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Albert didn’t want to go to the parlor. He wanted someone to tell him what was going on so he could get back to work, but he followed anyway. “What?” he asked, his voice filled with frustration.
“Your land was plowed today for the garden,” Susan said, trying to get Alice to explain what had happened, but her sister was looking down at her hands and not speaking.
“I was called in from work because my land was plowed?” He shook his head. “You two need to start making sense.”
“Alice took a glass of water out to Jason as a way of thanking him for the work he was doing.”
“Jason? I asked Andrew to plow for me. I wouldn’t let Jason be on my land without me right there in the house with Alice.”
Susan nodded. “You were right to feel that way. When Alice realized she was dealing with Sarah’s husband, she went back inside. After a while, he asked for another drink of water, and when she went to get it, he followed her into the house and tried to kiss her.”
“What?” Albert looked at Alice. “He kissed you?”
Alice shook her head. “No. I kneed him in the groin and ran here.”
“Good for you!” Albert sat there for a minute, thinking about what they’d said. “Where’d the blood come from then?” Their story still wasn’t making a lot of sense.
“He followed, and I had to shoot him.”
Albert blinked a few times. “You shot him?”
“In the shoulder, which was right where I was aiming. I’m a good shot.”
Albert looked at Susan helplessly. “She shot him?”
Susan nodded. “And he bled all over my floor. I should clean that up.” With that, she got up and left the room, leaving the newlyweds alone.
“He didn’t hurt you?” Albert asked, putting his arm around Alice’s shoulders.
She shook her head. “He said this wasn’t the end of it, though. We’re going to have to talk to the sheriff. He’s an evil man.”
“I got that impression when I talked to him.” He shook his head. “Sarah never should have married someone like him.”
“I think they’re quite evenly matched,” Alice said without thinking.
“Why do you say that?”
“I was treated to Sarah’s unpleasant side while we were sewing yesterday.” She hadn’t been planning to tell him any of this, and she was sorry it had come up, but now that she’d started talking about it, she knew he wouldn’t let her stop until he heard everything.
“Sarah has an unpleasant side?” he asked.
“I know you’re in love with her. Apparently, the whole town knows you’re in love with her. She said that as soon as she’s available, she’ll take you from me.”
“What? How can she be available when she’s married now?”
Alice shrugged. “Only thing I can think of is the billy goat horn through the eyeball, but she may have poison or something like that in mind.”
“Poison? Did she say she was going to kill him?”
“No, I was just daydreaming. Maybe it could be two billy goats, one for each of them. Would that be too much to ask?”
“You’re distracting me, Alice. She didn’t say she was going to kill him, did she?”
“No, but she asked me how it felt to be married to a man who was in love with someone else? It was awful. Susan made her leave. Do you know she doesn’t even clean her own house? Her mother-in-law comes over and does it. She said she should have married you because you’re rich and you’d hire a housekeeper to keep her from getting calluses on her hands.”
“That’s ridiculous,” he said. “Why would I hire a housekeeper if I had a wife and no children? What would my wife do all day?”
“Apparently she would mess up her house and tell other women that their husbands loved her. At least that’s what Sarah does.”
