Tracie Peterson - [Heirs of Montana 04] (22 page)

I don’t know why I let things trouble me so. Surely Cole will make things right. He’ll let his mother know that he wishes to sell the farm, and then we can all go home. Hopefully without his mother in our number
. She giggled to herself and managed to drop a clothespin in the wake of her amusement. Bending to pick it up, Dianne was startled to hear the panicked cry of her son John.

“Mama! Mama! Come quick, Mama!”

She pulled up, forgetting the clothespin. “What’s wrong?” she asked her boy as he bolted across the yard.

“Grandma is hurting Lia. Hurry!”

Dianne easily outdistanced her son as they raced for the back door.
Whatever is he talking about?
Mary might not like the children, but would she actually seek to hurt one of them?

Dianne nearly pulled the screen door from the hinges as she rushed into the house. “Lia! Where are you?”

The girl’s cries could be heard coming from the dining room. Dianne made her way there and found Mary Selby striking Lia over and over. Without thinking, Dianne rushed forward and grabbed Lia’s arm, pushing Mary back as she did. For a split second Mary did nothing but sputter incoherent words. Then without warning she threw herself backward against the wall, screaming as she did. Landing in a heap on the floor, she began to weep.

It was then that Dianne realized Cole had stepped into the room behind her. Dianne could see that he was confused by what had just taken place. No doubt from his vantage point, he thought Dianne had thrown his mother to the floor.

“I can explain,” Dianne began.

“Don’t listen to her,” Cole’s mother said, her sobs now drowning out Lia’s. “I was only trying to discipline Lia for stealing.”

“Stealing?” Cole questioned. “Lia?”

Mary nodded and composed herself a bit. Dianne was certain it was only to make her words more audible. “I found my ruby brooch, the one Laurel and her husband gave me, hidden in Lia’s things.”

“Lia would never steal anything,” Dianne contradicted. “You are lying!”

“Dianne, silence,” Cole commanded. He went to help his mother up from the floor. “Mother, I can’t imagine Lia taking anything, but even so, why would you take meting out her punishment upon yourself?”

Mary moaned and cried out as Cole helped her into a chair. “I fear,” she said, sounding much weaker now, “that I’m injured. Your wife was merciless. Would you call for the doctor?”

John seemed to feel the need to defend his sister. “Lia didn’t take your old ugly brooch. I saw you put it in her things.”

Cole turned to his son. “John, you need to be quiet.”

“They’re all against me,” Mary sobbed into her left hand while her right remained limp in her lap. “I think my wrist is broken, and I’m having double vision. Perhaps I’ll die and then none of you will have to worry about me.”

Cole sighed. “I’ll get the doctor, but first let me help you to bed.”

“Don’t leave me with them!” Mary pointed her finger at Dianne and the children. “You saw what she did—at least in part. She hit me hard before you came and then threw me backward. What’s to keep her from smothering me in my bed? No, you’d best hitch the buggy and take me with you.”

“This is impossible!” Dianne declared.

“Dianne,” Cole warned, but she would not be silenced.

Dianne advanced on Cole’s mother. “I’ve taken all I’m going to take from you. You were beating my daughter. Not punishing or disciplining, but rather taking out your anger toward me on a helpless child. You are never to lay a hand on my children again, so help me.”

“Dianne, calm down,” Cole said in a low stern voice. “You shouldn’t have hit her. She’s just an old woman.”

Dianne threw him a look of disbelief. “I didn’t hit her. I only grabbed Lia away from her.”

“I saw the whole thing … well, I didn’t see the hitting, but …”

She looked into her husband’s eyes. He’d been convinced of her guilt without even allowing her to explain the situation. “If you side with her in this, I swear I’ll take these children and leave within the week.”

“Dianne, be reasonable. I saw most of it.” His voice was sad, almost resigned, and she wanted to scream. “Mother shouldn’t have hit Lia, but you shouldn’t have hit her. You certainly shouldn’t have thrown her backward. I’m going to get the buggy and take her to the doctor. Why don’t you go upstairs and we’ll discuss this when I get home.”

Dianne shook her head. “I’ve lived with this for months now. Her lies and your unwillingness to see the deceit of your family. Children, go upstairs.”

John quickly took hold of Lia’s hand and left the room. Dianne stared hard at Mary Selby for a moment. She could see the older woman’s delight in the way things had played out.

Turning from her, Dianne walked to the door. “Cole, I mean it. I’m going to make arrangements to leave by Friday. Either you come with us or stay here. It’s your choice.”

Dianne could hear Cordelia yelling even from upstairs. Seeking sanctuary in her small bedroom, Dianne prayed for the nightmare to end. Her own husband would not hear the truth. She tried to explain what had happened, but Cole felt he’d seen enough and it didn’t matter that Lia bore a swollen lip and bruised cheek. It only mattered that Dianne had supposedly harmed his mother.

Now Cordelia and Laurel had arrived to sympathize with their mother. Dianne could hear Cole trying to calm them, but they took turns yelling at the top of their lungs about the indecency of Dianne’s actions and how the sheriff should be notified.

Dianne felt especially bad for her children. The boys and Lia were congregated at the foot of her bed, wide-eyed and terrified.

“Mama, will they send you to jail?” John asked. “I can tell the sheriff that you didn’t hit Grandma. Even if Papa doesn’t believe me, the police will.”

“No one will send me to jail,” Dianne replied, not at all certain if she was telling him the truth.

“Will Grandma come and hurt me again?” Lia asked.

“No. No one will hurt any of you. I plan to sleep in your room with you,” Dianne said. “You three boys can sleep together in one bed. Lia and I will sleep in the other. Tomorrow we’ll go to town and get our train tickets so we can go home as soon as possible.”

“What about Papa?” Micah asked.

“Papa is making his choice tonight,” Dianne said sadly. “Papa may not come with us to Montana. If that happens, it won’t be because he doesn’t love you.” For all her anger at the way Cole had allowed himself to be manipulated, Dianne didn’t want the children to hate their father.

“It’s because of Grandmother Selby,” Luke said, his voice tinged with bitterness. “She’s a mean old woman.”

“Luke, that isn’t respectful. We may have had our difficulties with her, but God would still call us to respect her.”

“But she lied about you, Mama,” John said firmly. “I saw her. You didn’t hurt her. You didn’t hit her. You didn’t even make her fall.”

She nodded. “I know, John. And because you know what happened, maybe someday others will know the truth as well.”

“I hope Papa will come with us,” Lia said, slipping from the bed to come to Dianne. “I get sick on the train.”

“I know, sweetheart,” Dianne murmured and drew the child into her arms. “But we can’t stay here. We aren’t welcome anymore.”
We were never welcome
.

“Don’t try to stop her from going,” Cordelia insisted. “We want her gone.”

“She’s my wife and her place is at my side,” Cole countered. “If she should go, then I should too.”

Cordelia took hold of his arm. “You can’t mean to go now. Not with mother so terribly injured.”

He looked at his mother. She seemed completely without strength and very pale against her propped up bed pillows.

“She’s a danger to Mother,” Laurel added. “You cannot allow her to threaten Mother’s life anymore.”

“I don’t believe she meant to harm anyone,” he said firmly. “To hear Dianne’s side of this—” “I don’t want to hear Dianne’s side of this,” Cordelia proclaimed. “She doesn’t deserve to have a say. I think we should send for the sheriff and have her arrested.”

“Really?” Cole said rather snidely. “You’d put my wife in prison and then expect that I would stay here? You’d best think again. If you do anything to harm her, I’ll take my family and leave now.”

“Please,” his mother said in a low moaning voice. “Please don’t leave. I’ve endured much worse.” She sounded weak, and Cole wondered how much damage had truly been done.

“She plans to leave,” Laurel stated firmly. “I say, let her go. Let her take her gamins back to Montana and let us go on with our lives.”

“Those
gamins,
as you call them,” Cole said angrily, “are my children. Children I am quite proud of. In fact, the only reason I dragged them across the country and brought them here was because of that pride. I wanted to share them with my family.”

“And you have. We all think they’re wonderful,” Cordelia said, trying to calm him. “But they aren’t civilized. They don’t know how to behave in school or church.”

“I’ve not seen them act inappropriately in church,” he replied. “If you have a report of this, then you should have that person with a complaint come to me—instead of taking it to my sister.”

Cordelia fidgeted. “Cole, the point of this is that Dianne has her mind made up to go. That might be for the best right now. She can always come back at a later date, perhaps after she’s had time to think about what she’s done.”

“I don’t think she did anything purposefully,” he reiterated.

“Well, we certainly can’t take a chance on that, now can we,” Laurel said. “I mean, after all, it could take Mother’s life … next time.”

Chester Lawrence had eaten as much dust as he could stomach while moving the cattle to winter pasture. He’d been glad to see that despite the drought and summer fires, the area he’d chosen for his cattle was in good order with tall, dried, undisturbed grasses. There was plenty of water too, although the river was down considerably from previous years.

“You boys get these horses put away, then clean up and get in the house for supper,” Chester instructed Jerrod and Roy. He was glad his two oldest hadn’t deserted him yet but knew it was only a matter of time. They’d both already told him they wouldn’t be at the ranch through winter, and they really weren’t all that much help. At least not until Chester promised them both a hefty sum of money. That had put their back into their work.

Chester wasn’t at all sure what the future would hold because of this. He’d always figured to have the boys and even their families working alongside him for the years to come. But now that was clearly not going to happen. His hope would have to lie in Elsa. Perhaps she could bear him some sturdy grandsons.

In the meanwhile, Chester had hired an extra twenty ranch hands for the cattle drive, keeping on ten of those to stay out with the herd for the winter. It wouldn’t be the same as having his sons there. Sons who stood to inherit the fortune would care about the livestock, maybe even risk their own comfort to see to the herd, but not hired men. He’d be lucky if all ten lasted the winter.

Heading into the house through the back porch, Chester pulled off his heavy coat and gave it a good shake. It would need to be cleaned. He’d have to remember to get someone to see to that. For now, he tossed it onto a peg and went into the house.