“Miss Sarah used to call me her little girl. My father was principal of the school where she taught and they were great friends, which is one reason my parents allowed me to visit. Our house is on the street behind the church, so it was easy to walk or ride my bike over here.” She took a sip of water and saw amusement in his eyes. What had she said that was funny?
“I suddenly had this picture of you with your hair in braids whizzing along on your bike.” The openness of his smile invited her to smile with him at the picture and she smiled back before resuming her story.
“Miss Sarah had one daughter, Elizabeth, who died as an infant. But I guess you know all about that. Then she had two boys, but she’d always wanted a girl, so I was her make-believe daughter or granddaughter and we spent a lot of time together. Mr. Zeke was very kind to me, too. I used to follow him around to see what he was doing. After Miss Sarah died I came by often to keep him company. He’d explain to me how he fashioned parts of this house.”
“You can tell he loved working with wood,” Gabe said. “I’m finding out a lot about him little by little.”
This was the opening Makima had been looking for.
“This may or may not be something you knew about, Gabe, but Mr. Zeke had promised to sell me some property.” No, he hadn’t known about that. She saw that instantly and girded herself for battle.
Gabe sat straight in his chair. “He promised to sell you some of this property where we are or did he have some more?”
“It was this property we always talked about,” she said firmly.
“What was it for?”
“The Grayson Medical Clinic.”
“I don’t know anything about that.”
“The need for it came about because of a tragedy, as is so often the case.” Her tone softened and she relaxed in her chair.
“The youngest child in our family was my sister June. She was eighteen, getting ready to go to college. On a Saturday night she and three friends went to a football game at South Carolina State in Orangeburg. A drunk driver hit the car when they were almost home. June was sitting in the passenger seat in the front and that’s what took the impact. Everybody in the car had some injuries but June died because we couldn’t get her to the hospital in Swinton in time.”
“I’m sorry,” Gabe said “When did that happen?”
“Three years ago. Since then I’ve made the establishment of a medical clinic here in Grayson a priority.”
“By yourself?” Gabe sounded a little disbelieving.
“No, everyone in Grayson is helping and there’s a board.”
“How have you progressed so far?”
“We have ten folders with details which I’ll be happy to show you another time, but I can tell you that we’ve gone through most of the legal procedures. We’ve met with medical authorities and building contractors. We’ve written many grant proposals and met with quite a few foundations.”
“Have you raised much money?”
“The first large sum was the insurance that was paid for June’s wrongful death. Our family gave it as seed money. Since then we’ve added money from grants, foundations, organizations and frequent fund-raisers.”
Gabe turned his glass in his hand. “Where does this property come in?” He fixed on her with a direct stare.
Makima knew this was the moment of truth. He had to believe as she did that Mr. Zeke had intended to sell her what she needed.
“I asked Mr. Zeke to sell us a part of his property for the clinic. I’ve never considered any other place because this location is perfect and there’s something about it that draws me. I know that doesn’t make much business sense but that’s the way I feel.”
“What exactly did he say, Makima?” Gabe asked.
“He said, ‘We’ll see.’ I didn’t have the down payment yet, so I didn’t go beyond that, but each time I reminded him, he said, ‘It’ll still be here.’ In other words, when I had the money ready he’d sell it to me. Then he died quite unexpectedly, so I’m coming to you.” Makima took a deep breath and said a silent prayer as she waited for his response.
“How much property do you need?” he asked calmly.
“We can’t afford more than five acres.” Makima allowed herself to hope that this was going to work. It had to work for the sake of the whole community.
“It’s a worthwhile project and I wish I could help you, Makima, but I can’t.” Gabe looked at her with sympathy.
Makima flinched as if she’d suffered a blow. She couldn’t give up. The clinic had to be fought for.
“Why can’t you?” she asked.
“The will doesn’t permit it.”
“Mr. Zeke’s will?” Her eyes flashed. “That’s hard to believe. You are his heir, aren’t you?”
“Of course or I wouldn’t be here,” he said stiffly.
“You’re his heir and you can’t dispose of the property?” That didn’t sound reasonable to her.
“As I said, I can’t help you.” His voice was now formal and cool.
“Can’t or won’t? I’d hoped for more understanding and cooperation from Mr. Zeke’s relative.” She stood up. “I’m sorry to have wasted your time, Mr. Bell.”
Gabe escorted her to the door in silence, opened it and said, “Thank you for coming, Miss Gray.”
She felt him watching as she walked across the porch and down the steps, then got into her car.
What was she going to do now? She had to have that property.
Chapter 6
Gabe moved to the front window to watch Makima as she walked across the porch and down the steps. He could see the tension in her body and he knew he’d caused it.
He was sorry but there was nothing else he could have done. There was no way he could sell her any part of the property, not even one acre, much less five. He’d told her the will didn’t permit it and she’d had the gall to imply that she didn’t believe him, that he just didn’t want to consider her offer. That had made him angry.
She didn’t know him at all so where did she get off saying he was a liar?
He didn’t know her either but he’d listened to all she had to say about the clinic and had actually been impressed by her story. Losing her sister in such a senseless accident must have been terrible and he could understand how the need for the clinic arose out of it. He could only vaguely imagine how he’d feel if it had been Drew in that car!
The clinic would surely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and he wondered how Makima and her partners could raise that much money. He dealt with funding in the state agency he worked for and he knew it wasn’t only the cost of getting a business up and running that one had to be concerned about. Keeping it running also cost money and that’s why many enterprises folded after a year or two.
That would be a worse scenario for the clinic than if they didn’t get it started in the first place. Had she thought about that?
He didn’t see why she’d fixated on this property. There had to be other acres in Grayson on which the clinic could be built that would be just as convenient for the community as this was. But no, Miss Makima Gray had apparently made a unilateral decision for this spot and had bullied the people she was working with to accept it.
He could have told her the details of the will but he didn’t see why he had to.