Garrett and I worked to get the boards off the windows to bringsome light into the space a bit more, and as he left he promised to lend a helping hand whenever he could.
As much as I wanted to stay in the rail house and daydream about all its possibilities, there was something more important I needed to do. I still had to purchase it.
“Hi, Vicky,” I greeted as I walked into her office at Hart and Heart Logging. There was no one else onsite today, which made sense, I guess. Why pay employees when you couldn’t even afford to stay in business? Hopefully that wouldn’t be the case much longer.
Vicky looked as broken as Trixie and Garrett had when I walked in on them, and I only hoped I could change her expression in the same way.
“Oh, hi, Stella. Calvin’s not here right now.”
“I know. I came to see you.”
I explained to her my plans for the rail house as reluctant tears filled her eyes.
“Stella, I can’t let you do that. You aren’t responsible for my husband’s mistakes.”
“I know that,” I assured her. “But Icaninvest in a business opportunity when I see it arise. If you are at the crossroads of potentially having to sell the farm in its entirety, let me purchase a portion of it instead.”
She mulled things over a bit, and instead of trying to figure out what the rail house would be worth, she turned her computer screen to show me the numbers.
It was big. I couldn’t deny that. But with my savings,I could do it.
After a few phone calls to my bank and filing the proper paperwork through Vicky’s lawyers, we had the plans drawn up for the change in possession of the rail house from Trixie to me, and the money would be wired to the business account in seven to ten days.
I was ecstatic, and it looked like Vicky could finally take a deep breath as she hugged me tight with tears in her eyes.
“Thank you, Stella. Today you saved my family, but you saved my boy the day you arrived, and I’ll forever be in your debt because of it.”
“He saved me, too. You all have. I’d say we’re even.”
I stood in the center of the rail house, not seeing anything but the ballroom in my mind. There was a lot of work that would have to be done to make this a usable space to host weddings, but I gave myself time to build a dream before I started rebuilding walls.
Before I could even contemplate for too long, I heard heavy footsteps coming up to the door. I figured Calvin would be here soon, I had asked Vicky to send him my way, and it wasn’t like him to sleep in too long.
Even though I was expecting him, the vision of his hulking frame filling the open doorway sent a jolt of electricity through me. The look on his face would have terrified me if not for already knowing exactly how gentle his hands were on my skin.
Garrett had warned me, but Calvin wasn’t just mad. He wasfurious. There was a fire raging through him, and I had been the one to light the match.
“What have you done?” It was hardly a question as he growled, annunciating every syllable of every word.
“I invested in a business opportunity.”
“Three and a halfmillion dollars, Stella?” I’d never heard him yell before, and certainly not at me, but this man didn’t scareme. I had seen his pain and knew this anger was just the way it was showing itself. “That’s not a smart business move.” The fury in his eyes kept growing, but he didn’t close the distance between us.
“I think I should be the one to decide how I spend my own money, don’t you?”
“But that’s the thing, Stella. It’syourmoney, and this ismyfarm.”
“Exactly. And now you get to keep it that way! You should be thanking me!” I was starting to grow a little frustrated. I knew he was upset and that I should keep my cool, but in the past few months I’d been in Love, I had worked on my self-confidence. I knew my worth and I knew what I was capable of, and Calvin’s controlling comments were triggering that flight-or-fight response. But instead of running away, I was now fighting for what I knew I deserved.
“Thank you?” he said with a dry laugh. “How could I thank you for throwing your life savings away for me?”
“I didn’t throw anything away!” I was desperate to make him see, but his anger was blinding him. I begged for him to see things from my perspective. To see the magic I saw. “Just look at this space! Don’t you see its potential?”
“This!” He gestured around the room and then crouched down to rip a board right out of the floor with his hands. The way it peeled out like string cheese made me cringe for the water damage that must be under there but didn’t waver my determination in any way. “This has the potential to ruin you. This isgarbage. An absolute dump. You should have spent that money onyou. To give yourself a better life, not be damned to the same fate we are. Stella, this was stupid.”
No. What would be stupid would be awarding another man the opportunity to make my decisions for me.
My blood boiled at his words. Damn him. He was going to see things from my perspective, or he couldget out of my way.
