I realized that Edna had never truly considered her promise binding. To her, it had simply been something said to make the children happy. I refused to argue on her porch, knowing she would portray me as an unreasonable daughter-in-law. That evening, Russ admitted there was no written agreement, only a handshake over iced tea. He couldn’t imagine taking his own mother to court over the money.
We eventually explained everything to the children. Josie cried, while Wyatt became unusually quiet and disappeared into the barn for an hour. We decided to let the matter rest. Thanksgiving and Christmas passed without anyone mentioning the stolen earnings. The red coffee can remained empty on our kitchen windowsill. But in early March, while we were eating chili, Wyatt suddenly asked his father whether we could plant our own sweet corn. Russ looked at him, then at me, and began considering an idea.
THE STORY CONTINUES ON THE NEXT PAGE… 👇👇👇
