The sputter of an approaching car set them into motion. Colman slurped the last of his coffee while Ivy took up her gathering basket, donned her hat and gloves, and kissed her grandfather on the cheek. “I’ll be home in time to make supper,” she said, then gave Colman a coy look. “Which means this fellow may follow me home again.”
“Well, if you’re extending an invitation . . .”
“You’re always welcome here,” Ivy said, wrapping her hand around his elbow and tugging him toward the door.
Her touch set off something inside him. It was like music but without specific notes. It tickled up and down his whole body and finally reached his head, where it was like light filling his mind. He was so surprised he could hardly put one foot in front of the other. Then she released him to hurry ahead across the creek and on to the car. Whatever music had been playing stopped as abruptly as it began. He blinked after her, then reminded himself to follow, trying to shake off the odd sensations still echoing through his spirit.
Once he reached the car, though, any pleasant thoughts left him. Mack was driving, and he didn’t look any too pleased to see Colman tagging along.
“Colman is coming with us today to visit Serepta,” Ivy explained.
“Well that’s a terrible idea,” Mack said. “You know she doesn’t much care for the Harpes.” He sneered at Colman. “Although I suppose this one is harmless enough.”
Colman held his tongue as he slid into the car beside Mack. Ivy clambered into the back seat. No one spoke until they pulled up at Walnutta. Mack turned to Colman. “What is it you plan to say to my mother?”
“Just a local pastor paying a call,” Colman said.
“Mother isn’t a member of whatever congregation you’ve managed to cobble together.”
Colman grinned at the man scowling beside him. “No. But she could be.” He then hopped out of the car and started up the walk, his heart thudding in his chest. Doggone if he wasn’t nervous about this.
Emmaline came flying out the front door and clattered down the steps. “Ivy, Ivy, come see! The cat had kittens in the barn.”
And just like that, Ivy and the child disappeared, leaving Colman alone with Mack and Serepta, who had followed Emmaline onto the porch. The older woman stood with her feet wide apart and arms crossed. Her blue eyes glinted.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” she asked.
Colman swallowed hard. “Making the rounds of the neighborhood. Visiting is an important part of the Lord’s work.”
Serepta’s gaze didn’t flicker. “Come in.” She turned and disappeared inside.
Colman wasn’t sure who was more surprised, him or Mack. But he didn’t stop to ponder the invitation, just hurried up the steps and into Serepta’s study. Mack followed close behind.
“Sit.” Serepta waved him toward a chair while she settled behind a large oak desk. She folded her hands and waited for Colman to sit down. “What would you like to share with me?”
Colman felt like he’d been caught in the outhouse with his pants down. He’d assumed Serepta would refuse to listen to him and wasn’t exactly prepared with a speech. He flung a prayer toward the ceiling and hoped something would come to him.
“The Lord sent me here to say you’re in a bad way. Keep up misbehaving and He’ll do something about it eventually.”
A look of honest amusement flashed across Serepta’s face. “Is that so? What do you suppose God will do to me?”
“Punish you.” Colman thought he’d be better at this.
“More than He already has?” Serepta sat even straighter. “He’s been punishing me since the day I was born. Are you suggesting that if I stop misbehaving, God will suddenly shower me with blessings?”
“Well, He sure won’t the way you’ve been doing.” Colman almost flinched at his own words. No one talked to Serepta like this.
“What about all the misbehaving others are up to? That girl at the Dunglen having a child without being married. Some rapscallion burning down the hotel.” She pressed her palms to her desk and stood, eyes sparking like sunlight on ice. “What about a gang beating an innocent man nearly to death merely because he’s associated with me?” Moisture glistened in her eyes. Colman wasn’t sure if they were tears or the oil of anger. “What about mothers who refuse Ivy’s ministrations because they fear her paleness? Think she’s the offspring of the moon-eyed people?” Serepta seemed to grow brighter and stronger with each word. “What about self-righteous fools who cannot see the beams in their own eyes?”
That last was like a slap. Had she just quoted Scripture at him? He was supposed to be using Scripture to sway her—not the other way around. “Look, I’m just passing on the message. God wanted me to come here and tell you He loves you. That’s all. I don’t know about all the rest. None of this makes sense to me, either.” He stood and wished he had a hat to slap on his head. “I’ll be on my way now. I appreciate your time.” Then he scurried from the room feeling like a dog with its tail between its legs.
chapter
twenty-eight
Serepta watched her enemy flee. She’d routed him sure enough. Sometimes the best way to handle a foe was to let him think he had the upper hand. So why didn’t she feel pleased? And where had that bit about the beam in the eye come from? She vaguely remembered it as a snippet of Scripture having to do with harping on about a minor flaw in someone else while ignoring your own mighty flaw. Well, she had mighty flaws aplenty and no time for fussing over the flaws of others. But that last piece Colman said . . . God sending her a message of love? That was the least likely thing she’d ever heard, and yet something in her strained toward it.
She realized Mack was still in the room. “Why did you bring that buffoon here?”
“He came with Ivy.”
“Be certain he returns without her, then come see me. I have a job for you.” Mack nodded and started toward the door. “Wait.” Serepta stopped him. “Where is your brother?”
Mack’s shoulders tightened. “What makes you think I’d know?”
“The two of you were planning to work together for the good of the family business, remember?”
Mack curled his lip. “Was that the plan? You know he can’t stay steady. Probably drunk somewhere, or he’s shacked up with a woman.”
Serepta dismissed her son with a flick of her wrist. One more disappointment. God’s love indeed.
Colman hiked all the way back to the cabin from Walnutta. It had been abundantly clear he wasn’t wanted there, although he’d circled around the house to check on Ivy before he left. And a good thing, too. After Mack gave him his walking papers, he’d apparently gone to find Ivy. Colman rounded the house just in time to hear their exchange outside the barn. He pulled back and pressed in under the eave.
“. . . wish you’d consider my proposition.”
Ivy glanced at Emmaline, who was busy petting the tomcat that had likely fathered the newborn kittens. “I had hoped to marry for love.”
“That will come. You care for me, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. But I care for a great many people. It’s a long way from there to spending a lifetime together.”
Mack reached out and brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. “Is there someone else you’re thinking to spend a lifetime with?”
She lowered her head. “No. No one who would have me.”
Mack tucked a finger under her chin and lifted it. “I’d be glad to have you.”
A wash of color rose from the neckline of her dress all the way to her hairline. “Out of pity,” she said.
“Not that. No. Practicality maybe. Good sense certainly. But pity? Never.”
Colman realized that his fists were clenched, and he was leaning forward as though into a stiff wind.
“For the land that will come to me one day then.”
Mack let his hand fall away. “Not for it, but you have to admit that combining our resources would offer a way to break the feud between the Harpes and McLeans. You want that,
don’t you?”
Ivy sighed and watched Emmaline with a wistful expression. “I do want that. And I like you, Mack. It’s just that I hoped . . .” Mack pressed in close to her. Too close.
“Hope in me,” he said.
With that, Colman had fled.
Now, walking along a rushing creek, he tried to pin down exactly what had disturbed him so. He cared about Ivy and wanted to see her happy. He guessed she could do worse than marry Mack. Was it simply the fact that he was a member of the family that had been feuding with the Harpes for so long? Or had it been Mack’s hint that there was something more to a union between him and Ivy—that “breaking the feud” business? Or might it have something to do with the soreness he was feeling around his heart?
Colman was still stewing when he stepped up onto the lopsided porch of the cabin around lunchtime. He’d noticed wild grapes growing out back when he left that morning. Maybe they’d be ripe. He went inside to see if he could find a bowl for collecting the fruit. Instead, he found Jake reclining on the bed, humming, an empty bottle on the floor beside him.
“I see you’ve been drinking your lunch,” Colman said.
Jake hiccupped. “Breakfast too. Nectar of the gods.”
Colman kicked the empty bottle. “That’s not one of your mother’s.”
“You’re right. It wasn’t nectar. Mother is a shrew, but she makes exceptional whiskey.” Jake raised up on one elbow. “That was the spit of the gods.” His sides shook in laughter at his own wisecrack. “But it got the job done.”
“Would that job be rendering yourself useless?”
Jake flopped back down. “Oh, I’m useless on my own. What that stuff does is make me not mind so much.”
“Since when is your brother interested in Ivy Gordon?”
Jake laced his hands behind his head. “Didn’t know he was.”
“If what I heard’s any indication, he wants to marry her.”
Jake snorted. “Been eavesdropping, have you?” He rolled onto one side and swung his feet to the floor as though checking to make sure it was still there. “She’s not bad looking, so long as you ain’t looking for color.”
Colman balled his hands into fists. “Would Mack do right by her?”
Jake rubbed his face with both hands. “I doubt it, but who knows? Say, are those tins of pork and beans still in the cupboard? I need to put something in my belly to stop the sloshing.”
Colman checked the cupboard on the wall next to the fireplace. There were three cans of beans, one of peaches, and some tobacco.
“Hand me one of them cans.” Jake dug out a pocketknife and worked the blade around the rim of the can. He used the knife to scoop beans into his mouth. Colman hesitated, then decided it beat wild grapes and did the same with a second can. They ate in silence for a while.
“You don’t reckon Mack’s after more than Ivy’s”—Jake flicked a look at Colman—“attentions, do you?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean what else has she got that he’d want?” Jake tossed the empty can toward the cold fireplace and missed. “Hoyt ain’t gonna live forever. I’m guessing she’ll get that house and the land it sits on when he goes.”
Colman wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, deciding to keep Mack’s other comments to himself. “How much land?”
“Something like eighty acres if I remember right. Got one of them smelly springs on it, too. The kind the tourists like.”
Colman smirked. “You think Mack wants to open up a resort?”
Jake scooched to the head of the bed and leaned back against the wall, hands folded across his belly. “Can’t see that, no. But there’s some timber might be worth something, once it grows some more.” He closed his eyes, and Colman thought he might be going to sleep. “’Course, there’s that cave he stole my liquor out of. Guess there could be coal or something in there.”
“What liquor? What cave?”
Jake’s eyes blinked open, and he stared at Colman like he’d forgotten someone else was in the room. He got a cagey look, then shrugged. “Don’t matter now. I’m the one who was stealing Ma’s liquor. I’d hide it in the cave, find a buyer, and then smuggle it out. ’Cept Mack caught on and stole every last crate to take back to Ma.” He grunted. “Just to make himself look good.”
“Did it work?” Colman couldn’t believe he was having this conversation with Jake. But the more they talked, the more he suspected this was bigger than a simple feud.
“Yeah. Reckon it did.”
“And then he decided to burn down the Dunglen Hotel, with you inside it.”
Colman watched the other man intently. Was he following right?
Jake straightened up, his eyes widening. “He’s trying to take over my birthright.” He snapped his fingers several times. “Like that feller in Genesis—what was his name?”
“Jacob. He tricked Esau into giving up his birthright.”
“Doggonit. You reckon that’s what’s going on? Mack’s trying to get in good with Ma, so he can run the family business when she gives it up?” He frowned. “If she ever does. Probably live forever.”
“Sure looks that way,” Colman said with a nod. “About that cave—sounds like maybe it’s the one I got lost in.”
Jake shook his head. “Fool thing, getting lost in a cave. Heard you popped out of there looking like you’d been drug through hell and then rolled in the mud for good measure.”
Colman frowned. Something was niggling at his memory, something from his time in the cave. “Could there be anything of value in there? If it was coal, you’d think somebody would have dug it out by now.”
“I’ve never gone far into it, but maybe there’s pirate’s gold or gems in there.” Jake had a faraway, dazed look on his face. “We could go hunting it.”
Colman shuddered at the notion of going back inside that cave, and an image popped into his mind. “I dropped a match while I was in there. It flared like catching lamp oil. Smelled of sulphur.”
“Half the water round these parts smells of sulphur.” Jake closed his eyes. Colman figured he’d be asleep any minute now.
“Water doesn’t burn, though. Not even sulphur water.”
“Gas sure as shooting does,” Jake murmured and began to snore.
Colman picked up Jake’s tin can along with his own and took them out to the rain barrel to rinse. True, gas would burn. In fact, he remembered hearing about how Burning Springs to the north had been named for two springs that could catch fire because of the natural gas bubbling up through them. Is that what he’d seen inside the cave? Had he ignited gas with the match? If that were the case, it just might be that Mack was after the gas and maybe even oil located on the Gordon family property. And if he married Ivy . . . Colman dried his hands on his pant legs and began trotting toward the Gordon cabin. He needed to talk to Hoyt right away.
Serepta was distracted. She ought to be tending to business, but Mack’s behavior had left her unsettled. He was far too attentive to Ivy. She would be glad if he had the sense to make such a practical choice for a wife, but she knew enough about men—including her sons—to be suspicious of Mack’s intentions. And she would not tolerate him trifling with Ivy.
Her son finally reentered her office, his head down, hands clasped behind his back.
“You’ve been gone quite some time. Did you escort Colman Harpe back to wherever he came from?” she asked.
Mack jerked his head up at her voice. “No, Mother. Colman found his way off our property on his own.”
“Where have you been then?”
Mack drew himself up to his full height, which had never been equal to his brother’s. “I’ve been minding my own business. And you?”
She glared at him. “You mean minding Ivy’s business. What are your intentions toward that girl?” She was pleased to see she’d surprised her son.
“Intentions?”
“Yes. I’ve seen you pursuing her, and while I wouldn’t disapprove of the choice, I will
confess to a measure of surprise.”
Mack flushed and looked away. “I don’t have any intentions. You’re mistaken.”
Serepta raised her eyebrows and remained silent. Finally, Mack strode over to his small desk in the far corner. “Jake’s the one who pursues anyone in a skirt. I’m just being kind.”
Serepta pursed her lips and waited.
“You said you had a task for me. Do you intend to tell me what it is?”
Serepta touched the tip of her tongue to her upper lip and let the silence linger for another moment. “Yes. I need you to go check on some of the Loup Branch mines. We need to ensure they’re operating at maximum efficiency.”
Mack frowned. “Don’t you have men for that? I thought I was working here, with you, focusing on the liquor side of the family empire.” She didn’t care for the way he said “empire.”
“The mines and the liquor are all part and parcel of our empire,” she said, matching his inflection. “But if you would rather not go, I certainly can find someone else. I can find someone else to do a great many things.”
Mack thumped into the chair at his desk. “Fine. I’ll leave on this afternoon’s train.”
She smiled but knew it was a chill expression. “Excellent. I’ll expect your report day after next.”
Mack mumbled something, grabbed some papers off his desk, and stomped out of the room. Serepta watched him go, wondering if trying to shape him into a better man was worth the trouble. Maybe she should give up on her sons and put her faith in little Emmaline instead. It would be years before the girl was ready to take on any responsibility, but Serepta could hold on that long. And perhaps, knowing what she did now, she could be more intentional in how she raised the child.
She half stood and then sank back into her chair. She’d been going to find Charlie and ask what he thought. She felt her eyes prickle and stiffened her spine. She was on her own now. When she told Mack she could find someone else to do a great many things, she’d been lying. She really ought to send for Chief Ash and press him for the information he’d been withholding in Thurmond, but there was too much else for her to do. Charlie was the one who managed people—even the police chief—for her. She had no doubt she could still strike fear into the hearts of the men who worked for her, but she was less confident of her ability to inspire loyalty. It was Charlie who had that knack.
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