Tillie came forward and hugged Opal. “I’m here to help. I can move in and take care of you while you get the treatments. You’ll need someone to take you to town. I don’t mind. Howie and I have talked it over, and I can stay as long as you need me.”
Opal pulled out of the embrace. “Tillie, whatever are you talking about? I can manage just fine. Jake’s here. Fiona is going to help out. You don’t need to worry.”
Tillie frowned. “You mean you’d let strangers help out and not your relations.”
“They are hardly strangers. Don’t be absurd. I’ve always had outside help.”
Opal looked at Jake. “I was going to tell you. I just haven’t had time to process this myself.”
Jake walked to Opal and pulled little her into his big arms. “I’m here for you. We’ll get through this. We’ll get through all of this.”
Tillie scowled. “I’m not leaving. This is my aunt, my blood relation, and I’m taking care of her.”
Opal said, “Tillie, I appreciate the offer, but I’ll take care of myself in my way.”
“That’s something I never understood about you, Opal. Why you depend on other people and don’t let your relations help you.”
“You know very well that the nephews have helped out. You and the other girls help when you can with branding and parties and the like. I depend on outside help because I know all of you have your own places to run and your own lives to live. It has always been that way, and you know it.”
“It’s not like you’ve ever given me a chance. You’ve always favored the Crawford boys and Cody Lodge and look how he turned out.”
“Cody is what he is. He’s a good buckaroo. He got in with the wrong company.”
“There you go defending him again. He’s a loser, and you know it. You can’t save everyone, Opal.”
She smiled. “I can try. None of us can ever guarantee that the help we give will turn out like we want. That’s not why I help people. I don’t have expectations. I trust in the Lord to do his work and if I can help Him out, so be it.”
Jake stood in the background watching the exchange. Tillie could get into a temper. He decided to leave the room. His presence wasn’t helping anything. He turned to leave and was almost out the door when Opal called him back.
“Don’t leave Jake.”
He stopped and sighed. He turned back and walked slowly to the table and took a seat. He was afraid she was going to tell them about the ranch deal. That would be a disaster. He sincerely hoped she would not. Not now. Not before they had gone to settlement. He was waiting to hear from the bank about the mortgage he’d applied for.
“Sit down Tillie, Howie. I want to talk to you.” She pulled a pitcher of iced tea from the refrigerator and handed each of them a glass. “Help yourselves.” She sat down at the head of the table and placed her hands flat out on the table like to steady them.
Here we go, thought Jake, and steeled himself. He’d much rather be working on that motor or putting up the goats. This was not going to be pretty.
Opal raised her head and looked at them. “I have something to say, and I want you to let me finish before you say anything.” She took a deep breath as if to gather wind for the journey she was about to embark on. “I’m eighty-four years old. The Lord has given me a good life, and now I have leukemia. With chemotherapy there is a slim chance development will be arrested.”
Tillie started to protest, but Opal held up her hand to stop the interruption.
“Let me finish.” She took another deep breath and sighed.
Jake’s heart dropped. She was going to tell them about the ranch. Dump everything on them at once. He knew this wasn’t easy for her. He wouldn’t have done it this way, but he knew how much the ranch meant to her and how much she wanted to keep it intact and not divide it up. Thank the Lord, he didn’t have any relations to worry him to death. The face of a dark haired little girl flashed momentarily in his thoughts. He gently pushed her memory back into the walled up section of his heart where he stored her memory.
“You and the others, Tillie, understand that this is my ranch. I married Henry. He is gone. I make the decisions. Is that understood?” She looked directly at Tillie.
Tillie sat grimly at the table her arms folded across her chest. She said nothing.
“All right,” said Opal. “I want this ranch to stay intact. I don’t want it broken up in a bunch of pieces to satisfy my bickering relatives.”
“Bickering relatives?” said Tillie, rising from her chair.
“Hush, Tillie, and sit down. You know that is the truth. I’m going to have my say. I’m going to say this to you and the rest. Henry started this operation and after he died I was the one who built it into what it is today. Henry wanted that, and I know he’d be proud of me.”
She paused and helped herself to a sip of tea. Tillie looked like she was about to explode, and Howie sat sullenly, not touching the glass of iced tea sitting in front of him. He probably needed a drink, Jake thought. As a matter of fact, he did, too.
Opal continued after looking around at all of them again. “I worried about what was going to happen to the ranch. I knew I wasn’t going to live forever, and I wanted to get everything made legal. So I am setting up a trust for my nieces and nephews who will get the proceeds from this ranch. You see, I’m selling the ranch.”
Tillie jumped up. “You’re selling this ranch? You’re selling it? To who? Who?”
“Jake,” said Opal.
Tillie erupted. “You’re selling this beautiful ranch to that bastard Indian? I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it.”
Jake sat stone faced. He had heard Tillie blow up before though this was one of her better explosions. He and Opal knew this would happen. He had hoped it wouldn’t come right yet when they had a host of other problems to deal with. And they hadn’t settled. Opal had to deal with her problems the best she could. Maybe she was worried about the upcoming treatments and what they would do to her mind.
Uncharacteristically, Howie spoke up. “Shut up, Tillie. Just shut up. Let Opal have her say.”
His outburst surprised Jake. Howie always sided with Tillie. He wondered how much he understood behind the alcohol fog he was always under.
Tillie turned on Howie. “Don’t tell me to shut up, you drunk.”
She started to say more but Opal rose and confronted her. Emphasizing each word she said, “Tillie, sit down. I am not finished. Your behavior is one of the reasons none of you will get this ranch. I’m selling it lock, stock and barrel to Jake. You, however, will benefit from the trust fund.”
Tillie whirled around, her chest heaving like she had just chased some mad cow. “What trust fund?”
“Sit down,” Opal said again to her.
Tillie, seeming deflated from the outburst, flopped down on the chair.
Opal stayed standing and put a hand on Tillie’s shoulder. “After I die, you and the others will get monthly incomes from a trust fund that I have set up for that purpose. I want you to have an income, no matter how small, because I know how hard ranching is, and it will give you at least enough to put food on the table every month, maybe a little more.”
Tillie buried her face in her hands. “I need money now, Opal. I love this ranch as much as you do. Why-oh-why are you selling it to that bastard when we all want it?”
“I’ve already explained why I’m selling the ranch. I’ll not go into it again. I got a lot on my mind, and now I have these treatments to worry about. I’ve made up my mind about the ranch.”
“What about the bulls? What about the cows?”
“Jake is buying the whole shooting match. He’ll be the boss. I get to stay on until I pass which we know will come soon enough. I appreciate his generosity in letting me stay on.”