She sat up and sniffed. Then she got a drink of water from the wash stand pitcher. She must pull herself together before going down to supper. The men would arrive soon, and she wanted to look her best.
The events of the day flooded back, and she suppressed a giggle at the sizzle of eagerness at seeing Chuck again downstairs. Why did Cornell have to be such an insufferable tyrant? Why couldn’t he at least try to understand the sisters’ reasons for marrying these men? Why did he have to make the whole experience so unpleasant for everyone?
What a joy these marriages would be for all of them if Cornell hadn’t blighted the experience with his petty spite! A wedding should be the happiest day of a woman’s life. And here were three sisters, all getting married on the same day.
If Violet judged rightly, all three were marrying their fairy-tale princes, their hearts’ true and destined sweethearts. What happier occasion could anyone imagine?
Curse that Cornell, anyway! Violet would find a way to deal with him. She resolved to discuss with her sisters his latest threat to disinherit them. She crossed the room to tidy up her hair in the looking glass, but she gasped in horror when she saw herself. She wouldn’t let a living soul—not even her sisters—see her puffy red eyes or swollen lips.
She wet a handkerchief in the washbasin and laid it over her eyes. She splashed more water over her whole face and then went to open the window. The cool night air would cool her down. She pushed back the lace curtains and threw up the sash. As she expected, the breeze gusted into the room and bathed her wet face in a luscious chill.
But Violet caught her breath again when her eye fell on a solitary figure on the ground below her window. In the last twilight before full dark, Chuck glanced up at the house and saw her. Their eyes met, and he smiled.
Violet laughed out loud in pure joy at seeing him again. His face broke into a grin, and he blew her a kiss.
All Violet’s efforts to fix up her face failed, and her eyes brimmed with tears. She laughed at the same time, and she blew him a kiss of her own.
His smile turned to a laugh, and he cast his eyes down to the ground with his cheeks on fire. When he peeked up at her again, he pointed into the house, and Violet nodded.
Chapter 16
Violet never flew so fast as she raced away from that window. She forgot all about her face, her hair, Cornell, the ranch, and everything else. She only knew one thing: she was going downstairs to see him. Nothing else mattered in the world.
She ran down the stairs and nearly collided with Chuck in the entry hall near the front door. She collapsed into another laughing fit, unsure whether to run away or throw herself into his arms.
He held her at arm’s length. “Hang on there. Where’s the fire?”
“I was just coming downstairs to meet you,” she stammered. “I guess I got a little ahead of myself.”
“I’ll say.” Chuck examined her face a little more closely. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She tried to cover her mouth with her hand, but laughed hysterically instead. “It’s just been such an emotional day. I guess I’m a little overwrought from it all.”
Chuck cocked his head. “Emotional? How?”
“Oh, I just mean meeting you for the first time,” Violet explained. “And I had it out with Cornell this morning, and now I just had it out with him again when we came in after dropping you off. But I’m fine. I guess I’m just tired. I’ll be just fine as soon as I’ve had a chance to calm down.”
Chuck heard more than she intended. Even at a distance from him, Violet felt him stiffen. “You had it out with him? In what way?”
“I went to the library to find out if he was still working in there, and he was,” Violet told him. “You know he’s not happy about us marrying you men. Well, he’s more unhappy about it now that you’re here. He got quite nasty about it, in fact.” She glanced in the direction of the library, although she knew Cornell wouldn’t be there anymore. He’d be back at the Bird House, having his own supper by now.
Chuck’s sharp eyes pierced her. “What did he say? What did he say to you this time?”
Violet quailed. Why did Cornell have to spoil her happiness even now? She’d been so excited to come downstairs to Chuck, and here they were, alone, just inches away from each other, and what did they do? They talked about Cornell. She’d had enough of Cornell to sink the Spanish Armada!
She waved her hands as if to shoo Cornell out of her life, but the tears mounted in her eyes despite her efforts to blink them away. “I don’t want to talk about him anymore. We’re here together, and we’re alone together. I don’t want to spend the time we have together talking about Cornell. Let’s go in to supper, and afterward, we’ll go out for our walk, and we won’t talk about Cornell, or the ranch, or anything else. We’ll just enjoy each other’s company”
Chuck frowned at her, and she almost lost her nerve entirely. Then he reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “All right. We won’t talk about Cornell anymore.”
“I hope you understand,” Violet exclaimed. “It’s just that I was so happy to come down here to meet you…..” She burst into tears. “And here we are talking about Cornell! I could choke on Cornell! And we just met! It isn’t fair!” She covered her face with her hands and sobbed.
Something soft and warm was happening to her, but she couldn’t see through her fingers or stem the flow of her tears to figure out what it was. Then she felt a warm breath on the outside edge of her ear and she realized Chuck was holding her in his arms. If only she could stop crying and enjoy it! What was wrong with her?
A slight inclination of her head brought her forehead into contact with his chest. An overpowering surge of raw emotion swept over her. Was it passion, or grief, or anger, or elation? She’d never experienced emotions so strong before, and they took every scrap of feeling in her whole body and heart and soul just to experience them without exploding into a million shards of glass.
She laid her head down on his chest and wept for all she was worth. It was the only response she could muster in the face of this overwhelming upheaval. Maybe she was exploding into a million shards of glass. Maybe this is what it felt like to explode and come back together as a completely different person—a person in love.
What must Chuck think of her strange behavior? Would he think she was upset about meeting him or unwilling to go through with their marriage? Heaven forbid!
But he patted her on the back and breathed his intoxicating breath into her ear. Every breath of his on her ear and neck only blew the pieces of her up into the atmosphere again. Every breath of his burned her skin and fanned the flames of her torment. Why did she have to wait until Friday to rest her head on his chest forever, to let the breath of his mouth blow her away, never to return?
At last, the fragments of what used to be Violet Kilburn settled back to earth and she dragged her head up. She sniffed and dabbed the corners of her eyes on her sleeve. “I’m a mess,” she mumbled. “Pay no attention to me.”
He chucked from somewhere above her. “Okay. I won’t.”
She snorted with laughter again, and looked up at him. But she nearly choked on her laughter when she found his face just inches away from hers, his eyes searching hers and his lips parted. Instead of starting away from her in astonishment, he leaned even closer to her, his breath kindling her brain into a dizzying shower of sparks.
His lips hung so close to hers. His hands pressed so tightly against the small of her back. His heart thumped against the bodice of her dress, reverberating through her being and shaking the edifice of her nature to its foundation.
“I guess we better go in to supper,” she breathed. “The others will be waiting for us.”
“Let ‘em wait,” Chuck murmured.
He moved forward another fraction of an inch to close the gap between his lips and hers, but a door slammed in another part of the house and startled both of them apart. “It’s him!” Violet gasped. “It’s Cornell!”
Chapt
er 17
Chuck dropped his hands from her body, and they both stepped away. “How do you know it’s him?”
“That was the door by the back parlor,” Violet whispered. “He always uses that door when he comes down from the Bird House. He’s the only one who uses it. It’s almost his own private entrance.”
“Quick! In here!” Chuck pulled her through the nearest doorway.
“Not in here!” Violet whispered.
“Why not?” Chuck asked.
“This is the library,” Violet told him.
Chuck looked around. “Yeah? So what?”
“This is Cornell’s office,” Violet explained. “That’s his desk right over there. If he’s coming to the house at this hour, he’ll be coming here. He probably wants to do some work, or he forgot something when he went home. We can’t stay in here.”
“Well, where else is there to go?” Chuck asked. “We can’t exactly go to your room, can we? We aren’t married yet.”
“There is nowhere else to go.” Violet glanced around the library. “The only place to go is outside.”
“Maybe if we just keep quiet, he won’t come,” Chuck suggested.
“And if he does come?” Violet asked.
“Then I’ll introduce myself to him,” Chuck replied. “I have to meet him sooner or later. It’s not like we’re doing anything wrong by being alone together in the library, are we?”
Violet stared at him. Then she dissolved in laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Chuck asked.
“Listen to us!” Violet gasped. “Whispering in a corner of the library and worrying about being caught! We’re like two children sneaking into the cookie jar.”
Chuck stared back at her. Then he burst into a grin. “You’re right. We’re adults, and we’re going to be married in a few days. We aren’t doing anything wrong. Let him come and find us here if he wants to.”
They waited in silence, their noses almost touching, and panting in a cloud of anticipation. They gazed into each other’s eyes. “It’s nice to be alone together, just for a little while,” Violet breathed
Chuck nodded, his eyes probing into hers. “It is nice.”
Violet breathed again. “The others are still waiting for us.”
“They could be hiding just like we are.” Chuck’s arm slithered around her waist. Violet sucked in her breath as he pulled her toward him. “We’re here. We might as well make the most of it while we have the chance.”
“What are you going to do?” she whispered.
“Oh, nothing.” His lips hovered closer to her mouth, quivering and tasting the air.
“Cornell…..”she began.
“Forget about Cornell,” he growled.
Something banged in the distance and Violet jolted in shock again. This time, Chuck let her go. “Let’s get on. We’ll have plenty of time for this when we don’t have to worry about someone breakin’ in on us.”
Chuck took Violet by the hand and never let her go. His hand dwarfed hers by a mile, but her little hand and her heart took shelter in his big rough paw. Violet could face any menace with him at her side. How had she managed all these years without him? It must really be true that a person wasn’t complete until they married their heart’s intended.
Violet led Chuck out of the library and down the passage to the dining room. She slid the door open, but the only other person inside was Rose. She lifted her head and smiled at Violet and Chuck, but she didn’t notice—or took as wholly natural—their joined hands.
“Where is everyone?” Violet asked. “I thought you would all be in here waiting for us.”
“Jake just went out for a smoke before supper,” Rose replied. “I don’t know where Mick and Iris are. I haven’t seen them. But I just heard Cornell come in. I wonder if he plans to join us. Maybe we should tell Rita to set another place for him.”
Violet flushed. “I don’t think he’ll join us. He told me earlier he wasn’t interested in meeting the men.”
Rose’s eyes widened. “Really? Why not?”
“He’s in a fine stew about our mail-order marriages,” Violet told her. “He has all kinds of wild ideas about how he’s going to convince us call off the wedding.”
“Really?” Rose repeated. “What are his ideas?”
“I’ll tell you when Mick and Iris get here—oh, and Jake, of course.” Violet took a chair on the side of the table and pulled out the one next to it for Chuck. “I don’t want to repeat the same story more than once. We’ll talk about it when all of us are together.”
Rose smiled. “This is almost like our first family meeting. It’s our first council of war.”
Violet stared at her sister. “This is hardly war, Rose. We’re talking about Cornell. He’s our uncle. I only wish there was some way to resolve this situation without escalating hostilities any further.”
Rose leaned back in her chair. “Cornell bears all the responsibility for any hostility. We shouldn’t go out of our way to lessen it for him. That will only weaken our position, and we don’t want that.”
Violet’s mouth fell open. Was this her little sister saying these words? Was this sweet, innocent Rose, the flower of the family, taking such a stance against Cornell? “Rose! I’m shocked at you!”
“Why?” Rose asked. “You’ve done everything a person could do to make it up to Cornell. You’ve explained our position to him about a million times, and he refuses to listen. He refuses to be placated in any way. So you should stop trying. He wants to be hostile, so let him be hostile. We’ll show him we can be hostile, too, and he won’t like it one little bit.”
“Rose!” Violet gasped.
Before they could discuss the situation further, the door opened and Jake sauntered in. He gave Chuck and Violet a casual smile and sat down next to Rose. “Evenin’, folks. Nice night for it.”
“It’s gonna be a blazer,” Chuck replied. “Violet and I are takin’ a walk in the moonlight after supper. You two oughta do the same. You gotta take advantage of nights like this when they come around. The air is good for the soul.”
“I agree.” Jake turned to Rose. “What do ya say, darlin’? What do ya say to a stroll out in the moonlight after supper?”
Rose smiled at him and lowered her eyelids. “All right.”
Chapter 18
The door opened again and Mick and Iris came in, but they weren’t holding hands. Maybe she and Chuck ought to keep that sort of thing to themselves for now. Maybe the others hadn’t gotten that far. But Chuck had almost kissed her just now. Who knew what the others had got up to when no one else was around?
Mick and Iris sat down side by side at one end of the table. Mick pretended to look around the room. “What is there to eat around here?”
“Rita will be here in a minute with the food,” Iris told him. “She’s our cook. We’re late, so she probably took everything back to the kitchen to keep it warm for us.”
“Does she know we’re coming?” he asked.
Iris nodded. “I told her when we came into the house earlier. I also checked in on her before I came out to get you.”
So Iris had gone out to bring Mick into the house. So they’d spent some time alone, just like Chuck and Violet. Violet stole a glance across the table and spied Jake gazing at Rose again, but Rose kept her eyes down on the table in front of her.
Violet opened her mouth to fill the silence up with some nonsense or other when the cook herself came in with a tureen of soup. She served it out to the three couples as they sat in silence, waiting for her to leave. Violet glanced from one of her sisters to the other, from one man to the other.
Mick and Iris stared straight ahead of them without the slightest indication anyone else occupied the room. Rose kept her eyes down, but Jake gazed around the room with a slight smile on his lips, taking everything with a mixture of amusement and curiosity. When Violet looked at Chuck, and he smiled at her. He probably would have taken her hand again if she hadn’t turned away.
Rita
left the room, and only after the door clicked shut behind her did the six diners stir to life. Yet still they didn’t speak. For a long time, only the slurping and sipping of soup filled the room. In the end, Jake let his spoon clatter into the bowl and gave a loud sigh. “That hit the spot. What’s for dessert?”
Iris’s eyes flew open, and then she laughed. “That’s just the soup course, silly. Rita will bring the main course next.”
“What is the main course?” Chuck asked.
Iris flashed him a winning smile. “Beef, of course.”
The three men exchanged a quick look and erupted in laughter. “Excuse me,” Chuck exclaimed. “I should have assumed.”
Rita brought the roast in, a dish of potatoes, and another of greens and cabbage. The three couples waited in silence until the cook placed the plates on the table and left the room.
“This looks capital,” Jake remarked. “Thank you for arranging all this. This beats the pants off train station food any day of the week. I can’t think of the last time I had a home cooked meal.”
“It was all Violet’s doing,” Rose told him. “She planned the whole thing, and Rita even uses Violet’s recipes.”
Jake and Mick raised their eyebrows at Violet. She moved her cabbage around in her dish to stop them seeing her cheeks burning.
“That’s pretty good goin’,” Chuck put in. “This roast smells delicious. And it falls apart perfectly. You don’t even have to cut it with a knife.” He put a piece in his mouth. “Outstanding. I’m impressed.”
Violet smiled at him and lowered her eyes to her plate.
“And she grew the greens in the garden, too,” Rose added. “Did she tell you that? Just about everything on this table came from Violet’s garden—except for the beef, of course. That came from Iris.”
“Just wait until you taste the plum cake,” Iris told them. “If you think the meat is good, Chuck, the cake is divine. And it’s all hers. She came up with the recipe herself. And she cooked it, too. Don’t ever let her tell you that she didn’t. Rita runs the kitchen, but when it comes to her plum cake, Violet does everything herself.”