Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Emily broke the silence. Her tears stopped and she needed answers.
“Why won’t you believe me when I say nothing happened with Rory? He was more interested in the money. I’ll tell you why, for the same reason you don’t believe there is something wrong with your mother. You don’t trust me, so you don’t believe me.”
She paused for a moment, contemplating if she should say anything.
“You know he has your smile. There is nothing else to designate him as your half brother, but his smile is the same as yours. Same dimples as yours.”
She felt his body stiffen and then relax as if he was concentrating on keeping himself relaxed.
“If you’re trying to tell me he’s my brother, father said he’s not and I have to believe my father.”
“Maybe I was seeing something that isn’t there.” I know what I saw. “Or maybe your father lied because he wanted you to take care of your mother.” Though I can’t imagine anyone caring enough about Doris to actually want to take care of her.
“Maybe.”
“Was your mother always the way she is now? Do you remember her being this hateful when you were a boy?”
“No. She’s changed. She was a happy woman when I was little, even when Jane came along when I was five. I’d never seen her as happy as she was had a daughter.”
“How does she treat Jane now?”
“She doesn’t. Since Jane left to marry Curt, she and Mother haven’t talked.”
“Does she not like Curt?”
“I don’t know. She seemed to like him right up until their wedding day. Curt announced he’d bought them a ranch on the other side of Golden toward Denver and that was it. Mother changed literally over night.”
“That should have been good news. The newlyweds were getting off to a good start I’d say.”
He shrugged.
“Me, too. But Mother frowned and then pouted at the news. Her mood was like she had expected them to live with us forever. She went from being happy at their wedding to two weeks later, refusing to speak to Jane.”
“When do I get to meet Jane? From the sound of it we have a lot in common. Your mother can’t stand either one of us.”
He frowned.
“That’s not the situation.”
She moved away and stared at him.
“Then tell me what exactly is the situation.”
“Well.”
He ran his hand through his hair.
“I can’t tell you what is happening because I don’t know. As to meeting Jane, how about on Sunday? I usually go over once a month but I’ve not done that since we married.”
A happy thrill rushed through her.
“I’d love to meet them. I don’t have any family, as you know, so I’m excited to have a sister and brother-in-law.”
“Not to mention an adorable niece and nephew.”
She smiled and closed her eyes, picturing her new niece and nephew.
“Yes, the babies. How wonderful.”
“Jenny would be very upset that you called her a baby. She’s a big girl now. A big sister not a baby. She’s three.”
Emily laughed.
“Of course. Once they can talk and walk, or especially if they have a younger sibling, the children don’t want to be called babies any longer.”
“Being at the orphanage, you learned a lot about children. How long were you a governess?”
“I began as soon as I finished school at eighteen. The nuns found me a position right away with the Thiedes. I was with them for four years until the children started school outside the house and my services were no longer needed. Then I worked for the Evans for three years and I worked for the Slidells for more than a year…until, well you know that story. Before Sally mentioned marrying you, I never really believed I’d wed.
Don’t get me wrong, I always wanted a husband and children of my own, but opportunities to meet men are scarce when you’re a governess. ”
“Poor thing. An old maid at what, twenty-six?”
“Twenty-seven. I just had my birthday on September twenty-second.”
He looked down at her and lifted her chin until their gazes met.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I’d have gotten you a present.”
She shrugged.
“It has always been just another day.”
He took her hand and kissed the palm.
“Not any more. We celebrate birthdays here. In case you’re wondering mine is January eighth and I’ll be thirty-one. I expect a present.”
She rolled her eyes.
“I didn’t know I’d married such an old man.”
He tickled her.
She giggled.
Ben leaned over and kissed her.
Her laughter died. She wrapped her free arm around his neck and kissed him back.
“Help me forget today. Make love to me, Ben. Now”
“Yes. Now.”
They both stood and shucked their clothes leaving them in piles on the floor.
Emily lay in the middle of the bed.
Ben came down beside her and began touching her. Teasing her skin with his clever fingers.
She grabbed his hand.
“I don’t want soft and gentle. I need fast, and hard. I want to forget everything that happened today. Please Ben.”
“Whatever you want, I’m yours to command.”
With those words he covered her, made love to her and all the horribleness of the day left as feelings of joy consumed her.
Ben got up and left Emily sleeping. She’d been through enough for one day, she didn’t need to witness this.
He went down to the kitchen and found his mother sitting at the table with a cup of coffee. The scent of bread baking filled the room and made his mouth water. Ben did love fresh bread.
“Ben. Can I get you a cup of coffee?”
Doris stood and walked to the cupboard before he could respond.
“Yes, that would be nice.”
She put down the cup full of hot, dark brown liquid in front of him. Now the scent of coffee mixed with the bread and his desire to eat was almost overwhelming. But he steeled himself and persevered.
“Mother. Did you see Rory take Emily?”
“Is that what that lying little witch said? That I watched from my window while he took her away?”
“I never said where she’d seen you.”
His fingers tightened around his cup.
“You just gave yourself away. Why, Mother? How could you let that happen?”
“What could I do to prevent it?”
“Perhaps ring the signal for dinner. Anyone on the ranch would have come. But regardless of you doing anything, you should have told me right away. You shouldn’t have lied to me about witnessing the kidnapping, either.”
He took a deep breath realizing that his hopes for a contented household was not to be.
She hung her head.
“I admit that was not well done of me.”
“No. It wasn’t. I’ll build you a little house on the other side of the property, closer to Golden. I don’t want you to be stranded. You’ll also have your own little barn for a cow, horse and some chickens.”
His mother’s head snapped up and Ben saw the look of panic on her face.
“No, Ben. Please.”
“Did you know that Rory had orders to kill her?”
She frowned.
“But he didn’t follow through, did he?”
“Of course, not. Whoever hired Rory, didn’t know him or me very well. They thought that he and I are enemies. Which we are not.”
Her eyes widened.
“But he rustles cattle from you all the time.”
Ben couldn’t sit still any longer stood and paced the kitchen.
“I let him. He believes he’s my brother.”
“So what if he is. His mother was a trollop your father took up with before he died.”
Ben stood stock still. The silence was deafening.
“How long have you known he was my brother?”
His mother put her nose in the air and sniffed.
“Since the day he was born. Your father insisted on being with her, with Ava, when the baby came. But he returned to me and he denied that the child was his. I made him. It was the only way I’d take him back and he didn’t want a divorce. He was so easy to manipulate because of his pride.”
Emily had stopped just before entering the kitchen. She saw the color rise in Ben’s face along with his anger. He looked at his mother with complete hatred.
“You old witch. You let me believe he wasn’t my brother when we could have had a good relationship. Now he’s in jail for wanting part of what was his all along.”
Emily walked in and put her hand on his arm.
“Ben. You can still right it. Nothing was done that can’t be undone. Rory didn’t harm me, he only wanted the money so he could leave and start over somewhere else.”
Ben ran both hands through his hair.
“But what about him kidnapping you?”
“He didn’t hurt me and he could have. He was very courteous with me. The only damage I had was from the cheap rope.”
He put his arms around her.
“Are you sure? I have so much to make up for with Rory.”
“Rory isn’t the problem and you should try to have a good relationship with your little brother. Melissa is the one who’s the problem. She is the one who ordered my death.”
“If you’re sure. I’ll talk to Rory about coming on board as part owner of the ranch with me.”
She laid her head on his chest and hugged him tight.
“That’s the right thing to do. I’m sure Rory has had a hard life since your father passed away.”
“Why do you say since Father passed away?”
“I’m guessing based on the kind of man you are Ben, but I would imagine that your father took care of him and his mother, financially, while he was alive. After he died, I’m sure Doris stopped all payments.”
Doris moved toward the door.
Ben moved to stand in front of his mother.
“Is that true, Mother? Was Father helping them and did you stop when he died?”
The older woman stood with her hands fisted at her sides, the expression on her face mutinous.
“Why should I pay that bitch and her whelp? I told her to get out of town while the getting was good. Ava refused. Said this was her home, and the ranch was her boy’s birthright. Never. As long as I live, this ranch is mine and you’ll do what I say.”
“You’re wrong, Mother. Father’s will gave the ranch to me and Jane in equal shares. You don’t own a thing.”
Doris’s eyes widened and she collapsed in a chair at the table.
“No. I refuse to believe that. His will is not correct. Someone changed it. He wouldn’t do that to me. No.”
“I guess Father had the last say after all. He wanted all his children to be taken care of and knew I would make that happen.”
Emily pulled out of Ben’s arms.
“Why didn’t your father give Rory a share in his will?”
Doris spoke. “He couldn’t. He couldn’t acknowledge the boy in any way or I’d have divorced him.
That would have embarrassed him and he was all about how things looked to others.
That belief was your father’s flaw and the only thing that kept him from divorcing me.
I know what a harridan I’ve become. I didn’t feel I had any choice.
Your father and Ava made it perfectly clear that Joseph no longer had any feelings for me.
I was a witch even before Rory came along and only got worse afterwards. ”
Doris’s voice sounded broken.
Ben turned toward his mother and took Emily’s hand. “Your treachery is your downfall, Mother. I can’t have you anywhere near Emily or our child.”
Doris’s eyes narrowed.
“Now he’ll never leave you. I am finished.”
“You were done long before this. I would always have chosen Emily over you. She is my wife, the future mother of my children.”
Doris dissolved into tears.
Emily watched the woman, destroyed by her own machinations, and felt only pity.
“Ben, perhaps she can stay here. She is no longer a danger to me. I know her for what she is and so do you. Besides, I believe she is sorry, truly, for her horrible treatment of me and even of Rory. Aren’t you Doris?”
Doris looked up at them. Her eyes watery with tears. She seemed older. Emily saw every line, every wrinkle. Doris’s gaze held no more hatred. Her eyes just seem tired…old.
“I am very sorry for my behavior. Believe me, please, I don’t want to hurt anyone any more. I’m done with vengeance.”
Ben looked at Emily with an eyebrow lifted.
She nodded.
Then he faced his mother.
“Very well. Since Emily thinks you are to be trusted, you may stay. But you do anything to make us regret this decision and I won’t be able to build that house fast enough to put you in it. I might even build you a room in the barn to live before the house is finished.”
Doris looked up at Emily.
“Thank you. I don’t deserve this kindness, but I thank you for showing it to me.”
“Please, don’t make me regret it.”
Emily wrapped her arms around Ben’s waist.
“Let’s go back upstairs. We have more things to discuss.”
He shook his head.
“Not right now. We have to go get Rory out of jail.”
“You’re right, of course. How could I forget so soon?”
He hugged her.
“We’ve had a few other things on our minds.”
“That may be true, but we need to get him out and bring him home. You know he may not want to be part of the ranch. He may just want his money and to get out of Golden for good. The town doesn’t exactly hold good memories for him.”
Ben plucked her coat off a kitchen peg and held the garment for her to put on.
Then he grabbed his own coat and donned it.
Sheriff Robert Wayburn was well aware of the animosity between Rory and Ben so he was somewhat surprised when Ben and Emily showed up and requested to talk to Rory before deciding whether or not to press charges.
“Here he is,” said Wayburn as he opened the cell door for Ben. The sheriff locked the door after him.
Emily stood outside the cell.
Rory got off the cot and looked over at her.
“I’m sorry Emily. I never should have did what I done.”
“That’s a good beginning,” said Ben.
“Beginning? For what?” asked Rory.
“Sit down, little brother. We have a lot to talk about.”
Rory’s eyes got wide.
“Little brother? What changed your mind?”
“Mother.”
“Miz Doris? What, she told you I am who I said I was after all these years? What does she have to gain? Doris doesn’t do anything without gettin’ something in return.”
Ben grinned. “I threatened to banish her to a little house on the other side of the property.”
Rory shook his head in disbelief.
“That would definitely do it. But I warn you, she’ll change, she’ll try to harm Emily again because she really wants Melissa to marry you. I don’t know what those two got goin’ but you can be sure it ain’t nothing good.”
Ben’s grin faded replaced with angry determination.
“She’d better not. Emily is expecting and if anything happens…I’ll wring her neck with my own two hands.”
“No you won’t,” said Rory. “She’s your mother. You’ll banish her and go on with your life.”
Ben’s shoulders slumped.
“You’re right. She’s my mother.”
Emily couldn’t stay quiet any longer.
“And I’m your wife. Forgiving her for trying to hurt me is one thing, but if she makes me lose this baby for any reason…I’ll kill her.”