ellie’s dad and the money he used for the purchase came from his business interests.” Cody lifted his shoulders, the gesture apologetic. “It’s not a slam dunk to get a probate judge to agree that Ellie has any intrinsic right to that land, Megan, let alone the remaining two-thirds of the property. Remember, the majority of the land that makes up the Flying W ranch was your father’s, long before he married your mother.”
“The ranch isn’t just a business. It’s my mother’s home. It’s her life.”
“I realize how much the Flying W means to Ellie, but the ranch was set up years ago as a business with your
