When they reached the counter, Jake was prevented from beginning his inquisition when Mrs. Kemper spoke.
“I’m so happy for both of you. Your mother told me the wonderful news.”
Sara replied, “Thank you, Mrs. Kemper.”
Then Margaret looked at Jake and said, “I am so pleased to meet you, Jake. Although I wish it hadn’t taken such a tragedy to bring you home. I was devastated when I heard what happened at the Elk and can’t imagine how horrible it must have been for you. Your mother was the nicest woman I ever met. I also refuse to believe those rumors that it was your father who murdered her. I don’t know why he ran away, but I cannot imagine him hurting her.”
Jake was beyond flummoxed and struggled to frame a very different question than the one he’d prepared and rehearsed.
But despite his confusion, it only took a few seconds before Jake asked, “How well did you know my father?”
“Not nearly as well as I knew your mother. It was because of your father that I still have this bakery and my home.”
Jake blinked then said, “His lawyer, Jerome Wright, told me that my father had directed him to pay off your mortgage and add some money to your bank account but even he didn’t know why. I know my father wasn’t a very compassionate or generous man, so can you tell me why he might do that?”
“It sounds as if you knew your father even less than I did. He may have been a tough, private man, but he was far from the hard, cold man that you seem to believe him to be. My husband, Robert, was the complete opposite of your father. He was loud and could be violent at times. He wasn’t that way when we married, but I soon realized that he only married me because, well, he thought I was attractive.
“Anyway, toward the end of May, we were about to close the bakery when I dropped a sheet of biscuits. They began rolling across the shop floor and I rushed to pick them up. My husband was furious and after he shouted some insults, he kicked me as I was on my hands and knees grabbing at the biscuits. I screamed in pain as I fell onto my side and Robert was about to kick me again, but I never felt that second kick. Your father must have been walking past the bakery and heard my scream because he rushed inside.
“As my husband was preparing to deliver another blow, your father grabbed him and threw him to the floor. I was still curled up on the floor, but watched your father kick him just as hard as Robert had kicked me, but in a much more sensitive location. My husband screamed louder than I had and was still weeping when your father lifted him from the floor. In a deep, threatening voice, he warned my husband that if he ever hurt me again, he’d rope him and drag him through the streets to the wharf then throw him into the Missouri.”
Jake was sure that she was telling the truth but everything she said seemed to describe his father as a completely different man. She made him sound like a chivalrous knight of old.
Margaret continued her story, saying, “Your father then helped me to stand and asked if I needed to see a doctor. I told him I’d be all right, but after he left, I was terrified that my husband might beat me to death. But when he finally stood, he shuffled past without even looking at me. I closed the bakery’s door and didn’t go into the house for another ten minutes. I didn’t even take anything to protect me when I finally did leave the bakery.
“Robert never said a word for the rest of the day or the next morning. He left the bakery at midmorning and I thought he was going to Draper’s to buy some more flour and sugar because we were low. We were busy, so I didn’t go to the house until I closed the bakery. For a few minutes, I believed that Robert was plotting to kill me, but after I searched the house, I couldn’t find him. Then I discovered his clothes were gone and I knew he’d run away. I was relieved, but worried as well. I wasn’t able to check our bank balance until the next day, and when I did, I found that he’d taken all of it except a hundred dollars.
“All I could do was to return to a routine. I managed to keep the bakery afloat but was in trouble. I didn’t tell anyone why Robert disappeared because people would think that your father had driven him off for a very different reason. I thought I’d have to sell the business and my home when your mother came to the bakery to buy an apple pie.”
Mrs. Kemper smiled before saying, “She said that she couldn’t bake worth a hoot and even your ranch’s cook couldn’t make an apple pie to match mine. When she asked me how I was, I almost didn’t tell her because, well, I didn’t want her to blame your father for Robert’s disappearance.
“I told her I was okay, but then she explained the real reason for her visit, and it had nothing to do with apple pies. That’s when I learned that I didn’t have to explain what had happened because your father had told her that same day. She told him that she’d pay me a visit in a few days to make sure that I was still all right. But when she learned that Robert had vanished, she had to wait until she was sure that my husband didn’t return.
“She asked
