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“Come on, Gran. Let’s go make some chamomile tea while the guys figure out what’s going on.”
“They’re going to take my land, Rosie!” Katherine cries.
Rose maintains her stoic expression. “No one is going to take anything from you,” she promises. “Let me see that letter.”
Connor hands his copy to her, and I watch the corners of her mouth twitch suspiciously, eyes narrowing. The skepticism on her face gives me some hope.
“It doesn’t even say what they want to use the land for,” she says, pointing at the wording. “And moreover, they can’t just swoop in and order people out of their homes. Things like this take years to happen.”
“They’ve been coming around for years,” Connor volunteers.
“Not helpful, Con,” I growl, but he’s right.
Could they have been working behind the scenes all this time to this end?
My stomach twists in anger. I want to punch a nearby pine tree in frustration.
Why didn’t we listen to Rose and hire a lawyer? This matter should have already been resolved.
“That doesn’t matter. If they were going to build a hospital or highway or… whatever they would need to claim for it to be eminent domain, there are petitions, meetings at the town hall. The locals would get involved.” She shakes her shimmering mane defiantly. “No, this isn’t right. It can’t be.”
Katherine appears slightly relieved by her granddaughter’s declaration, but there are still strained lines all over her already weathered face. Whatever youth she had regained in Rose’s arrival dissipated at the appearance of this bombshell.
“Come on, Eli.” Hudson waves a hand for me to follow, and Connor stands on the porch, uncertainly.
“Why don’t you stay with the ladies?” I suggest. “See if they need anything. Call if there're any problems.”
Connor nods, exhaling as he drops into the rocker that Katherine had previously occupied, and throws his feet up on the railing.
“Do you think she’s right?” I ask as we climb into his car.
“Rose? She sounds like she knows what she’s talking about,” Hudson replies. “She’s not just a pretty face, you know?”
“Oh, I’m aware,” I reply dryly, and Hudson slows to look at me, his brow arched.
“Something I should know?” he asks.
I shrug, unsure about what he knows. But I’d seen Connor being openly affectionate with Rose earlier. If he wasn’t hiding our relationship with her, I don’t see any reason to keep it under wraps, either.
“We’ve been spending some time together—Connor, her, and me,” I say delicately.
Hudson nods.
I bristle. “She’s a free spirit, a woman who knows her own mind and body.”
“Yes, she certainly does,” Hudson agrees quickly, steering the truck toward the road.
Now I’m paralyzed as I understand what he means. “Wait, are you saying…?”
I don’t finish my thought, and Hudson shrugs. “So what? It’s like you said, she’s a grown woman who knows what she wants. You have a problem with that?”
I laugh and shake my head, heading after him. “Not at all. You just caught me off guard. I don’t know where she finds the energy, honestly. She’s always going, you know? With everything she’s got going on. I admire her stamina.”
“The Wilbers first?” he asks as we hit the road.
“They’re closest. We’ll work our way out,” I concede.
I sneak another look at him as he drives, wondering what he’s thinking. I’ve never known Hudson to date much, not that he and I have ever been particularly close, despite our ages. He’s always struck me as too serious and bookish.
