Chapter 58: The First Harvest After the Damage

The apple harvest began with smaller crates than I had hoped for.
The healthy rows produced well, but the damaged section remained uneven.
I hired two local students for weekend shifts and taught them how to sort fruit without bruising it.
One of them, a quiet young man named Isaac, asked why several trees were newer than the others.
I explained that an irrigation failure had damaged part of the orchard.
He asked whether the system had been repaired.
“Yes,” I answered.
“And we’re watching the soil more carefully now.”
I did not tell him the entire story.
He had come to earn money and learn a skill, not inherit my fear.
At the market, Ruth placed our apples beside her pears.
Customers asked how the farm was doing, and I gave them honest answers about the harvest.
Some had heard rumors that I was closing.
I told them I was not.
Every sale was ordinary, and that was exactly what made it satisfying.

Chapter 59: The Family Photograph

Rebecca brought a framed photograph of our grandfather and Abigail Whitmore to the farmhouse.
She had found it in an album at our aunt’s house.
The two stood beside the stone bridge holding a rolled survey map.
My grandfather looked as though he was arguing even while the photograph was taken.
Abigail wore a broad hat and an expression of amused patience.
On the back, someone had written the year 1978 and the words Agreement finally signed.
I set the photograph beside my father’s portrait in the hallway.
Rebecca studied the arrangement.
“They would probably be amazed at the trouble this caused,” she said.
“Or maybe not,” I replied.
“Granddad wrote that we should keep the documents safe.”
She nodded.
“He knew somebody might test the boundary.”
We stood there remembering people who had settled a disagreement before we understood why it mattered.
The photograph did not make me feel entitled to the land.
It made me feel responsible for knowing the promises attached to it.

Chapter 60: The Investor’s Question

A representative of one of Celeste’s investors asked to meet with Katherine and Jonah.
The representative wanted to understand the trust’s objections before committing additional funds.
Katherine agreed to provide the recorded agreements and the engineering report.
She invited me to attend because the project had directly affected my property.
The investor’s representative, Helen Sloane, asked clear questions about the original passage and the alternative route.
She did not seem interested in personal grievances.
She wanted to know which permissions existed, which remained pending, and what uncertainties could change the construction budget.
I answered only questions about my land.
Katherine explained the trust’s limited authority.
Jonah explained the drainage concerns.
Helen took notes and thanked us for providing documents she said had not appeared in the early investment package.
After she left, I asked Katherine whether the meeting would end Celeste’s project.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“It may simply require the project to become more honest about its costs.”
That possibility satisfied me more than I expected.
I did not need the resort to fail.
I needed the project to stop treating other people’s rights as problems that could be hidden until later.