Chapter 31
The aroma of grilling steak mingled with the scent of freshly mown grass. Blake relished watching Paradise flip the steaks.
She was altogether too beautiful for him to be able to drag his gaze away. With her cheeks flushed and her hair a halo around
her head, he wished they were alone so he could have her all to himself.
He hadn’t had a chance to tell her or Mom that Jane had called to tell him preliminary results from the paint chips showed
a match between the white and blue trucks. But she’d also warned him that with the official cause of death a drug overdose,
it wouldn’t change much. They had to prove Dean had injected his uncle with meth.
Clark had joined them for dinner, and Blake forced himself to pull his attention from Paradise. He handed Clark the first
plate of food. “Yard looks good,” he told him. He wished he could give his friend a raise. He was worth so much more than
Blake could pay. The fences were in great shape with Clark’s welding skills, and so were the zip lines. Bringing him here
had been a real boon to the park.
“Thanks.” Clark set the plate on a round patio table and took a seat.
Blake took his own plate and sat beside Clark. “You know the park about as well as anyone. Any ideas where something small
might be hidden?”
Clark’s brows rose. “Small as in a will? You’re not going to look for it, are you?”
“I think we have to figure out where we stand.”
Clark’s chin came up and his brown eyes flashed. “You stand on firmer ground if that will is never found.”
Blake couldn’t deny that. Anxiety over their possible expulsion from The Sanctuary had mounted with every day they wrestled
with this. It would be better to know what was coming than to worry and stress over it. Though he knew God was in control, it was hard to let go of his need to
fix everything for those he loved.
He cut a piece of his steak and chewed it. “Great steak, babe,” he called.
Clark hadn’t touched his plate. “Tell me you aren’t serious.”
“Mom is determined too.”
He glanced at his mother, who was sitting at the picnic table with Frank and the boys. Was her romance with Frank going to
go anywhere? Even if it did, she’d mourn the loss of everything she knew here. She believed in the park and the work they
did. She cared about every employee she’d ever hired and did her best to be a friend and mentor to them. All the unknowns
had to be gnawing at her too.
He turned his attention back to Clark. “Any ideas on where I should look?”
Clark raised his gaze slowly to stare at Blake, and he didn’t answer for a long moment. He exhaled. “You might check the hayloft
in the big barn.”
The bottom dropped out of Blake’s stomach. “You found it?”
Clark’s jaw flexed. “I don’t like anything going on here that I don’t know about, so I started paying attention to everywhere
I went in the park. I was stacking hay bales in the loft, and there was a board sticking up under a layer of loose hay. I
moved everything out of the way to repair it and realized it was hollow underneath. Several boards weren’t nailed, so I lifted
them up and checked it out. A metal box was screwed under the boards, and several things were inside, including the will.”
Blake’s mouth went dry and he swallowed hard. Paradise shut off the grill and closed the lid. She carried her plate of food
toward him, and her amber eyes widened when she took in his face. He should have tried to control his expression better. He
gave a jerky nod. “Did you read it?”
“Yeah. Not good. I wish I’d burned it.”
Blake set his food aside. He wouldn’t be able to eat until he’d faced this. Feeling as decrepit as an old man, he rose and
headed for the deck stairs.
Paradise was beside him a moment later. “What’s happened?”
“It feels like the world just ended, but I know it didn’t.” He told her about Clark’s find.
She took his hand. “Oh, Blake. I—I can’t quite believe it.”
“Me neither.” He clung to her fingers as they followed the oyster shell path that wound through the yard to the large barn
by the Serengeti acreage. With every step his heart grew heavier. This would be so hard on his mom and brothers. On Paradise.
On everyone.
The comforting press of her fingers clutched tightly to his steadied him.
Was this the worst thing that had ever happened to him and Mom?
No. They’d weathered worse when his dad died, when Kent had lost his life because of Blake’s inattention, and when the boys had lost their dad.
God had been their comfort in those times, and he’d see them through this too.
But there was no denying it would be hard. He tried not to think about losing the animals they loved. He’d find homes for
them, good homes.
They reached the barn, and he led her inside to the sweet scent of fresh hay. The haymow was in the left back area, and he
steadied the ladder for Paradise to go up. Once she reached the top, he put a boot on the first rung and forced himself to
climb to face the doom of the dream his family had held on to for so many years.
Paradise had the box open and the will in her hands by the time he got to her. The document was in a small brown file, the
kind a trifold paper would fit. He slid out the sheaf of papers and unfolded it.
Last Will and Testament
He skimmed it and handed it to Paradise. “Allen left everything to Dean, just like he said.”
Paradise’s thoughts were so jumbled she couldn’t discern how to move forward. Jenna had realized something was wrong and had
taken the boys inside to put them to bed a little early. Blake sat beside Paradise on the sofa with his head down as they
waited for his mom to come back and hear the news.
How would they explain it to the boys? Her eyes burned at the thought of the little guys she loved so much facing such a huge
upheaval. Wasn’t it enough that they’d lost their dad? Did they have to lose their home now too?
It’s not right, God!
Her faith was still too young and feeble to try to reason out why God would allow this.
She’d felt this place was a sanctuary for all of them, not just the animals.
To know it was about to be ripped away from them in such a horrible way was more than she could wrap her head around.
Blake’s mention of how gruesome the land would look made her wince.
Would Dean even be allowed to sell it to a mining company?
That was a question that hadn’t been fully explored.
Jenna, blue eyes serene and expression calm, entered the room. “You found the will, didn’t you?”
Blake raised his head and nodded. At his miserable expression, Paradise reached for his hand again, and his fingers gripped
hers. He cared so much about his family. So did she, and she’d give all she had to make this better for Jenna and the boys.
Jenna walked closer and put her hand on Blake’s dark hair. “It’s all right, son. God is faithful, and if we lose this, he
has something else for us.”
Blake’s face contorted. “I keep telling myself that, Mom, but it’s not just us. It’s the boys and our employees. It’s the
animals too. I can’t see a way forward through the trees.”
“I can’t either,” she admitted. “But let’s take one thing at a time. The will leaves everything to Dean?”
“Yeah.”
“I think we need to tell Hez first and learn the next step. Do we tell Mary or the court? Do we call Dean? I have no idea,
but Hez will know.” Jenna gave Blake’s head a final pat. “Do you want me to call him?”
Blake reached for his phone. “I’ll do it. We can all talk to him on speaker.” He gave a few swipes to the phone and Hez’s
voice answered.
“Hey, Blake, everything okay?”
“It depends on what you mean by okay. If you mean without a problem, then no. We found the will.” He told Hez about Clark telling them where to find the hidden metal box. “What do we do now?”
“I’d hoped you wouldn’t find it. Is your mom there?”
“I’m here, Hez,” Jenna said.
“This is a really hard spot, Aunt Jenna. Dean can reopen probate and contest the sale. He’ll ask you to testify, and you’ll
tell the truth about having heard about the will. Even though you thought it was all okay, it will be all the proof he needs
to invalidate the sale and gain ownership.”
Jenna’s gulp was audible. “What about the money we gave Mary?”
“You bought it at auction from the estate, so the estate would have to repay your money. How much did you pay for it?”
“One point five million. Hank had made some good investments, and Blake chipped in money, too, so we bought it outright.”
“So you would eventually get that money back once Dean sold the property. But it would be tough to find a place for the animals
until you could buy and build what you need elsewhere. Maybe Dean would give you some time. There’s one more possible wrinkle.”
Hez’s voice deepened as if he hated to be the bearer of bad news. “If Dean accuses you of conspiring with Mary to deprive
him of his rightful inheritance, the court could find that to be the case and you’d never get your money back. At the very
least, he could tie it up in court for years.”
Paradise tried to wrap her head around the enormity of the catastrophe facing them.
There was nothing she could do. The small savings she had was a pittance and wouldn’t go far toward helping this family she loved so much.
If she and Blake got married right away, he could share the master with her, and she could try to find enough space in the second bedroom for Jenna and the boys.
She’d be glad to sandwich them into her apartment, but they’d have to throw air mattresses on the floor.
“Do I just hand the will over to the court?” Jenna’s voice gained strength as she spoke.
“You’re not an heir or executor of the Steerforth estate, so you can’t address the probate court yourself. Mary or Dean would
have to do that. Given the circumstances, you should probably give it to Mary and give Dean an official copy. Then it’s out
of your hands. They may come to a private agreement.”
Blake let out a long exhale. “Paradise and I tried talking to Dean today about what might be done to let us keep the property.
He has no interest in that and seems to know all about the rare earth here. I think that’s what drove him to carry out a new
search for the will.”
“Interesting,” Hez said. “How would he have discovered that?”
“He didn’t say and seemed upset that he’d admitted he knew. I thought maybe he knew someone who worked in the mining field
and had heard a rumor that brought him back here for more information. He and Mary hadn’t spoken until he came back a few
weeks ago.”
“Find Dean’s friends, even an old girlfriend. If he killed his uncle, someone probably knows.”
Paradise had forgotten that possible avenue. She made a mental note to talk to Mary about that direction when they delivered
the will. Mary’s situation was even more dire than theirs—she wouldn’t be entitled to anything and would have to pay back
what she’d received. She’d likely spent at least some of it on the house where she lived. Would she be homeless too? She was
older, and it wouldn’t be easy to start again.