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A month ago, Edilean wouldn’t have fully understood what Tabitha meant, but she did now. To think of doing that with a man you didn’t love! It almost made her sick at her stomach. And Edilean well remembered that Tabitha had loudly declared she was no whore. She’d been branded by a man rather than bed him. But because of what Edilean had done to Tabitha, the woman was now walking the streets. “I have to go,” Edilean said. “Someone is waiting for me.”
“People always wait for rich women like you,” Tabitha said with a sneer.
Edilean’s temper rose to make her face red. “You may think you’ve had it easy, but I’ve been betrayed as often as you have!”
“So you didn’t get the man?” Tabitha smiled. “At least I’ve heard something good today.”
Edilean couldn’t help it as her hands made into fists and she had an urge to punch Tabitha. They were glaring at each other like two dogs about to fight when Edilean said, “Why did you leave your father’s farm?”
For a moment Tabitha looked startled, but then she straightened her shoulders. “He wasn’t my father but my stepfather, and he married my mother to get at her daughters. After three years of it I ran away. What does that matter to you?”
Edilean took a step closer to her. “What kind of farm was it?”
“What does that mean?”
Edilean stared at her.
“It was a farm with cows and pigs and corn. What other kind of farm is there?”
“What if I bought a farm and gave you a job?”
“You? Buy a farm?” Tabitha asked, her lips curled into a sneer.
Edilean turned and started back down the street.
“Wait!” Tabitha called out.
Edilean stopped walking but she didn’t turn around.
“Who else would be on the farm? I can’t do it all by myself. There’s a lot of work on a farm.”
Edilean turned back around. “I haven’t thought about this, so I don’t know the details, but some man died a few days ago, and I think his farm is going to be for sale.”
“And you thought you’d ask me to run it?”
“Why not? Or would you rather keep on making your living stealing and doing vulgar things with men?”
“I’d rather—” Tabitha started to make a sarcastic remark but thought better of it. “Will you get men to run the place? I have trouble with men.”
“We all do,” Edilean said with a sigh. “I was happy until I met James, then my uncle. And Angus...” She waved her hand. “That’s over with. Harriet—she’s the woman I live with—thinks I’m useless. In fact, nearly everyone I’ve met in the last year thinks I’m useless. I’d like to prove them wrong.”
“You can’t run a farm with just women.”
“Why not?” Edilean asked.
“Because men have to... They have to lift heavy things.”
“We’ll get some big horses. I rode on a wagon pulled by Clydesdales, and they could have hauled mountains.” As she spoke, what had been just a flippant thought was forming in her mind in a solid way. Why couldn’t women run a farm business? They’d be known for having the best fruit at the market. It wouldn’t be bruised and they’d display it beautifully. Edilean had a vision of green pears on yellow, watered silk.
She looked Tabitha up and down and remembered what she’d looked like when she was clean—and a picture began taking shape in her head. “Bound Girl,” she said.
“What?”
“I’ll form a business. ‘Bound Girl.’ That’s what I’ll name the company.”
“Company?”
“Yes,” Edilean said, then narrowed her eyes at Tabitha. “I know you’re a liar and that you love to tell people long, sad stories about your life, but I’ll tell you now that if you lie to me and if you ever so much as steal a hairpin from me, I’ll throw you out. No second chances. No amount of begging and pleading will make me forgive you, and you’ll be out on your own. Do you understand me?”
