My Husband Sold My Two Million Dollar Land For Five Dollars To His Girlfriend
I wiped the dirt from the glass face with the edge of my sleeve, revealing the cracked white dial underneath. The hands were stopped at twelve minutes past four, the exact hour the sun had dropped behind the ridge on the day he died.
I held the watch in the palm of my hand, feeling the cold weight of the metal. For eighteen years, I had believed that Samuel was the only person who could help me keep this land together. I had let him handle the books, the taxes, and the legal deeds because I was afraid of the quiet that came with being alone on the ranch.
But the land had not belonged to Samuel, and it had never belonged to the bank. It had survived the forgery, the drained accounts, and the empty promises because the roots went deeper than a five-dollar signature on a piece of paper.
I slipped the watch into my coat pocket, the silver casing resting against my side as I turned back toward the house.
