The Spinster (Emerson Pass Historicals 2)

“What do you think, Jo?” Flynn asked as he plopped down next to me on the couch in the sitting room. Theo stood with his back to the fire, watching me with glittering eyes.

They’d spent the last few minutes pitching their idea to bring Phillip into the ski and tourist business. Initially, I’d not been sure. Phillip’s passion had seemed to be in woodworking. Running the operations of a ski lodge and the mountain seemed wrong somehow. However, the more I listened to Flynn describing how Phillip had lit up with excitement while banging out ideas had me rethinking my position.

“Do y

ou think he’ll be happy?” I asked. “Or is he doing this for me?”

“You make him happy,” Theo said. “Whether he’s doing it for you or not seems irrelevant.”

“I disagree,” I said. “If he does it for me, eventually he’ll come to hate it and resent me.”

“Like Theo’s done?” Flynn asked.

We were all quiet for a moment. The truth of his statement couldn’t be denied.

“I’m sorry, Theo,” Flynn said after a few more moments of awkward silence.

“Don’t be.” Theo gave him a weary smile. “You’ve given your blessing for me to start down my own path. We can put aside our resentments, can’t we?”

“Yes, of course, brother,” Flynn said before turning to me. “Don’t you see, Jo, that this is an answer for all of us? We’re all getting what we want, including Phillip.”

Theo nodded. “He’s genuinely excited, and he has an affinity for business.”

“He wants to be part of a team,” Flynn said. “Family, brotherhood. All the things the three of us have taken for granted.”

“As long as he’s sure,” I said. “A man doesn’t like to feel obligated to his wife’s family. The loan worries me.”

“Ah, Jo, don’t worry so much,” Flynn said. “All will be well.”

I looked into the warm eyes of my brother. Of the three of us, he was the one who didn’t worry, instead plunging into everything with unbridled sureness that everything would work out to his advantage. Perhaps his approach was better than Theo’s and mine, fretting over every decision? Whatever the case might be, I would go along with whatever Phillip decided. He wanted to make a path for the two of us to marry, which I wanted too. I hoped that he wouldn’t have to give up too much of his pride and dignity in order to do so.

Theo moved from the fire over to sit on my other side. He placed his hand over mine. “Jo, this is good for all of us. I truly believe it with all my heart.”

Flynn took my other hand. “Jo, please say you approve.”

“I approve.” I smiled at them both in turn. “May God help us all.”

“Amen,” my brothers said in tandem.

I woke in the middle of the night from a dream. I sat up and turned on the bedside lamp. My heart pounded and my nightgown was damp with perspiration. Several deep breaths later, I slipped from bed and shed my flannel gown. Shivering, I crept over to the dresser and pulled out fresh nightclothes. Instead of going back to bed, I went to the window. The night was clear, with a full moon hanging in the sky.

Edges of the dream came back to me. I’d been dreaming of my mother. She’d been standing over me with a knife while I slept. In the dream, I’d opened my eyes just before the knife plunged into my chest.

“What are you doing?” I’d asked her as my hand wrapped around her wrist.

“Theo,” she said. Then I woke.

Theo. Regardless of my brothers’ agreement, Theo was in trouble. Would giving up his part in the business help? I hoped so.

A flicker of light near the barn caught my eye. I pressed closer to the glass. A silhouette of a man standing at the fence. Theo. He was outside. Sleepwalking?

I threw on a coat and stuck my feet into the boots I wore to the barn and headed out of my room and down the stairs.

I tore out of the house. The walkway to the barn slick under my feet, I ran as fast as I could, slipping once and breaking the fall with my bare hands. Only vaguely aware of a stinging pain on my palms, I got up and started again. By the time I reached the barn, Theo had turned toward me.

“Theo, are you all right?”

“Jo, what are you doing?”