Emily: Army Mail Order Bride

by Mercy Levy

  “A new recipe. Be a dear and try it out for me,” Mrs. Maye smiled and wondered back to the kitchen.

  I looked down at the piece of cake. The cake looked absolutely delicious. I decided to take a bite of the cake. “Wonderful,” I whispered.

  “Ma makes a good cake,” Walton agreed walking up behind me. “May I join you?” I wanted to say yes but shook my head no. Walton ignored me. He walked around the table sat down across from me. “Are you full?”

  “Yes, thank you,” I said and took a second bite of my cake.

  “Ma is going to make us a picnic basket,” Walton told me.

  “I’m not going on a picnic.”

  Walton folded his arms over his chest. “Beth, if this Jones fella is in town, it’s not likely he’s going to show himself. Now, I spent a good few hours last night asking my friends and neighbors if they have seen a man matching the description you gave me yesterday. No one can remember seeing the man you’re looking for.”

  “He’s in this town,” I insisted.

  “How do you know?” Walton asked me in a calm tone.

  “Because this town was where he was born before being going east. He was caught and sold off a slave,” I explained. “The slaves back home told me this is the town Jones would most likely come back to. I have to believe them.”

  Walton sat silent for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was careful and calm. “Beth, killing isn’t the answer.”

  “You didn’t see your pa lying dead in a tobacco field,” I snapped at Walton. “What do you know? What does anybody know about the way I’m feeling inside of my heart? You sit here in front of preaching at me like you know everything and you don’t know squat.”

  “I know what it feels like to find your youngest brother hung to death by a band of outlaws,” Walton told me without letting the calmness in his voice slip away. “Two years ago I found my brother hanging from a tree four miles south of town. My brother was the Sheriff in this town.” Walton drew in a deep breath. “The Beaver gang assumed once they killed off my brother the bank in town would be easy pickings. They thought wrong.”

  “But your mother…she’s so…loving? How is it that she’s not bitter?” I demanded.

  “Jesus,” Walton answered me. “Beth, it was a hard matter for me when I found my brother hanging from a tree. By the time I found my brother, the Beaver gang was already dead. I shot down the two Beaver brothers myself. The rest of the men in town shot down the last three men who rode with the Beaver brothers.” Walton placed his hands together. “I thought killing the men who hanged my brother would bring me peace, but it didn’t. Only Jesus brought me the peace I needed. My folks still hurt an awful lot, but they depend on the peace of Jesus the same as I do.”

  “At least you got to kill the men who hung your brother,” I told Walton and stood up. “You can follow me around all you want but stay out of my way.” I stormed out of the dining room and raced through the lobby and burst outside into a hot, dry, morning. The sound of drums filled with hate and rage blasted inside of my head. I was furious and determined to kill a deadly snake. I looked to my left and then to my right. All I saw was decent men slowly drifting into town on tired horses, preparing for another hot day of work.

  Walton stepped outside the front door onto the front porch of the hotel and walked up next to me. “Okay,” he said, “if you’re set on killing a man, I guess we better start looking for him.”

  I turned my head to the left and looked at Walton with shocked eyes. “You’re going to help me?” I asked in disbelief.

  “Yep,” Walton said and nodded his head. “I figure you ain’t handled a gun in your life and the fella you’re looking for has. I better tag along just in case there’s any gunplay. But,” Walton warned me, “once we find the man you’re searching for we’re bringing him back into town and let the law handle him. Deal?”

  I stared into Walton’s eyes and once again felt fear enter my heart. I wanted so desperately for Walton to hold me in his arms and take all my pain away. Instead, I lied to him and said: “Deal.”

  Walton nodded his head again and pointed north. “At this time of year, if I were wanting to hide out, I’d head to the high country. I guess that’s the first place we should look.”

  “Okay,” I said suddenly becoming very nervous. I was finally going to begin my search for Jones. “You know this land. I’ll…trust you.”

  Walton looked deep into my eyes. He saw my fear, my pain, my hurt, my desperation and my anger all wrapped up into one tight knot. “Beth, if you would allow me, I can go search the high country alone and—”

  “I’m coming with you,” I insisted. I softened my voice. “I have to do this. Please.”

  “Okay,” Walton told me and gently removed some hair away from my eyes with a kind hand. “But make me a promise?”

  “What?” I asked unable to look away from Walton’s eyes. I saw home in the man’s eyes—a home I desperately needed and wanted.

  “Let me take the man in alive if we find him, okay. Let the law handle him and trust in God that justice will be carried out.”

  “I…” I wanted to agree, but instead, I lied again. “Okay.”

  Walton nodded his head and then pointed up the street toward the livery stable. “Let’s go get us some horses,” he said and walked off the porch. I drew in a scared breath and followed him. Overhead the sun was beginning to grow hotter and hotter.

  Chapter 3

  Peaceful Breath

  The horse I was riding on wasn’t anything more than a poor old field horse housed in the livery stable out of mercy. But because I had never ridden a horse before Walton made sure I was given a horse that was barely had enough strength to walk let alone throw into me the wind or turn wild on me. Walton’s horse, on the other hand, was a powerful, young, Pinto that looked like it could travel across the land in one valiant jump. Walton seemed right at home on the horse, too. He sat tall and strong in his saddle, handsome and brave. I felt safe with him, even though we were climbing up tough land into a land that was strange and unknown to me; but somehow, the land seemed to call out my name as if I belonged. “You okay back there?” Walton asked.

  “I’m fine,” I assured Walton and raised my eyes up into a clear, bright, blue sky. “It’s very hot this morning.”

  “And very cold in the winter,” Walton explained. He stopped his horse and let me ride beside him. “See that large boulder up there?”

  I saw Walton point at a large boulder sitting a few yards off the trail. “Yes.”

  “That’s Green Tree Boulder,” Walton explained. “No one is really sure why that boulder was named Green Tree or who even named it for that matter. All folks know is that once you pass that boulder you’re on your own up here.” Walton removed his hat and wiped his forehead. “We’re three hours from town, Beth. Ain’t nobody around for miles, and the farther north we go, the more isolated we’re going to become. Lots of bad people hide out in the high country too. And even though we’re friendly with Paiutes, there still some Paiutes who are mighty upset with the white man.” Walton put back on his hat and patted the rifle resting on the side of his saddle. “If the man you’re looking for is around, this would be the place. No slave hunter would dare come up here.”

  I studied the large boulder. Fear gripped my heart all over again. I felt a darkness—a coldness—standing behind the boulder like ugly, poisonous, mouth daring anyone to enter. The land itself was absolutely beautiful. Majestic trees standing tall and firm lined the land, standing over boulders and streams belonging to a land that man would never be able to tame. But even though man would never able to tame the beautiful land, he sure polluted it with his poisonous hate. The land past the large boulder was no different than the land my horse was standing on, but mankind had drawn an ugly line in the sand forcing the land past the boulder to become tainted with danger and death. “I’m not backing down,” I told Walton.

  Walton sighed. “Beth, my ma thinks I took you riding. She doesn�
��t know I brought you up here.” Walton looked at me with desperate eyes. “I brought you up here because I wanted you to see for yourself how deadly your search is. The man you’re looking for, if he’s up in the high country, has the advantage. No one is going to bring him out alive and you better believe he’s on guard day and night, not just against us but from other outlaws who might be hiding up there.” I began to speak but Walton held up his hand. “Beth, I found my brother hanging from a tree up in the high country. I know the type of men who hide up there. Men who are deadly but scared of the law so they hide like cowards…like snakes in a pit who will strike at anyone who comes too close.”

  “Are you saying this is as far as you’re taking me?” I asked Walton.

  “No,” Walton told me in a caring voice, “I’m just saying that death is beyond that rock.”

  “Death was in a tobacco field, too,” I told Walton. “I buried my pa and promised him that I would track down and kill Jones. Please, help me.” I looked into Walton’s eyes and pleaded with him. “I know you’re a good man.”

  Walton let his eyes walk into mine and then search my heart. “Can I make a confession before we go any further?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yesterday, when I saw you standing in front of the hotel, I knew I had fallen in love,” Walton told me in a scared voice. “I ain’t felt this way about a woman before…but it feels right. You may think I’m crazy for saying this, but Beth…you feel like home to me. That’s what my pa once told me when I asked him how he knew he loved my ma…he said she felt like home to him.” Walton nervously looked down at his hands. “I ain’t nothing special.”

  “That’s not so,” I heard myself object. And then I felt my heart begin racing in my chest. Why? Why was I so nervous? I knew why. “You’re a good man Walton Maye. You’re risking your life to help me…you come from good people, too. Your mother has shown me…a very special kindness that I will never forget. So don’t you go putting yourself down. Do you hear me?”

  Walton glanced up into my eyes. “Could a woman like you ever love a man like me?” he asked in a scared voice.

  “I’m only a slave. I’m not as special as you make me out to be.”

  “In my eyes you’re…home,” Walton told me and then he smiled. “Sometimes I think about living this land and moving to a big city, but then…at night, when I’m standing alone and look up at the stars, I know this is where I belong. Someday I’ll take over Pa’s store and start running the hotel for Ma, and that’s okay because I’m home on this land. Could you…ever be home on this land, Beth?”

  Even though I had only met Walton the day before I knew the man was meant to become my husband. How? Because I felt my heart tell me so. I also felt my heart break and tears begin streaming from my scared eyes. I started to cry. Walton jumped off his saddle, ran over to me, and pulled me down into his arms and held me tight. “Don’t cry,” he begged.

  I wrapped my arms around Walton as tight as I could and threw my head into his chest. “My pa was murdered…I have to kill Jones…I made a promise. But I’m so scared…so scared,” I cried.

  “Good,” a deadly voice laughed.

  Before I could react, Walton grabbed me and ran me behind a boulder sitting south of our horses just as bullets started flying at us. “Stay down,” he whispered and grew out his gun.

  “That voice…it’s Jones,” I said breathing hard. Bullets struck the boulder as I talked. Walton bent down on one knee and waited for the bullets to stop. When the bullets stopped, he eased his head out just enough to see.

  “He has the high ground,” Walton told me in a calm voice. Walton pulled his head in and turned to me. I moved up onto my knees and looked into his face. And before I knew what was happening, I felt myself lean forward and kiss Walton on his lips. Walton gently touched the side of my face with a loving hand and kissed me back. “Stay here,” he whispered.

  “Beth, girl, you are one stupid person,” Jones laughed at me. “You came all this way just to die. Reckon I’m going to kill you like I killed your Pa.”

  Anger erupted into my heart. “Why did you kill my Pa?” I screamed. Tears burst out of my eyes. “What did my pa ever do to you?”

  Jones growled. “Your pa was making me look stupid in front of Fredrick. Fredrick believed every word your pa said to him.” Jones fired at the boulder again. “Your pa caused me to take ten stripes because he caught me stealing some tobacco leaves.”

  “My pa was an honest man!” I yelled at Jones and wiped at my tears with furious hands. “Fredrick trusted my pa!”

  “Your pa was a coward who kissed the ground Fredrick walked on!” Jones yelled back. “Yes, sir, Mr. Fredrick…no, sir Mr. Fredrick…he was a yellowbelly coward!”

  “My pa respected Fredrick,” I hollered. “Fredrick is a hard man, I ain’t going to deny that, but he’s not a cruel man. He treated my pa fairly.”

  Bullets hit the boulder I was hiding behind again. “Girl, you’re blind and stupid if you believe your word,” Jones growled at me. “Don’t make no difference now. You and the white man you’re with are both gonna die!”

  I looked to my left expected to see Walton next to me. Walton was gone. Panic coursed through my soul. Had Walton deserted me like a coward? Had the man I had fallen in love with turned yellow and fled? “No,” I cried. “Please, no.”

  “Girl, you better make it easy on yourself and come out right now,” Jones yelled at me. “It’s too hot to be playing these games. If you come out I’ll kill you real fast, but the more you make me wait, the angrier I’m gonna get!”

  “You’re a filthy rat!” I hollered at Jones feeling my heart break. Walton had deserted me. He had turned yellow and deserted me. That pain stung my heart like a wild hornet. “If you want to kill me then come and get me!”

  “Girl, don’t make me madder than I already am!” Jones hissed at me and fired a few more bullets at the boulder I was hiding behind. I crouched down and threw my hands over my head and…began to pray. “Lord, forgive me…I deserted you and let my hate control me…and now…Lord, Your Will be done on a disobedient servant who refused to hear Your voice when You were speaking to her. I’m getting the punishment I deserve…I’m so sorry I deserted you Lord…and let my hate control me…Father…you are the love of my life and I walked away from you…I’m so sorry…Jesus, forgive me…”

  “Girl, you better come out and—” Jones began to holler. A single gunshot ended his voice.

  “Beth!” Walton yelled.

  “Walton!” I cried and ran out from behind the boulder. I spotted Walton standing behind the boulder Jones had lunged his body behind. Walton waved his hand at me. “Walton!” I cried and wiped at my tears.

  “He’s dead,” Walton called down to me.

  I felt my legs begin to move. I ran to Walton and threw my arms around him. “I thought you deserted me,” I cried.

  Walton pulled me into his arms. “Never,” he promised. “I just went off to kill your snake.”

  I looked down at Jones’s crumpled up body. The ugly snake was dead, with an old rifle clutched in his lethal hands. As I stared down at the man who killed my pa, I knew that, alone, I would have never been able to kill him, and that the man would have never allowed himself to be taken in alive. Walton had been placed in my path in mercy—as the man assigned to kill Jones and become my husband. I looked away from the body and into Walton’s face. “You killed my snake. My pa can rest easy now,” I whispered and placed my head against Walton’s chest. “I’m not angry anymore.”

  “I know,” Walton whispered back and gently rested his hands and on my back. “Beth, let me take you home to Virginia, back to your mother,” he said with a broken heart.

  I shook my head no. “You’re my home,” I promised Walton. “Take me back to town.”

  Walton carefully took his hand and raised my face to his and softly kissed me. “Home, then,” he smiled and took my hand and walked me back to my horse.

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br />   Fredrick was waiting at the hotel with my mother. When I walked through the front door of the lobby and saw the man standing next to my mother I nearly fainted. My first reaction was to run but how could I desert my mother and Walton? So I stood very still and very silent. “Is he dead?” Fredrick asked me in a stern tone. He was dressed in a heavy gray suit with his dark gray hair full of sweat. My mother was wearing a lovely blue dress that shocked me.

  Mrs. Maye stepped up beside my mother and wrapped her arm around her. “Coffee and cake are ready in the dining room, dear,” she told my mother and looked at me with loving eyes. “Is it over?” she asked me and pointed at her son. “I knew where my son was taking you. I knew you had to deal with the anger eating your heart alive, honey.”

  Fredrick looked at me. “Is he dead?”

  “Yes, sir, Jones is dead. He was hiding up in the high country. He tried to kill us but Walton shot him dead,” I explained in a nervous voice. “I know running off was wrong and I’ll come back to Virginia peacefully.”

  “No, you want,” Fredrick informed me. He reached into the right pocket of his jacket and pulled out a set of papers. “You and your mother are free,” he told me and handed the papers to my mother. “After my own pa died, Beth, I became prideful of all that my pa left me. I began wanting more money…more control…more power. I lost my soul, Beth. I realized that when I saw your pa lying dead in the tobacco field. Your pa was a good man who I respected. It took his death to make me realize that I was walking on the wrong path. I rededicated my heart to Jesus and begged Him to forgive me…and ask you to forgive me. I should have come out here and killed Jones, not you.”

  My mother reached down and took Fredrick’s hand into her own. “It’s all over now,” she said in a voice that brought peace to everyone. “Mrs. Maye has coffee and cake waiting for us.”