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Finally it was time to give her the ring, and Sue didn‟t hide her disappointment when she saw it.

“Told you,” Justin whispered.

Jake simply smiled and slipped it on her finger.

“I now pronounce you man and wife,” the preacher said. “You may kiss the bride.”

He lifted the veil and was struck that she would wear so little make up and still look stunning. She really does have simple but elegant taste. She‟s going to throw a fit when she sees her new wardrobe. He already knew he would be assigning Mrs. Parker and her team of seamstresses with a new wardrobe. This time he would have to let Sue talk to her about what she wanted. He didn‟t know whether to be relieved or annoyed. He was glad she wasn‟t into all the flashy and flowery material women seemed to crave but all his efforts to please her were in vain.

As he bent to kiss her on the lips, she gave a slight turn of her head so he kissed the side of her mouth instead. “Well honey, aren‟t you full of surprises today,” he teased. Having managed to catch her off guard, he wrapped her in his arms and gave her a long kiss on the mouth.

She was too stunned to react in time to stop him. Several men chuckled and the single women sighed as if imagining he was kissing them. When Jake let go of her, he shot her a triumphant look. She looked flustered and then furious.

They turned to the people as the preacher announced, “I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Jake Mitchell.”

She was reluctant to walk down the aisle with him so he gently led her by the arm. “We don‟t want to disappoint the

people. Remember, it‟s only for six months.”

She sighed and started walking with him.

****

December 1899

Jake Mitchell was good at two things: making money and managing people. What he wasn’t good at was getting Sue Lewis to stop coming by the bank where he worked every day. It wasn’t that Sue was outwardly rude, but she was persistent and vocal. This particular day was no exception. He was sitting in his office when he heard her enter the bank.

“I want to speak to someone in charge here,” she told one of the tellers.

Jake closed his light blue eyes and ran his hand through his short dark brown straight hair. He rubbed his neatly trimmed beard and sighed. He was only thirty-five but when he heard her nagging voice, he felt like he was sixty. She could wear any man out.

“Mr. Mitchell, that woman is back,” George Leroy said.

“So? Take care of it,” he replied.

“I’ve done everything I can but she won’t go away.”

Jake shook his head. How did George ever expect to take over as president when his father retired if he couldn’t handle one woman? “I’m the vice president, George. I’ll be working under you soon enough. You need to learn to handle these kinds of customers.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You handle people better than I do.”

“Now is the perfect opportunity for you to work on that.” He heard her constant demands for a resolution to her family’s debt every day for the past two weeks. She came in around noon every single day and said the same thing. He had unsuccessfully tried to resolve her dispute, but she wouldn’t listen to any of the logic he presented to her.

“I don’t want to talk to her,” George whined.

“I talked to her on Monday,” Jake said. “Now it’s your turn.”

“I talked to her yesterday. And Mr. Edwards talked to her last Friday.”

“So we’re all taking turns?” He sighed. “Then it’s Edwards‟ turn again. We’ll just go in circles because there’s nothing else to do. We can’t solve her problem.”

Noah Edwards was in charge of the mortgages. He really was the ideal person for her to talk to, though it wouldn’t do her any good.

“Miss, you can’t just walk back there,” the teller exclaimed. “I will not be treated so rudely,” she snapped. “I know my rights as a customer.”

Jake cringed as she walked past the teller and into his office. He made a mental note to buy a lock for his door. Sue was actually easy on the eyes, despite the fact that she wore her blond curly hair in a bun. Her face was nice to look at. Her hourglass figure and ample bosom were even better. Her green eyes and fair complexion would grab the attention of any man, but her aggressive behavior turned men off, which was why she was still single at thirty-three. No man wanted a nag for a wife. They also didn’t want the debt she came with. Every man knew that her parents were in desperate financial straits and if they married her, they would have to take that debt on themselves. Considering the size of the debt, Jake understood why men shuddered to even consider a courtship with her. Had she been blessed to remove either her debt or nagging, she might have succeeded in marrying someone. However, she had two strikes against her, and those were two strikes too many.

“I demand to have a conversation with you since you’re the vice president,” she ordered.

Jake sighed. The teller had no experience to withstand her stormy emotions.

George and the teller quickly left the office.

Great. Now I’m stuck with her. “I have nothing new to say to you,” Jake finally told her. “You don’t have a case.”

She sat in the chair in front of his desk and folded her arms. “I won’t go away until the issue is resolved.”

“It is resolved.” Why am I wasting my time? The woman simply refused to listen to reason.

“Not to my satisfaction.”

Suddenly, an idea came to him. “I’ll be right back.” “I’ll stay here all day if I have to. I won’t leave just because you run and hide,” she warned as he stood up.

He stopped himself from rolling his eyes. “I said I would be right back.” He made sure to emphasize the words “right back.” He grumbled as he left the office and went to the backroom where he could grab her family’s folder. He shut the file cabinet in irritation and stomped back to his office.

Her eyes grew wide.

She didn’t expect me to actually return. He placed the folder on his desk and opened it. “Have you seen these contracts?”

She shifted uncomfortably in the chair. Her hard expression disappeared. “Yes,” she softly replied.

He looked at her in disbelief. How could a woman change her mood so quickly? Her gentle expression drained him of his anger. He sighed. He didn’t like what he would have to say next but knew there was no alternative.

“Your father signed the contracts, and he is legally bound to uphold them. If he fails to pay his debts, then he will lose the house and the farm. He is already five months late in his payments. We sent a letter notifying him that foreclosure is imminent. I’m sorry but there is nothing we can do unless he gets current on his back payments.”

“But the late fees associated with those back payments will make it impossible to get current.”

“We can waive those late fees if we receive an additional month’s payment in advance.”

“Mr. Mitchell, there are circumstances that have greatly affected my family. We lost most of our crops in the fields last summer during the hail storm, and the tornado killed a great number of the cattle in the fields.”

“I sympathize with you. There are two other farmers who are facing the same situation you are. If we made provisions for you, we’d have to do it for everyone who suffered hardships, and then we’d lose so much money, we’d have to go out of business. I know banking can be a cold business but we do need to make a profit in order to stay open.”

Her mouth tightened. “Surely, three farms aren’t going to hurt your business so badly. We can work out a deal. Perhaps, we could offer our crops or cattle.”

“I already arranged that with the other two farmers. Their debts are considerably smaller than your father’s debt. Even if you were to offer food and cattle for ten years, it wouldn’t be enough to pay what you owe.”

“There should be something you can do,” she protested, quickly getting upset again.

He frowned. What right did she have to be upset with him? “I wasn’t the one who made the poor financial decisions your father did. He borrowed so much against his house and land that he buried himself in a hole he can’t get out of.”

“That was to cover the expenses for my youngest

brother’s heart surgery. He would have died if we didn’t do it. Really, you are heartless. I would think that even if you had an ounce of humanity in you, you would forgive part of the debt.” “The surgery wasn’t the only thing that got your family in trouble. Your grandfather had a substantial gambling problem.”

“So my father is to pay for his father’s sins?”

“Yes, since he insists on living on the property your grandfather borrowed against.”

She banged her fists on the sides of the chair and glared at him.

He wasn’t going to be intimidated by her. “Like I said, I am sorry but if we bailed your father out, we would lose too much money. This isn’t personal.” He struggled to remain calm but her continual insistence to bother him was getting on his nerves.

“I will come by every day until we can work something out.”

“Then I will put your own chair in the lobby so you can be comfortable out there. But I will not be talking to you again. As far as I’m concerned, the matter is closed. The best thing for your family to do is to move off the farm and purchase a reasonable residence in town. At least then, their debts will be eliminated and they can go about their lives.”

She gasped. “That farm has been in our family for three generations. It is to go to my brother and his wife.”

“He’ll have to do something else. It’s not that big of a deal. What use is it to hold onto something that isn’t working?” “You don’t understand sentimental value. You have a cold heart.”

“Maybe so but I do understand common sense. You can’t pay your debts if you don’t have money. The best thing your father can do for you is to wipe the slate clean. Perhaps with your family’s debt out of the way, you’ll find a man who’s willing to overlook your constant nagging.”

She stood up, her nostrils flaring in anger. “I have tried to be decent with you. If it weren’t for your money, you would have absolutely nothing to offer a woman.”

His face grew red. “I have been as nice as to you as I can possibly be, but you are impossible to deal with. It’s not my fault that you refuse to listen to reason. You know what the contracts say. Your father signed them with his eyes wide open. If there’s anyone you should be mad at, it’s him. I didn’t condemn your brothers and sisters to a lifetime of poverty.”

“My father is an honorable man who would give his life for his family.”

“Really? Then why can’t he give up the farm so his family can have a better life?”

“This bank does not care for its customers. The bottom line is the dollar. The only reason people come here is because there is no alternative.”

“You are dismissed.”

“Not until this matter is resolved.”

“It is resolved.”

“Not to my satisfaction!” she yelled.

He noted the looks from the customers as they turned to his office. “That’s it. I’m calling security.” He had enough. He angrily walked out of the room and called the guard to take her away.

As the guard dragged her out of his office, kicking and screaming, she vowed, “I will come back every day until you resolve this matter.”

He groaned. She meant it too. He used to enjoy working here, but with her constant irrational demands, it wasn’t easy to come to work. He glanced at George. “You’re handling her tomorrow!” he barked before he slammed his office door.