Montana Wrangler. Charlotte Carter

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      Paige gulped down a whole bucket of guilt.

      Mom and Dad would want you to do this.

      She blew her nose and wiped her eyes. She slipped the letter back into the envelope, which also contained a copy of Krissy’s handwritten will, Bryan’s birth certificate and a record of his vaccinations up to three years ago.

      She’d failed her sister. Like their parents, she’d ignored Krissy’s efforts to fit in, to be loved despite the fact she sometimes messed up.

      Leaving the envelope on the daybed, she stepped outside onto the side porch from the sewing room.

      Her grandfather owned sixty or seventy acres of land, most of it undeveloped. Paige had only explored a small portion as a child.

      In the late afternoon rays of sunlight, the new needles on the pine and fir trees glistened bright green. Aspen trees down by the lake, which had shed their leaves for the winter, with the arrival of spring shimmered iridescent flashes of green in the light breeze. Not far away, Paige could hear Moccasin Creek flowing with snowmelt from the mountains that rose above Bear Lake.

      Springtime was a wonderful time to be alive and a lousy time to die.

      Tears sprang to her eyes again, and her vision blurred. “Why didn’t you tell me all this when you were alive?”

      Paige would have tried harder to get to know Krissy. Understand her.

      A painful laugh broke from her throat. What a joke! Krissy had recently celebrated her twenty-seventh birthday. Paige had had all that time to help her little sister and she’d done squat.

      Now she had a second chance. With Bryan. If he’d let her try.

      * * *

      It was nearly dark and Grandpa was sleeping in his recliner when Bryan finally came in the house. He marched right past Paige, who was sitting on the couch reading, and went to his room. He slammed the door.

      Patience, Paige. The youngster was facing a big change in his life. Little wonder he was upset.

      Grandpa mumbled something and went right back to sleep.

      Sighing, Paige got up and walked down the hall. She knocked softly on Bryan’s door. “It’s me. Can I come in?”

      “Go away!”

      “I think we ought to talk, Bryan. This is all new to me, too.”

      Her plea was met with silence.

      “Could I at least give you a hug? I know you miss your mother.” She’d hugged Bryan when she had arrived yesterday, but his response had felt more perfunctory than loving. Understandable given the situation and the fact that she hadn’t seen him in months.

      She heard what sounded like a boot dropping to the floor in Bryan’s room. A moment later, the other boot followed the first.

      “Your mother loved you very much,” she said to the closed door. “When she picked me to be your guardian, she thought it was the right thing to do.” Paige intended to follow her sister’s wishes as best she could. “Please, it won’t hurt to talk, will it? I’m sure we can work things out together.” That, at least, was her prayer.

      The knotty-pine door remained firmly closed, the boy’s displeasure radiating through the wooden barrier without СКАЧАТЬ