Love on the Buchanan Ranch (A Romance Story) Read Free Page A

them. She looked at Sal. He was the only one that didn’t appear shocked by the news.
     
    “Sal, what about the business? He was making money, right? Where was it going?”
     
    Sal looked sick as he cleared his throat and said, “We’re bankrupt, Stacey. We were about to file when Edward died. I’m afraid it may be what caused his heart attack, the stress of it all.”
     
    Emma looked at Stacey and said, “Mom, you didn’t know about any of this?”
     
    “No, honey. Edward handled the finances. He didn’t discuss them with me.” Stacey said this with an abruptness that she hadn’t meant to direct at Emma. It was just all she could do to hold herself together.
     
    Luscious Grunwald gave them a moment of silence and then he went on, “There is a small trust fund that was left intact for you, Emma. Edward had borrowed against it once a few years ago, but built it back up to around twenty thousand again by the time he passed. Abuela, the house you live in is yours. Edward made sure that was paid off long ago. Unfortunately, the monthly allowance that Edward had intended for you probably won’t be possible when all is said and done. Xavier, Luis, Edward left you both with his gun collection, and his classic corvette and mustang. They are all clear of debt.” He paused there, and finally, making reluctant eye contact with Stacey he said,
     
    “I’m afraid my news for you is not good, Stacey. The home was in Edward’s name alone, so the IRS will probably put a lien against it for the back taxes he owed. There is very little cash in either his business or personal accounts, and he had cashed out his life insurance policy just weeks before his death, to pay off a debt that he refused to discuss with me. I got the feeling it was to pay off a gambling debt or something like it he seemed very distressed. I’m so sorry, Stacey. I feel truly awful for you.”
     
    Stacey sat silent, in a mild state of shock. She could feel Emma’s hand on hers, and she could hear the whispers of the others at the table, but she felt like she was floating above it all, a bystander, rather than a participant. She finally snapped back to reality and squeezed Emma’s hand. Standing up she bent to kiss Abuela on the cheek, and then Emma, and as she excused herself from the room, she thanked Mr. Grunwald for his time.
     
    Stacey ran across the busy road in front of the office and walked down the street on the other side towards the park. She could hear her phone ringing incessantly, but didn’t bother to take it out and see whom it was. She walked at a brisk pace, inwardly cursing Edward for the position he had left her in, and cursing herself once more for allowing it. When she reached the park, she sat down on a bench and watched the children playing on the playground. She thought about how lucky they were to be so carefree. She hadn’t really had that feeling for more than a minute or two at a time since she was seventeen years old. As she sat there, it seemed as if time were standing still. She tried to pull herself out of her funk and make some decisions about what she was going to do with her life, but wallowing in her self-pity was all that she could seem to manage.
     
    After sitting for a while, she allowed her thoughts to drift back to those early days when she and Edward were falling in love. She had so many questions for herself about how she had allowed things to come to this, why she had given up her own dreams and ambitions for such a cruel man. She realized the place to start was not blaming Emma for falling in love with Edward, but instead, to blame herself. She remembered the first time she and Edward had made love, and she knew in her heart that if she put all else aside, that was the night which had really sealed the deal.
     
    Edward was taking her out to dinner to a very fancy restaurant that she had never been to before. Emma had gone to a sleepover with her friend that night, so Stacey had more time than usual