The Revised Sale Put A Fair Price On Every Separate Signature

Mara waited until Bennett stepped away before she opened her folder.

"I still want the orchard," she said. "But I won't buy another surprise."

The new offer was $540,000 for the orchard. It excluded my shares. It required a recorded road easement across the west yard and a water-service agreement approved by the ditch company.

"That's a hundred fifty thousand less," Bennett said from behind us.

"Your first contract promised property you didn't own," Mara said. "I've paid for two surveys and months of delay. This is my offer for what you can sell."

June took the folder.

"We'll review it with the estate's appraiser. Nobody signs in the hallway."

Bennett looked at me.

"You put her up to this."

"I met her because of your contract."

He walked away before the elevator arrived.

Over the next month, June handled the revised sale. The orchard appraisal supported Mara's price under the new terms. Celia's will allowed the gift to Bennett to be distributed through the sale proceeds, and Bennett agreed to that arrangement in writing.

His agreement also let June hold back money for the court's orders. He would not get his proceeds first and argue about repayment afterward.

The old contract was canceled by agreement. Mara's earnest money was returned before she placed a new deposit. There was no unpaid claim left hanging between her and the estate.

Then we worked on the water agreement.

Mara sat with me at a folding table in the packing shed. She had brought a calculator. I had brought my delivery logs.

Before we opened either, she walked the lower rows with me. We checked the fall of the ground and a soft place in the ditch bank. She wrote down what needed work. She never asked what my cousin thought it should cost. We came back with dust on both pairs of boots.

"Ten years," she said. "I can't tend these trees on a promise that ends next spring."

"Ten years works if the company approves it."

We settled on $9,600 a year for use of the shares through the approved service agreement. Elena checked two similar local agreements before I accepted the amount. I would keep paying the share assessments. Mara would pay the orchard's direct delivery charges.

The contract followed the company's schedule and any water limits. It did not promise rain or a full river. It did promise that I could not cut off her service over a family dispute.

"Put in a notice period for repairs," she said.

"And an emergency exception if a bank breaks."

She wrote that down.

"Who fixes the gates?"

"You can hire whoever you want."

"I want a quote from you. A separate one."

I quoted $32 an hour plus materials for routine work. She asked for written estimates on larger jobs. I agreed.

It was the first conversation about that orchard in months where nobody treated my work as either a favor or a threat.

The ditch company approved the service agreement at its next meeting. Its secretary entered the decision in the minutes and gave both of us copies.

Meanwhile, Tomas applied to buy the west yard for its appraised price of $132,000. He had saved $26,400 for a down payment. His lender approved the rest after reviewing the appraisal and his business accounts.

He met June at the shed with his wife, who kept the crew's books.

"We can live with a road easement," she said. "As long as people stop parking trucks in front of our gate."

Mara agreed. The surveyor marked a clear lane. Both buyers approved the same written description before it was recorded.

The west yard would pass through the estate as part of the residue. Under Celia's will, Bennett and I would split what remained of that residue after proper expenses. My $6,000 gift was separate.

I did not ask June to bend those terms in my favor.

When Bennett objected to paying me anything from the yard, she handed him the same will he had waved beside the coffee urn.

"You wanted this followed," she said. "So do I."

The judge's written cost order arrived two days before closing. Bennett owed another $7,400: $5,500 for my documented legal fees and $1,900 for the accounting and records needed to recover the estate property. With the $15,100, his total personal charge was $22,500.

June marked that amount for deduction from his orchard proceeds. Her accounting would show where every dollar went.

Bennett signed the closing instructions through his own lawyer. He waived any claim to a broker's commission on either sale.

He sent me one final text that night.

You Could Have Just Trusted Me.

I saved it and went to bed.

At nine the next morning, a courier arrived at Elena's office with the final deeds and two sealed closing packets.