Page 45 of My Heart Will Find You

He led her to a window at the back of the house. Feeling the warming effects of the drink, she looked out. A tall man was on a horse. She’d expected to see Phillip, Alicia’s husband, but that wasn’t him.

“That’s Ben,” she said in shock. “Henry’s son.”

“He’s the lawyer. Name of Bertram. I think he’s called Bert.”

“No, no, no! That man belongs to Caroline. To Cornelia.” She tried to think what to do. “This is bad. Very, very bad.” She looked at him. “You have to go get Cornelia and bring her here.”

Max turned away and left the room, walking quickly. “Not on my life,” he said over his shoulder.

She ran after him. “It’s for Alice. You have to trust me on this. If she marries Ben she’ll be miserable.” Etta stopped for a moment. She didn’t know that for sure, but at the same time she instinctively did know. Caroline and Ben went together. That’s how it was supposed to be.Hadto be. Maybe they’d eventually produce Henry’s ancestor, who would produce Henry.

She looked at the back of Max. “If you don’t go get her, I will.” There was steel in her voice. “I’ll tell her that you want to sell all your land to her father. Even the homestead. She’ll come running. On a stallion.”

Halting, he turned to her. “That’s blackmail.”

“Yes, it is. Youmustgo.”

He took a moment to contemplate what she was saying, and his face softened. “It’s all right. There’s nothing between Cornelia and me.”

Etta gritted her teeth. “I amnotjealous. This is more serious than female ownership of some man. Alice likes the lawyer, but he belongs to Cornelia.” She saw that her words were having no effect on him. “Do you want Cornelia off your back or not?”

He hesitated.

“Do you think that she’ll let up on you just because you got married? She’s a woman scorned. She will never forgive or forget. Your only hope is to put her with another man.” She could see that she was making headway in persuading him. “Please,” she said. “Trust me.”

After what seemed like forever, he nodded. He’d do it. “He’ll be at the door soon.”

“Get one of the men to keep him busy, then you get on the fastest horse and go get her.”

“It’ll take an hour or more.”

“I need two hundred horses now,” she said. “Just go as fast as you can. I’ll distract Alice.”

With a look that all this was ridiculous, he grabbed his hat and left the house. Etta waited, expecting the lawyer to knock on the door, but he didn’t. She peeked out a window and saw two men practically dragging the lawyer into the barn. Poor man was gesturing that he was supposed to go into the house. He was barely out of sight when Max went tearing past on a horse at full speed.

“Oh my,” Etta said. He certainly did look good!

“Where’s Max going?” Alice said from behind her.

“To the grocery,” she said before she thought. “I mean, there was an accident. He’ll be back soon.” When Alice turned away, Etta put her foot firmly down on one of her petticoats that was just visible under the silk. It ripped.

“I’m so sorry. Esmeralda will have to fix that.”

“But he’ll be here soon. I’ll just pin it.”

“He might see that and think you’re a slovenly person,” Etta said seriously.

“You’re right. Esmeralda!” Alice shouted. “I need you.”

Alice was hardly out of the room when Etta heard a sound that was becoming familiar. A wagon was driving in.Now what?she thought.Drop-in visitors?

To her disbelief, she saw Max driving a silver-and-black buggy that didn’t take any historical knowledge to know that it was the Mercedes of the day. Beside him was the elegant, the beautiful, the eternally bad-tempered Cornelia.

“Why did I think inviting her was a good idea?” Etta mumbled.

Max seemed to know she was watching as he turned angry, glaring eyes on her. Etta stepped out of sight. “Okay, so now I can wake up.”

Nothing happened.

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