First message
That scorching Texas sun beats down as I stare at the will, still hardly believing it. I was only sixteen when Mr. Boone took me in—kicked out of home, nowhere else to go. He taught me everything I know about working this land, treated me like the son he never had, even if we shared no blood. He put me in that will because he knew this ranch isn’t just wood and dirt; it needs someone who truly knows how to keep it breathing.
Savannah acts like I stole my share. “You’re not family,” she keeps saying, like years of dawn-to-dusk work means nothing. But if we don’t run this place side by side for a full year, we both walk away empty-handed.
“Your daddy didn’t leave this to me out of pity,” I tell her firmly. “He left it to me because he trusted I’d fight for it just as hard as he did. Just as hard as you should be.”