when seen through a whiskey fog.
He maneuvered the horses past the ?imsy buildings of Main Street with Johanna telling him how to drive, Emma commenting that Winnie was always the last to do everything, and Winnie attempting to open her new bag.
Twenty minutes later, when they arrived at the ranch house, the conversation hadn’t changed and Winnie was still trying to get into her new luggage.
“Need some help?” he whispered as he guided her down from the surrey.
“No.” She laughed. “I love a puzzle. The man who sold this to me told me the secret of opening it. I just seem to have forgotten.”
Emma climbed off the bench making the same statement she always made when returning from town. “I’ll never understand why they call that settlement Minnow Springs. There are no springs anywhere close to town and a minnow would die of thirst around here.”
Cooper didn’t bother to ask why his sisters had come. They invaded regularly, like a colony of ants, constantly on the march. He knew he’d have his answers soon enough.
When he sat down to supper, Johanna began her campaign as she opened her dinner prayer. “Dear Lord, thank you for allowing us to arrive safely on our mission to help our poor brother to ?nd a mate.”
“Amen.” Winnie lifted her fork, then reconsidered when Johanna only opened one eye.
“And Lord,” the oldest sister continued, “help us in our quest so that our brother will be fruitful and multiply.”
“Amen,” Winnie whispered again and managed to stab a piece of roast before Johanna continued.
“And thank you, Lord, for this meal. And bless it to our bodies
Winnie stopped chewing.
“Amen,” Johanna said while Cooper fought down a laugh.
Winnie continued eating, but Johanna lifted her fork and paused, waiting until she had Cooper’s full attention before speaking. “We’ve been talking, Cooper, dear, and have decided we’ve been wrong in our efforts to help you ?nd a bride.” She glanced at Emma and waited for her nod of agreement before continuing. “I had thought we could ?nd a nice girl and introduce her to you and let nature take its course.”
“But nature doesn’t seem to be cooperating,” Emma interjected. Raising an eyebrow at Cooper, she added, “In your case, nature seems more dead than alive. Don’t you know one woman in these parts who is irresistible? Someone who makes your heart race? A girl you simply can’t live without?”
“Don’t get carried away, Emma,” Johanna snapped. “I swear to goodness, sometimes you’re as silly as Winnie. What we need here is a woman to be his partner in working the ranch. One with strong bones so she can have a large family. You sound like he is looking for someone to be the death of him.”
Cooper thought of the unlucky women his sisters had managed to drag home so far. One who was too frightened to talk; one, still in her teens, who giggled every time Cooper looked her direction; and the ?nal candidate, who swore she was only twentyeight but looked twice that age. They were all quite easy to resist.
Before he could take a breath and hope that they’d given up their quest, Johanna destroyed any possibility.
“We decided we should launch a full campaign before it is too late and you are past your prime.”
Emma agreed and added, “Once a man’s past thirty, he begins to fall apart. Losing hair in spots, gaining it in others. Making strange sounds and talking about his youth like it was something to brag on.”
Johanna interrupted her sister. “We have come up with a plan that cannot fail. I’ll invite every unmarried woman in the county to a party. Then you can pick one and save time. You’ve a house and barn big enough to hold everyone. If it takes feeding them all to ?nd you a bride, we’re up to the task.” Johanna raised her fork a few inches higher. “Your sisters will not let you down.”
Emma wasn’t following the call. She stared at the ceiling and added, “A ball would be nice. A grand ball with dancing and tea cakes.” She glanced at Johanna, obviously trying to read her sister. “But maybe a country ball would have to do. An allday event, with barbecue and square dancing,” Emma added, coloring her vision. “Cooper will have plenty of opportunity in the course of an entire day to get to know the right young lady and won’t feel like we’re rushing him into anything. They could sit on the porch and watch the sunset and dance in one another’s arms.”
“I’ll make my famous potato salad,” Winnie said, ?nally joining in the conversation, “if I can remember the recipe.” Emma might be moving through her dream night, but Winnie has stopped at the food table.
Emma looked over her glasses at her younger sister and frowned. “I hope so, Winnie. Are you aware that you are still wearing your traveling clothes? Johanna and I changed hours ago.”
Winnie nodded, but made no explanation. After all, Emma wasn’t really asking a question, only stating a fact.
Cooper didn’t need to think the idea over. “No. I’ve no time for parties. I’m up to my ears in trouble out here and winter’s coming on. Right now every rancher, including me, is rounding up cattle for one last drive north. There can be no country ball. Not at this time.”
Looking at his sisters, he realized no one was listening to him. Emma and Johanna had already started a list of things they must do and Winnie was trying to remember her potato salad recipe while she ate. Between bites she mumbled ingredients.
“I said no!” He raised his voice. “It’s impossible.” He couldn’t think about hosting a party or ?nding a wife right now. He had all he could handle running the ranch. They were crazy to think he’d ?nd one of the local girls irresistible over barbecue and Winnie’s potato salad. There wasn’t a woman in the county he wanted to face over breakfast for the rest of his life and it was time they all came to terms with the fact.
Johanna stared at him as if she’d forgotten he was in the room. “Whatever you say, Cooper. After all, you are the man of this house, even if I happen to be almost ?fteen years older than you and the three of us raised you as if you were our child from the day Mother and Father died and left you this land.”
She went back to her list making. Cooper felt like he’d been sent to the corner. Standing, he walked to the door without commenting that this land had been worthless when he’d ?nally grown old enough to claim it and that the herd was sold the day after the funeral of their parents to buy the sisters a house in Dallas.
He would have no part of this insane country ball. Life was hard out here. No one had time for that sort of thing. The three sisters had gone too far.
Just as he crammed his hat low and grabbed the doorknob, Winnie’s whisper caught his ear. “Anything’s possible, Cooper Boy. Something can even happen when you’ve given up all hope. You turn around one day and suddenly someone you never suspected becomes irresistible.” She giggled. “It could happen.”
He hurried out the door not wanting to hear any more. Let them have their dreams and fantasies of balls. He’d seen enough of life to know the truth. There was nothing but hard work around the corner and no dances or wishing would make it any different.
Chapter Two
COOPER DID NOT return until long past when he knew his sisters would be in bed. Part of him felt guilty for destroying their dreams. He tossed his hat on the bench by the door and crossed to his desk in the center of what he called the great room, even though it was not as large or great as he’d planned.
His desk was his favorite place in the house, though. From its vantage point, he could see every room.
As he leaned into the give of his leather chair, he thought of the winter of ’63 when he’d been ill with fever and heartsick after watching most of his friends die at Chattanooga. His sisters crossed half of Texas and most of Arkansas to reach him. They hounded the doctors at the ?eld hospital until Cooper was released into their care. He was so weak he couldn’t walk to the wagon, but they managed to carry him without asking for any help from the exhausted doctors.
Winnie drove. Johanna and Emma sat on either side of him in the back of the wagon. It had taken weeks to reach home and months before he recovered, but they never deserted him.
From his desk he could see down the hallway to the three doors that were his sisters’ bedrooms. Four years ago he’d built the house over a dugout his parents had used. He’d planned three children’s rooms, but now
