He gave a snort of laughter, and Kelly left, mounted Xander and rode back the way she came. Four years ago, Pauly had bought the ten acres that lay between the Hatten and Exton farms. It was farmland, with rich soil, and no artificial fertilizers had been put on it in over thirty years. Both Burke Hatten and Mac Exton had tried to buy the piece, but old man Anders had sold it to Pauly, saying, “I like what he plans to do with it.” As the town of Mason had seen, when Pauly wanted to, he could be very persuasive.

Kelly rode across the edge of the property her family had owned for three generations. Ahead, she could see Pauly’s land. There were hundreds of fruit trees, all in long rows, perfectly pruned, all weedless. There were about fifty chickens pecking away at the bugs that tried to eat the trees.

Over the last couple of years, Pauly had spent most weekends traveling around the Midwest, gathering branches of trees that people said had been planted by their great-great-grandfathers. “Only one in existence, that I know of,” the people said. “Best eatin’ apple you ever put in your mouth.”

Sometimes Kelly went with him on his trips. Pauly dealt with the plants while Kelly tended to any animals the farmers had. She never charged and it gave her experience.

In the middle of the property was a pretty little shed with a greenhouse attached to the front of it.

It’s where Pauly did the work needed to graft all the branches that he so carefully cut and labeled.

His dream was to eventually open a mail-order company. “Only I want to sell the old varieties, not the new, lifeless ones,” he said.

They never discussed it, but she knew that, someday, he planned to use the hundred and thirty acres of Kelly’s family’s farm as part of his tree business. If it all worked out, that is. After he and Kelly were married, and if people ordered the trees.

She saw him beside the greenhouse, a pot in his hands. He was a very good-looking young man, with his blond hair and blue eyes. Mrs. Carl said Kelly and her son were so alike they looked like a pair of salt and pepper shakers.

Kelly had shot back, “Who’s the pepper?”

“You are,” Pauly answered. “And I’m the salt of the earth.” They’d all burst into laughter.

Pauly nodded when he saw her and gave a bit of a smile. For a second, Kelly frowned. No fireworks in greeting. No expressions of undying love. No feeling of I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth ran through her.

She dismounted and tied Xander up tightly. She didn’t want him wandering about and munching on Pauly’s young trees. “What’s going on?”

“Just some cross-pollination and staking,” he said. “The wind’s been bad this week, so I—”