money we won’t be able to support anything,” Rose said. “Not this ranch, not those men, not our own flesh and blood.” She stabbed at the pork with a spatula. “I can’t believe you put us in this position, Beth.”
“Rose, honey. You’re too hard on her. We did fool things when we were her age.”
“Nothing like this,” her mother said. “Nothing that jeopardized the lives of a dozen other people.”
Beth’s insides were bound up in knots of shame. She wouldn’t be eating breakfast today.
“If I make a proposal like this now, he might agree to a lesser amount of money, don’t you think?” she said. “He’ll avoid all the legal hassles, the attorney’s fees—”
“It doesn’t usually work that way,” Abel observed. “Men like Darling tend to enjoy those things. And they’re impatient.”
“They’re hiring for summer down at the feed-and-tack,” Beth said. “Might turn into a full-time job. And I can work at King Soopers on the off shifts.”
“And while you’re working twenty-four-seven elsewhere, who’s going to pick up your slack around here?” her mom said.
Beth’s older brother, Levi, strode into the kitchen and snatched up a slice of ham with his bare fingers right off the griddle. “Won’t be me,” he said. At twenty-six, Levi had his father’s broad-faced features but none of his body mass. “I’m not gonna lie in this bed Beth made.”
“Yes you will,” Rose said, grabbing the meat out of his hand and throwing it back down to cook longer. “We’re a family. Breakfast will be ready in five.”
“It’s ready now,” Levi said.
“Clock says it’s not. Where’s Danny?”
“How should I know?”
Beth said, “We already made plans to redistribute the chores when I go to school in the fall. So we make the switch a month ahead of schedule. And I won’t be at school. That’s all.”
No one seemed to be listening to her.
Levi said, “You couldn’t sell this land for what Darling wants out of it. He wants us to bleed.”
The salty scent of ham came off the stove. Beth’s water seemed unwilling to boil. She couldn’t argue with the likely truth of Levi’s mean-spirited point. Rose tended to the strawberries that needed slicing by slamming the colander onto the cutting block. Levi poured himself a cup of coffee.
Fifteen-year-old Danny entered the silence with a whistle and went straight to the sink to wash up.
“Taciturn and sullen, all of you,” Danny said. “Who are you and what have you done with my family?”
“Beth killed them off,” Levi said.
“All but you, you mean.” Danny dried his hands at the sink. “You’re the same as ever.”
“You’re early,” Rose said.
“It’s the ham’s fault. Who can resist redolence like that?”
“Shut up, Danny,” Levi ordered. “If you’ve got time to be assimilating the dictionary, you’ve got time to do more work around here. Beth’s about to shirk all her responsibilities.”
“No, I’m going to work harder than ever before,” she said. She tried to remind herself that Levi’s sharp edge had been honed for years prior to this moment and had little to do with her. It was the ranch that he hated—the charity of it, to be precise. His vision for how the Blazing B might reach its full potential diverged from their father’s view in significant ways.
Of course, both men would perceive this suit as a terrible setback. Perhaps an insurmountable one.
“Everyone in this family works hard,” Abel said. He leaned back in his chair and smoothed his shirt over his ample belly with one hand. “And no one works harder on our behalf than the Lord himself, and I expect you all to remember that. Bethesda, no mistake is beyond God’s ability to repair it. Your heart is in the right place, and I know that. We’ll come through it.”
“Bethesda,” Levi mocked. “You know you’re in a bad spot when you’ve got the full name coming at you.”
Her father dropped his fist on the table and then lifted his finger toward Levi. “Let’s have some respect, son.”
“She hasn’t earned mine yet.”
“But I demand it. We’ve got a tough row to hoe here, and if we don’t do it together this is going to end as badly for you alone as it will for the Blazing B. Your mother and I named her Bethesda on purpose, and I say it as a blessing, not a punishment. You know what it means.”
“House of mercy,” Danny offered. He couldn’t help it. And he couldn’t know how his ability to irritate Levi was a salve on Beth’s heartache. Rose shoveled ham slices onto