"Yes, sir, I did," the boy said proudly, looking about the courtroom as though he expected to be congratulated.
"I'm going to tan you," Cole said to his son, but loud enough for half the courtroom to hear him. "When I get you home--"
The judge brought down his gaveL "You can carry out your domestic quarrels at home, Jordan. This is a court of law. But it seems you were wrong and this young lady was telling the truth all along. And it seems that you need somebody to keep constant watch over that brat of yours. I hereby decree that you give her the job you promised her."
"No!!" came the combined shouts of Kathryn, Mr. Stewart, Jeremy, and Cole.
"Your Honor," Mr. Stewart said quickly. "My client just wants the money so she can leave Legend forever. She's suffered horrible distress while she's been here and she needs to--"
"Bull!" the judge bellowed. "She's become the town celebrity. Walks around with a notebook taking down orders of what people want her to get from Cole Jordan. If you ask me, the two of them deserve each other. Of course, if your client can't handle this young scalawag, then that would invalidate the contract. Does she want to back out?"
"No, Your Honor," Mr. Stewart said. "But she don't wanta stay either."
"Then she shouldn't have come here in the first place." He banged his gavel. "That's it. She stays and teaches, or she drops the whole thing. Those are the choices. Which is it gonna be?"
Mr. Stewart looked at Kathryn with apology on his face.
"I have to take the job," she whispered.
Mr. Stewart looked back at the judge. "He pays court costs?"
"He pays for everything," the judge said with just the tiniest bit of a smile.
"Then we take the job on one condition. Mrs. de Longe wants the biggest padlock this town has for her bedroom door."
As the courtroom was laughing, Mr. Stewart turned back to Kathryn. "Real sorry about the verdict. There ain't nobody can teach that brat of Jordan's. He's got bars on the kid's bedroom window, but he still escapes."
"And drinks whiskey," Kathryn said as she blinked up at Mr. Stewart, still unable to comprehend the verdict. "I have to live with the two of them?"
"Looks like that's what the judge said," Mr. Stewart said as he shoved papers back into a leather case. Kathryn was going to say more, but by then people were shoving each other to be able to congratulate both of them. To the town's mind, Kathryn had won a case against the Jordans, something no one believed would happen.
"Now you be sure and tell him what I told you," a beefy woman pumping Kathryn's hand was saying. Her breath smelled like old sheets.
"And you help me buy my own store. A man oughta own his own place," a man said as he thumped Kathryn on the back. "You tell Jordan that --"
But Kathryn wasn't hearing anymore as she looked across the people to see Cole Jordan standing and glaring at her. His look said she may have won the battle but the war was yet to come.
"Come on, Zach," she heard him say as he cupped his hand at the back of his son's head. As they turned away, the boy winked at Kathryn.
"Oh lord," she whispered to herself. "What in the world have I got myself into?"
Chapter Three
Kathryn straightened her shoulders and tried to put some steel into her spine as she raised her hand to knock on the door of Cole Jordan's office. It had been a mere two hours since the verdict had been given, and only minutes ago, Mr. Stewart had dropped her and Jeremy off in front of the Jordan house. Now Jeremy was sitting in the hallway, their small trunks on the floor at his feet, and it was Kathryn's job to find out what Mr. Jordan had planned for them.
"Courage," she said aloud to herself, then knocked on the door. The gruffness of the "Come in" almost made her turn and run, but she took a breath and opened the door.
He was sitting behind his big desk, his head down. "Mr. Jordan," she began, but he interrupted her.
"So you won, did you?" he said, leaning back in his chair and scowling.
"I want you to know that what I did was out of necessity. I would never have resorted to a court of law if I hadn't been in desperate need."
"Desperate need," he said. "Ah yes, I know that feeling." Looking like some great prowling beast, with his brows drawn into a scowl, Cole rose and came around the desk to glare down at Kathryn.
With stiff arms and her hands made into fists, she stood her ground. She was not going to let him see how much she regretted everything that had happened.
"Mrs. de Longe, let me tell you about 'desperate need.' I own this town, and that means that everyone and everything in it is my responsibility. On top of that responsibility, I have the sole care of a hellion of a son. His mother, may she rest in peace, dumped him on my doorstep the night before she ran off with a circus performer."
At that Kathryn raised her eyebrows. A circus performer?
He was advancing on her, but Kathryn refused to retreat. "I need someone who can handle that boy. You don't know what he is like."
"I can see what you have allowed him to become," she said with more courage than she felt.
"Oh?" Cole said, one eyebrow raised. "Should I have kept him tied to me as you have that son of yours? Pardon me, Mrs. de Longe, but I do not want my son raised to be the puny, frightened little creature that your son is. I want my son to grow to be a man."
Kathryn could take anything anyone gave to her, but she couldn't take what he was saying about Jeremy. "How dare you?" she said, moving toward him and standing on tiptoe so she was closer to his level. "My son is more of a man than that ill- mannered, selfish creature you have raised. My son isn't halfway to being hanged for the criminal he is."