Jenny by Bobbi Smith

Cole was glad. His fury had subsided some,
but he still felt in need of a drink. Things were not
going to get any easier for him until the future of the
Lazy S had been resolved. He could only hope Marsden would convince Jenny that the smart thing for her
to do was to sell out to him.
    Cole let himself into the house and poured himself
a whiskey. He savored the liquor as he thought about
the days to come. As much as he tried not to think
about it, he couldn't help wondering how he would
manage if Jenny really did stay on.
    His worries would not be dismissed as he retired
that night. What sleep he managed to get was restless.
    Morning found Cole up early. He took care of his
own ranch business and then got ready to ride to Durango. His lack of sleep had not helped his mood, and he doubted that it was going to improve any until the
meeting with the lawyer and Jenny was over.

    Jenny dressed sedately as she prepared for her trip
into town the following day.
    "You look lovely, dear," Evelyn told her when she
came downstairs. "Are you sure you don't want me
or one of the hands to ride into town with you?"
    "There's no need," Jenny said, knowing that her
aunt must be exhausted from all the traveling they'd
done.
    "Are you sure?"
    "It's an easy ride. I'll be fine," Jenny said.
    In truth, she selfishly wanted some time alone just
to think about all that had happened. She needed to
plan how she was going to handle things. It was plain
to see that a lot of work needed to be done around
the ranch, and she was ready to get started once this
meeting with the lawyer had been taken care of.
    Evelyn waved from the front porch as Jenny drove
off in the buckboard. The prospect of seeing Cole
again did not improve Jenny's mood, but there was
no way out of it.
    The ride into town passed quickly, and Jenny
girded herself for what was to come as she entered
the lawyer's office. As she'd expected, Cole was already there when Andrew Marsden ushered her into
his inner office. What surprised her was not only the
presence of Judge Harold Lawson, but also the town's
most prestigious banker, Lyle Stevens. A short time later, she understood all too clearly why the banker
was also in attendance.

    "But you can't be serious!" Jenny exclaimed.
    Her expression was one of complete disbelief as
she looked from Andrew Marsden to Lyle Stevens
and then over at Judge Lawson, who was there to
oversee the reading of the will. Lyle Stevens had just
given her devastating news, and though she wanted
to deny it, from the looks on their faces, she knew it
was true.
    "I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you these
things, Jenny," Lyle Stevens said.
    "But my father was too good a businessman to
have let this happen!"
    "I'm afraid it's all true," Andrew Marsden said.
He'd known this moment was coming and, as much
as he regretted having to give her bad news, there
was no way to avoid it.
    "My father would never have let things get in this
condition," she insisted.
    "Miss Sullivan, it's true your father was very astute
in his business dealings, but the trouble on the Lazy
S all started with the blizzard we had winter before
last," Lyle Stevens explained. "Ask Cole, here. He
can tell you how bad things were. The Lazy S lost a
large part of its herd. Cole had been working with
your father for over a year now, trying to help him
rebuild the stock."
    Jenny was aghast at what she'd just learned. Why
hadn't her father ever told her any of this? Why hadn't he let her know that the Lazy S was in dire
financial straits? She was hurt that he hadn't confided
in her. She could have quit school and come home to
help him! Instead, from what they'd just explained to
her, he had borrowed heavily from the bank to keep
things going. It seemed that Cole, not she, had been
there to help her father after the hard times had befallen him hard times that she'd known nothing
about!

    "And then your father reported to me that several
times a