Chapter 11 - Her Father’s Last Bargain
“This is absurd.”
Rebecca Hale examined the document under a lamp.
“Absurd and dangerous are not mutually exclusive.”
Josephine paced Nora's parlor.
“How could anyone believe I signed this?”
“Because it was notarized.”
“By whom?”
Rebecca pointed.
“Calvin Rusk.”
Nora cursed.
Josephine looked at her.
“You know him?”
“He works for Vale.”
Harlan stood beside the fireplace, frighteningly silent.
Josephine knew that silence now.
It meant he was furious enough to choose every word carefully.
Rebecca continued.
“Vale's argument will be that you contracted marriage with him first, making your marriage to Harlan invalid.”
Josephine sat.
“And if my marriage to Harlan is invalid?”
“Vale may try to enforce the earlier agreement.”
“Can he?”
“Legally? I doubt it.”
Rebecca's expression hardened.
“But delay benefits him. He needs the railroad decision.”
“So he doesn't need to win.”
Harlan spoke.
“He needs confusion.”
Exactly.
Vale only needed the property tied up until Josephine became exhausted, frightened, or broke.
That evening Gideon returned.
Nora tried to refuse him entry.
Josephine stopped her.
“Let him in.”
Her father looked destroyed.
His coat was wrinkled.
His eyes bloodshot.
“Vale has threatened your brothers.”
Josephine remained seated.
“With what?”
“The shop.”
“You told me.”
“Not just the shop.”
Gideon swallowed.
“He holds notes on both their homes.”
Josephine's heart sank.
Of course he did.
Vale had built a web.
“You want me to surrender.”
“I want you to think about your family.”
Josephine laughed without humor.
“I've been thinking about my family my entire life.”
“Your brothers have children.”
“And what do you want me to do?”
“Sign the western parcel.”
“No.”
“Josephine.”
“No.”
Gideon dropped to his knees.
Everyone froze.
Josephine had never seen her father kneel.
“Please.”
She hated that it affected her.
Despite everything, he was still the man who taught her arithmetic.
The man who carried her on his shoulders when she was four.
Human beings rarely became monsters all at once.
That was what made betrayal so painful.
“Father.”
“Please save your brothers.”
Josephine's eyes filled.
“Did they know?”
Gideon did not answer.
“Did my brothers know where their school money came from?”
Silence.
“Did they know the shop was using my timber income?”
His face told her.
“Yes.”
Josephine leaned back.
The pain was surprisingly quiet.
“All of them?”
“Yes.”
Nora whispered, “Oh, sweetheart.”
Josephine closed her eyes.
Her entire family had known.
Maybe not every detail.
Enough.
Enough to understand that Josephine was not dependent.
Enough to know the jokes about feeding and clothing her were lies.
“Leave.”
Gideon stood.
“Jo—”
“Leave.”
He stared.
“You'd ruin your own brothers?”
Josephine looked at him.
“No.”
“You would.”
“Silas Vale holds their notes because of choices you made with money that wasn't yours.”
She stood.
“If refusing to surrender my property exposes those choices, that is not me ruining them.”
Gideon's face became hard.
“You sound like your mother.”
Josephine smiled through tears.
“Thank you.”
He left.
That night Josephine could not sleep.
She went downstairs.
Harlan sat by the dying fire.
“You knew I'd come down?”
“No.”
“There are two cups of coffee.”
“I hoped.”
She sat beside him.
For several minutes they watched the coals.
Then Josephine whispered, “Why does doing the right thing feel terrible?”
“Because sometimes the wrong thing would make everybody else comfortable.”
She looked at him.
“Do you ever regret helping me?”
“No.”
“Even with Vale?”
“No.”
“The fire?”
“No.”
“Court?”
“No.”
“My father?”
Harlan smiled slightly.
“Especially not your father.”
Josephine laughed.
Then her face became serious.
“What happens to us if the court says our marriage isn't valid?”
Harlan stared into the fire.
“Whatever you want.”
“That's always your answer.”
“Because it's always your decision.”
Josephine's heart tightened.
“What if I don't know?”
“Then you don't decide yet.”
“What if I decide I want…”
She stopped.
Harlan turned.
“What?”
You.
The word sat behind her teeth.
But she was not ready.
Josephine shook her head.
“Nothing.”
Harlan did not push.
The next morning the judge issued his preliminary ruling.
The property transfer was suspended pending investigation.
The supposed marriage contract with Vale would not be enforced without proof Josephine had personally appeared before the notary.
A victory.
Partial.
Temporary.
Outside the courthouse reporters surrounded them.
Questions flew.
“Mrs. Creek, did your husband buy you?”
“Did your father sell you?”
“Are you worth a hundred thousand dollars?”
“Will you divorce Creek if the marriage is invalid?”
Josephine froze.
Then one reporter shouted, “Mr. Creek, what did you pay for her?”
Harlan stopped.
Josephine felt his anger.
She stepped forward.
“Twenty dollars and two horses.”
Silence.
Every pencil moved.
Josephine continued.
“But that is what my father asked.”
She looked directly at the reporters.
“It is not what I am worth.”
The crowd became completely still.
“No woman has a purchase price.”
Harlan looked at her.
Josephine lifted her chin.
“And any man who believes otherwise should be very careful about asking women to sign papers.”
By evening, copies of her words were being carried on trains toward three states.
By morning, women Josephine had never met would begin writing letters to her.
May you like
And one of those letters would expose the secret Harlan had been hiding since the day he arrived in St. Louis.
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