Rose(110)
“If you’re talking about Rose—”
“I am, but I’m talking about the twins as well. And Zac and Tyler. And me. Nobody is happy when you’re around. Haven’t you noticed how they all fall silent when you join us?”
“They can’t stand being around a cripple.”
“Believe it or not, they love you. They’d show you, but you won’t let them.”
“That’s a damned lie. They can’t wait to get out of the room. Monty practically falls over himself.”
“Why should he stay? You haven’t said a nice thing to him since you got back.”
“He’s a bigoted, narrow-minded, stubborn, irritable—”
“No more than you.”
Jeff looked as if he would explode with rage. “Monty’s ten times worse than I ever was.”
“Ask Rose if you don’t believe me.”
“I wouldn’t ask her anything.”
“You should. You might learn some things that would surprise you. Help you, too.”
“If you mean to start relaying Rose’s advice, you can save your breath.”
“I only mean to give you one piece of advice,” George said. “You’re going to have to choose between your family and your bitterness.”
“You’re just trying to force me to accept Rose. You know I never will.”
“I’m telling you that you’re in the process of alienating the only people in the world who have reason to love you no matter how much you try to act like a miserable, hate-filled bastard. Rose is a part of that family now. In a few years Monty and Hen will marry. You can’t reject their wives without rejecting them as well.”
“They won’t marry Yankees.”
“Probably not, but that choice won’t be yours. You have to be prepared to accept them no matter who they marry.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Well, you give it some thought on your way to Corpus Christi. You think about it while you’re talking to Mr. King. You think about it when you’re selling my sword, and you think about it while you’re buying that ring for Rose. You decide what’s more important to you—this family or your anger. You can even spend a few extra days in Austin if you need to be real sure. If you decide for the family, we’ll be only too happy to see you sleeping at the house once again. If not, you’d better send the ring.”
“Are you telling me to leave?”
“I’m telling you to make a choice. I’m not going to let you destroy this family.”
“You’re doing that with your Yankee wife.”
George thought Jeff’s words would make him mad, but thinking about Rose made it impossible for him to get angry.
“You should have been at the house yesterday. My Yankee wife gave Zac a birthday party. None of his brothers remembered his birthday. None of his brothers thought to bake a cake or buy him presents. Just my Yankee wife. She used the money we paid her to buy our brother chaps. Do you know how that made me feel?”
“Did he like them?”
“He didn’t come down to earth for hours. And you know what else my Yankee wife did? She made me take credit for buying them. By this time I was so disgusted with myself I could hardly hold my head up. The only thing Zac really wanted for his birthday, and I didn’t know.”
Jeff didn’t say anything.
“I’ve never seen that boy so happy. Monty and Hen started teasing him. Even Tyler seemed to enjoy it. All four of them ended up wrestling in one big knot on the floor. Have you been able to give the family an evening like that? I haven’t, but my Yankee wife did. People suffered on both sides during this war, Jeff. I know that won’t change what happened to you. It won’t bring Pa back either, but neither will remembering.”
“So if I don’t forget about this”—he waved his stub at George—“and Pa, and all the rest, I’d better go.”
George heaved a weary sigh. It seemed his words had no effect. But he couldn’t stop trying.
“None of us will forget the war, Jeff. It’ll always be part of us, but it’s only a part. As the years go by, that part will become smaller and easier to bear. But we’ve got to start now, when it’s hardest.”
“I can’t ever forget what her father did.”
“I didn’t ask you to forget it. Rose won’t. I just ask you not to hold it against her. You’ll never be welcomed into any man’s home if you can’t have respect for his wife.”
“Tell me you love her,” Jeff said, flaring up, all his anger distilled into his challenge. “I’ve never heard you say it. I don’t believe you can.”