Page 33 of Awakening the Wild
She was quiet for a moment. "I don't need ownership to feel secure here. I need you."
"But you're getting both," I said firmly. "Security, ownership, and me. Forever."
Chapter 10
Tonya
"You need to see this for yourselves," Shane had said over the phone that morning. "I'm not explaining it twice. Go to the county records office and ask Martha to pull the Lorenzo property file. She's expecting you."
Which was how Kevin and I ended up standing in the Burke County Records Office, surrounded by dusty filing cabinets and the musty smell of old paper.
"Shane sent you?" Martha, a woman in her sixties with sharp eyes behind reading glasses, was already pulling out a thick file folder. "Smart man, that one. Called me yesterday asking questions about old logging roads and easement law. I told him he needed to see the original surveys."
She spread several documents across the counter—property deeds, survey maps, historical records going back over a century.
"Your grandmother's property," Martha said, tapping the survey map. "Fifty acres, cottage built in 1892. Been in your family for generations. Well, until recently."
The reminder that Michael now owned it through those debt claims made my stomach twist, but I pushed the feeling aside. "What did Shane find?"
Martha traced a line on the survey map—the old logging road that we'd been using to access the cottage. "This road. Shane thought it was some kind of old public access route. Lots of logging roads from that era were left open for general use. But this one never was."
"I don't understand," I said.
Martha pulled out another document—Shane's property deed from five years ago. "When Shane bought his property from Tom Snyder's estate, this logging road was included in the parcel. Shane assumed it was just an old access route anyone could use, like a lot of the historical trails around here. He never thought twice about people using it."
"But it's not public access," Kevin said slowly.
"No. It's private property, always has been. Your grandmother had an understanding with Tom. He let her use the road through his land, she didn't complain when his hunting parties came through in the fall. Just neighbors being neighborly." Martha pulled out a faded document. "But handshake agreements don't transfer with property sales. When Shane bought the land, he inherited full property rights to that road."
"Shane had no idea," I said.
"None at all. He thought anyone could use it, same as dozens of other old logging roads on this mountain. It wasn't until he started researching the property history that he found the original surveys and realized that road is entirely on his private land. No easement was ever recorded, no right-of-way was ever established."
Kevin leaned over the maps, studying the boundary lines. "So the only access to the cottage property..."
"Goes directly through Shane's posted private land," Martha confirmed. "And now that Shane knows it's his private road, not a public access route, he has every right to control who uses it."
"But we've been using it for weeks," I said. "When we were working on the cottage."
"Because Shane didn't know any better, and even if he had, he would have let you use it anyway. You were family to him." Martha looked at me over her glasses. "But the new property owner? A New Yorker, who acquired the property throughcreditor claims, never asked permission, never established any neighborly relationship? That's different."
Understanding crystallized. "Michael has no legal right to use that road."
"Not without Shane's explicit permission or a court-ordered easement. And getting a judge to grant an easement across private property when there's no history of recorded access?" Martha shook her head. "That's a years-long legal battle. Vermont law strongly favors existing landowners, especially when there's no prior easement agreement."
"So Michael owns property he can't access," Kevin said, and I could hear the satisfaction in his voice.
"He should have done his due diligence before paying those estate debts and taking ownership. Should have verified access rights." Martha gathered the documents.
"Shane owns the only road to the cottage," I said.
Kevin pulled me close. “And now he gets to decide who crosses his property. And it won’t be your asshole ex. Excuse me, Martha.”
She snorted and waved off his apology. We thanked her and left the office.
"So Michael really is stuck,” I said, gripping his hand.
"Completely. He owns two acres of landlocked mountain that he can't access, can't develop, and can't sell. He can sue for an easement, but that'll take years and cost more than the property's worth. Or he can try to negotiate with Shane." Kevin's smile was grim. "Which should be entertaining."
