An Uninvited Bride on his Doorstep by Ava Winters
Chapter Eighteen
Winona sat up and sighed. She was exhausted but her chores were nearly complete. A few more minutes of scrubbing and the stove would be clean, and she could complete her latest drawing. Now that the house was repaired and the years of caked-on dirt removed, it was rather easy to keep up with the cleaning and cooking. She resolved to ask Logan where else she could help around the ranch. Perhaps she could plow and replant the vegetable garden.
She heard a commotion coming from outside and stood to look out the kitchen window. Jay and Logan stood at the gate of the courtyard, arguing. Jay held a notebook in his hand and Winona realized he was trying to convince Logan to accept his plan for the cattle herd.
Logan had grudgingly acquiesced prior to the dance but since the spectacle with Jude, he’d balked once more. He gestured angrily at Jay and though Winona couldn’t make out the words, she knew he was once more refusing to hear Jay out.
Jay lifted his hands in pleading and Winona was gratified to see he didn’t return Logan’s anger in kind. At least one Foley brother was learning to manage his emotions, she thought wryly. Logan listened for a minute, arms folded, then began shouting and gesturing again. After a minute, he strode angrily toward the house, leaving Jay standing at the gate, head hanging.
Winona quickly moved away from the window and sat at the table, fanning herself. She wanted to confront Logan about his conversation with Jay but didn’t want him to know she’d been eavesdropping. When the door opened, she stood and smiled sweetly at her husband.
“Good afternoon, Logan!” she said brightly. “How are you?”
“Fine,” he responded gruffly. Heavens above, were men always so dramatic?
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and say something sarcastic and instead said, “How are things at the ranch? Everything okay with the horses?”
“Ten more dead,” he replied tersely. “That brings the total to ninety-three head dead of illness this month.”
Winona’s irritation faded somewhat in the face of this news. She could understand now why Logan was in a bad mood. “I’m so sorry to hear that,” she said. “Darrell still doesn’t know what’s wrong with them?”
Logan shook his head. “Best we can do is separate the ones that are ill but that doesn’t seem to be helping.”
Winona thought for a moment. Then her eyes brightened. “Cordelia mentioned there’s a new doctor in town. He calls himself a veterinary. Maybe he can take a look at the horses.”
“And how do you propose to pay for that, Winona?” Logan snapped. She stared at him, shocked into silence by his sudden outburst. He sighed and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. I just—we can’t afford to hire a doctor right now. Darrell and the hands know this herd. We’ll just have to hope that’s enough.”
He looked tired and drawn, and despite her frustration at his irritability she couldn’t help but feel some sympathy. She hated seeing him stressed like this. Well, Jay had a way to make the ranch money again. Logan didn’t listen to Jay but maybe he would listen to her.
“Logan,” she began tentatively. “I was looking at the ledger with Jay and I think he might be on to something with the cattle.”
He looked up sharply at her and she held a hand up and quickly continued. “I know you’re set on breeding horses, but I think Jay’s plan will allow the ranch to become profitable again. We can pay to finish fixing up the stable and care for both herds properly. We’ll still breed horses, but we’ll breed cattle too. At least long enough to—”
“Why was he showing you the ledger?” he barked suddenly.
Winona recoiled and protested. “He just wanted to show me his plan for the cattle. I used to help my father with his books and I thought I—”
“Jay had no right to do that!” Logan shouted.
Winona felt her anger rise and she raised her own voice in response. “Don’t interrupt me like that! I asked him to show me the ledger, Logan. Like I was saying, I used to help my father balance the books at home and I thought—”
“This is your home now, Winona.”
“Don’t interrupt me!” Winona shouted. This time it was Logan’s turn to recoil.
Winona glared at him and continued, her tone sharp and biting. She hated sounding like that, but he was so frustrating! “I thought I would try to see if I could help the ranch make money again, so you didn’t have to worry all the time. It turns out, Jay actually has a pretty good head for numbers if you would just listen to him, Logan!”
“I don’t want you to worry about that stuff, Winona,” Logan retorted. “I’m more than able to take care of my wife. You won’t have to worry you can’t put bread on the table. You just focus on your chores. Leave me to take care of the rest.”
Winona stared at him, once more shocked speechless. When she finally did find her voice, it trembled with rage. “Don’t you dare treat me like property, Logan Foley. I am not some kept woman whose job is to keep her head down and focus on chores. I came here to be an equal part of this family.
Marriage of convenience or not, I will not sit idly by while my husband worries himself to death because he’s too stubborn and proud to let anyone help him.” Her face softened. “I’m not worried for myself, Logan. I’m worried for you. Ever since the dance, you’ve become morose and sullen again. I don’t like seeing you like that.”
“Well, I’m sorry I’m not always roses and sunshine, Winona.” His voice was petulant, and Winona had to resist a sudden impulse to shake him senseless. “I’m trying to preserve my father’s legacy and I’m the only one who seems to care.”
“Is your father’s legacy worth your family’s future?”
Logan stood suddenly and glared down at her. “My father’s legacy is everything!” he shouted.
Winona held his gaze as she stood to face him. She felt badly that he was upset and stressed but he needed to know that she would not succumb to bullying. She kept her voice even and replied, “No Logan. Your family is everything.”
Logan glared at her for several moments before his gaze dropped. He sighed and rubbed his temples. “I know, I know. I’m sorry, Winona, it’s just …” he looked up as though searching for the answer in the air. When he didn’t find it there, he sighed and said, “I just don’t have time to think about the cattle right now. I need to focus on the horses.”
He didn’t meet her eyes as he said this, and Winona knew he was lying. She held him with her gaze until he shifted his feet uncomfortably. Then she said, “I won’t force you to be honest with me, Logan and I won’t force you to listen to your brother, but sooner or later, you’re going to have to find room to let us in. I don’t think you want to be alone as much as you think you do.”
He opened his mouth but closed it without replying. Still avoiding her eyes, he mumbled, “I have to go check on the herd,” and left the house.
Winona stood where she was until she could no longer hear Logan’s boots walking away. Then she ran her hands through her hair and let loose a low frustrated growl from deep in her throat.
How could Logan be so pigheaded? What did he think he was gaining by insisting the ranch run as it had for the past twenty-five years? Was change so terrifying to him? Another thought occurred to her: maybe Logan still carried some resentment toward her father for betraying his father. Maybe the horses were important not because of his father’s legacy but because of Logan’s desire to beat Heath Ross.
Well, if that was the case, he was even more the fool. Spending his entire life fixated on Heath Ross would only mean her father’s victory—if victory it even was—was complete. The only way to truly overcome that betrayal was to not allow it to consume him.
She would get nowhere trying to convince him of that, she knew. She would just have to be patient and continue trying to lead him down a better path.
She was so tired of being patient.
The door opened again, and she sighed, anticipating another argument but this time it was Gregory, not Logan, who entered the house. She brightened when she saw him. With Logan and Jay returned to their moody ways, Gregory was the only brother who seemed to have time for her anymore. She chuckled softly as she recalled that for the first few months she was here, Gregory barely seemed to register that she existed. Now he was the closest thing to an actual brother she’d ever had.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
“Your face,” she replied. “It just has that effect on me.”
He groaned and rolled his eyes. “I see Jay’s been teaching you some jokes. Do yourself a favor and don’t listen to him.”
“Whatever, funny face,” she retorted.
He shook his head but couldn’t quite stifle a chuckle. “Well, Miss Full-of-Laughs, I was going to see if you wanted to join me on a ride but if you’re going to poke fun the whole time, I might just go myself.”
“Oh, stop,” she laughed. “I swear, you Foley boys are worse than girls when someone teases you. Wait a moment, I’ll change into my riding outfit.”
Ten minutes later, she and Gregory rode leisurely across the west field. In a few days, they would move the horses here from the southeast pasture, and the smell of mint and thyme calmed and invigorated her at the same time. She and Gregory chatted amiably about little things. She asked his opinion on a pork rib recipe she wanted to try, and he spoke excitedly about a fishing trip he and Jay planned to take up the creek in a few days.
“You should come with us,” he said. “I think it would be fun for you to get out of the house for a day.”
“That sounds like fun,” she said. “I think I might take you up on that offer.” She grinned mischievously at him. “So, tell me what else is going on in your life?”
He reddened and looked away. “I don’t know what you mean.”
She laughed and brought her horse closer. “You know, you and Louise.”
He grinned and shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You know,” she teased in a singsong voice. “Louise, your belle, your sweetheart, the love of your life, the pretty blonde girl you danced with—”
“Okay, okay,” he laughed. “You’ve made your point.” He grinned at her. “I can’t believe I actually asked her to dance.”
She laughed. “I know! It was almost like you were a man for a moment.”
He ignored the jibe and smiled at Winona. “I owe it to you. You gave me the courage to start living again. After my parents died, I swore I’d never take another risk—well, you’ve heard all that before. The point is, I never would have had the gumption to ask her to dance if it weren’t for you, so thank you.”
She smiled warmly at him. “I just helped you see the courage that was already there.”
He laughed. “What are you, a poet?”
She rolled her eyes. “Must you always be sarcastic?”
“Yes, it’s a curse. Nothing we can do about it. I just have to live with it and now you do too.”
“Oh, joy,” she quipped. “So, when are you and Louise seeing each other again?”
His face fell. “I don’t know. After that business with Jude and Logan, I’m worried she won’t want to see me again. Her parents don’t want her to see me, that’s for sure.”
Winona recalled how the Sawyers had pulled Louise away from Gregory during the altercation between Logan and Jude. Her lips thinned in anger, and she said, “Gregory, take it from someone who knows: if you want to be happy, you have to live your life without being concerned what others think of you. Louise’s parents may not like it, but Louise is an adult, and she can see whomever she pleases. I think you should go talk to her. Tell her you intend to court her whatever anyone thinks. I think you’ll find she’ll admire a man with the courage to fight for her.”
Gregory thought a moment, then straightened in his saddle. “Okay,” he said. “I will. Thank you, Winona.”
They completed the circle back to the corrals a few minutes later. Gregory bade Winona goodbye and headed off to complete his afternoon chores while Winona rode back to the house. She sent the horse away, knowing it would head to the stables by instinct, and walked inside.
Jay sat at the table, working on the ledger. His face was tired and sad, and though he’d proven himself a man and then some the past few weeks, he looked in that moment like a sad little boy, grieving at the hurt his older brother had caused him.
Winona sat across from him. He looked up at the noise and she smiled at him. “Hello, Jay.”
He offered the ghost of a smile in return. “Hi, Winona.”
“What are you working on?”
He sighed. “Logan’s not going to go through with the plan for the cattle,” he said, his voice hollow. “I’m trying to go through the numbers to budget accordingly.”
Winona extended her hand. “May I?”
“Be my guest,” he said, handing her the ledger.
In minutes, she had the ranch’s finances properly sorted out. She felt a moment’s satisfaction knowing she’d proven Logan wrong about her ability to help with the finances, but it faded quickly. The ledger painted a bleak story. Without the income projected from the cattle operations, the ranch would hover near the edge of bankruptcy, likely for years, before eventually collapsing. There was no way around it. Logan would have to come around.
“Jay,” Winona said when she was done. “We need to convince Logan about the cattle.”
He chuckled bitterly. “Well, how do you propose we do that?”
“Together,” she replied. “Tonight. We talk to him together at dinner and make him understand. He wants to preserve your father’s legacy and ensure the ranch stays in operation. Investing in the cattle herd is the only way to do that. You and I know that, and I think he knows it too He’s just pigheaded. I think we can convince him if we both talk to him.”
Jay didn’t seem convinced, but he shrugged. “Well, it’s worth a shot, I guess.”
Winona smiled. “We’ll convince him. You’ll see.”
She wasn’t as confident as she sounded but after talking to Gregory, she was reminded how important this family was to her. She would succeed in saving the ranch or go to her grave trying.
Watch out, Logan Foley, she thought. When it comes to pigheadedness, you’ve met your match in me.