We Loaded The Trailers While The Lender Corrected Its Notices

"Thursday," I told June. "Two trailers. Eighty colonies."

Then I called the Parks and the Delgados. We set their deliveries over the following two nights. I wrote each arrival window beside the farm's name and read it back before ending the call.

Beth met me at the yard the next morning with the final inventory.

We walked all six trailers. We checked plates, tires, tools, and hive counts. Nolan had claimed there were missing tools. Beth's starting photographs showed the same empty spaces on the shed wall before I had entered.

She wrote that finding into her report.

"Sign here for what you're receiving," she said.

I read every line.

The bank released the $12,600 in farm deposits to the apiary account under the court's order. The business would need feed, drivers, fuel, and money for the weeks before final payment.

I left my $1,860 reimbursement until the deliveries were done.

My first purchase was a new gate lock. Beth recorded the key handover and told Nolan through his lawyer that he no longer had permission to enter.

Then we dealt with the contracts.

Peter sent signed releases and corrected payment notices to all three families. Mara checked the state filing record after the termination appeared. She sent me the filed copy, and I put it behind the court order.

"Keep the release with each contract," she said. "A farmer shouldn't have to hunt for it."

June called when hers arrived.

"Same $210 rate?" she asked.

"Same rate. Same strength requirement. Same delivery promise."

"I can live with that."

For the first time, she sounded like someone thinking about apples instead of debt.

I hired Dev Shaw to drive the second truck. We had hauled together before. He arrived carrying a thermos and an old load binder I had left in his cab two summers earlier.

"Figured you'd need this," he said.

We moved forty-eight reserve colonies from the trailers onto stands behind the shed. That left forty on each trailer, two trailers per farm.

The colony I had found queenless stayed in the reserve yard. Its new queen had laid a neat patch of eggs. Young brood filled the center frames, and the bees moved across the comb without that restless running.

I stood there for a moment with the frame in my hands.

"Something wrong?" Dev asked.

"No."

I lowered it slowly.

"That's what right sounds like."

On Thursday, a hard wind came out of the northwest. It pushed dust across the gravel and slapped the shed door against its stop.

We waited until evening, when the field bees came home. Then we secured the entrances with travel screens, checked ventilation, and tightened the straps.

Dev checked my truck. I checked his.

On Ruth's dispatch board, I wrote the trailer numbers under MERCER. I put a blue check beside each only after we had walked around it together.

"Your aunt used to make us do this twice," Dev said.

"She liked getting everything there."

Greta came by before we left. She brought sandwiches wrapped in paper and checked our departure time against her watch.

"You keeping a log on us too?" Dev asked.

"Only if you give me reason."

She had marked Thursday on her new calendar. I saw MERCER LOAD written inside the square, with the other farms on the next two dates.

"You didn't have to come," I said.

"Ruth always watched you leave. Somebody should."

I put the sandwiches in the cab. Greta stayed beside the shed while we made our last walk around the wheels.

We headed east with the first pair of loads. The dark line of the Missouri valley fell behind us, and North Dakota opened into long stretches of road and small lights.

At a fuel stop before the state line, I called June. We were on time. She said the lane was clear and her son would meet us.

The signed delivery sheets came home with us. Eighty colonies received. Strength checked with the grower. No disputed shortages.

Over the next two runs, the other families signed theirs too. I kept a copy for each farm, a copy for the apiary, and a scan with Mara until the court matters closed.

All three balances arrived: $12,600 each, a total of $37,800. The payments went to the account printed on my corrected invoices.

I checked each deposit against the bank record before marking it paid.

June sent a photograph of bees working pale blossoms. The Delgados sent a thank-you note signed by the whole family. Mr. Park called to ask whether we could reserve next spring's dates.

"Let's get through this bloom first," I said, smiling.

Back near Minot, I found a message on my phone from a county investigator.

He had received the court's records about the will and loan papers.

"Mr. Brooks," he said, "I'd like your statement about what your cousin presented as genuine."