Page 10

She handed it over and I slowly opened it. Were they giving me the money for it? Was this a way-too-large check I wouldn’t feel comfortable cashing?
Instead, it was a piece of green paper and a letter.
And to my granddaughter, Mollie Mae Wilson, I leave the farm and farmhouse, as well as all employees and income.
“What? Papa Bennie’s farm?”
“He passed when you weren’t eighteen yet. It was in a trust that we never took it out of. I’ve kept it for when you needed it.”
“I’m nearly thirty. Why didn’t I know about this when I was of age?”
“You were doing so well, Mollie-bear,” Dad said. “A farm like that is a lot of responsibility, and in the time since you’ve seen it, things have changed.”
“We wanted you to have a life outside of what was given to you,” Mom added.
I looked back down. I’d thought Papa Bennie’s house was a place I’d never see again, and now it wasmine?It had been mine the whole time?
“She’s in so much shock she can’t even speak!” Trevor said with a laugh.
I slowly turned to him. “You knew?”
“Of course he knew,” Mom said. “We told him when you were struggling to find the perfect house.”
My grip on the paper tightened. Heknewhow much I wanted to go back. I didn’t understand. Why had he lied to me about it? Why had he let me think it was gone?
“Here’s the best part, Mollie-bear,” Dad started. “These investors would buy it from you at a higher rate. Trevor found them.”
I looked back up at him, trying to keep the betrayal from showing on my face. Did he even care about what I wanted? “It’s my family’s company. They’ve been looking for a place to develop for years.”
“That area is up-and-coming,” Dad added. “It could be the first neighborhood in the area.”
Strawberry Springs was a small town, one where everyone bought a large plot of land and lived on it, unless they lived near the town square. I didn’t remember a single subdivision in that area. And unless things had changed over the last ten years, I doubted it really was up-and-coming.
“Thank you for showing me this,” I said slowly, trying to figure out what to do.
“You should get to work on selling that old place,” Trevor said. “Then we can put an offer in on the house next door.”
I stared down at the letter, wondering if I could even go through with that before going back to my happy place.
I didn’t know if I could let go of it.
“Let me get it into my name fully,” I said. “Then we’ll go from there.”
“I can’t wait until you guys can come over every morning for coffee.” Mom bounced on the balls of her feet. “Can’t you, Mollie?”
“U-um, yeah.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Oh, I’m just ... thinking. About all of my plans.”
And how I might just hate every single one of them.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked. “I thought you’d be more excited.”
“I’m ... I miss the farm. I didn’t know I had it.”
“You have such a rose-tinted view of everything,” she said. “But I know it isn’t how you remember it. Not at all.”