His Settlement Offer Reached Me While The Organ Lost Wind

Colin offered me $25,000 and my own tools.

In exchange, I would assign every master to the firm, drop my claims, and describe the royalty transfers as an agreed business expense.

I read the offer on the cathedral stairs with my lunch balanced on my knee.

“Do I need to explain why?” I asked Mara.

“No. I can write that you decline.”

“Please do.”

Below me, Owen carried a box of pipe feet toward the loft. He had stopped trying to fill every silence. That made it easier to work beside him.

It did not make us friends.

For the next four weeks, our lives ran on receipts and notes.

I paid approved suppliers. Della checked each bill against our budget. Helen signed the work logs. Owen photographed every crate before we opened it.

The last of my advance went out on a Thursday. Exactly $18,600, all supported by invoices. My savings held $2,830.

I checked that balance twice.

Then I went back to work.

We set the final principal rank into place, the pipes that gave the organ its clear, steady center. I tested each note alone, then against its neighbors. One at a time, the blue flags came off the rack.

By the fifth week, only three remained.

Then the wind failed.

A held chord began well and sagged as we added more stops. A single pipe sounded fine. A full handful lost strength.

Owen reached for a tuning tool.

“Don't,” I said.

He froze.

“Listen to the supply before you change the pipe.”

We checked the pressure gauge while Helen held the keys below. The reading dropped under load. Somewhere between the blower and the wind chest, air was escaping.

The repair deadline was nine days away.

For a moment, all I could see was the $84,600 still held by Three Reeds.

I put the tuning tool back in its roll.

“We trace the leak,” I said.

Owen checked the joints from the blower forward. I worked from the chest back. In the narrow passage behind the case, I found a leather seal that had split along an old fold.

The first repair crew had marked it for replacement. Their note was in a box of records Colin had only just produced under the court order.

I called the supplier.

“Can you make the seal by tomorrow?”

“If someone collects it.”

Helen arranged a volunteer driver. Owen and I removed the damaged seal together. We logged the hours, the fault, and the fix.

There was no room left in my day for proving I could work without help.

That night, Della brought sandwiches to the cathedral.

She also brought the completed audit.

“Your apprentice needs to read this page,” she said.

The $1,200 training payment had come from firm funds under a false travel entry. Owen had provided a statement confirming he had never taken that trip.

His lawyer had arranged repayment from his wages, under a written schedule. His training sponsor had placed him on probation after reviewing his account of concealing the payee change.

“That's fair,” he said quietly.

“It is,” I said.

He signed the acknowledgment and went downstairs to eat.

Della stayed beside me.

The examiner's final report supported what we had seen in the signatures. The electronic file history also placed the disputed transfer document months after its printed date. Colin had offered no original bearing my ink signature.

“Avery produced her invoices,” Della said.

“For what?”

“Consulting. All created after our first notice. No work records attached.”

I stared at the pages.

“Did she think dates didn't count?”

“People often think accounts are just numbers until the calendar joins in.”

Mara had sent the findings to both lawyers. She offered terms that returned the diverted money, confirmed my ownership, and ended Colin's control of the firm.

They could contest those terms. The temporary order would stay in place while the claims proceeded.

The next morning, the new seal arrived wrapped in cloth. Owen held the joint steady while I seated it. We tested for leaks, then watched the pressure hold through a full chord.

I sat on the loft step and cried for about a minute.

Owen passed me a clean rag.

“I know this doesn't fix what I did,” he said.

“Good.”

He nodded and took his place at the console.

We had two blue flags left by dusk.

As I packed my tools, Helen came up the stairs carrying an envelope from the independent organ inspector.

“He's confirmed Friday,” she said. “And Hawthorn's lawyer has asked to attend the business meeting afterward.”