Dishonoring Jack

Chapter Twelve

Jack sighed, wondering how many other battles she would have to fight today. "Good morning, Margaret."

"Is it? Is it good?" she asked, taking a menacing step forward.

Jack had nearly forgotten about the irate girl, embittered by Jack's rejection of her brother, and if it weren't for the fact that it was Sunday and she was supporting her paralyzed niece, Jack might have struck the girl a blow she would not forget.

"It's Sunday and we just attended church, so I'd say it's quite a good day."

Margaret snorted, throwing her hands in the air. Loud enough for half the town to hear, she said, "How can you act so high and mighty after what you've done to desecrate my brother's name?"
"What have I done now?" Jack asked, irony in her voice. It had been ten years since she and Roy had courted, yet it still hung like an ominous black cloud over the present.

"Running around with a no-good Indian's what you've done!"

Jack seethed, her empty hand balling into a fist. What gave anyone the right, especially a woman like Margaret Hunt, to judge her or Donovan?
"Well, at least I wasn't with a no-good Hun-"

"Aunt Jack, there you are!" Corrie suddenly cried, returning to Jack and Christina and interrupting the standoff in front of the church. "I'm afraid we must get going so I have time to prepare lunch. Miss Hunt, have a great day."

Corrie pressed her hand into the small of Jack's back and pushed her away from Margaret who still glared after Jack with unparalleled fury.

"What is wrong with her?" Jack grumbled as Corrie ushered Jack and Christina back to the doctor's home.

"What's wrong with you, causing such a scene!" Corrie reprimanding, sounding far beyond her twenty-some years. "In church of all places, Jack."

"She started it!"

"You're not a child," Corrie returned, her voice gentle in contradiction to Jack's feisty tone. "Come on, let's go home."

Jack followed her although anger burned in her chest at Matilda and Margaret and anyone else who chose to discriminate in their ignorance. As she fumed, she scarcely heard the friendly conversation amongst her friends--how could they tolerate such open animosity?

At the door of the doctor's house, they paused and Titus offered his regrets. "I'm sorry, I promised my sister I would visit her this afternoon, so I can't stay for lunch."

"Goodbye, Titus!" Corrie said and they left Hannah out of doors to bid goodbye to her beau.

Dr. Benjamin carried Christina up the stairs and set her at the dining room table, already set with plates, cups, and silverware for the Sunday meal tradition.

"So Aunt Jack, tell us about Donovan," Corrie said as she bustled in and out of the small kitchen, fetching bread and meat for sandwiches. "He seems an interesting fellow."

Jack felt rather than saw her friends' eyes turn sharply towards her and she recognized her chance to defend him. "He is. He's a friend of the Bookers, and a lawyer from Boston."

"And you rode into town together?" Corrie asked, pausing at the table to watch Jack with her pale green eyes.

"Well, I wanted to show him around, and we couldn't both ride my bicycle," Jack said, standing with her hands on her hips. "It wasn't improper, I assure you. He had not seen much of Irvington prior to yesterday."

"Jack, how do you know he can be trusted? Just because he's educated doesn't mean--"

Jack cut off Corrie before she could continue. "You're only saying this because he's an Indian!"