“That’s good motivation.”
“I know you need to get home, and the longer we put this off, the harder it will be.” She bit her lip.
“Let me tell you something amazing that happened today, and then I’ll head home.”
“Oh?” She bounced on her toes and held onto both of his hands.
As he told her about his grandfather being his mysterious benefactor, her eyes sparkled.
“Josh, that’s incredible! And you’ll get to see him?”
“When I return, yes. He’s even offering to pay for Mom, Dad, Martha, Alan, Caleb, andyouto travel out for my graduation.”
She squeezed his hands. “That’s so generous!”
“And he wants to come to the wedding.”
thirty-two
“I have accomplished some things but there is ten times as much that I wish to accomplish.”
~Earl Douglass
MONDAY, AUGUST12
“Mr. Oppenheim, Albert, Miss Oppenheim.” Anna cleared her throat. “Thank you for meeting me here today.” She stood at the head of a table in a room at Mr. Gilbert’s law office.
The elder Mr. Oppenheim tapped his fingers on the table. “You said there was news?”
“Yes, sir.” She turned to the lawyer.
Mr. Gilbert opened up an envelope and read, “‘First, the adjudication process has taken place and the drawings that were chosen to be the most accurate belong to Miss Lakeman.’”
Praise God! She could finally breathe. What a relief! Wouldn’t Dad be overjoyed.
Albert jumped out of his seat and stormed out of the room. His father didn’t appear too fazed. Simply lifted his brows. “And second?”
“‘With the death of Mr. Walker...’” Mr. Gilbert pulled out another envelope, this one much larger.
Anna inhaled and held her breath for a moment. It didn’t matter that she’d been awarded the privilege to do the drawings if the new owner of the Walker Ranch wanted to get rid of the contracts they had with Julian. Mr. Gilbert had warned them that because of the extenuating circumstances of Mr. Walker’s death, a judge might very well award a clean slate for the new owners and let them determine if they wanted a paleontological dig on their property. But Mr. Gilbert hadn’t been the lawyer for Julian Walker. So he didn’t have access to the will.
Until now.
Gilbert opened the envelope and read the contents. His eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “This is unexpected.” He grinned. “Mr. Julian Walker has left his entire estate to Anna Lakeman.”
“What?”She stood up and bumped the table, knocking over her water glass.
Mr. Gilbert scrambled to clean up the mess.
She waved her hands in the air. “I don’t understand. When did he do that?”
“This will is dated a couple days after his father’s passing.”
She sat down hard into the chair. “What does this mean?”
“It means ... the most prosperous ranch in the territory is yours. You can certainly dig on your own land. And there’s a great deal of it.” Her lawyer sent her a big smile.
Mr. Oppenheim stood. Straightened his waistcoat. “Miss Lakeman, I don’t wish to be rude, but if you aren’t in need of my investment any longer, I wish to recind our contract.”
