there... I didn’t see what happened. I was dressing a rabbit for stew I’d planned to serve that evening.”
Up ahead, lights shone in the windows of two dwellings situated on opposite sides of a stamp-sized yard. Relief coursed through him. He hadn’t asked to travel memory lane with her. Getting sucked into other people’s problems was a sure way to lose his hard-won control. Living their pain brought his own rushing to the surface.
As he guided the team to a stop, she didn’t seem to notice his lack of response. She appeared to brace herself as the door on their left banged open and an older couple already in their nightclothes emerged onto the porch. The gray-headed man with square features sported a rifle.
“Do you have any notion what time it is?”
The woman Alexander assumed was Ellie’s mother-in-law studied him with ill-concealed malice. Probably in her early-to midsixties, she was tall for a woman and big boned. Her dark hair hung to her waist and was striped with wide swaths of silver.
Ellie hurried to disembark. “I apologize, Gladys. I accidentally dozed off after my shift.”
“You know not to bring strange men here.” The man balanced his weapon against his hip.
“This is my boss.” Ellie’s voice was low and strained. “I’ve told you about him.” Not looking at Alexander, she waved her hand between them. “Alexander Copeland, meet my in-laws, Howard and Gladys Jameson.”
He touched his hat brim. “I’m sorry for the disturbance.”
Shooting him a baleful look, Gladys gestured behind her. “Get inside, Ellie.”
Even in the darkness, Alexander could sense her resistance.
“It’s late,” Ellie hedged. Motioning to the other cabin, she said, “I’d like to go to bed. How about we talk tomorrow?”
“We’ll talk now.”
Spinning on her heel, the older woman stalked inside, holding the door ajar. Howard reeked of suspicion.
Something inside Alexander demanded he seize his employee and take her back to town.
“Thank you for the ride, Mr. Copeland.” Her reticule balled in her hand, she started to follow her mother-in-law.
“Ellie.”
Her eyes widened. “Yes?”
“Do you have need of anything more?” Will you be all right?
She hesitated. “No, sir.”
She continued inside the cabin. Howard joined them, shutting the door firmly without a word of goodbye. As he set the team in motion, he was startled at the sight of a man on the other cabin’s porch. Shrouded in shadows, he didn’t nod or wave, and his intent gaze followed Alexander’s progress. Must be the brother-in-law she’d mentioned. Apparently, these Kentucky natives weren’t keen on visitors.
Beyond the cabins, a crude shelter housed several horses. Ellie had indicated she didn’t have a mode of transportation. He realized it was more a case of not being allowed to make use of it.
The situation hauled him back years to another young woman who’d been bullied by her father and his twisted crony, Cyrus Pollard. He’d rescued Sarah from both men by marrying her, but there’d been consequences. If Ellie needed help, she had resources, men like the sheriff or Deputy Ben MacGregor. Alexander wasn’t about to get involved.
* * *
“Are you lookin’ to sink your hooks into that highfalutin businessman?”
Gladys had spun to face her, her hair in disarray and her bloodshot eyes shooting accusations. Harold remained by the door. Ellie felt hemmed in.
Shock ate at the bone-deep weariness weighing her down. She yearned for her bed. “Certainly not. I’m not in the market for a new husband.”
“You don’t behave like a woman who’s in deep mourning,” Gladys spit. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re relieved my Nolan’s dead and gone. You act as if four years of marriage meant nothing to you.”
“That’s not the case, Gladys. I’m as sorry about what happened to him as you are.”
Guilt wormed through her defenses. Of course she hadn’t wanted any harm to befall Nolan. Whatever his faults, he’d been a faithful husband, a hard worker who provided for her needs. Her physical ones, anyway. She’d never had to worry about a roof over her head or enough food and clothing.
But part of what she’s saying lines up with the sense of freedom you feel, doesn’t it?
Not long after the wedding, Nolan began displaying a troubling side to his personality. He’d become suspicious and controlling and had doubted her commitment to him and their marriage. He’d forbidden her to socialize with her friends and had limited her outings to church services and the occasional trip to the mercantile—always in the company of him or one of his family members. The isolation had chafed. She’d battled loneliness and had turned to God for comfort and strength.
If only Nolan had kept his misgivings to himself, she might’ve received support from her in-laws. But he’d complained to them to the point they’d become hostile. The youngest child, Nolan had almost died at the age of three. Because of this brush with tragedy, his parents and older sister had cossetted him. They thought he hung the moon and stars and refused to attempt to see Ellie’s side of things. Their treatment of her had grown more antagonistic since Nolan’s passing, and she worried for her child’s quality of life in such an environment.
“If you loved my son, if you respect us at all, you’ll give up your position.” Grief made the lines in Gladys’s visage more pronounced.
“I did love Nolan.” Maybe not in the way God intended for a wife to love her husband, but she’d loved him as a fellow human being. She’d wanted good for him. Had tried to please and honor him. “And I can’t express how grateful I am to you for providing me with a home. However, I can’t do what you’re suggesting. I enjoy cooking. I haven’t done much of that since we got here. More than that, I need the income.”
“For what? We feed you. Clothe you. We need you doing chores around here. Poor Nadine is working her fingers to the bone.”
The stench of Howard’s cigars permeating the room made Ellie’s stomach churn. “She wasn’t complaining when I paid her my portion for room and board. She’s bought enough fabric for three Sunday dresses since I started work.”
Gladys shot forward and gripped Ellie’s forearm so hard she yelped. “Don’t you sass me, girl. My Nolan may be gone, but that doesn’t give you the right to disrespect us. This is our home you’re standing in, don’t forget.”
How could she? The Jamesons hadn’t welcomed her into their fold. They’d treated her like an outsider from the start. “You’re hurting me.”
Howard finally spoke. “It’s late.”
He moved to stand beside his wife. Tall and muscled from years of physical labor, his craggy features were so like Nolan’s it made her chest twinge with sorrow. She wished she’d been better at making her husband
