PART7

“Some of the payments went into the consulting company associated with her mother.”

I leaned back.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

This was no longer about a wedding.

It was no longer about an inheritance.

It was about the possibility that my own son had been using the ranch as a source of money while planning to sell part of it.

Harrison closed the file.

“We need to take this seriously.”

I nodded.

“Do whatever is necessary.”

Then I asked a question that had been sitting inside me for days.

“Harry, if this goes to court, will I have to testify against Derek?”

He looked at me.

“Possibly.”

I lowered my eyes.

He waited before answering.

“Georgia, I know this is painful. But protecting your son from the truth won’t protect him from the consequences.”

I nodded slowly.

“Then I won’t hide anything.”

Three weeks later, the county formally suspended the development application pending investigation.

The proposed land sale was frozen.

The trust records were submitted.

The disputed authorization was sent for forensic examination.

And Harrison filed a civil action seeking recovery of the money allegedly taken from the ranch.

Derek was furious.

He called me repeatedly.

I didn’t answer.

Then one Saturday morning, someone knocked on my front door.

I opened it.

It was Derek.

Alone.

He looked exhausted.

His shirt was wrinkled, and his eyes were red.

“Can I come in?”

I stepped aside.

He entered the kitchen and looked around.

The same kitchen where he had eaten breakfast before school.

The same table where Frank had helped him with mathematics.

The same window through which he used to watch the cattle.

He sat down.

I remained standing.

“What do you want?”

He rubbed his face.

“Britney left.”

I said nothing.

“She went to her mother’s.”

I poured myself some coffee.

“That’s unfortunate.”

He looked at me.

“That’s all you have to say?”

“What would you like me to say?”

“Mom, my marriage is falling apart.”

I put down the coffee pot.

“And what would you like me to do about it?”

He lowered his head.

“I don’t know.”

For a few seconds, he looked like the little boy who had cried when his first calf died.

Then he spoke.

“Britney told me the ranch was going to be ours.”

I sat across from him.

“Did you ever ask me?”

He shook his head.

“She said you had already decided.”

“And you believed her?”

“I wanted to believe her.”

I looked at him.

“Why?”

He took a long breath.

“Because I thought it was time.”

“Time for what?”

“For me to have something of my own.”

I stared at him.

“You had a home here. You had a truck I bought you. You lived in the cottage without paying rent. You had opportunities to work alongside me.”

“I know.”

“Then why did you think taking my land was the answer?”

He looked down.

“I don’t know.”

I leaned forward.

“Derek, when your father died, I was thirty-nine years old. I had a ten-year-old boy, a small insurance payment and a ranch that could barely support us.”

He wiped his eyes.

“I remember.”

“No, sweetheart. You remember the parts I let you see. You remember the cattle, the horses and the summer evenings. You don’t remember the bank threatening foreclosure. You don’t remember me selling my wedding jewelry to pay for feed. You don’t remember me crying in the truck because I didn’t know how I was going to keep the ranch alive.”

He covered his face.

“I didn’t know.”

“Because I never wanted you to carry that burden.”

I paused.

“But I also never expected you to turn that burden into something you could exploit.”

He began crying.

And for the first time in months, I wanted to reach across the table and hold him.

But I didn’t.

Not yet.

He looked up.

“Can you make the lawsuit go away?”

There it was.

Even now.

Even after everything.

I took a slow breath.

“No.”

His face fell.

“Mom…”

“I will not lie to protect you. I will not change the records. And I will not pretend the money disappeared by itself.”

He stared at me.

“Then what happens to me?”

“That depends on what you do next.”

He stood.

For a moment, I thought he might argue.

Instead, he walked toward the door.

Before leaving, he turned around.

“Do you still love me?”

My heart broke a little.

“Every day, Derek.”

He nodded.

Then I added:

“But loving you doesn’t mean giving you permission to hurt me.”

He left without another word.

THE WOMAN WHO FINALLY STOOD UP

The legal investigation lasted several months.

The forensic examiner concluded that the disputed authorization did not match Frank’s verified signature.

Investigators also uncovered communications showing that the development proposal had been prepared using information obtained without my authorization.

The financial records revealed that payments totaling approximately $46,000 had been transferred from the ranch operating account to companies connected to the arrangement.

Some of the money had gone toward personal expenses.

Some had been used for consulting fees.

The remainder was traced through several accounts.

Harrison advised me to pursue recovery through the appropriate legal channels.

I agreed.

The civil proceedings eventually resulted in a settlement requiring Derek to repay the money established as improperly transferred, along with additional costs.

The development application was withdrawn.

Ridgerest Development formally terminated its negotiations with Derek and confirmed that it had no agreement with me.

The disputed advance payment became a separate matter between the company and the people who had received it.

As for Sandra, she denied any wrongdoing.

But the documents told their own story.

Britney filed for divorce.

Derek moved out of the guest cottage and rented a small apartment in town.

The first time I saw him after the settlement, he was standing outside the feed store.

He looked older.

Not physically.

Something in his expression had changed.

He approached my truck.

“Mom?”

I rolled down the window.

“Hello, Derek.”

“Could we talk sometime?”

I looked at him for a moment.

“Perhaps.”

He nodded.

“I know I don’t deserve much from you.”

I didn’t answer.

“I’ve been thinking about Dad.”

My hands tightened around the steering wheel.

“What about him?”

“I found one of his old notebooks in the cottage. It had all the ranch expenses from the year he died.”

I looked at him.

“He kept everything.”

“I know.”

Derek swallowed.

CONTINUE FOR FINAL PART…