Abbie’s grimace at the thought of sharing a bedroom with Cabot suggests that she is not attracted to him at all and even finds him repulsive. This, coupled with the brief backstory she gives Even, suggests that Abbie has devised a plan to secure her own future wealth by inhering the farm, after suffering a hard life. It’s clear that there’s a strong attraction between Abbie and Eben—their desire for each other is immediate and palpable, even though Abbie is now Eben’s stepmother. Abbie easily leverages this attraction to trick Eben into agreeing that the farm is hers, showing that she has a powerful hold over him—and likely Cabot, too. Cabot, meanwhile, berates his sons because he thinks they don’t work hard, which hints at his belief that people need to suffer and endure difficult labor to be good people.