A Matter of Pride

by Jane Gill

  When Zach came in from work on Monday night, Lu was standing in the kitchen with her arms crossed. She’d been waiting for him.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  “This is turning out to be a big mess,” she fumed. “You know I sent the title to the truck to Martin, like he wanted? Well, he left a message on the machine. He says that Georgia wouldn’t let him transfer the title without a court order. So, he’s upset. And, oh, yeah, he wants ME to figure it out.” She moved to the kitchen counter where she picked up a stack of papers and a Federal Express envelope. “And, to top it all off, look at what was on the doorstep when I got home.” She handed Zach the papers.

  “Hey, what’s this?” he asked, taking a seat at the table and pulling his glasses out of his top pocket. “This is an offer from some guy in Florida to buy the farm? Whew! That would be nice. Wouldn’t it?”

  “No. I already searched the internet for recent sales in that area. This offer is for a lot less than what the property is worth. For crying out loud, is this what happens when someone dies these days? The vultures just start circling?” Lu asked.

  “The good news is, if you sell it to him outright, you won’t have to pay a real estate commission.” he offered.

  “Okay, I’ll give you that, but aside from the fact that he’s looking to exploit a death in the family, I mean, my father’s barely cold in his grave. Is this on the up and up? Do you think he might bring the price up? What should I do?” She sat down across from him.

  “Well, what do you think Martin will think?” he asked.

  “Martin makes me so mad. I dread calling him,” Lu said.

  “Oh, hmm, let me take a look here for a second.” Zach’s face was serious as he took his time reading the letter and looking over the proposed contract. Finally, he looked up. “First off,” he began, “it’s probably best if you don’t say anything to Martin just yet. I’m thinkin’ maybe this Rory Ashworth guy here has got a lot of nerve. He says in his letter he wants the farm for himself, but then he says that he’s a realtor. Then again, look, his return address is Boca Raton. It makes we wonder if he’s being honest about wanting it for himself. Maybe that’s a ploy so he can grab it up cheap and then turn it over quick. Then, he says all you gotta do is sign where the ‘Sign Here’ stickers are and send him back one copy.” He removed his glasses. “Lu, if you do that, it constitutes a contract. I mean, he’s acting like he’s doing you a big favor,” Zach sounded suspicious.

  “But you just said it would save paying a commission,” Lu commented.

  “Yeah, but somehow this doesn’t smell right, Lu.” He shook his head. “It’s almost like it’s too easy. I think maybe we better call your friend down there, the lawyer. What was his name?”

  Lu sat back in her chair and sighed audibly. “Oh man!” she uttered, looking at her watch. “Well, it’s too late to call Dwight now. I’ll call him tomorrow from the office. I just can’t handle all this myself.”

  The telephone rang, and Lu grabbed it. Zach watched as she furrowed her brow. “Yes, Mr. Ashworth, this is Mrs. Connors. Yes, I received your offer,” she said, motioning Zach close to the receiver. “Uh, is this how things are handled down there? This is all new to me, so I don’t know quite how things are supposed to go in situations like this,” she said, making sure she sounded naive.

  Zach stood close enough to Lu so he could hear the voice on the other end of the line. “First off,” Rory Ashworth sounded eager. “Let me tell you a little bit about myself, okay? I’m an old Florida boy myself, and I’ve been looking at property in the central part of the state for some time. The wife and I would really like to retire over there in a few years, you know? It’s God’s country. Anyway, I saw in the paper that your father passed on. And, Mrs. Conners, I’m real sorry for your loss.” He paused respectfully, but it didn’t take him long to get back to business.

  “Anyway, that property is exactly where the wife and I would like to be. I mean, it’s got plenty of space, you know, so I thought I’d see if you were interested in selling. Being a realtor myself, I can save you a lot of trouble. See, I can handle everything down here on your behalf. You won’t even need to come down. We can do everything through the mail in just a couple of weeks.”

  “Well, what does ‘everything’ mean?” Lu asked. Zach winked his encouragement.

  “The first thing is, according to the tax records, we’re talking about forty acres, but it’s going to need to be surveyed. Do you have an old survey to go by?”

  “No, uh, I’m not sure what you mean by a survey.” Lu looked quizzically at Zach, who nodded.

  “Well, it kinda looks like a blueprint—you know it’s an outline of the property.” He rattled on without taking a breath. “Maybe it was in with his house papers? But, if not, that’s okay, maybe they didn’t do a survey when your father bought the property. We’d need a new one anyway. So don’t worry about that, I can take care of that for you.” Even though he spoke as if he were in a hurry, his tone was a little too smooth for Lu.

  “Well,” she said, “the thing is, it’s not forty acres, it’s thirty-five. And so far, I haven’t been able to find the deed.”

  “Oh. Oh, well that’s something we can probably clear up. But,” he hesitated momentarily. She heard him rustling through papers. “According to the tax assessor’s office, see I have the printout, it’s forty acres. So we’ll have to look into that. And, Luella—is it all right if I call you Luella? I mean, we’ll be working together, so we might as well be friendly, huh?” He didn’t wait for her response but rattled on, “You go ahead and call me Rory. Don’t worry about the deed. It’s probably on file at the Courthouse. Tell you what, first thing tomorrow, I’ll get one of the little gals here to look it up and I’ll call you back. Is that all right?”

  “Sure,” she said into the phone. ‘Little gals, you worm’, she mouthed to Zach.

  “In the meantime, based on this new information you’ve given me, don’t sign those papers I sent you. Not just yet, anyway.” His tone was suddenly cautionary. “We may need to make a change or two. To the fine print, you know, nothing major. I’ll call you.”

  Lu replaced the phone. “What the hell,” Zach exclaimed. “What kind of fool does this cracker think you are?”

  “I don’t know. It sounds like gobbledy-gook to me,” she replied. “Besides, did you hear that he said that according to the tax assessor’s office, Daddy owned forty acres?” She shook her head. “I know for a fact he gave Miss Pearl five acres years ago. So he didn’t own forty acres.”

  Zach pulled two beers out of the refrigerator and twisted the caps off, handing one to Lu. “So,” she continued, the beer in her hand. “This guy is wrong right there. But he did say not to worry about looking for a deed. He said he’ll check at the courthouse to see, which makes sense. So that’s something anyway. You heard him. He’s going to call me back.”

  “Well, his offer is still for a lot of money. Even though I don’t think you should go signin’ anything too quick,” Zach said taking a swig from his beer.

  “Oh, heck, no! But if he’s going to find some things out for us for free…” She shrugged and poured her beer into a tall glass. “Why not wait and see what he has to say? It at least saves me from wracking my brain wondering where the deed could have gone!”

  “Are you going to call Martin now?” Zach asked.

  “No, I’m not calling him yet. I’ll wait until after I talk to Dwight,” she said.

  Chapter Twenty

  The weather had been unpredictably warm for early April, so Lu wasn’t surprised when the temperature dipped back down into the 60’s and the cold rain began as she left the office the next evening. The phone was ringing when she came in the door. She ran, dripping, to pick it up.

  “Hi, Luella!” Lu cringed at the familiarity. “This is Rory, Rory Ashworth. You know from Florida? Is this a good time?” Lu looked at the puddle her umbrella was making on the tile. “Oh, sure, of course, it’s fine,” she lied.

/>   “Well, I’d like to send you a new offer based on some of the information I was able to gather about your father’s property. And, frankly, you’ve got a couple of sticky little problems with this, Luella.” He sounded distracted. “But, that’s okay. I don’t want you to fret about it. It’s really nice property and, luckily, I’m in the business, so I know a little bit about how we can work around these little kinks. Like I said before, don’t you worry. We can handle everything through the mail.”

  “You said there are problems?” Lu asked, anxious to know what was wrong. “What kind of problems?”

  “Well, see, the courthouse has no record of that property being transferred into your father’s name. I mean, if he had a deed, you know,” Ashworth said. “Well, that is, if he had a deed, he never had it recorded, and that could be a problem.”

  “You know, Mr. Ashworth, I was thinking about that,” she responded. “That property belonged to my grandfather, Nathanial Stovall, who lived there until he died. And he got it from his father. Maybe they didn’t have to do deeds, I mean, since it was passed down, you know?”

  “Oh, well. See, then we’re going to have to do a little more research,” he continued. “Florida has what we call a Homestead Act, and property passes down to family almost automatically, like through inheritance, you know? So, I may need to know where any living relatives of his and yours are. We may have to go to court to get this straightened out.”

  “Oh?” Lu queried.

  Ashworth continued, “But, come to think of it, Luella, I’ve got a golfing buddy who’s a lawyer down here. I’m sure he could take this on for you. And, I’m willing to work with you through all of this, believe me. I’m not going to be scared off just because there are a couple of small hurdles.” He was making an obvious effort to be reassuring. “I’m going to give you this fellow’s name, and you give him a call tomorrow, or maybe the next day, and see if he’ll handle this for you. I’ll run this by him tomorrow so he’ll know what it’s about when you call. He’s a very busy man, and I want to be sure your call goes right through, okay?”

  Court! Lu, dumbfounded, did not respond, but Mr. Ashworth continued, and quickly rattled off his friend’s name and telephone number.

  “Okay, then, Luella, we’ll be in touch,” he said. “Meantime, you disregard that paperwork I sent you, right? And, uh, after we talk to the lawyer, we’ll come to a better agreement. So, you’ll hear from me soon. Have a good evening.” He hung up.

  Zach had come in and listened to Lu’s end of the conversation. When she hung up the phone, she filled him in.

  “Oh, sure, man, this guy’s up to something. He just happens to have a friend who’s a lawyer who can help? Yeah, right!” he said. “Did you call that fellow you went to school with down there?”

  “No, I just didn’t have time today,” she said. “I’ll call him first thing tomorrow, I promise.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The next evening, Lu gave Zach the gist of her telephone conversation with Dwight. She was pleased with herself when she told him how he’d taken her call right away.

  “I was struggling so hard not to let my panic about all this responsibility show over the phone,” she said. “But I think he heard it anyway. I told him about the Federal Express envelope from this Ashworth guy and filled him in on all that.”

  “Uh huh,” Zach responded, listening carefully.

  “So,” she continued. “Dwight’s going to have his paralegal take a look at the public records online and see what turns up. He said that because Flagler County was only incorporated in 1917, records before could be in either Volusia county or St. John’s county, which might require a little checking around.”

  “Did you let him know you don’t think your father had a will?” Zach asked.

  “Oh, right!” She was at the sink filling the coffee pot with fresh water. “Because Dwight said something about this Homestead thing, too. Apparently, it’s in the Florida Constitution,” she said. “I can’t remember all he said exactly, but basically it gives special rights to the descendants, like me and Martin, but it doesn’t give us what he called ‘marketable title’ to sell the land.”

  Zach responded thoughtfully, “That would make sense. You have to have proper title to sell something, especially land.”

  The coffeepot began to sputter out a delicious aroma. Just the smell of it was warm and comforting. “Oh, and he feels the same way about this Ashworth as we do,” Lu interjected. “He said if this guy calls again I should stall him.”

  Zach held out his mug so Lu could pour the coffee. “So, what happens now?” he asked.

  “Dwight said he would call as soon as he had something to tell me,” she responded. “I guess we’ll just have to wait.”

  Lu was surprised when Dwight called the next evening. He said he was sending a letter outlining what needed to be done, and once she got the letter she and Zach should call him with their questions. “In essence, Lu, we did a quick search, but we haven’t yet found a deed recorded in either your father’s name or your grandfather, Nathaniel’s.” The next step, he said, would require a more time-consuming search for documentation relating to Lu’s great-grandfather, Elijah’s purchase of the land.

  “From all appearances, it looks like all the family did was go down to the Tax Assessor’s office and report that Elijah died,” Dwight said. “It’s not at all unusual for folks to do this. They do it all the time. And so when Nathanial died, your daddy must have done the same thing.”

  “Wouldn’t that take care of it?” Lu asked.

  “No,” Dwight responded. “It’s a common misconception really. Somehow, people think that when someone dies, all you have to do is go down to the tax office and show them the death certificate and the property is transferred. All that really does is change the name on the tax bill. It doesn’t convey title to the property,” he explained.

  “What does that mean? Daddy didn’t own it?”

  “No, it doesn’t mean that at all, and I’ll get to that in a minute,” he said. “First let me say that everything in the tax records still refers to forty acres. If he gave Miss Pearl five acres, either he didn’t do it with a deed, or if he did, it was never recorded. The records still indicate he was paying the taxes on all forty acres even up through last year. That’s something we’ll have to clear up before you can sell.”

  “Oh, no!” Lu said. “I’m certain he gave her that land. Miss Pearl and Jerome have lived there and farmed that property since before I was born. It’s her land. Isn’t it?”

  “Well, unfortunately, it appears that legally, it might not be. We’ll need to talk to Miss Pearl and see if she has any paperwork or anything that your father gave her showing she owns that land.” Dwight hesitated before continuing. “I’d offer to go out and talk to her, but I think a call from me might frighten her. It would probably be better if you could find a way of asking, you know, without alarming her.”

  “Yes, yes,” Lu said. “I think you’re right. Oh, dear, this makes an awful mess, doesn’t it?”

  “No, it’s not a mess. It’s what I do for a living, okay?” His words were reassuring. “But, no matter what, we’re going to have to open a formal probate estate in order to handle this.”

  Lu made a face. “How long will that take?”

  “Well, there’s a timeline for probate here in Florida, as there is in most states. It shouldn’t take more than six months to a year.”

  “Six months! A year! You’re kidding, right?” Lu was astounded.

  “That’s not a long time,” Dwight offered. “But, in the meantime, you really don’t want to list that property for sale. Until we draw up the papers and have you appointed by the court, you don’t have any authority. And, whatever you do, don’t make any commitment to Ashworth. I have a feeling this guy’s a real opportunist.”

  “Yeah, that’s what Zach said, too,” she said, nodding to Zach.

  “You know, not all the carpetbaggers left the south after Reconstruction
,” Dwight quipped.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Lu reluctantly dialed her brother’s number. She had waited until Zach and William were out of the house to make the call. When Elizabeth answered, she identified herself and exchanged pleasantries with her sister-in-law before asking for Martin. He was so quickly on the phone that he must have been nearby.

  “Hey,” he said in greeting.

  “Uh, hey, yourself. I’m probably going to have to go back down to Florida,” Lu began. “But there’s a couple of things I wanted to talk to you about first.”

  “Why you gotta go back down there?” he asked. “What’s up?”

  “What do you mean, ‘what’s up’?” she asked, trying to sound casual. “Nothing’s up.”

  “Yeah, right,” he said, “like Florida’s your favorite place in the whole world.”

  “Okay,” she said. “For one thing, I can’t find a deed to the farm, that’s what’s up. I’ve been through all the papers we packed from the house, and there’s no deed anywhere.”

  “So?” he asked.

  “We have to have a deed in order to sell the place,” she replied. “I want to go back down and look through the house again and then probably talk to Dwight Powell about handling the estate for us. Remember him? He’s a lawyer now.”

  “You hired a lawyer?” Martin asked. Lu heard him shift the phone like he was walking around. “Why is it this is the first I’ve heard about it!”

  Lu rolled her eyes. “I haven’t hired him yet. I talked to him on the phone the other day, that’s all,” she said, trying hard not to sound too offensive for fear of setting him off. “See, it’s this way. It turns out we can’t sell the land unless we open an estate, so I need to go down and sign some papers, too. I just wondered if you knew where Daddy kept the deed, is all.”

  “Hold up a minute,” he said. “First you’re talking about a deed, and now you’re talking about an estate. I’m gettin’ confused. Let’s just talk about the deed. Why would I know where the deed’s at?” he asked.