by Stella Clark
“What did Mother say that upset you so much?” Tina asked.
“She told me the truth. That she doesn’t want me here and neither does Adam.”
“That’s not true, Nora, and you know it!” Tina said, aghast.
Nora faced her. “He has never once spoken to me about our future. He avoids me and never wants us to be alone together. All your mother did was to make me see things as they really are.”
“Oh, Nora, I’m sure that Adam had a good explanation. Why don’t you ask him?”
Nora shook her head. She had endured enough humiliation. She couldn’t bear to hear it from Adam’s mouth. “I can’t do that, Tina. I already have my answers. I want to go back home.” She had not made up her mind but now, speaking to Tina, it became clear.
She would not spend another night at the ranch. There was something that had been nagging at her ever since they went to the orphanage. It would be the final evidence that Adam had only sent for her to make a point to his parents.
“There’s something I want to ask you, Tina, and I beg you to be completely honest with me.”
Tina’s eyes widened and a shadow of fear came over them.
“Does Adam write poetry?”
Tina inhaled loudly. She fisted her hands and lowered her gaze. “He never told you, did he?”
“Told me what?” Nora said.
Tina raised her head. “It’s not Adam who wrote the letters to you. It was me.”
Nora had suspected it, but hearing her suspicions confirmed broke any hope she might have harbored about Adam. She nodded and stood up, her movements slow and labored. She pulled her things from under the bed and started packing her clothes.
“Surely, you’re not planning on leaving today?” Tina said. “You can’t just go, Nora. Give him a chance to explain. I know he loves you. I’ve never seen him as content as he has been since you came. Pay no mind to Mother.”
Nora shook her head. “I miss my family, Tina. I want to go home to people who love me. Nobody here has been truly welcoming since I arrived apart from you.”
Tina dropped her head. Even she could not deny the truth of Nora’s statement.
“It’s only because they haven’t taken the time to know you.”
“Maybe so, but I’m not going to wait around for them to know me. I thought Adam and I had something special between us. All along, he was just using me to show his parents that he can make his own decisions.”
Tina begged and cajoled but nothing she said could change Nora’s mind. When she was done, she implored Tina to ask one of the ranch hands to take her to the train station. If not, she threatened to walk and leave all her luggage behind. Tina did as she asked and soon, she was walking through the front door for the last time.
Tina, herself, and the ranch hand carried three of her trunks to the wagon. Tina clung to her, and they wept together before Nora extricated herself.
“Take care of yourself, Tina,” Nora said.
“Will you write?” she said, tears streaking down her face.
Nora nodded. Tina had been a wonderful friend and if it weren’t for her, she would have returned home a long time ago.
In the wagon, she saw Mrs. Larson peering out through the parlor window. The wagon lurched forward and with a final wave at Tina, Nora left the ranch. She should have been pleased the further they got away from the ranch; instead, it felt as if her heart was breaking into a million pieces.
She had left her heart behind and where it used to be was a gaping hole. Pain dulled her senses but not her brain. Would he miss her even a little? It would take her a long, long time to get over him or to forget his smile and laugh. Would she ever meet another man who aroused her passion as easily as Adam did?
Even the thought of seeing her parents in four days’ time did not excite her. All she felt was a terrible loneliness. The snow began to fall in earnest and soon she could barely see ahead.
The wagon wheels slid on the icy ground and at one point, it came to a stop. The driver jumped out and after heaving and pushing, he dislodged whatever it was that had stuck to the wheels, and they continued on their journey. All the while, Nora sat bundled up, images of Adam playing over and over in her mind until she thought she would go insane.
She alternated between sadness and red-hot anger at herself and at Adam. How painful to fall in love with a person who did not reciprocate her feelings. Why had he made her waste so much time by coming to Montana if he did not want a future with her?
Why had he lied to her and pretended to be someone he was not by getting his sister to write sweet words to her? What would she tell her parents who believed she was already married or about to be married? The shame!
Chapter 14
“How can you just stand there knowing Nora has gone?” Tina demanded, her hands on her hips.
“What do you want me to do, Tina?”
He had just come from an argument with his mother and he was still angry that she had once more meddled in his life and made Nora leave. He would have gone after her except that he couldn’t do that to her anymore. She deserved a better man than him.
A man who would be honest with her and treat her with the respect she deserved. Their union had begun with lies, and he didn’t think they could recover from everything that had happened. He could only imagine Nora’s anger and bitterness at knowing that another woman had already been picked for him.
He hadn’t protected her from his mother, but worse than that, he had not lived up to the many promises he had made to her in his letters. He had not courted her as he had promised and when he’d set the wedding date, it had been in defiance of his parents.
All along, he had wanted to show his parents that he was an adult, but he had done the opposite. He had behaved like an immature man.
“Go for her! Bring her back here, where she belongs,” Tina said.
He continued rubbing down his horse.
“What is wrong with you?” Tina shouted.
He whirled around to face her. “Don’t you see that she can never forgive me? I was horrible to her. I love her and yet I never showed her. Mother treated her unkindly, but I never rose to her defense. She can’t forgive that. And besides, I think she deserves someone better.”
“She deserves someone who loves her and that is you,” Tina said.
His breath bottled up in his chest as Tina’s words penetrated his brain. What if she was right and there was a way to convince Nora? Surely it was worth a try. She was so special to him and the thought that their relationship was over before it had properly begun …
He didn’t deserve her but if she agreed to come back home and marry him, he would make it up to her. Be the kind of man who deserved to marry her.
“Do you really think she’ll listen?” he asked Tina.
She nodded emphatically. “I know Nora well and she’s got a forgiving heart. Go to town and speak with her before she gets on that train.”
He only thought for a second longer and then he went into a frenzy of activity re-saddling his horse. A few minutes later, he was galloping out of the ranch in a mad dash. His only hope was that the train to the East had been delayed due to the snow.
If she had already gone, he didn’t know what he would do. He had never ridden into town that fast. It took him less than two hours despite the terrible conditions of the road. He went straight to the train station and was relieved to find a group of people waiting.
He tethered his horse and rushed in. He found Nora in the waiting room, huddled in a corner. She was so lost in thought she did not see him until he sat down next to her.
“Adam,” she said. “What are you doing here?”
Her eyes were red and swollen. His heart squeezed painfully. He was responsible for causing her so much hurt. He took her soft hand and held it between his.
“I came to apologize to you, Nora.”
Her lower lip trembled, and her eyes filled up with tears.
“Please, don’t cry. I’ve been a fool, and I’ve done so m
any wrong things.” Adam closed his eyes and when he opened them again, he was ready. “I’m going to tell you everything and if you decide to get on the train after that, I won’t fault you. I have no one to blame but myself.”
She sniffed and looked at him with fearful eyes.
“My parents have always wanted me to marry Joan Vinton. She’s a nice person, but we’re like siblings. There’s no attraction between us, and we both knew we would not marry each other. To show them that they could not choose a wife for me, I decided to advertise for a mail order bride. Only I was terrible at words and so I enlisted Tina’s help. When you replied, I couldn’t write to you myself as I was frightened that you would lose interest, so I got Tina to write the letters as well.”
“I suspected so, and I asked her. She told me today,” Nora said and did not sound as angry as he had expected. It gave him the courage to continue.
“When you came, Father accepted it and stopped pushing for Joan and I to marry, but Mother was another case.” He dropped his gaze. “I should have done more to protect you and for that I shall always be ashamed of myself.”
“So you only wanted to marry me to prove something to your parents?” Nora asked.
He nodded. “Yes, but then you came and you’re such a breath of fresh air that I couldn’t help but fall in love with you.”
Her head snapped up and she stared at him. “What did you say?”
“I love you, Nora Baxter. I was such an idiot for not seeing what was in front of me. Please tell me you have feelings for me. I’m willing to wait and to court you as I should have done when you came. ”
“Oh, Adam, how I’ve longed to hear you say those words.”
There was something else he needed to ask. “I know you don’t like it at the ranch. It’s different from what you’re used to.”
She held his gaze. “It’s true that when I first arrived it was a bit of a shock but it’s grown on me and I love it as much as you all do. Why, I can’t think of anywhere else I’d want to live.”
He could tell by her tone of voice that she meant every word.
“But what about your parents? Your mother? She hates me! I can’t live like that no matter how much I love you.”
His breath stopped. She loved him. He wanted to stand up and jump for joy, except he still had to convince her that his mother did not hate her. “She doesn’t hate you. How can anyone hate you, Nora? You’re so sweet and kind and hardworking.”
“Even if I can’t cook?” she asked softly.
“You make the tastiest flapjacks in all of Montana!”
That got a laugh out of her and his heart lightened. “I know what I need to do, which is to sit down with Mother and Father and tell them that you are the woman that I love. All they want is for me to marry the right woman and that woman is you, Nora.”
***
Nora had to pinch herself to believe that Adam was with her at the station waiting room and that he loved her. She wanted him to say it over and over again.
“What do you say, my beautiful fiancée? Shall we go back home?” Adam asked.
It would be so easy to say yes and to let Adam believe that it had all been his fault. But the truth of the matter was that she had also come to Montana under false pretenses.
“I need to tell you something, too,” she said. “I was not completely honest.”
She faltered.
“You can tell me. Remember what we said,” Adam said. “From now onwards, we are going to be completely honest with each other. Whatever it is cannot be worse than what I’ve done.”
Nora let out a nervous giggle. Then she told him from the beginning. How her parents had wanted her to marry her father’s associate, Gus Hatch, so that the family business could continue seamlessly. How she had left Boston without their knowledge, leaving only a letter to explain where she had gone.
“They must have been so worried,” Adam said, concern in his voice.
She would forever feel guilty about that, but the upside was that leaving had saved her from marrying Gus Hatch.
He looked relieved when she told him about the letter she had received from her parents and their plans to come to Montana. His face lit up.
“I can’t wait to meet them,” Adam said. “We must send them a telegram immediately to welcome them. Mother will be so excited and Father, too.”
She laughed at his joy. “Does that mean you still want to marry me?” she said.
“Now more than ever. I love you, Nora Baxter, soon-to-be Nora Larson.”
Her world righted. The loneliness which had besieged her when she left the ranch completely disappeared. As they left the station hand in hand, Nora felt as though she was walking on air. The only anxiety she felt was caused by the idea of facing Mrs. Larson. She really wanted to get along with her future mother-in-law.
EPILOGUE
Nora held her father’s hand and waited for the cue to enter the parlor where she and Adam were to be joined as husband and wife.
“I’m so proud of you,” her father whispered into her ear. She leaned towards him and their heads touched.
“I’m glad you’re here, Father,” Nora said.
They had arrived the previous day with the whole of the Larson family waiting at the station. They had received a warm, thunderous welcome, which had made Nora so proud to introduce her parents to her new family. Her mother had confided later that evening that when they returned to Boston, they would not worry about knowing she was in safe hands.
Her prayers had been answered, and Mrs. Larson had softened her heart towards her. As Adam had promised at the station, he had spoken with his parents and they had come around to his way of thinking. Mrs. Larson had even admitted that Nora would make a wonderful wife for Adam. She now treated Nora almost like a daughter.
And now the most important day had arrived. Their wedding ceremony. Her mother had brought the dress she had worn for her own wedding, and Mrs. Larson had stayed up late sewing some alterations. Nora couldn’t wait for Adam to see it.
Tina’s sweet voice broke into her thoughts as she sang her heart out. It was the cue for Nora and her father to walk in. They had invited the families nearest to the ranch as well as all the ranch hands and their families. The parlor furniture had been moved and upright chairs arranged in rows, leaving an aisle in the middle.
Nora’s eyes took in the smartly clad guests, her mother, and the Larsons at the front, and then she locked gazes with Adam. He looked so handsome in a gray suit and starched white shirt.
Joy crashed her heart. She was getting married to the love of her life. He took her hand and together, they faced the preacher. Nora floated throughout the service, wrapped in a bubble of happiness. Adam had to nudge her to say her vows.
Later, after the ceremony and the breakfast meal, the two of them found themselves alone in a corner of the dining room.
“Have I told you how beautiful you look and how much I love you?” Adam said, staring at her intently.
Once she had believed that she could not read Adam’s thoughts. How wrong she had been. He wore his heart on his sleeve and every moment they were together, he showed her in words and in actions how much he loved her. She was going to enjoy being a married woman.
“You have, but you have my permission to tell me again,” she said with a laugh.
“I love you, dear wife,” he said and leaned in to kiss her.
“And I you, my dearest husband,” Nora said, sighing with contentment.
It was a Christmas they would always remember.
THE END
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