Her Safe Harbor: Prairie Romance (Crawford Family Book 4) Page 7

  She laughed. A light, musical sound free from worry and concern. “You are a flatterer, Zebidiah Moran.”

  I am a man falling for a woman, he thought.

  * * *

  “Zebidiah Moran is very handsome, and he is clearly very interested in you. He couldn’t take his eyes off of you last night,” Julia said to Jennifer as Eliza fixed her hair in her sleeping room the morning following the ball.

  “He is very handsome,” Jennifer conceded.

  “And I saw that you were whisked out the door of the ballroom and gone for ten minutes or more. Was he stealing a kiss?”

  “He . . . stepped on my toes and just took me outside to catch my breath.”

  “Hmmm,” Julia said as she turned to the door from where she sat on Jennifer’s bed. “Whatever is that noise? Is that Max shouting?”

  “I think it is.”

  “How peculiar!”

  Julia and Jennifer stepped into the hallway and saw Max striding toward them. He stopped, turned back to the closed door of his wife’s room, and shouted, “This is not over, Jolene Crawford Shelby! By damn, it is not over.” He turned to Julia and Jennifer. “Good morning, ladies, and pardon my coarse language. I’m sorry you have to witness your sister and me have one of our rare tiffs, but she can be the most stubborn, inflexible woman and on this subject, I don’t intend to give in!”

  Max stomped by and Julia and Jennifer hurried down the hallway to Jolene’s rooms.

  “Whatever is going on, Jolene?” Julia asked once inside. “Max is furious!”

  Jolene was stretched out on a settee near the window, wearing a voluminous white silk robe embroidered with tiny pink roses and matching slippers. She shrugged. “Maximillian is unhappy I am going to Boston. He forbade it, he said. How ridiculous he is being all because I am expecting.”

  Julia laughed.

  “Perhaps you should not go, Jolene. Max is very angry,” Jennifer cautioned.

  “And his anger will be dealt with by him, not I,” she said. “I told him that your maid would be with us and if he wanted to send a manservant for the train trip, I would allow it to ease his worries.”

  All three women turned when they heard doors slam from somewhere belowstairs.

  “I don’t think that eased his worries,” Julia said.

  Jolene raised her brows. “I won’t be bullied. I’m an adult woman in 1893 with the intelligence and wherewithal to board a train and arrive unscathed in the city of Boston, the city I grew up in and still know intimately. And anyway, Father will send a carriage to the station, so there would be no concerns about my safety or how we would get around.”

  Jolene’s bedroom door banged open and Julia and Jennifer turned with a start. Max stood there, red-faced and angry.

  “I can’t take the worry, Jolene,” he shouted. “I can’t take it. If you insist on this, I will excuse myself from my Senate duties and escort you.”

  “You would miss all the important votes that you have been working so diligently on? Why can’t a manservant accompany us? It would not be unusual, and he could report back to you the following day that we had arrived and that he had turned his guardianship of us over to my father.”

  “I can’t trust just anyone with you, and the baby, and Melinda, and Jennifer, too,” Max insisted, looking suddenly arrested and hurrying from the room.

  Jolene picked at her robe and looked at her sisters. “Marriage can be a trial, especially if one is in love with one’s husband. Maximillian shouts and slams doors to display his displeasure. I tell him he is far too earthy to be a real gentleman.”

  “And what does he say to that?” Julia asked.

  “He says little, but I’m certain you know, Julia,” Jolene said with a throaty laugh, “there is something to be said about an earthy man in the bedroom.”

  “Jolene!” Julia said, but covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.

  “I hate to see Max upset, Jolene,” Jennifer said. “You must wait and come another time when Max can come with you. He is so worried about you!”

  “Sometimes it’s best to have a conversation with those we love, even if it becomes loud or angry,” Julia said and wandered to the window. “Imagine how much less pain there would have been in the long term for our family if I’d been honest with Jolene about Turner and me right away?”

  “You were seventeen years old, Julia, and your mother, our mother, directed you to do what you did. There is no shock or shame in doing as you’d been told,” Jolene said.

  “Perhaps we shouldn’t discuss this.” Jennifer’s face reddened. How could her sisters be so casual about the events that tore their family apart? It was so much easier to avoid arguments and these painful issues, and so much better when an issue seemed to go away for having ignored it, rather than focusing endlessly on things others were saying or doing. But did the unpleasantness ever go away?

  Jolene looked at Jennifer and tilted her head as if observing something new about her sister. “I believe you’ve learned an unfortunate lesson at Mother’s hands. You do not like confrontation and will go out of your way to avoid it. I am the same to some degree but have been able to overcome it.”

  “I avoided everything so much I boarded a train to marry a man I’d never met,” Julia added, and turned. “It is a hard habit to break, Jennifer. But you must.”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Jennifer replied. Jolene was staring at her and Julia was looking at her with pity. She faced accounting problems head-on, but what of the troubles in her life?

  * * *

  Jennifer was seated in the front parlor with her sisters and Julia’s husband, Jake, discussing their museum outing of that afternoon.

  “The best part of the day was the meal,” Jake declared.

  “Oh, Jake,” Julia said with a laugh. “You would say that. Can you imagine how excited your sisters, Flossie and Gloria, would be to see all those beautiful paintings? In a few years, when the children are older, I will bring them here on the train. What do you think, Jake?”

  Jake smiled at his wife. “I think that once you get an idea in your head, you hang on to it like a dog with a bone. Boarding in this town would be plenty expensive, though, if the prices I saw on that restaurant menu are typical.”

  “You and your sisters and brothers-in-law and their children would be more than welcome to stay here if you decide to come,” Jolene said to Jake. “Maximillian wouldn’t hear of allowing our family to stay at a hotel.”

  “What wouldn’t I allow?” Max asked as he came into the room, Zebidiah following him.

  Jolene grasped Max’s hand and tilted her cheek up for a kiss. “Julia would like to bring her sisters-in-law to Washington to see the museums and other sites. I told them you would never allow them to stay at a hotel and that we would be happy to have them here.”

  Max kissed Jolene’s cheek and hand and turned to Jake. “Your family is welcome to stay anytime.”

  “You seem to be in a better mood than you were this morning, Maximillian. How did things go at the Senate?” Jolene asked.

  “The Senate is full of backstabbing sycophants without the wherewithal to form an educated opinion,” Max said, and smiled. “My problems of early this morning, though, relating to my beautiful wife who does not always, if ever, mind her husband, are solved for all concerned.”

  Jolene raised her brows. “Really, Maximillian? Do tell.”

  Max put his arm around Zeb and pulled him forward. “Zeb is going to accompany you to Boston and stay until you and Melinda are ready to come home. What do you think of that?”

  “I think Zebidiah’s considerable talents will be wasted and that you need him for important government business,” Jolene said.

  Max shook his head. “He is the only man I trust to take care of you, other than my newly made friend and relative, Jake, who has women and children of his own to guard, and Eugenia’s husband, Calvin.” He knelt down in front of Jolene’s chair and clasped her hands. “There are threats made every day, accordin
g to what the Pinkerton agent told us. To ourselves and to our families, and I take them seriously.”

  “Poor Zebidiah. What does he have to say about this arrangement?” Jolene asked.

  “I serve at the senator’s pleasure,” Zeb replied. “If this is how I can best be of service, than I am happy to comply.”

  Everyone stood as dinner was announced, but Jennifer could not think of food or the lovely time she’d had with Jolene, Melinda, and Julia and her family that afternoon. She’d been thinking about the precious memories she would have of the laughter and the lightheartedness she’d felt that day, only wishing her father was with them. But then Max announced that Zeb would be traveling with them to Boston. The idea of Jolene and Mother under the same roof again had left her sleepless with worry, but now, with the chance that Mother would be introduced to Zeb, she could barely breathe! She locked arms with Jolene.

  “This is unwise,” she whispered to her sister. “What if Mother were to meet Zeb? She would be rude and cruel.”

  Jolene looked at her and stopped them in the long hallway before they followed the others to the dining room. “Mother will certainly meet Zebidiah as he will be staying at Willow Tree.”

  “Oh, no! He must not. Mother will not like it, and you know how she can be. I can’t even imagine what she’ll say to . . .” she trailed off and looked at her hands folded at her waist.

  “Are you concerned about Mother’s behavior toward me?” She led Jennifer to a settee. “We are not doing anything untoward. I am a married daughter visiting her mother and father and I will have a trusted escort, as my husband’s profession can attract an undesirable element. There is nothing to be ashamed about. Nothing strange unless you allow Mother’s influences to rule you. Do you really think Father would keep me from staying at Willow Tree?”

  Jennifer shook her head. “No. I’m certain Father misses you and Julia, and Jillian, too, and will be very happy for you to stay.”

  “Then you must not let Mother set the tone for this visit. We will manage Mother together, find out more about her illness, and spend time with our father. I intend to send out a letter to him tomorrow. Come. Come and eat and try to relax. Nothing dreadful will happen. I promise.”

  Chapter Seven

  Jennifer and Jolene sat together on a plush sofa talking quietly in the private car of the train they were taking to Boston. Zeb sat on a bench seat near the opposite window with Melinda, who was giving him a running narrative of everything she saw as she looked through the glass at the landscape as it went by. Jennifer was white-faced, distracted, and looked ill, Zeb thought, with even more of her usual reticence. Jolene had barely left her side, and he wondered if she knew what troubled Jennifer. He doubted it though. If Jolene knew, then Max would know and that would mean Max would be on this train to Boston intent on making sure Jennifer’s tormentor was gone from her life permanently.

  “You are not paying any attention to me,” Melinda said.

  “That is not true,” he replied. “You just told me you counted twenty cows in the last pasture before it was out of sight.”

  Melinda giggled. “It was thirty goats, but you were very close.”

  “Miss Burberry?” Jolene said to the middle-aged woman seated at one end of the car, book in hand. “Would you take Melinda to the dining car? There is a table in my name for five. You may order drinks and soup if you would like. We will join you in a few minutes.”

  “Certainly ma’am,” Miss Burberry said and rose, waiting for Melinda to follow her.

  “What are you going to talk about Mother?” Melinda asked. “That is why you are asking us to leave, am I right? I am nearly thirteen. I don’t know why I can’t stay.”

  “You may not stay because I have requested privacy with your Aunt Jennifer and Mr. Moran,” Jolene said.

  “Come along, Melinda,” Miss Burberry said. “We will order lemonade or cold tea and pretend we are grand ladies.”

  Jolene waited until the train car door latched firmly and looked at Zeb. “Our family home, Willow Tree, is not always a comfortable place to be, mostly because of our mother.”

  Jennifer stood and huffed a breath. “We shouldn’t be talking about this. Perhaps he should be staying at a hotel.”

  “If you would prefer I stay at a hotel, I will be glad to,” Zeb said.

  “Jennifer, please sit down. No. I don’t believe you should stay at a hotel, and I don’t believe Maximillian would be happy if you did. He was very specific in his instructions, was he not?”

  “Very specific. But I’ve no wish to upset your sister.”

  Jennifer seated herself at the end of the sofa and Jolene rose and sat down beside her. She picked up Jennifer’s hand and squeezed it. “Our mother is a very unhappy person. She has been known to be cruel and malicious, and now she is unwell. Our father loves her even with all of that, and tries to please her, and maintain peace. It is difficult. Jennifer is, and I am as well, I suppose, embarrassed that you may be subject to her insults. I will introduce Melinda to her and then take her to stay with Maximillian’s sister and her husband. I do not want her subject to Mother’s rants.”

  Jennifer wiped her eyes. “She will undoubtedly be mean to you, too, Jolene. She said you and Julia are dead to her.”

  “I did not acquiesce to her demands.” Jolene turned to Zeb. “My husband trusts you implicitly and that is why he sent you on this trip with us. I am asking for Jennifer’s and my sake that you do not repeat any of what you see and hear. I have consulted physicians and am convinced my mother has a mental illness above and beyond the physical illness that Jennifer has reported to us.”

  Jennifer was crying softly and covered her face with her hand. Jolene was staring at him. “I would never repeat anything I heard or saw. It is not my place to carry tales other than to Max in regards to your safety. My father is . . . does not pay attention to the world around him. He is a professor and he barricades himself in his study or at his university office. He is not actively cruel but neglectful of those dependent on him. My mother, when she lived, maintained peace in our family. I am able to navigate awkward situations when it is called for.”

  “Of course you are. That is why Maximillian is dependent on your help with his fellow senators.”

  Jolene stood, gave him a pointed look, and started to the door. “Join us for lunch when you are ready.”

  “I am sorry about your mother,” Jennifer said after Jolene had gone from their train car.

  “Thank you,” Zeb said, and knelt in front of her. “Please do not be upset or worried for me. Have you heard the children’s rhyme? ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me’?”

  “I have not,” she said. “But I should take it to heart, shouldn’t I? I worry excessively about things I can do nothing about.”

  “You do not worry when confronted with an accounting problem, do you?”

  “Well, no. It is in my power to solve those problems. Mother is not one of those problems.”

  “I believe you can do whatever it is you set your mind to. Your father depends on you to solve the most difficult issues at your family’s business. For all your beauty and style, you were never afraid to work hard. I watched you while you were at the Hacienda helping with all the influenza patients, myself included. And now you are facing problems at home that seem insurmountable, and some may be dangerous, and yet you manage it alone.”

  Perhaps this was the time to tell Zeb why her ribs were tender. He was the only man, the only person really, to recognize her in her own right. She was not an appendage in his eyes, rather fully formed as her own person. He had said it to her, just then, and his words, as she repeated them in her head, were more meaningful and dear than anything anyone else had ever said to her. She was not a sister or daughter to him. She was Jennifer Crawford, with her own hopes and dreams and strengths understood. She was suddenly glad of his company and the extended time she would have getting to know him.

  “You are a very percept
ive man, and you are too kind. But I confess my greatest concern now is that we may miss luncheon.”

  He rose and held out his hand to help her from her seat. “You have read my mind or heard my stomach churning. We do not want to miss our meal.”

  * * *

  “What is that ungodly racket?” Jane Crawford said as she came down the grand staircase at Willow Tree.

  “Look who is home, Jane,” William Crawford said to his wife. “Jennifer is back, and Jolene is visiting, too, and has brought guests.”

  Father looks terrified, Jennifer thought to herself. How ridiculous! In his own home! His behavior would have been normal for her as well had she not escaped for the past month. She was determined to not let Mother intimidate her or belittle her. She’d become accustomed to being treated kindly and with respect. She recently decided she would not go back.

  “Jolene is no longer a member of this family. She can take herself and these people out of my house at once.”

  Jennifer pulled off her gloves and handed them to Bellings as she walked to her mother and kissed her cheek. “How absurd you are being, Mother! Jolene is your daughter just as I am and Julia is. And she has brought her daughter, Melinda. Come here, Melinda, and meet your grandmother.”

  “I am not—” Jane began.

  “You will not say one nasty word to this child. She has done nothing to you,” Jennifer whispered as she leaned close. Her mother turned her head sharply and eyed her.

  “Hello. It is nice to meet you,” Melinda said to Jane and then looked at Jennifer.

  Jennifer smiled even as her stomach rolled while waiting for her mother to respond.

  But Jane merely nodded.

  “Come along now, Melinda. I am taking you to your Aunt Eugenia and Uncle Calvin’s. Your aunt wrote me that she is prepared to spoil you with new dresses and fancy dinners and that your father and I are to say nothing,” Jolene said.