Chapter 21
Papa was bent over his desk, working and reworking the figures for his land acquisitions. He barely looked up when she walked in. “What is it, Hattie? I’ve got a lot going on right now.”
“This is important.” She stood in front of his desk. It’d taken a lot just to come in here and face him. Hattie had considered not telling him at all and just running away. More than once, she and Oscar had talked about it. But their love was genuine, and she didn’t want to hide it.
With a sigh, Papa tossed his pen into the inkwell and looked up. “Yes?”
She stood as tall and straight as she could, even though she’d never been very tall at all. No matter how much Mama had tried to make her conduct herself like a lady, it’d never really taken. “Oscar and I are engaged.”
Papa’s eyes were the same color as Hattie’s, the deep green of grass. They hardened into emeralds and his jaw tightened. “What? What did you just say?”
“Oscar and I are engaged.” She said it with just as much confidence as she had the first time. Papa only made her repeat it because he was trying to intimidate her.
“No,” he said slowly, “you aren’t.”
“We are,” she returned, and her fists curled at her sides. It was like arguing with Ingrid, going back and forth when nobody could truly win. “He’s asked me, and I’ve said yes.”
“He never came to ask my permission.” Papa’s face was flushing pink.
“Because you’d never give it to him anyway. You hate him simply because he’s Mr. Davies’ son, and that’s not fair.” Oh, she truly sounded like a child! But Hattie wasn’t a child anymore. Oscar had specifically waited until she was eighteen.
“What do you expect me to do? Just nod and smile because it’s what my little girl wants?
I’ve been very tolerant, Hattie. I’ve tried to accommodate your unusual ways.
I’ve defended you when your mother tried to tame you into a delicate young lady.
I taught you many things that I would only teach to a son if I had one, and now you turn on me like this? ”
Her toes curled inside her boots as she resisted the urge to stomp her feet. “It doesn’t have anything to do with you, Papa. Can’t you see that? This is about me and my life. It’s about what I want.”
“What you want has exceeded the bounds of decency!” Papa shot to his feet, making his chair scrape across the floor. “Hattie Monroe, you are not engaged to that son of a criminal!”
“Mr. Davies is not a criminal,” she asserted. “He’s a businessman, just like you are. The two of you don’t agree, but that doesn’t mean anyone has done anything wrong.”
“That just shows what you know, Hattie.” Papa came around his desk, and his face had deepened to crimson. “Davies could’ve made a reasonable agreement with me, and I’d have signed it in an instant. Instead, he wants to get my land for nothing!”
She crossed her arms and pushed out her lips. “Don’t you always try to get the best price?”
“Oh, Hattie! You’re so blinded by a handsome face that you can’t see the truth. It infuriates me that those men would fool you this way, and yet I’m even more angry that you could fall for it!” Spittle scattered from his mouth, and he pointed his finger irritably in the air.
“Nobody is fooling me!” she insisted. By now, she was sure, their voices were being carried to the rest of the house. Mother and Ingrid would know exactly what was happening, but neither of them would dare to come in.
“Think about it!” Papa tapped his finger on his temple. “Davies can’t get the land he wants from me, so he sends his son to marry you! Oscar is just using you, hoping you can bat your eyelashes at me and get me to give you that land as a wedding present or something.”
Heat burned inside her. She had a temper. She knew it, and everyone was quick to remind her of it, but she couldn’t remember ever being this angry. “Oscar loves me! How dare you say such a thing?”
“I don’t have to dare, Hattie!” Papa seethed. His face had gone from crimson to violet, and a vein in his forehead pulsed ominously. “I’m your father, and I know what’s best whether you like it or not!”
“You’re just a spiteful old man, and I hate you!”
The slap came so quickly that she didn’t have any time to put her hand up. Hattie’s face swung to the side, and her cheek burned. Tears instantly flooded her eyes, accompanied by a bitter loathing.
“I’m sorry that I had to do that, Hattie.” Papa turned away from her and went back to his desk. “I’ve been too permissive with you, but it stops right now. You are to go up to your room for the rest of the afternoon. I’ll be discussing the rest of your punishment with your mother.”
She took a step backwards, towards the door. This hadn’t gone at all the way she’d planned.
Papa went back to his bookkeeping, his face calm and placid. When he noticed she hadn’t left, he made a shooing motion with his hand as though she were just an annoying puppy. “Go on. I’ve got a lot of work to get done.”
Hattie turned and ran from the room, hating herself for not doing more.
She was a bride-to-be, an engaged woman.
Her fiancé was the son of a wealthy and well-known man.
Her parents were supposed to be thrilled.
Her afternoon was supposed to be filled with talk about dresses and flowers, not spent crying on her bed.
So she wouldn’t. Hattie reached the bottom of the stairs, but she turned and went out the door instead.
“Hattie!” someone cried as she ran toward the property line.
She didn’t turn to look back. Hattie ran down the road, her legs pumping and her hair flying. Her legs burned, but she didn’t stop until she reached the corner. There, she slowed to a hasty walk as she made her way up the long lane of Mr. Davies’ property.
A low whistle by the barn caught her attention. Cutter was saddling up his horse, but he strode over. “Well, now. What happened to you?”
Cutter Kincaid had always made her uncomfortable. Hattie didn’t know exactly what he did for Mr. Davies, only that he was employed by him. She’d always tried to be polite due to that fact, but if he was any other man out in public, she’d have ignored him or turned away.
He grabbed her chin between his thumb and his finger, turning her face one way and then the other. “Damn. Did someone finally get tired of your smart mouth?”
His brother Bo had joined him. He didn’t touch Hattie, but he stood next to Cutter and smirked. “It’s about time. Look at that. He even split her lip.”
Hattie reached up and touched her mouth, surprised that her finger came away covered in blood. She’d been so angry she hadn’t even noticed. “It…It was just a misunderstanding.”
“Heh. I’m sure.” Cutter let go of her chin, but his gaze still swept over her face. Some women never learn, though.”
“Where are you headed?” Hattie nodded toward their horses. She didn’t want to walk away rudely at the risk of offending her future father-in-law, but neither could she tell them about her argument with her father.
Cutter and Bo shared an amused look.
“I suppose if you want to know about that,” Bo said, taking the long gun from the back of his saddle and checking the ammunition, “you probably ought to speak to Mr. Davies.”
“He’s not in right now, but I imagine you’re just here to see Oscar, anyway.” Cutter worked up a gob of phlegm from the back of his throat and spit it on the ground.
“I am, if you’ll excuse me.” She turned and went to the house, but Hattie could feel their eyes on her back. She shuddered, hoping they wouldn’t notice. Men like the Kincaid brothers would just be amused if they knew how much they bothered her.
“Oscar?” she called as she stepped through the door.
“Hattie?” His boots thundered down the back hall. “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. What did he—”
He stopped short as he entered the foyer. His blue eyes swept over her, and then he crossed the room in two large strides. “Did he do this to you?” he asked in a harsh whisper.
“It didn’t go very well. Ow.” She pulled back as he touched her cheek. His fingers were gentle, and he examined her with far more delicacy than Cutter had, but every touch hurt.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not as sorry as he’s going to be.” His face was now flushing the same shade of red that Papa’s had as he slid his thumb along her jaw. “He can’t do this to you. I should’ve been there with you.”
“No. It’s probably better that you weren’t.” Papa would’ve been just as furious if Oscar had been there, or maybe even more so. She could just imagine the resulting brawl, and it would’ve been far worse than a slap across the face.
“I can’t believe that.” Oscar’s hands slid down her arms until he clasped her fingers in his own. “I’m so sorry, Hattie. I’ll fix this.”
“You can’t!” She turned away as tears spilled over her lashes. Hattie wasn’t the kind of woman who cried. She simply wasn’t. She was strong and fierce, and she didn’t let people get to her.
“I’ll talk to him,” Oscar began.
“And tell him that you really do love me?” she asked thickly. Hattie rested her hand on the newel post. She pressed her other hand to her eyes, but it hurt too badly.
“Of course.” He moved behind her, gliding his fingers down the back of her neck and across her shoulders. “Why do you say that? Do you doubt me?”
“Papa does.” Fresh tears blurred her vision. She hated for Oscar to see her like this, but at least the Kincaids weren’t witnessing it. They’d have a grand old time teasing her. “He says you’re only marrying me so that your father can get Papa’s land.”
“Hattie.” He turned her around and held her in his arms. “Look at me. You know that’s not true, right?”
She forced herself to meet his gaze, though she was still ashamed of her tears. All the hardness and worry inside her melted when she looked at his brilliant blue eyes and his mane of blond hair. Oscar had full lips and a strong jaw. He was a far more handsome man than she deserved.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, I know.”
“Good.” He pulled her close and kissed her, cupping the back of her skull in his hand. “The problem between our fathers doesn’t have anything to do with us, and I’m going to prove it.”
“They’ve been raging at each other for months. I think it might even be a year at this point. I don’t see how we can change any of that.”
Hattie had already tried sitting down and talking with her father. She’d feigned interest in his business, which got him to open up to her a little. Eventually, though, when the subject became Mr. Davies and the railroad he wanted to build, Papa had shut the conversation down immediately.
“But think about it,” Oscar urged. “Think how wonderful our lives could be if the two of them would just set aside their differences. You and I have already decided to stop sneaking around, to come clean and let the whole world know we want to get married.
“If they’d put these petty differences aside, then we could have a proper wedding. A big one, and we’d invite half the town. It would be the event of the year, and everyone would know how happy we are together.” He closed his hands around her waist. “What do you say?”
Hattie had never been the kind of girl who dreamed about pretty dresses or big weddings, but Oscar had a way of stirring up those feelings. “It sounds wonderful, but I’m worried it’s nothing more than a fantasy. You’ll never convince your father to give up his railroad.”
“No,” he confirmed, “but I can convince your father to sell his land.” Oscar pulled away from her and retrieved his coat.
“What?” She followed him, a heavy stone in her stomach. “He won’t listen to you.”
“He might. He’s a businessman. He just needs a reasonable offer, and then he can’t possibly refuse,” Oscar insisted as he shrugged into his coat. “Once the land is transferred, nobody will even dream that our marriage is a business contract.”
Oscar whipped open the front door. “Cutter! Bo! Change of plans!”
Fear spiked through her heart. She didn’t want the Kincaids in her home. She didn’t want Oscar to make a fool of himself by trying to talk to her father. “I’ll come with you.”
His lips tightened. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
She’d have gladly avoided Cutter and Bo, but for her future marriage she would put up with almost anything. “If you can’t convince him, then maybe the two of us can. Together.”
Oscar looked at her for a long moment, his eyes tracing the mark on her cheek. “All right, but we have to be careful about this. We’ll discuss our plans on the way. Just promise me you’ll do everything I say. I know what I’m doing.”
“All right.”
“Saddle an extra horse!” he called out the door.
In short order, Hattie rode toward her home with Oscar at her side. Cutter and Bo were on their heels, but Hattie tried to pretend they weren’t there. Oscar was just bringing them along because that was what his father always did.
A scab was forming in the center of her top lip. It tugged at her skin and made moving her mouth difficult, but even that couldn’t bring her down. They would sit down and reason with Papa. He’d come to see that he’d been a fool all along. He might even apologize.
She smiled as she envisioned Papa reaching across his desk and shaking Oscar’s hand. It made her lip bleed again. A little bit of blood was worth it if she got what she wanted in the end.