Chapter 38 #3
Gravel filled his throat. “I’m the son who has worked since childhood to be the person you could count on. But I’m also the son who has made too many promises, and I’m caught in the tug of war between them.”
“Impetuous. That’s what you are. Wait a year. If you’re still all google-eyed over Miss Scott, send for her to come visit.”
Ben lowered himself down to the edge of the seat. “If I don’t act now, I might lose my chance with her forever.”
His father snorted. “If that happens, she wasn’t the lady for you. Problem solved.”
“I’m sure you were not so laissez-faire about it when you pursued mother.”
“Don’t you get uppity with me, Benjamin.”
The door clicked.
“Who’s there?” his father called out.
Evie peeked around the door’s edge.
“What are you doing, daughter?”
“You two are speaking so loudly, I couldn’t help but hear.”
Despite his knotted gut, Ben’s lips threatened to erupt in a smile. She’d probably had her ear pressed to the door panel.
“Well, get on down the hall with you, then.” Father dismissed her.
She clasped her hands behind her back and wiggled into the room, closing the door with her foot. Dark waves of hair cascaded across her shoulders and down her back. “But I could help.”
Father’s eyebrows bunched together. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m a good writer, and I could learn to be a decent editor.” Her complexion glowed.
“You’re a girl.” Father’s voice rose.
“A girl you sent to college at Oberlin.” She crossed the room to the desk. “Let Ben go to Texas and rescue his maiden from the Comanche. I’ll help while he’s away—”
“The Comanche?” Father’s eyes popped wide.
“She’s not under literal attack at this moment.” Ben rolled his eyes toward his sister. Just like her to dramatize and romanticize the facts he’d shared with her privately. “But the danger is real. A war chief is the one who proposed to her. If she declines, he could take her captive.”
“If she’s entertaining a war chief, she deserves what she gets. I can’t believe you’d keep company with such a woman.”
Ben clenched his jaw. “She lives on the frontier alone with her nine-year-old brother. If a war chief comes calling, she has little choice but to feign interest to buy time.” She was feigning, wasn’t she?
“Send her a telegram. Tell her to either move into town or call troops to protect her.”
Ben narrowed his eyes. “You don’t understand what it’s like there.”
“Let me help with Ben’s work.” Evie swung her arms wide. “There’s no law that says a newspaper reporter has to be a man. Women can write. Look at Harriet Beecher Stowe. Lincoln said her book helped start the war.”
“See what trouble writing got her into?” Father glowered. “Your place is in the home, young lady.”
“You sent me to college.”
“So you can be a helpmeet to your husband and teach your children. If you go poking your head into a man’s world, you’ll ruin your chances of marrying a decent gentleman.”
Ben scoffed. “Any man should count himself blessed to have a chance at winning Evie’s heart. She’s a gem, and in addition to her feminine charms, she can write as well as I can. I’m sure she could polish her editing skills in no time and be an asset to the paper.”
“I’m not throwing my daughter into the world of men.” Father slammed his fist on the desk.
“I can look after myself, Father.” Evie flipped her hand against her skirt.
“You have no idea.” Father snorted. “Thorson, Edmondson, all of the rest would have no respect for you. They’d have a good laugh, escort you out of the room, and then proceed to write me out of any real authority in the paper, make me a partner in name only.” A hacking cough rattled through him.
She threw herself down on the sofa, her lips in a pout. “Too bad they can’t look at my writing and keep their eyes off my sex.” She huffed out a breath.
Father drank from his water glass. “The newsroom is too coarse for anyone of the gentler—”
“I could work from home.” She brightened. “Ben could give me a quick course in editing. Then he could have an errand boy bring the assignments or articles to me. We could pretend that it’s you doing the work, or that Ben can’t come to the office for some reason.”
“Brilliant,” Ben cheered.
“You expect them to believe that Ben’s too unwell to come to the office for two months? They’d demote him to errand boy. I might as well be doing the work.” His father threw himself back in his chair. “Might as well go into the office and take on the whole load again.”
“No.” Ben sat forward, elbows on knees. “Your doctor laid down the law. You’re to stay home for now.
Evie can do it. I know she can. If we but give her the chance.
She’s been waiting for such an opportunity.
She could even travel into the city each morning to pick up work for you.
Tell them I’ve been called away on an emergency.
She could handle the lion’s share of the work, and you can do a portion. ”
“A portion?” His father sputtered. “You two think you can tell me what to do? That’ll be the day. I’d have to be not just on but under my deathbed before I’d stoop to being ordered about by my children. If I can’t count on my son to live up to his duties, I’ll—”
“You can count on your son to delegate appropriate responsibilities to your very capable daughter.” Ben stood and hooked his thumbs beneath his suspenders, hope rising in his heart. “You appointed me to be your representative at the paper. It’s my decision.”
“You’ll not regret it.” Evie hopped off the couch and bounded over to him.
“I haven’t agreed to it, young lady.” Father sank against the padded back of his chair. “I won’t pave the way for my son to toss his duties aside while—”
“He’s not tossing, Father.” She leaned halfway across the desk. “He’s rescuing his maiden. You taught him to be a knight.”
His father gawked at her as if he didn’t know whether to laugh, scold, or banish them both to the dungeon until further notice.
“You wear me out, daughter.” He returned his spectacles to the bridge of his nose. “But no amount of your bubbling enthusiasm is going to set things right at the paper. Your brother has offended Edmondson to the core.”
Ben huffed. “Tell him I’m deranged if you have to. But if Edmonson has any business sense, he’ll put the good of the paper before his daughter’s temper. And if it’ll satisfy his wrath, let him appoint Thorson editor for now.”
Father’s lip curled.
Evie tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Don’t tell him any such thing about Ben. The whole controversy will be forgotten once another beau catches Olivia’s eye. I can’t imagine that it’ll take too much longer.”
“Evie.” Father shook his head. “You see rainbows where others see clouds. The trouble is that the clouds are the reality.”
“But, Father…” She swung on Ben’s arm. “The clouds are just in the way. Once they shift or a strong wind comes, we can see the blue that was there all along.”
Ben’s heart lifted. He squeezed his sister’s hand. Maybe the Lord would open the door to Cora, one step at a time. If he could get her and Charlie to winter at Garret’s, maybe he could convince them to stay longer. A year or more if needed, until Ben could work out something with the paper...
A winter without Cora? A year without her? His heart clenched. But he would not give up. He was going to Texas, and he would propose, no matter how long the wait for her hand.