Bill came to the door, opened it and walked in. “My office. Now,” he said, turned and returned to his office.
“Close the door, sit down and keep your mouth shut. Understand?”
“Yes. Bill, I… “
“I said, keep your mouth shut,” Bill roared. Heads in the outer office turned in their direction, unsure about what was going on. “I just got off the phone with the corporate office. They received the evaluation and have transferred Laura back there.”
Jonathon interrupted, “Bill, that’s not… “
“I said shut up,” Bill yelled.
“Corporate feels you are too valuable to fire, despite my recommending it. I doubt anyone here will work with you, when they hear what you did. I’m under orders not to tell them. I don’t think Laura will tell them. Wait a minute, you did tell her didn’t you? Were you at least that much of a man?”
“I told her all of it. She’s devastated. I think she has gone home. Last night, She told me she loved me. We were going to have a future together. That’s all gone now.
“I think it would be best for me to resign, I don’t want to cause any more problems than I have.”
“I might have known, you’re a quitter too. I can’t believe you and Rebecca are from the same family. She’s not going to believe this.”
“Does she have to know?” Jonathon asked.
“I submitted a request to be transferred to a project in Katy. She will wonder why I’m leaving here, and I refuse to lie to her. So, I’m going to tell her. I’ve come to care for he a great deal. I just hope this doesn’t ruin our relationship too.”
Chapter 13: Can We Talk?
After the second day Laura was absent from work, Jonathon began worrying. He knew she wouldn’t want to talk to him, so he didn’t attempt to call. He didn’t even know whether she had a phone. He decided to take a day off from work, knowing he wouldn’t be missed.
He knocked on her door, standing to the side, so she couldn’t see him through the peephole. She didn’t open the door, instead, asking the identity. After hesitating, he said, “Laura, it’s Jonathon. I have to talk to you. Please open the door.”
“No! Please leave. I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Laura, please open the door. I promise not to come close. Please?”
He heard the safety chain being removed and the door opened. She stood there, eyes bloodshot, and hair unruly. “What do you want?” she asked in a voice as cold as ice.
“I was… am worried about you. No one has heard from you or anything, Bill wouldn’t tell me anything.”
“There’s nothing to tell. You’re getting what you wanted. I’m not assigned here any more. I hope you’re satisfied,” she said.
“I called the corporate office and talked to personnel. I told them I had made a stupid, spiteful mistake and needed to correct it. I offered to resign if they allowed you to stay here. Since the transfer has already been effected, they wouldn’t do anything about it.
“I told them I would quit unless they brought you back into the Beaumont office. They reminded me I had a non-compete clause in my contract and couldn’t work, but I let them know I didn’t care, that my father wanted me to manage the farm anyway.
“They relented because this project cannot go forward without us working on it.” He looked into her puffy eyes, and said, “It was not an idle threat. If you are not back in the Beaumont office, then neither am I. It’s all I can do. I’m trying to make it right, but I know I can’t wipe away the hurt I’ve caused you. Please?”
“You really did all of that?” she asked, her lips quivering.
“I did. And I meant every word. You have a bright future ahead. Don’t throw it away, because of a stupid thing I did. I’m going, I won’t bother you again.”
“Wait. What are you going to do?” she asked.
“I’m going back to the farm. After that, I don’t know. I will probably run the farm. Maybe do some exploration. It doesn’t matter.”
“You’ll be miserable as a farmer,” she said.
“No more miserable than I am now.” He left, leaving an equally miserable Laura.
The next morning, Laura went into the office. His office was empty. He had never had personal things in there, but there was no sign he had even been there. She went to Bill’s office. “Where’s Jonathon?” she asked.
“He’s gone. He came in this morning, and emptied his desk and left. I don’t know where he was going or what he’s planning.
“I spoke with personnel this morning. They have rescinded your transfer. You are again part of this office.”
“I don’t want to be a part of this office if he’s not here. He’s the only reason I'm here. I wanted to work with him,” she said.
“Well, I don’t know where he was going, so there’s nothing I can do,” Bill said.
“If I can get him back, could you work with him?” she asked.
“I have a request to transfer out,” he said, “but I don’t think they will let me, if Johnny is gone too.”
“But could you work with him?” she asked.
“I guess I could, he was genuinely sorry for what he did. He was in tears, pleading with me to stop the evaluation from being acted upon, but it was too late.”
“I think I know where to find him, but I just don’t know how to get there. Rebecca does, though. Tell me how I can contact her. After she kills him, she’ll tell me where he is.”
Bill laughed, and gave her Rebecca’s phone number in Houston.
* * *
“Becky, this is Laura. No, I’m fine. He’s why I’m calling though. I need your help. He’s disappeared, but I think he went to your parent’s place. I love him, Becky, I’ve forgiven him for what he did, but he doesn’t know that. They rescinded my transfer, so I’m still in Beaumont. I talked with Bill, and he can work with him, but he doesn’t know how to contact him either.”
“I can give you the telephone number for the farm, but he’ll be so filled with false pride, and self pity, he wouldn’t talk to you. Tell you what. I’ll come up there tomorrow, and we’ll go to the farm together. After I beat him half to death, then you can talk to him, though why you want him back, I don’t understand.”
“You don’t know how much I appreciate this. I’ll see you tomorrow. Do you want me to tell Bill you’re coming?”
“No, don’t do that. He might try to stop us, and I like him too much to fight with him. I’ll let Mama know we’re coming, but ask her to keep our secret. It’s about a four hour train ride. .
Rebecca made the introductions, adding, “Mama was a mail order bride.”
“Was she really?”
“We lived in Yorkville, where many men were lost, my father among them. She found someone in another state she liked so she went for him. You’ll get to see how well that all worked out.
When they arrived at the farm, they were greeted by a barking dog. Her mother stood on the porch, drying her hands.
“Where is he, Mama?”
“I think he and his Pa went to the general store to get some fencing material to replace some that had been damaged. We’re trying to keep livestock from ruining what’s left of the cotton.
“Do you want to tell me what is going on?” Rebecca’s mother, Sarah, asked.
Your son made a big mess of things in Beaumont and Laura asked me to help, so I’m going to try. Then I’m going to kill him, plain out.
“Just do it outside,” Sarah said. “It’s hard to get blood stains out.”
“I should have called Cass. It would have been nice to have her around in case the maiming goes too far.”
“You’re terrible, Laura will think we have a bunch of miscreants, when actually, there’s only your brother.”
Chapter 14: A Confrontation
A distressed look appeared on Johnny’s face when he walked in from the barnyard.
“Hello, Jonathon,” said Laura.
Rebecca was more to the point. “You despicable little shit,”
she said.
“Hello, Laura. I’m surprised to see you here. Rebecca, I suppose Bill told you?”
“Told me what? No, he didn’t tell me anything and he’s going to pay for that. I’m here because no one could find you, and Laura was worried. When she called me and told me you had disappeared, but she thought you would be here. She asked for directions to get here. She was coming to make sure you’re all right.”
“Since Laura already told you, I won’t go into the details, but I am ashamed of what I did. I thought it would be best if I extricated myself from their lives and let them return to normal,” he said.
“Return to normal? Don’t you understand? She loves you and is worried about you. What in the world did you do?” Rebecca asked.
“You didn’t tell her?” he asked Laura.
“No, I didn’t think it was anything she needed to know,” Laura replied.
“Needed to know what?” asked a confused Rebecca.
“Let’s go into the living room, and get Mama too, She might as well hear about it. Can we wait until Pa comes in. I’ll just tell everyone.”
With the entire family assembled, except for Cassie, Jonathon, Laura and Rebecca were on the sofa, John and Sarah in the easy chairs, Jonathon stood, “Let me begin by saying how I’m ashamed of what I’m about to tell you, and the hurt I’ve caused Laura. I’ve apologized and I’ve left Texas Fuels.”
“What is this about, Jonathon?” his mother asked.
“Please, Mama, I’m about to tell you, but let me tell it my own way. I love this girl here so much it hurts, and I’ve caused her humiliation, and embarrassment. I know I’ve hurt her deeply and I’m truly sorry.” He looked at Laura, saw the tears forming in her eyes, and choked, then he continued.
“At Texas Fuels, new employees are on probation for ninety days. Their supervisor writes an evaluation at the end of the probationary period. Laura was assigned to work with me, so that fell to me. I didn’t want to work with anyone, so I asked them to assign her to another area, but was told in no uncertain terms, she would be working with me. It wouldn’t have mattered if she had been a male genius, I would have felt the same.”
Rebecca interrupted, “Now there’s an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one.”
“Please, Becky,” Jonathon said. “At the end of the ninety days, I wrote the most one-sided deprecating report possible. I put several unkind and untrue things in the review. I suggested she didn’t belong in the field and should be reassigned to the home office, if she were retained. I submitted the report directly to corporate instead of giving it to Bill Barnes. He wouldn’t have allowed it to leave the office.”
A look of disbelief appeared on his mother and father’s faces. Rebecca had a shocked expression. She was having trouble keeping her composure, she was so mad. Laura was crying, the tears flowing down her cheeks.
“After I turned in the report, things changed. It turned out we worked well together and Laura was making positive contributions to my blowout preventer project. On a few occasions, after working late, we joined some of the office people at the Gusher Tavern. And to make it short, I fell in love with Laura, and told her so.
“The realization of the enormity of what I had done hit me. I told her everything. All of the dirty details. I didn’t leave anything out. I tried to get the evaluation blocked, but it was too late and had already been acted on. Laura was reassigned to the corporate office. I pleaded with Bill, but he was unable to do anything. Laura’s assigned to corporate, Bill requested a transfer to Katy, not wanting to work with me any more. It was time for me to leave the company and let things return to normal. So I did.”
“I don’t believe this,” Rebecca said. “Looking at Laura, I can see it’s true. And for your information, little brother, Bill didn’t request a transfer to get away from you, he’s too strong a man to do that. He wanted to be closer to Houston, where I am. If you’ve messed things up between us, you’re dead meat.”
Neither of his parents could find words to express their feelings. That their son was suffering, there was no doubt.
“Jonathon,” Laura began, her lip quivering, “the transfer was cancelled. I’m still assigned to Beaumont and to you and your project. I forgave you as soon as you told me about it. I was hurt and I was mad, but I forgave you. I love you. Please come back and let’s work together. We’re a good team.”
She reached over and took Johnny’s hand and buried her head in his shoulder, her body shaking with the emotion, and her sobs audible. He put his arm around her, and pulled her close. “I love you, Laura. I do.”
“You don’t deserve her, Johnny. “Don’t cause her any more pain,” Rebecca said.
“Laura, come take a walk with me. Please.” He took her hand, then put his arm around her shoulder; she responded by putting her arm around his waist, as they went outside.
The walk took them down the paths between the cotton fields. Jonathon told her about his mother being a mail order bride, after having lost her husband in the Civil War. He told her how his father’s first wife had died of pneumonia, leaving Cassie for him to raise, how after corresponding, she and Rebecca left their family in South Carolina to come to Texas and marry his father-to-be.
“That’s a beautiful story,” Laura said, as they returned to the porch and sat in the swing. “Your mother is a courageous woman. It’s no wonder her children are so accomplished, and I include Cassie.”
“She is courageous. So is Pop. He was wounded and held in a Yankee prison for over two years, then came home to find his wife frail and worn out.”
“What are you going to do, Jonathon. Can you come back and continue as my mentor? What are we going to do about us? I love you. You’re the first and only man I’ve ever loved. I want you in my life.”
“I want to be part of your life, too,” he said. “I’ll call Bill and talk to him.
…
“Bill, Jonathon. I’m at the farm. Laura came up here with Becky. Laura is asking me to come back to work. I’ll only do that if…”
Chapter 15: A New Beginning
“… if you are okay with it. Can we make it work?
“Okay then, We’ll see you the day after tomorrow.
Later…
“Laura, I love you with all of my heart and soul. Will you do the honor of becoming my wife?”
“Yes, I will, Jonathon, I will.”
“I told Bill we would be there day after tomorrow. Will you go with me to ask your father for your hand?”
“Yes. And he will be pleased.”
“Let’s go tell everyone.”
“Mama, Pop, Becky, we have something to tell you. I have just asked Laura to be my wife. She has accepted my proposal. She will be going with me tomorrow, to ask her father for her hand.”
“Rebecca, thank you. I’m not sure this would have happened without your help.” Laura said. “Would you be my maid-of-honor?”
“I would be honored to. I’m so happy for the two of you, I could cry. I knew you were meant for each other the first time I saw you together, even when Johnny was at his worst. Any thoughts on when?”
“Mother always wanted a big wedding for me. Since I’m her only daughter, she’ll not miss this chance.”
Sarah walked over, put her arms around Laura and hugged her. “Welcome to our family. You’ll be a great addition. Maybe you can give me grandbabies. My two daughters don’t seem to be making any progress toward that end.”
“Don’t be too sure. You might be surprised,” Laura said.
Looking at Rebecca, “Is there something you’ve kept from me?” Sarah asked.
“Mother, how can you ask such a question. When I become engaged, I promise you will be the first to know.”
Always quiet, Clint said, “Warts and all, you’re getting a fine man, Laura. He’ll make you a good husband, or he’ll answer to me.” He smiled and hugged her.
Later that afternoon…
“Are you familiar with the signs of an oil deposit,” Jonathon as
ked Laura.
“A little. I was at school when most of the wells on our property came in, but Papa showed me the sites, and I was there when a few were struck.”
“Come on, I want to show you something.” They went to the back where he hitched the horse to the wagon and gave her a boost onto the seat. They rode down the path between the cotton fields. Jonathon stopped the wagon, and helped her down. They walked over to a slight rise in the ground.
Texas OilMan's Bride (Mail Order Bride Series) Page 7