Silk and Stone by Deborah Smith Read Free Book Online

sayin’ our men’s going to jail for six months.”
    “Yes, we
do
know what happened.” A crying young woman, hardly more than Sarah’s age, came forward. “We ain’t never spoke ill of the judge before, ma’am. He’s been so good to us. But now he’s turned on us.”
    “No,” Sarah said quickly. “My brother wouldn’t do that. He’d never—”
    “It was his wife,” another woman added.
    Sarah felt the blood draining out of her face. “What did she do?”
    “She come to visit, like she just wanted to be polite. Bringing little gifts—cakes and things. Everybody got together at Lucy’s house to see her. Everybody brought her presents—just like we do when the judge comes to say hello. We give her a basket of liquor, ’cause we always give a basket to the judge. She asked all about it, real sweet, about how it was made, and where the stills is at. We figured—ain’t nothing to worry about, people around here know what’s right, and how to behave.”
    Lucy said slowly, “But that was a week ago, and last night the gov’ment men come. Ma’am, we hate to think your sister-in-law put the revenuers on us, but we don’t know what else to say.”
    Sarah dimly heard Rachel’s hiss of anger. Shame andfury strangled her. “Y’all go on back to your homes,” Sarah said evenly. “I’ll take care of this. I promise.”

    She left the babies in Rachel’s care and drove to the next town—the county seat—as fast as she could push her old Jeep. She remembered her brother’s court schedule—it was Wednesday afternoon, and everything in the county shut down after twelve on Wednesdays. William would be finishing up paperwork in his office.
    Sarah barged into the big, paneled room lined with bookcases. William sat at his desk with his head in his hands. “You
know
,” Sarah said, horrified. “You know Alexandra called the law on your tenants.”
    He jerked his head up. His expression was anguished. “I don’t know anything of the kind.”
    “Who else would?”
    “There’s no reason on God’s green earth for her to do something like that. I asked her. She swore to me it wasn’t her. You forget how it used to be. People make enemies. They get some little feud going and turn each other in out of spite. It could have been anyone in the county.”
    “You don’t believe that. I can tell by the look on your face. She hurt those people. What are you going to do about it?”
    “Sarah, I love her. I love her, and she’s
not
cruel at heart. She’s got this … this need to be important, and it’s because she’s defensive about her family’s reputation. People still gossip about the way they treated their workers at the mills.” He thumped the desk. “It was thirty years ago, by God.”
    “The Dukes haven’t changed that much. Life isn’t that much better for their employees, even now. Besides, Alexandra’s creating her own reputation, and it’s damned bad, and she’s dragging you down with her.”
    He slammed his fist on the desk. “She’s my
wife
, and we have a child on the way. My first duty is to stand up for her and that child.”
    “What about honor? What about self-respect? Andloyalty to the other people who’ve come to depend on you? All right, putting Alexandra aside, what are you going to do to help your tenants? Those families can’t keep their farms going with the husbands locked up for six months.”
    “I’ll take care of them.”
    “They’re proud. They want fair treatment, not charity.” She paused, her jaw working. “That’s all I want too. Fair treatment.”
    “Sarah, I’d cut off my right arm if it would take away your disappointment.”
    “You know what you owe me. It’s not an arm. Don’t you understand? You’re my brother, and I love you. I don’t want to be at odds with you.”
    “Then try to forgive and forget. I’m being torn apart here, sister.”
    “Judge? Excuse me for interrupting, but it’s an emergency.” His secretary stood in the