He studied the map.
Then asked whether they could make the farm successful.
Naomi considered the question.
"What do you mean by successful?"
He frowned.
"Like making enough money."
She nodded.
"That's part of it."
Zuri looked up.
"What else?"
Naomi glanced toward the window.
The restored pasture was beginning to turn green again.
Dale's cattle grazed in the distance.
And the farmhouse stood beneath the afternoon sun.
She smiled.
"Having a safe place to live. Taking care of what we own. And making sure we aren't hurting other people while we're doing it."
Malik considered that.
Then nodded.
"Okay."
Zuri added another flower to the map.
For a moment, Naomi felt a deep sense of peace.
She hadn't expected her children to spend their childhood learning about buried water-control structures.
But they'd learned something valuable.
A home wasn't simply a building.
It was something people maintained.
Protected.
And sometimes fought to keep.
The first anniversary of the pond incident arrived on a clear September morning.
Naomi woke before sunrise.
For a moment, she lay still, listening to the farmhouse.
The well pump started in the distance.
A floorboard creaked as the old building settled.
And somewhere outside, a rooster called from a neighboring property.
Everything sounded ordinary.
That alone made her smile.
A year earlier, she would have awakened wondering whether the pond had risen overnight.
Whether another crack had appeared near the bank.
Whether the cattle were safe.
And whether the company that wanted her land would somehow find a way to make her responsible for everything going wrong beneath it.
Now the immediate danger had been addressed.
The restoration work was largely complete.
The remaining monitoring and maintenance obligations were documented.
And the farm was beginning to function as a farm again.
She climbed out of bed.
Put on her familiar blue-and-green plaid shirt, denim overalls, and brown work boots.
Then tied her chestnut-brown hair into a ponytail.
In the kitchen, she made coffee.
She opened her notebook.
And checked the latest readings from the monitoring system installed as part of the restoration.
The numbers were stable within the expected operating range.
Naomi studied them for several seconds.
Then smiled.
There was nothing unusual to investigate that morning.
She closed the notebook.
And for once, she didn't feel disappointed by the absence of a mystery.