She looked at him quizzically and he continued, “Please do me the honor of calling me Phin. Also, will you take a carriage ride with me? For December, the weather is pleasant and the day is sunny.”
She smiled and made as if to leave the room with him when she felt a tug on her skirts. “Oh, but I can’t leave Arti.”
Raising one eyebrow Phineas asked, “What or who is Arti?”
She laughed and picked up the puppy. “You must have noticed the wonderful dog Kit brought for me. I want to spend the day with him so he becomes attached to me.” Shaking her head regretfully she refused him, “I can’t go with you.”
Phin reached out a hand to scratch behind the puppy’s ear, accidentally brushing against her breast. Both leaped apart. With a reddened face he gulped out, “I know this little guy well since I’m the one who brought him here. Look in the basket and you’ll find a collar and leash. With those on, he should be just fine to bring along in the carriage.” After saying that, he helped her put the collar on the wiggling puppy who did indeed act like he recognized the man.
Still embarrassed but tempted by the chance to see her new town, Kitty quickly agreed to the ride and went in search of Mrs. Marlowe. She wanted to ask for the woman’s guidance. Was it entirely appropriate for Kitty to ride around town with a man who wasn’t her husband?
When she located the woman, Kitty asked that question. Before she could school her features, the woman’s lips formed an odd smirk. Then it was replaced with her usual serene countenance. Assuring Kitty that, as a married woman, such a ride was fine and letting her know that her husband expected his cousin to spend time getting to know her, Mrs. Marlowe pulled the nearby bell chord. Once the maid arrived, the woman asked for blankets and Kitty’s wool cloak.
Standing in front of the door, Phineas and Arti waited patiently for her. Kitty positioned her hat and began to pull down the netting. Softly, Phineas said, “No! You have nothing to be ashamed of and no reason to hide. Give me the pleasure of seeing your sweet face today.” Blushing and nervous at the thought of being so exposed in public, Kitty nevertheless pulled the netting back over the crown of her hat and walked out the door.
Chapter 5
Outside, the puppy took advantage of his chance to relieve himself. That done, Phin helped Kitty into the carriage. Handing Arti to her he said, “There you go Mrs. Randolph. “
Blushing she softly offered, “If I’m to call you Phin, please call me Kitty.” The offer brought a smile to his face and he began to whistle cheerfully as he moved around to his side of the buggy. Feeling shy around him, Kitty doubted she’d be able to use his first name much less call him Phin.
Driving down what she noticed from a street sign was Eighth Avenue, they passed the Howe High School. “Both Kit and I graduated from there. He is a year younger than myself, so I graduated first and left for the army. He planned to follow me the next year, but I convinced him to stay home and run the family businesses. I’m not sure he would have survived the tough life of the Army.”
Was he saying her husband was weak? “I take exception to that. The man I married seems strong and determined.”
He grinned when she said that, almost as if she’d complimented him. “Glad you see him that way. Every man wants to think his wife believes he can protect and provide for her.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that. Though she’d taken a stand when she believed he’d insulted her husband, she didn’t know if he would be able to protect her. After all, he was a man who had cut himself off from her and guarded his secrets closely. Thank goodness nothing threatened her.
Rather, she chose to focus on the town around her. Heading down Eighth, they passed a relatively new church. “This is the new building the Lutherans put up. Lots of new churches have gone up in the last ten years. The Congregationalists, Methodists, and Baptists have all built in spots around town. Used to be only the Catholic mission was here, but that was before so many people settled in Centralia.”
Kitty looked at him questioningly, “I thought this was Grand Rapids?”
They had reached First Avenue, and Phineas pulled the horse to a stop on the side of the road that paralleled the fast-moving river. He pointed toward a modest wood-framed building on the corner of that street. “There’s our city hall. Back when I was a kid, we had an exciting day when it was built. This loosely organized village named Centralia became a chartered city called Grand Rapids.”
Looking at the river, he shook his head. “The warm weather sure has the river running. We had a couple of huge snowstorms already and it looks like most of that is melting.” He turned from gazing at the river to look at her. Lifting a finger to her cheek, he tenderly asked, “Are you cold?”
She stiffened at the contact, partly because of what it did to her. She married his cousin yesterday, so why did his touch excite her? Her cool voice contradicted her response. “No, I’m not cold at all. How could I be with this warm little pup on my lap?” She had to find a way to distance herself from a man she wanted—needed—to get closer to.
At the chilly tone of her voice, he dropped his hand away from her and moved the buggy away from the side of the road. He continued with his tour as if she hadn’t rebuffed him. “That’s LeFevre’s tavern. Not a place you or I’d visit, but it’s popular with a lot of the men who work for me.”
This surprised her. “Oh, you own businesses in town, like Kit does? Which ones?”
He cleared his throat, nervously she thought, and answered without his usual carefree tone, “I misspoke. I meant men who work for Kit. Sorry to confuse you.”
She considered this for a moment. Somehow her husband and Phineas were connected more closely than just cousins. As if they planned and carried out ideas as one person. Chastising herself for being carried away by her fancies, she pushed her mind to take in the town around her.
Phineas explained that the road, Cranberry Street, that they now traveled on was, at one time, an Indian Trail. “The log cabins that were here when I was a very young child are gone. Look, there’s Jackson’s store. That’s the best place for you to shop for what you need. Except for your dresses and, umm, other female items. Mrs. Marlow will know where to get those.”
At the end of Cranberry Street, the sound of the rushing water had Kitty gripping her hands. “Is it safe to use the bridge?”
Phineas chuckled. “Look at how high they made this one. The river has to rise a bit before it could threaten to wash the bridge away.”
Studying the bridge, Kitty supposed she had to agree with him. It was a very high iron bridge. With a nod from her to tell him to go on, Phineas started the buggy across it. Unable to resist, Kitty leaned out the side of the buggy to see the foam of the river below.
Her movement woke Arti, who pulled at her sleeve as if afraid she was in danger. She ruffled his dark gray head and laughed, “He’s going to be a protective dog! Kit couldn’t have given me a better present.”
Giving her an impenetrable look, Phineas smiled tightly. “I’m glad you like his gift.” There was something about the way he said his that was odd. She wished she could understand his look. She felt sure that he wanted to say something else but held himself in check.
Once across the bridge, they traveled a road that paralleled the river. At spots where it dropped sufficiently, Kitty saw wing dams placed. Often mills were nearby.
She even glimpsed her first cranberry bog in the distance. Phineas explained a bit about it, “If you’d come a few months ago, that would have been dark red with the berries. John Gaynor is convinced they’ll become an industry for him.”
Pointing to a building on the river, he proclaimed with some pride, “Here’s the family business.” The large wood-framed factory was silent, something that didn’t surprise her since it was after all Christmas. Phineas helped her out of the buggy he’d parked next to a side door. “Workers mostly make buckets here, but shingles are also produced. Just in less quantity. Hope you don’t mind, but I need to pick somet
hing up for Kit.”
Shocked, she asked, “When did you talk to Kit? I thought you hadn’t seen him yet on this visit.” She searched his face as she waited for him to answer. Had she caught him in a lie? Was he up to no good?
Gesturing with his palms facing down, he urged her to calm herself. “Kit has his secrets and his ways of letting me know what he wants. There are some financial records he’d like to look at and I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to find the books for him.” Rubbing the back of his neck he met her eyes. “It seemed like a better idea to get them when no one was around since Kit’s worried about financial embezzlement, sorry to say.”
Worry clouded Kitty’s eyes. “Wouldn’t Mr. Forrest have watched for that? He seemed like a competent gentleman when I met him, though I wasn’t impressed with his wife. She seemed to be nothing more than a clothes horse.”
Phineas chuckled, probably to deflate some of her tension. “Nothing to worry about. Kit and Robert Forrest definitely will discuss any fraud. But first, the books need to be examined.” That’s where I come in.”
“Why you? I mean, beyond being his cousin, why will you look at the books?” Her voice held a mixture of confusion and curiosity and she knew he saw it also in her eyes as he helped her out of the buggy.
Without hesitation he answered, maintaining that eye contact the entire time. It reassured her that whatever he had to say would be the truth. “I worked for a man named Allan Pinkerton for a year, right after leaving the army. I’d worked as a clerk in the army. Mr. Pinkerton helped me finish my training as an accountant. I didn’t work as a detective. Just examined books for his clients when there were questions of embezzlement.”
Without waiting for a response from Kitty, he looked toward the buggy and reached into it. Removing a large ring of keys from the floor of the buggy, he selected an iron one and easily opened the side door.
Setting Arti on the ground, she held his leash and led him into the building behind Phineas. For being just a young pup, the little dog responded well to the leash and stayed by her side, except for an occasional distracting smell that claimed his attention.
Through a doorway, Kitty caught sight of the factory’s main floor. Its high ceiling added to the unsettling stillness of the building. They didn’t enter the room but passed down a hallway toward an open door at its end.
Entering that doorway, Kitty saw tables and desks scattered around a room that had an additional closed door at the rear of it. On the closed door had been lettered the name “Robert Forrest”. She wondered if Kit had a similar office in the building but didn’t ask.
Phineas went into Mr. Forrest’s office and walked straight to a set of bookshelves in the back. Kitty watched from the doorway, feeling uncomfortably like an intruder. He pulled several darkly bound books from the shelf and then lifted a metal box from behind them.
She felt her mouth drop open. “How did you know that was there? Did Mr. Forrest tell you, or maybe Kit?”
Her companion shook his head. “No, Robert Forrest doesn’t want anyone to see these. I’ve placed a man as a worker in the office. He’s really a detective and watched for weeks before he discovered this hiding place.”
Moving out of the room, Phineas gave a disgusted groan. “Your dog has left a puddle. We’ll have to find some rags to take care of it.”
Kitty looked down. “Naughty boy! But I am the one who’s going to have to be better about making you do that outside.” Then she went back to the factory floor to search for towels or rags.
While she looked, the echo of footsteps coming from the outside door had her freezing. Though her mind argued that they weren’t trespassers, some instinct urged her to hide. Grabbing the dog, she ducked behind a counter and listened.
The person stopped in the doorway of the room. She could hear his steps as he entered. From the heaviness of the footsteps, Kitty felt sure the person was a man. His breathing was ragged like he either had run a distance or was nervous, and it echoed around the high ceilings of the room. After a momentary pause, he moved back into the hall and left her alone in the cavernous room.
Down the hall, she heard voices and crept out of her hiding place and toward the door of the office. Listening outside the room she overheard Phineas assure the other person that Kit had asked to see the books.
“I’ll bring them on Tuesday next. When the holidays are over,” the person said with an arrogantly commanding tone. While she’d only met him once, Kitty recognized Robert Forrest’s voice.
Why doesn’t he want my husband to have the books today?
Phineas insisted and Forrest grudgingly gave in. Kitty wondered if he noticed the missing metal box. Peeking in, she saw that Phineas had closed Forrest’s inner office door. The man opened it again while Phineas picked up two bound books from a desk.
From her vantage point, peeking through a crack formed between the opened door and the door jamb, Kitty could see straight through the room and into Forrest’s office. She watched him move the books on his shelf. The metal box was back where Phineas had found it! He must have replaced it.
After Forrest left the room, Phineas picked up two more bound books, this time with red covers, and moved out into the hallway. Hearing the dog’s soft bark, he spied her hidden behind the opened door. Motioning her forward, he led them out of the building. Before she left, Kitty cast one more glance back to the office. Robert Forrest stood in the doorway.
He’d seen her. She couldn’t put a finger on why that was so terrible, but deep inside her, she knew that Forrest presented a threat to her.
Chapter 6
That night Kitty tossed and turned. Thoughts of her betrayal burned in her stomach along with deep shame.
Before he had returned her to this fine home her husband provided for her, Phineas had halted the buggy in a copse of trees that hid them from the road. She fidgeted with dread at being so alone with him and then reminded herself that they’d been alone in the library and nothing untoward had happened.
Shifting on the buggy seat so that he faced her, Phineas picked up her gloved hand. “I’m surprised there isn’t a ring on this finger.” As he said that, he traced her ring finger with one of his. The sensation caused a shivered to go through her. As if that reaction had been an invitation, he wrapped an arm around Kitty to bring her close to him. Then he lowered his head.
Mesmerized, she watched his lips come closer to hers. Their touch felt soft.
Warning bells in her head woke her to the situation. She pushed hard against him and stiffened under his arm. “I. Am. A. Married. Woman!” She loudly bit off each of the words, upset that he would betray his cousin and equally upset that she would fall prey to his advances so easily. What was it about this man that drew her to him?
Muttering a quiet apology, Phineas straightened in his seat and once again headed to her home. At the house, he quickly jumped out of the buggy and made his way to her side. After helping her out of the buggy and handing Arti to her, he bowed and left without saying anything.
Kitty spent the remainder of this first Christmas without either of her parents alone. At one point she noted that Kit’s mother hadn’t made an appearance to celebrate the holiday with them and thought how odd that was. To pass the rest of this solitary evening, she tried to read a book in the library. She’d stayed in that room hoping her husband would leave his sanctuary and make an appearance.
When that didn’t happen, she became restless. She’d chosen a nonfiction book on the history of Wisconsin as she thought she should know more about her new “home” state. Though she loved learning new things, tonight the book didn’t hold her attention. Remembering that Miss McKinley had requested she write to tell her that she’d arrived and to fill in details about her husband and the marriage, Kitty went to her husband’s desk to find paper. She remembered the stationery with a cat and his initials, KR. Those were now her initials as well, so that stationery would be perfect for her purpose.
Not finding it in the large middle drawer of
the desk, Kitty pulled open the top side drawer. The official document caught her eye. Thinking back, she recalled Kit stuffing it hurriedly away after the wedding. A strange and undeniable force urged her to read it.
Sitting down in his high-backed chair, she laid it on the desk and smoothed the edges that had begun to curl from the confinement of the drawer. Reading the date, she smiled at the romance of being married on Christmas Eve. What fun parties she and Kit would have in the future to celebrate the date.
Her smiled faded as she read the name of her groom. How could the pastor have made such a huge mistake when he wrote down Kit’s name? Though she tried to make out her groom’s signature, somehow it had become smudged and almost unreadable. How she wished she could confront her husband about this right now!
Disturbed by the talk of fraud, the discomforting yet desired kiss by Phineas, and the incorrect marriage certificate, Kitty gave up any thought of writing a letter. She tucked the legal paper back into the side drawer and left the library.
In her room, she rang for the maid and, once the girl arrived, asked her to send Mrs. Marlowe to her. If she couldn’t speak with Kit, perhaps that woman could give her a few answers.
Once the woman arrived, Kitty pointed to the two chairs upholstered in blue chintz that sat by the fireplace. After each was seated, Kitty couldn’t help blurting out the story. “I feel like I’ve landed in the middle of a conspiracy. Since you’re a close friend of Kit’s mother, I hope you can bring clarity to the situation for me.”
Mrs. Marlowe’s face briefly wore a startled expression before she rapidly composed herself. “How do you know I’m a friend to Mrs. Randolph?” she asked after a moment.
Confused by the question, Kitty stuttered out, “Why, well, why I suppose it’s because Kit told me the night I arrived.”
The older woman nodded, “If he said it, then it is so. Never mind that, though. What did you want to ask me?” The woman’s practical attitude was back in place along with her comforting yet impersonal tone.
A Shadowed Groom For Christmas (Spinster Mail-Order Brides Book 6) Page 4
