William's attorney sighed, bracing himself. His client was going to be furious, but this had to be done. He'd tried to warn William that there was no chance going into this, but William was incredibly stubborn.
"The Mayor had nothing to do with this. He recused himself," he told his livid client.
"He told them what to decide! They can't do this! I want to appeal!"
"The law is on their side, William. First of all, you knew all of those people all of your life and you filed the application anyway. Second, both properties are being used right now. Just because a property can be used in a more profitable fashion is not grounds for you to get a zoning variance. You are not entitled to maximize the development potential of a property if it is already being used. The thing is, the town is proud of the orchard and proud of the schoolhouse. Your niece has done an excellent job on the orchard property and the Mowerys have done more with the schoolhouse property than anyone thought possible. There are already an awful lot of uses on the two properties. There's the house, the garage with a rental unit and home business, the schoolhouse, which is now a residence, and the farmers market. Not to mention the various poultry operations over the two. William, the only difference between what you want to do and what's already being done is that you would get money for it.
"Oh, now you're a big fan of my niece." William was bitter.
"I'm not a big fan of anyone, William. You pay me to give you advice. I gave it to you and was merely trying to explain why it has to be that way."
"It does not have to be that way," William hissed, "and if you won't help me there are other attorneys."
"The law is the law, William. You might get someone who would be willing to take your money, but ultimately the results would be the same as just dropping it now, only you'll have less money. Your brother and sister have enough money to fight you no matter how far you try to take this. So does the town. It's in your best interest to just walk away. Your mother was generous with you in other ways. It's over, William. You certainly have other projects you can concentrate on."
"It isn't over until I say it is." He stood up and stalked out of the conference room, then out of the office. When he got to his car, he pressed a memory key on his phone. "It's me. Can you talk? Good. We need to meet. Any suggestions? Preferably a place cleaner than the last place we met. Ugh, that sounds about the same, but all right. One hour."
A lot of Twin Mills residents have gardens. The spring is usually full of the sound of rototillers opening the ground.
Lisa loved when Dennis came up with the rototiller to open the garden. She wasn't crazy about the noise, but she loved the smell of the freshly turned earth and loved watching the birds swooping down for exhumed insects and worms. She'd cleaned out the purple martin houses, and the birds had returned recently. She sipped a cup of coffee, watching Dennis and thinking about what vegetables she might want to plant this year. She also thought she might want to change some things in the flower beds. Her grandmother's taste in flowers was all right, but not necessarily what she would choose. Her father had sent her a copy of the zoning decision, so she knew she'd been reprieved, at least. She would be on her honeymoon for part of May, but she was sure the Mowerys would plant whatever she wanted and she would plant onions and peas on her next free day.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a car pulling into her driveway far too fast and screeching to a halt. The chickens next to the driveway panicked with loud flapping and squalks. The car was a white Mercedes. As she watched, her uncle William got out, his face red with fury.
"What do you think you're doing?" he screamed. She looked at him, confused.
"I'm standing here drinking coffee," she said.
"Why are you starting a garden? You're being evicted in two months!"
Lisa was tired, both from lack of sleep and from her uncle's plans for the property hanging over her head. She was sick of his bluster, sick of people she didn't know walking around the place she called home, and tired of worrying. She was highly annoyed by the intrusion. Yet again, Uncle William invaded a peaceful, happy moment she'd been having.
"Uncle William, I was at the hearing," she said calmly. "I read the decision. You don't have a permit to do anything with this property. Or Dennis's place, for that matter. Until you have a permit, I still have a lease."
"Oh, you think so?"
"I know so. Uncle Paul told me. He's Executor, in case you forgot. The Estate is extending my lease. And Dennis's. Didn't they tell you?"
"Don't count on that, young lady. I'm appealing that decision. I'm sure it was your dramatics at the hearing that lost my variance and permits for me! People noticed -- your little show of hysterics was better than if you'd testified."
"I was going to lose my home, in case you've forgotten. You wanted to kill my trees for no good reason at all. How did you think I'd react?" Lisa demanded, furious. She finally suppressed the polite waitress and was now spoiling for a fight.
"Oh, for God's sake, Lisa, grow up!" William snapped. "Those are things. Get other things!"
"Oh, sure, William. I'll just run right out and get a new home and more trees. I'm sorry -- my mistake. I thought you were a human being, since your brother and sister both are." She saw Fabian approaching and normally would have tried to compose herself, but she was too tired and her anger was flowing too freely towards this man who called himself her uncle, but who had made her life a living hell since her grandmother had died.
"Maybe I'll be contesting that Will after all," William suggested with a sneer.
"Fine," Lisa shrugged, feigning a confidence and defiance that she really didn't feel. "You just do that. I think it's about time you find out what happens when I fight back." The defiant tone of her voice and determined tilt of her chin drove William to complete fury. His hand raised and was caught just in time.
"I don't think you want to do that," Fabian said, holding William's wrist tightly. "And I think you have someplace else you need to be right now."
William impatiently pulled his hand out of Fabian's grip.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
"I'm the guy who put the sparkly diamond on your niece's finger," Fabian replied. "I'm also the guy who's going to rip your arm off if you lay a hand on her."
"Nice friends, Lisa," William sneered. "One threatens innocent surveyors with a gun and now brawn-for-brains here threatens me."
"You were going to hit me." Lisa shrugged and took a sip of her coffee. "My fiance frowns on that, for some reason."
"You haven't heard the last of this, young lady," William warned.
"I'm sure I haven't," Lisa sighed. "If there's one thing I've learned it's that you're determined to get your way no matter what." She finished her coffee as he stalked back to his car and gunned it out of the driveway. Lisa put the mug down on the windowsill. Fabian was looking at her in a very peculiar way.
"What?" she asked. Fabian suddenly grabbed her, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her with a passion and intensity she'd never experienced from him; a passion that lit a blaze inside of her and she returned in kind.