Pemberley Ranch - Jack Caldwell [7]
Samuel, oh Samuel! he thought again. The loss of his heir would cost his family more than they knew.
Bennet cleared his throat. “My dears, I have an announcement to make.” The Bennet women turned their attention to him. Bennet inwardly grimaced in anticipation of the uproar to come. “For quite a while we’ve lived in comfort. Working the land with my brothers has adequately provided for us for these many years.”
“Adequately provided?” cried his wife. “It’s all right for you to say so, Thomas, if you believe having five unmarried daughters with no dowry to speak of ‘adequate,’ or even enough money to have but one store-bought dress each, but I don’t believe it is so!”
“Indeed, my dear. And now with the return of my nephews from the war and their growing families… Forgive me, Fanny.”
Mrs. Bennet wiped the tear from her eye. “Please, Thomas, say no more about that, or I will think of our poor, lost Samuel again.” She could say no more as she wept, and Kathy joined in. Jane and Beth consoled the others, Mary sighed in disapproval, and Lily looked bored.
Bennet held his tongue until his wife was tolerably composed. “My dear, now that our nephews are having families of their own, the Bennet Farm will not produce enough for all of us. Therefore, I have spoken to my brothers, and they have agreed to buy me out.”
“Buy us out! But, Thomas, what shall we do?”
Jane spoke up. “Are you buying another farm, Father?”
“Yes, I am—a place of our very own.”
“Will we have to leave home?” Kathy gasped.
“Yes, we will—”
Fanny cut him off. “Oh, who cares about this old house; we inherited it from Grandmother Bennet! A house of our own! How delightful! Is it near the river, dear? I hope it is near the river.”
Bennet glanced down at his plate. “It is near a river, Fanny.”
Beth frowned. “But, Father, how much did our uncles pay? Land near the river is so very dear. They surely couldn’t pay that much.”
“They paid enough, Beth. We will have a new farm near a river, but it will not be here.”
“Not here!” Mrs. Bennet looked at her daughters. “But where? Is it nearby?”
“No, dear.”
That got Mary’s attention. “We will have to change churches?”
“I am afraid so, child.”
“I know!” Mrs. Bennet claimed. “You always knew I favored the next county. So lovely, and I have family there…”
“Pooh! I don’t care for them!” cried Lily. “Last time we visited, the boys pulled my hair!”
“That was three years ago,” said Jane gently. “Surely they will be kinder now.”
Bennet raised his voice. “Please, enough of this! We are not moving to the next county.” The women all stared at him. “I have found a wonderful place where we can grow vegetables and corn almost year-round and still have room for cattle.”
“Year-round! Thomas, you tease me. One cannot grow vegetables in Ohio in winter!”
“One can in Rosings.”
“Rosings! I never heard of such a place. Where in Ohio is this paradise?”
Bennet took a breath. “It is not in Ohio; it is in Texas.”
Bennet was surprised. The room was quiet much longer than he anticipated. But the explosion that followed was all he expected.
“Texas!” Beth cried again for the countless time. “How can Father make us all go to Texas?”
Jane sighed as she brushed Beth’s hair, their nightly routine before bed. “He’s doing the best he can. The farm he described is large enough to take care of all our needs. We’ll have farmhands to help. It sounds delightful.”
Beth was not appeased. “If Samuel were here, he would talk Father out of this!”
“Beth, if Samuel were here, we might be buying out our uncles. But he is not. We must try to persevere. Father needs our support, not our censure.”
Beth bit her lip as