Chapter 4
four
Amos was in the barn double checking the harness. He thought about the phone call with Holly.
He didn't know what it was about her, and it was difficult for him to admit, but she intrigued him. He remembered her as a pigtailed little brat getting caught up in all kinds of trouble with Alana. But she wasn't that little brat any longer. She was grown up, matured into a beautiful and intelligent woman... albeit a pushy one.
The bells jingled has he wiped down the leather. It was a sound he had loved as a child and this Christmas season was the first in twenty years he'd used them.
He had a difficult time finding joy in the bells as an adult. Of course Nick heard them and he looked up, giving a soft nicker.
"Hey, boy, do they remind you of the old days?" he asked the big draft horse who had been the leader of the team. Now he was enjoying retired life.
Nick was big, with the coloring of a palomino and feet the size of platters. His impressive feathers swung beautifully around his hooves when he trotted. Nick tossed his head, and his forelock got caught over his ear giving him a comical appearance.
"Not this year, my man. You taught Piney and Cedar well, they'll do a good job with your sleigh bells.”
Amos had an audience--the other horses with their heads over the stall door watched him. "All you guys will be busy. I hope you're ready.”
The barn was his haven. The warmth, the scent of the horses, hay… their quiet munching and snuffling as they ate filled his soul.
He thought about the coming holidays. Asher would be home by the weekend and he'd yet to hear from Alana. She was just as frustrating now as she'd been when she was younger. Both Asher and Alana had left the farm, knowing Amos would keep the home fires burning.
Amos was comfortable in his own skin and didn't need company, he didn't get lonely, had a very basic cell phone, and was content with farm duties. He found fulfillment on the farm, and the expansions he'd made were beginning to show profit. But, it was a tie down. He wouldn't quite call it a ball and chain, but the responsibilities of the land and animals kept him from being able to just pack up and leave whenever he felt like it.
Now, there was a decision to make. The offer sitting on his desk was like the ball and chain the farm wasn't. If it went through, so much would change. He looked at the horses and felt unbelievably sad that a decision to sell would impact them. They’d only ever known here as home. He wouldn't let them go just anywhere--they had to be well cared for and he would have to make sure they went to the best home.
Every now and then thoughts of Holly popped in, usually when the bells jingled. This whole turn of events and the decision he and his siblings had to make was largely thanks to her. He gritted his teeth and carried the harness into the tack room, the sleigh bells ringing their Christmas cheer.
Amos scowled. All he had to do was get through this season and make the decision whether they'd accept the deal or not.
Amos sat at his desk, his palms flat on either side of the package he'd picked up the other day. He still hadn't opened it. He told himself the preparations for this damn festival had sucked up most of his time. In truth, he'd been avoiding it because opening it would make it much more real.
Real that he was thinking of selling their historic family home and land.
Real that he would leave Evergreen Lake. Something he'd wanted to do for years. But somehow the burning need to flee wasn't as powerful as it once had been.
With Alana and Asher off living their own lives and rarely coming home, he wondered if it was time to make a change. The money would be significant--there was no doubt about that, and they'd be set for life, the three of them. It could be an excellent opportunity for the three of them.
But we wouldn't have a place to call home.
He hadn't told his siblings yet. He had the control of the estate, but he would never spring anything on them like this without a discussion.
He sucked in a big breath and took the letter opener his great-great-grandfather had hand-made from a nugget of gold found on the property. Which had led to prospecting on the land and an eventual mine which was the foundation of the family wealth. Before his parents died, his dad made sure to keep the mine running, until it was eventually tapped out.
So using that letter opener carved with his grandfather's initials to open the envelope with an offer to purchase the farm felt rather ironic.