Chapter 20

Jacob found Jim first. Jim rarely disagreed with Jacob about anything and never about anything that involved the Bellamy sisters. Both felt guilty, not about killing the girls' parents but for not killing them sooner.

"I'll pay half if the women don't like it," Jim stated firmly. "That number seems a little low for the ranch, though. I think we'll get more for them than they're asking."

"You want to tell Juliette or do we want to face this together?" Jacob asked. For the first few months after their arrival the Bellamy sisters were source of aggravation for the wives — and even the older children.

The wives were twofold. First, they weren't involved in the decision to bring them to the Double-M and Two-C ranches. That was the biggest problem. Second was the fact that the girls' parents had plotted the kidnapping and rape or murder of the Dunleavy and Harcourt children. It took a month or two for everyone to get over it.

The children were put off by the girls' reluctance to do things. Jacob had initially insisted that the sisters be included in whatever the others had planned. The children would ask the Bellamys and the Bellamys almost always declined. Rather than explain that to Jacob and face his ire the Dunleavy and Harcourt children would change their plans.

It led to hard feelings that took some time to soothe. But time did ease things around the houses and Jacob was almost certain that no one would take issue with what he had offered — or at least not to his face.

He and Jim found the four women chatting with Susanna in the parlor. They all looked guilty when Jim and Jacob walked in and hurriedly rolled up a piece of paper they had been staring at.

Jacob glanced at Jim and Jim's look told him the same thing he already thought: ignore them.

"Do you folks have time for a quick family meeting?" Jacob asked.

All five women nodded.

"Cutie, why don't you track down J.J.," Jacob said. "I'm sure you know where he is. But you don't have time for anything other than getting back here."

Susanna blushed brightly. With her red hair and fair skin the blush went from her toes to her forehead. But she set off to locate J.J. Harcourt and they both arrived a few minutes later. Jacob noticed immediately that they were holding hands.

"I've agreed to pay for Amanda and Amelia to go east to college," Jacob said but he held up his hand to stall the storm of protests he thought might be coming. "They plan to study at a teacher's college and come back out here and open a school for the ranch children."

Susanna smiled and glanced at her mothers. Susan and Ann nodded but Marnie shrugged.

Finally Susanna unrolled the paper she had secreted away when the men entered.

"Pa, we've been looking to the future," she said with some reluctance. Jacob was known as a man to fight change tooth and nail. "And there are some things we need you to think about."

"Well, before we think about that, what about Amelia and Amanda?" Jacob asked.

"We think that is a good idea," Marnie said. "Not that they leave. I hope they know that they are part of our family now. But Susanna and J.J. brought this to us a few weeks ago and we've been going over things before we put it up to you and Jim. We're going to need a schoolhouse here and I think them two will be fine with the kids."

Jacob and Jim exchanged glances. They might be able to hold their own against the four wives but not against Susanna, too. J.J. had turned on them, too, it seemed.

"Well, let's hear it," Jacob said with resignation.

"Well, Susanna and I have been looking into some things," J.J. said. Jacob's glare caused him to blush and Marnie slapped Jacob's arm lightly. Jim just laughed but Juliette seemed irked.

"Poor choice of words, boy," Jim said. "Wanna try again?"

"We've spent some time at the courthouse in the last few months," J.J. started again. "And we've spoken to an attorney. It would probably be better financially if we formally consolidated things here into a corporation. That way we can get some of the same benefits that the railroads and the oil fields get. There is nothing wrong with the way things are done now. I'm not saying that but if we want to keep growing the ranches — growing them enough to sustain six or seven families — we need to look ahead."

Jacob hated to admit that he boy made sense.

"I suppose you're right about that," he admitted. "What things do we need to do?"

Susanna looked up in surprise. She had expected her father to put up a battle, insisting his way was the best way.

"Well, if you look at the land plat, we've already got the makings of what we need to do," she said. "You and Uncle Jim started that years ago without even knowing it was what would work out best in the future."

Jacob and Jim looked at the paper. Each section of the ranch was marked off into sectors and each sector was labeled with its primary usage. Jacob wondered why he had never commissioned one of those before.