Married by Midnight

by Christine Sterling

  “I don’t remember anything, except jumping off the train.”

  “So, you are a train jumper?”

  “I guess.”

  “Hobo, tramp, vagabond. What good comes out of being on a train?”

  “My head hurts. I think I’d like to be alone now.”

  “The doctor is on his way to look at you. I’ll leave you here since I don’t think you can go anywhere.” She pushed the jar closer to him. “Don’t drink all of it at once.” Ian watched as she picked up the cup from the nightstand and left the room, closing the door behind her.

  He listened to her footsteps disappear from the door. He wished she hadn’t interrogated him. He didn’t do well with questions being thrown at him. Ian wondered why that was.

  His throat was parched again. He leaned over and picked up the jar of water, and with shaky hands brought it to his lips. It took three gulps and the water was gone.

  He wiped his hand on the back of his sleeve and put the jar back on the table. His mouth wasn’t so dry now.

  He leaned back in the bed and was thinking about the Sarah in the brown dress, when he felt his stomach recoil and he retched all over the blue, pink and yellow quilt.

  After the doctor visited, Ian didn’t see much of Sarah. The old man, Dell, stayed with him. When he tried to inquire about her, Dell simply said she was in mourning and not to upset her.

  Mourning. Well that explained the ugly dress.

  He wondered if she lost her husband.

  So, he stayed in the room, resting his head and listening to Dell telling stories about Creede. He enjoyed the old man’s company, but Ian was ready to get up and be doing something. He was getting restless.

  “Doc should be by to see you this afternoon.”

  “I’ve been in this bed for a week. I want to get outside.”

  “You plan on going somewhere, son?” The man’s eyes were kind, but Ian knew that he was there just for Sarah’s protection. Dell wouldn’t hesitate to hurt him if he thought Ian was here to harm Sarah.

  Ian paused. He hadn’t thought about it. He just knew he wanted to get out of bed, but he didn’t know where he was going after that. “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know a lot.”

  “I still can’t remember anything. Just bits and pieces.”

  “Well that is a start.”

  They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Sarah popped her head in. Ian’s breath left him as he looked at her.

  “Doc is here. Okay to have him come in?”

  “Yes, yes,” Dell said, rising from the chair. “We were just talking about Ian getting outside.”

  Sarah had a puzzled look on her face but didn’t say anything. She quickly disappeared and soon the Doc came in to examine Ian.

  “You can leave us,” the doctor directed to Dell and Sarah. When they had left, he looked at Ian. “Are you feeling better?”

  “I am. I’m ready to get going.”

  “Well let’s see how your head is healing.” The doctor removed the bandage and pressed around the wound. Ian winced.

  “It appears to be healing, but you are still sensitive to the touch. That might take a few more weeks. I’m surprised the fall didn’t kill you instantly.” The doctor lit the lamp next to the bed and closed the curtains, casting the room into darkness. The doctor lifted Ian’s eyelids and waved the lamp in front of them. “You are definitely much better.”

  “I recommend that you don’t do anything sudden.”

  “Like what?”

  “Sarah told me you are a train jumper.”

  “That was the last thing I remember.”

  “Don’t jump onto or from any boxcars right now. Understood?”

  Ian nodded. “Doc?”

  The doctor turned and looked at him. “What’s on your mind?”

  “When will my memories return?”

  The doctor folded up his stethoscope and shoved it in his bag. “I don’t know. The mind is a funny thing. One day your memories may just be restored. Or they may come back a bit at a time.” He looked at Ian with concern. “Or you may not get them back.” He picked up his bag and opened the door to leave.

  Dell and Sarah walked in. “Is Mr. Poole alright?” Sarah asked.

  “He’s not fully recovered, but enough where he can get out of the bed and walk around. He just needs to take it easy. I’d say a few more days in bed with short breaks to get up and then he should be right as rain by Tuesday.”

  “He can stay as long as he needs to. Once he is recovered, there is plenty of room in the barn.”

  “The barn?” Ian croaked.

  “Yes,” Sarah responded calmly. “Everyone who stays, stays in the barn.”

  “What about this?” he waved his hand around the room.

  “This is my sister’s room, and I need to restore it to how it was before you arrived.”

  Ian turned and looked out the window. It was plain he wasn’t wanted. For some reason he felt crushed. She didn’t know him, so he understood why she wouldn’t feel comfortable with a stranger in the house. Thoughts raced through his mind of another time he was told to leave.

  Images of a large brick and wooden building with a front yard that was more mud than dry dirt came forward. Of a woman in her late forties with light colored hair. She was talking to him, but he couldn’t hear her. He could tell the urgency as she moved her arms while talking.

  “Ma,” he whispered under his breath. His own Ma kicked him out.

  Ian’s mother was replaced by another figure. A man in a darkened room. This man was younger than Ian. How he knew that, Ian couldn’t tell. He couldn’t see the man’s face; only his back.

  The man had dark hair and was tall. The shirt he was wearing hung in tatters against a back crossed with whip marks. The man slowly turned around to look at Ian. Ian saw the man reach for him. He closed his eyes as hard as he could and willed the image away.

  “Ian.” He couldn’t respond. “Ian!”

  Ian opened his eyes. He wasn’t anywhere near that brick building or near that man. He gulped several times. “Sarah?” She was standing over him with a concerned look on her face.

  “Where did you go?”

  Ian shook the memories off. “I remembered something.”

  “You did?” Sarah looked excited. “The doctor just left but let me run and get him.”

  “N - no,” he croaked. “Don’t bother him. It wasn’t anything.”

  “How can I help you?” Ian debated on bothering her since she was already put out by him staying in the house. “I can’t do anything if I don’t know what you need.”

  Ian swallowed. He looked at Sarah, her brown eyes softening. “Will you sit with me for a bit?”

  That wasn’t what Sarah expected to hear. She had been doing everything in her power to avoid spending time with the handsome stranger. Even Dell was getting restless having to stay at the main house so much.

  She couldn’t tell Dell that every time she was around Ian her palms perspired and any reasonable conversation went out the window. It was almost as if she had one personality – that of a shrew.

  When the doctor told her that Ian was suffering from amnesia related to hitting his head, Sarah didn’t know what to think. Her first thought was that it was some sort of scam, meant to loosen her defenses. Why he could rob her blind!

  Sarah scoffed. She didn’t have anything worth stealing. She was no closer to gaining the money to pay the taxes than Ian was to remembering his past.

  The doctor said that Ian would most likely remember random information but wouldn’t be able to recall specific events or places until his memory returned.

  Sarah looked at the man lying on the bed. Now that he had cleaned up, Sarah could really see how handsome he was. His soft green eyes followed her around the room as she approached the chair next to the bed.

  “I can sit for a bit. I’ll need to get supper started shortly.”

  “Where did Mr. Dell go?”

  “He headed to the
barn. Dusty and Jesse need to move the cows to a new grazing area.”

  “You have cows?”

  “Just a few milking ones. You would think I’d be better at milking than I am.”

  “I don’t know anything about cows.”

  “Maybe you do, and you don’t remember.”

  Ian scrunched up his face. “Nope. Nothing coming to me at all.”

  Sarah laughed. “If you had been thinking any harder, smoke would have started coming out of your ears.”

  “Have you always lived here?”

  Sarah paused. She wasn’t sure how much to tell him. She didn’t want to see pity in his eyes.

  “If it is too hard, you don’t need to talk about it. It would be hard to lose your husband and sister.”

  “Husband?” Sarah looked at him.

  “Dell said you were in mourning.”

  “I’m not married, Mr. Poole. My parents and sister were lost in a terrible accident along the road coming back from the theater.”

  “I am so sorry, Sarah.”

  “It had been raining and the ground was so wet. When they came around a steep part of the road, the road gave out and their wagon fell. It was an unfortunate accident.”

  Ian reached out and placed his hand on hers. “Again, I’m sorry Sarah. That is a tragedy.”

  “Now I just need to figure out how to tend the field and get the wheat to market.”

  “Perhaps I could help. After all, you opened your home to me so I could recover. Opening your home to a stranger must not have been easy.”

  “It wasn’t,” she answered honestly. “But it was the right thing to do. My mother was constantly feeding travelers a hot meal and they could sleep in the barn as long as they didn’t cause trouble.”

  “Didn’t you have any thieving?”

  Sarah shook her head. “Momma and Father said that it was our Christian duty to look after others. So, we asked God to protect the farm. In the fifteen or so years, nothing was ever stolen.”

  “May I ask how old you are?”

  “I just turned twenty-two.”

  Ian let out a whistle. “You are younger than I thought.” He gave her a smile.

  “How old are you?”

  “I know I’m twenty-eight and that my birthday is in March.”

  He was six years older than her. He must have a wife and possibly children waiting for him somewhere. The thought weighed heavy on her heart. She needed to remove herself from the situation as quickly as possible.

  “I need to get supper started.”

  “Why the hurry?”

  “The sun is starting to go down. The boys will be hungry. I’m making fried chicken. Do you like fried chicken?”

  “Can’t recall ever having it.”

  “Then you are in for a treat.”

  She quickly left the room, glancing back over her shoulder at Ian laying in the bed. Yes, she needed to keep her distance. If she didn’t, she’d have more problems than just unpaid taxes.

  Chapter 6

  “Here you go,” Sarah said walking into Ian’s room. Funny how she now thought of it as Ian’s room instead of Lacey’s. It had been twelve days since Dusty found Ian in the creek. Twelve days where Sarah wasn’t consumed with grief or self-pity.

  Instead of keeping away from Ian she found herself drawing closer to him. Dell returned to managing the farm. Mostly he was getting ready for the inevitable event that would occur.

  While Ian slept, Sarah spent her days going through boxes, drawers and closets to determine what needed to be thrown out or sold. When he was awake, she read to him from the Bible or one of the books from her father’s library.

  Sarah dreaded having to pack up the books. It was heartbreaking work going through her parents’ items, and she could only do it for a little bit at a time.

  She figured it was easier to do it now than if the farm had to be sold. Most of the clothes she had given to the church to be distributed to those who needed them. She would do the same with her mother’s belongs. But right now, small lots of time was all she could handle.

  She just finished sorting her father’s clothes and came across a pair of pants and a shirt that she thought would fit Ian.

  “I found these for you…” She lifted her eyes and her mouth formed a round O.

  Ian was standing by the window wearing just a pair of brown pants. She could see the muscles sculpting his back and tapering just above his belt.

  His arms were curved in all the right places, and Sarah thought they were the perfect arms for holding someone tight. Sarah envied the girl that would have those arms around her.

  There were bruises still marring his perfect skin. Sarah wanted to run her fingers over his back and soothe his pain. She quickly averted her eyes and chastised herself for having such thoughts.

  He’s just a man, she thought to herself. She had seen her father without a shirt, but Jacob Abrahams did not look like the man in front of her. She felt flush and quickly dropped the clothes on the bed before backing out of the room.

  Still looking at the floor, she backed into the door on her way out. She quickly spun and ran down the hall to the kitchen.

  “Sarah!” Ian called. “Wait.”

  He followed her down the hall pulling a shirt over his head.

  “Do you want someone to see us?”

  “There isn’t anything to see.”

  Sarah peeked through her fingers. He was wearing a shirt.

  “I need to empty the water.” Dell had set up a tub in the bedroom and Sarah had filled it with hot water.

  “Leave it to cool and then we can use it to water the garden.”

  “I finally feel alive again.”

  “You look much better.” The swelling on his face was gone, just leaving behind yellow and green bruises.

  “Dell said he is preparing a place for me in the bunk house.” Sarah nodded. He looked at her with soft brown eyes. Sarah could see gold flecks reflecting in his eyes. He took her hand. “Thank you for saving me, Sarah.”

  Sarah allowed the warmth to seep into her hand. “Dell took care of you. I didn’t do anything.”

  “I know you came in at night to check on me. You fed me so I’d get better. You called the doctor. Dell may have stitched me up and slept on the floor, but it was actually you that saved me.”

  “I think Dell is ready to move back into the bunk house.”

  Ian laughed. “He was complaining that his back was hurting.”

  Sarah pulled her hand from his. “I believe that. I’ll be happy too. I could hear his snoring all the way to my room.”

  “Would you like a cup of coffee?”

  Ian nodded and Sarah turned to go to the kitchen. Sarah filled two mugs with coffee and placed them on the table. She sat in one chair, while Ian sat in the other.

  He wrapped his hands around the mug and took a sip. “This coffee is good.”

  “Thank you. I prefer tea but I ran out.”

  “Tea?”

  “Yes. My mother would make a pot every afternoon. We would sit and talk and sip tea. It became a ritual with Momma, Lacey and me.”

  “My mother liked tea as well. I remember Pa would get her a small tin every Christmas.”

  Sarah’s eyes flew to his. “You remember that?”

  “Yeah. Memories have been coming back for a little bit. Nothing that I can really put together. Just bits and pieces.”

  “What else do you remember?”

  “I remember it being really cold where I lived, but we were near the water. I remember leaving there and going to work on a farm. I’d work a few weeks somewhere and then I’d move on. Catch a train to the next place.”

  That probably explained all the bank notes. If Ian didn’t want to carry large amounts of cash, it would make more sense to get bank notes.

  “Did you have any friends there?” Sarah watched as an indescribable expression washed over Ian’s face. His face contorted as if in pain. “Ian?” She placed her hand on his arm.

 
Ian shook his head. “I’m sorry. When I try to think about that I have this feeling of terror come over me. I don’t know why.”

  “Did something happen before you left your home?”

  “I don’t remember. I honestly don’t.” Ian drained his cup and put it back down on the table. “I’m tired. I think I’ll lie down.”

  “Do you want me to read to you this evening?”

  Ian shook his head. “No. I have to move into the barn tomorrow. It’s probably best if I just go to sleep. Good night, Sarah.”

  “Ian,” Sarah called after him. “I know you aren’t a farm hand. But you must understand that I can’t have you stay in the house. I don’t want word to get around that there is a man here. Word travels fast in this town. You get to leave, but I have to stay here.”

  She saw look of pain flash across his eyes.

  “You’re right, Sarah. I do get to leave.”

  Sarah watched him walk back down the hall and disappear inside the room. He shut the door behind him.

  His words rang hollow in her ears. He did get to leave. Why then, did the thought of him leaving cause her heart to break?

  Ian woke up early the next day. Today he was moving into the bunk house. He had come to enjoy the room, including the bright décor. He was even going to miss the multi-colored quilt made from dress scraps.

  He quickly changed into the clothes that Sarah had brought him the previous day and took the remainder of this belongs over to the bunk house. As he was dropping them on the bed, Dell came over with a box in his hands.

  “Wanted to give this back to you today,” he said, holding out the tin box.

  “What is it?”

  “We found it in your bag. Didn’t want it just laying about, so Sarah asked me to hide it until you were better.” He waved his hand around the room. “Since you are here, you must be better.”

  Ian took the box and opened it. Inside were a stack of bank notes and money that had been sorted by denomination. “Thank you,” he said looking at Dell.

  “It’s all there. Every single penny.”

  “I don’t think you would steal from me.”

  “Nope. The Abrahams were the most honest family I’ve ever met. Sarah has all the good parts from both her parents.”