A Daughter's Inheritance by Tracie Peterson, Judith Miller Read Free Book Online Page A

it was a very nice service,” Amanda began. She moved the trio out to follow the others.
    “It was quite nice,” Sophie agreed. “Grandfather would have loved the kind words said about his business capabilities and the importance of the Broadmoor family to the community.”
    Fanny nodded. She didn’t have the heart to explain how she’d kept herself from hearing a single word of the eulogy. In her mind she remembered the last time she’d seen Grandfather alive. She was to have told him all about the party. But of course that would never happen now.
    She couldn’t help but wonder how this event would alter the family. Jonas would now be the head of the Broadmoor clan. As eldest brother he would no doubt be the one who would decide her fate. She supposed it didn’t matter, but she’d never been all that close to the man. He had opposed the idea of her living with her grandparents, believing it would have been better for her to have been sent away to live with distant relatives who were closer to the ages of her deceased parents. Grandfather had refused the idea, however, and Fanny had blessed his name ever since.
    But he’s gone , she thought. Who will protect me now? Who will encourage me and show me such tenderness?
    “Well, I hope this puts an end to our miserable summer routine,” Beatrice said rather haughtily. “If I have to spend one more summer listening to Lydia criticize our family, I might very well take to violent behavior.”
    Louisa, Sophie’s oldest sister, nodded. “I hate that woman.
    Just because she married into the Broadmoor family doesn’t make her a true Broadmoor.”
    “I know. There is certainly no love lost between the cousins, as far as I’m concerned.” She looked up, as if seeing Fanny and the girls for the first time. “Well, I suppose there are exceptions.”
    “I should say so,” Amanda replied coolly. “It would probably behoove you to stick to talking about what you know, rather than speaking in generalities.” She pushed Fanny away from the two women.
    “You two are really quite the pair,” Sophie threw out. “If you’ve no love for this family, then be gone and have nothing more to do with it, but leave the rest of us alone.”
    “No one cares about this family—at least not in the way Grand-mère had hoped,” Louisa said.
    Fanny stopped and turned to face Sophie’s sisters. “Perhaps that is because no one tried to care. Everyone seems so caught up in their own troubles and issues, they’ve forgotten the blessing of family. You all have one another now, but I have no one.”
    “That isn’t true, Fanny,” Amanda said, hugging her close. “You will always have Sophie and me. We are your sisters in every way.”
    “Better sisters than my own are to me,” Sophie said, coming to stand in support of Fanny. “Of that you can be sure.”
    Fanny was touched by her cousins’ support. Their words reminded her of what Michael had told her so many years ago when her father had died. He’d remained a dear friend, and yet Fanny knew that their time was no doubt coming to an end. He was four years older and surely had begun looking for a wife. No woman in her right mind would understand her husband slipping off to go fishing with his employer’s daughter.
    Sometimes promises simply could not be kept forever. The thought saddened her more than she could express.

    The three days after the funeral had been the longest of Fanny’s life. She’d been surrounded by people, but except for the short periods of time when Sophie and Amanda had come by the mansion, she had felt completely alone. Soon it would all be over and the expectant relatives would return to their homes. She’d come to think of them as vultures, each one waiting to prey upon Grandfather’s estate. Where had they been when he was alive? Most of them had been invisible, except on those occasions when they had wanted something.
    The extended family was looked down upon by the immediate relatives, who