Page 76 of Smitten with the Single Dad

“Ah, I understand now.”

“Bonn Remmen was an Island Elder. One of the original squatters. Only he never married. He had no next of kin, or heirs. Which meant that technically, his land was supposed to revert back to the government. However, he managed to find a loophole. He was very anti-government and would have burned the land to a heap of ash before he allowed the government to step foot on it.”

That made her giggle. “My dad was similar in some ways.”

“Then they probably would have gotten along great.” He peeled off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, sighing deeply before replacing them back over his eyes. “Anyway, Bonn intrusted his land to the Island Elders. They are to decide who gets it. And it is to be a gift. No money is to change hands for his land. Which, in some ways, is good. Because we wouldn’t be able to afford it. However, all interested parties must submit a proposal for what they plan to do with the land to the Island Elders, or Island Council, and they will decide who gets the land.”

“And a lot of people want it?”

He nodded. “Nearly everyone we know wants it.”

“Why do you want it?”

“We want to expand. We want to start growing our own hops for the beer, maybe even some of our own herbs and food for the restaurant. His land is right next to ours, so it’s perfect. We can put cabins on it so we can offer more rentals for guests and tourists, expand that side of our business. We hosted a wedding a few weeks ago, and we’d love to build a proper facility, like a pavilion with wisteria or grape leaves all around, to have the reception. It has a great beach—better than ours—so you could even have the weddings down in the sand at low tide. We’re building a legacy for our children and in order to do that, we need to expand.”

Vica continued to nod. “I love all of that.” Her lips dipped at the corners into a frown. “But me being here is compromising that for you.”

“Enough,” he said. “I don’t want you to keep thinking that. You’re my wife now. Whether they like it or not. You’re stuck with me until all of this blows over. My brothers and I will figure our own shit out.”

She didn’t seem convinced. “And you don’t think it complicates things at all that Gabrielle and Myla both want it too?”

He shook his head. “We’re all able to put our differences aside. That’s business. What’s going on with you is personal. And even though we’re in competition for the land with them, we’re islanders and we take care of our own.”

Exhaling deeply through her nose, she took a careful sip of her herbal tea. “Who else wants the land?”

“Oh, about a dozen or more people, and/or businesses. There’s a group of guys who run a distillery on the island and they’ve outgrown their space. They don’t have the luxury of living where they work like the rest of us. So they want to create something like what we have, where it’s a ‘live and work in one place’ situation.”

“Understandable. They have young families as well?”

“They’re four single dads of young kids, so yeah.”

“Who else wants it?”

“I’ve heard whispers that some big developers are going to throw their hats into the ring, but the Island Elders will probably burn their proposals before they even open them.”

“If Wyndham Croft hears of this, he could make things difficult.”

Wyatt sipped his tea. “Oh, I’m sure he has heard of it and I’m sure he’s the one trying to get us blacklisted. But we know the Island Elders. They won’t listen to anybody they don’t want to listen to. They’re a group of the most … how do I say this without being disrespectful?” He scratched at his stubble for a moment. “Eccentric, stubborn, whimsical, and strange group of old people I’ve ever met. They’re very anti-establishment. They’re anti-big corporation. Anti-rich. Anti-government. Anti-inscription. Anti-everything.” He held up a finger. “Actually, that’s not true. They’re pro-vaccine and pro-choice. A lot of them even rally for those causes. They say that they all would have died if it wasn’t for the polio vaccine.”

“I think my father would have liked all of them.”

That made him chuckle. “Every solstice and equinox you can find them dancing naked around a big bonfire. Some of them claim to be witches, and I’m pretty sure a lot of them participated—and some still do—in big, old-person orgies. There was a lot of free love back in the sixties and seventies. As well as a lot of drugs.”

She was smiling and giggling now, and thank fuck for that. He wasn’t sure he could bear to see her sad any longer.

“Bennett and Justine are working on our proposal. They’re due soon, but the Island Elders have given themselves no deadline to choose the recipient.”

“So everyone will just have to stand on needles?”

“Stand on needles?” Wyatt tried to process the phrase. Then it hit him. “Oh! You mean sit on pins and needles? Yes. Basically. It’s very stressful.” Then an idea popped into his head. “I’ll see if Jagger can come over and watch the boys tonight once they’re in bed, and we’ll wander over to Bonn’s land. I can show you our plans and where we’d put everything.”

Her smile told his headache to take a hike. “I’d like that.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Since it was just after two in the afternoon, they had a long time to wait before she and Wyatt snuck off to go for a walk and check out the land he and his brothers coveted.

Griffon and Jake were finished with Legos and cleaned up everything just as their younger cousin Silas—Dom’s son—came over to see if they wanted to play.

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