and enjoying good food and good wine—and even good company—we found ourselves formulating a plan.
Halloween was just around the corner, and the old haunted house on the hill had always been a big draw for the kids from town. This year, we decided to let the kids come into the house and see it for themselves.
“We could do a haunted house as a fundraiser for the high school’s gym renovation,” Amberlynn suggested.
“Oh, that’s a great idea,” Victor said, and I was surprised to see him throw his arm around Lottie as he said it. She glowed.
“Maybe we should theme it,” I suggested.
“Yeah, what if we themed it around the Tanner-Tucker feud?” Daniel suggested. I braced myself—though we were all getting along, it might be a bit early for this.
Surprisingly, Virgil and Verda both nodded at this suggestion.
“Maybe this is a good time to say something,” Victor said, standing up and holding up his glass.
Michael and I exchanged a surprised look across the table.
“Lottie and I have been doing a lot of research, as you know,” he said, and Lottie nodded. “And we’ve uncovered some interesting information about the origins of this problem between our families.”
He looked around at all of us, and I was beginning to realize that Victor had a bit of a dramatic flair.
“This property was evidently purchased by a Tanner back in 1827,” he said. “And we were lucky to learn that Gracie Vanderburg over at the records center isn’t the first in her family to deal in county records.” He grinned and raised his eyebrows. “In fact, her great-great uncle was a clerk at the time of the land purchase, and he kept some journals that her family still holds.”
“Tell them, Vic,” Mom interjected, rubbing her hands together in barely contained anticipation.
“I’m getting there, Lots.”
They exchanged a look that I was pretty sure meant they’d been doing more than just scouring records together. Good for Mom.
“Anyway, what we’ve learned is that while Arnold Tanner bought the property and had intended to build on it as a surprise for his wife Esther, he died before he could do so. And since he didn’t mention this purchase to anyone, when the clerk died before filing the deed, the property purchase was a bit of a mystery around the land office for a while. Gracie’s uncle didn’t learn the truth until years later, when his father told him about his friend Arnold’s plans. In the meantime, the new clerk found a scrawled note about the deed and misread the name Tanner for Tucker. He filed the land claim under the name Tucker, and unknowingly gave the land away. The Tuckers built a house on the land immediately, thrilled about their windfall. And after a couple years, someone let the beans spill to Esther, and she insisted that the whole thing go to court.
“The documents gave the land to the Tuckers, but the Tanners had gotten themselves all in a dither about it, insisting that justice must be done. And soon after the court found for our family, the house on this property burned to the ground.”
Gasps erupted around the table. This whole feud was far more serious than I’d ever imagined.
“And then,” Mom said, springing to her feet as if she just couldn’t wait another second for Victor to finish up, “the Tuckers retaliated by stealing a herd of goats from the Tanners, and shooting Zeke Tanner in the process. Which might have been an accident, but no one knows. That made our family pretty mad, as you might imagine—especially Zeke, who I guess then started all kinds of sabotage.”
Victor nodded, looking thrilled at getting to be the center of attention with Lottie, and he finished up. “The Tuckers rebuilt the house, put up the fence around it, and the feud went on.”
“And I, for one, think it’s time we decided to end it,” Mom said, smiling around the table magnanimously.
“I second that,” Victor said.
We all raised our glasses, and as I locked eyes with Michael, we all cheered the official end of the feud.
Between the end of the feud and plans for the haunted house, Daniel could barely sit still, he was so excited. It was endearing.
My sisters agreed to help plan, and Amberlynn said she’d spread the word at the high school and recruit a few kids to help populate the scenes we had in mind.
Everyone left around the same time, floating out onto the front porch and down the lawn, carried by full stomachs and good