I told him directly.
“I need to know you’re helping because you want to help, not because you think this changes ownership.”
“It doesn’t change anything,” he said. “The land is yours. I understand that.”
“Do you?”
“Yes. And even if you eventually leave it all to Sarah, that will be your decision.”
“I’m not planning to do that.”
“That isn’t why I’m here.”
He repaired the fence.
The following week, he cleared leaves from the gutters. Later, he fixed a leak in the barn roof and replaced two rotten porch boards.
He did not ask for payment.
He did not mention the will.
He simply worked.
There were setbacks.
Healing is not a straight path.
Sometimes an old resentment surfaced and one of us became defensive. There were arguments when I questioned him too sharply or when hebelieved I was treating every mistake as evidence that he had not changed.
