She’d never experienced social anxiety, but the new experience overwhelmed her. When the pastor began speaking, she was grateful for a break to sit and relax, without worrying about making good first impressions.
When the service ended, she followed Jared to the truck. She answered his questions, responding with automatic replies. Her mind went on overload, processing everything that had happened that day.
Physically, nothing had changed. The world went on as it always had. But emotionally and spiritually, everything had changed. Her entire frame of mind had been upended, in a positive way, her perception of the world a better place.
Chapter Thirteen
Jared walked to the mailbox, enjoying a rare weekday afternoon off. A chill permeated the air, announcing December was well underway. He smiled at the decorated yards around him. Nativities, Santas, and animated deer ruled the neighborhood this time of year. The only decoration in his yard—a light-up penguin holding a present—looked lonely. It had been an impulse buy on Black Friday, and only because Sybil had smiled when she saw it.
He lowered the mailbox door and saw a legal-sized envelope. The return address was home. His mom had made a special phone call two days ago to tell him she’d mailed him something important. She wouldn’t say what, but instructed him to call her after he’d received and read it.
Curiosity piqued, he ripped it open, there at the end of his driveway with the rest of the mail waiting to be removed. He scanned the pages, trying to make sense of the words. His blood pulsed. Had he read it correctly?
He gathered the remaining envelopes in the mailbox then went back into the house. He gripped the pages of the legal document and reread them. Again, for a third time.
How?
Needing answers, he called his mom. Once he greeted her, he jumped to the point. “The information you mailed came today.”
“Since you’re calling me, I’m assuming you read through it?” Her tone remained even, but a tinge of excitement leaked through.
He shook his head as if she could see through the phone. “Am I reading it correctly? Do I really own a two-thousand-acre ranch?
“Yes, you do.”
“But how? I thought that family land belonged to Dad’s distant cousins?” That he’d be an heir never crossed his mind.
“It did, but the last owner, Harv Scott, who was your third or fourth cousin—I’d have to sit down and write it all down to figure out the exact connection—had no children and apparently, had a falling out with other family members.” His mom’s words came in breathy spurts as she rushed the story. “Your dad spent a few summers out there as a child, and Harv made a connection with your father. That’s the only reason I can figure that he left it to him.”
“Then technically, it belongs to you, as Dad’s widow.”
“No, look at the papers closely. A legality in your father’s will grants you ownership.”
He ran a hand through his hair. The news was a lot to take in. “Do I have to do anything?”
“A few signatures on papers is all.” Mom cleared her throat, and a pregnant pause fell over the line. “A ranch would be a great place to raise a child.”
And there came the crux of the matter. He’d love to move home and raise a family on the open plains, but he wasn’t in a position to up and move. “Sybil’s here, Mom. I doubt she’d want to pack up on a whim and move across the country where she knows nobody, and I’m not leaving here if my daughter’s here.”
“I understand, and wouldn’t expect less of you. But…” He could practically see the twinkle in his mom’s eyes. “If you can convince her to marry you, it’s something to consider … and maybe she’d want to start over in a new place, and she could live with me.”
“As great as that sounds, I already asked her once to marry me, and it caused a big fight.” He sighed. “She and I have come too far to risk messing up our relationship.”
“What you just said, that’s the key, Son. You two barely knew each other the first time you asked, and you would have been marrying for the wrong reasons.” Mom stopped talking for a second, and he heard the scooting of a chair. “You have a relationship established between you now, plus she’s since become a Christian.”
“I don’t know.” He cared too much about her to send her running.
“Do you love her?”
“I…” He trailed off. Did he? The answer shined clearly before him. “Yes, I do.”
“Then trust in that love. Will you do me a favor?”
“What’s that?”
“Pray about it. The ranch is yours whether you live on it or not.”
Another thought crossed his mind. “I don’t know how to run a ranch.”
