“Now, you’re right, of course,” Dorothy placated him, “but if you’ll take a look at these—” She nodded to Mom, who walked up to the dais with a folder and began handing a set of papers to each council member. “You’ll see that when Cal Daniels passed away, he left all of his estate to his nephew Camden. He didn’t split it between the Daniels boys. He chose Cam as his sole heir, which also transfers his membership seat.”

The council buzzed, covering their microphones so we couldn’t hear them. People blatantly turned around in their seats to gawk or glare at Cam.

“Milton?” Genevieve asked from her council seat.

Milton Sanders, Alba’s only practicing lawyer, seeing as Simon practiced in Buena Vista, stood and made his way to the podium. He ran his hand through his head of thick brown hair as he read over Dorothy’s documents.

“He hates me,” Cam muttered.

“That won’t matter. He’s the Historical Society’s lawyer,” I whispered, which earned me a glare from three of the women sitting ahead of us.

Mrs. Rhodes shook her head at me before turning back around.

Well, that was uncalled for.

“This is Alba. It matters,” Cam concluded.

My eyes met those aimed in Cam’s direction, staring down each of our townspeople until they looked away. He didn’t deserve this kind of treatment.

“Actually, this looks like the boy has a seat,” Milton answered.

The buzz in the room grew to a roar.

“We can’t leave voting memberships in our wills,” Dad countered.

“No, but section seven, paragraph three of our bylaws states that seats pass to our recognized familial heirs, and Cal’s will is worded such that it names Camden as his sole, recognized familial heir.” Milton shrugged.

“He knew what he was doing,” I whispered.

“Always did.” Cam kept his eyes locked on the council.

“Then, it’s not valid!” Genevieve squawked.

“Well, it seems Judge Bradley accepted the will as valid when Cal died, so…” Milton looked up at Dad, whose face now resembled a tomato. I wasn’t sure if it was in embarrassment or anger, but either way, the man was red.

“But he doesn’t meet the requirement,” Pat interjected from his council seat. “He has to have been a full-time resident of Alba for a year before he can exercise his membership.”

Thea crossed her arms. Pat was going to get an earful at home.

Were they all against him?

Heads around us nodded in agreement.

Guess so.

“That would normally be so, but paragraph five states that the residency stipulation is waived upon any return from military service, given that the member does not delay in asking for it.” Milton turned to look over the crowd. “Camden? Are you asking for the residency stipulation to be waived?”

“I am.” Cam stood, attracting every eye that hadn’t been able to see him before.