Bebe’s heart pounded the whole way down Main Street, over the railroad tracks, and into the newer part of town. It was unladylike to hitch up her skirts and run, but at the moment she didn’t care. Hubert hadn’t left her after all. He’d stayed, and he would be there for her in her hour of need. At last.

One final twist of doubt hit her as she turned the corner onto the street full of new and half-constructed houses where Vernon Strong lived. What if Solomon were mistaken? What if she were getting her hopes up for nothing. She’d lived on nothing but hopes for years, only to see them all dashed when Hubert stopped writing to her. But that had all been a misunderstanding. Now was the moment when everything fell into place.

“Hubert!”

She found him nailing the last bit of greenery above Vernon’s front door, and joy like nothing she’d ever known flooded her. She sprinted the last few yards up Vernon’s front walk and onto his porch.

“Bebe, what’s the—”

She didn’t give him a chance to finish, or even to put down his hammer. With a triumphant cry that bordered on a sob, she threw herself into his arms. Hubert dropped the hammer and caught her with a grunt that was half laughter, half mystification. The force of her leap toward him pushed both of them back against the door.

“What’s going on?” Hubert managed to ask as he steadied the both of them.

“Oh, Hubert,” Bebe gasped and sniffed through her tears, which were flowing at last. “You didn’t leave. You stayed here with me.”

“Well, I thought about it, and I decided you were right,” he answered with perfect seriousness.

That only made her happier. “You stayed, and I need you so, so much right now. I need you, Hubert. I tried to tell myself that I didn’t, but it’s not true. I need you the way the sun needs the sky.”

“I need you too, Bebe.” His hold around her waist tightened, and his voice grew deeper, more heated. “I was a fool to think I could get by without you. You’re everything to me, and I promise, I promise, I’ll never leave you again.”

“Oh, Hubert.”

Bebe burst into a sob, but Hubert silenced it with a long, deep kiss. It went straight to Bebe’s head, pushing everything else out of her mind. She kissed him back with all of the passion and heartache she’d stored up for seven long years. She threaded her fingers through his hair and pressed her body into his, wanting nothing more than to be absorbed into the warmth of him. She’d stood strong on her own for far too long, and now all she wanted was to be a part of him forever.

Hubert broke their kiss and took a heavy breath. He kissed her cheeks, her nose, and her lips again before glancing over her shoulder to the street. “Maybe we should take this inside,” he said, breathless.

Bebe nodded, stepping back enough for Hubert to open the door, take her hand, and lead her into the house. The rush of warmer air provided by the newfangled radiators that had been installed in all of the new homes in Haskell only emphasized the heat that pulsed even deeper within Bebe. And that heat flared to an inferno when, as soon as Hubert had shut the front door, he pulled her into his arms again.

“I love you, Bebe,” he said, then kissed her with a fiery passion. His hands slid along her sides, and she wished that her coat would miraculously fall off. Shameless as it was, she wished the rest of her clothes would disappear as well.

That thought only increased her ardor. “I love you too, Hubert,” she sighed, working the buttons of his coat loose and sliding her hands across the heat of his chest. “I could never love anyone else. And I would never, ever marry anyone else. Not now.”

“Good,” Hubert told her, unfastening her coat buttons at last. “Because you’re mine. You always were and always will be. And I’m yours.”

“I’m yours,” Bebe repeated, mostly because the words were the most delicious thing to ever cross her lips. Besides Hubert’s lips and tongue. And within seconds, that’s just where his lips and tongue were. She’d never understood what the fuss was about kissing until that point, but now she didn’t want to do anything else. She didn’t know what she was doing, but Hubert seemed more than willing to teach her everything.

The burst of heat that swirled around them once both of their coats were shed infused something new into their embrace. With just a few layers of cotton separating them from each other, Bebe could make out the contour of muscle in Hubert’s back and sides. She ran her hands over those muscles, then surprised herself by tugging his shirt out of his trousers. His suspenders were still in the way, but she was able to brush her fingertips across the bare skin of his stomach. The intimacy of that touch had her throbbing with need in places she’d tried to ignore while Hubert was gone.

She wasn’t the only one to feel the shift between them. Hubert groaned deep in his throat and circled his arms around her waist. He lifted her off her feet and stepped forward until her back was pressed against the door. His hips pressed against hers, and she felt the most delicious, firm bulge grind against her as he kissed her cheek and neck. His hips kept her pinned to the door as his hands reached for the front of her bodice, making quick work of the buttons.

Laughter bubbled up in her throat as he exposed the tops of her breasts and bent to kiss them, but the sound that rushed from her lungs was more of a wanton sigh. They’d fooled around like this before, seven years ago. He’d seen much more of her breasts than the rounded tops straining above the line of her corset. But now that they were older, and with the sea of experience that had separated them, his touch and his intent felt a thousand times more potent. Her heart thundered inside of her, craving more.

Confident that Hubert would continue to hold her up, she let go of him and fumbled to unhook her corset. She made clumsy work of it, but freed her breasts enough for Hubert to push her chemise down, exposing her hard nipples. She arched her chest toward him, and was rewarded when Hubert closed his hand around one breast and his mouth around the other nipple. The sensations his touch produced were so potent that she gasped in pleasure, the secret part of her between her hips throbbing with need.

“Hubert,” she sighed, raking her hands through his hair. “I need you. I need you.”

“And I need you,” he echoed her, kissing her breast.

She could have let him kiss and touch her for hours, but with a sudden jerk, he lifted her away from the door and into his arms. On instinct, she wrapped her legs around his waist and held on as he whirled away from the door and headed straight for the stairs. Her head spun as he took the stairs two at a time, turned left at the top, and pushed open a door halfway down the hall.

Bebe had mere seconds to register that they were in a bedroom, his bedroom, before he took her to the bed and laid her across the coverlet. Excitement prickled through her at the sensation of being on her back with Hubert above her. He kissed her, plundering deep and leaving her senseless. She kept her legs around his waist, wriggling her hips against the hard spear of him. The only things she knew about men and women being together came from Vivian and Melinda’s disgusted comments, the jokes she’d heard the whores tell, and everything Julia had whispered to her with pink cheeks and giggles, but none of it seemed to fit the glorious sensations throbbing through her in waves now. She wanted to be one with Hubert, to give herself to him in the most powerful way a woman could.

She reached under her back as Hubert rained kisses down her neck to her breasts again, and pulled at the ties of her skirt and petticoat. As soon as they were loose, she started to squirm in her effort to get them off.

“Are you all right?” Hubert asked, panting.

Bebe used the space he created between them to push her skirt and petticoats down over her hips. Within moments, Hubert caught on and pulled them down her thighs as she pushed his suspenders off his shoulders.

They ended up in a confused mass of limbs and clothing. Bebe was so busy pushing his shirt up his chest while he tried to slide her skirts off her legs that neither of them was able to accomplish their goal. That only made Bebe laugh, and Hubert slumped over her in defeat, laughing with her.

“Are we going to do this?” Hubert asked, humor battling with desire in his eyes as he balanced himself above Bebe.

“Yes,” she answered, running her hands over his half-exposed chest. “We are most certainly going to do this. I don’t care what anyone else says, whether it’s right or wrong, or anything else. If I don’t get you between my legs right now, I think I might die.”

Hubert dissolved into laughter, which wasn’t at all the reaction Bebe was expecting. “Where’d you learn to say that?”

She arched an eyebrow. “My best friend is happily married,” she said, stroking her way down his stomach to the waistband of his trousers. She undid the top button. “She’s described everything about relations in detail, including how good it feels.”

“Really?” Hubert’s laughter was replaced by heat.

Bebe nodded. “Julia was the one who suggested I try touching a certain part of myself. And, well some of the girls from Bonnie’s Place were a little more explicit about how and what would happen if I did.” She freed the second button of his trousers and felt the tickle of hair against her fingers.

“And what happened?” Hubert asked, his voice rough and low.

“The most amazing thing,” Bebe whispered.

“Is that so?”

She grinned up at him. “I feel like it could happen at any moment when you’re touching me.”

“That sounds like a challenge.”

She arched her eyebrow.

That was all she needed to do. Hubert rocked back, pulling his shirt off over his head and throwing it aside. Bebe sucked in a breath at the sight of him. Yes, seven years had matured Hubert’s physique. He was every inch a man now. He turned and stepped over to the bedroom door, shutting it all the way and turning the lock, which gave her a good view of the waist of his trousers sagging low over his backside.

She had just started to lick her lips over that sight when he turned back and shucked his trousers all together. An electric thrill shot through her when he straightened, revealing the full sight of his aroused body. He was definitely not a boy anymore. She kicked and wriggled to get her skirts off as he walked slowly toward her, and scrambled to undo all of the buttons of her bodice and hooks on her corset.

She wasn’t completely finished by the time Hubert reached the bed. Instead of climbing over her the way she hoped he would, he tugged at the drawstring of her drawers. Her heart raced so fast that it made her dizzy, and the parts of her that were so close to his fingers quivered in expectation. But before pulling down her drawers, he went to work on her boots instead, unlacing and yanking each one off. After that came her stockings. The sensation of rough wool slithering down her legs had her catching her breath and wishing for more. And at last, he took hold of the thin fabric of her drawers and pulled them down and off.

“I—”

He didn’t give her a chance to speak, or to form a coherent thought. Instead, he took hold of her knees and pushed them apart, exposing her most intimate places to his view. Her breathing came in short, shallow pants as he rubbed his hands up her thighs toward her center. Every night that she’d touched herself while imagining it was Hubert stroking her into an inferno seemed pale in comparison to reality. But rather than heading straight to the spot where she wanted his hands, he brushed them up over her hips, across her stomach under the fabric of her chemise, and to her breasts. That felt perfect as well, and when he squeezed and rolled her nipples between his fingers and thumbs, an exotic, carnal sound ripped from her lungs.

“I’ve dreamed of you being this sensual,” he whispered as he played with her breasts. His face was so close to the part of her that throbbed for him that she trembled. “I’ve always known you would be like this, wet, willing, and hungry.”

Bebe couldn’t form words to reply. She could only sigh and mewl with the pleasure his touch sparked in her. It was beautiful and heady, and something she knew would be for Hubert and Hubert alone as long as she lived. And she wanted to give him the very best of herself.

“Bebe,” he whispered, kissing one of her thighs so close to the center of her that she flinched. “My sweet Bebe.” He kissed her other thigh, even closer to her core, and it was all she could do not to writhe right off the bed. “I’ve dreamed of how you would taste for years.”

His tongue stroked across the wetness of her entrance, and it was as if he had drawn a line of passionate fire across her. She gasped, arching into him. His hands tightened around her breasts, thumbs teasing her nipples. He licked her again with a long, low moan, but this time, instead of withdrawing, he delved deeper. The spear of his tongue plundered her, reaching the nub that ached for him and flickering.

She let out a breath that was half sigh, half hysterical moan as her body reached for the peak that she knew she was so close to hitting. None of the sensations she’d managed to stir in herself had come anywhere close to what Hubert was causing in her now. His tongue continued to stroke and circle her as he gently pinched her nipples, until at last, she came undone. Her inner muscles throbbed with release as heat seared her.

Before she had finished coming, Hubert slid his body up hers, and without waiting, pushed into her. She gasped and cried out as he stretched her. And, in defiance of everything she’d expected, it didn’t hurt one single bit. Instead, it was absolute bliss. He filled her in a way that made her feel as expansive as the sky, and yet she wanted more. She circled her arms around him, digging her fingertips into the muscles of his back as he began to move.

“Yes,” she sighed as he thrust over and over, growing more abandoned with each second. “Oh, yes.”

It was his turn to reply with sound alone, and beautiful sounds at that. The pace he set was almost punishing, but wonderful at the same time. His sounds were primal, urgent. She felt the coil of pleasure wind and then release inside of her a second time, and she cried out with pure joy.

Moments later, Hubert let out a sudden, surprised breath as his whole body tensed, then released. A thrill shot through Bebe, knowing what that meant. He had taken the ultimate pleasure in her. She had been there for him to find the perfect release. They had shared something so intimate that it would tie their souls together forever. And she loved it.

“Wonderful,” she panted as the two of them flopped on the bed, utterly spent. “Completely wonderful.”

“I didn’t hurt you?” Hubert asked, groggily shifting so that they could burrow under the covers together.

“No,” she sighed, blissful and relieved. “I was ready in case it did hurt, but it didn’t.”

“There could be any number of reasons….” He started, but gave up with a laugh. Instead, he curled his body around hers, holding her close.

Bebe drifted off into a contented half-sleep. She wasn’t sure how long she and Hubert lay there, hot as blazes but too content to do anything about it, until Hubert asked, “Why did you come looking for me?”

It all came back to Bebe in a flash like lightning, and the thunder that followed left her just as shaken. “Price,” she said, twisting to face Hubert. “He’s a lying, horrible cheat. And he’s stolen all our money.”

Hubert’s body hardened. “I knew it.”

Some of Bebe’s tension eased. At least she wouldn’t have to try to convince him of what she’d discovered. “And it’s worse. I spoke to Solomon before coming here. He’s been trying to help us pay off the loan Price took out for ages, but Price has only ignored him. And now it’s too late.”

“For the mortgage loan?” Hubert asked.

Bebe nodded. “I saw Price’s bank statements. He’s put all of our money into his accounts in Denver. He’s got investments in other places, and is building a house in California.”

“I knew it.” Jaw set in a hard, furious line, Hubert sat, throwing back the bedcovers. “He’s not going to get away with this.” He rolled out of bed and reached for his clothes.

Bebe scrambled after him. “What can we do?”

“Beat his slimy ass into a pulp,” Hubert suggested. He scooped his clothes from the floor and put them on as though already engaged in battle with Price.

“I don’t usually advocate violence,” Bebe began, gathering up her own clothes, “but in this case, I’ll make an exception.”

Hubert stopped halfway through pulling up his trousers. “What are you talking about?” he asked, a twinkle in his eye. “You punched me in the face when I got back home a couple weeks ago.”

Bebe couldn’t help but grin at the memory. “You deserved it,” she said. “And I didn’t come at you with my full strength.”

Hubert had finished with his pants and rubbed his jaw with a smirk. “Coulda fooled me.”

She giggled. It wasn’t a reasonable reaction, considering the circumstances, but for once, she finally felt as though she were getting somewhere, accomplishing something. And Hubert was by her side.

“What do you mean that you knew it about Price?” she asked several minutes later, as she and Hubert reached the bottom of the hall stairs, where their coats still sat in a pile on the floor.

Hubert’s smile turned serious. “After I left the saloon last night,” he said. “I went over to my Pop’s house to talk things through with him. He agreed that I shouldn’t leave town right now.”

Bebe laughed as Hubert handed over her coat. “Remind me to thank him profusely.”

“He was right,” he added. “But he also got me to think things through. We put our heads together and tried to come up with reasons Price would want to marry you and why he would threaten me. The only explanation is that he’s been conning your family somehow.”

“Why didn’t we see it sooner?” Bebe asked with a sigh as she buttoned her coat.

“You were grieving your father’s death and trying to hold a ranch together,” Hubert said. “And I bet Price is a smooth-talker.”

“He is,” Bebe sighed.

Hubert scowled and reached for the door, opening it and escorting Bebe out into the cold winter afternoon. “What upsets me is that no one else in town picked up on it.”

“No one cares about us because no one likes us,” Bebe said.

Hubert didn’t disagree with her. Part of her heart sank at that, but too much of her knew the truth when she saw it to care.

“Pops made the connection between Price arriving and the loan being taken out,” Hubert said, as though that were a consolation.

At least someone had noticed.

They rushed through town arm in arm, but rather than heading to the livery, where Bebe had settled Glory while she accomplished her mission, she tugged Hubert toward the hotel.

“Vivian, Melinda, Reese, and Price were going to spend the day decorating the ballroom for the reception,” she said. “That’s why I was able to snoop through Price’s things at the house.”

“Snoop through his what?”

Bebe explained the letters she’d found and what they all said as they made their way up Main Street to the hotel. She explained that she’d found all of his letters, and the ones she’d sent, as well, but there was no time for the two of them to rejoice over that. By the time they marched through the lobby and down the hall toward the ballroom, Bebe had finished her story, and Hubert was fuming mad. It was a stroke of luck that her entire family and Price were still hanging decorations and strings of fancy, new, electric lights along with Julia when they arrived.

“Bebe! Where have you been?” Julia asked, peeling away from the table of flower arrangements she and Melinda were putting together.

“I know the truth,” she said, acknowledging Julia, but staring down Price.

“We both know the truth,” Hubert drawled, sounding far more threatening.

“Truth?” Vivian threw down the bunting she was untangling and marched to meet them. “What truth is this?”

Melinda glanced up from the flowers with a curious look. Even Reese, who was sulking in the corner, sucking on a peppermint stick instead of helping, perked up. Julia rushed to Bebe’s side, looking ready to do battle for her. Only Price didn’t look remotely surprised.

“You’re a thief and a confidence man,” Hubert fired at him, eyes blazing with anger.

Price snorted as though Hubert had made a joke and left the chairs he’d been arranging. “What proof do you have?” He sidled over to Hubert and Bebe, arms crossed.

“I found your letters,” Bebe said, eyes narrowed. “The ones you kept under your mattress.”

Price’s smug look vanished. For half a second, he looked startled, then alarmed. But within moments, far faster than Bebe would have expected, his expression evened out to bland acceptance. “So you found all that?” he asked as though he didn’t care.

“Yes,” Bebe practically shouted. “Every last incriminating bit.”

“What is going on here?” Vivian huffed in frustration. “Why are you being so horrid to Price? And what is he doing here?”

“He is the man I’m going to marry,” Bebe said, taking Hubert’s hand. “Not him.” She nodded to Price.

Julia let out a giddy yelp and clapped her hands, but Vivian sniffed in irritation. “We’ve been over this. You have to marry Price so that we can—”

“Save the ranch?” Bebe finished for her. She glared from Price to Vivian. “Would you still feel that way if I told you Price has been stealing money from our family for years?”

“Nonsense.” Vivian made a gesture to brush the idea away, but fear filled her eyes.

“He’s been skimming money off the top of cattle sales since he arrived,” Bebe pushed on.

“No!” Julia gasped, her eyes wide with excitement.

“He’s got an entire account at a bank in Denver where he’s been stashing the proceeds. I’ve seen the deposit slips,” Bebe went on. “And the loan he took out against the ranch?”

“The mortgage?” Vivian’s voice and confidence began to fail.

“Not a cent of it went to the ranch,” Bebe said. “He put the entire amount of the loan into his own account, and he never made a single payment on it.”

“But…but if no one was repaying the loan, wouldn’t the bank have said something?” Melinda asked, rising and coming to join their group.

“Solomon made a few payments,” Bebe said. “He’s bent over backward trying to save us, but Price didn’t show us any of the correspondence.”

“I always did like him,” Julia said.

“Why didn’t Solomon come to talk to us in person?” Vivian demanded, suddenly filled with rage.

“Would you have bothered to stop and give the man the time of day if he had approached you?” Bebe asked.

They all knew the answer. Every one of them knew how deep Vivian’s and Melinda’s prejudices ran when it came to their black brother-in-law being more successful than they were.

“This isn’t fair,” Vivian said, stomping her foot. She whirled on Price. “Give us back our money this instant.”

“No,” Price said, oddly calm.

“That’s our money,” Melinda shouted. “It’s ours. You stole it.”

“I didn’t steal anything,” Price said. Bebe opened her mouth to contradict him, but Price beat her to it. “Your father signed over complete authority to manage his finances to me. So did you when you inherited his estate. Everything I did was completely legal, and any court of law would agree.”

“But you took all of our money,” Vivian said, dripping with frustration.

“Yep,” Price said, beaming with pride. “Swiped it all out from under you, and none of you noticed or did a thing.”

Bebe saw red. She clenched her hands into fists. Price was walking a dangerous line indeed if he thought he could stand there and brag about his thieving ways. “We’ll sue anyhow,” she said. “We’ll get everything back.”

Price laughed. “Do you think I’m an idiot?”

“Yes,” Hubert and Julia answered.

Price ignored them. “I’m smarter than all of you,” he said, then turned to Hubert. “Even you. Go ahead and try to get the money back. I think you’ll find that every last thing I did was legal.”

“But it isn’t fair,” Melinda wailed.

“Who cares about fair? I’ve got my money,” Price said. “The only thing that could be considered illegal or worth prosecuting is the fact that you haven’t made any payments on your mortgage.”

“But that’s not our fault,” Vivian said. “You didn’t show us any of the paperwork.”

“And you never asked,” Price said. “That’s more like carelessness on your part than anything criminal on my part.”

Vivian growled, then burst into, “Get out! Get out of here right now. Take your things and leave town before I have Sheriff Knighton arrest you.”

“Like I said, the law won’t—”

“The law might not.” Hubert took a step forward, his fists at the ready. “But I will.”

Without hesitation, even though it was out of character, Hubert wheeled back and punched Price across the face with all his strength. There was a sharp crack, and a spray of blood spattered across Melinda’s skirt as Price went down. Melinda shrieked and Price roared in pain.

Bebe yelped in triumph, ignoring Vivian’s scandalized look. She wanted to kick the snake while he was down, but Hubert grabbed Price by the collar and hauled him to his feet before she could.

“These unfortunate ladies might not have a lot of friends, but I do,” Hubert said. “I have friends all up and down the west coast, and you’d better believe they’re all going to hear your name. Not one of them will do business with you, I can guarantee it. Your money won’t be good for anything but stuffing mattresses.”

Price struggled out of Hubert’s grasp, dripping blood everywhere. He backed up to where his coat was draped over a chair and picked it up to put it on. “Fine. I’ll leave. I’ll leave town and you’ll never hear from me again.”

“Good,” Julia snapped.

“You can try your best to ruin me, but I doubt you’ll have time, seeing as you’re ruined yourself. Good luck paying off your mortgage,” Price went on with a wicked smirk. “I believe you have—” He paused, tilting his head to the side. “—seven days to pay the full amount or risk foreclosure?”

Melinda gasped. Vivian went from red to pale in a heartbeat. Bebe wanted to scream.

“I still get all my Christmas presents, don’t I?” Reese called from the other end of the room.

“Well?” Price asked, starting for the door. “Does he?”

Before anyone could settle their rage enough to answer him, or even stop him, Price darted out into the hall.

“What are we going to do?” Melinda wailed.

“This is all your fault,” Vivian shouted, rounding on Hubert.

“My fault?” Hubert balked.

She surged toward him, hatred in her eyes. “If you hadn’t come back and turned Bebe’s head, Price would have married her and we’d’ve had the money from his family, and everything would be fine.”

“Vivian,” Bebe sighed, shaking her head. “Price wasn’t planning to stick around after the wedding. He was going to go through with it, but as soon as his family sent him the money, he would have left with everything. You know he would have.”

“And after I’m done, he’ll be lucky to get a job shining shoes anywhere outside of his own family,” Hubert added.

Vivian let out a sound of pure frustration. “It’s still your fault,” she yelped, tears coming to her eyes. “I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. It’s your fault that we’re going to lose everything.”

Hubert clenched his jaw, but didn’t say anything. He glanced to Bebe as if for instructions.

“Solomon said we could go live with him and Honoria if we have to,” Bebe told them.

Melinda let out a wordless shriek and clapped a hand to her heart as though she’d been insulted.

“I’d sooner go to work at the whorehouse than live with that—” She pressed her lips shut over what would, no doubt, have been a terrible word.

“You might have to go work at the whorehouse,” Bebe told her firmly. “Unless you’re willing to make concessions.”

“No,” Vivian said with a stomp of her foot, although Bebe wasn’t sure what she was referring to. “No, no, no, no. None of this is happening.”

“We’re going to be homeless,” Melinda wailed.

“I don’t want to be homeless,” Reese said, getting up from his corner and coming to join the group at last. In spite of being far too old for it, he burst into tears like a toddler.

“You’re not going to be homeless,” Hubert said, a strange, resigned sort of calm coming over him.

“They might,” Julia added in a low whisper.

“There’s nothing you can do about it,” Vivian shouted at Hubert, then groaned. “I’m never going to trust another man ever again. Never, ever.”

“What about me, Mama?” Reese asked.

“You’re not a man, sweet ‘ums. You’re Mama’s little prince,” Vivian said, then hugged her son and burst into tears.

Bebe watched the situation deteriorate, feeling completely helpless. She exchanged a look with Julia, who merely shrugged. It didn’t make her feel even slightly better to know that she would land on her feet as long as she had Hubert with her and Julia as her champion. She’d marry Hubert and do what she could for Vivian, Melinda, and Reese, but she didn’t have high hopes for things working out happily.

“I’m going to go after Price,” Hubert said at last.

Bebe glanced to him, eyebrows shooting up.

“What?” Julia asked what Bebe was thinking.

“He’s probably headed back to your ranch to pack his things and leave,” Hubert explained. “Someone needs to watch him to make sure he doesn’t take the silver.”

Melinda squealed and burst into a fit of tears that had her sinking to the floor in a pile of ugly skirts and misery. Bebe did the only thing she could think of that would help and crouched at her side. She tried to put an arm around Melinda’s shoulders, but her sister batted her away.

“You’d better go,” she whispered to Hubert. “We’ll sort everything else out later.”

Hubert nodded, then turned to leave.

“This is a catastrophe,” Vivian wailed, sinking into a chair at the nearest table. “And we’ve paid so much to rent and decorate the ballroom. We’re not going to be able to return any of this.”

“I’ll talk to Mr. Kopanari,” Bebe said. “He’s a nice man, and he’ll find a way for us to pay for the ballroom. And I’m sure he’d know of someone who’s getting married soon who might be willing to buy the decorations from us.”

“Oh, and I suppose you’ll ask if we can have jobs cleaning the hotel rooms while you’re at it,” Vivian squeezed out through her tears. “Maybe he’ll even give us a closet behind the pantry to live in.”

“The apartment in the saloon is available,” Julia offered.

Melinda burst out in another sob. Reese threw himself across his mother’s lap and wept. Bebe sighed and sat on the floor. Maybe working at the hotel wouldn’t be such a bad idea. But Vivian was right about one thing. The whole mess was a catastrophe.