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Nick steps forward next to Shannon. “Listen, man. First, I’m happy to see your girl is OK. Second, the wind farm was just business. And business is business. It’s never personal. I heard your man, Gerry, is going to fill you in on the details because I know you want to get out of here. But your sister …”
“Nick, let’s let them go,” Shannon says, interrupting Nick midsentence.
There isn’t enough room for the fury building in my core. “Shannon, I’ll call you later.”She can’t seriously entertain this piece of scum.
I shake my head and walk to Solia. I wrap my arm around her and attempt to avoid the mud puddles pooling in the parking lot. “We can come for your truck later,” I say. Most people are back in their vehicles and honk as they leave.
I open the passenger door and help her into her seat before walking to the other side, envisioning a dangling sign that reads Fragile, Handle with Care.
Gerry pushes off the driver’s side door and puts his hand on my shoulder. “Your dad would be proud of you. You take your girl home, and I’ll stop by in a bit to fill you in.”
“Thanks, Gerry. I don’t want to think what could’ve happened. Head over as soon as you can—I need the details.”
“You got it. I’ll be right there.”
With one hand on the wheel, I can finally breathe. I place my other arm over the center console and slip my hand into Solia’s. Without saying a word, we head to her cabin.
* * *
“Wait—what? You’re going to have to back way up,” Solia says to Gerry who’s sitting across from us on the screened-in porch. The temperature is cool enough for Solia to have a thin blanket wrapped around her. She’s been on the edge of her seat since Gerry arrived. I’m equally interested and desperately curious to know what happened, but I’d be lying if I said my priority isn’t making sure she is comfortable. My hand, tucked under the blanket, holds hers.
“When you ran out, a few people took notice, but another resident was called to the mic and the meeting continued. At some point soon after, Nick stood and asked special permission to address the town council. Sal agreed to the request. Remember that paper you found, Solia? Did you tell Jackson anything?”
“I didn’t. I never gave it a second thought after I handed it over to you.” She turns to me. “The other day, Mia and I were cleaning, and I came across several papers that were stuffed into an old bureau. I remembered Mike saying he wanted anything we had—forms, letters, whatever. I figured it might be important because it had the State of New Hampshire logo on it and this address. I called Mike but couldn’t get a hold of him. I figured the next best person would be Gerry.”
“So, after Solia gave me the papers, I left another message for Mike. He was out of town for the day, but when he returned, he picked them up from my place. I heard little until right before the meeting. And even then, I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen.”
“And?” I ask, wanting to hear the end of this story before the beginning.
“The letter Solia found was from the New Hampshire Conservation Commission in 1977. You were correct in thinking it was a bunch of legal jargon. Mike had to dig, but he learned that the state owns the development rights to the eighty acres surrounding your cabin. I’m assuming no one ever thought this would be important, considering the intent was to leave the land untouched. Not passing this information down the family line may be a simple oversight.
“While your family still owns the eighty acres surrounding the cabin, the state owns the developmental rights to sixty of them. Under the United States Federal Open Space Preservation Act of 1977, they awarded New Hampshire federal money contingent upon locating open space that was in the best interest of the state to preserve for outlined reasons, such as wildlife and so on.
“The Open Space Preservation Act required the state to solidify agreements with the property owners of said interested land. The property owners would forgo their development rights for the proposed conservation land for a tax break.
“So, Solia’s grandparents agreed to this deal. Green Breeze thought they did their due diligence researching the chain of title, but there was an oversight. Corporate lawyers thought the cabin was, in fact, zoned appropriately for the wind turbines. However, Mike discovered that once they deem land for conservation, they can only use it for agricultural and/or farm purposes.”
“I’m following you. But isn’t that exactly what Green Breeze intended to do with the property—create a wind farm?” Solia asks, looking from Gerry to me and back to Gerry.
“Here’s the catch. Your property turns out to be the most important piece in the entire project because of its acreage and elevation. Due to these factors, Green Breeze intended to build the substation. Remember, they mentioned that there needed to be an electrical substation to transfer the energy from the wind turbines to the electrical grid? They were correct in determining a wind turbine farm was qualified to be built on conservation land. However, since the covenants of that deed for open space state they can only use the land for agriculture and/or farming, the substation doesn’t fall within those parameters. So it’s an obvious violation of the Open Space Act.
“I know I am dragging this out—sorry. The short version is, it was going to cost them too much money to seek additional properties or figure out how to build it somewhere else. So they’re pulling the plug on Meriden.”
Solia and I look at each other in disbelief. “That’s it? It’s just over?”
“Sure is. Your girl here saved the day for herself, this cabin, and the rest of us here in Meriden. I’m sure thankful you found those papers.”
“I had no idea they were that important. I can’t believe it—and I don’t think anyone in my family had any clue this deal existed. They’re going to be as shocked as all of us.”
“Well, there’s a happy ending here in Meriden tonight,” Gerry says, getting up from his rocker.
“Where are you going?” I ask.
“I’m leaving you two to it. You don’t need an old geezer hanging around here. You need to celebrate.”
“Thanks for everything, Gerry. Seriously. We could not have pulled this off without you getting things moving from the very beginning.”
“It’s a small town, Jackson. When many hands do a few little things, it adds up to a lot. I’m going to miss you around here.”
