Chapter 17 – Stubborn

I was up early. Maudie said Benny would be by in the morning, but I didn't know what time that meant to Benny so I decided to work on my paperwork. About eight o'clock Lily Mae brought in a pot of coffee and a plate of sweet rolls, and I stopped to have 'breakfast.' When I was finished I went back to what I'd been doing and about an hour later there was a knock on the office door. "Come in," I yelled, and Benny entered. "Want some coffee?" I asked and he nodded 'yes.'

"Hungry?"

"No, thank you." He hesitated and then added, "Maudie told you I was coming up?"

"Yes, she did. Does that mean you decided to trust me?"

"I do trust you, Bart."

"It didn't seem that way yesterday."

"Yesterday had nothing to do with trust.

"Alright," I said. "Then tell me what it did have to do with."

"You'll probably think it's foolish for me to be upset about this."

"Quit stalling, Benny and tell me what the problem is that you have with your father."

"Pa is writing to Dani."

I stopped what I was doing and turned to the young man. "You mean Dani, your mother."

"Yes."

"And you don't think he should be writing to her?"

"She made his life hell, Bart. She made all of our lives hell. He's got a new life, a good life here. Why does he want to ruin it by getting involved with her again?"

"Have you read any of the letters?"

"No."

"Then how do you know what they're writing about?" Benny had made assumptions based on . . . what? A wild guess?

"Well . . . I guess I don't. But . . . "

It was time this young man heard some facts about parents. "Dani is the mother of his children. He loved her for a whole lot of years. As parents, they need to talk to each other about those children, even when the kids are grown. And they should be kind to each other. That doesn't mean that they're getting back together. Why don't you ask him about the reason they're writing instead of guessing what they're talking to each other about?"

Benny sat there for a few minutes, absorbing what I'd said and sipping coffee. "I guess I never thought of it like that. I just always figured that once they were divorced they wouldn't be in contact with each other. But you're right, she's still our mother, whether we like it or not. And especially with Joseph, she should know what's going on with him."

"There now, was that so hard?"

He shook his head and grinned foolishly. "No, once I stopped trying to be so stubborn about it."

"Ah, my dear nephew, that's somethin' you're gonna have to deal with your whole life. Being a Maverick means being stubborn. Ask any of us, we'll tell you."

He set his cup down and stood to leave. "I think I better go talk to pa and see what he has to say."

"Good idea."

"Thanks, Uncle Bart."

I deserved that, and for once I felt like an uncle.

XXXXXXXX

Later that afternoon I was takin' inventory in the foaling barn when Beau stopped by. "I wanted to say 'Thank you.' Benny and me had a real nice conversation, and now he knows what I've been writing to his mother about."

"So are you gonna make me pry it out of you?" I asked.

"It wasn't anything that Benny thought. Dani's setting up an account to pay for Joseph's college and we can't agree on the details. That's what all the back and forth has been about."

"And he thought . . . '

"That we were gonna get back together."

"Any chance of that?"

"Not in this lifetime." Beau paused. "But we still have a problem."

"The foreclosure."

"Right. He still won't take my help. He wants to deal with this on his own, but at least he's talkin' to me now. He' gonna stay with Pa for a while and work for you."

"What are you gonna do about the ranch?"

"Nothing, as long as nobody bids on it. If somebody else shows interest, I'll buy it back."

"So the smart thing for Benny to do would be let you pay off the mortgage and work the ranch himself."

"That's the conclusion I've come to."

I shook my head. "I thought he was smarter than that."

"He's still got a case of the Maverick s-t-u-b-b-o-r-n-s."

"Well, I guess I'm not such a wise uncle after all."

"Why's that?" Beau asked me, grinning.

"I sat right here and explained all that stubborn nonsense to him, and I thought he understood."

"Just because he graduated college doesn't make him smart."

"I wonder if Belle is gonna come back like that?"

"Pray that she doesn't."

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