Bryony frowned. “Am I being unreasonable to hold him to a promise he made? It seemed so simple then, but apparently he has business partners—close friends of his—and investors counting on him. This is how he makes his living. And I’m asking him to give all that up because we’re all afraid that our lives will change.”

Mamaw nodded. “Well, that’s something only you can answer. We’ve been lucky for a lot of years. We’ve been overlooked. Galveston gets all the tourists. We stay over here and no one ever comes calling. But we can’t expect that to last forever. If Rafael doesn’t build his resort, someone else will eventually. We’d probably be better off if Rafael builds it because he at least has met the people here and he knows where they’re coming from. If some outsider comes in, he won’t give a damn about you or me or anyone else here.”

“I don’t want everyone to hate me,” Bryony said miserably.

“Everyone won’t hate you,” Mamaw said gently. “Rafael loves you. I love you. Who else do you want to love you?”

Suddenly she felt incredibly foolish. She closed her eyes and slapped her hand to her forehead. “You know what? You’re right, Mamaw. It’s my land. Or it was. Only I should have the right to decide who I sell it to and what they do with it. If the other people here wanted things to remain the way it was so badly then they could have banded together to buy the land. It was okay when they didn’t have to foot the tax bill. They were more than happy to tell me what I could or couldn’t do with my own land.”

Mamaw chuckled. “That’s the spirit. Get angry. Tell them to piss off.”

“Mamaw!”

Her grandmother laughed again at Bryony’s horrified expression.

“You’ve tied yourself in knots for too long, honey. First you were upset that he left. Then you were convinced he left you for good. Then you found out you were pregnant and you grieved for him all over again. Then he came back and you were happy. Don’t give it up this time. This time you can do something about it.”

Bryony leaned forward and hugged her grandmother. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too, my baby.”

“Don’t think I’m not going to turn these words back on you about Silas.”

Her grandmother laughed and pulled away. “You leave Silas to me. He knows I’ll come around sooner or later and he seems content to wait until I decide to quit making him miserable. I’m old. Don’t begrudge me my fun.”

“I don’t want to be away from you. I want you to see your great-grandchild when he’s born.”