A Love Undone by Cindy Woodsmall

Author:Cindy Woodsmall [Woodsmall, Cindy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-73001-5
Publisher: The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group
Published: 2014-09-08T16:00:00+00:00

17

Jolene stood just under the tin roof, drops of cold rain sliding down the back of her dress. Her stomach muscles quaked from the pent-up emotions, and she tightened her grip on the envelope of money in her right hand. Getting a hold of the money hadn’t been too hard. She had uncles and two brothers who’d chipped in to loan her the cash, and when they asked what the money was for, they allowed her to keep the reason to herself. But it would take Jolene a tremendous amount of work to pay it back. She spotted Van as he got up from the ground and dusted off his hands and pants.

Jolene strode toward him. “Van.”

He turned. The horse near Andy had his side to her, but he edged away as she moved forward.

She stopped a couple of feet from Van and held out a small white envelope. “I’m sure you meant well, but I disagree with what you did.”

Disappointment filled his face. “You know.” The resignation in his voice seemed tainted with dread.

When he didn’t reach for the envelope, she shook it at him. “Take it.”

“You can’t afford to pay me back.”

The idea of him telling her what she could and couldn’t do only irked her more. “The money in the envelope is not an illusion, so apparently I can.”

“How?”

Just who did he think he was to her and her family anyway? “That’s not really your concern. But the next step is to involve the ministers and lay out this whole mess. Yoder should be allowed to keep only enough money to cover damages and some inconvenience.”

“You can’t do that. Ray, James, and I gave our word that news of the situation wouldn’t get out and wouldn’t be taken to the church leaders or anyone else.”

“What?” Her heart rate increased. When Van stepped in and took action, did he even pause to consider the cost? “Why?”

“It was our bargaining chip.”

“All that money wasn’t enough?”

“Yoder doesn’t want to get caught in his extortion, and we didn’t want you to find out what we’d agreed to, so we gave him our word that no one would take the incident to the church officials.”

Good grief! She thrust the envelope at him again. “Take it.”

Hurt reflected in his eyes. “Why won’t you let it go? I took care of it.”

Her insides trembled so hard she feared her shoulders and arms would start trembling too, but she managed a controlled shake of her head. There was no point in trying to make Van understand. Was there a more clueless man in Winter Valley? “Most of my siblings are mature adults now and can make their own decisions, but never again go around me or help Ray or Hope behind my back. Will you agree to that?”

“You’re being overemotional and silly, Jo.”

Her face burned. Just how condescending could he be? Silly and overemotional were meant to put any woman in her place. What else did a man need to say?

Andy appeared out of nowhere leading a horse.

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