Dakota Born by Debbie Macomber Page A

absent due to harvesting pressures.
    It was brought to the council’s attention by Marta Hansen (who is not an official member of the council) that because Miss Snyder is from the South and unaccustomed to the harsh North Dakota winters, the search for a permanent replacement for Eloise Patten should continue. The council is taking her suggestion under advisement. Hassie Knight recommended the town give Lindsay Snyder a chance to prove herself first.
    It was reported that Rachel Fischer is looking into opening a pizza parlor on weekends, using her parents’ restaurant, which has been closed for three years.
    The meeting was adjourned at precisely noon.
    Respectfully submitted,
Hassie Knight
    H eath Quantrill had found the summons from his grandmother when he reached the Buffalo Valley bank bright and early Wednesday morning. The fact that she hadn’t phoned him at home told him she wanted to see him regarding a bank matter. He couldn’t even guess what he’d done to incur the old woman’s wrath this time.
    Sitting down at his desk, Heath looked over the application from Brandon Wyatt, a local farmer applying for a fifteen-hundred-dollar loan to buy a new washer and dryer. Brandon had been into the bank late last week for the application and returned it Tuesday afternoon by mail. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen Heath regarding a small loan. Brandon had one large outstanding debt—a loan on a combine, with a balance of over a hundred thousand dollars. He’d purchased it at a Fargo dealership, with financing arranged at a local bank by the dealership itself. Heath figured Brandon’s wife must really need this washer and dryer for the farmer to approach him before harvest time. Because he knew and trusted Wyatt, Heath approved the loan after giving it little more than a cursory read.
    Despite the fact that he’d lived with bankers his entire life, Heath was learning the banking business from the ground up, compliments of his cantankerous grandmother, Lily Quantrill. He’d known from childhood that one day he’d be an important part of the family business, but he hadn’t been in any hurry to assume that responsibility. Not when his big brother appeared to be the financial whiz kid.
    In college, Heath had taken all the right classes, graduated with an acceptable grade-point average and then left to spend the summer in Europe. Except that his summer had lasted eight years. He’d skied the Alps, climbed a few mountains, crossed the Sahara Desert on a camel and sailed the Mediterranean. He’d fallen in love with Greece and two or three women along the way. His sense of adventure knew no bounds.
    Without a thought, without considering the consequences, he’d blatantly risked his sorry neck in a series of insane quests. It never occurred to him that while he was involved in one extreme game after another, his brother Max would be killed in a freak highway accident.
    Heath had been called home for the funeral; his grandmother had tracked him down in Austria. He’d always loved the stubborn old woman, although unfortunately the two of them had never gotten along. Everyone else in the family had kowtowed to her for years. But not Heath. After his initial three months in Europe, she’d demanded he come home and accept his rightful place in the family business. He’d ignored her summons and managed quite nicely even after she’d cut off his healthy allowance.
    Max’s death had shaken him badly, even more than his own parents’ premature deaths. It had also angered him. Had Max survived, Heath would have punched him out for risking his life. If he was seeking a dangerous thrill, there were far better ways than trying to avoid a deer in the middle of a snowstorm.
    His grandmother, however, had gotten her revenge. Upon Heath’s return to Grand Forks, she’d promptly sent him to the old bank in Buffalo Valley. She fully intended to shape