"Oh, Grace, no! We're talking
five to eight thousand dollars a year," he said adding, "Per turbine."
"Wait, you're telling me that you simply want permission to construct the turbines on farmland and that you'll pay the people who allow it?" I said stunned by the revelation.
"Yeah, didn't I tell you that before?"
"No, you most certainly did not," I laughed. "How much land do you need?"
"If we do it on farmland, we only need five-hundred fifty feet between each turbine," he said lapsing into the specifics of the project and tracing the outline for wind farms on my bare skin. "In residential areas, there has to be fifteen-hundred feet between each turbine and any buildings. That makes it almost impossible to generate any real power in the suburbs."
"So how many could you put on our land?" I asked as a spark of an idea began burning in my mind.
"How many acres do you have?"
"About twenty-five acres," I said holding my breath as he did the calculations in his head.
"That's eight turbines, so conservatively you could make about twenty-four to thirty-thousand a year from the turbines alone," he said. My heart skipped a beat as I realized that this could be the solution to our problems.
"Is that guaranteed income?" I asked.
"Well, it should be, but there's always an 'act of God' clause in every turbine contract," he said as he brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it. "Stuff we can't predict and that might mean the payments are delayed or rolled over into the next year's installment."
"So, in other words, it's guaranteed until it's not," I said as I calculated what this might mean for the farm and the store.
"What are you thinking, Grace?" Adam asked as he watched me closely.
"I'm thinking that I think I need to help you sell the turbine idea to the community," I said. "I want it on our farm, but we won't be big enough to meet your goals."
Adam leaned in and kissed me again, this time lingering as he flicked my lower lip with his tongue and then gently bit down sending a wave of warmth coursing through my veins. I returned the kiss, but my brain was somewhere far away thinking about how to parlay the turbines into income that would support my brother and sisters so that I wouldn't have to gut my retirement savings to ensure that they were okay. Adam kissed me more insistently.
"Can we do this later?" I asked as I rolled out of his arms and grabbed my nightclothes off the floor. "I need to take care of a few things."
"Yeah, sure," he said. I could tell by the tone of his voice that my rejection had hurt his feelings.
"I'm not done with you, Mr. Wallace," I said as I leaned down to kiss his lips. He turned his face away and my lips missed their mark.
"Yeah, whatever," he shrugged as he rolled off the bed, grabbed his boxers and yanked them on as he avoided my eyes.
"Fine, be that way," I said as I turned and marched out of the room and up the stairs. He could be as mad as he wanted, but once I'd figured out a way to sell the turbines to the rest of the Corner Grove Amish community, he'd understand and be grateful that I'd kept my wits about me.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Adam
Grace's abrupt shift hours earlier had caught me off guard and left me struggling to bury the feelings of frustration and confusion. I had quickly donned the black pants and white shirt, and headed out to the barn hoping to work off my frustration by cleaning stalls. I'd gone over the entire morning in my mind several times, but couldn't figure out what had happened that had caused her to pull away so fast. I'd finally given up and lost myself in the task of sweeping stalls and then refilling them with the bales that were stacked out behind the barn.
I had just pulled out my phone and deleted three more messages from my mother while wondering why I still hadn't been able to get a hold of Bugsy, when two buggies pull into the drive. I pocketed the phone and hollered, "Grace! You've got visitors!"
I recognized the first buggy as belonging to the Miller family. It took a moment for the second driver to come into view, but when he did, I knew there was going to be trouble. Perched on the seat holding the reins was Bishop Miller accompanied by his wife and two sons, and none of them looked happy.
Verity pulled the buggy up to the barn, casting a nervous glance toward the house as she swung down from the driver's seat and said something to Danny and Honor. They both quickly began unhooking Titan from the buggy and then led him into the barn as their sister approached the Bishop's buggy.
Grace appeared in the doorway a few seconds later, smoothing her dress and checking to make sure her hair was tucked into the white cap on her head. She gave me a nervous smile as she stepped out and called, "Uncle, it's so good of you to stop by!"
"Grace Miller, what have you done?" Bishop Miller boomed as he swung himself down off to the buggy and swiftly crossed the drive.
"What do you mean?" she asked as she descended the steps and met him halfway.