Read Historical Cowboy Romance Two Book Box Set - Mail Order Brides Page 37
“It would be nice,” Chuck remarked. “If no one came, if it was just us. I think that would be the best way. After all, we’re the new family. Everyone else is just extra. We oughta stick to just the six of us. Make a statement to the rest of ‘em about the way things are going to be from now on. That’s what I think.”
“You’re darn right there, Chuck,” Mick boomed out. “I’m with ya.”
“Chuck is right,” Rose piped up. “After the wedding, we aren’t going to want to share this place with anyone. We should make that clear right from the start. Whatever anyone’s done for us in the past, it’s in the past. We’re making a clean break and starting fresh. What better way to let everyone know than to have a private wedding just between us.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Violet replied.
“I know you don’t think it’s such a good idea,” Rose shot back. “But, if you think about it, we’re basically doing the same thing right now, don’t you think? We’re discussing and planning how we’re going to deal with the people outside this room. We didn’t invite Cornell to this supper.”
“I did,” Violet replied. “I encouraged him to come so he could meet these men and get to know them.”
“What did you do that for?” Iris asked.
“He made a terrible stink about our marriages when I found him in the library,” Violet explained. “He said our fortune would be squandered if we went through with these marriages. He even called you men….” She stopped. Why had she gone this far? She should have kept her confrontation with Cornell to herself.
They waited. “Say it,” Mick commanded.
Violet glanced to her right and found Chuck staring at her, waiting. She stared wildly around the room, but they all fixed her with the same expectant stare. She had no choice but to tell them. “He called you dirty. He threatened to disinherit me if I went through with the marriage.”
“He wouldn’t!” Iris gasped.
“That’s what I thought,” Violet cried. “But he said he held me personally responsible for this whole situation, and he said he would disinherit the rest of you, too, if we didn’t call off the wedding.”
“Can he really do that?” Chuck asked. “He doesn’t have the authority to cut all three of you off. What would he do with the estate, if he did? There would be no legal heirs.”
“That’s what I said,” Violet told him. “I was just joking when I said it, but I asked if he planned to take all the money for himself.”
“What did he say to that?” Chuck asked.
“He said he could and he would,” Violet replied. “He said we’d call off the wedding if we didn’t want to wind up in the street.”