Free Ryan's Return by Barbara Freethy Page B

Beverly and even Margaret, but Jonas was a cornerstone of the town. To some, he was the town.
    "If you want to save the town, pick up the trash, don't bring more in. Cherish the land, don't tear it up for concrete." Jonas spoke in a loud, booming voice, like a Sunday preacher calling to the sinners to repent. "We cannot trade the river for dollars. We cannot ignore the cost of progress. We cannot allow outsiders to take what is not theirs. We cannot let them turn the river into a whore, using her and abusing her, then walking away. This is our town. We must fight for it. We must protect it at all costs. Stand with me, not against me."
    "I am standing with you," Kara replied, somewhat shaken by his impassioned speech, his loyalty to the town, his love for the river. "I want to celebrate our history. That's what the centennial is about."
    "The centennial is about money. Money in your pocket," Jonas declared. "You're willing to sell out this town if it means booking rooms in your inn."
    "He's right," someone shouted in the back. "We shouldn't sell our souls for a few extra bucks."
    "And we should not honor a man without honor," Beverly Appleborne said as she walked to the back of the room and stood next to Jonas. Margaret and Jeremy followed. A few other people joined them.
    Kara held her breath as the town divided into factions, those who hated Ryan and those who didn't, those who wanted progress and those who wanted things to stay the same.
    When the musical chairs stopped, Andrew sat alone in the middle of the room, torn between her and his father. Kara knew how much Andrew valued Jonas's opinion. She also knew how much she wanted Andrew's support.
    "Kara, perhaps we should reconsider," the mayor said quietly, apparently seeing his chances of reelection fading fast.
    "Reconsider what?" she asked. "Ryan? The whole Centennial Celebration? Because of Jonas? The man is stuck in the dark ages. He has run the same damn editorial in his paper every Sunday for the past six months and probably longer than that." Suddenly furious, Kara turned back to the crowd, deliberately forcing her voice to ring through the room.
    "We can have progress without chaos," she said. "We can make money without prostituting ourselves. And we can honor a man for his photographic accomplishments without dissecting his personal life, without treating gossip like the gospel truth."
    "Here, here," Loretta said quietly. "Go get 'em, Kara."
    Kara rapped her gavel on the table as chatter once again broke out. "Jonas is right about one thing. By standing together, we all stand taller, but we must respect one another's beliefs. We must honor our differences, and we must give this town a chance to grow, to survive, so that we can all survive. Now, let's have no more dissension. We have work to do."
    She offered Jonas a challenging look. He returned it, then walked out of the room. Beverly Appleborne, Margaret, and Jeremy Woodrich went with him. The rest stayed with her, including Andrew. Kara let out a breath. It was a partial victory, but she would take it.
     
* * *
     
    "You won," Andrew said to Kara as they walked up the steps to the Gatehouse later that night.
    "I'm not so sure about that. Your father is a formidable man."
    "And he doesn't like to lose," Andrew added. "Especially not when it concerns this town."
    "How can I make him see we're on the same side?"
    "I'm not sure you are."
    "Oh, Andrew, if I can't convince you, how can I convince him?" Kara sighed. "I just want to make things right for everyone."
    "Some things can't be fixed."
    "I know, and I wouldn't put it past Mrs. Appleborne or Mrs. Woodrich to make a scene tomorrow night."
    Andrew turned toward the river, his profile grim and forbidding. Kara knew that Andrew took Billy over to the Woodrichs' house every Sunday afternoon for dinner, but she had no idea of Andrew's own relationship with his former in-laws -- another thing they never spoke about. She sighed, wondering why she suddenly felt she