The Bride Backfire (17 page)

“They killed your grandfather!” Ma's voice thinned to a shriek. “Adam, you can't let her bring them here. You can't!”

“Opal won't bring them near the house. Pa and I designated the south clearing for her new apiary.” Adam refused to acknowledge Pa's abrupt gesture indicating that he not mention his involvement.

After all, we wouldn't be in this mess if Pa hadn't mentioned Opal moving the apiary today. When Ma commented on her absence at the dinner table, all he need say was that she tended to her bees and mentioned she might run long.

“Diggory Ezekiel Grogan”—Ma rounded on her husband—“you're involved in this?”

“Now, Lucy,” Pa used the pet name he only brought out under duress, “you know I'd make sure those bees stay as far away from the house as possible.”

“Don't you ‘Lucy' me!” Ma clutched Larry's shoulders. “Not when you've put us all in danger. Our children...”

“They won't go near the apiary.” Pa made it both an assurance and a command for Larry and Willa.

“Opal won't move any of the hives any closer either.” Adam joined his father's attempts to placate his mother. “It shouldn't pose a problem.”

“Bees killed your grandfather when that cursed apiary remained on Speck land.” Ma sank onto the bench between Larry and Willa, an arm around each as though to ward away death itself. “Less distance means more danger.”

“Bees didn't fly over here and sting Grandpa.” Willa seemed to fold in on herself as she said it, although whether from the strain of using enough nerve to speak against Ma's will or the pressure of Ma's physical grip, Adam couldn't tell. “He went over there.”

“They never proved it!” Larry's snarl made Willa shrink even more. “Those Specks could've planned the whole thing and made it look that way. Everyone knows they wanted the border pasture so bad they could taste it.”

“Old arguments.”
Senseless arguments.

“Pa didn't get himself trussed up by any Specks.” Pa's expression when he spoke of his own father painted a portrait of exasperation and admiration. “Though the bees is what killed him.”

“How can you know?” The hairs on the nape of Adam's neck stirred. A piece to the mystery of the origins of the feud lay within his grasp, if he could seize it.

“He told me his plan.” A shrug far too casual accompanied the admission. “Specks weren't the only ones angling for that border pasture.”

Have the Specks been right all along? Was Grandpa on their land to strike the first blow?
Suspicion started to simmer in Adam's chest. “What did Grandpa plan to make the Specks rescind their claim?”

“Burn a few hives, just to show what Grogans are capable of when it comes to protecting what's theirs.” No shame shaded the words. “A good plan, if he hadn't been caught.”

“Caught.”
Just like he told Larry. The problem wasn't in behaving without integrity; it was in getting caught.
“No piece of earth is worth a man's honor.”

“He only meant to deliver a warning.” Pa's eyes narrowed. “Nothing to harm a living soul, mind. Just enough to send a message to those Specks to keep away.”

“Like the message you dispatched with Larry?” Adam's fingers curled around the note he kept in his pocket—a tangible talisman of his wedding. “Not enough harm to prick your conscience but just enough to inflict damage?”
Enough to spark a feud and destroy generations. Enough to trap two people in a marriage neither wanted.

“Don't start sounding so high and mighty with your morality, son.” Pa's jaw jutted out. “Sneaking around behind everyone's backs with the Speck girl ... what you did far outstrips any note of mine and Larry's they never even found.”

“Wrong.” Something uncurled within him, smashing against the wall of caution he'd built around every decision he made. “I went over to remove it and had to ask Opal's help with the search. She found it.”

“She did.” A reptilian smile slithered across his brother's face as Larry processed the news that his note found its mark after all. “Good.”

“I took it with me.” His hand plunged out of his pocket, revealing the note. “Heaven knows I should have burned it but thought I might need the evidence of Larry's scheming someday. Like his grandfather before him, Larry's message went terribly wrong.” He thrust it toward his father. “Read it.”

The soddy seemed strangely airless as Pa surveyed the message he'd scripted. The defiant nonchalance slid from his features once he reached the last sentence.

“Larry Bartholomew Grogan, what is this addition?” For once, their father's volume didn't rise.

“Nothing important.” Larry noticed the change and registered the inherent threat. He made an attempt to take possession of the note. “Just a last-minute thought.”

“You expect me to believe a single thought rattled around in that skull of yours when you wrote this?” Pa's mustache quivered with the force of his inhalation. “Murphy would have the right to slaughter every last one of us for this. Had they ever threatened Willa, they'd not have drawn another breath.”

“Opal found it, not Murphy.” Larry stood up and took a few steps away. “No harm done.”

“No harm.” A snort of what might have been laughter, if anything about the situation struck him as funny, escaped Adam. “Murphy read it, all right. That one sentence brought about my wedding, little brother.”

“No.” The blood drained from Larry's face, and he groped for the edge of the table. “That note didn't force you to marry Opal. You lie.”

Lucinda couldn't tear her eyes from the strip of parchment in her husband's hands. That such a small scrap could so thoroughly devastate all she'd built...

“Please.” Her hand trembled as she stretched toward Diggory, the one word both asking for the note and imploring him to somehow stop a horror already passed.

Her fingers curled around the parchment without conscious decision as Diggory handed it over. Lucinda wondered if she should sit down then realized she'd never stood. She set the fragment on the table before her with great care, splaying her palms on either side to flatten it.

She recognized Diggory in the looping letters of the first sentence. The open lines of his writing betrayed the friendly boy he'd once been, before life and loss taught him better.

NEXT TIME WE LOSE A COW, WE TAKE A SPECK IN PAYMENT.

Simple, fair, impossible to misunderstand. Nothing there to ruin Adam's life. Below, more words seeped into their lives, the ink darker where the pen slashed across the parchment. The angry script could belong to none but Larry.

And I got my eye on your only heifer!

A muffled sob burst from her lips at the irrefutable proof of her second-born's guilt. The only sound since Diggory passed her the note. If Adam said this message caused his marriage, no doubt remained. Only questions. “How?”

“I discovered Marla missing the morning after I retrieved that note and tracked her to a broken fence in the southeast pasture bordering Speck lands.”

“‘The next time we lose a cow...'” Lucinda quoted, tracing the letters before her. “So you went after it.”
Of course Adam wouldn't allow the slightest chance of the threat coming true. He knows it would mean the end of us all.

“Southeast pasture.” Diggory caught Larry by the collar. “I told you to mend that days before! Too busy skulking around the Speck place causing trouble?”

“Stop!” Willa's cry froze everyone. “Let Adam finish. We don't know when Opal may come back. Yell at Larry later, when you can yell at him for everything.”

“You know Murphy and Elroy came over the week before to address Larry's wandering. His trespassing increased tensions, so when Pete caught me looking for Marla, the Speck men felt obliged to treat it as a serious matter.” Adam kept his face impassable—a sure sign he felt strong emotion. “They searched me and found that note.”

“It didn't matter.” The shout didn't even sound like Larry, it came out so hoarse. “They'd already decided on their course of action. The Specks planned this from the start!”

“Be quiet, Larry.” Lucinda's own voice sounded strange to her ears. “The Specks didn't want Opal with Adam any more than we did. We'll hear no more lies from you.”

“When they found the note, they assumed I meant to carry it out and decided they couldn't let it pass. Not when it left Opal at risk.”

“Can't blame them.” Diggory shook Larry a bit but stopped himself.

Lucinda found herself wishing her husband kept on.

“Opal intervened to save my life.” Adam fixed his gaze on Larry. “When logic didn't work, she reminded them I'd pulled her from the fire at Reed's house. When that didn't work, she told her father the only thing that could stay his hand—that I was to be the father of her child.”

“Until then she hadn't breathed a word?” Awe underscored Willa's question.

“She never so much as told me.” A rueful shake of Adam's head punctuated that statement. “Opal would never have told that to a soul.”

“It's true.” If anyone asked, Lucinda couldn't have told them whether she spoke the words aloud or simply whispered them to herself. But she knew the truth of it down deep in her bones.

Opal wouldn't let her family feel the bite of betrayal under any but these circumstances. She would have kept the secret of her indiscretion at all costs. No matter if she blamed a man who came through town once. Could even have claimed she was unwilling and her family would keep
her. You can't say much for Opal Speck, but she would protect her own.

“Larry couldn't have known what one remark would do.” If she lost loyalty to her children, she'd lose everything. Lucinda watched the corners of Adam's mouth tighten.

Besides, Adam is the son who took up with the Speck girl, after all. Never mind Larry wanted to. Who knows how many men she's lured with her wiles?

As quickly as that, her perspective shifted. Everything came back into clear focus.
The hussy probably took up with untold weaklings, and I've been right all along. She doesn't carry Adam's babe. She just saw an opportunity to grab a good man and took it.

Lucinda felt her breath come easier.
Of course my Larry's a victim same as Adam. Opal's the villain here, no matter if she fools everyone else!

“Wait.” Her sister-in-law's call stopped Opal as she tried to slip from the door of the room they shared the next morning. “Please, Opal. I want to go with you.”

What is going on?
Since she'd arrived back from moving the apiary yesterday, there'd been a strange mood over the Grogan farm. Granted, Opal thought the feel of the place always seemed somewhat odd compared to the easygoing environment of the Speck home, but even after the usual allowances, things felt different.

“You want to come to my family's farm?” Opal left the
why
part unspoken out of sheer politeness.

“Yes, please.” Willa slipped from the bed and hurriedly pulled on a heavy dress. “We both know Ma tries to keep us apart as much as possible, but I'd like an opportunity to talk with you about a few things and get to know you better.” As though a speech of this unprecedented length taxed her, the slightly younger girl busied herself with washing her face and brushing her hair, pulling it back in a loose bun.

“I'd like that, too.” A surge of warmth toward her sister-in-law had Opal resisting the impulse to hug her.

Willa had scarce spoken a word to her since Lucinda revealed those rocks in the freshly stuffed mattress. This made for a welcome change, even though Opal wondered at the reasons for it. Perhaps Willa returned Ben's interest?

Opal nibbled on her lower lip as Willa laced her boots and fetched her bonnet. Bringing her sister-in-law with her on her first visit to the Speck farm would do wonders to show her family that the Grogans didn't mistreat her.
She'll also get to spend more time with Ben.
A fact that wouldn't go unnoticed by her in-laws. Or Adam.

“Perhaps this isn't the best idea, Willa.”

“Ma won't like it, I know.” She paused with one hand on the door, a study in solemnity. “It's rare I do anything Ma won't approve of. It keeps things the most peaceful, you see, and I put a premium on peace.”

“Then why would you choose this as your chance to do the unexpected?”
When Lucinda will point to me as a bad influence.

“You always seemed a good person to me.” The door opened to let in the weak rays of morning's first light. “Those rocks seemed out of character, but on Sunday the Opal I respected came back. Then, after yesterday, I knew my family has been wrong to misjudge yours. It's long past time for us to be friends.”

“Yesterday?”
I knew something changed; I just knew it!
Opal followed her out the door, abandoning the idea of trying to convince Willa to stay at home. “What happened yesterday?”

Her new ally wouldn't answer, just lifted a long finger to her lips and snuck past the house and beyond the yard with quick strides. Obviously, Willa didn't want her mother halting her adventure.

For her part, Opal could be content to wait. Not long, though. Once they reached the fence marking the boundary between Speck and Grogan lands, she dismissed the easy silence that had accompanied them so far on their walk.

March mornings reminded Opal why spring days fed so heartily on the glory of the sun. Only then did they escape the cold bite of winter that still lingered in the early hours. Snatches of birdsong broke through air thick with moisture and the promise of life. Dew clung to every blade of grass—some cold enough to show touches of ice.

“Ma's scared of your bees.” Of all the things Willa might have said, Opal wouldn't have predicted this. “When Pa told her you missed dinner on account of moving your apiary, she went pale as the inside of a potato peel.”

“The place Adam selected suits all my needs perfectly.” Opal spoke cautiously, sure to praise her husband and clarify that she didn't intend to move the hives closer to the homestead. “The hives will stay on the far edge of the farm, for your mother's peace of mind...”
And mine.

“Do you know I never stopped to consider you an optimist?” Willa's question left little possibility for reply.

“I give up. Should I take that as a compliment?” Opal doubted Willa would ever deliberately insult anyone, but the thought seemed out of place.

“Yes. Seems I should have noticed it before, since you go out of your way to keep our families from tearing each other to bits. Adam's the same way—always believing the time will come when we'll put aside our differences.” Willa gave her a considering look. “You two have a lot in common.”

“Don't most people want to keep their families alive and whole?” She kept the words light, but Opal picked up her pace. Suddenly, getting to the house and having things other than Willa's observations to occupy them seemed like a very good idea. “So I should have a lot in common with just about anyone.”

“My hinting that you and my brother match each other makes you uncomfortable.” A shrug. “Then I'll let it go for now. Would you like to hear about what you and I have in common?”

I want to hear more about what happened yesterday!
The desire for a solid friendship won out over impatience. “Yes.”

“Both of us grew up with families involved in a feud, though we each refused to take active part in it. Neither of us has a sister who survived infancy.” A deep breath braced Willa to keep speaking, leading Opal to wonder whether Willa's silence wasn't actually a preference so much as a habit after being raised by Lucinda. “Men in town won't court us because of our families, and we won't look at men who plan to move away from Buttonwood, so both of us have remained unwed a long time.”

“A considerable list.” Opal debated for a moment about whether or not to add to it. “Long enough, I think, for me to presume to ask if we share another quirk?”

“Yes?”

“Is there a chance both us may end up marrying the son of our father's enemy?”

“No.” Adam broke in. “Enough nonsense.”

“Adam!” Willa's guilty flush didn't assure him that her answer would have matched his. “You followed us?”

“And we didn't notice?” His wife's incredulous murmur almost made him grin.

“I caught up with you in time to hear that last question. I'd thought to escort you back to Speck land to make sure things went smoothly.”
To be there if your Pa hurt your feelings and show him I stood beside you in all things.

“Didn't realize you planned to do that, Adam.” Genuine surprise—even a little bit of pleasure—filled the statement.

“Willa doesn't belong here.” He shot a look of rebuke at his sister. “Go home, sis.”

“The time has arrived for me to trust my own judgment instead of blankly relying on Ma's or even yours,” his sister announced. “At eighteen, I believe it's more than proper for a lady to visit her in-laws in the presence of her brother and his wife.”

“That's—” he broke off, unable to finish any logical protest. “Different.” Adam squinted at his sister, noticing for the first time how much she'd grown, the calm that surrounded her.
When did this new Willa emerge?

“Yesterday I came to realize the Grogans aren't always right, in spite of how we claim to be.” Her raised brows were mirrored by Opal's. “So I've decided not to let disproven prejudices determine my future.”

“What disproven prejudices?” Opal didn't exclude Willa, but her eyes found his. “About my family?”

“Not the time or place.” He cast a look around, half-expecting Murphy or Elroy to appear at his side. “Reviving old grudges serves no purpose.”

“If I've not shown by now that I don't hold grudges,” Opal turned away as she spoke, “you'll never understand.” With that, she marched in the direction of the Speck soddy, leaving him and Willa to watch her.

“Poorly done, brother.” Willa watched him instead. “Either Opal's earned your trust, or you've grown stingy.”

“She and I discussed the matter of Ben. Opal knows I disapprove, yet she went behind my back to encourage your interest.” He shook his head. “This behavior doesn't call for trust.”

“Did Opal agree with you that I shouldn't indulge in so much as a passing curiosity regarding her brother?” When her pause grew pointed, he shook his head. “Then she didn't break her word or change her stance. Nor, may I add, did she encourage anything. Simply asked as to my thoughts on the matter. Which”—his sister's gaze saddened—“is more than you took the time to do.”

The hurt in her face pinched at him. “Willa, I know you well enough there's no need to ask. You sat beside Ben instead of Ma on Sunday without any reason.”

“Another assumption.” The words lacked heat but not power. “Ben barely returned home before Opal married you. He tried to sit beside his sister. In part, I think, because he's missed her, in part to make sure she's all right, but mostly to help hide the fact that their father didn't want to because he's too stiff-necked to forgive her yet.”

“Why didn't you let him?”
And keep at least one problem off my list. As it is, sounds like you two got awful cozy at that table.

“Larry shoved his way next to Opal, rude as could be. I saw him eyeing Ben as though considering how best to goad him.”

“Likely.” Adam closed his eyes. Larry again.
Every time I turn around, my brother creates difficulties.

“So I politely asked if I could sit between them and did my best to buffer the two.” Having finished her explanation, Willa fell silent. She seemed relieved not to have anything more to say.

“Thanks.” He figured that part of the conversation ended when she nodded. “Did you come with Opal today hoping to see more of Benjamin Speck?” Aloud, the suspicion didn't sound as ridiculous as he'd hoped.

“I hope to help put the animosity between our families behind us once and for all.” With that, his sister followed in the direction Opal had struck out moments before, leaving Adam alone...

To notice that Willa hadn't said no.