kept her face carefully blank. Suddenly, it hit her that this was the piece of land the protesters were all up in arms about. She pushed that aside to focus on what else Hornblower had to say.
“I don’t expect you to do anything just yet, but I wanted you to know the offer is out there. Woody would have wanted me to do right by his daughter. Even in New York, that much money would set you up for a good long time.”
“Indeed.” She sipped her tea to buy herself some time. “Mr. Hornblower, can I ask you something? Have my half-brothers been told about me yet?”
“Yes. I met with Sylvia, Winston and Lloyd yesterday after you left.”
“And what do they think about the will?”
Hornblower squirmed uncomfortably in his chair. “You can imagine their shock. Give them a little time.”
“I see.” She’d hardly expected them to rush to her with open arms.
“One more thing. I’m going to need you to sign a trust document. It just states that I’ve discharged the trust to you at Woody’s bequest.”
“Okay. If you leave it with me, I’ll look it over and sign it later.” She waited for him to pull it out of his briefcase.
“I don’t have it with me now. We can handle that another time.” He gathered his things and stood. “I’ll be back in Dale next Wednesday. If you’re not gone you can sign it then. Also, if you want me to represent you with the developer, I’d be honored to handle the details. And now that I’ve discharged Woody’s final wishes, we can use email and faxes.” He let out a chuckle that grated on her nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard.
“Thank you. I’ll have to consider all my options.”
“Of course, of course. Don’t take too much time though, or they may pull the offer. What with those protestors causing all that ruckus and the environmental concerns, they may decide it’s too much trouble.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” She walked him to the door and held it open for him. “Thank you for coming out of your way.”
“No problem, no problem at all. If I don’t see you again, Miss Sarov, please take care.”
“Oh, I don’t plan on leaving quite so soon. I’m enjoying my stay in Dale.”
Nadya waited until he got into his car before shutting the door. As soon as the latch caught, Mary Ellen pounced on her.
“How much are they offering for your piece of land?”
“Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
“What? Sweet baby Jesus, that’s close to a million dollars. You’d never have to buy consignment again.” Mary Ellen sat heavily on the couch.
“I haven’t examined the offer fully yet. Let’s not be hasty.”
“But you’re going to take it, right? I heard you tell Mr. Hornblower you would be headed back to New York soon.”
“I don’t have any firm plans yet. I only told him that so he’d leave me alone. I have plenty of vacation time to burn still. If you don’t mind me taking up your spare room, I’d like to stay a while yet.”
“Go on with you—you can move in for all I care. Things haven’t been this interesting around here since you left.”
“I don’t think Bill would appreciate that, but I may stick around for a bit. I have a feeling now that the will’s been read and gone to probate, things are going to get even more interesting.”
“Mama,” Hunter called from his room.
“Shoot, Hunter’s up from his nap which means Billy will be chomping at the bit to go to the playground. Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“Yup. After the last few days, I can handle just about anything.”
“Like I said, things are much more interesting with you here.”
Mary Ellen went to get Hunter from his crib, and Nadya went back to the kitchen to clean up the dishes from her meeting with Hornblower. She was surprised to see Bill sitting at the table looking at the papers.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were home,” she said. She wanted to snatch the offer out of his hands but held back.
“I had to take a half day so I wouldn’t go into overtime. With all the extra time we’ve had to put in with the protestors, it’s straining the budget. They’d rather give the overtime to someone lower on the pay scale.” He held up the offer from the developer. “Is this yours?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“I didn’t mean to pry. I came in the back way when I saw the car in the