by Linda Bridey
A hush fell over the table. Violet hated herself for revealing Cornell’s threat. She should never have given it a moment’s thought. She should have treated it as so much hot air. Now, she couldn’t force herself to look at any of her sisters or their prospective husbands.
“That low-down snake!” Mick growled under his breath. “Just wait until I get my hands on him. I’ll teach him his place!”
“What did you say to him, Violet?” Chuck asked. “What did you say when he threatened to disinherit all of you?”
“I told him about our conversation in the buggy,” Violet replied. “I told him Rose and Iris and the rest of you wanted to get rid of him, and that I was the only one still defending him. I told him that, if he knew what was good for him, he would treat you men and us as generously and kindly as he could, or he could wind up in the street.”
Chuck stared at her. “You told him that?”
“Of course!” Violet cried. “He’s been such a colossal boor these last few weeks. Rose and Iris don’t know the half of it because I kept it to myself. But Cornell has done nothing but badger me day and night about this mail-order marriage. I’ve had enough of it! I’ve almost come around to your way of seeing things. If he can’t at least be civil to us, then he doesn’t belong here.”
“Good for you, Violet,” Iris exclaimed.
Chuck shook his head. “He’s a blasted fool for driving you to it. Like you say, if he’d just mind his manners, you would probably defend him until the cows come home. He could have a pretty comfortable life here, if he would only be civil to us.”
“He wouldn’t even come here tonight to meet you,” Violet told him. “When he called you dirty—I can only assume he meant because you’re cowboys—I told him to come along and meet you for himself. I said he’d understand that these marriages will be good for us and for the ranch, and he would see that the moment he saw all of us together. I don’t see how anyone could look at the six of us and not know that. But he wouldn’t come.”
“We don’t need him anyway,” Jake added. Violet jumped nearly out of her seat when he finally spoke. His voice sounded velvety and gentle, but it sent shivers up her spine. “We shouldn’t give him another thought. He isn’t worth our consideration.”
“But how should we deal with him?” Iris asked. “We need a plan, in case he tries to disinherit us. You don’t know him the way we do. He has every banker and lawyer in the territory yapping at his heels.”
“We don’t need a plan,” Jake replied. “He can’t do it. All we have to do is get married. Once that happens, he’ll be completely helpless. There isn’t time for him to disinherit any of you before the wedding and once you’re legally married, all your money passes to your husbands. He can’t do anything. He’s just trying to frighten you.”
“That’s what I told him,” Violet related. “But I didn’t half believe it myself.”
“It’s true,” Jake maintained.
“How do you know?” Violet laughed. “What are you, some kind of lawyer?”
Jake’s black eyes cut straight through her. “Yes.”
Her mouth flew open in astonishment. “But you said you were a cowboy!”
Jake crossed his legs at the knee and leaned against the back of the chair. “I am.”
“But you can’t be both!” Violet exclaimed.
Jake studied her across the table. Then he took a deep breath. “I went to work as a horse wrangler when I was fifteen. A draft horse stepped on my foot when I was hitching him to a wagon and he broke my foot. I was sitting in a hospital bed for six months while I waited for it to heal up. While I was there, I began to read some books in the hospital library. I became interested in the law, so I decided to study it.”
“Where was this?” Chuck asked.
“Down in Texas,” Jake replied. “I come from San Antonio, but I broke my foot in Galveston. So there I was, sitting around with not much to do for six months. So I read a bunch of books and took a bunch of tests. Then I received the results of the tests, and I got a job offer from a firm in Houston.”
“What did you do?” Violet asked.
“I told ‘em I didn’t really want to work in an office all the time,” Jake told her. “My foot healed up, and I went back to breakin’ wild horses. So now you know.” He glanced around the table at the five faces staring at him in amazement. At last, his eye settled on Violet. “If Cornell threatens you again, I suggest you send him packing then and there. The longer he hangs around, the more dangerous he could become. Get rid of him now. He won’t ever come around to being civil to us.”
“I don’t think I can do that,” Violet replied.
Jake examined her. “You’re a decent person at the bottom. I’m a pretty good judge of people, and I can tell you have a tender heart, especially for anyone you’ve formed an attachment with. Cornell has been a crucial part of your life for years, and you’re naturally reluctant to see him booted out on his ear.”
Violet blinked back tears. “It just doesn’t seem right, that’s all.”
Jake’s eyes never left her face. “I know people pretty well. You might not believe it, but I do. Good, decent, kind people like you think everyone else in the world is like you. You think even a person like Cornell is good and decent and kind underneath it all. You think you can reason with him and get him to understand. But you can’t. He doesn’t think the same way you do. He doesn’t want to make things up with you, and he doesn’t want to find a way to understand you. He won’t ever come around to your way of thinking.”
“So what is there to do about him?” Violet asked.
“Shoot him like a mad dog,” Jake declared. “Get rid of him, and don’t ever let him back inside your house as long as he lives. That’s all there is to do with a man like Cornell.”
“But you don’t even know him,” Violet pointed out. “You’ve never even laid eyes on him. What you’re saying is just as bad as what he said about you.”
“There’s one difference,” Jake replied. “I’m not the one threatening people for even associating with him. I’m not threatening to throw three lovely young ladies out into the street for having supper with him.”
Violet glanced around the table again. No one except Jake would look at her, and she couldn’t stand to hold his gaze any longer. He saw too much of her innermost self, the part of her no one saw—not even Chuck. “This is all too much for me,” she whimpered.
Jack turned back to Rose. “If you think about it a little bit, you’ll realize that sending him away, and keeping this place for ourselves and our families, is the kindest thing we can do for him. What surprises me is that he isn’t smart enough to realize that. You would think a man of his talents and intelligence would see which side his bread is buttered on. Instead, he’s too stubborn and malicious to play second fiddle to your husband’s—whoever they might be. He’s too old and set in his ways, I guess. He’ll cut off his nose to spite his face.”
Chapter 22
