Up to Snow Good - Kelly Collins Page 0,49

To tell you the truth, I’m thinking the same thing. I can’t prove anything, but I’ve been watching Mayor Shipley and certain backroom dealings. I’m not making any accusations.”

“Of course,” Max was quick to throw in.

“I know things are changing,” Roberts said. “The mayor’s ways, like your father’s ways, are the past, just like you said. That’s this town’s corrupt past, not our future.”

Max and Lauren shared a glance, disbelief clear enough between them.

“It’s the future which brings me here,” Roberts said. “The future of the lodge.”

Max said, “Don’t tell me, you want to buy it?”

“No, my friend, I want to preserve it.”

Lauren asked, “How?”

“There’s a clause in the city charter, I don’t know if the mayor isn’t aware of it, or maybe he had just forgotten about it.”

“You think he forgot?”

Lauren put a calming hand on Max’s bringing reason and caution back to the conversation.

Roberts smiled and went on, “The fact is that you can apply for landmark status for the lodge.”

“A landmark,” Max repeated, skepticism heavy in his tone, “a historical landmark?”

“Well, I don’t think we can put it across as a landmark of historical significance, no. We can launch a motion to have it declared as a future landmark if we have enough signatures on a petition, or by an open vote of the city council.”

Lauren’s heart jumped a bit, her eyes finding Max’s and locking in on the new hope flicking in those big, brown windows into his newly restored soul.

“I’m not saying it’ll work long term,” Roberts said, “but once you get the proposition going, it could tie up any claims on ownership for years. In the meantime, who knows? It’s worth a chance.”

“It sure is,” Lauren said. Her smile stretched across her face, while Patrick and Cindy clung to one another, and Ruthie watched with wide eyes and a broad smile.

“It won’t be easy,” Roberts warned with a calming tone. “We’ll need the city council to vote unanimously. Given Eaton Hunter’s influence, that won’t be easy. In fact, it’ll take a miracle.”

Chapter Forty-Two

Max

Lucille Dubois was kind enough to welcome Max and Lauren into her home. Decorated with ceramic figurines of adorable children and elegant Victorian furnishings, it was a landmark in its own right.

She smiled as her maid poured them each a cup of tea. “Well, you two have found one another. How lovely.”

“And we’re grateful,” Max said, turning to smile at Lauren, who sat next to him on the couch. “But our future is still very much at stake.”

Lucille nodded. “Perhaps, but didn’t you say the offer included would be reasonable? I mean, I understand how you feel about the place, sentimentally speaking, but perhaps it’s not such a bad idea to sell. You’re both young, the world is at your feet. You know, there’s no substitute for travel, it really opens up your life.”

Lauren glanced at Max, and her sorrow ached in his bones. He couldn’t bear to start their lives together under such sad circumstances, and that was only one reason for not abandoning the lodge. He felt guilty for his part in it and furious with his father at his betrayal. The man had to be stopped, the Hunter name had to be restored, and Max had to be the one to do it. He owed it to Lauren; he owed it to himself, and he owed it to the lodge.

“We’re not selling, and that’s that,” Max said. “We’ve come to you to help spread the word. There’ll be an emergency town hall meeting and a vote, and we need to make sure we get enough votes for that declaration to pass.”

“As a landmark,” Lauren said, “we think we’ll be able to generate more business, and that’ll get us out from under our financial problems for now, anyway.”

“It’ll give us time,” Max said, “and that’s what we need most.”

Lucille nodded as she seemed to give it some thought. “Your father’s a very powerful man in Moss Creek. It won’t be easy to get the populace to go against him. Many people’s lives are affected by how hard your father will turn the screw.”

“He’s influential and he controls many people, but it doesn’t give him a license to crush anybody’s freedom of speech, and a vote like this is protected. Whatever my father does, I won’t let him take that away from us, away from you.”

Lauren added, “You’re prominent around town too, Lucille. You don’t throw it around the way his father does, but it’s true.”

“You’ve got a lot of friends,”