Page 2 of Charlotte's Reckoning
“Can’t I?”Jael retorted, malice dripping from her voice. “Your father left the estate to me, stupid chit. I can do whatever I want.”
“Fine," she snapped. "I’ll take my inheritance and be glad to quit your company for good.”
Her laughter echoed through the stable. “Your money is gone, fool.”
Rowie stiffened in alarm. “How can that be? My trust contained a small fortune.”
A smug smile twisted her lips as Jael eyed her up and down. “A fortune you threw away these past three years on satins and silks, and trips abroad with your frivolous friends.”She gestured to the stalls lining both sides of the stable.”And most of it you wasted on your foul-smelling horses.”
“But I thought that you—”
“Silly, foolish girl. You can’t think my funds paid for a scrap of cloth or an inch of lace.”
“Father wouldn’t have wanted this!”
“If that’s the case, he should have put someone who cared in charge of you and your money.” She motioned to Mr. Haskins. “I want them gone, and be quick about it, or you can go with them.”
Big Ben sent Rowie an apologetic look before agreeing, “Yes, Miz Eldridge.”
Her cruel decree issued, her stepmother turned to leave.
“Wait,”she cried, rushing toward her. “I need to gather my things! Since my funds were used to purchase everything, I’m not leaving anything behind, especially the horses.”
Jael shrugged as though she didn’t care, but the thoroughbreds were worth thousands. “You have one hour to get your foul-smelling beasts off my property, or I’ll let them loose. Then I can get rid of this dilapidated old stable. Next to the new one, it is nothing but an eyesore. A single match should do the trick.”
Her stepmother had the new stable built to house her carriage horses. There was plenty of room for the thoroughbreds but she refused. “I suppose my money paid for that, too,”Rowie snapped.
“How unusually astute of you,”Jael said snidely. She waved her hand dismissively, clearly having not remorse at using funds that weren't hers. "As for your things, I won’t abide a whore under my roof another night. I'll have the servants box everything up and leave it on the porch. You can come back for it in the morning. You have until noon. After that, it will be donated to the poor or burned. I care not which.”
“An hour isn’t enough time to make arrangements for the horses,” Carson protested. “We’ll need to find someplace to board them and pack the equipment.”
“That isn’t my problem.” When Jael's eyes narrowed, her calculating expression all too familiar, Rowie braced for more of her trickery. “In respect for your father, who loved them for some reason, and you, his beloved child,turned harlot—oh, how he must be spinning in his grave—I’ll board them, but not for free.”
For a usurious sum that would sap what little was left of her assets, Rowie predicted. “You’re a vicious, horrible woman,”she cried. “I don’t believe this prudish, holier-than-thouact for a minute. It was a simple kiss, yet you neverwaited until marriage with my father. I suspect that’s how you got your tentacles into him. You’re ugly on the inside, and that isn’t something you can hide. If I live to be one hundred, I’ll never understand what Father ever saw in such a hateful old goat.”
She spat the last word and watched as her stepmother stiffened, her air of superiority replaced with a scowl. Translated, her name meant goat in Hebrew, a fact she’d always been sensitive to.
“Rather a goat than homeless without means to stable a dozen horses,”Jael shot back. “I will do you a favor, although you don’t deserve it. I’ll give you five hundred dollars for the lot of them right now. Take it or leave it. You’ve got until the count of five to decide.”
“But each horse would bring at least double that at auction.”
“One…”
“This isn’t fair!”
“Two…”
“Take the money, Rowie,” Carson urged. “We’ll start fresh with it.”
“Three…”
“But she’s robbing us of their worth.”
“Four. Decide now, or I will begin charging what I would have paid you to keep them. They’ll be mine in a week, and you’ll have nothing.”
“I’ll take the money,”Rowie uttered brokenly. What choice did she have?
“Excellent,”Jael drawled. “I’ll have a bank draft for you tomorrow when you return for your belongings. Then, my dead husband’s brat of a daughter will be gone from my life and nothing but an unpleasant memory.”She turned, but before leaving, she looked heavenward and smiled. “My prayers, at long last, are being answered.”
