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huh?” he said.
    “Pardon? Oh yes, all J’s. I always thanked God my mother’s name was not Zelda,” his wife replied.
    Jake laughed out loud. It was the first time he had felt like laughing in a long time. And certainly the first time today. “I can understand why.” But his bride wasn’t laughing. His laugh rolled to a chuckle and then to silence. “Is that all there is to tell?”
    “We, excepting myself of course, are a thin attractive family. My father is successful in the shipping industry. My mother and Jolene are perfect hostesses and spouses. Jennifer has every unmarried man and a few married ones for miles trailing her like puppies. She’ll choose soon, I imagine.” She smiled and added, “And Jillian, well, she is lively and bright and especially beautiful, even for our family.”
    What an odd woman, he thought. No reaction visible except when she mentions her younger sister. And her opinion of herself was skewed. “You are a very beautiful woman, Julia. I can hardly believe you don’t realize that.”
    She looked him square in the eye. “No need to do that,” she said.
    Jake sat back in his chair. “Do what?”
    “It is really unnecessary.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re a very attractive woman. Not that that sort of thing matters much to me or anyone in my family. But still I have eyes in my head,” Jake said.
    “Tell me about your family, Jake. About your sisters. I can hardly imagine them welcoming me when I am nearly stealing their inheritance, but still if I knew something about them, I could smooth the way.”
    His bride’s face was flushed and having only known her for a short time, he wasn’t positive, but he would have guessed she was spitting mad. Not many women of his acquaintance took exception to a compliment. It was then he realized what she had said. “Stealing their inheritance?” he repeated.
    “This land. The farm. If you hadn’t married, they’d be entitled to part of it.”
    Jake was more than a little irritated that his new bride would think so little of his sisters without even having met them. “They have farms of their own. I told you I helped Flossie and Gloria both when they got married. They don’t think of my bride as stealing their inheritance. What a damn fool thing to say.”
    “Obviously you know little about woman, Mr. Shelling,” she replied.
    Jake stood and looked down at her, angry. “I know my sisters, Julia. I raised them. They could care less about their ‘inheritance.’”
    “I didn’t mean to insult you or your sisters. It’s just that I know how women’s minds work. What’s important to them. Not that it’s all so important to me but still I understand,” she replied.
    Jake would have asked what was important to woman if he hadn’t heard the wagons pulling into the yard. This was going to be awkward to be sure, and he had less a clear idea of his wife now then the moment he’d slipped the ring on her finger. He stood and looked out the kitchen window.
    “They’re here.”
    * * * *
    Julia’s stomach rolled. She prayed these sisters didn’t care about their inheritance. About a woman who married the first man she saw when she got off the train. About a woman running from herself and her sister’s husband. Not that they’d ever know that story, but still, Julia knew it. She stood straightened her dress and wished she’d taken time to wipe the dust from her face and hands. The screen door in the kitchen flew open with a bang. Jake crouched down, and two dark-haired children ran into his arms. He stood, pretended to stagger, and they giggled.
    Jake kissed both children. “I suppose you’re mad at your Uncle Jake cause your mother kept you home from the Founder’s Day Celebration to meet my bride.”
    “We were,” the boy said. “But we’re not anymore. Mama said your new wife talks different than us.”
    “And she came from far, far away just to marry you,” the little girl said while