The Cripple’s Bride

by Elliee Atkinson

  “Of course you can, Allan. Wake up your brother and sister. Get dressed as quickly as you can. We’ll all go over there. We’ll be right behind you, Rachel, if you want to go back now. If he’s been with you all this time, I know you have been taking good care of him. Thank you, Rachel. From the bottom of my heart.”

  “It was my pleasure,” Rachel said, thinking, Until now.

  She turned and went out the door, pushing it rather abruptly. Sam was on her heels, grabbing her arm to keep her from going to quickly over the icy ground. “Be careful, Rachel. Now you calm yourself. Don’t let that temper get away from you. There may be a good reason why he didn’t mention this woman. Why, she could be anyone.”

  “Well, you tell me who she is, Sam? Not a cousin or another sister. Rebecca would have said so.”

  “But if Daryl was married to her, surely Rebecca would know? They’ve only been here a little over a year. Even if Daryl had gotten married in the last year, he wouldn’t have children by now. And why wouldn’t he tell Rebecca? She seemed as surprised as you. Charles said ‘a woman’. He didn’t know her either. It just doesn’t make sense. And you can’t judge the situation until you have a chance to talk to Daryl first. Don’t jump to any conclusions.”

  “That’s not easy to do, Sam.”

  “I know you are feeling jealous for the first time in your life, Rachel. Try to stay calm and in control. Don’t let your temper get the best of you. You are a good woman and you’ve been doing a wonderful job taking care of an injured man. I have to say… if he had another woman, he would have mentioned it. To someone. If not you, then Adam or me. He never mentioned anyone.”

  “Maybe he thought I would make him leave if I knew he had another woman.”

  Again, Sam shook his head. They were at the horses now. He pulled himself up into the saddle and waited for her to mount her horse. “He didn’t come there under false pretenses. If he was married or had a woman, he would have told you. He didn’t come there to fall in love with you.”

  Rachel looked at him closely. “Do you think he is in love with me, Sam?”

  “I think he is, yes. It’s in the way he looks at you.”

  “I do like the way he looks at me,” Rachel said breathlessly. She tried to find a good reason why this woman would be looking for Daryl. She decided she would have to ask him herself. She would get to the bottom of it.

  “If she is with him, Rachel, what do you plan to do?” Sam asked, turning his horse away from the house. She looked at him.

  “I really don’t know,” she replied. “If there are children there, I won’t be able to do what I want to do.”

  “But it wouldn’t be her fault, would it?”

  “Allan said she wasn’t very nice. Maybe that’s why he didn’t mention her. She’s a witch and he doesn’t want to be with her anymore.”

  “And if he does?”

  Rachel just looked at him.

  “Will you fight for him? I know you love him. I’m just curious.”

  “If he has lied to me this whole time and he is with her somehow, I will have nothing more to do with him.”

  Even as she said the words, she knew she was lying.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  THE CHILDREN

  THE CHILDREN

  It took everything he had for Sam to convince Rachel to go to bed. She needed some sleep. She would be no good for Daryl if she couldn’t keep her eyes open. When they arrived at her house, Daryl was still asleep. The doctor and his son were sitting near his bed, dozing and checking on him alternately. They came out as soon as Sam and Rachel got there, tiptoeing and being as quiet as possible.

  “He needs rest. So do you. I think his fever is breaking. He looks much better. Your miracle salve does it every time, Rachel. I applied it to the wound after I took out the walnut.”

  “Where is the walnut?”

  The doctor looked at her. “I left it in the room. I didn’t know whether you would want to show it to him or not.”

  “I will ask if he wants to see it,” she replied. “But I have a feeling he’s never going to want to look at a walnut again.”

  Dr. Campbell nodded. “We are going home. If you need me, send Sam or come back and get me. You know what to do.”

  Rachel nodded. “I do. Thank you again.”

  Once they were gone, Rachel felt a wave of exhaustion pass over her. She slumped down into the chair.

  “Go to bed.”

  After much prompting, and promising to explain everything to the Samuels and make them comfortable till morning, Rachel went to her room and threw herself on her bed. She laid there motionless, thinking about the woman at the Inn. Was she pretty? Was she the love of Daryl’s life? Jealously lit through her like the flame of a roaring fire. She wanted to go to the Inn right now and find the woman. She wanted to know if Daryl was a liar or if the mystery woman was.

  She didn’t want it to be Daryl. She wanted him to be everything she thought he was. Someone she wanted to be around for the rest of her life.

  Her eyes eventually closed and she scooted herself up so that her head was on the pillow. She curled up and hugged herself, rejecting the pain of love and jealousy. She was a strong, independent woman. She was the boss of her own life. She didn’t need a man coming in to muck up things.

  But she wanted him to. Lord knew, she wanted him to.

  Rachel woke up to a sleeping house. She shot out of bed, remembering there were people in her house, that Daryl was in the other room, that she needed to check on him immediately.

  She pulled on her robe and pushed her feet into her slippers. She hurried out her door and was in his room the next second. He appeared to be sleeping soundly, his shoulders lifting and dropping as they were supposed to. She moved silently to his bedside and looked at his handsome face. It was not drawn in pain. She was relieved.

  I hope you aren’t with that woman, Daryl, she thought. I desperately want you to be a single man, as I thought you were, as you said you were. Oh, I hope you have not lied to me.

  She caught sight of Rebecca, sleeping in the armchair she had pulled up next to the bed. Just like she would have done for Sam. She wondered if Rebecca and Daryl had talked yet.

  She looked out the window at the bright, sunny sky. There was not a cloud to be seen. Today would be warm, and the land would start to dry up. She was happy about that. And she had a plan. It formed in her mind quickly. She backed out of the room and returned to her own to dress quickly.

  She had only glanced in the living room. Most of the Samuels family were laying in various positions around the room, all sound asleep. Sam was snoring on a chair by the kitchen table. She tiptoed around him, removing her jacket from the hook. She’d already pulled on her boots, which she’d left in her bedroom the night before.

  She was out the door as quietly as she could be and looked back over her shoulder as her feet crunched over the icy snow and splashed in the icy water left on the ground in intermittent spots. It was already warming up. She was glad. It was about time.

  She mounted Prince, leaning forward to whisper, “I know I’m running you more than usual, boy, but I’ll make it up to you. Lots of pasture time when it gets warm, I promise. Okay? Okay, boy?” She patted his neck and rode him out of the barn. She didn’t see Sam in the window, watching her leave.

  All the way to the Inn, Rachel thought about what she wanted to say. She rehearsed several different scenarios in which she ended up smacking the woman’s face. It was hard to envision what would happen because she had no idea what the woman even looked like. She suddenly realized that she hadn’t gotten a name from the Samuels.

  She rolled her eyes. Why hadn’t she gotten a name? Or had they said a name and she was in such shock, she didn’t hear it?

  She wasn’t worried. She knew the Innkeeper and he was a nice married man. He would help her. He knew she and Sam had been in Wickenburg most of their lives.

  The sun beat down on the wet earth as Prince splashed through the snowy puddles. W
hen the wind hit her cheeks, it was less like ice and more like a soft cool mist. She didn’t mind it a bit. It kept her cool. She told herself she would have to remove her jacket once she was at the Inn. It would be too hot for it today.

  As she approached the Inn, her heart began to pound. Jealousy rose up once again and she felt bitter anger toward the stranger. Guilt followed quickly afterward. If this woman was Daryl’s wife, it was he who was doing her wrong, not the other way around. How could Rachel blame her for wanting to find her husband?

  She took a few deep breaths before stopping Prince in front of the Inn. She looked up at the horse as she passed, tossing the reins over a post out front. “I’ll be right back,” she murmured.

  Rachel put her head in the door first. “Hello? Is anyone here?”

  “Miss O’Connell, hello there.”

  Rachel recognized Hettie, who also worked in the grocery on some days. “Hello, Hettie.”

  “What can I do for you, Miss? Surely you don’t need a room.”

  “No, no. I’m wondering about someone who has taken one of your rooms, actually. A woman who came from Louisville. She might have arrived yesterday or the day before? She has children with her.”

  “Oh yes!” Hettie confirmed, nodding. She walked around Rachel to the front desk, opening the large registry book that sat there. She ran her finger down the list, as if there were constant visitors to the Wickenburg Inn. She rested her finger on the very last name. Rachel tried to hide the look on her face from Hettie when the girl turned to her. “Yes, she’s in rooms 1 and 2. The only people we have here right now, actually.”

  “What’s her name? I’ve forgotten and I don’t want to look foolish when I say hello.”

  “Oh, are you an old friend? I didn’t know you’d even been to Louisville.”

  Rachel didn’t want to talk to Hettie anymore. She wanted to find the woman. “Her name?”

  “It’s…” Hettie looked at the book again. “Esther. Esther Parker.”

  “Esther Parker?” A chill ran over Rachel’s arms. She clenched her teeth together.

  “Yes, ma’am. And two kids. A boy and a girl.”

  “Is she in her room now?”

  “I believe so, yes.”

  “When did she check in? Yesterday?”

  Hettie deferred to the registry book again. “No, it looks like she’s been here a couple days now.”

  Rachel nodded. “Thanks for telling me what I needed to know, Hettie. I appreciate it.”

  “Oh anything to help a friend, Miss Rachel. I hope you enjoy seeing your friend again.”

  Hettie turned and walked to a door that lead to the kitchen. She turned back to smile once more before disappearing into the other room.

  Rachel turned to the stairs that led up to the first floor, where the rooms were. The hotel had three floors. Rachel went up the first flight and looked first to the right and then to the left. There were two rooms on one side and two on the other. A number was tacked outside each door. She went to the door that displayed the number one, pulled in a deep breath and knocked lightly.

  She waited a few minutes and then knocked again, a little louder.

  She still heard nothing on the other side of the door. Just as she raised her hand to bang hard on the door, the number two door opened and a boy with messy hair poked his head out. He gave her a bright smile, making her react with one of her own.

  “Hi!” He sounded excited. “Are you lookin’ for my ma?”

  Rachel nodded. “I am. Her name is Esther?”

  “Ya, that’s my ma. Come on in here and wait, if ya want. Ma will be right back. She went to the grocery for some bread. We gotta have food to eat, she says, even if it’s not much.”

  “She’s right about that.”

  Rachel went in the room and sat on the edge of the bed. She smiled at a little girl who was sitting in the corner on a cushioned chair, her knees propped up against the table. Rachel wanted to tell her that her skirt was hanging open and her brother and everyone else could see her breeches underneath, but the little girl didn’t look like she’d care much.

  “Hello there. How are you?”

  “I’m Johnny,” the boy said, perching himself on the side of the dresser, crossing his arms over his chest like he’d seen so many men do. “That’s my little sister, Bethany. She don’t talk much. I don’t think she’s got nothin’ to say.”

  “Is it just you two and your mother?”

  Johnny shook his head. “Nah. Ma left the babies back in Louisville. She said she didn’t know whether they was up to travelin’ so far. So she left ‘em with a friend of hers.”

  “Where’s… where’s your father?”

  “I don’t know. I ain’t seen him in a long time.”

  “How long?” Rachel prompted. “A week? A year?” She paused. “Two weeks?”

  “More like two weeks, I reckon.” Johnny nodded. “Yeah.”

  “So it’s you and your pa and your ma and Bethany and two babies?”

  “Yeah. It was bad for a long time, but then… well, when I stopped seein’ Pa, things got better. Ma said we was movin’ to Wickenburg and that we were just waiting for the money to be sent to us.”

  “Was your pa supposed to send you the money?” Rachel asked, stifling her temper as it rose inside her.

  Johnny shrugged. “Dunno. Don’t think so. Ma would have said so. She always said when he had money. She said he wouldn’t spend it right and that’s why we never had food to eat.”

  “Are you hungry now? Do you want something to eat? I’ll buy something for you.”

  Johnny’s eyes lit up. “You will?”

  Bethany dropped her legs to the ground and hopped over to Rachel like a bunny. “I’m hungry, too, Miss, can I have something?”

  Rachel’s temper dissolved when she looked into the precious big eyes of the little girl. “Of course you can, dear. Come, let’s get you something.”

  “Oh we can’t leave till Ma comes back.”

  “But I’m hungry now, Johnny!” Bethany had already taken Rachel’s hand and was ready to walk out the door. He stood in her way, shaking his head.

  “No. Ma said wait here. She’ll be scared if we’re not here when she comes back.”

  “You said she went to the grocery?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Then that’s where we’ll go. And I’ll buy you something more than bread. Something to go with it maybe. And we can stop at the ice cream parlor on the way back. How does that sound?”

  “Oh please, Johnny! Ma would be all right with it.”

  Johnny looked skeptical. After thinking it through, and his little sister’s big pleading eyes, he sighed. “Okay. But we have to find her before she comes back here. She will be so scared and so mad. She might whip us.”

  “She won’t do that.” Rachel squeezed his hand and leaned down to be more on his eye level. “I promise you that. I’ll talk to her, okay?”

  “Psst,” Bethany hissed and gestured for Rachel to lean over. When she did, the little girl whispered in her ear. “Ma doesn’t like charity.” Rachel stood back up, looking down at the little girl in wonder.

  “I understand,” she said.

  They left the hotel room and went down the stairs, both children holding Rachel’s hands.

  “You say she went to get bread?”

  “Yes. I don’t know if she had any money for anything else, but she might try to start a tab. She does that at a lot of places in Louisville. I guess she probably owes every grocer in town.”

  Rachel shook her head. How could Daryl treat his family this way?

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  DARYL IS AWAKE

  DARYL IS AWAKE

  Rachel walked through the lobby with the children in hand. They went through the doors and out onto the street, where she noticed that Johnny tightened his grip on her hand. She looked down to see if he was frightened to cross the street and pass the big horses, but the look on his face told her he was instinctively protecting
her. He was used to holding his little sister’s hand. That thought pulled at her heartstrings. She smiled. “Do you see your ma? The grocer’s is right there.”

  She pointed with the hand that was holding his. Both children looked in that direction.

  “She must still be inside,” Johnny said. “Let’s go over there. You’ll buy us an apple, won’t you? We can split it, that’s okay.”

  Rachel shook her head. “No, no. I’ll buy you one each. Or something else if you want it. But we’ll tell your ma that you helped me out somehow. That you… helped me across the street, maybe.”

  “But she’ll want to know why we left the room when she said not to,” Johnny said, staying in place, fear crossing his face.

  “Then we won’t tell her that. We’ll tell her that I was looking for her and you brought me to her. How’s that?”

  “That’s good,” Johnny nodded. “It’s the truth.”

  “Yes,” Rachel smiled. “That’s best, isn’t it?”

  “Ma says so.”

  Rachel was unwillingly beginning to like the woman. She wondered why Allan said she wasn’t nice. They proceeded across the street.

  As they got near the store, the door opened. A woman came out. Johnny’s breath caught and she knew it had to be their mother. The woman was looking down in a large bag she had strapped over her shoulder. She looked up and saw Rachel with her children.

  “Mrs. Parker?” Rachel said. Johnny looked up at her and then at his mother.

  Esther hurried to them, looking worried. “Y… yes? Who are you? Why do you have my children?”

  “She was lookin’ for you, Ma. We were just bringing her to ya.”

  “I told them I would buy them something to snack on if they would bring me to you,” Rachel said. She opened her small handbag and handed two coins to each of them. “Go buy yourself something while I talk to your ma. Okay? There you go, good children. Go on.” She scooted them off. To her surprise, Esther said nothing to her children as they skittered off to disappear into the store.