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“Ummm,” she stalled, trying not to bounce up and down in her chair in excitement thinking about all the tea that was aboutto be spilled. She loved juicy gossip, and this was the juiciest to be had in their Midwest college town. Everyone tiptoed around talking about the polyamorous proclivities of the MC outright, but they hinted at quite a lot. Most of it was so banana pants that it was beyond laughable. Especially the rumors floating around the church folk. The Irons had the Catholics, Baptists, and even the Episcopalians clutching all of their crosses with their ‘hedonistic ways.’
“C’mon,” Taffy urged with a smile. “Hit me with it.”
“Where should I start?" Elena mumbled to herself as she tried to remember the most recent rumors that had made the rounds. “Pastor Jenkins thinks ya’ll are running a cult out of your compound on the edge of town—a sex cult according to some sermons.”
“A sex cult?” Taffy’s eyes widened comically at hearing that bit of information. “I don’t—I mean—how can? You know what? Never mind. I don’t even want to know.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, wrinkling her nose. “You really don’t. The recordings I watched were disturbing.”
Elena had seen snippets of it online after she’d heard some customers at Medina’s talking about it. She’d almost instantly regretted the decision. She wasn’t sure if Pastor Jenkins normally got that worked up, but the man looked almost feral as he went on a rampage about polyamory being akin to bestiality, somehow trying to form a connection between the two. To say it was uncomfortable to watch would be an understatement. By the end of his sermon, he’d turned bright red and was spitting all over the place like a rabid animal. It was insane.
“Really?” Taffy asked, wrinkling her nose as if she smelled something bad.
“Really,” Elena assured her. “Pastor Jenkins got really…weird,” she finished, for lack of a better word. That was about as far as she wanted to go into what she’d seen and heard. There was no way in hell she was about to tell her new boss that the town pastor thought the Iron Seeds was filled with a bunch of goat fuckers. “Definitelynota fan.”
“He may not be a fan, but he’s certainly a hypocrite. That man has absolutely no problem asking us for donations every time the church needs something.” Taffy made a face, huffing under her breath. “I’m pretty sure the Iron Seeds practically rebuilt that place with all the checks we’ve written. It will serve him right if the next check has ‘donation from sex cult’ noted in the memo line.”
“Knowing Pastor Jenkins, he’ll still cash it,” Elena snorted out on a laugh. Picturing his reaction made her giggle even more. “I like you, Taffy.”
“Why thank you, darling. I like you too.” Taffy winked, propping her elbows up on the desk as she leaned forward. “That’s why I’m going to tell you the real story behind the Iron Seeds and our proclivity for relationships that aren’t necessarily traditional.”
“Unusual business as usual. Got it.” Elena made a mental note to use the word proclivity more often in the future. She got comfortable in the chair. “I’m ready.”
Chapter Three
“First, I have a quick question. How familiar are you with the history around here?” Taffy asked. “More specifically, the period of time right before the Civil War.”
“Ummm,” Elena hummed, caught off guard by the odd question. “Not super familiar other than what I learned back in high school. Why?”
“Because those moments in history are responsible for who and what the Iron Seeds are today,” Taffy explained as she tapped her long nails against the desktop. “You see, it all started with a pair of brothers that settled here back in the 1850’s. Jeb Iron and his wife Annalee were living here for only a few months before his younger brother, Jeremiah, came to live with them. According to Annalee’s journals, the brothers had never intended to share her. It just kind of…happened.”
“How does sharing your wife, ‘just kind of happen?’” Elena asked with an arched brow.
“Surprisingly easier than you’d think. If I hadn’t read copies of the journal myself, I wouldn’t have believed it either. I laughed when Vinnie told me the history until I read the proof with my own two eyes. Jeb and Annalee had no idea they were going to open their marriage to Jeremiah…it really didjust kind of happen.When they first settled here, it was just the two of them. Jeb was excited about the homestead he was building withhis wife, and all Annalee could write about was how happy they were with their decision to settle here. A few months later, things changed.” Taffy paused and sighed. “Jeb hadn’t realized how dangerous this area was until they’d already put down roots. Once he knew it was only a matter of time before they’d be attacked, he wrote a letter to Jeremiah asking for backup.”
“Ahem,” she interrupted, raising her hand like she was back in school. “Why would they be attacked?”
“Leading up to the Civil War, things were crazy around here. Neighbors were fighting neighbors, and it was ugly. Kansas was a free state, but Missouri wasn’t. By the time Jeremiah arrived, homesteads that were anti-slavery were being attacked by pro-slavery militias coming over from Missouri, and folks were dying. His presence made Jeb and Annalee feel more secure, but they weren’t nearly strong enough to hold up against a troop of men. With the ambushes coming closer and closer to the Iron Homestead, Jeb hired guards to stand watch at the homestead while and he and Jeremiah joined John Brown, the famous abolitionist. They refused to let the pro-slavery groups terrorize them any longer.”
Taffy gestured to a framed painting on the wall that Elena had noticed earlier. Despite its popularity in the shops around town, she knew little about it other than it featured the bearded dude from Taffy’s story. She now regretted all of the naps she’d taken during history class because what she was hearing sounded fascinating. She still hadn’t connected how the brothers ended up sharing Annalee but figured that would be coming soon.
“That period of time was referred to asBleeding Kansasbecause of all the bloodshed that took place,” Taffy relayed sadly. “A lot of innocent people were fighting against the South and the Irons were smack dab in the middle of it. Annalee wrote abouthow scary it was to wait for word that the men were safe. Then one day, Jeremiah came home. Alone. Barely strong enough to stay on his horse, he gave her the news that his brother had died fighting off an attack from a bushwhacker militia. Her husband was gone.”
“Oh shit,” she breathed with wide eyes.
“Jeremiah explained that as Jeb lay dying from a gut wound, his brother made him promise that Annalee and their infant daughter were cared for. He swore to care for them always, propped his brother up just enough for him to watch the setting sun one last time, and rode his ass home as fast as he could. Two months after breaking the news to his brother’s widow, he asked Annalee to marry him, and she said yes.”
“Wait a minute.” Elena frowned as her brain sorted through the information she’d just heard. “I thought you said theyshareda wife?”
“I was just getting to that part,” Taffy explained. “Unbeknownst to Jeremiah and Annalee, Jeb hadn’t died from the wounds he’d received fighting beside his brother. He’d survived—barely.”
“No. Way.”
“Yes, way,” Taffy assured her with a nod, her blonde curls bouncing. “Jeb had been found, bleeding and unconscious, but very much alive. By the time he was well enough to travel home to the homestead to his wife and daughter, four months had passed, and Annalee had already married his brother. Not only that. The two had fallen in loveandshe carried his baby. Jeb could see it wasn’t just a marriage of convenience. Jeremiah and Annalee were in love and had created a family of their own.”
“Yeahhhhh,” Elena drawled, thinking of the hot mess that situation had to have been. It sounded like the plot straight outof a telenovela. “There’s no take-backsies with something like that.”
“None at all. Annalee refused to choose between the two of them and neither man would walk away from her and their family…” Taffy trailed off with a shrug.
