"Taxes?" Dave asked.
"We will have to pay income taxes on receiving the land this year, and there will be some taxes owed for owning the land itself," I told him, "things will be very tight for us this coming year, but I'm fairly confident that Molly and I will do okay."
"Good to hear, although I was surprised by the fact that you essentially got the house as a gift," Dave commented.
"Yeah, but it did result in some rather interesting meetings," I shrugged slightly.
+++++++++++++++
The rest of the evening went very well. Michael York offered to share dinner with us, which we did accept and he was just as surprised by Molly's appetite as many people who were meeting her for the first time.
"That is quite a serving you've taken," Michael commented as Molly took about three fourths of the steak he had cooked as a first serving while the rest was divided between myself and Michael.
"I've found that I need about ten pounds of meat per day," Molly told him, "just about everything else makes me sick. Only diary and egg products agree with me."
"So you're okay with something like cheese then?" Michael wondered.
"I'm okay with it... but I've found I don't digest it easily," Molly sighed, "meat, eggs, milk, and water are the only things I've found I can digest easily. Cheese, ice cream, and other diary products I can digest, but that isn't easy."
"This freak show has to have done a lot to make your life difficult," Michael commented, "How many people did they turn into tigers?"
"Just me, but one was turned into a lion, and I think a couple were turned into other carnivores, though we haven't had much of any contact with the other victims since the trial," Molly spoke.
"Oh," Michael sighed after a moment.
Molly and I both silently agreed to remain silent on the fact that Molly was also finding herself willing to eat meat raw. We didn't want to gross out one of the few people that was actually being generous to us or weren't treating Molly like she was a mindless animal.
"So is there anything we need to do to legally take possession of the cabin?" I asked Michael as we all sat down with our servings.
"I'll need at least one of you to meet with my lawyer and I to change my Will and turn over the deed to the land that the cabin sits on," Michael explained, "I'll need at least two neutral parties as well... but I can handle that."
"I see," I nodded, "and how long will that take for all of this to be legal?"
"The actual work won't take long, but it will take a little while to get the appointment and get the neutral parties ready," Michael sighed, "but I'm more then happy let you stay there until then."
"Considering what Mr. Beauregard wanted Molly to do when we first came out here, and some personal suspicions that I have, I would prefer that Molly and I remain as guests of her uncle," I informed him, "this may sound strange, but I've been fairly paranoid about a lot of things since this was done to Molly. I fear that if we just move in before things are legal, Molly will be arrested and found guilty of pouching your cattle and trespassing on your land and anything you or I say in Molly's defense will be discarded..."
"And Beauregard has been talking loud about how she's mindless..." Michael grumbled, sounding frustrated about the man, "I understand. Do you have a phone number that I could reach one of the two of you at, then? We can then plan this meeting out to make things legal."
I nodded and gave him my cell-phone number.
"Hopefully I get reception when you make the call," I chuckled to him, making him laugh a little.
"I've never liked them cell-phones," Michael laughed back, "but I suppose that is how you young people communicate."
We all got a little chuckle out of that.
+++++++++++++++++
After an hour or so, and Mr. York cooking about three more steaks, Molly and I returned back to her uncle's home. As we did so, we talked with each other for a little bit.
"Well, that went better then expected," I commented.
"Yeah," Molly nodded, "we have a place of our own... unofficially."
"It won't take too much for us to make it legal," I commented, "and to be honest, that cabin is very much a fixer-upper. An honest evaluation of the property its on wouldn't net us all that much when it comes to the taxes for it."
"Maybe, George, but it's also depending on Mr. York living past tax day," Molly warned, "the cabin itself and the land immediately around it wouldn't be worth that much, but the land his ranch is on, and his own home will be worth more, and remember that a garage will need to be constructed for your truck and it will need to be large enough to house yard maintenance equipment and some other stuff as well, and remember that I'm not earning that much money as an aide, and while you'll be making more as a police officer, it won't be a lot."
"Mr. York looks pretty healthy," I told her, "He doesn't look like he'll be passing on soon... and besides, the Realtor we saw gave us properties to RENT that would have been beyond our ability to afford... probably because Beauregard paid him to."
Molly responded with a low snarl.
"I can't believe that man," she snarled.
"I'm right with you," I replied.
The rest of the drive went fairly calm. When we arrived at Frank Rhoer's home, we found him and his daughters cleaning up from their own dinner as we came in.
"So, what did Mr. York want to see you about?" Frank asked as Molly shut the door behind us, "He didn't try to hire you, did he?"
"Not, hire us, Uncle," Molly answered him, "He's actually offered us some help. He has an old cabin that he's offered us as a place to live."
"To rent?" Frank Rhoer asked.
"To own," I told him.
"We'll that is good news," Frank Rhoer replied, "Very good news. I take it you'll be staying in the area for a while?"
Molly and I nodded. Frank Rhoer smiled at that.
"It'll be good to have family staying close," Frank Rhoer then told us, "Very good indeed."
++++++++++++++++++++++
"He still strikes me as odd," Dave commented, "I mean he works FOR Beauregard, and he's happy you and Molly are staying close..."
"He's Molly's uncle," I replied, "I would tend to think that that counters any sort of business related issue... and so fart Molly's uncle hasn't behaved like Molly's parent's have."
"It's still weird," Dave replied, "but I guess it's good that he has been weird."
"If that's how you want to put it," I sighed.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next couple of days went buy fairly quietly. Molly continued her work with the school and I continued to help Dave with his work. I also checked with the station to see how my application for the police academy was before heading to Dave's vineyard. I didn't tell them about Michael York's generosity when it came to "Bandhavgarh Cabin", just in case Beauregard had any "spies" in the Columbia Falls Police Department. I didn't know if he did, and from what I knew, Officer Harold was very professional when it came to those matters, but I didn't want to take the chance that a subordinate officer was involved and would know that Michael York was changing his will to name a new comer as a beneficiary and that that newcomer was dating the "tiger-lady".
There was no news on the application yet. Once I determined the application's status, I headed up to Dave's vineyard to continue the work up there.
"So what did Mike have to say?" Dave asked after a few moments.
"He's actually offered Molly and I a home," I told him, and then noticed how close the cabin Mr. York had offered Molly and I was to Dave's vineyard on the map that Mike had presented to Molly and I, "I think we'll be neighbors."
"Great!" Dave cheered, "You'll have to invite me up sometime."
"We still have some things to take care of before it's all legal, but I think it'll be ours, but appears that we'll have a home of our own," I told him, "and I have to thank you for helping me get that chance."
"Oh, you're welcome buddy," Dave smiled, "You're welcome."
We then continued our work, making small talk on various things. I mostly asked Dave about how the wine business really worked and so forth. Around lunch time I got a phone call. I answered it, hoping it would be an update that would let me know if the call would allow me to make Bandhavgarh Cabin me and Molly's home, legally.
"Hello," I spoke into the phone.
"Mr. Wayne, I presume?" came Michael York's voice on the other "line".
"Yes, Mr. York?" I replied.
"How are things for you this afternoon?"
I glanced at Dave for a moment.
"Fairly open," I said, "Do you have your witnesses?"
"I do, but they're only open today in about an hour," Michael York answered, "can you make it down Rothchild and Falkring's law office?"
"What is the address?" I asked.
By now Molly and I were good with the streets of Columbia Falls and we knew our way around. We only needed the address of a place to figure out where to go. That made me feel pretty good about myself. Mr. York gave me the address and I thanked him for it. I then turned to Dave.
"Go on," he answered with me having to ask, "go get the keys to your kingdom."
"Thanks," I replied, and I was soon driving to the address I had been given.
I arrived to find a fairly decent looking law office and went in to find Michael York waiting for me in the lobby part of the office.
"Molly couldn't come with you?" he asked.
"She's at work right now," I told him, "and I didn't figure that this was worth having her take a "sick day" from the school."
"I'll warn you, this could get pretty boring," Michael York told me.
"I'll manage," I replied.
He nodded and announced to the secretary that he was ready. After her answer, he motioned for me to follow him. We then followed the secretary to a door behind her desk. We then met a fairly pudgy attorney waiting in the office behind the door. He introduced himself as Ralph Falkring. There were a few other people there, who were either witnesses or aided Mr. Falkring in representing Michael York's interests. Once everyone had been introduced, we then went about the official matters at hand.
We started with the changing of Michael York's Will. I played no real role in this, other then as being a "witness" to it, as Molly and I were named as beneficiaries and receiving the land that Michael York's own home and ranch was on in the advent of his death. This attracted some odd stairs from the others, but I guessed it would have been worse if Molly was there.
We finished with the presentation of the deed to "Bandhavgarh Cabin" and the legal paperwork that went along with transferring the ownership of the cabin from Michael York to Molly and I. I was officially the only owner once everything was transfered since Molly wasn't present to sign as well, but I was pretty sure I would marry Molly, so I didn't think that that would be too much of a problem. Once we married, everything that was mine would be hers.
"Congratulations," Michael York said to me as I signed the documents that officially and legally transfered Bandhavgarh Cabin to myself, "Bandhavgarh is now one hundred percent, and legally yours."