Heirly Ever After by Vernon, Magan (best classic novels .TXT) 📕

Great-Grandfather was waiting for me to come back. To tell him that everything was somehow magically fixed because I’d found some royal decree straight from the Queen herself stating we were owed something, and the MacWebleys would be fine if he left this earth.

I didn’t know how much time he had, and the wedding was a week away. I had to hurry up and do something before these two married. Otherwise, the manor would be lost forever to the family.

Squinting, I peered out into the yard. Gavin had started to talk, but my attention was focused on a long line of white moving in the distance.

“Do you have sheep on the property?” I asked, interrupting whatever he was babbling on about.

“I beg your pardon?”

I pointed my free hand toward where the marching army of white strode down a small hill.

He followed my gaze and laughed. “Oh, those are the dogs.”

“Dogs?”

“Yes, we have a few Great Pyrs and about a year ago now, we took in some local shelter dogs. We have a temperature-controlled barn on the property and caretakers for each of them.”

As if the dogs knew he was talking about them, they crested the hill, and large tufts of white came into view, along with a few black and brown mutts. They all seemed to march as if they were soldiers on their way to battle.

“Would you like to meet them?” Gavin asked, standing up and buttoning his suit coat.

“Sure,” I agreed, finishing my drink, setting the glass down carefully on the table before I stood next to him.

As soon as we stepped off the veranda, a black dog with a wide face that looked almost like a miniature hippo broke the marching stride and bounded toward us.

“Ponce,” Gavin said with a laugh, and it was the first time I saw the hint of any kind of smile on my cousin’s face. He crouched down, even in his expensive suit, running his hands over the dog’s fur and scratching behind his ears.

The other dogs sat behind him, expectantly.

Gavin looked up at me, keeping his hands focused on scratching the dog. “They won’t come forward until you call them, but let me tell you, they’re waiting patiently for a good belly rub.”

Each dog stood in a straight line with their paws forward, their big beady eyes unblinking as they tilted their head. There were maybe about a dozen or so, the Pyrenees standing out with their large white coats. But the mutts next to them seemed to be as equally as regal with their varying shades of coats all blown out and shiny.

“Okay, call one for me,” I said, careful to crouch down slowly so I didn’t muddy my trousers. Unlike my cousin, this was one of the few suits I owned. I was sure they had a launder at the manor, but I didn’t want them to see how little I had.

“Koda, come.”

A large white dog with a trim coat trotted up to Gavin, taking a seat in front of him, so straight and proper, it really was as if he was part of the royal guard.

“Good boy.” Gavin scratched behind his ears then nodded to me. “Go on, now you call him.”

“Koda, come,” I called, putting my hand out flat like my mother used to tell me to do to the hunting dogs.

The dog happily trotted toward me and sat in the grass.

I ran my fingers through his fur, and they seemed to slip through like silk. His coat was warm to the touch and smelled like fresh-cut grass after the rain. There was something hypnotic about running my palms up and down the dog’s muscular back. I almost wanted to close my eyes and forget about everything else going on around me.

Almost.

“I think he likes you.”

I looked down at the dog with his eyes at half mast, slightly panting. “Yeah?”

“Koda is one of our studs, as Great-Aunt Sarah used to say. He has sired a lot of litters in his ten years. But I never thought of him as a boastful dog. He’s always been completely comfortable with everyone.”

My stiff cousin was a different person as he alternated his hands between scratching behind Ponce’s ears and then Koda’s. His voice and face had softened, and it was as if he finally let all the tension in his body go.

“Great-Aunt Sarah seems like she was one hell of a woman, the way everyone talks about her.”

There went the tick in his jaw again. “She really was. She’s the one who made sure all the dogs were taken care of. That the town of Webley and the manor prospered. She never married, but I think it’s because she was in a relationship with making sure everything and everyone was taken care of.”

“That’s how Great-Grandfather is. His wife passed away very young, when their son, my grandfather, was still an infant. He never married again after her but made sure Grandfather was always provided for.” He’d also made sure I didn’t want for much after I failed uni and returned home with nothing.

I focused on scratching behind Koda’s ears, trying not to get lost in the story.

Great-Grandmother’s death had been the beginning of the end of the MacWebleys. Great-Grandfather had gone into a deep depression, just like his father had when the Webley and MacWebley split occurred. Both times, the family had reached out to the Webleys but had never heard a peep. So the manor in Scotland and all things MacWebley had fallen into disrepair.

“I bet he would have gotten along well with Great-Aunt Sarah,” Gavin said. “Well, I assume they would.”

I smiled, despite the way my chest tightened as the conversation went on. “That’s how Great-Grandfather is. I swore we could never go anywhere in town without him talking to every single person we passed. I remember spending afternoons with him as a child and barely able to go a city block without talking to everyone, from the bread seller and solicitors to even beggars on