Hunter laughed. “Okay, I will.” He hesitated and then sought out Roman’s hand for support. “Gran, I need to tell you something else.”
“Okay, honey, you can tell me anything.”
“That night that I lied about Finn…I did it ‘cause I didn’t want Dad to hurt me again.”
It seemed to take his grandmother a minute to understand what Hunter was saying. “Hurt you?” she whispered.
“He’d been doing it for a really long time, Gran. I knew if he found out I was the one who kissed Finn, he’d hurt me really bad. He ended up doing it anyway. That’s why I didn’t want to come see you that morning when you called me, do you remember?”
Hunter’s grandmother seemed to be in shock because she nodded and said, “I wanted you to come have breakfast with me so I could ask you what had happened at your party.”
“I had no way of hiding the bruises so that’s why I said no.”
“No,” his grandmother finally said. “No,” she repeated though it sounded like less of a denial and more anguished. Tears began spilling out of her eyes as she leaned in to hug Hunter. “My baby, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay, Gran. No one did.”
“Your mother,” his grandmother said.
Hunter just shook his head and his grandmother covered her mouth as another round of tears hit her.
“Gran, I’m safe now. They can’t hurt me ever again. And I’m so happy, Gran. Roman…Roman, he saved me and he loves me. I have what you and Pops had.”
“Oh baby, I’m so glad,” she said as she pulled a tissue out from under her sleeve and dabbed at her face. She struggled to compose herself and said, “How did you two boys meet?”
“Roman’s thinking about buying your land, Gran. We met while I was showing it to him.”
Hunter’s grandmother’s face fell and then she shook her head and looked at Roman. “I’m sorry, but there must be some kind of mistake. That land’s not mine anymore.”
“What?” Hunter said in shock. “You sold it?”
“No,” she said as she shook her head. “It’s yours, Hunter.”
“What?” Hunter asked.
“The land – it’s yours. Your grandad and I talked about it before he died. He knew I’d never want to live there without him so we decided that if something happened, the land would go to you. He set it up as a trust until you turn 21 and then you can do whatever you want with the property.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted it to be a graduation present – that was one of the reasons I asked you to come over for breakfast the morning after your graduation.”
Hunter glanced at Roman.
“Mrs. Greene, are you the trustee until Hunter turns 21?”
“I was along with Hunter’s mother. But Hunter’s father-”
Hunter’s grandmother suddenly went silent.
“He what, Gran?”
“He…he convinced me to sign the trusteeship over to him.” Her eyes widened in horror. “He said you hated me for not believing you…”
Hunter’s grandmother looked so forlorn that Roman actually wanted to give her a hug himself. But Hunter folded his arms around her and said, “It’s okay, Gran.” To Roman he said, “As trustees, do my parents have the right to sell the land?”
“They do,” Roman nodded. “I got an email from your dad this morning saying he had another buyer. I had already planned to buy it but I was going to talk to your grandmother about cutting your father out as the realtor so he wouldn’t get the commission.”
Roman noticed Hunter’s crestfallen look and realized the cause. He gently grabbed Hunter’s chin and forced him to look at him. “Baby, I decided a long time ago that I wasn’t going to develop the land. I wanted it for us…either to live on it someday or just to go there because it’s our spot.”
“Really?”
Roman nodded. “I can easily outbid any other sellers but that land is yours and they shouldn’t get to profit from it. As co-trustees and your parents, they wouldn’t have much trouble accessing the funds until you turn 21 – they can say it’s all in your best interest.”
“Is there any way to stop them?”
“Mrs. Greene, do you still have the document you signed when you transferred the trusteeship to your son?”
“It’s in my safe deposit box at the bank. I can get it in the morning.”
Roman focused his attention on Hunter. “We’ll need to challenge the trusteeship in court. If we can’t break the trust early, at least we can try to get it so it’s just in your grandmother’s name.”