Chapter 10
MOLLY
“How did I not know about this?” I demand as tears of frustration threaten to cloud my vision. I force them away like I did back at my house with Wolf.
Karla lets out a sigh from where she’s perched on the corner of her desk.
“Because I didn’t know. And Molly, I’m so sorry.
Stan never told me about the provisions before he retired.
Neither did your grandmother. Honestly, with the way she talked about you and your granddad and Clover Hill, I assumed having a will at all was just a formality.
Anyone who mattered knew the property would revert to you.
” She lets out an audible breath. Clearly, finding out about this development shocked her almost as much as me.
“So, why would Mima and Granddad do this?” I hold out my hands, looking at her from one of her visitor chairs.
“They knew how much I love Clover Hill, how I would do anything to protect it. Why would they do something so superficial like this stipulation to make sure it stayed in the family after I’m gone? ”
“I don’t think they did it out of legacy or to be cruel. I think they just didn’t want you to be alone.”
“They watched me grow up alone, with only them around. I was just fine, and I still am.”
“Have you been though?” Karla tilts her head, her eyes searching mine for a deeper truth. “They did a wonderful job keeping you safe, but you know they were always worried you’d?—”
“End up like my mother.” I cut her off because I resent this part of my existence.
The truth is, I know very little about my short time with my mom—just that it wasn’t good.
“I know the story.” I lie, feeling the agitation creep into my voice because the very subject makes my skin crawl “This was their way of making sure I don’t end up alone or like her.
It makes sense now.” While the situation is clicking together, a ball of infuriation fuses deep inside my chest, making me clamp my jaw against it.
They didn’t want me to be alone, yet they kept me sheltered from the rest of the world.
How the hell was I supposed to find someone to share my life with?
I turn from Karla to buy myself a moment, take a deep breath, and quickly make peace with this— at least enough to get me through this visit.
My loving grandparents never foresaw that they’d be gone from my life so soon, I remind myself before slowly letting out the toxic breath and turning back to Karla.
She shakes her head and raises her shoulders.
“All I know is that every time your grandma was in this office, she couldn’t stop talking about how extraordinary you were and how she couldn’t stand the thought of you living out your life without someone who would add to that.
She wanted you to find that special, devoted person who would appreciate all that you are and protect you. She wanted you to be loved back.”
Her words hit me like a freight train. Not only because I know they’re true but because I want that too.
I once thought I’d go off to college and then veterinary school and maybe meet the man of my dreams. I’d bring him back to Ironvale Ridge, and my grandparents would be right here waiting.
But that dream faded out when Granddad passed from his heart attack and perished altogether when Mima’s memory started to leave her.
And when she passed, I was left holding the bag in a town where I never thought there was anyone for me.
Not that I would ever leave this place; I just hoped to bring someone to it.
I rub at my forehead and rise, then start to pace.
I’ve already filled in Karla on Damen Riley’s skeezy efforts to take hold of my land, thus the basis for this meeting.
She dove into the pile of red tape, looking for any loophole she could.
The best solution she could find was to file an appeal that could take weeks to process.
and God only knows if it would be granted. It would be too late by then.
So now, I steel myself and command my blooming tears to retreat. “So…what if I did get married?” I ask, pivoting to face her.
Her eyelashes flutter with a look of surprise, but she quickly recovers. “Well, then you’d be fulfilling the provision of the will,. But Molly, what are you saying?” She tilts her head and narrows her eyes, as if trying to understand what’s happening.
“Like, that would be it?” I swipe my hands outward to indicate I wouldn’t want any other surprises or disruptions to crop up.
“Because there’s…somebody…” I think back to Wolf’s ‘proposal’.
He’d looked so unsure of what he was even saying; or at least not fully grasping the full extent of it.
Or maybe he was, with the way he had fidgeted with his ballcap like he does when he’s uncomfortable and grabbing at the curls at the back of his neck.
I could tell he wanted to help but he couldn’t be that serious, could he?
Karla doesn’t prod me to elaborate but rather searches my eyes a beat or two before she presses her lips into a line.
“If you get married to someone and it’s real, Molly, then you’ll have nothing to worry about.
” She pauses, maybe to let that statement sink in, seeing as how she very adamantly used my name right in the middle of it.
“It being so close to the mark doesn’t look good, so don’t give this hound of a land developer any reason to think the marriage isn’t real. ”
“Karla,” I sputter, the tears of frustration threatening again to make an entrance. “Why would?—”
Karla’s voice has gone soft and kind as she rises and takes hold of my hands. “I’m just trying to protect you from getting into any deep trouble, sweetie. Do you understand?”
It’s not like her to be so stern, but I think she’s trying to help keep me from bad fallout without getting too involved herself. I finally nod.
After saying goodbye and thank you, I leave Karla’s office and walk to my truck completely on autopilot.
I stare straight ahead, taking in none of the other cars or people popping into the shops.
Even when I slide behind the steering wheel, I try to picture myself not living at Clover Hill, and my brain conjures nothing.
No vision besides black nothingness. It’s cold and frightening, and I press my hands to my eyes, trying to scrub away the distressing feeling.
I quickly shift to the alternative: getting married.
This time a picture emerges in perfect technicolor. Wolf’s green eyes when he suggested marrying me. They were dark and sincere as he offered me a chance to keep my home. He gave me a wide-open window, a golden ticket that’d risk my very livelihood if I pass it up.
He told me to come find him at the warden station when I knew what I wanted to do. Now I just need to hope the reality hasn’t caught up with him by now. One way to find out, I suppose, and I’m stunned to realize I want his mind to have stayed the same.
Marrying a man I barely know is an unknown in itself, one that should scare the hell out of me. But what scares me more is being without the place that is my soul.