Page 80 of The Rancher's Wedding

“Well, she is and she isn’t,” Richard said. “It was a conditional agreement dependent on the fact that Ethan’s father, Ethan Sr., still owned the bank, which he did not.” Richard shook his head. “As a matter of fact,” he continued, “Ethan’s father never owned the bank at all.”

Richard pulled out a notarized document from the Philadelphia City Hall and handed it to Michael.

“It says it belongs to one Phineas Templeton,” Michael said, “and prior to 1875, it belonged to Andrew Knight III.”

“Correct,” Richard said, “and he built it with his own two hands using money bequeathed to him by his parents.”

Michael couldn’t make sense of it. “Then why did you think that Ethan or his father owned the bank?”

“Because his father told me that he did.” Richard said, making it sound simple, but Michael still didn’t understand.

“And why would he say that?”

“Because, my boy,” Richard said, slapping Michael’s back, “the man was a fraud!”

“Tell him what he was trying to do, Father,” Estelle said.

“I followed up on this and it was quite too complicated to explain in a letter, let alone a telegram, which is why I came out here as soon as I found out,” Richard began. “You see, the Bank of Philadelphia, rumor had it, was facing some difficulties. Loans they provided were coming due and payments weren’t coming back in a timely manner. They were holding onto people’s money without the cash to back it up. Ethan’s father planned on buying out the bank when it went bankrupt.”

“What would be the point of owning a bankrupt bank?” Michael asked. “Who would put their money there?”

“Nobody, of course,” Richard said, “but he planned on using it as a foot in the door to acquire my bank. The agreement was for the two families to merge their banks together. So long as he had the Bank of Philadelphia, the agreement was he would marry Estelle and acquire the Williams family bank as well.”

“This is my favorite part,” Jacob said. “Guess why he couldn’t buy the bank.”

“Did they not end up declaring bankruptcy?” Michael asked. He was baffled by the complexity of all of this interaction. Was money so important out there in Philadelphia that people would devote their whole lives to it? It’s true, he was prepared to marry someone out of convenience, but it wasn’t merely to use her as a pawn in some elaborate plan to line his pockets. It’s because he genuinely needed somebody to connect with on some level.

“No, they did,” Richard said, “but it turns out that Ethan’s father wasn’t the only one with the plan. The Templeton family had a remarkably similar idea to the Fitzgeralds and they also had more money to buy it when the bidding started.

“It’s why Ethan was in such a rush to marry Estelle as soon as she came of age. Once they were married and our bank belonged to him, the agreement was no longer necessary. He was worried that we’d find out before the wedding day. By running away and marrying you, Michael, Estelle forced me to look for some kind of loophole to get her out of the arranged marriage. What I found, instead, was that he is a fraud. From a family of frauds.”

Estelle hugged her father, tightly, the smile on her face completely genuine. For the first time, he saw his wife as she was, telling the truth, and not trying to hide behind a secret. She practically glowed.

“I also managed to find,” Richard said, “that virtually everything I thought I knew about the Fitzgeralds was a complete fabrication. I was told Ethan received top marks in all his classes at the University of Pennsylvania. It turns out that he was never enrolled there. The Fitzgeralds went so far as to produce a counterfeit transcript for Ethan. Out of curiosity, I spoke to Sheriff Granger, who informed me that transcripts weren’t the only thing they were counterfeiting.”

“Money, too,” Estelle said.

“That’s right,” Richard said. “Both Ethan Jr. and Sr. have spent time in jail for their fraud.”

This was all horrifying to Michael. If Estelle hadn’t acted as quickly as she did, not only would Michael never have met her, but she would have ended up with a criminal for a husband. With Michael, Estelle learned how to tend the farm and that became her life. What would she have become if she married Ethan?

“So what now, then?” Michael asked.

“I suppose we have at least two options,” Richard said. “We can either let Ethan know what he’s up to and let him move on. Or we can let him know that we know and turn him in. I have a preference, but I’d like to hear what you all have to say.”

“Turn him in,” Estelle said.

“Turn him in,” Jacob said.

Michael thought for a moment. Sending a man to the police wasn’t something to consider lightly. There was a sense in which Ethan hadn’t actually harmed any of them, as they caught him before he could marry Estelle. If no harm came to them, then why should they harm him in return? Why take away his freedom out of spite? It certainly wasn’t what Jesus would have preached.

It was rage and vengeance for what could have been that was fueling Michael’s desire to ensure that Ethan faced appropriate consequences, but perhaps he could step back and think more rationally for a moment and see if it was morally justifiable.

Ethan had been arrested for fraud before, but didn’t seem to have learned his lesson. Once he learned that Estelle and Richard were onto his scheme, he would no doubt move on. Where would he move on to? Likely some other family, just as naive as Richard had been, with a daughter as innocent as Estelle.

“Let’s turn him in,” Michael said. Not for vengeance, but to protect the next person Ethan intended to defraud.

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