Finally a Family

“I feel I should make some kind of formal announcement. While this isn’t classified as an official reading of the will, Sam did ask that I read this bequest in this fashion.” Dan waited a moment, then picked up the envelope. “I have to warn both of you that I already know what this envelope contains. As executor of Sam’s will, I perused every item relating to his estate, including the letter accompanying the will.” He paused, his attention resting on Ethan. “I want you both to understand that the contents of the document I’m about to read to you are known only to Sam’s lawyer and me.”

Ethan nodded and Dan’s eyes went to Hannah. She didn’t know what was required of her, so she nodded, as well.

Dan gave her a gentle smile and Hannah’s curiosity grew.

What was in the envelope that necessitated her flying across the country to attend this meeting?

Dan opened the envelope and pulled out some papers.

“I’ll read Sam’s letter first.” He cleared his throat and began. “‘Dear Hannah. I’m going to start with you, because if you are here, you have come the farthest and probably have the most questions….’”

Hannah wrapped her arms across her chest, bracing herself as Dan’s even voice read Sam’s words, an eerie echo from the grave.

“‘…I’m sorry I never phoned you or explained why I left. I wanted to, but that’s all I’m going to say about that. I didn’t do right by you. I have had tons of time to sit and think and I keep thinking of how I just left you and your mom. So, this is a way to fix that mistake. Dan, I hope you can get hold of her and find her. And, Ethan, please, just be patient.’”

“What does he mean by that?” Ethan said.

“You’ll see,” Dan said without looking at his nephew. He took a careful sip of water from a glass sitting at his elbow, as if preparing for what he had to say. He read on.

“‘I thought a lot about what I’m going to tell you. I didn’t make this decision quick or easy. But this is the right thing to do. Hannah, I want you to have half of my farm…’”

“What?” The question exploded out of Ethan as his tilting chair slammed on the floor. “Read that again?”

Dan adjusted his glasses and sighed. This time he held his nephew’s angry gaze. “Please, Ethan. Just wait. This is difficult for me, as well, but please let me finish.”

Ethan glared at Dan, then leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. Hannah tried to ignore his hostile body language as she collected her own confused thoughts. Half of a farm? What could that mean?

Dan pinched his nose, blew out his breath, and continued. “‘Hannah, this is all I can give you, to be fair to Ethan. But you get this half of the farm on one condition. You stay here in Riverbend for six months, and you stay on the farm. When six months is over, you can do what you want with your half. If you leave before the six months are up, you don’t get half.’” Dan glanced up at Hannah. “Do you understand what I just read?”

Though Hannah nodded, she struggled to process the concept. Half of some farm? If she stayed six months? In what twisted corner of Sam’s mind did he think he was doing her any favor with this?

Hannah’s salon plans didn’t include a six-month detour in this forgotten corner of the world with people who wouldn’t acknowledge her presence in Sam’s life.

She chanced a quick look at the man beside her.

Ethan rocked in his chair, as well, his mouth set in hard lines, his face angry. Not difficult to see he didn’t like the idea, either.

Well, no worries there, Hannah thought, rubbing her forehead. She had only come to Riverbend because of Dan’s phone call and Lizzie thinking Hannah had something coming to her from Sam.

And it appeared she had. Half of a farm. She wondered what Lizzie would say to that.

“There is more,” Dan said. “He says, ‘Hannah, if you don’t want to stay, you lose your half of the farm. I know this comes out of the blue, but I’ve had time to think while I’m lying here in this hospital. I know I’m dying and I want to fix what I should have fixed long ago. Hannah, I’m sorry. Forgive me. I want to make things right. If you stay, in six months Dan will have another meeting with you. I want you to know I thought of you lots and always loved you.’ And that’s the end of what he has to say to you.” Dan paused a moment as if to give Hannah a chance to absorb the words.

Hannah knew it was going to take more than a few moments to get this all straight in her mind.

Dan glanced at his nephew. “Sam had something to say to you, as well.”

“I’m sure he did,” Ethan said, his voice a growl.

“I’ll read that now. ‘Ethan, I hope you understand that I had to do this. I’m sorry for you, as well. You were always going to get the farm like I promised and if Hannah leaves, it’s all yours. You’ve been a big help to me. I couldn’t have run the farm without you. You are the only Westerveld who loved the farm like your grandfather did. I want you to know I love you. I’m sorry if this doesn’t seem fair to you, but I want you to know I have to do right by Hannah. Because I didn’t years ago. You’ve been a great partner and you’re a wonderful and loving nephew. I hope you understand. With love, Sam.’” In the ensuing silence, Dan looked at the letter he still held in his hand, as if trying to digest this information once again. Then he slowly folded it up and inserted it back in the envelope. “And that ends the letter.”

Ethan got up, walked to the bookshelf, then turned to his uncle. “I’m trying to understand this, Dan, but I can’t. Grandpa Westerveld was working me into the farm. Then, when Sam finally came back, I started working with him. I’ve put years of my life into that place. I put money into it—” He stopped there, glanced at Hannah, then continued. “Uncle Sam showed me a copy of his will in the hospital. It never said anything about this.”

Hannah felt a moment’s compassion at the hurt she heard under Ethan’s bluster.

“And now, out of the blue he’s giving half to…to—” he waved his hand toward Hannah as if she were some piece of detritus clinging to his shiny boots “—her.”

“Sam changed the will just before he died. And her name is Hannah,” Dan chided.

Ethan ignored Dan’s reprimand and leaned back against the shelves. “And what am I supposed to do with a partner who knows zip about farming? Who probably doesn’t even know what that place is worth? What was Uncle Sam thinking?”

Ethan’s anger battered at Hannah’s fragile self-control, his words mixing and churning in her own mind. But curiously his anger at what Sam had done created the opposite effect.

Why didn’t he think she deserved half of this farm? Sam had been her “father” for nine years. And after he left them, neither she nor her mother had ever received a dime from him.

Hannah recalled the humiliation of those years post-Sam. Constantly short of money, living with a mother who, after her nervous breakdown, couldn’t work. In spite of that, and with the help of the occasional trip to the food bank, she managed to keep a home.

“When did that first will change? And why?” Ethan’s expression hardened. “I’m going to contest this. I’ll be talking to Jace tomorrow.”

Dan leaned back in his chair. “We’re not discussing this in front of Hannah,” he said quietly. “Suffice it to say this letter was witnessed and notarized and at the time of writing Sam was declared in his right mind. The official will states exactly what I just read, but Sam wrote this letter to explain what he called ‘the dry lawyer language’ in the will.”

“What if I don’t want the farm?” Hannah asked.

Dan looked toward her, as if remembering she was there. “Then you don’t get anything, I’m afraid.”

Hannah tapped her thumbs together, remembering her and her mother’s life with Sam. She didn’t have anything from Sam now other than memories. This family had everything.

She had no right to the farm, and yet to walk away with empty hands from a family who didn’t even acknowledge their presence in Sam’s life…

Memories piled upon memories. Whispered telephone conversations Sam had with family members back here. The way he retreated from her and her mother afterward.

Hannah looked down, her emotions coloring her thoughts.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said.

“Of course not,” Dan said, his soft voice sounding as if he understood. “You should give yourself some time to think about this.”

“Uncle Dan…”

Dan held up his hand, forestalling any more comments from his nephew.

“I’m sorry,” Ethan said. “I’ve been out of line. It’s just…Sam…” His voice broke. Then he strode past the desk to the window and braced one hand on the frame, the other on his hip as he stared out into the yard. He stood in profile to Hannah and for a moment she saw a flash of genuine sorrow on his face.

In spite of his previous antagonism, she found herself feeling bad for him. He had just lost an uncle he’d worked with side by side for so many years. And then to hear this same uncle, out of the blue, had promised a complete stranger half of the farm—well, if she’d just had a shock, she was sure he’d had a bigger one.

“I don’t want you to make this decision lightly,” Dan said, holding Hannah’s regard. “I would really like it if you would come with me to the farm and have a look at Sam’s place.”

For the briefest moment she felt a tug of emotion.

That was silly. She was a city girl. That wasn’t going to change.

She had her plans. When the salon she and Lizzie were buying generated enough money, maybe then she could look at a place with a real yard. But for now, she had to be satisfied with what she could realistically afford.

“I thought you might like to at least see where Sam lived before you make your decision,” Dan continued. “He took over the farm from our parents. He grew up there, as did we.” The wistfulness in Dan’s voice landed a gentle hook in Hannah’s heart. Roots. Stability. Something she and her mother had never really had.

“I’m sure it’s lovely….” She couldn’t think of a proper rebuttal, so she just let the sentence hang between them.

Dan scratched his temple with one finger, then sighed. “I would like you to think about this. Sleep on it.” He gave Hannah a careful smile. “In fact, I’m not going to listen to any decision today.”

“Okay,” she said reluctantly. “I’ll wait.”

Dan smiled. “I’ll be praying you make the right choice.”

When she was younger, Sam would pray with her. Over time, that eased off. She missed it.

Hannah ducked her head to hide the sudden prickling in her eyes. Dear Sam, now your brother is praying for me, too. The thought gave her a peculiar warmth and comfort.

She waited until the thickness in her throat eased, as the silence in the office created its own urgency. She picked up her purse and stood. “So, I guess that’s all you need for now?”

“For now,” Dan repeated. “When you decide what you want to do, I want you to call me and we’ll take things from there.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow.” She slipped her purse over her shoulder.

“When does your flight leave?”

“Sunday evening.”

“Then why don’t you meet me after church on Sunday. Just to give yourself enough time.” He rested his fingertips on Sam’s letter.

“Okay. Sunday morning after church, I’ll tell you what I decide.”

“Do you have a cell phone? Maybe you could give me your number. Just in case.” Dan handed her a pen and a piece of paper. She bent over and scribbled the number down. As she straightened, she chanced another look at Ethan at the same time he turned to face her. He was attractive, she conceded.

But that wasn’t enough to induce her to live out here for half a year. Not near enough.

“It was a pleasure meeting you,” Dan said, holding out his hand across the desk.

Her mother had always told her that Sam’s family didn’t care for them, so she doubted the sincerity of his comment, but she gave him a polite smile and shook his hand.

“Goodbye, Hannah,” Ethan said, turning away from the window. “Thanks for coming.”

And she doubted his thanks, too.

“It was nice meeting you.” While they were exchanging pleasantries, she figured she might as well add a few of her own. “Again, I’m sorry for your loss. Sam must have meant a lot to both of you, as well.” She felt a sudden need to explain. “I need you to know, this is as much of a shock for me as it was for you.”

“I understand,” Ethan said quietly, though his tight expression told her otherwise. “Thanks for coming.” He reached out to shake her hand. She hesitated, then took it.

His rough and callused palm was a surprising contrast to the pressed khaki pants and golf shirt he wore. His eyes held hers as she shook his hand and a frisson of awareness flickered within her.

She pulled her hand away. Definitely time to go.

She gave Ethan a smile, then walked out of the room.

Chapter Three

“So no money? Just half a farm?” Lizzie sounded frustrated, as if hoping Hannah had called to tell her the cash amount of her supposed inheritance. “And what are you going to do with that?”

“I don’t know. Sell it, I guess.” Hannah let go of the steering wheel of her rental car, downshifted, grabbed the wheel again and turned her car into the parking lot of the motel.

“In six months.”

“I know. I don’t know what to do.”

“You can’t negotiate?”

“With a dead man? Lizzie, this was written out by Sam, signed and sealed in front of a lawyer. I guess this trip was a waste of money.”

“I really thought you’d get money up front. Too bad you didn’t take up the family on their offer to pay for your ticket.”

“I don’t want a penny from them….”

“But if you get half of that farm, you’ll get more than a penny.”

“In six months? I’m not interested.”

Hannah pulled into the parking stall in front of her motel room. “So, did you go to the bank?”

“No. Not yet.”

Hannah continued as she got out of the car. “I thought you were meeting with them this afternoon?”

“I had to cover your appointments, honey.”

Lizzie sounded funny. “Is everything okay yet?”

“Everything’s fine. I’m waiting for a call from our loan officer and I’m telling Taylor tonight about the change in our appointment.”

“You sure this is still a go?” Hannah got out of the car and walked to the edge of a field bordering the motel. A few shoots of green worked themselves through the tangle of weeds covering the field.

“Absolutely. So when you coming back?” Lizzie asked, abruptly shifting the conversation to another topic.

“Dan Westerveld wanted me to take some time to think about my decision. I’ll talk to him on Sunday.”

“Excellent idea. Take your time, Hannah. You could use a break. You’ve been working day and night on that stupid business plan. You’ve already paid for your ticket. You may as well enjoy some time off work.”

“Not my idea of a holiday,” Hannah said, lifting her face to the warm spring sun. “Did you talk to the landlord about that leaky tap?”

“He says he’ll get to it when he gets to it.” Lizzie hummed a little tune and Hannah braced herself.

“What’s up, Lizzie?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re humming. Every time you hum, you’ve got some confession to make.”

Lizzie sighed. “Well, I was going to wait until you were back. I knew once we start running the salon, you’ll have more money and you’ll probably enjoy being on your own. The apartment won’t cost much ’cause it’s part of the salon….”

Hannah’s heart sank while Lizzie continued.

“And Pete’s been making noises about us getting more serious.”

“Don’t tell me he wants you to move in with him,” Hannah said.

“Now don’t even start on your old-lady fussing and moralizing,” Lizzie continued. “We’re going to get married once you and me get the salon going.”

“You sound like my mother.” Hannah couldn’t keep the slightly bitter tone out of her voice. “I’m guessing you’re moving out tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m disappointed Pete thinks you’re that easy, Lizzie.” And no sooner had the words left her mouth than Hannah wished she could take them back.

“Not all of us are willing to keep guys at arm’s length just because we don’t trust them,” Lizzie snapped. “You haven’t gone out with anyone since Alex dumped you.”

“I’ll date when I find a guy worth dating.” Unlike my mother who, after Sam, went out with any man that smiled at her longer than two seconds.

“And you won’t find a guy worth dating if you don’t date.”

Hannah checked her next comment. She needed Lizzie and didn’t dare push her too far. “So you’ll be moved out when I’m back.” Hannah deliberately pitched her voice low and forced a smile to her face.

“Pete’s a good guy, Hannah. He’s solid.”

Not solid enough to want to marry her.

“Anyway, I gotta go. Gotta make a few more calls about this business….” Lizzie let the sentence hang and Hannah felt a niggle of doubt creep into her mind.

“You sure everything’s okay, Lizzie?”

“Yeah. Hey, whaddya think about Pete coming in on this deal? He’s got a few dollars he can put in. Will help us out a lot.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” She decided to forgo the obvious complications of bringing in a partner who knew precious little about the salon business, never mind the fact that if Lizzie and Pete broke up, the business would be affected.

“I kinda thought you would say that.” Lizzie sighed. “Okay. Gotta go. Take care.”

Hannah said goodbye, flipped her phone shut and slipped it into her pocket. Lizzie sounded distracted. The whole business deal was taking more out of both of them than Hannah wanted to admit.

She glanced at her watch. Lots of time left in this day. Maybe she should go for a drive and get her mind off all the events bombarding her mind the past few days.

Fifteen minutes later she was heading out of town, down the highway. The only other vehicle was a bright red truck and he had his signal light on for the next exit.

Ethan Westerveld, she realized as she came closer. The truck turned onto a gravel road marked with a hand-painted sign announcing a farm for sale. Was Sam’s farm at the end of the road? And what did it look like, this place Sam wanted to split between her and his nephew?

Dan’s comment slipped to the forefront of her mind.

Was she sure she didn’t want to see the place where Sam grew up?

A niggling curiosity had her putting one foot on the clutch, the other on the brake and her hand on the signal light.

What if he’s not going to the farm?

She had little else to do today. She geared down and turned onto the gravel road, following the dust from Ethan’s truck.

She passed a dairy farm and a few other yards. Some neat, some messy. Some of the houses were newer, some old. She passed an abandoned farm site, the graying timbers of the house sagging sadly toward the earth as if missing its previous owners.

And space and space and more space.

She came to the next crossroad and slowed down. A faint cloud of dust hung over the road going left. South of the road, she thought she saw a yard. She caught the glimpse of a house roof tucked against a clump of trees and beyond that, a hip roof barn painted green.

And parked by the barn, a red pickup truck. Ethan’s truck.

Hannah put the car in gear, spun the wheel and almost popped the clutch as she gunned the car around the corner, stilling the second thoughts spinning through her head as her tires spun on the gravel.

The sign at the end of the driveway, an exact replica of the one at the entrance to Dan and Tilly’s place, assured her that this indeed was Sam’s place.

Doubts immediately assailed Hannah. What was she doing here? She had no intention of sticking around; why check the place out?

But Sam had come from and had returned to this place. Why not discover more about the place the man she once loved had spent much of his life? Why not find out what she was turning down, just so she’d know for sure she had made the right decision?

Sam’s place had the same treed driveway. But as she came closer to the house, her heart lightened.

Where Dan and Tilly’s house clearly said no money had been spared, this place created an entirely different ambience.

The house was a simple cottage style, with a covered veranda, two bay windows flanking a main door. Above the veranda, two dormer windows broke the steeply pitched roof. The house was perched on a hill and, behind and below it, Hannah caught the glint of sunshine bouncing off a small lake.

The place was like a tiny jewel. The classic country house in the classic country setting.

So this is what I’m turning down. Hannah rested her hands on the steering wheel, her eyes taking in the flow of the land, the way the house was set so perfectly on the low rise above the lake. And above it all, a deep blue sky, broken only by faint wisps of cloud.

Was she crazy?

The Westervelds wouldn’t want her intruding into their memory of Sam. She and her mother were an anomaly in Sam’s life.

She should go.

Not yet, she thought, putting the car in gear and turning off the key. She wanted to have another look at Sam’s place and imagine him here. She wanted to fill in the blank spot of the “before us and after us,” the part of Sam’s life that had called him back.

As Hannah stepped out of her car she heard the sound of a door slamming shut. She turned in time to see Ethan charge out of the house, buttoning his shirt as he ran.

He slowed down as he saw her, then walked her way, tucking the faded plaid shirt into old, worn jeans.

“Hey, there,” he said as he came nearer. “Come to check the place out after all?”

“I was just going for a drive.”

He stopped on the other side of her car and leaned on the roof. “You want a tour?”

“No. It looks like you’re busy. I was just…” She lifted her chin. “Just curious.”

Ethan nodded, drumming his fingers on the roof.

Hannah looked past him to the house with the lake shining in the background. “It’s a beautiful spot,” she said quietly.

Ethan glanced back in the same direction she’d been looking. “That it is,” he agreed. “I spent a lot of hours on that lake. I think I know every drop of water it holds.”

“Does the lake have fish?”

“Uncle Sam and I have been trying for the past couple of years to stock it with trout. My cousins and I used to fish on it.”

“Cousins.” She digested that thought a moment. “How many are there of you?”

“I was blessed with two parents, Morris and Dot, one sister, Francine, a bunch of girl cousins and two male cousins. Sam, of course, had no kids.”

And there it came again. The faint backward slap of dismissal. She and her mother were never a legal part of the Westerveld clan, hence they didn’t count.

Did the whole family see her and her mother this way? Some shadowy interlude? A mistake rectified only when Sam returned to the Westerveld bosom and all that messy business back East was cleared out of his life so he could move on?

Did they even think about her and her mother and what had happened to them when Sam left?

Hannah looked back at the house again and an old yearning trembled awake. She remembered Sam talking about the farm. About the garden he used to grow.

One spring, when she was eight, they bought some potting soil, a huge planter and some bedding plants. They planted and watered them. June and July their balcony was a cornucopia of flowers and scents. But best of all, in August, they plucked sun-warmed tomatoes for their salad. Sam made BLTs every night for a week. Hannah easily remembered the sweet tang of those tomatoes.

And she remembered the wistful look on Sam’s face when they pulled the dead plant up and took the pot to the Dumpster in the parking lot of the apartment.

This was what he’d been missing. Hannah surveyed the yard, the house, and that perfect little lake behind. Was this why he had stayed away from her and her mother?