Suddenly Freddy’s anger seemed overblown and petulant, a reversion to childhood. But they were no longer children. Observing her sister, Freddy tried to imagine what it would be like to spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair. To know you would never dance again or spin around in a new gown. She watched Alex place her cup and saucer in her lap and roll the chair toward them, trying not to spill her tea. Even the smallest tasks that Freddy took for granted were now challenges for Alex.
Freddy drew a breath and struggled to be more sympathetic. “How can you even consider undertaking the ordeal of a cattle drive,” she asked curiously.
Alex glanced at her. “I’m entitled to a third of Father’s fortune. And I’ll do whatever I have to do to make certain that Lola doesn’t get her hands on Father’s money.”
“Are you saying that Payton didn’t provide for you?”
“Not at all.” Alex’s neck stiffened. “I have my home and a modest income.”
Freddy guessed that Alex would rather have endured torture than admit her life in Boston was less than the image of perfection she had painted in her infrequent letters home. She also guessed that “a modest income” would not support the life Alex had led before Payton’s death. But Alex would never admit to anything as vulgar as a lack of funds.
“It’s my understanding that Father paid the expenses on the house you rented in Klees after he married Lola. He paid for your clothing and food, paid the salary of your housekeeper.”
“If you’re suggesting that I need Pa’s money, you’re absolutely correct.” Freddy lifted her chin. “I hated living off of Pa, but I didn’t have a choice.” At age twenty-seven, she had given up hoping that she could rise above the six months she had spent with the theater troupe. No decent man was ever going to propose marriage to her, and she had no way to support herself.
For a brief while she had thought that maybe Jack Caldwell… but no, she would never tell her sisters that Lola’s latest escort was a man whom Freddy had been seeing on the sly. Jack was a humiliation she did not want to share.
“It’s your own fault,” Les commented sharply. “You should have considered your future before you ran off with those actors. But you never think about consequences.”
“Believe me, I’d rather be a spinster than settle for someone like Ward Hamm!”
Les jumped to her feet, crimson pulsing in her face. “You can’t stand it that I’ll have a husband and you never will. You’ve always been jealous of me!”
Freddy’s mouth dropped. “Jealous of you? Whatever for?”
“Because I’m going to be married, and you never will be. You were always resentful that my mother lived while your mother and Alex’s died. And you hate it that Pa liked me best!”
“Pa didn’t like any of us! You’re deluding yourself if you think differently. He wanted sons, not us. He ignored us, tolerated us when he had to, and tried to control us like we were part of his herd!” Freddy came to her feet, anger shaking her hands. “As for being jealous of you and Ward Hamm, that makes me laugh. He’s a shopkeeper, for God’s sake. And a petty tyrant in the bargain. And”—her eyes narrowed—“isn’t it interesting that he didn’t come courting until Pa got sick? One could almost think he’s more interested in Pa’s money than in you!”
“You… you…” Sputtering in fury, Les gathered her skirts in both hands. Scarlet flooded her face. “I hate you!” Spinning in a swirl of black skirts, she ran toward the staircase.
Freddy poured the last of the tea into a cup and raised it to her lips with shaking hands. The day she was jealous on account of Ward Hamm was the day she had sunk to depths beyond redemption. Even Jack Caldwell—gambler, womanizer, reprobate—was better than Ward Hamm.
“You owe her an apology,” Alex said quietly.
She had forgotten Alex. “I’m so sick of Les always defending Pa! He ran off every suitor she had, just like he did to you and me. Given enough time, Pa would have run Ward off, too.”
“Les loves him.”
“Really?” Fresh anger infused her cheeks. “Does it ever occur to you that you could be wrong about something?”
“You’re going to attack me, now?” Alex inquired, raising an eyebrow.
“Les was prepared to spend the rest of her life running Pa’s house, serving as his hostess, hoping to be his companion, then Pa trailed a herd to Sante Fe and brought Lola back with him and suddenly he didn’t need Les anymore. That’s when Ward Hamm appeared. Les used him to punish Pa. Love isn’t part of it; Les picked a man she knew damned well that Pa would detest!”
“Then why hasn’t she broken off the engagement now that Father is gone?”
“I don’t know.” Freddy spread her hands. “It’s a mystery.”
“Is it?” Alex rolled her wheelchair toward the door. “Or is it possible that you could be wrong about something?”