Chapter 7 - The Price of a Good ManThe auction ended shortly after noon.
But paperwork continued.
Douglas Pryor examined every document Thomas provided.
Authorization.
Financial backing.
Identification.
Notarization.
Nothing was missing.
The banker looked almost disappointed by how proper it was.
“This money belongs to James Dillard?”
“Yes,” Thomas said.
“And his intention is to acquire the Calloway property?”
Thomas looked toward Ruth.
“Temporarily.”
Pryor frowned.
“Temporarily?”
Ruth explained.
“My father doesn’t want the farm.”
Pryor removed his glasses.
“Then why did you just outbid the bank for it?”
“To clear the debt.”
Edna was close enough to hear.
Her hand went to her mouth.
Ruth continued.
“Then the title goes back to Mrs. Calloway.”
Pryor stared at Thomas.
“You understand your family has no legal obligation to do that.”
“Yes.”
“And no lien?”
“No.”
“Ownership share?”
“No.”
“Repayment agreement?”
“No.”
Pryor looked genuinely confused now.
“What does Mr. Dillard receive?”
Ruth thought of her father.
“Nothing.”
Edna turned away.
Thomas caught her before she reached the porch.
“Mrs. Calloway.”
“I can’t.”
Her voice broke.
Ruth approached.
Edna looked at her.
“You don’t know what that money means.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“No. Your father worked for years for that.”
“Yes.”
“I can’t take it.”
Ruth swallowed.
Her cheek still hurt from the investor’s hand.
But this conversation frightened her more.
“My father said you might say that.”
Edna laughed through tears.
“Of course he did.”
“He told me to tell you something.”
Edna waited.
Ruth repeated James’s words.
“Clyde didn’t ask whether Dad could afford to get sick.”
Edna closed her eyes.
The sentence found the exact place James intended.
Clyde would have said something like that.
Probably had.
Edna looked across the land.
Dry.
Struggling.
Still hers.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
Ruth answered simply.
“Keep farming.”
The legal arrangement took time.
But it was not complicated.
The bank debt was satisfied.
The foreclosure ended.
Title was restored to Edna.
James Dillard requested no ownership.
No interest.
No future claim.
The Abilene investor left before the final papers were finished.
He never apologized to Ruth.
Years later, she would barely remember his face.
She remembered the slap.
But not because of pain.
Because of what happened immediately after.
A man had tried to tell her she did not belong in the room where decisions were being made.
May you like
Then she raised her hand and changed the decision.
That memory stayed useful.
