My Guardian Knight

by Lynette Marie

  Well, she thought, no sense standing here staring after my ’husband’! I have shopping to do!

  Her mood considerably lighter, she stepped into the mercantile and headed straight for the material, fingering several colors she would like for Matthew, but they were all too expensive. She joined the boys at the hardware store. Sebastian looked up in surprise. “Did you find everything already?”

  “No, it’s all very expensive. I thought I’d wait until we reached Alton and see if the prices are any better there.”

  Sebastian laughed. “Don’t worry about how much money you spend, I can take care of it. Now march over there

  and get whatever your little heart desires.”

  With a smile brighter than he’d ever seen on her, she reached up to kiss his cheek and practically skipped back to the store. Sebastian glanced down at Matthew. “Your mother is beyond beautiful when she smiles, you know that?”

  It felt like Christmas to Amanda as she rummaged happily through the bolts of material. She chose solid colors for Matthew, making sure she bought enough so she could make Sebastian something, as well. For herself and Marissa, she chose pretty calicos. On a whim, she added a few yards of ribbon for the child she had yet to meet. When Sebastian joined her some time later, she was waiting on the porch, her packages at her feet, her face pink with excitement.

  Sebastian smiled at her, enjoying the happy look on her pretty face, and feeling proud that he had helped put it there. “I see you were able to make a few selections,” he chuckled. “We can buy the rest of the supplies we need in Alton.”

  Amanda was taken aback. “I bought enough cloth for everyone already.”

  “Well, you might find something you like better.” He winked at her. “I’m not a pauper, Amanda, so if there is anything you need, or even anything you want, then get it.

  You deserve to have a few things for yourself.”

  Blinking back tears, she held out her hand for him to help her into the carriage, and her tears were forgotten as they started their journey. For the first time in her life, she was excited about something. Sebastian was a good man and, if only for a year, she would have a family. She watched St. Louis disappear as the lovely prairies engulfed them. Matthew watched with wide eyes, too awed by the scene to utter a word. Amanda thought there were certain advantages to riding in a carriage versus a train. For one, there was no noise and awful smells. All she could hear was the clip-clop of the horses and birds singing their praise of the beautiful sunny day. Butterflies flitted randomly through the wildflowers that grew everywhere in profusion. She could smell the flowers, the earth, and the freshness of a clear morning after a cleansing rain. She sighed, thinking she had never seen a finer day.

  A warm breeze blew her hair softly about her face, and she was surprised when a majestic view of the Mississippi River suddenly came up before them. The large, muddy river was like nothing she had ever seen before, and she stared in shock and admiration. The waters swirled gently beneath the wind and giant hill-like mounds, which she would later find out were called bluffs, rose almost endlessly toward the sky, sporting a myriad of lovely blooming trees and wildflowers. She could see the small town across the river, and turned a worried frown to Sebastian.

  “However will we cross a river such as that?” she asked, her face pale.

  He smiled and patted her hand. “Don’t worry,

  sweetheart, there’s a ferry down yonder.”

  She relaxed visibly and the next hour passed quickly as she took in all the sights and sounds of the small river town of Alton, Illinois. Alton sat on a hill— or many hills, she could not tell for sure— but what she saw was very pretty. Sebastian halted the carriage downtown, and they stepped out onto lovely brick streets. As he ushered her to the mercantile for more supplies, Amanda couldn’t help but look at all the neat little buildings sitting in a row along either side of the street. Some were made of brick, some of stone, and others of clapboard, but they all held a kind of pleasant air about them.

  She smiled, liking the little town.

  The bell on the door of the mercantile tinkled merrily as they strode in. A pretty lady behind the counter smiled widely. “Well, Sebastian Knight, it’s been a month of Sundays since you last walked through those doors.”

  He took her hand in his. “How are you, Natalie?” he asked the older woman.

  “I’m very well, thank you,” she answered vaguely, eyeing Amanda and Matthew.

  “Natalie Amos, I’d like you to meet my wife Amanda

  and our son, Matthew.”

  The poor woman looked taken aback. “Why

  Sebastian, you aren’t married!”

  He grinned, slipping his arm around Amanda’s waist. “There are many things you never knew about me, Natalie,” he said evasively.

  She bustled around the counter and took Amanda’s hand in hers. “Where are my manners?! I’m so happy to meet you, Mrs. Knight! Welcome to our little town. And Matthew, I bet you would like to have a bit of rock candy, wouldn’t you?” Matthew hid shyly behind Sebastian’s leg as he smiled and held out his chubby little hand for the candy with a whispered thank you. “So how long will you be in town, Sebastian? I believe there are a few rooms to let at the hotel.”

  “We won’t be needing any rooms, Natalie. We’ve come to claim Marissa and then we’re heading home.”

  “I see. Are you going to farm your grandmother’s land again? You were very good at farming, if I remember correctly.”

  “I’m not sure just yet what I plan to do,” he hedged. “Amanda, why don’t you collect the things you need while I run to the post office.” He strode quickly away, obviously trying to get away from Natalie’s questions, with Matthew skipping along behind him.

  Amanda was looking at the spices when Natalie came

  up behind her. “It certainly is nice to meet you, Mrs. Knight.” Amanda smiled at the warm feeling that engulfed her

  with her new name. “You also, Mrs. Amos.”

  “You know, I’ve known Sebastian since he was a boy. His grandma was a very good friend of mine and he practically grew up in my mercantile. I’m glad he’s finally found someone. After the war he was very—different—and I’m happy to see the light has returned to his eyes. He’s in love with you.”

  Amanda glanced up sharply from the cinnamon she held in her hand. It was hard not to show how surprised she was at that statement. “He’s a good man. I’m lucky to have him.”

  “So how do you feel about taking in his little girl?” Amanda’s eyes shone with an excitement she could not hide. “I can’t wait to meet her! I’ve always wanted many children.”

  “Your boy seems to get along fine with Sebastian.” “They are very close. Matthew’s own father died shortly after he was born, so Sebastian is the only father he’s ever known,” she said, repeating the story they had decided to tell everyone.

  Moving to the bolts of cloth in an attempt to waylay further questions, Amanda’s eyes lit on pretty pink floral calico. “Oh my,” she whispered as she reached out to touch it, a vision of a sweet little dress flitting through her imagination.

  “I’ll take five yards of this, please.”

  An hour later she sat on the porch of the mercantile with Natalie sipping tea, watching her ‘husband’ and her son cross the street hand in hand, Matthew’s chatter faintly reaching their ears. “They look so much alike,” Natalie commented, and Amanda had to agree that they did, funny though it was.

  Sebastian took her hand, nodded to Natalie, and hauled her packages over his shoulder. As they pulled away from the mercantile, he turned to her. “Are you ready to go get Marissa?” She nodded. “Amanda, are you sure about this?”

  Amanda smiled at him. “I can’t find enough words to tell you how excited I am to meet your daughter, Sebastian. I love children.”

  They pulled up to a huge house that stood at the top of a hill overlooking the river. Amanda was enjoying the view until she felt Sebastian tense beside her. Her eyes moved in
the direction his had taken and she immediately saw some grayish buildings completely surrounded by a stone wall. The prison. She touched his arm, and could feel the tension slowly drain out of him. When he looked at her, he was once again in control of his feelings.

  He led her up the walk to the door and knocked. A tall, thin woman answered the door. “Well, if it isn’t Sebastian Knight. I told you before that I will not relinquish a little girl to live with an unmarried man and I have not changed my mind.”

  Amanda stepped out from behind him where she had been admiring a small flower garden. “Excuse me, ma’am, but my husband and I have come to take our daughter home with us, if you please.”

  Shock registered on her bony face. “I would have to see the marriage license to know if you are telling the truth.” Amanda calmly took the doctored marriage certificate from her reticule and placed it in the woman’s hands, then snatched it back. “Our daughter, please,” she stated firmly.

  The woman opened the door and let them into a foyer, where she told them to wait. The house was warm and clean and pictures of healthy children littered the wall. “She’s good with children,” he chuckled, “just very disapproving of me. Everyone knows now that Marissa is my daughter, but no one knows who her mother is, and they’ve gotten the wrong

  idea about me, I guess.”

  “I see,” she said, a twinkle in her eyes.

  They looked up at a sound by the staircase. The prettiest little girl Amanda had ever seen stood on the last step, her little mouth shaped in an O. She had long, curling black hair and her blue eyes were just like her father‘s. She was tiny for a four-year-old, Amanda thought, but it only added to her beauty. Sebastian knelt down and she flew into his arms, giggling happily. “I knew you’d come back! I knew you would!”

  Sebastian stood up with her in his arms. “I have someone for you to meet. This is my wife Amanda and she’ll be coming home with us.” He looked around. “Where’s Matthew?” He spotted the child hiding behind his mother’s skirts, and he scooped him up in his other arm. “And this is Matthew, your new brother.”

  The little girl’s eyes widened and the children smiled shyly at each other. Without a word, he took Marissa’s small bag of belongings from the sour woman and strode out the door, a child in each arm and his wife beside him.

  Sebastian settled the kids in the wagon, jumped up beside Amanda, and they started off with a jerk. On the drive home the adults were quietly contemplating their own thoughts while the children merely studied each other across the wagon. They were once again on the prairie, spotted here and there with small houses. There were fields of corn and wheat blowing gaily in the wind around them. Amanda took a deep breath of the fresh country air and felt some of her tension dissipate. Out here she could almost believe that Avery would never find them. She could close her eyes and pretend that they were a normal family heading home. A warm feeling spread through her and she looked at Sebastian, sitting so straight and proud, clucking now and again to the horses. He caught her look and smiled at her and her heart did a flip, catching her by surprise. She absolutely could not fall in love with this man, no matter what! That would be a mistake she could not afford to make.

  They rolled down a gentle slope and Sebastian

  pointed to a small cabin in the distance. “There it is, Amanda.

  It isn’t much, but it’s home.”

  Amanda thought she’d never seen such a cozy little log cabin. She asked him to stop the carriage and he did as she asked, a bewildered look on his face. She climbed down before he knew what she was about and turned to the kids, helping them down. Before he could blink, she took each of them by the hand and began to run across the field toward the house, all three of them laughing gleefully. All Amanda could think was that her three wishes had finally been granted, ironically at a time when she thought her life was over. It didn’t even matter that she could only have it for one year because it was so much more than she had ever thought she could have. Finally, to have a good man beside her, a pretty little house, and children to love. It was all she’d ever wanted. Sebastian was rooted to the spot as he watched her lovely hair—which had come loose as usual—flowing behind her as she ran. He could hear her laughter and see the gentle way she leaned down to speak to the children and start them laughing again. He noticed the way her faded blue dress swished provocatively around pretty ankles that he was able to glimpse slightly as her dress moved to and fro. He sighed, wondering how he would be able to keep his hands off her for the next year.

  Clucking softly to the horses, he reached the porch at the same time as they did, and was surprised to see her fall to the ground in exhaustion with the children. He jumped down and stood over the three of them, arms crossed over his chest, shaking his head in amusement. Amanda gazed up at him with eyes full of a happiness that had never been there before, and he had to turn quickly in the guise of tending the horses so she wouldn’t see the emotion she had caused in him.

  Amanda watched him take the horses to the barn and stood up, brushing grass off her skirt. She told the children to stay close to the house and walked inside to explore her new home. When she opened the door, a strong musty smell wafted over her. Crinkling her nose, she opened the windows and turned around to look. It was a pretty little room with a stone fireplace dominating one wall and a small cookstove stood in the corner. A table and chairs graced the center of the room and the windows were dressed in lovely curtains. There was a door on either side of the fireplace, and Amanda first went through the door to the left. The masculine air left no doubt in her mind that this was Sebastian’s room. It was sparsely furnished with a large bed sporting a beautiful quilt and a trunk and washstand. Leaving quickly, she went to the other door and knew that this had been Marissa’s room, and probably also grandma’s. There were two beds side to side, a small nightstand between them with only a lamp on it, and a pretty rug stretching across the floor at the foot of the beds.

  Very homey, she decided.

  It was getting late, and Amanda knew she didn’t have much time to finish what needed to be done before nightfall, so she pushed up her sleeves and went to work. First, she stripped the beds and hung the bedclothes on the line in the back of the house to air out. Then she went to the root cellar and brought a few things up for a quick supper. When Sebastian came in with the children in tow, supper was on the table and the sheets and quilts had been returned to the beds, smelling of summer sunshine.

  Sebastian smiled and sat down at the table. Amanda filled their bowls and joined him. “I’m sorry there isn’t much tonight, but I promise I’ll have more on the table from now on.”

  Sebastian eyed the bowls of soup and big chunks of cheese. “It looks good to me.”

  “I was surprised to find so much in the root cellar. I love to cook, and there are so many canned goods I didn’t even have enough time to go through them all!”

  “Grandma liked to can the food she grew during the summer. Her recipes are all here if you’d like to try them. This soup is great, Amanda. I didn’t know you could cook, too,” he teased.

  “Well, I only had time to throw this together quickly, but I’ll be able to do a better job of it from now on.”

  The children were so tired from their eventful day that they almost fell asleep in their soup bowls, so Amanda washed them and helped them change clothes before scooting them off to bed. She tucked Marissa in bed and then turned to Matthew, who was already asleep, his chubby cheek resting on his hand, his horse cuddled closely to him. Turning down the light, she left the room and found Sebastian sitting in a chair before the fireplace. “They’re both sleeping,” she said quietly, starting to clean some of the built up dust from the room.

  “Come sit down with me for a while,” he asked. She sat beside him, feeling a bit nervous and shy now that the children had gone to bed and they were alone. “I want to thank you for coming with me, Amanda. For the first time since Marissa was taken from me, I don’t have a knot of guilt eating at me. I k
now she’s safe in bed where she belongs and I can take care of her.”

  “I should be thanking you, Sebastian. You’re saving me from Avery and, even besides that, you’re giving me everything I’ve ever wanted. Now I have a little girl to care

  for, too, and a pretty little house.”

  He glanced around. “I’m glad you like the house. When I was growing up Grandma and I lived in a much smaller place. We both liked to have room, so I built her this house. It isn’t anything fancy, but at least we both had a room to ourselves. When I left she refused to use my room for anything. She said this was my house, and my room would always be waiting for me whenever I was ready to return home. It’s been a long time, but here I am.”

  “I think it’s a lovely house, Sebastian, and I thank you for sharing it with me.”

  He stared at her for a long time, and after a while she began to fidget. “Have I ever told you how pretty you are?” he asked softly.

  “Me?” she asked stupidly.

  His grin lit up the room. “You pull your hair up so tight in the morning and by evening it’s curling softly around your face. No Amanda, don’t fix it. I like it that way. It makes you look—sweet and feminine. I have this need to touch it, to see how soft it is,” he murmured.

  Amanda was lost in his eyes. She felt more than heard his words and she was mesmerized by the hushed tone of his voice. He reached out and almost reverently touched her hair, sliding his hand down the side of her head tenderly to rest at the nape of her neck. Unable to resist any longer, he pulled her toward him and touched his lips to hers, sucking in his breath at the surge of electricity that shot through him. She felt it too, for her eyes were wide with astonishment. He tried it again, welcoming the shock to his senses as their lips met softly. He deepened the kiss and it never even occurred to Amanda to try and stop him. No, it felt much too good. His other hand came up to caress her arm and he licked her bottom lip with the tip of his tongue.

  Amanda broke away with a gasp. She turned away from him, trying to bring her breathing under control and failing miserably. She looked up at him as he began stroking her back reassuringly. “Are you okay?” he murmured.