“It appears most everyone in the area kens the rules of the will for this property and all about the Amplefords, as well as how all the properties are connected. Does that nay aid ye in your claim?”
“It might, but John may well plan to fight it out in a higher court, and that would be in a town where people don’t know about us. And he never really showed that much interest in my house but coveted this one.”
“Which, from all I have heard, is verra weel protected.”
“My home has many of the same protections, but this comes down to what happens now while I and the boys still live. That requires the will Tom ne’er wrote.”
“Well, you can come here every single day so you don’t have to deal with him and we will find you a lawyer. You might also look through any papers Tom left behind. There might be something in them that will help you, maybe even show what his ideas on the matter were.” Belle briefly hugged her aunt, then sat back. “And if things get particularly bad, you can even stay a night or two.”
“That would be good. I will have to tell the boys before they stop in and find John and his family settled in. That could bring on a fight I don’t need. And it is her I cannot deal with. I really believe it is her who is pushing this. John knew exactly what Tom wanted. That woman just wants to be closer to the town and have a chance to be part of the society.”
“We have a society?”
Belle smiled when her aunt laughed, and then moved to pour the woman a cup of coffee. She set it down in front of Mary and pushed the jug of cream and pot of sugar closer to her. Then she filled up her cup again and served Geordie before sitting down.
“I think I put a box of Tom’s papers in the closet,” Mary said. “I didn’t look through them, just packed them. Tried to do it neatly and go drawer by drawer, but never looked at them. At the time it hurt just to look at his writing.”
“Would they have exchanged any letters about this? Ye live so close to each other, I cannae see why they wouldnae just visit to talk, but ye can never be sure. Some planning for it could have been done.”
Mary frowned in thought and nodded. “Tom would have consulted with my brother. He saw Noah as so much smarter than him. He would definitely have discussed it with him. Unfortunately, I forget much of the year before Tom died as he required so much aid, and all of my days were taken up with nursing him and knowing none of it was going to help.”
“So, we go through all of my dad’s papers. There is a big desk upstairs in what he called the study room. Then there is a smaller desk in the infirmary along with a small filing cabinet. A lot of paper to go through, though we can set aside the patient files.”
Mary nodded. “Which do you want to start with?”
“I think the study. You and I can plow our way through all that.”
“I will do the paper in the infirmary, if ye want,” Geordie said. “And if that doesnae give us much, I can wander into town and see who ye have there for a lawyer. My brother has one, Harvard-educated, and I have talked to him a lot, so might have a feel for who would be the best choice.”
“You have a Harvard-educated lawyer in the Ozark hills? Why would he open shop there?” asked Belle.
“Where he lived before there were too many people, and I think he may have had a touch of wanderlust. Iain hired him, was his first client, because the bank was trying to trick him into losing his lands when he got a loan. Fortunately, he had a bad feeling about it and hadnae signed the papers. Fellow not only fixed that but got the head of the bank booted out. Then his wife and Iain’s wife became friends, so we are kind of stuck with him.” He grinned. “Shame he is so far away.”
“Well, if you haven’t sent that letter yet”—Belle smiled when he hastily had a long drink of coffee—“maybe you can just ask if he knows anyone in this area who had knowledge of wills.”
“I could do that.”
“Best we get going on slogging our way through my father’s papers,” she said as she stood up. “He had very tidy handwriting, so it should not be too hard.”
Geordie watched the two women head up the stairs and then made his way into the infirmary. He hoped she was right about her father’s writing because his reading ability faltered over handwritten things far too often.
He found Robbie and Will very interested in what he was doing as he started to pull the papers out of the desk. Seeing an opportunity to cut down on the tedious work he faced, Geordie carried two chairs over to the desk for them to sit in and explained what he was looking for.
After sorting out what were obviously patient files, they each began to carefully read over the rest. Will found one file that had a list of things Noah and Tom had obviously decided needed to be put in a will, but no signatures or directions. Geordie doubted it would be enough to help them, but they set it aside so they could at least show Mary her husband had given the matter some serious thought.
As they began to put the files back, Geordie found himself staring at the patients’ files already returned to a drawer. One of them caught his eye and he frowned. He pulled it back out.
“What do ye want with that? It is a patient,” said Robbie.
“Is it? Who? After reading over so much of what the mon wrote I find it hard to believe he misspelled Bill. This says BIL, all capitals. Rather implies it is an abbreviation.”
“Short for some family names, like Billings?” asked Will.
“Or, just a thought, the abbreviation for brother-in-law.”
“Only one way to find out.”
Geordie took a deep breath and opened the file. He slowly flipped through a collection of letters. The ones that had come to the doctor were still in the envelopes and the ones he had answered were neatly copied onto a sheet of paper. A quick look did not show him a signed legal paper, but the correspondence between the Tom and Noah might contain all they needed.
“I think this might be some help.” He stood up. “Thanks for the help. If it does nothing else, it will ease Mary’s upset over the thought that her husband had not done anything to protect her and his kids. He had obviously begun and tried, but time caught up to him.”
“I can’t believe anyone could take her house. Everyone in town knows the story behind all the properties. Maybe you should have a close look at the old will.”
“A good idea. I will tell Belle.”
He made his way up to the room called the study and thought over what they had found. He had not looked carefully at what was in the file and really hoped they would find something that would provide more than a little ease of mind for Mary. He could not understand how a relation could do what this John was doing to his own brother’s wife and children.
When he stepped into the study, he stopped. The women sat on the floor with papers spread all around them. Both of them were reading papers. He was pleased that he and the boys had been so much better organized.
“Found something?” he asked, and both women startled in surprise.
“No. Not yet, anyway. I had not realized how many people my father had corresponded with.”
“Anyone important or famous?”
“No, sad to say. It appears he was keeping in touch with the Native side of the family. He often visited them to offer his doctoring skills. Then, when he got them a doctor who worked close by, he just answered any questions they had.”
“That was good of him.” He held out the file folder he had. “We think we found something. It was in the patients’ files because one of the boys thought it said Bill, but it was BIL, brother-in-law. It is correspondence between your da and Tom. We looked at some of it and it does appear that Tom was making plans for his will. We just didnae read enough to ken if he had anything legal done.”
“It is the same with all of these. There are some letters either to or from Tom about the need to make a will and answers from Da. A few others as well. We are hoping to find a lawyer in this mess.”
“Need a hand?” he asked as he sat down.
Belle put a couple folde
rs in front of him. “We are obviously not as quick as you.”
“I had your patients to help me. Something to do to break their boredom.”
“Huh. Never thought of enlisting their help.”
“As I said, we did not read each letter, so there could be something of import there, something to lead ye to a lawyer.”
“Well, I need a cold drink,” said Belle as she stood up.
They all went down into the kitchen and Belle poured out three tall glasses of lemonade. Then they sat and spread out the letters, each taking one to read through carefully. Geordie noticed a suspicious shine to Belle’s eyes on occasion as she carefully read each one.
“Well, a few lawyers are mentioned, but they were not hired to work on this,” said Mary. “I do not understand why it was such a problem to find someone.”
“There are a lot of people who do not like how so much land could end up in the hands of the Natives. And any one of the learned men who would be lawyers may have aspirations to run for office sometime, and would not want to be connected to any of it,” Belle said.
“Does that feeling run strong here?” Geordie asked.
“Not as strong as it might out where you are, but there are some who can be very pig-headed about Natives owning land. We don’t have much trouble, except from what considers itself society here, because we are Amplefords and that name has always been here, from the first settler on.”
“We also marry and have kids and so still live on that land.”
“You mean as long as we keep producing satisfactory heirs, they can rest easy?”
“That seems to be it.” Mary smiled at Geordie, who was laughing quietly. “People in a small town can be unending entertainment.”
“Oh, I ken that. Unfortunately, they can sometimes be dangerous. We pushed our luck a bit by hiring the Powells, shepherds, and running sheep on our land. Then the Powells married sisters who are Natives, half, and are now having babies. We are so out of the way, tucked up in the hills on our acres, that society can ignore us. I think the sisters get lost in the Scots, Welsh, and Irish up there, too. And one very English lady.”
“Good Lord.” Mary shook her head. “I mean, we are all countries mixed nearly everywhere here but most of us don’t sound like it like you do. I suspect the others do, too.”
“Mrs. O’Neal just sounds like she’s from New England, which is not much of a saving grace. We supported the Union. Didnae flaunt it but didnae keep it a secret either. That causes some tension still.” He politely ignored the somewhat profane opinions of the war muttered by the two women.
“Well, I think going through all these letters will take some time and we will probably need paper and pen to make some notes. I’ll just pick this stuff up, or one of the furry gang might play with it all and leave us only shreds of paper.”
* * *
It was late before Geordie had an opportunity to sit alone with Belle. She was studying the information she and her aunt had compiled from the many letters and papers they had gone through as she sipped her cup of hot chocolate. They had proof of what Mary’s husband had wanted in his will, but little else.
“Only one lawyer mentioned in all of that paper,” Geordie said. “I asked Iain to see if George, our lawyer, recognizes the name, and my letter will head out in the morning.”
“Well, at least Auntie found some comfort in seeing that Uncle had tried. His time simply ran out.”
“Will any of the other information help?”
“That will all depend on if the case ends up in court, where, and how the court sees it.”
“When do ye think he will try to act legally to take her house?”
“I fear it will not be long. He wants it and has already put his house up for sale. And from things Auntie said, his wife really wants the house.”
When she put her empty mug down, he wrapped his arms around her. “We will do all we can to help her sort this out. Her husband started the process of preparing a will, we have the proof of that, and we have proof of the things he wanted in it, right down to a list of who gets what. There may be more to find.” He kissed the top of her head. “Why dinnae we just go and sleep on all this?”
He took her by the hand and pulled her to her feet. Geordie swung her up into his arms, ignoring her soft squeal of protest. “I am carrying m’lady to our bedchamber. It is supposed to be romantic.”
Belle sighed and shook her head. “Whatever lady said it was romantic was obviously tall, one of those stately ladies who would never feel as if she was teetering precariously on some ledge.”
“Ye climb trees with ease and show no sign of fear.”
“Because I am the one doing it; I am the one in control. Here?” She waved her hand to illustrate her position. “No control at all. The best I can hope for is that, as I fall, I can grab hold of your shirt and it will not rip. That is just luck. Again, no control. Afraid I don’t like what that feels like.”
He walked into his bedchamber, walked up to his bed and, smiling at her, tossed her down onto it. While she was still held silent by shock, he settled his body over hers. He kissed her and began to undo her gown, kissing every patch of skin that appeared. He sat up when the gown was completely undone and tugged it off, pausing to tug off her shoes and toss them aside as well.
Sliding his hands under her petticoats, he untied her garters and rolled down each stocking, settling them more carefully on the floor. He dealt with her petticoats even quicker, leaving her in only her shift and her pantalets as he began to shed his own clothes. The way she stared at him, the blush on her cheeks deepening, made him smile. He kissed her, and she quickly wrapped her limbs around him.
They both struggled to shed the last of their clothing as quickly as possible. When their skin finally touched, Geordie sighed with pleasure and held her body close to his. He enjoyed her soft sigh of enjoyment as he stroked her.
Belle slid her hand down his belly and tentatively grasped his erection. When his body jerked she stroked him and he made no complaint. She decided she had just startled him with her boldness and grew more daring in her touch.
Geordie enjoyed her touch and the way his body hardened and grew needy. Then he decided he was getting too close to the edge and moved her hand, then slowly began to join their bodies. For a short while he moved slowly and gently but soon began to move with all the hunger and need of an untried boy. When her body tightened on his in release, it was all it took to take him over the edge.
He rolled onto his side and lightly petted her as he thought over what they had yet to talk about. At some point they needed to have a serious discussion about where this affair should go. It was going to be a difficult thing to sort out as they both had close-knit families they would be loath to leave. But now there were trains, he thought, as she turned on her side and snuggled up against him.
“It was probably good that ye didnae let your auntie stay the night. Ye screamed.”
“I did no such thing, and I don’t know how you could have heard my ladylike cry over your roaring.” She patted his hip. “Like a lion on the hunt.”
He just grinned as he felt her relax in sleep. Kissing the back of her neck, he decided to go to sleep as well. They would face that difficult talk tomorrow, he decided.
Chapter Fifteen
Geordie was bringing coffee to Robbie and Will while he struggled to think of how to describe Robbie’s injuries in a letter to his family. He wanted to explain the possibility of his leg improving as a result of Belle’s treatment, but he did not want to give his family too much hope, nor did he want to be too pessimistic and make them worry.
He walked in and served Robbie and Will their coffee, then sat on the edge of Robbie’s bed. Taking a drink of coffee, he pulled the letter he had been writing out of his pocket. His brother sat up straighter, looked over what he had written, then frowned at him.
“Why are ye showing me this?”
“I am stuck. I dinnae want to sound too hopeful, raise their hopes a
nd all, but I dinnae want to be all dark and gloomy, either.”
“Just say exactly what is happening. After all, I havenae really tested it out yet. Still too weak to try walking around on it. It doesnae sit there aching like it used to, and thank God for that, but who can say what it will do if I start walking on it regularly? Just say that. My leg is fixed, because it is straight again, but not really tested.”
Geordie laughed. “Aye, I suppose that will do. Do ye ken when we might have a better idea?”
“In a few days,” said Belle as she walked up to stand at the foot of Robbie’s bed.
“Hey! What about my leg?” said Will. “I didn’t even break mine, but I am still stuck here.”
Belle sighed. “Such whining. No, you didn’t, but you did get a great big bullet hole in your thigh and that needs to close up nice and tight. I also didn’t want you going back to work until it is completely healed. I have the feeling Bennet would be putting you right back to work if I sent you back.”
Will sighed and nodded. “Yup, he would do that. Been surprised he hasn’t come round to yell at me for malingering or something like that.”
“Oh, he has. Says how I need to hurry up and fix what I did to you because he has some cows nearing their time to calf.”
“Damn. I wish he had never found out Uncle Ben was an animal doc.”
“Has you taking care of them all the time, does he?” she asked as she began to carefully remove the stitching in his leg, pleased to see that his short time in the water had not damaged it badly.
“He does, but he doesn’t pay me like I really am the animal doctor. Sometimes he says things that make me think he has been watching me for a while. He knew exactly what he was hiring.”
Belle murmured in agreement as she worked out a particularly difficult stitch. “I suspect he did, maybe even got your uncle to talk about your work so he would get an even better idea of how good you are. Him using you as his assistant so much only confirmed all Bennet had seen you do. Why didn’t you become a horse doctor?”
The Scotsman Who Swept Me Away Page 16