A Shadowed Groom For Christmas (Spinster Mail-Order Brides Book 6)

by Marisa Masterson

  Unable to resist, Kitty interrupted him. “Why cover up his death? What did you gain?”

  Phineas sat on the bed and stroked the puppy’s head as he answered. “I needed to make them believe they failed so they would act again. His death demanded justice, and I intended to see that his murderer was punished.”

  Kitty couldn’t hide the hard edge to her voice. “Do you think you’ve succeeded? Was Mrs. Forrest the murderer?”

  His hand stilled and moved from the puppy to pick up hers. “Kitty, I felt sure that Mrs. Marlowe would keep you safe. I hired her as a protector rather than a companion, to be sure nothing would happen to you. Remember, I said not to eat anything she didn’t serve you. That was only part of how she watched over you.”

  Bringing her fingers to his lips, he kissed the wedding ring. “I suspected Forrest and had him watched around the clock. She took me by surprise, however.”

  Wrenching her hand away from his, she shouted, “Took you by surprise? You don’t understand surprise until you’ve felt hands pushing you off a bridge!”

  “Shhh,” he breathed out softly and then gathered her resisting body against him. After a minute the fight left her, and she sagged against his chest and sobbed.

  “I’m sorry,” she wailed. “It’s just that I’m so tired, and confused, and frightened.”

  Hugging her close, he kissed her hair. Then he suggested she lie down. When she did, he lay on top of the covers and cuddled her. Determined to ask why he hadn’t simply refused to send her a ticket to marry him, Kitty fell asleep before the thoughts were vocalized.

  Chapter 9

  Kitty didn’t have a chance the next day to ask the question that had been on her mind as she fell asleep. In the night a fever started. The flux followed that soon after.

  Mrs. Marlowe stood in the hallway with Phineas and spoke softly avoid disturbing his ailing wife. “I’ve heard of flood victims suffering this. Nasty things mix into that water and I image she swallowed her share of it yesterday.”

  Phineas ran his hands down his face in frustration. “But what can be done for her?”

  She paused for a moment and then reminded him, “I’m not a doctor. Why don’t you send for one?” After saying that, the woman returned to the bedroom. Through the open door, the anxious man watched her pick up a cloth and begin to wipe once again at his wife’s forehead and cheeks.

  He came into the room and stood over the bed. Kitty opened her fever-glazed eyes and frowned at him. “I see you glowering at me. Have you come to send me home?” Then she groaned and grabbed at her stomach. Mrs. Marlowe shooed him out of the room quickly, retrieving the chamber pot at the same time.

  How could she think he’d send her away? Evidently, she didn’t feel married to him since the ceremony had been strange, to say the least. As he hurried down the stairs to send for the doctor, thoughts of planning another ceremony teased his mind.

  He dispatched O’Reilly for Doctor Hoffman. The little man was happy enough to do a good deed for Kitty since he still felt bad about being part of the plan to scare her the night that he picked her up at the depot.

  Thinking back on what his mother had done for him when he was sick, he asked Mrs. Miller, the cook, to prepare lemonade and broth. When the woman promised to have the young maid, Flora, bring up the lemonade after a bit, he thanked her and quickly moved back to the staircase.

  With one foot on the first step, he stopped to answer a knock on the front door which stood just opposite the stairs in the foyer. Expecting it to be the doctor, he couldn’t hide his disappointment.

  “Well, I’m happy to see you too,” Sheriff Connors joked. Phineas failed to even smile at the man’s joke so the man spoke awkwardly. “May I at least come in?”

  Stepping back to allow the man to enter, Phineas apologized. “Sorry Connors. Kitty is ill from her dip in the water yesterday.”

  Dip in the water? I almost lost her!

  The man shook his head sadly. “That crazy Forrest woman’s plan just seems to go on hurting your poor wife. Sorry to hear about that. Wish there was some way I could help you both.”

  Phineas released a deep breath and asked, “Did you catch Robert Forrest and his wife? Especially the wife. She’s the one who seems to be the murderer of the two.” He looked at the sheriff expectantly and felt disappointment at the defeat on the man’s face. Before Connors even said it, he knew what the man would say.

  Hemming, the man awkwardly fingered the hat he’d removed upon entering the house. Then, clearing his throat he admitted, “She all but disappeared. Hasn’t been home. I thought I’d find the two of them together.”

  When the man’s voice trailed off, Phineas became impatient for details. Stepping closer, he pointed a finger in his friend’s face. “We’ve known each other a long time. Don’t tell me you’ve stopped looking!”

  With a vehement shake of his head, Connors denied that. “I’ve got Forrest in the jail and deputies as well as volunteers a plenty out looking for the woman or even sightings of the buggy she drives. The horse that pulls it is pretty memorable with the blaze on his face.”

  With a hand on the man’s upper arm, Phineas all but pleaded with this man that he’d climbed trees with as a boy. A man he trusted. “Just don’t give up. She’ll stay close. I expect her to try again to kill either Kitty or myself.”

  A thought came to him then. “Could you either go to the factory or send someone there with a message? A detective named Fitch is working there, pretending to be clerk.” At the sheriff’s nod, he spoke rapidly. “I need him to come here and watch the house in case Regina Forrest comes here like I expect.”

  Their conversation stalled at that point. A knock on the door indicated the doctor had arrived. As the physician entered, Connors left to send for the detective.

  At Kitty’s bedside, the doctor sadly said, “Not too unusual to have this after being caught in floodwaters. Not something I often see in the winter though.”

  Pinching the skin of her forearm and then examining her eyes, he made a tsk-tsk sound. “My dear lady, as sorry as I am that you’ve had such a bad time after being so new to our town, I still must get after you.” His voice turned grave. “You are dehydrating rapidly. Though you may think the liquid goes straight through you, I know it will help you.”

  Phineas informed him, “I have lemonade and broth coming up for her. What other liquids can you suggest?”

  The doctor nodded, “All good things for her. I’ll stop and speak with Mrs. Miller about a sugar-salt solution that I’ve seen help. Your wife will hate it, but make sure she keeps taking small drinks of it throughout the day.”

  Before the man left the bedroom, Phineas asked, “What about the fever?”

  With authority in his voice, Doctor Hoffman informed him, “That is her body’s way of helping to fight this. Keep bathing her face, arms, legs. Cool water applied to her body should be a comfort to her as her system fights this off.”

  As the doctor left the room, Phineas returned to stare down at Kitty. Already her eyes appeared sunken. This illness seemed to be quickly ravaging her. “Well, my sweet, you heard the doctor. As soon as the drink arrives, you need to be sipping it.”

  She tried to smile at him and managed a weak nod. He picked up her warm hand and held it. Now was not the time to declare undying love, but he was determined to stay by her side, whispering prayers to the Lord throughout the night.

  The house next to his was empty. She could not have found a better place to hide. Even better, it had a small barn so the horse could be tucked in there, waiting. When she finished the girl and her intrusive husband off, she would need the horse and buggy to make her escape.

  It had been easy to enter the house. Though rusty, she still remembered from her childhood how to pick a lock. After marrying Forrest, she’d hoped to leave behind her past as a thief from a family of thieves. Her husband had been a disappointment and didn’t provide her with nearly enough fine things as he’d promised. It would have worked out
just like they’d planned if that nosy cousin hadn’t become involved.

  She suspected now that the poisoning in October had been successful. Kit Randolph died. Evidently someone, probably the nosy cousin, had pretended to be the man. But why?

  Snooping through closets, she found some rather nice dresses that fit her well enough. So, the owners of the house still lived here. Everyone must be gone for the holidays. Excellent! That was a Christmas present to her.

  Now to find something to eat and then sleep. She’d hidden in gullies and then moved when it seemed the searchers had left. Making her way back to town, she waited until dark to look for a house close to Randolph’s. Seeing no lights in the window, she knew this one was meant to be her hideaway for a while.

  Moving quickly, she gathered what she would need and returned to a bedroom. No lights. No noise. She needed to be careful so she could take revenge when the time was right.

  Chapter 10

  Kitty felt sure that one more sip of the salty concoction would make her retch. In spite of her revulsion, she still sipped it each time Phineas brought the cup to her lips.

  At one point she’d become so weak that she could no longer rise to use the chamber pot. The lethargy didn’t ease, but the flux seemed to slow. After a night and a morning passed, more liquid stayed in rather than racing through her body.

  As she grew cooler, her husband—Was he truly her husband?—rewarded her improvement with a delicious lemonade rather than the disgusting salt mixture. “Umm,” she sighed out hoarsely as she tasted it. When she feebly reached for the glass, he cautioned in his deep, soothing voice, “Just a taste for now. Let’s see first how your body responds.”

  Her body didn’t disappoint her. With no ill-effect from the sips of lemonade, she was soon propped against a mound of pillows enjoying more of the sweet liquid. Refusing the broth, as the thought of it made her stomach begin to wrench, she savored both the cool drink and the comforting presence of the warm puppy who lay next to her. With effort, she managed to get out the words, “Thank you,” to Phineas who watched from his seat next to the bed.

  “What are you thanking me for? You’ve almost died twice now because I didn’t protect you.” Sorrow and guilt colored his voice.

  “Twice?” she croaked, not understanding.

  He met her eyes and then ducked his head. “Once in the river and then with this illness afterward. I can’t express how devastated…” He broke off and she couldn’t be sure of how he might have finished his sentence. Devastated at her possible loss or devastated that he hadn’t prevented this?

  Handing the half-finished glass of lemonade to him, she hugged the happy puppy to her and laughed when he began to lick her arm. “You are a licking fool, aren’t you, my little sweetheart?” Then she looked at the worried man who sat beside her. “I meant to thank you for Arti. It was your gift to me, but you had to listen to me express my gratitude to someone else. Well, now I am thanking you.”

  He tipped his head to acknowledge her thanks. “I want your happiness above all else. After the first letter you sent, I felt a pull to you. It’s why I didn’t try very hard to frighten you off that first night.” Pausing he asked, “Can you forgive me for the deception?”

  She laid back against the pillows and allowed Arti to continue his licking. “I wondered why you didn’t just send me away or write to tell me not to come.” Her hoarse voice shook with a tremor. “It still isn’t clear in my mind.”

  He smiled. “Let me explain then. People expected a mail-order bride after Kit had announced his plans at the dinner party. I needed to go along with those plans, even after his passing.” His mouth thinned and he paused after mentioning his cousin’s death.

  Once he appeared composed again, he continued. “I planned to put off the marriage and eventually call it off. After all, Mrs. Marlowe would act as a chaperone so there would have been no harm to this mail-order bride’s reputation.” His face wore a rueful expression. “Then your first letter arrived. You wrote with such feeling and hope that I looked forward to each letter you sent. After meeting you, touching you, I had no doubt we needed to be together.”

  “But you aren’t scarred. I only agreed because I knew my groom would be less than perfect, like myself. You are too handsome for a woman with a face like mine.” She ended her little speech with a sob, completely exhausted and disheartened.

  Rather than answering her, Phineas rose and moved a reluctant Arti to the floor. Then he laid down beside her and cradled her limp body. “I see the imprint of a beautiful rose on your face. You and your face are dearer to me than even my own and I want to look at it for the rest of my life.”

  Moisture began to trace down her face at his loving tone as well as the sweet words she’d never once expected to hear in her life. Licking them she tasted the salt and was reminded of the nasty, wonderful solution that had saved her.

  Emotion created a lump in her throat, keeping her from saying anything. Her husband continued speaking as he held her to him, “And to be sure you know that we are truly married, I have a special wedding planned for New Year’s Eve. You’ll need to get better so we can marry again in three days. Just think, we can have two anniversaries and celebrate them both or choose one.”

  At those words, her shoulders started to shake with sobs. He rose up above her to look into her face, worry clouding his eyes. She shook her head, “I’m so happy and relieved. I can’t seem to stop weeping…” Emotion overwhelmed her at that point.

  He lay back down behind her and rubbed her back. “If that’s all it is and you’re okay, I don’t mind the tears. It’s just nice that I don’t have to hide in the shadows and can hold you like I want.”

  For the next three days, everyone but Kitty seemed tense. Phineas could feel it around him.

  Fitch guarded the house, taking turns with O’Reilly watching the doors and the grounds around it. Shaking a carving knife, sturdy Mrs. Miller assured them that no lunatic woman would get past her should she choose to come in through the door in the kitchen. Mrs. Marlowe hovered over Kitty, surprising Phineas with her hitherto unseen maternal tenderness.

  Downstairs, the florist delivered fresh pine boughs and fixed the swags and bows so that everything looked as lovely as it did on Christmas Eve. Though Mrs. Marlowe had asked if she should quickly arrange to have a wedding dress delivered for Kitty, Phineas shook his head, declaring he wanted her to wear her mother’s pink gown again, hoop and all.

  The sheriff stopped by, but his news was discouraging. No one had sighted either Mrs. Forrest or her horse. Connors felt sure, he told Phineas, that the woman was long gone. Not agreeing with the sheriff, he didn’t relax his guard.

  Still, with all of the guards, no one saw the shadow of a woman enter the home on the night of December 30. She slipped like a spirit up the stairs to a room she’d noticed had had no light in the window for the past two evenings. Sure that this meant the room was unoccupied, she settled into it and waited for her chance at some measure of revenge.

  New Year’s Eve dawned cloudy and cold. The winds had shifted to the north and snow threatened. With the servants as the guests, the wedding would begin momentarily. As they waited in the parlor, Phineas overheard Fitch and O’Reilly talking. The servant made an interesting statement. “I wonder why the neighbors next door left a horse in the barn when they were going to be gone. Haven’t seen anyone tending it, either.”

  The detective and Phineas looked at each other, both realizing the significance. Fitch spoke first, “Could she be hiding that close?”

  Phineas yelled for the two men to check it out. Moving to the desk, he removed a small handgun he kept there. Then he left the library and hurried up the stairs, dread prickle the back of his neck. He knew Mrs. Marlowe stayed upstairs to help Kitty into her dress. Everything would be fine.

  Behaving as if he already knew there was trouble, Phineas threw open the door of Kitty’s bedroom. Just inside the room, Mrs. Marlowe lay prone and apparently unconscious. Silhouette
d by the gray winter light, he saw Kitty struggling with Regina Forrest. Just when and how had the woman sneaked past them?

  As he approached, the woman snarled and nicked his wife’s neck with the knife she held against it. The trickle of red alarmed him enough to freeze in his tracks.

  Focusing on Regina, Phineas was as disturbed by her smile as by the words she snarled. “Good. You’re here too. I need both of you gone so Robert can claim your share of the business.”

  Did the woman think he’d just let her kill them?

  Looking from the taller woman’s face down to his wife’s, he expected to see fear. Instead, determination and anger were evident in her expression. She gave a tiny nod to him and then went limp in Regina Forrest’s arms, slipping downward. The surprised woman dropped the knife to maintain her hold on Kitty.

  At that moment he made his move. While his wife was on the floor and out of the way, he fired the gun. Mrs. Forrest reeled back from the punch of the bullet into her shoulder and wailed, “You have no right to hurt me. I’m just trying to survive.”

  Having heard the shot, Mrs. Miller and Flora appeared in the doorway. Seeing what had happened, the cook told Flora to run for first Fitch and then the sheriff, in that order. Then she grabbed ribbons from Kitty’s dressing table and tied the woman’s hands and feet before pushing a cloth against the bleeding shoulder.

  Phineas allowed his cook to take over. All his attentions were focused on his wife as he blotted the blood from the small cut to her neck. He knew he was shaking and was amazed that Kitty wasn’t, as well. “Weren’t you scared my sweet?”

  Kitty shook her head. “No, I was just too angry. Do you see Arti cowering in the corner? The nasty woman kicked him!”