by Judy Baer
“She’s going to think we’re suing the people of Frost for their land,” Jack said miserably. It was the way it was done. There was no hostility in the lawsuit, simply the desire to clear up ownership and misunderstandings. He’d tried to keep it private until everything was straightened out. He’d hoped to have a clear picture of what his cousins would receive before he began talking specifics with anyone else. Would Merry—or the people affected—believe that?
Not likely.
“This is what you came here to do,” Vince persisted. “She wasn’t even on your radar when you came to town. She’ll get over it.”
“Will she?”
Vince had no idea how upset Merry would be—or how much her distress mattered to him. He’d just found her. Jack couldn’t risk losing her now.
Chapter Twenty-Five
• • • • • • • • • • • •
Merry decided to give herself a day off before preparing for her after-Christmas sale. Besides, she wanted to relish the moment that Jack had asked her to marry him. Warmth curled through her at the thought, and she hugged herself. It was impossible to contain her delight.
Jack had gone to the Twin Cities, and Vince had headed toward Blue Earth. She wanted to enjoy this time alone and to imagine herself as Mrs. Jack Frost. Merry Noel Frost. What better name could a Christmas girl have? She was destined to run a Christmas shop, she decided right then and giggled out loud.
She hadn’t had her feet up for more than ten minutes when her front door slammed open, shaking the window-panes and the unsold baubles still on the Christmas trees.
Harry Conner stormed into the room still wearing his heavy boots and tramping snow everywhere. His hat was pulled low over his eyes, and he was breathing heavily.
“I told you that you should have gotten rid of that fellow!” He waved an envelope in front of her. “You’ve been harboring a scoundrel right under our noses, Merry, and I don’t like it one bit.”
She scrambled to her feet to face Harry. First the church and now in her own home he was pestering her with this nonsense. And he’d walked in without knocking! This was her private home, didn’t he remember that? What must it have taken to get him this agitated?
“That’s enough, Harry. I don’t tell you how to run your farming operation. Please don’t tell me how to run my B-and-B. And next time, knock.”
Harry was so angry he was shaking. His nostrils flared and his pupils were widely dilated. Merry almost felt afraid.
“Maybe you should go now, Harry. We can talk about this when you’ve calmed down.”
“I’m not going to calm down!” he roared. “Nobody sues Harry Conner and gets away with it!”
“You’re being sued? For what?”
She was confused now. She could understand his anger if he thought his property was in jeopardy, but what did that have to do with Jack? He’d never said anything about a lawsuit, nor had Vince.
“Wait until you go to the post office, Merry. Maybe you’ll get a letter like this too. A lot of people are up in arms. He’s trying to take our property away from us. These rich guys only care about getting richer, no matter what it costs the rest of us!”
Merry slipped into her shoes and jacket and followed him out of the house. She waited until Harry had raced away in his pickup to run to the post office, avoiding Regina Olsdorf, who was ranting to the postmaster about something. When she got home, she threw the mail on the table. There, on top of a stack of cards and catalogues, lay a pristine white envelope. The name of someone from Vince’s law office was imprinted on the return address.
She began to tremble. Fortifying herself with hot coffee and prayer, she opened the letter. Whatever it said, she hoped it didn’t do anything to change her relationship with Jack.
The words on the page swam together as Merry read.
. . . clear up claims of ownership. . . the plaintiff Jack Frost . . . names of known claimants must be notified by mail . . . if no one answers the complaint, default judgment will be awarded to the plaintiff . . . any complaints that result will be a contested legal action . . . outcome determined in the court . . . your property has been found to be . . .
Jack was suing her too! And how ironic, he’d done it the day after he’d proposed to her. Could it get any worse than this? Merry didn’t think so.
But what was he suing her for? She didn’t own the farmland in question, which Jack himself had mentioned. She had nothing that interested him. The only thing she had, that she took pride in, that she’d earned by her own hard work, was her home and business.
The thought came like a lightning strike, momentarily paralyzing her.
Jack was suing her for the ownership of her home!
Feelings of devastation and betrayal overwhelmed her. Not Jack, please, not Jack!
Merry laid her head on the table and wept.
* * * * *
When Jack and Vince arrived almost simultaneously at the house at dinnertime, they found their luggage packed and sitting on the front step.
Jack called to Hildy, who was brushing snow off her car. “Where’s Merry? Do you know what’s wrong?”
She looked up and it occurred to him that her eyes had that sad look again.
“Oh, she’s in the house.”
He turned the knob. It was locked.
“What is she doing?” He was genuinely puzzled. This wasn’t like Merry. It must be a joke. She was teasing them.
Vince cleared his throat and put his hand on Jack’s arm. “About that . . .”
Hildy trudged over to them and gestured at her own house. “I think you’d better come to my place. You can talk there if you want to. Stephanie’s family isn’t here right now.”
Absolutely baffled by everyone’s behavior, he and Vince followed Hildy home, leaving their bags right where they were.
Inside was warm and cozy. Most of the furniture featured floral patterns, but it was sturdy and comfortable. They dropped into two chairs and Hildy brought them steaming cups of tea. “You’ll need this too. I’ll just go in the other room now.”
“That’s okay. This is your home. You have the right to be here. Maybe Vince can explain this to both of us.”
Silently Vince pulled an envelope out of his inside jacket pocket. “I have an idea what’s upset her. The PDF of this letter was sent to me today. Without my permission, they were mailed on Saturday so everyone should have gotten one today.” Vince grimaced. “I have some very enthusiastic people working for me, but heads will roll over this. They sent this without having my prior approval. I wanted you to read it first. I’m so sorry.”
As Jack skimmed the page, his eyes widened. “Vince, this is pretty scary language. All I wanted to do was trace my land, not sue the people of Frost.”
“A quiet title suit is a lawsuit but it doesn’t have to be contentious. We already know there were errors back in the days before computers. It’s just a matter of establishing your right to that property once the errors are corrected. Paperwork, that’s all.”
“Vince, these are fighting words to people around here. You’ve been a lawyer so long you are accustomed to this language. These people will believe they are fighting for not only their property but their lives.”
“But it’s your property, Jack. It always has been. Nothing can change that.”
Jack leaned forward, his gaze boring into Vince. “If I take back my property, they’ll lose their livelihood.”
“I thought you understood that, buddy.”
Jack groaned and flopped back in his chair. “No wonder Merry kicked us out. She’s probably furious.” A horrified expression flickered across his features. “You didn’t send her a letter too, did you?”
“I had to. You hold the title to her house. I know you’d just give it to her, but it has to go through the process.”
“I’d been meaning to tell Merry that you’d discovered that the house she thought she’d purchased for back taxes wasn’t hers at all, but in the excitement about Chris
tmas I didn’t bring it up. I thought you understood, Vince.”
“You told me to take care of it and I did, legally and properly. You can rent the land back to those farmers. They don’t have to move. You aren’t planning to come to Minnesota to farm. Nothing has to change except, of course, they’ll have to pay you rent for the land. You won’t gouge them. Knowing you, you’ll give them a great deal.”
“But what about the years past?” Jack felt sick to his stomach.
“Everyone has paid taxes on the land. They shouldn’t have and you should have. Maybe we can work something out, a year’s taxes for a year’s rent. We can be as loose or as hard-nosed as we want with this. No worries. I don’t think any money will have to change hands if everyone is agreeable.”
“Easy for you to say. You don’t have your name on a lawsuit against this sleepy little town.”
“Once we educate people as to what we’re doing and let them know that things won’t change that much, things will calm down.”
“But they’ll no longer own not just their property but their homes!”
Again, Vince shrugged.
Jack had hired him to do what needed to be done and Vince had complied. Jack mentally berated himself for not following this more closely, but he’d been sick . . . and then sick with love for Merry. It was his own fault, and he’d have to bear the consequences.
Hildy cleared her throat. Jack had forgotten she was there.
“Just so you know, I feel much better now.”
They both stared at her. “What do you mean?” Vince asked.
“Merry was over here today crying her eyes out. I read the letter and came to the same conclusion she did—that you’d somehow betrayed her and Frost and were turning on all of us. Then I went uptown and walked into a frenzy. They were all at the community center, furious. They were deciding on who to hire as lawyer for their side, planning to tar and feather Jack and saying a lot of things they should be ashamed of in hindsight.
“But listening to you now, it doesn’t sound so bad. It is your property, whether the people here like it or not. That won’t change, but if you treat them fairly, they should see reason.”
“And Merry?”
The sadness in Hildy’s eyes deepened, and Jack knew immediately where the unhappiness had come from.
“I don’t know about that,” Hildy said bluntly. “Your relationship with her might be irrevocably broken. She was devastated.”
Heartsick, Jack turned to Vince. “Send out another letter immediately. Explain what we’ve said here today. Make them understand that I mean to disrupt the community as little as possible.” He paused and fell into deep thought. “You know I’d decided to give my cousins their share of the property in farm land. Doing that would allow me to take my share as homesteads and land in the town. Every farmer affected will be given the title to their homestead out of my one-third share. They can keep their houses. We’ll settle with back taxes for back rent and call it even.”
Jack paced like a caged creature, back and forth across the floor. His mind whirled. “I should have made this all clear in the beginning, but I didn’t know these people and I didn’t . . .”
“Trust any of them?” Vince filled in the blanks. “You called it the way I would have. And what are you going to do about your property inside the city limits?” Vince asked. “You own a lot of that too.”
“Give the houses to the people who live in them. Deed the public property to the city itself so the people can decide what to do with it.” He turned to Hildy. “And I’ll give that empty house next to yours to Stephanie and Wayne so you can’t lose them again.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. “I knew what the people were saying wasn’t true of you!”
“But will it be enough?” he asked softly.
“That’s up to Merry. She’s deeply hurt about everything, especially about her house and the fact that you didn’t even warn her that this was coming. She thinks you betrayed her.”
Jack glared at Vince. “That’s because I didn’t realize it myself. I turned everything over to Mr. Efficient Attorney’s office here.”
Vince hung his head. It was obvious that for the first time ever, he was mad at his staff for taking the initiative at work.
Why hadn’t he thought about the action to quiet title? Jack wondered. Because it was simply a standard legal measure that needed to be done. He’d meant no harm by it.
“And he did his job, fair and square. Tell her that,” Hildy said.
“I will,” Jack murmured, “if she will talk to me.”
He’d hit the nail on the head, Jack thought as he tried to get Merry to come to the door. He called her but she wouldn’t pick up the phone. It went right to voice mail. He rapped on all the downstairs windows, but she’d pulled the shades and drapes tight, too tight for him to see even movement inside the house. Jack had thrown pinecones at the upstairs windows, particularly those of Merry’s room, but she didn’t look out. For all intents and purposes, the house was empty.
Other than breaking down the door and getting arrested for some infraction or other—and he didn’t doubt she’d press charges right now—he was helpless. She had enough food inside those walls to feed herself till spring. She probably set her alarm so she could go to bed and then walk the dog early, under cover of darkness. She could knit, quilt, and bake to her heart’s content.
But what about her teaching job?
Jack dialed the number of the school. “This is Jack Frost and I’m wondering what day your kindergarten teachers come back from Christmas break.”
He was given a date. Then the secretary added, “Of course, we just had one teacher call in to say she might be taking more time off after the holiday so we will need to find a sub.”
“Merry?” he asked.
“Yes.” She sounded surprised. “How did you know?” Jack thanked her and hung up the phone.
So that was the way it would be. At first he was angry but it didn’t last long. He began to think about this from Merry’s point of view.
He should have told her what he’d intended for the land, but he was so wrapped up in falling in love with her that he’d pushed all that to the back of his mind.
From her perspective he’d asked her to marry him and then stabbed her in the heart.
He looked at the darkened house and felt tears at the backs of his eyes. She wasn’t going to come out. Not for him. Not now.
Jack took a deep breath. If he couldn’t do anything about Merry, he could at least do his best to calm the townspeople.
Chapter Twenty-Six
• • • • • • • • • • • •
Vince had wasted no time in following Jack’s instructions.
“Jack, come over to the community center.”
“Will they string me up? Or like Hildy said, tar and feather me?”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got the lynch mob under control, but you have to come. Bring Hildy with you.”
“As a body guard?” This whole thing was completely out of hand. He should have gone to each person and quietly told them what was going to happen, although the usual way was through certified letters. He’d been turned inward in his own grief so long he’d forgotten how others must feel about things.
He collected Hildy and told her what Jack had said. “I’m hoping you’ve had some martial arts or boxing practice, Hildy,” he told her as they drove across town. “I think Vince believes you’ll protect me. Why else would he have told you to come?”
“Because I know the whole story, I suppose. I’m on your side now, remember?”
“One down, two hundred to go . . . and Merry.”
“About that . . .” There was a twinkle in Hildy’s eye and she dug a key out of her coat pocket. “Sometimes, when Merry is gone, I feed the pets and check the plants. I certainly didn’t see any signs of life this afternoon, did you?”
Jack grinned at Hildy and silently gave thanks for her. “No, I didn’t. And I tried very hard to find her
.”
“Do you think something is wrong?” Hildy raised her eyebrows anxiously.
“Could be.”
“She was very upset last time I talked to her. Are you worried about her?”
“Very,” Jack admitted with all truthfulness.
“Then maybe, when our meeting is over, I should go over and check on her.”
“It might be a good idea.” Hildy was a very good actress, Jack mused.
“And,” Hildy said, smiling at her own cleverness, “you can come with me. In case she’s fallen or something.”
“I’d be happy to, anything for Merry.”
“It’s settled then?”
“Yes.” Now he had a way into Merry’s house—if he survived the next few minutes.
The crowd at the community center was restless. When Jack and Hildy entered, it quieted and then grew even louder.
It had no doubt been Hildy who had surprised them. The puzzled looks around the room told him that people didn’t understand why Hildy was with this traitor—or whatever they thought he was.
As soon as they sat down, Vince started the meeting.
“I understand there has been some confusion about the letters many of you received today. It’s important that Mr. Frost and I clarify for you what, exactly, the letter means.”
Muttering came from all corners of the room.
“I assure you, there is no confusion or trouble intended.” Then Vince told them of the wrongly recorded deeds and the need for the quiet title action to sort things out. He meticulously explained the process, and when he was done he nodded at Jack.
“Mr. Frost has some ideas about what should happen once the titles are cleared. I’d like him to tell you about that.”
That was the very last thing Jack wanted to do, but he was trapped. Merry was hiding from him, a roomful of angry people was eyeballing him malevolently, and all he could think about was life without the woman he loved. Still, ever a professional, Jack gathered his wits and walked onto the stage where Vince was standing.
He looked at the gathering and saw such a range of emotions it took him by surprise—rage, hatred, confusion, disappointment, bewilderment, sorrow. He began to speak.
