"Shane Brennan is more man than you can ever be. Ever!" Melanie said, jerking away from Terrance.
She went into the foyer and grabbed a shawl.
"And as for how much time I spend with Shane, and where," she stormed. "That's none of your concern."
Stumbling, Terrance went after Melanie just as she stepped outside onto the porch. He leaned heavily against the doorframe. "Damn it, Melanie," he shouted. "Where are you going?"
"To Shane," she said, squaring her shoulders proudly. "Where else?"
Terrance groaned. He doubled a hand into a tight fist and slammed it into the wall beside him.
"And that is how I came to find out about you, and where you resided," Shane said, completing his story. "Father, I"
Shane's words came to an abrupt halt when he heard his father gasp for breath. He felt the tightening of his father's grip. He saw his father's locked eyes staring toward the ceiling. He saw no pulsebeat at his throat.
"No!" Shane cried, staring wild-eyed down at his father. "You can't be dead. You can't!"
Josh's insides became queasy. He looked away and swallowed hard to choke back the bitter bile that was rising into his throat. He had known for a long time that his father was going to die. But now that he had, it did not seem real. For so long, it had been only the two of them.
Until Shane came back.
Turning slowly around, Josh glared at Shane. Their father had nothing on his mind at the end except Shane! Only Shane! Hate swelled within
Josh for a brother who had robbed him of his father, even at the last.
Trembling, tears burning the corners of his eyes, Shane eased his fingers from his father's strong death grip and placed it beneath the blankets. ''Farewell, Gee-bah-bah," he whispered, hanging his head sadly. "Farewell, father."
A rustling of feet and a chair falling over backward, crashing against the wooden floor, made Shane jump with alarm to his feet. He looked across the bed at Josh, whose face was red with anger.
"This isn't the place to be speaking that hocus-pocus Indian language," Josh growled between gritted teeth. "Shane, this isn't the place for you. Now that you've said your goodbyes to father, you can go on your way. He was the one who wanted you here. Not me. In my eyes, you are not my brother. You aresomeone I don't even know."
"How can you say that, Josh?" Melanie said suddenly from behind them. "How can you look your brother in the eye and say that? Lord, Josh, it's the same as looking at yourself. Would you deny your own self the rights that you would deny Shane? Would you?"
Shane turned quickly as Melanie moved to his side and slipped an affectionate arm around his waist. She looked adoringly up at him, then down at Jared. "At last he's in peace," she murmured, her voice breaking as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Shane, he's no longer in pain and he was able to die knowing you are alive and well." She
smoothed a tear away from her cheek as she looked closer at Jared. "Can you see? He died with a contented smile on his face."
Shane turned back around and looked down at his father. He had been too distraught to notice before, but, yes, his father had died with a smile on his lips. He had died happy!
"Josh, would you have denied your father that smile?" Melanie asked, looking accusingly at him. "Would you?"
Josh swallowed hard as he bowed his head, ashamed.
Chapter Eleven
A lone grave beneath a towering elm tree not far from the Brennan mansion lay piled high with flowers. The soft summer breeze whispered gently through the leaves of the tree, and a mockingbird warbled on a low-hanging limb.
Melanie, dressed all in black, stood at the parlor window of Shane's house, staring out at the grave, remembering all too clearly another funeral not long ago. Her father's. She missed him today more than ever. With Terrance behaving so erratically, drunk one minute, sober the next, she felt as though the weight of the world was on her shoulders.
She turned slowly and looked across the room at Shane, who was sitting before the fire, staring into it. Her heart went out to him and she realized that
she bore not only her own sorrow today, but his also. And didn't she also have his welfare to look after, as well as her own? Was she capable of seeing all this through? When her father was alive, she had been carefree. Now she had nothing but cares.
Except for Shane. Though he was a man of twenty-nine, she a mere girl of eighteen, her strongest instinct was to protect him. And she would.
Her gaze shifted and settled on Jared's attorney, Mike Green. He was on the sofa removing a legal document from a brown leather satchel. The will. Melanie had made it a point to stay after the funeral to see that Shane's interests were protected. If Josh had his way, Shane would have none of the inheritance.
Her gaze shifted to Josh, who was downing another glass of whiskey as he leaned an arm against the fireplace mantel, staring blankly down into the fire. Melanie sighed heavily. Immediately after the funeral, Terrance had left for town. It did not take much thought to guess where he was going. He would gamble and drink another day away while he left his responsibilities to the hired cowhands and his sister! And he wondered why Melanie was so determined to learn all of the particulars about running the cattle farm? Indeed!