"I was always closer to Annie than to Amy. Both of us were in orchestra together; we took music lessons from the same guy. Amy was more of a wild child. She had her limits and boundaries, but she was in a faster crowd than Annie and I were comfortable with.
"Pablo asked me out and kept flirting and stayed friendly while he was dating Amy because he wanted me to persuade Annie to join them. He had always wanted to ... you know ... with a set of twins."
Fabian shook his head.
"So now the part about Greg," he said.
"Well, I was uncomfortable telling Amy. I thought she'd get mad and accuse me of just being jealous. Amy gets a little scary when she's mad. So I chickened out and told Greg. Greg had always been a good friend of Amy's, but never really thought he had a chance with her. They were just buddies. So Greg agreed that he would come up with something like overhearing Pablo bragging about almost having a set of twins. He would leave me out of it. Well, he took Amy someplace a little too private to tell her. She was upset; one thing led to another, and ... that's where Ryan comes from. I often wonder that if I'd been brave enough to tell her myself whether she would have married Greg and had Ryan."
"From what I've observed this summer," Fabian said, "no one regrets a thing."
"Well, things can change and settle down a lot in two years. Anyway, it was a good thing -- after the ... little talk, Amy wasn't interested in Pablo any more. Mr. Wright never really approved of or liked Pablo anyway."
"Because?"
"Because when we were all in high school, there was a series of fires. Small things, really, and not serious, but they drove our old police chief and the fire chief just about insane. There were never any clues except very thin ties to Pablo Moreno. Sometimes Pablo smelled like smoke. I know he was questioned, but there was never enough to arrest anyone. Pablo left for college and the fires stopped."
"Could be a coincidence," Fabian said. "I was in college with him and there weren't any fires up until the time he flunked out."
"Mr. Wright also didn't care for Pablo personally. Pablo was a partier and a player -- not someone you want dating your daughter. It wasn't just the fire claim payouts he had to make and how frustrated he was that Chief Taylor couldn't solve the arsons. When Amy found out she was pregnant, there was a huge explosion in the Wright house. Annie still doesn't like to talk about it. Things only started to calm down after Amy insisted that the baby was Greg's and Greg came over to back her up."
"Small town drama," Fabian said, then kissed the side of Lisa's head. "Can't beat it."
The Hornberger family has always owned the crop farm and has a large share in the feed mill. Paul Jr. keeps the old homestead going. Maude married Hal Kreider and wound up running the dairy operation and the youngest, William, moved to Oxbow. I heard he was a developer or something.
"No." William folded his arms, crossed his legs and frowned from the leather chair in the attorney's office. The lawyer looked up from the papers on his desk.
"What do you mean no? It's right here. Your mother left the property to her granddaughter. Lisa Kreider." William shook his head.
"I'm going to have to protest that. Lisa is not the only grandchild -- or child, for that matter. It's not fair that she is getting a property of that value for nothing."
"She is not getting it "for nothing"," the attorney replied. "Your mother had a rent to own lease with Miss Kreider, who has never missed a payment. She kept meticulous records of all of the work and improvements Miss Kreider made to the property, intending that the work be put towards equity. I drafted their agreement myself."
"Like the "sweat equity" Habitat for Humanity talks about," Paul nodded. "Mom told me that's where she got the idea."
"Precisely," Attorney Murrow nodded back.
"That's bogus," William said.
"Will, she took care of Mother and the property. It's only right," Maude said, uncomfortable and beginning to get angry that William was going to be a spoiled brat and make this more difficult.
"No, I don't agree," William replied. "Yes she lived there and Mom might have seen her as a big help. Another set of hands usually is. I'm sure that influenced Mother. Sometimes gratitude can go overboard."
Now Maude was furious.
"Exactly what are you accusing my daughter of?" she demanded.
"I'm not accusing anyone of anything," William retorted. "I'm just saying that Lisa was a bit ... shall we say, in the limelight. Another thing. Lisa is connected to those circus people, and who knows what influence they've had?"
"They are not circus people," attorney Murrow cut in. "They are mostly college students and professors. And the Will and secondary legal documents long predate their arrival here. The Will clearly leaves the property to Miss Kreider."
"I'm afraid I'll be contesting it, then." William examined his cuticles; his siblings and the attorney stared at him in shock.
"Do you think you can prove undue influence?" attorney Murrow asked, incredulous.
"We'll fight back," Maude said fiercely. Paul nodded, his eyes hard in agreement.
"Do you really want to drag your daughter through years of court proceedings?" While her reputation is at stake?" William replied. His voice sounded oily and there was a smirk on his face that Maude had always hated. She wanted to slap him.
"Lisa is very well liked here," she said, keeping herself under control. "I'm sure the whole town would stand up for her."
"But why would you want to put her through that? She'd be on display in court and I'm sure it would make the papers, since the Hornberger name has always been important. She might be questioned about finding the body ...."
"Now that is going too far!" Paul roared, his face crimson with fury. "What are you implying?"
"I'm not implying or insinuating anything. Just a possibility of what might come up."
"That it would even cross your mind that Lisa had anything to do with Mom's death!"
"You said that. I didn't. Look. I'm not completely unreasonable. I'm willing that the property be sold to her at its fair market value."
His siblings both cried out in outrage.
"She can't afford that!" Maude protested.
"Then she can't afford to live there and keep the property up," William responded with a careless shrug.
"What do you want with it? You haven't lived here in decades!" Paul demanded.
"I should not have to explain this to you. Land here is very valuable. I could put at least four houses on that lot. Maybe more. There's also the school tract. Dad leased that to the school district and it's on six more acres."
"You would tear down the house, the orchard and the one-room schoolhouse?" Paul was aghast.
"I don't understand why you're upset," William said. "They are buildings. You'd be very wealthy, with your share, once the lots were sold. In any event, Lisa should not be on that property while all of this is being settled."
"She has a lease which is not up until May," attorney Murrow reminded him. "She has every right to be there. And the Mowerys have a lease which does not expire until next August."
"We're not breaking either lease," Paul added. "And Lisa has until May to buy you out."
"She's welcome to try," William sneered with his hideous smug smirk, then checked the gold watch on his wrist.
"We'll make sure that she does," Paul replied.