Page 72 of The Texas Hero's Homecoming

On Monday morning,Autumn walked into the old hardware store, now the meeting hall for Veterans Unite. She was armed with all the facts and laws needed to make this proposition to the vets.

Mike Rendell greeted her first and they shook hands. “Welcome, Miss Messina.”

“Call me Autumn, please. I’m only Miss Messina while I’m on the school grounds.”

Mike laughed, a deep hearty chuckle that lit his dark eyes. “Okay, Autumn. And I’m Mike.”

“Well, Mike, I think it’s great that you’re teaching art to the veterans.”

“Yeah, well, that’s still in the works. I’m designing some lesson plans now and Dustin is helping me. He thinks it’s cool.”

“I bet he does. He came in second place at the spelling bee, by the way. He impressed us all with his knowledge.”

“Yeah, he gets that from his mom. We’re proud of him.”

“So am I.”

She nodded and looked around. Many of the vets smiled to her, some waved. She’d gotten to know so many of them these past few weeks. As she scanned the room, she noted Sam was nowhere in sight. It came as an immense relief. Whenever he was around, she became flustered and distracted.

“I realize this is highly unusual,” she told Mike.

“Well, we’re all winging it here, so why not have you come to speak.”

“Thank you.”

“Besides, Captain Price thinks it’s a great idea.” Mike wheeled his chair over to the front of the room. He gestured for her to take the podium. “Here you go.”

She didn’t have to say a word to get all their attention. As soon as she stepped up, the room quieted, all eyes on her.

She cleared her throat and spoke into the microphone. “Hello, everyone. It’s great to be here and see this facility. I want to thank Mike Rendell and Captain Price for allowing me to take a few moments of your time. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Autumn Messina. I run Messina Farms along with my father Manuel and I also teach second grade at Honeysuckle Elementary.

“First of all, I want to thank all of you wonderful veterans who came to our farm’s rescue and helped us put on the very best Messina Family Fall Festival.”

Several of the men applauded. A few of them whistled.

“We really outdid ourselves, and it was primarily due to many of you. Well, as you may know, the farm has had some bad years. It’s just too much for my father and me to handle with limited staff. But in its day, the farm was very prosperous, and I think it’s going to turn that corner this year. We’re two hundred and fifty acres strong. But Papa and I can’t handle all that acreage alone.

“That’s when I realized that some of you may want a share in our farm. You seemed to enjoy the work and a small parcel of land isn’t too labor intensive. You’d be able to own your own land, and harvest your own crops, all under the guidance of Messina Farms. My father and I are willing to sell parcels of land to you at a very reasonable price. In ten- or twenty-acre chunks. More if you’d like. All we ask is that we retain the house and half of the farmland. If you’re at all interested in hearing more about this, I’ll leave my number here with Mike Rendell and you can also contact our Realtor, Blake Charles. Thank you again.”

She stepped away from the microphone. That was when she spotted Sam standing against the back wall, looking straight at her, his expression unreadable. Her stomach began to churn, but she couldn’t look away, their gazes locked.

“It’s a good idea,” Mike said, drawing her attention.

She refocused quickly. “It was really your idea, Mike. Your wife came to the school the other day and told me that you thought the vets needed something to latch onto, something to make them want to get up in the morning. And, well, so many of them enjoyed working on the farm and the festival, I thought I’d give them this opportunity.”

“It’s kind of a win-win, isn’t it?”

“I hope so. I don’t know if anyone wants to do this, but it’s worth a shot.”

“It sure is.”

She looked up in search of Sam, because that was what she always did, but he was gone, nowhere to be found.

She sighed. “Now we just wait,” she told Mike.

Chapter Ten

Sam loaded upthe back of his truck with the last of Nicole’s moving boxes and drove them over to Cottonwood Ranch. Holding one big box in his arms, he managed to stick his finger out and ring the doorbell. Nicole opened the door and smiled. “Hey, big brother. It’s good to see you. You didn’t have to bring those over right away. They could’ve waited.”

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