Emma put her face in her hands. It was all so confusing and frustrating. Cheyenne was supposed to be a new start, so why did it feel like she was drowning in the same old problems?
A knock sounded at the front door, and Emma slowly got to her feet. What if it was Colton? She wasn’t ready to talk to him. She glanced down the hall as the front screen door opened.
“Emma, it’s your father!” Rich Johnson’s bellowing voice filled the house.
“Well, this is unexpected.” Emma stepped into the hall to greet him. She found Lucille following behind.
“We decided to drive back into town with Gary. Had some shopping to see to and thought we’d say hello.”
“Do you want to stay the night? I can arrange things in the guest room.”
“No, we need to get right back. We’re commencing to get ready for roundup. Cows calved early, and the boys are itchin’ to get it all tended to.”
Emma hugged her father and forced a smile. “Well, I was just having lunch. Why don’t you come and eat with me?”
“I have a meeting to attend, but I’m sure Lucille would enjoy that.”
Her stepmother smiled. “I would indeed.” She embraced Emma. “I want to hear all about what’s been going on.”
Emma looked away. It was going to be a long day.
“I have to say, I was surprised by your invitation to lunch, or should I say your insistence that you needed to meet with me,” Rich told Colton.
“When I saw you folks ride into town, I thought maybe God was helping me out. I mean it was—”
“Are you ready to order?” a waiter asked them, interrupting Colton.
“Yeah,” Rich answered. “Bring me a steak—rare—and fried potatoes. Black coffee.”
The waiter looked at Colton. He nodded, knowing that nothing had tasted good since his fight with Emma. “I’ll have the same.”
The man left them to their discussion, but Colton wasn’t at all sure where to start. He looked at the table and said nothing. It was Rich who finally broke the silence.
“You seem mighty troubled about something, son. Why not just tell me?”
Colton looked up and heaved a sigh. “I was just wondering where to start.”
Rich laughed. “Start at the beginning. I’m figuring this probably involves Emma.”
“Yes.” Colton straightened. “To be quite blunt, from the moment I first met her, I loved her. I never even believed such a thing was possible. I said nothing because she was my brother’s girl. I didn’t want to do anything to interfere with their plans. Not only that but I was much too settled and ... lackluster for Emma. She was full of life and excitement. Tommy was too. They seemed a perfect match.
“Added to that, my father’s heart was giving out, and I was focused on handling all the legal details of the family business. I did my best to ignore my feelings and forget about Emma. Then Tommy got killed, and Emma and Rosie wanted to move up here to Cheyenne, and the thought of losing Emma was far more troubling to me than leaving business undone in Texas and pursuing her.”
“So what’s the problem? She seems to like your company well enough. If you’re asking my permission to court her, you have it. Not that you need it.”
“No, it’s far more complicated. After Tommy died, Emma inherited a great deal of money and other things. Tommy left everything he owned to her, which made Emma the majority stockholder in our family railroad. This happened because my father and his sister had gone into making the railroad together. They were equal partners, and when my aunt died, she was partial to Tommy and left him all her shares. Then when our father died, Tommy inherited one-fourth of his stock. Tommy always left the business dealings to me, so our brothers, while jealous of the value he now owned, weren’t worried about the situation.”
“But now that Emma holds the stock, they are?” Rich leaned back in his chair. “That does cause problems.”
“They came up with what they thought was the perfect solution. They insisted I come to Cheyenne and get Emma to marry me so we could retain ownership of the stock. Rosie overheard them haranguing me about it, saying I owed it to the family. But that wasn’t why I came to Cheyenne. I couldn’t bear the idea of Emma leaving my life. I came to convince her that I loved her and wanted to marry her for real.
“Then the other day I got a telegram from my brothers pressing me to marry Emma and get the stock secured quickly. I left it in my pocket, and Rosie found it and showed it to Emma. She believed the worst of me, and now she won’t speak to me. She makes sure to be absent any time I’m around. Mr. Johnson, I love your daughter. I’m not playing her false, I promise you.”
Rich shook his head. “You’ve got yourself in a pretty good mess.”
“Rosie doesn’t even believe me. How can I hope to convince Emma?”
“And you thought I could help?” He gave a laugh. “Emma hasn’t listened to me since she was knee-high to a grasshopper. She’s not going to start now.”
