Hannah's Wishes
Page 1
Hannah’s Wishes
Agnes Alexander
Hannah’s Wishes by Agnes Alexander
Smashwords Edition
Copyright© 2015 Agnes Alexander
Cover Design Livia Reasoner
Prairie Rose Publications
www.prairierosepublications.com
All rights reserved.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
.
Dedicated to Jarrett Pierce Nifong who graciously allowed me to use his first name for the hero in Hannah’s Wishes. --Love, Aunt Lynette aka Agnes Alexander
Chapter 1
Hannah Hamilton sat in her upstairs bedroom with the door closed, but she could still hear the voices floating up from the formal parlor below. If she hadn’t done so already, she was sure Aunt Verbena Wedington would serve her friends the delicious tea she saved for special occasions and special visitors. Hannah loved that tea, but had only been privileged to have it when a visitor caught her downstairs and her aunt had no choice but to let her be served with them. Verbena said they could never have the tea when they were alone or at meal times because it was expensive and must be saved for special guests. Hannah was never allowed to come down when these special guests were entertained unless she was being displayed as one of the crosses widowed Verbena Wedington had to bear in the middle years of her life.
Though it was Wednesday, the one day of the week Hannah was usually permitted to have a full day in the lower part of the house, she’d been hurried back to her room after breakfast where she’d been tucked away upstairs long before Aunt Verbena’s company arrived. At least she wasn’t gagged or threatened as she had been when she was younger and had tended to be rebellious. After being tied and punished with a few licks of Aunt Verbena’s big wooden paddle, when she was small it didn’t take her too long to learn to be quiet when there were visitors in the house. Sometimes, she wondered why her aunt hadn’t just put her in some kind of orphanage or institution, but she’d finally come to the conclusion that Verbena only let her live there so she could pull her out and show the society neighbors and special church friends what a long-suffering and generous person the widowed aunt was because she hadn’t turned her back on her poor crippled niece. Hannah learned to accept this humiliation as her aunt bragged how she’d given the young lady a good home and good Christian training for more than a dozen years and would probably have to for the rest of her life.
Of course, Hannah knew differently. Verbena Wedington didn’t really want her niece around, but for some unexplained reason, the widow didn’t seem to have a choice in the matter. The neighborhood women, as well as Verbena’s Bible study group and church friends, knew Hannah had a withered foot and lived at the Wedington estate through the generosity of her aunt. For this reason, Hannah realized her aunt would be disgraced if it became known the woman sent her poor crippled niece away. Hannah also knew that probably wasn’t Verbena’s only reason for giving her a home, but she’d never been able to figure out what the other motive could be.
As soon as she was married and had a job, Hannah’s oldest sister, Lydia, occasionally sent money to their aunt for Hannah’s keep, and now that her sister, Drina, had married a rancher in Arizona, she would probably send money, too. Of course, Hannah had never seen a penny of Lydia’s money and would not see any Drina sent, either. This probably played a factor in the decision her aunt made to give her a home. If there was anything Hannah was sure of about her aunt’s character, Verbena Wedington was greedy. Though she may not know all the reasons, ever since she was four years old, Hannah had lived with her mother’s sister in her elegant, though slightly decaying, Savannah home. Hannah was now seventeen, and would have her eighteenth birthday in a couple of months. Not that it mattered. Even though she would then be considered grown, there was no way she could leave this house. As a single woman confined to a wheelchair, she had nowhere else to go. She was stuck, and she knew it.
Shaking the voices downstairs out of her head, Hannah rolled her chair to the small table in the corner of her room. Opening the drawer, she pushed aside some of her sewing threads and pulled out paper, pen, and her ink well. She would write Drina another letter, though she hadn’t heard from her sister since she went to Arizona to marry the rancher, Aaron Wilcox. This would be the fourth letter she’d written her sister, but Drina hadn’t written back. She’d promised to write as soon as she was married to let her sister know about her new life as a ranch wife. Hannah now wondered if something had happened to prevent the wedding from taking place. It was hard not knowing what was going on with the sister she most idolized. It wasn’t that she didn’t love Lydia, her oldest sister, but Drina had been the one to look after Hannah when she was little and Hannah came to depend on Drina for this care. Too, they were closer in age.
Oh, how Hannah wished she could walk! If she could, she’d have gone to Arizona with Drina. She knew she could never live with Lydia because her older sister was married to a gambler and they owned part of a small saloon in Savannah. Hannah had never seen the place because her Aunt Verbena would never allow her to go to such an unsavory establishment. As her aunt often said, it wouldn’t be proper, and her friends would be horrified if they heard the young innocent girl had gone to a saloon. But this wouldn’t have deterred Hannah if she could walk. She knew if she could get out of her wheelchair she would not only visit Lydia’s saloon, but she’d also go to Arizona to visit Drina. She didn’t think there would be any disgrace in Aunt Verbena’s friends’ eyes if she went to a ranch in the west. She knew without a doubt both she and her aunt would both be happier not living together.
Hannah sighed. There was no need to keep the thoughts of visiting a saloon or moving west in her mind. These were just more of her wishes that would never come true. Shaking her head she picked up the pen, dipped it in the inkwell and wrote, Dear Drina…
♥♥♥
Verbena stood at the front door and watched as the last woman in her Bible study group walked across the yard to join their two friends who waited in the carriage. She breathed a sigh of relief. At least they’d be gone if Reginald decided to come by today. She certainly didn’t want them to see him here. She knew how the women talked, and if they had any inkling that she and Reginald Phillips had any sort of relationship, their tongues would get sore from wagging.
Reginald was a member of her church and the manager at the bank where she did business. Though several widows and spinsters had tried to catch his eye, for some reason, he’d been showing her a lot of affectionate attention for the last couple of months. Especially since Barnaby Phillips, his older brother and the banker who had been in charge of Verbena’s account, had died. She sometimes wondered if Barnaby had confided to Reginald the content of the papers concerning Hannah’s placement with her, but she realized that was impossible. When Barnaby fell sick and knew he was going to die, he’d given her his copy of the document. She’d come directly home and burned it. There were now only two copies in existence. She had one in her safe and Burl Hamilton had the other one somewhere on his farm. She often wished she could get her hands on it, but knew Burl would kill her if she tried to find it.
Verbena was wise enough to realize Reginald was probably as much interested in the money he thought she had as he was in her. Still, marrying him might make a good match. He was rather wealthy himself. Th
e only thing holding her back from returning his interest was Hannah’s presence in the house and the last remark he’d made about her niece being there. He blatantly asked Verbena if she’d ever thought about seeking a husband for Hannah. He even suggested a couple of young men who he thought might be someone to consider as husband for the girl. Verbena hadn’t cared for this comment, and the fact he’d suggested Calvin Sawyer as one of the men disturbed her, though she never let on she had the same idea herself.
Calvin Sawyer hadn’t always been the feeble-minded man who lived with his sister, Hilda and attended church with her occasionally. A few years ago, he had been accosted on the street outside a saloon and was beaten nearly to death. In fact, everyone thought he would die, but somehow the doctor managed to save his life. In spite of all the surgeon did, there was no way he could fix the brain damage the young man had suffered at the hands of the ruffians. He now thought and acted like a six- or seven-year-old instead of a young man turning twenty. Not only that, but he had developed a love of strong drink. Especially beer. He often slipped away from his sister and either bought or managed to get others to buy drinks for him in some of the more unsavory saloons. The barkeeps were aware of his problem and often sent someone to get his sister to come and take him home. Calvin did have one good thing going for him. He was more handsome than the average man. Until he spoke and gave away his disability, many young women tried to get him to notice them in a romantic way. Of course, he never returned their flirting, though his body was that of a man, his mind hadn’t reached the age where he was at all interested in girls other than as playmates.
Though she was a little ashamed of herself, she had no intention of telling Reginald or anyone about the plan she’d been working on to marry Hannah off to Calvin. A plan she had to move a little faster on, since she realized Hannah’s birthday was coming up soon. The first step had been accomplished. For several months she’d been planting in people’s mind the fact that Hannah was slow and no normal man would ever be interested in her. She knew many people already believed the young girl was feeble-minded simply because she couldn’t walk, and she was sure her friends wouldn’t think she was awful for suggesting her young crippled niece could be a wife. A couple of them had already said it would be good for Hannah to have a man to look after her.
Verbena wasn’t sure if Reginald’s remark about marrying Hannah off was because he didn’t want the girl to stay in her aunt’s home, but she had a feeling it was. She just hoped he never got it in his head to help her get Hannah married before she turned eighteen. She was afraid he might say something about the matter in front of Hannah and mess up the plan. Therefore, she decided not to let her niece come downstairs whenever he visited. If he asked about the young woman, Verbena would always have an excuse to explain her absence, which was easy for her to do.
But none of this kept Verbena from wondering what it would be like to have a husband in her life again. Hector Wedington had not turned out as she had thought he would when she married him. He spent most of his time taking care of his business and refused to let her have a child, no matter how hard she begged. Then when she became pregnant in spite of what he said, he’d pushed her down the steps late one night when she’d got up to get a glass of milk. She broke her leg and had inside injuries from the loss of the baby. The doctor said she would never be a mother again because of these injuries. After Hector’s death a few years later, she played the grieving widow well and none of her friends ever guessed she was glad he was out of her life. She thought things would be better with him gone, and in a way it was, but all her family and friends would’ve been shocked to know he left all his money in trust at the bank and only allowed her enough monthly allowance to scrape by on instead of the amount they figured she had at her disposal. Other than the financial situation, only four people knew the real story of what had happened to Hector Wedington. Her sister, Ella; her brother-in-law, Burl Hamilton; her banker, Barnaby Phillips; and herself. Now, her sister and the banker were dead. Burl’s silence had been bought a long time ago. She knew as long as she kept up the tax payments on the farm, he would never say a word.
Sighing to push away these thoughts, she closed the door and turned back into the house.
♥♥♥
Jarrett MacMichael sat behind his desk in the Flagstaff, Arizona office of MacMichael and MacMichael Investigations and stared at the wire in his hand. It was long for a telegraph, but it certainly spelled out everything Aaron Wilcox wanted him to do. Go to Savannah, Georgia, and check out a man named Burl Hamilton; Hamilton’s daughter, Lydia; and Hamilton’s sister-in-law, Verbena Wedington. Make sure Hannah Hamilton, who lived with Mrs. Wedington, was being taken care of. Wire him back as soon as these questions were answered, and Wilcox would make a decision about whether to bring Hannah to Arizona or find her a new place to live in Savannah.
Rubbing the stubble on his chin, Jarrett wondered what this Wilcox fellow was up to. I’d think he was trying to check up on this family for some sinister reason if he hadn’t said make sure Hannah Hamilton was being taken care of. He wondered how old Hannah was. Probably a little child, if somebody had to look after her. That was fine. He liked kids, most of the time.
He wasn’t sure what it was, but something about this request intrigued Jarrett. He sat back in his chair and thought about it a minute. The door opened and his partner walked in.
“Well, little brother, I go to the gun shop to get a new sight for my rifle and come back to find you haven’t moved from your seat the whole time. Must be planning on a special evening with the lovely Felicia.”
Jarrett shook his head. “Nope. It’s not that. You know I’ve been corresponding with Aaron Wilcox.”
“Yep.”
“I got another wire from him today.”
Everett lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, what did he say this time?”
“He wants to hire our firm, and as I’ve told you before, I’m thinking about taking this on.”
“Still think it’s a one-man job?”
“I do. I know I can always send for my big brother if it gets to be too much.”
Everett chuckled. “Sorry if I offended you.”
“I guess I shouldn’t be so touchy. After all, I’m thirty years old and two inches taller than you. You may have ten minutes on me, but I could take you any day of the week.”
“You really think so?”
“Absolutely.” He tossed the wire to Everett. “Read this and see what you think.”
Handing the wire back to Jarrett, Everett said, “Since there’s nothing pressing around here, except Miss Newell’s idea of maybe marrying up with you, I don’t see any reason why you can’t go to Georgia and check this out. It looks like good money.”
“Felicia Newell has nothing to do with this. You know I see her when I see her. It’s nothing, and I have no intention of ever marrying her. You know why.”
Everett chuckled. “I guess I do. There have been a few other men going down to Chester Street now and then.”
“Yeah, you included.”
“Can’t keep something that sweet all to yourself, brother.”
“Will you quit yammering about Felicia Newell and say what you think about this job?”
“Since you insist. You know we haven’t had a big job since we brought the Norton gang down. I figure I can handle anything that comes up here, including Felicia Newell.”
“Go ahead and try to get Miss Newell interested, but I think she has her heart set on me.”
“Confident, aren’t you?”
“Damn right I am.” Jarrett shook his head. “But as far as this job for Wilcox is concerned, I think you’re right about me taking it. Of course, you and I both know you’re not right about Miss Newell wanting you instead of me.”
“We’ll see about that after you leave.”
Jarrett ignored his statement. “Going to a southern state I’ve never visited might be interesting. I’m sure my absence will make the lady’s heart grow fonder.”
Making a quick decision, Jarrett glanced at the wire again, folded it and put it in his pocket. He then pushed himself from the chair, ran his fingers through his hair and put on his tan Stetson.
“I’ll go to the telegraph office and let Wilcox know I’ll take the job as soon as he sends the money as a retainer. Then, I’ll make arrangements to get a train ticket to Savannah and gather up the other things I’ll need for this trip to Georgia. In the meantime, I’ll make sure Felicia has a night to remember me by.”
Everett laughed out loud. “You do that, brother.”
♥♥♥
Hannah had heard the group of women leave from downstairs more than an hour earlier. Though it was Wednesday, her day to be downstairs, her aunt hadn’t sent her butler up to carry her down. She rolled her chair to the window and looked out, wondering if Aunt Verbena would make her stay here till morning. It wasn’t that the sparse room was uncomfortable. She had a fairly soft bed, though there could be more feathers in the mattress, and the mirror over the small dressing table was cracked in three places. Hannah had a hard time bending her head so she could see if all her pale blonde hair was in place. A ladder-backed chair sat near the window, but was only used when Lydia came to visit or Hannah was banished to her room without her wheelchair for some minor incident. Thankfully, that hadn’t happened for a couple of weeks. It meant she was getting better at answering her aunt’s questions the way the older woman thought they should be answered.
On the opposite wall from the bed was a wardrobe. It wasn’t large, but there was plenty of room for her two decent dresses she owned—one of which she had made over from the one she’d sewed for her aunt two years earlier and the older woman had grown tired of. Though she sewed often for other people, Hannah hadn’t had a new dress from new material in over a year.