“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since August.”
It was December.
Josephine stood again.
“You knew for four months?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“I sent letters.”
“I never received them.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because your father sent one back unopened with a warning.”
Josephine stared.
“What warning?”
Harlan reluctantly reached into the iron box.
He removed a folded sheet.
Josephine recognized Edwin’s handwriting immediately.
Creek,
Stay away from my daughter. Her affairs are mine. If you contact her again, I will have Pike certify her incompetent and take guardianship formally.
Josephine read it twice.
Her hands went cold.
“Incompetent?”
Harlan nodded.
“Because of what?”
“He claimed you were incapable of managing finances.”
“That’s absurd.”
“I know.”
“I kept his household accounts for eleven years.”
“I know that too.”
“How?”
“Your mother’s cousin wrote me.”
Josephine laughed bitterly.
“Apparently everyone knows my life except me.”
Harlan flinched.
She saw it.
Good.
She wanted him to feel some of this.
“Then why the marriage?”
“Your father approached me.”
Josephine stared.
“He approached you?”
“In October.”
“Why?”
“Because he thought I wanted more grazing land.”
Harlan’s mouth hardened.
“He offered you as part of the deal?”
“Yes.”
Josephine closed her eyes.
Twenty dollars.
Two horses.
Her body.
Her labor.
Her future.
Her father had packaged everything.
Harlan continued.
“He believed marrying you to me would make transferring the land easier. He thought I would sign it over afterward.”
Josephine opened her eyes.
“Why would he think that?”
“Because I let him.”
Silence.
“You pretended.”
“Yes.”
“That you wanted the land?”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
Harlan looked at her.
“That part was more complicated.”
Her pulse changed.
She hated that it did.
“What does that mean?”
Harlan looked toward the stove.
“Your father insulted you for nearly twenty minutes.”
Josephine swallowed.
“What did he say?”
“You don’t need to hear it.”
“I’m asking.”
Harlan’s jaw clenched.
“He said you were too heavy to attract anyone without money changing hands.”
Josephine looked away.
“He said feeding you cost more than keeping two ranch hands.”
Her eyes burned.
“He said you were obedient if embarrassed enough.”
Josephine’s mouth tightened.
“He said once I had you isolated up here, you would be too grateful for shelter to object to anything.”
Harlan stopped.
Josephine’s tears came silently.
She hated them.
Harlan lowered his voice.
“I wanted to kill him.”
She laughed once through the tears.
“You bought me instead.”
“No.”
“That is exactly what happened.”
“I paid him because I needed him to believe he had won.”
She wiped her face angrily.
“You still made a bargain over me without asking me.”
“Yes.”
The immediate answer stopped her.
Harlan did not defend himself.