Forever and Always (4 page)

“Who's Laurie?”

“She's my uncle's wife and Sibyl's cousin. She's the blond woman holding Kitty's hand. The other woman is Naomi. She's also Sibyl's cousin. Colby is her husband.”

Logan didn't attempt to keep all the names and relationships straight. It was a small town. It was inevitable that many people would be kin. “I'm glad she has a lot of family to support her. It's tragic to lose a husband, especially one as outstanding as Mr. Spencer.”

Steve cussed. “I don't know why the preacher had to carry on like he did. Norman was a bastard and just about everybody disliked him. He was the richest man in town, and he never let anyone forget it. People had to beg for loans. Then he'd stick his nose in their business until they paid him back. It got so bad people got together and opened a new bank. Norman got a lot nicer after that, but nobody forgot what he used to be like. I couldn't stand him. He was hateful to Sibyl.”

Logan doubted he'd ever seen three more beautiful women in one place, but Sibyl had the kind of classic beauty that could start a man to having embarrassing fantasies. He couldn't imagine any man being hateful to her.

“Sibyl was forced to marry Norman,” Steve explained. “She didn't like him one bit. You can ask anybody. I don't know what got into the preacher. I'm going to ask Martha if her father's been sampling his communion wine.”

Logan lost interest in the lengthening catalog of names without faces. “Taking over the running of the bank is going to be a difficult undertaking for Mrs. Spencer,” Logan said. “I hope some of those men you mentioned can help her.”

“Norman never let her go near the bank so she has no idea what to do,” Steve told him. “He didn't like Colby or Jared, either.”

Small towns were worse than big ones for people letting their family conflicts spill over into their business relationships—and big towns were bad enough. Logan had witnessed such a clash between his father and his uncle firsthand. So Mrs. Spencer would be on her own. Surely there was someone in Cactus Corner who knew something about banking or business, at least enough to help her until she got on her feet.

“Are you going to the reception?” Steve asked.

“No. I only went to the funeral because everything in town is closed, and people seemed set on everyone being there.”

“You ought to come. You could meet my uncle.”

“I'd feel too uncomfortable not knowing anyone.” Nor did he look forward to the curious and pitying looks he was sure to receive.

Steve laughed. “My uncle didn't know Laurie when he went to her husband's funeral, but they ended up getting married. Now I've got a little cousin with another just arrived.”

That certainly wouldn't happen to Logan. He didn't intend to strike up any friendships. He was wary of even casual acquaintances, excepting Steve. “I think I'll look around town for a bit. I may wait for stores to open or come back another time.”

“If you want, you can come by the ranch to see my uncle,” Steve said. “We're babysitting while Laurie stays with Sibyl. That means I have to run all the errands while Jared stays home.”

There was that name again. Logan wouldn't get his hopes up, but it was something he was going to have to check into sooner or later.

One of his reasons for leaving Chicago had been to find his brothers, but they were grown men with lives of their own that had no place for him. It was probable that the money he could leave them could make a difference, but he didn't have to do it in person. He could leave money in his will. That way they could benefit without having to watch him die.

Even if he hadn't been looking for his brothers, he was glad he'd left Chicago. He hadn't realized his work was taking so much there was virtually nothing left for himself. Now whatever was left was his. He no longer had to plan. He no longer had to worry about the consequences of what he did. For the first time in his life, he was completely free.

* * *

“Are you sure you don't need me to stay with you tonight?” Laurie asked Sibyl. “Jared and Steve won't mind. They fight over who gets to take care of the baby.”

Sibyl moved through the two parlors plumping pillows, straightening doilies, and repositioning chairs. She would have to decide tomorrow what furniture to move to make room for the reception. She might remove some of it permanently. She'd never liked it because it reminded her too much of Norman's mother, who had crocheted every doily in the room.

“Go back to your family. If I need anything, there are a dozen people close by itching to bring food, provide comfort, and try to find out what I plan to do with the bank.”

“Forget about the bank. You're
free
. And don't pretend you don't know what I mean. You don't have to follow his orders or swallow your pride because you don't want people to know your husband treats you like an unpaid servant. You don't have to wonder if he can tell what you're thinking.”

Sibyl didn't pretend she didn't know what Laurie meant. “After seven years, it's going to take some getting used to. I never wished Norman dead. I know you find that hard to believe, but I didn't. I just wished I could find some way to be free of him. I even considered stealing enough money to run away.” She laughed. “That just shows how desperate I had become. I thought we'd worked out ways to put up with each other until he took it in his head to send Kitty away to school.”

Laurie's expression registered shock and anger. “The child is only six. What was he planning to do? Send her to a convent?”

“I don't know. He wouldn't talk about it at home, so I had gone to the bank to confront him when the robbers entered. You should have seen him. He acted insulted, like he could just order them out and they'd go.” Her mouth twisted. “Sometimes I wondered if he was really sane. His mother gave him a completely unrealistic view of the world.” Sibyl sighed. “I never liked her. She was a stiff, proud woman. After being compared unfavorably to her for seven years, I started to hate her.”

“I know how you feel. Noah did the same to me. Now if you really don't need me, I think I will go home. I miss having my husband's arms around me at night.”

“I'm glad Jared is such a wonderful husband. It's your reward for putting up with Noah.”

“You should start looking around for a man you can love, one who could be a real father to Kitty.” Laurie took Sibyl's hands in hers. “He'll have to be a real prince charming to make up for the man you loved disappearing, and those years with Norman.”

Sibyl felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. She hoped Laurie believed her reaction was due to Norman's death, not the horrific night that still haunted her dreams. “I'm not interested in men or marriage. As you pointed out, I have enough money to support Kitty and myself. I don't have to subject myself to a man ever again.”

“That's how I felt when I met Jared. It didn't take long for me to change my mind.”

“There aren't any more men like Jared and Colby.”

“They have a brother.”

“The chances of him showing up here are about one in a bigger number than I can imagine. Even if he did, there's no assurance he'd be anything like his brothers.”

“Wouldn't that be something? Three cousins marrying three brothers.”

“Go home, Laurie. You've been out in the sun too long.”

Laurie grinned. “I know it's a silly idea, but it got your mind off dreary thoughts. Naomi will check on you tomorrow, but if you need anything, don't hesitate to let me know.”

Sibyl sighed with relief when she closed the door behind Laurie. She loved her cousins, was thankful for the support of other relatives, but she needed quiet and to be alone. Her life had taken a dramatic turn, one she was unprepared for regardless of the years she'd spent dreaming about it. This wasn't about the bank or even about Kitty. It was about herself. She was twenty-three years old, yet she'd never lived by herself or been allowed to make her own decisions. No one had asked her opinion or encouraged her to have one. She'd spent years trying not to think, not to have opinions or ideas because it made life easier. Every time she'd become so frustrated and angry she was tempted to rebel, she thought of the effect it would have on Kitty and swallowed her resentment.

That had changed when Norman decided to send Kitty away to school. She had been prepared to fight for her daughter's future. Now she had one question that needed an answer.

What did she want to do about her own future?

* * *

Sibyl caught herself wishing Naomi had chosen this evening to pay her a visit, but she knew she had to handle this by herself. If she was ever going to stand on her own two feet, she had to begin with her parents. Her father was striding about the parlor like he owned it while her mother studied the furnishings with envy. Sibyl thought she just might tell her mother to take her pick. It would give her an excuse to buy furniture of her own choosing.

“You know you can't run the bank,” her father was saying. “You must turn it over to me. If I can't find the time to manage it, I'll sell it for you.”

Sibyl thought she must have loved her father at some point in her life. Surely a young girl would love the man who protected her, made her feel safe and loved. Only he'd never made her feel loved and not even particularly safe. He was unhappy that she was his only child. He was even unhappier she was a girl. She couldn't recall that he'd ever put his feelings into words. Looks she caught before he turned away, things not said or shared, times she was ignored or considered deficient of understanding, being left entirely in female company—all of these spoke to his belief that she was a disappointment to him. She could probably have accepted all of that because that was the way most men thought of women.

But all of that changed when he killed the man she loved and forced her to marry one she didn't.

“You wouldn't want to be thought the forward kind of woman who would go into business,” her mother was saying. “It's very unladylike.”

Her mother conveniently glossed over the fact that her cousin Mae Oliver owned a millinery shop, Polly Drummond ran a bakery, and Amber Johnson worked in the mercantile. But making hats, baking bread, and selling household goods were considered suitable work for women. Setting herself up as the head of a bank—a job that would put her in competition with men—was something else entirely.

“Naturally I'll handle all your financial matters,” her father said. “Norman didn't take me into his confidence on all his dealings, but as his lawyer, I have a good understanding of his holdings. You're a wealthy woman. You don't have to worry about anything.”

“I don't want to be left out of all the decisions,” Sibyl said.

“You owe a debt of gratitude to your father,” her mother said.

“Why?” Sibyl asked.

“Norman's will,” her mother said. “As bad as it is, it would have been worse without your father's influence.”

“How do you mean?” Sibyl asked her father.

“Naturally Norman didn't believe he could leave you to handle any of his business interests. After Noah died, he planned to tie everything up in a trust to be handled by a distant cousin. I managed to convince him that it would be impossible for a man living in Pennsylvania to understand anything about life in the Arizona Territory. He filled the will with a lot of tedious and, I believe, unfair restrictions, but I managed to convince him to name me the executor.”

“He never signed that will,” Sibyl said.

“Why not?” her father asked. “How do you know?”

“He made the mistake of leaving it out on his desk,” Sibyl told him. “I figured I had a right to read it since I was his wife. When I read what he wanted you to do, how he intended Kitty and me to live, I got so mad I tore it up. You don't have to look at me like I've committed a crime,” Sibyl said to her father's stunned reaction. “He hadn't signed it.”

“He said he was going to sign it as soon as he read it over one more time.”

“He probably wanted time to see if he could think of more ways to humiliate me.”

Her father ignored her. “But that means Norman died without a will.”

“No, he didn't.”

“He tore up the will leaving everything to Noah,” her father said. “I saw him.”

“He never destroyed the will you had him make when we got married,” Sibyl said. “That one leaves everything to me.”

“He said he lost that will when we left Kentucky.”

“I took it,” Sibyl confessed. “I knew he intended to make a new will. I kept it in case I ever needed it.”

“That makes it very easy to turn everything over to your father,” her mother said.

“I don't want to do that.”

“But you can't handle everything by yourself. What if you should lose everything? Think of your future. Think of Kitty.”

“I am thinking of the future,” Sibyl insisted, “of both our futures, but I don't see why that means I have to give up control of my own property. Laurie has kept control of the store, and she's doing just fine.”

“She has a husband to take care of everything for her.”

“They make all decisions about the ranch together, but Laurie manages the store by herself.”

“She has her father to help.”

“That man is such a terrible businessman he forced his daughter to marry a man she disliked so he wouldn't lose his share of the store.”

That was so close to what her parents had done that neither spoke.

“I intend to handle my own affairs,” Sibyl told them. “If I need help, I'll ask. But no one is going to tell me what to do with my property or my daughter. I've spent seven years married to a man who didn't want to be married to me and who disliked my daughter.”

“That's because—” her mother began.