Page 109 of My Heart Will Find You

Bert waved his hand. “Cornelia would love doing all that. She says she owes Etta in a big way.”

Max scoffed. “For gettingyou?”

“I’m the prize bull. Awarded to the winner.” The men laughed.

“I have to go to KC on Friday,” Bert said. “I’m going to buy a piece of land. This is Wednesday, so I guess dinner will be tomorrow?”

Max stood up. “I don’t even know where the painter is, and Martha won’t come. And who is the schoolmarm Etta saw leaving the dressmaker?”

Bert lifted his hands in surrender. “All that’s beyond me. Get Alice and Cornelia together. They’ll solve it.” He stood up. “I’m not an expert on women, but it sounds to me like Etta may be nesting.”

“Like a buffalo wallow?”

“Like a bird,” Bert said. “Making a nest. To lay eggs. For baby birds.”

Max’s eyes widened. “Oh. Right.” He smiled. “Yeah.” He turned to the door. “I’ll go talk to Alice now. Tomorrow we’ll have dinner.”

Bert was grinning. “You’ll be the best man at my wedding?”

“Of course.” Max put on his hat. “Thanks.”

“Anytime,” Bert said.

When Max was driving home, he was feeling no pain. Alice was chattering so fast he could hardly understand her. It had been an interesting afternoon. After Max told his sister about putting on a dinner for Etta, and who was to be invited, Alice did everything. She’d found Cornelia at a shop down the street, and the two of them bullied the dressmaker into telling them who the woman was who’d been seen leaving her shop.

As the women suspected, she was a seamstress. The dressmaker was afraid Etta would take her business away, so she’d lied. They then planned to search for the painter.

Yet again, Max was struck by the changes in his life since he’d married Etta. Cornelia was no longer demanding things from Max. Part of him wanted to ask her how she was dealing with her father now that he knew he wasn’t going to get Max’s land. But the larger part of him was too cowardly to hear the answer.

The women told Max to go away while they worked. Both women knew he’d go to the Red Dog. “Just you!” Cornelia said and narrowed her eyes at him. “If you try to corrupt Bert, I’ll make you sorry.”

Max looked serious. “I’ll leave him as virginal as I found him.”

Cornelia glared at him, trying to decide if he was being honest or playing her for a fool.

Max went to the saloon and in defiance, he sent a girl upstairs to tell Bert. The lawyer delighted in escaping Mrs. Ellis and joined Max. They enjoyed themselves very much. The only snag came when Cornelia marched in, Alice trailing behind her.

“She won’t come,” Cornelia said to the two men who were smiling happily.

“Who?” Bert asked.

“That woman! Lillian Oates. She refuses to come to the dinner.”

Alice was looking around. “This is where Freddy worked? What are the towels for?” They were hanging down from the long bar.

“Wiping their mouths from their filthy tobacco spitting,” Cornelia snapped. She was staring at Max, waiting for him to solve the problem.

“I don’t know what to do. She—” His head came up. “Etta said she and the preacher were a pair.” He was pleased he remembered that.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Cornelia said. “Lillian is young and pretty. Tobias is neither of those.”

“Like you and ole Bert here?” Max said.

Cornelia started to protest, but it was such a nice compliment that she agreed.

Alice spoke up. “We’ll get the preacher to talk to her about starting a school. In the church.”

Cornelia smiled at her. “That’s an excellent idea.” She looked back at the men. “Please don’t get drunk. There are things that need to be done. We want to make Etta proud of us.”

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