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“You didn’t throw him off the place last night or the other night, either,” Cody pointed out. He picked up a fork from the counter and began twirling it nervously between his fingers.
“That’s not as easy as it sounds.”
“It’s your land.”
“Well, yes, it is. And it means a great deal to me. Maybe more than it should.”
“Why?”
She hesitated a moment. Could Cody possibly understand her love and obligation to the family farm? Probably not. “I’m attached to this place for sentimental reasons. Lots of them. For quite a few generations someone from my family—your family, too, y’know, has lived here and worked hard to keep the land in the family. Even when times were hard; a lot harder than they are now. It just seems a shame to give it all up so that Caleb Johnson can build his resort.”
Still sitting on the counter, Cody dropped the fork into the sink. “Would a resort be all that bad?”
“I don’t know.” She stood and placed her cup and saucer in the sink. Bracing herself against the edge of the counter and looking up at her son, she tried to think calmly about the resort she found so threatening. But it wasn’t the resort itself; it was Johnson and his methods that made her blood boil. “Not really, I guess. A resort would benefit a lot of people and change the complexion of the town.”
“That would be good.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I’m not really sure. It certainly would mean more money and economic development for the town. But with that would come people, tourists, new zoning, new roads and construction. Sleepy little Martinville would grow up. Fast.”
“Good!”
Dani smiled sadly and bit into her lower lip. “Maybe it’s selfish of me to want to keep the land.” She look
ed through the open window to the dry fields, across the silvery creek. past the few scrubby oak trees to the gently rising land near the mountains. In the distance the proud Rockies cut through the blue morning sky to be rimmed by a few scattered clouds.
“So why don’t you sell?”
“I was going to once,” she admitted, thinking back to how foolish she’d been to trust Caleb Johnson. “Right after Grandma died; you weren’t even in school yet. Johnson and I’d agreed on the price for the back fifty acres. However, when it got down to signing on the dotted line, Caleb pulled a fast one and said he’d decided he needed all my land. All or nothing. I just couldn’t sign away all of Grandma and Grandpa’s land. So it was nothing. Caleb’s been fuming ever since.”
“And causing trouble?”
“Which I can’t prove.”
“I think he’s behind everything that’s gone wrong around here,” Cody proclaimed.
“Not everything,” Dani replied. “Sometimes it was just fate or mistakes that I made.”
Cody shook his head firmly. “I think he poisoned the cows when they got sick and I’ll bet he stole our gas!”
“We don’t know that.”
“Who else?”
Dani’s brows drew together in concentration. How many times had she asked herself the same question? How many nights had she lost sleep wondering if Caleb were really as bad as she thought he was? “Good question.”
“What I don’t get,” Cody said with a look far wiser than his years, “is why he wants all of this land?”
“Another good question.” She rumpled his dark hair affectionately. “I wish I had the answers.”
Cody looked up at the ceiling and shifted uneasily, avoiding Dani’s gaze. “Isabelle Reece said her pa thinks you’re a fool.”
Dani laughed. A fool! Well, maybe she was. Judging from her reaction to Chase, she certainly felt the part. “So when did Isabelle Reece’s dad become an authority?” Dani teased.
Cody looked down at her and grinned. “On being a fool?” he repeated. “Oh, I get it: it takes one to know one?”
“Something like that.” Dani laughed and tapped him on the knee. “Now, if I’ve answered all of your questions, Detective Summers, why don’t you hop down and feed the livestock while I tackle the dishes?”
“But I wanted to go fishin’.”
