THE $800 BASEMENT OFFER AND THE SECRET MY HUSBAND LEFT BEHIND. K007
PART 3: WHAT DALE NEVER TOLD ME
For a long time, I couldn’t speak.
I kept looking at the eighteen-thousand-dollar check.
Dale’s handwriting.
Dale’s signature.
Three days before his death.
I had sat beside that man through forty-six years of marriage.
I knew how he liked his coffee.
I knew which knee bothered him when the weather changed.
I knew he never threw away a bent nail because he believed he could straighten it and use it again.
But apparently, I didn’t know what he’d been doing with our money.
Or our daughter’s money.
Or the house where we’d raised her.
I pushed the papers away.
“Start at the beginning.”
Todd nodded.
He looked relieved to have been given something clear to do.
“About four years ago, Dale told us the Olsons might sell the farmhouse separately from the farm.”
I remembered that period.
Mr. Olson had been talking about retirement.
His son was working out of state then.
There’d been uncertainty about who would take over the operation.
Todd continued.
“Dale said he’d been offered a chance to work toward buying the house. He didn’t have enough money for the first payment, and he didn’t want you to lose your savings.”
I looked at Michelle.
“So he came to you.”
She nodded.
“He said he wanted to surprise you.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course he did.
Dale loved surprises.
Not fancy ones.
A new rosebush planted outside the kitchen window.
A secondhand rocking chair he’d refinished.
A Sunday drive to see the autumn leaves.
He liked watching my face when I discovered something he’d done.
Michelle continued.
“Dad said if we could lend him eighteen thousand dollars, he’d repay us over time. And if everything worked out, the farmhouse would eventually be his and yours.”
I looked down at the agreement.
It wasn’t a purchase contract.
It was a private arrangement between Dale and our daughter.
A promise based on something that might happen.
Not something that had happened.
I asked, “Did Mr. Olson sign anything?”
