Violet leaned her back against the wall in the passage just outside the library, her heart racing and her breath coming out in gasps. She’d never stood up to Cornell before or spoken to him in such an insolent manner.
She could only pray he’d be too shocked by her defiance to retaliate. No one could hold a grudge or repay it with more vindictive cruelty than Cornell Pollard. He acted defeated now, but he held all the purse strings on the sisters’ lives.
He had the legal power and the financial interest, not to mention the vengeful spite, to disinherit all three of them for marrying without his permission. Violet certainly saw him do as bad, or worse, enough times in the past.
But she didn’t have time to wait until she recovered. She hurried along the passage to the foot of the stairs to fetch her youngest sister, Rose. But she spotted Iris coming the other direction from the kitchen, still wearing her work clothes.
“I’m just on my way up to change,” Iris told her.
Violet laughed. “What’s the matter? Don’t you want your fiancé to see you in your work clothes?”
Iris threw her hair back out of her eyes. “If he can’t handle this, he won’t be able to handle anything else about me. But he doesn’t need to find out the sordid details when he lays eyes on me for the first time at the train station, does he?”
“Are you going to save that for your wedding night?” Violet asked.
Iris tilted her head to one side. “I don’t know how I’ll break it to him, but I’ll have to do it gently and gradually. I don’t think any man could understand the work I’ve done around here.”
“I agree with you,” Violet replied. “Cornell especially would probably lose his mind if he ever found out you were running the ranch behind his back. He knows you ride out with Pete and Wade, but he doesn’t know you’ve been overriding all his instructions and making your own instead.”
“We would all be out on the street, including Cornell, if I hadn’t,” Iris shot back.
“I understand that,” Violet assured her. “But I think you’ve done the right thing keeping your activities a secret. You would probably do well to keep it a secret from your new husband, too.”
Iris sighed. “I know you’re right. Anyway, once the men get here and we all get married, they’ll probably start running the ranch their own way. Then it won’t matter what I did before they came. I might stop riding out with the cowboys altogether.”
Violet smiled. “Somehow I doubt that. I don’t see you giving up the reins so easily.”
“I might have to,” Iris pointed out. “If my new husband thinks I should stay home and mind the house, I’ll have to do what he says, won’t I?”
“Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen,” Violet replied. “Let’s hope all three of these men understand why you had to take over the ranch and are as grateful to you for what you’ve done as Rose and I are. If that happens, your mail-order husband will probably be glad to have you ride out and do the same work you’re doing now.”
“I hope you’re right,” Iris murmured. “I hope you’re right, for the sake of the ranch, because three cowboys aren’t going to be able to run this operation by themselves. They’ll need Pete and Wade working with them, and even five cowboys will be hard pressed to bring our herd to the sale yards come the end of the summer. They’ll need me working with them to do the job right.”
“Then we’ll just have to break the news to your fiancé gently,” Violet replied.
“And it isn’t just him, you know,” Iris continued. “The other two will have to agree to it as well. Even if my husband consents to me working the cattle, I still won’t be able to do it if your husband and Rose’s husband don’t want me there. Some men won’t ride with a woman, no matter how good she is or how much they need her help. All three will have to understand and agree.”
“Then let’s just hope for the best,” Violet told her.
“It isn’t just me that has to worry about how the men will react, either,” Iris remarked. “How do you think your husband will take it when he finds out you’ve been running the ranch behind Cornell’s back?”
“That’s different,” Violet replied. “I haven’t been doing anything any other woman would do. I’ve only kept the house. That’s a woman’s work.”
“Maybe, “ Iris admitted. “But you’re still overriding Cornell’s orders. You decide what food Rita cooks, you decide how much firewood we use to heat the house, and you manage all the other domestic affairs. You even keep the books. If Cornell ever found out, he’d be a lot angrier at you than he would be to find out I managed the livestock. He prides himself on running this place without any interference from any of us.”
Violet touched her fingers to her lips. “I know. I dread the day he finds out.”
“You shouldn’t,” Iris told her. “You should be proud of what you’ve done. You’ve done an excellent job keeping all of us fed and clothed and warmed in spite of Cornell’s efforts to impoverish us.”
“It’s not as bad as that,” Violet insisted.
“Yes, it is, and you know it,” Iris retorted. “Not only have you run the ranch and managed our affairs with masterful efficiency, you’ve kept Cornell in the dark the whole time. You’ve kept him blissfully unaware of your activities, so he’s happy about what he’s doing. He even thinks you’re his strongest ally around the ranch. I’d say that’s a pretty big achievement.”
“It might be an achievement,” Violet replied. “But I still don’t want him knowing about it. Can you imagine what he would do if he found out I kept one set of accounts for the house and another, false set just for him. I shudder to think about it. Even you don’t want him finding out what you’re up to.”
“I sure don’t,” Iris admitted. “I feel exactly the same way. I only hope our husbands understand when they find out. Aren’t you at all concerned about that?”
“Sure, I’m concerned about it,” Violet replied. “What if they think we’re liars and frauds for deceiving Cornell? But what alternative did we have? To let Cornell squander our estate? I don’t think so.”
“Somehow, I think the men will understand,” Iris declared. “I think when they find out the truth, they will take our side against Cornell. They’ll agree with us and help us to get back control of the ranch.”
“Either way,” Violet pointed out. “There’s no sense worrying about it now. We have to get going to pick the men up from Butte. Get upstairs and change your clothes. I have to go to the kitchen to give Rita some instructions for later tonight, and I’ll go upstairs and get Rose. We can talk about this more on the trip down to town.”
Chapter 4