“If they’re pressuring us, they’re likely pressuring others. And their type of pressure is threatening. I nearly got into it with one of them.”
My brows rose in surprise. “Like a fight?”
He nodded. “I’d have won, but someone like my mom wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“There’s no law that says they can’t make the offer-”
“Trespassing is against the law. Surely coercion would make a contract null and void.” His voice was terse, like he was annoyed I wasn’t offering support.
“I think it’s disgusting what they’re doing, Wyatt, but I’m not sure what the mayor can do about it. Did you call the sheriff’s department?”
“I was about to.” He frowned. “You said the community needed to come together on this. What’s he doing about that?”
I paused, wanting to choose my words carefully. “The mayor is a diplomat.”
“Uh-oh,” Trina said from her desk.
“Something wrong?” I asked, looking at her.
She looked up at me and then Wyatt. “The Jones property transfer details.”
“What?” Wyatt stood and moved toward her desk.
“Well, your mother is right in that if there is a Jones living there and working the land, the property stays in the family.”
“I’m living there and working the land,” Wyatt said.
Trina frowned as she read her screen carefully. “I’m thinking your father has no standing because he doesn’t live there and isn’t working the land. Did he know you were home? If not, maybe that’s why he thinks he can sell it. But he can’t unless he comes home… Oh wait…” She shook her head. “I’m not sure either of you can sell it.”
“I don’t want to sell it.” Wyatt put his hands on his hips.
Trina looked up with an apologetic expression. “According to this, to secure your ownership of the property you don’t just have to live there and work the land, but…”
“What?” Wyatt demanded.
“You have to be married.”
My jaw dropped. So did Wyatt’s.
“What?” he managed.
Trina turned her screen to show Wyatt the legal documents handwritten before such things were typed. Now it had been scanned into our system when we finally went digital.
“The good news is that your father divorced your mother, so he has no standing either. Unless he remarries and moves back home.”
“Fuck.” Wyatt ran his fingers through his cropped hair. “Divorced?”
“I don’t know if it’s a done deal yet. I know he filed. If it’s not done, he could simply return home.”
My heart dropped as I realized I might be losing my most compelling leader in this fight. Wyatt was the type of man who could garner support from the community. His family had been there forever. He was strong and persuasive. He had a presence that suggested he could be a leader. But now, he didn’t have control of the property.
“You need to get married.” Trina said it like it was something he could do like an errand. Pick up milk and bread, gas up the car, get married.
He stood in stunned silence.
“You know,” Trina said, looking at me in a way that made me shift uncomfortably. “I know Stark has no scruples if he’s willing to threaten farmers, but how would it look if he was also threatening a town leader?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.