“We’re catching the midday train.”
“But Jacob, the ranch is your heritage.”
“Not anymore. If you follow Clem’s conditions, the ranch will be all yours. Helen doesn’t like living here. And you know why. Don’t you?”
“No, I don’t. She’s the one who has treated me badly.”
“I’m not prepared to argue with you anymore, Miranda. Clem said he will see you tomorrow morning to discuss things.”
“What about the loan you took out when you married Helen?”
“What about it? You’ll have to pay the bank back.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You take over the loan and Clem will arrange for you get my share of the ranch.”
“What are you going to do with the money you borrowed?”
“We need it to set us up somewhere else.”
“Jacob, please.”
“You sort out all the finer details with Clem. I’ve washed my hands of the place and you.” He turned on his heel and strode off, leaving her feeling as if she had just survived a whipping. She started to run after him, then stopped. What was the use? She could pay back the money he borrowed, even if it meant getting a job in town to do so. At least she could move back to the ranch house now.
She would thoroughly clean it before moving in. Helen was lazy and had let the place get in a mess.
She was tempted to go in and see Clem at the bank now, then decided not to. If he said tomorrow morning, it’s what he meant. He was so rigid and pedantic, particularly when it involved women, who he thought were only put on the earth to do housework and give their husbands children.
They were lucky really. The ranch was only four miles out of town and set well back from the road to ensure privacy. They were surrounded by rugged mountains, and the twenty thousand cleared acres was enough for a good living. The valleys were lush. This was where the special grass was according to Otto the cheesemaker. If she had enough help to run a herd of dairy cows again, it could be quite a profitable venture. As it was now, she would have to hire a few ranch hands to help at busy times.
There again, if she married Rowan, he would expect her to move to his ranch. Maybe it was a good thing he had failed to follow up with the telegram like he promised? She could stay here now Helen was gone and run the ranch the way she saw fit.
Thankfully, she had never got around to writing to Rowan to find out why he had not sent the telegram as promised. If he did make contact, she would deal with the issue as it arose. Still, it was a despicable thing to do. Imagine if she had been some poor, desperate woman who had nowhere to live and had been banking on him doing the right thing by her.
She mounted her mare, Audrey, and rode out of town. She was a docile, chestnut horse, who had only ever foaled once. It had been a difficult birth and Miranda surmised she must have suffered too much internal damage to get pregnant again.
On arrival at Kingston Ranch, she squinted at the sun, probably around mid-morning by her reckoning, plenty of time to get the house cleaned up. She rode over to the barn, dismounted and unsaddled her mare. “Well, Audrey, I won’t be sorry to move back to the house.” She glanced up at the loft area. There was potential, if someone had the carpentry skills, to build a proper room out here. She released the mare to join the other horses. Jacob would probably leave the buckboard at the livery and she could pick it up tomorrow.
Their house was old, the upright boards weathered to silver by the elements as were the wooden roof shingles. It was in good condition, which is why Helen’s suggestion to pull it down was stupid. The porch wrapped around the house on four sides. In the front were two wicker chairs and a few pot plants. There were tall shrubs in the front yard and a lavender hedge. Around the back was the kitchen entrance which she used most of the time.
Pa had built a small room on the back which they used as their washing room. To save space, the hip bath hung on a wall hook when not in use. It was a comfortable house and so familiar she could find her away around on the darkest of nights.
The moment she stepped inside and saw the state of the kitchen, anger surged through her. Dishes had been left on the table and the stove had not been wiped down since she last did it. The fire was out and by the amount of built up ash, Helen had not cleaned it out for days.
Her first job would be to clear out the ash and get a fire going to boil the pots of water she knew she’d need. The sitting room furniture was covered in a film of dust, newspapers were strewn around. To think Jacob had grouched and complained when she had left a few household chores undone when they had been busy outside.
In the main bedroom, the bed was unmade. It was nothing short of disgraceful. She slammed the door and left it for another time. Hurrying to her bedroom, she feared what she might find there, given Helen’s vindictive nature. Fortunately, except for dust, it was as she had left it.
The kitchen was her main priority, then the sitting room. She muttered a curse under her breath. Such laziness was uncalled for, particularly when Helen did no chores outside.
She was sorry to see her brother leave with bad blood between them. As for her sister-in-law, if she never clapped eyes on the woman again, she would
