friend is Catholic.'
'Yet you still dislike…' Cole began.
Harrison wouldn't let him finish his comment. 'I do not dislike Catholics. I was surprised to find out you were Catholic. There isn't any more to it than that.'
'Why can't we be Catholics some of the time?' Travis asked.
'We are,' Mary Rose insisted.
Harrison decided to play along. He would slowly force them with logic and patience to realize they couldn't jest with him.
'All right, let's assume you're Catholics some of the time. Mind telling me when you are?'
'April, May, and June,' she replied.
He didn't bat an eye. 'What about July, August, and September?'
'Lutheran,' Travis told him.
Harrison was impressed. The brother hadn't cracked a smile.
'And the next three months?'
'We're different again. We're Baptists, or at least try to follow their rules.'
Harrison had had enough. 'Mary Rose, are you about finished…'
He was going to ask her if she was finished jesting with him. She wouldn't let him complete his question, however.
'No, I'm not finished,' she interrupted. 'Now where was I?'
'January,' Cole reminded her.
'Jewish in January, February, and March, and in April…'
'Jewish in January?' He practically shouted the words.
'Now, what in thunder do you have against the Jewish religion?' Cole asked. 'You seem to have a lot of grudges against an awful lot of people.'
Harrison closed his eyes and counted to ten. Then he once again tried to wade through the mire of confusion the Claybornes had just tossed him into and find some sort of reasonable explanation.
'I do not have any grudges,' he snapped. 'I'm just trying to make some sense out of you people. None of you can be all of those religions. It's a mockery to each and every faith if you only believe their sacred doctrines three months of the year.'
Adam finally took mercy on him. 'We're learning all we can about the different religions, Harrison. We believe it's important to understand and respect another man's beliefs. Do you believe in the existence of God?'
'Yes, I do.'
'So do we,' Adam replied. 'We don't belong to an organized church, however.'
'Probably because there aren't any in Blue Belle,' Douglas interjected. 'Folks talk about building a church, but then they start arguing over the kind it will be, and so nothing gets done.'
'You were probably raised to be a member of your father's church, weren't you?' Travis asked.
'Yes, I was,' Harrison agreed.
'As a child, it wouldn't have occurred to you to think about joining any other church. None of us had fathers around to guide us. We do what we can, Harrison.'
He couldn't fault their reasoning. 'Self-education,' he said.
'And understanding,' Adam supplied.
Harrison nodded. 'There are many different religions. Will you try to learn about all of them?'
'Even after we have committed our minds and our hearts and our souls to a specific religion, we will continue to keep an open mind about the beliefs of others. Knowledge is freedom, and with freedom comes understanding.'
'There are several Jewish families living in Hammond. We visit with them as often as possible. Some of the residents there dislike them. As ridiculous as it seems, they tend to dislike what they don't understand. Some even mock. Their ignorance is shameful. None of us were born Jewish, and we are therefore unable to become practicing Jews; at least from the information the families have shared with us that is the conclusion we have reached. Their traditions are rich and meaningful to them, and we find that the more we know about their faith, the richer we become. Any man who lives by his beliefs is to be admired, not mocked. Now do you understand?'
'Yes,' Harrison returned. 'Now tell me why you speak French,' he continued. 'Do you wish to understand how the people in France live?'
Even though he was seated at the opposite end of the long table from his host, Harrison could still see the sparkle that came into Adam's eyes.
He prepared for frustration once again.
'We speak French because it's Thursday.'
'And?' Harrison prodded with a grin.
Mary Rose smiled at him. 'And we always speak French on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.'
Here we go again, he thought to himself. He knew exactly where this conversation was headed. 'Is this discussion going to be like the one we had about the Irish?'
'Perhaps,' she allowed.
'What did he mean about the Irish?' Travis asked.
Mary Rose turned to her brother to explain. ' Harrison wanted all of us to be Irish. I can't imagine why it was important to him, but it was. I simply tried to be accommodating. He is our guest, after all. I wanted him to feel welcome.'
'So that's why you told him I was Irish,' Travis said with a nod.
'You are Irish, Travis.'
'I know that, Cole. I only wondered why it was important to him. He's a strange duck, isn't he?'
Cole nodded. Then he turned to Harrison. 'Maybe he wanted us to be Irish, and then again, maybe he didn't. You'd think, being from Scotland and all, he'd want us to be Scots, and not Irish at all. Exactly what have you got against the Irish, Harrison? What have they ever done to you?'
Harrison suddenly had the urge to pound his head against something hard. He couldn't imagine how the conversation had gotten twisted into a defense of the Irish.
He took a deep breath and tried to be reasonable once again. 'I don't care if you're Irish or not,' he said.
'Why not?' Cole demanded.
Harrison glared at the offensive brother. He decided that trying to have a normal conversation with any of the Claybornes was simply too difficult for him. He was ready to concede defeat.
'I pray to God I never have to cross-examine any of you in a courtroom,' he remarked dryly.
'Now what's wrong with us?' Douglas asked. 'We've been real hospitable, haven't we?'
'You people are completely illogical, that's what's wrong with you,' Harrison announced. He didn't care if he insulted them or not. Frustration, after all, had its limits.
'Maybe we're just a little too logical for you,' Cole reasoned. 'Ever think of that possibility?'
'I simply wondered why you speak French three nights of the week,' he replied.
'Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays,' Cole had the gall to remind him with a grin.
The brothers were all enjoying his frustration. Harrison was slow to catch on this evening, but he wasn't completely dimwitted. He decided they had all had enough sport.
He deliberately changed the subject. 'Mary Rose, are you feeling all right?'
'Yes, thank you,' she answered.
'She took quite a pounding this morning,' Harrison told Adam.
'Apparently so,' Adam agreed. His voice was mild, pleasant.
'She looks better,' Douglas remarked.
'Better' didn't adequately describe how she looked to Harrison. He thought she was just as beautiful as ever, bruises and all. Her forehead had a bump near her temple the size of a small rock. He couldn't see the cut, however, because her curls covered it. The corner of her mouth was also swollen. It probably stung, he thought. It didn't matter to him. He still wanted to kiss her.
'He's doing it again, Cole.'
'Who's doing what, Douglas?'
