Aidan's Arrangement: (The Langley Legacy Book 4) Read online

  Her momma opened the wobbly screen door and stepped inside. "Harvey really needs to get that door fixed. Summer's here, and the mosquitoes will be terrible this year. I think there's more screen patch in the barn—"

  Maura’s momma almost closed the screen door in her face, but she caught it with her foot just in time and followed her mother through the living room and into the kitchen at the back of the house where they both settled their laden baskets of herbs on the kitchen table.

  “Momma, are you listening to me? Where’s Papa? Why isn’t he here helping you with these things?” Maura peeked in the baskets. The fragrance reminded her of the Vanderleafs’ garden back in California. Tears stung the back of her lids twice now in less than a minute.

  “This transition is going to be harder than I anticipated,” she whispered and fiddled with the baskets of greenery.

  "I'm listening, honey. What transition?” Her momma emptied the contents of the baskets out on to the table and began sorting them into bunches.

  Maura grew exasperated with her momma’s distraction. It was always this way when she came home. Momma was preoccupied, and Papa was absent. When her two parents did manage to stay in the same room with each other more than a minute or two, there was always an argument of some sort. Maura never made sense of their screaming and insults, so she had no idea what they fought about all these years. She had learned a long time ago that staying at school was much more peaceful than coming home.

  She was startled by her momma’s hand on her arm. “Maura, girl. I know that sad look on your face means this ain’t where you want to be. At home. In this place. But, times are hard now. This depression that everybody’s talkin’ about has hit us all hard. Even them fancy rich people you worked for in California can’t afford you no more.

  “It’s especially hard on common folks like me and your papa. We’ve managed to make a decent living on this place Uncle George left your papa for all these years. But now, everyone’s having a hard time of it ever since that Market of Stock crashed in ’29—”

  “Stock market, Momma. Stock. Market.” Maura corrected her mother. She walked around the painted wooden kitchen table and placed a kettle of water on the burner. “I’m making tea. Want some?”

  “There’s the last of the loose tea leaves in that tin can there on the shelf above the stove.”

  Maura gathered the chipped tea cups and tea tin along with a spoon and the sugar bowl and carried them to the table. Her momma continued to sort and stack the various types of herbs from her garden.

  “You said Papa wanted to talk to me after he got back from Sully Langley’s. What about?”

  Her momma’s hands stilled in mid-air. “He’ll be along any minute.”

  “When did Papa and Sully Langley get to be so chummy? I thought Mr. Langley hated us Jacksons because Great Uncle George tried to shoot him for something or another all those years ago. And Papa said he had a family obligation to perpetuate the feud between Uncle George and Sully Langley. Papa said more than once you can’t trust a Langley. And I know for a fact they think of us as reprobates—”

  “Maura, you know your papa is a flawed man. Everybody in these parts knows Harvey Jackson isn’t always truthful. And to be clear, your papa might have said an unkind word or two in the direction of the Langleys, but he’s never actively participated in Great Uncle George’s feud. We just don’t associate with them much out of respect for your papa’s uncle. But that didn’t make anyone right or wrong. We just all agreed to disagree at some point."

  “But wasn’t Papa mad that the Langleys cheated him out of Uncle George’s fortune?”

  "Sweetheart, there was no Jackson fortune. When I married your papa, we had to borrow the money for the preacher. I didn't even have a good pair of shoes to wear. Your Great Uncle George didn’t have anything but this land and bad words to pass down. Your papa and I busted our backs to make this place into something we can be proud of. We worked hard so we could send you to a good school, so you could get a good education. There was no fortune, Maura. Never was one.”

  Maura rolled her eyes in her mother's direction. She knew her momma had never placed much credibility on great-uncle George’s word, and during the last few times she visited home during her time off from her job, Papa’s objections with the Langleys had grown less and less vocal.

  The front door slammed on its wooden frame. “Mary Jo, where are you?"

  “We’re in here, Harvey. In the kitchen.” Her momma gathered some of the herbs and transferred them to the kitchen sink to wash.

  Papa appeared in the kitchen doorway. He seemed surprised to see her sitting at the table.

  “There you are, young lady. I’ve been looking all over this place for you. When you sneak into the house?” Her papa tromped into the kitchen with his dirty work boots and stood over her.

  “Now, Harvey, I’ve asked you a thousand times not to bring all that plow dirt into this house. I have a hard enough time keeping it clean without—”

  “Shut up, Mary Jo. All you do is squawk and cluck like a damned ol’ settin’ hen. I’m trying to talk to Maura about something important, and you keep going on and on and on—”

  Maura resisted the urge to hug her papa. She knew he would not welcome it because he had never been the hugging type, she told herself. He had always held her at a distance. Maura felt as if he didn’t like her even though she had done everything she could think of over the years to make him love her.

  Her mom spoke up. “Well, Harvey. The girl’s sittin’ right there in front of you. If you’ve got something important to talk to her about, then why don’t you quit messin’ around and do it.”

  Maura’s papa had a rough way about him. He was never one to worry about feelings, even the tender feelings of his own little girl. Maybe that’s why he and Momma fought all the time. He just didn’t know how to deal with females.

  “I’m gonna tell her if you’ll shut up, Mary Jo. Always a yakking—”

  Maura wanted to stop this argument before it got started. “Just sit down and tell me what it is you need to talk to me about.”

  “Nah, ain’t no need for sittin’. What I got to say won’t take long.”

  She saw the look that passed between her parents. It gave her an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  Maura watched her momma busy herself at the kitchen sink, keeping her back to Maura. Maura turned to her papa and focused her attention on him. “Papa? Tell me. What’s wrong?”

  "Maura—" Her papa began.

  "Harvey, just tell her. It will be a lot easier than what you're doin' now."

  "Shut up, Mary Jo—”

  “Just tell me what it is, Papa."

  "Sit down, girl. This ain't gonna be easy to hear, but it had to be done."

  Maura sat in the chair and waited for whatever bad news was coming.

  "Look, girl. I know you and I ain’t always seen eye-to-eye about things. "

  Something must really be wrong for her papa to start off his conversation all soft like. She knew better than to interrupt him, so she kept her mouth closed and waited. She didn’t have to wait long.

  "Girl, there ain't no money to buy seeds to plant. There's no way to buy tractor parts on credit no more. We’re up against a hard place with only a rock for a pillow."

  "I have a little money I saved from my nanny job. You can have that. How much do you need—”

  “It ain’t near enough to get us out of this hole, little girl. I been telling your momma that for the last three years, every time she tries to sell them weeds of hers. She has this hair brained idea she can make money but it still ain’t gonna be enough to get us out of this hole with the bank.

  “And them Langleys ain’t faring good either although they are faring a heap better than we are since they was a whole lot better off before this here depression hit us all.”

  Maura had no idea what her papa was even talking about, so she tried to urge him closer to his point.

  “Papa, what
are you getting at? Do you want me to do something to help? You know I’m gonna look for a job as soon as I get settled in.”

  Her papa refused to look at her. Dread settled deep and hard in Maura's stomach.

  "Papa, what are you trying to tell me?”

  "Just tell her the truth, Harvey. She's gotta know what's goin' on," her momma urged.

  “Shut up, Mary Jo. I’ll get to it in my own good time.”

  Maura watched something pass between her parents. Something was even more off between them than normal.

  Finally, her papa started talking. “I went over to The Legacy today and finalized an arrangement me and Sully Langley has been working on for a couple of weeks—ever since we both got turned down for that government contract we was biddin’ on against each other.”

  “What government contract?” Maura sat upright in her chair. She was all ears.

  “The United States Government offered a contract to farmers to grow wheat for the next five years. They want enough wheat to feed as many people as they can that are without jobs. They are gonna use the wheat to make bread and other food products to feed people in soup kitchens and schools and old folks homes. It’s gonna take a lot of farmers to grow that much wheat. But Sully and I got a plan.”

  “But why do you have to join with Sully Langley? Just grow the wheat here on Jackson land.” Something wasn’t adding up.

  “Maura, you don’t get it, girl. Our land ain’t big enough. That’s why the government turned me down. Turned Sully down too. Now, ain’t that a kick in the pants.”

  “Yeah, ain’t it though,” Maura murmured.

  “So that’s when Sully and me got together and decided we would have enough land if we combined our fields. Sully will have to move out some of them spotted horses of his to free up some land for plowin’, but it can be done.”

  “I don’t see how the two families can combine their land to get one contract when the bank wouldn’t loan you any money, Papa. You said so yourself. Will the Langleys carry the seed note for us? Why would they? They don’t care for you much, Papa, no offense intended. What would convince Sully to throw in with a Jackson after all this time?”

  Maura’s momma threw a bunch of herbs in the sink and turned on her husband. “Harvey, if you don’t tell that girl right now what you and Sully Langley have done, I’m going to.”

  “Mary Jo—”

  “That’s it, Harvey. You had your chance. Now I’m tellin’ her. Maura, you know if I had any other notion how to save this house and farm from the bank, I would do it. But I don’t. And neither does your papa. He and Sully got together and made this arrangement…”

  Her momma’s words trailed off. What was so horrible neither her momma or her papa wanted to tell her. What were they trying so hard not to say?

  “An arrangement?” She prompted her mother to keep talking.

  “An arrangement—” her momma started again, but the teakettle’s whistle chose that moment to pierce the tension in the kitchen and interrupt whatever her momma was trying to tell her.

  “What arrangement, Momma?” She yelled over the kettle. Her momma busied herself with shutting off the burner heat and moving the kettle to a cooler burner.

  “Papa?” She turned to him, and he looked everywhere but at her. Fed up with her parent’s bizarre behavior, she stood and rounded on both parents.

  “I demand to know what you both are trying so hard not to tell me. What does this arrangement between you and Sully Langley have to do with me? Out with it. Now.”

  “Sully and I agreed that the only way this merger between the Jacksons and the Langleys will work is if—” her papa faltered.

  “Don’t stop now, Papa.”

  “Is if you and Sully’s boy get married.”

  “Well, that’s not gonna happen.” She fired back at her papa. She was certain of it now. The man had lost his mind.

  ***

  "You can say it a million times more, and I still won't do it. I’m not marrying anyone until I’m good and ready. And I’m damn sure not going to marry Maura Jackson." Aidan Langley ground out his words. He couldn’t believe what his dad and mom were asking him to do.

  His parents sat next to each other on the sofa in the great room of the Langley home. His father scrubbed at his face with his calloused, work-worn hands. “I didn’t even know you knew the girl’s name. I guess that’s a start.” His dad’s attempt at humor fell flat on his foul mood.

  “I’m sorry, Aidan. I should have talked to you first. I know that. Your mother has reminded me of that repeatedly since I made the deal with Harvey Jackson yesterday.”

  “I’m twenty-nine years old, Dad. Don’t you think I’m a little bit old to be playing matchmaker for?” He gritted his words between his teeth.

  "Damn it, Aidan. Don’t you think I've agonized over this decision? Your mother and I don't want this for you any more than you do. We know you still have feelings for Beth. But she’s gone, and she made it clear to everyone she has no desire to be a country wife. So, unless you are planning to pack up and follow her back to Portland, or wherever she spends her time these days, unless you leave The Legacy and your mom and me behind, you and Beth aren’t gonna happen. And you know it.”

  Nervous energy pushed Aidan back and forth across the wooden floors in front of his parents. His thoughts raced to grasp a hold on to any possible solution that came to mind. "There's got to be another way. There's just got to be.” Not ready to give up, he countered, "What about selling off some of the equipment?"

  "We could but who's gonna buy it? Everyone around here is as broke as we are. Besides, the money wouldn't last long and then what?"

  "Well, what about—"

  His mother interrupted him. "Aidan, there is no other way. Your father and I've been over this time and time again to find a solution. There just isn't one. We need the Jacksons, and they need us if we have any chance at all to survive this horrible economic depression with our land and property intact.

  His dad stood and placed both hands on Aidan’s shoulders. “There's no way to know how long this situation is going to last, son. Another year? Five? We must have a permanent fix, and the government wheat contract only works if there’s enough land to grow the wheat. If the Jacksons and us don’t merge our land together, we can’t get the contract. And with no contract, neither family will survive. Son, I know this sounds bad, but we can't run this ranch without resources. We must show the bank a signed contract with the United States government. If we can do that, then we have a firm commitment the bank will loan us the money to get the things we need to honor that contract. And the contract is up for bid again next week."

  “I don’t understand why we have to get married. Why can’t you and Harvey just merge the land under one title and there ya go. Problem solved.” Relief flooded his whole body. He hadn’t realized how close he had come to—wait. Something’s wrong. His parents didn’t look near as happy as he was.

  His dad paced to the window and stared out at some unknown point on the horizon. “Son, the bank knows about the feud between Jackson and me. Hell, everyone knows about the damned feud, and as hard as I’ve tried to leave it in the past, I can’t outrun it. Plain and simple.”

  Aidan’s mom crossed the room and wrapped her arm around her husband in support. “Harvey hasn’t exactly been quiet about the whole thing which doesn’t help our situation any.”

  His dad and mom turned toward him arm in arm in a unified front like they always were. His dad continued talking. “The bank wants assurances that the rift between our two families is over and done with. They don’t want us joining forces and then next year getting into a disagreement and the bank’s money is left hanging out to dry. No, we have to give them assurances—"

  “Assurances? Like we are one big happy family?” Aidan could see where this was going now. “You have to show the bank that our joint family venture will stay that way. And the only way to show the bank our families have reconciled their differences is to
marry the two families into one.”

  “That’s right, son. The bank won’t loan the money to two feuding families. Mr. Mahoney said he had enough problems holding on to the bank’s money after the big crash. He has to protect the people whose money he is loaning.”

  “But it’s Harvey Jackson you are talking about going into business with, Dad. You know him. He—doesn’t always keep his word. How do you know he won’t try to pull something and sell our land along with his once he gets his name on the title?”

  “I hired Gabriel Hillman to write the contract between Harvey Jackson and myself. Gab is aware of the history between our families, so he added a stipulation that says once we merge our land with the Jacksons, it cannot be sold. All the land will be combined under one title. That title can only be passed down to a Langley.”

  “Why on earth would Harvey Jackson agree to that arrangement? The only way his land would pass to a Langley—” Aidan stopped in mid-sentence. The truth hit him square in the chest with the force of a bullet shot at point blank range.

  “Now I see what's going on here. If the land can’t be sold by either family, then the only way to keep The Legacy from disappearing into Jackson land is to bind the two families together. By blood. You expect me to have a child with her. Well, I won't do it. I refuse to perform stud service to the great niece of the man who shot mom while trying to murder you."

  Aidan's mother patted the sofa. "Aidan, please come sit next to me. Let me try to explain why we think this is the best arrangement for everyone. Including you."

  His raised is eyebrow in disbelief. “Me?”

  “Yes, Aidan. I know you have feelings for Beth Chaplin. She’s a very nice girl. But, she’s made it clear she doesn’t love you as much as you love her—”

  “Mom, you don’t know what you are talking about. Beth asked me to wait for her. She said she just needed some time to see what the world has to offer. She likes nice things and—”

  His mom caressed his face like she did when he fell and skinned his knee as a rambunctious boy growing up. “And she still isn’t here, Aidan. She’s been gone for almost eight years. Don’t you think if she was coming back for you, she would have done that by now?”