House On Windridge

by Tracie Peterson

  Jessica felt she could expect little more than this.

  Her own life had taken so many different turns from that which she had expected. She had married against her father’s wishes. But because he was a man who had never taken the time or trouble to be a real father to her, his letter-written advice had held little sway with Jessica. After all, she scarcely knew her father. Harriet chose the man Jessica was to marry based on his social status and ability to conduct himself properly at social gatherings. It mattered very little that Jessica didn’t love him. She was, Harriet pointed out, twenty-two years old. It was time to marry and take her place as a matron of society.

  But society wasn’t very accepting of you when you ran out of money.

  High society was even less forgiving.

  It grieved Jessica to know Gus Gussop had been right in his long-distance judgment of Newman Albright. Gus had called him a dandy and a city boy. Called him worse than that, as Jessica recalled. And Newman had been all of those things.

  Harriet had died shortly after Jessica’s marriage. With her death came the inheritance of a fashionable house and a significant amount of money. Newman refused to move them into the Nelson place. Instead he insisted they sell the place and buy a less ostentatious home. Jessica quietly agreed, having been raised to respect her husband’s wishes as law. What she didn’t realize was that Newman had managed to get himself deep into debt through gambling and needed the sale of the house to clear his ledgers.

  He robbed her of both the fortune left to her upon Harriet Nelson’s death and her father’s wedding gift of ten thousand dollars. A gift Newman never bothered to mention. She found out about these things after Newman had died. Of course, by that time they were living in poverty, and Newman’s only explanation was that Jessica’s father had cut them off without a dime, and their investments had gone sour.

  Upon Newman’s death, Jessica learned the truth about everything. Things she’d much rather have never known. Part of this came by way of her father’s request. Gus had sent a telegram asking her to be honest with him about her financial situation. When Jessica had given the pitiful statements over to her father via a long, detailed letter, Gus had written back in a livid anger that seemed to leap off the page and stab at Jessica’s heart.

  “That blackguard has robbed you blind, Jessica. He has taken the ten thousand dollars I wired to him, which was intended to go toward the purchase of a lovely new home, and has apparently wasted it away elsewhere. He’s taken additional money, money he telegrammed requesting of me, and apparently has lost the fortune given you by Harriet.”

  Jessica knew it was true. By the time Newman’s death darkened her life, Jessica knew he had a gambling problem. A drinking problem. A fighting problem. And a multitude of other sins that had destroyed any possible hope of her loving him. He was a liar and a cheat and an adulterer, and Jessica could find no place in her heart to grieve his passing.

  He had stumbled home one morning after an apparent night in the gutter not far from their poor excuse for a house. His nose was red, and his throat raw, and he bellowed and moaned about his condition until Jessica, then in her eighth month of pregnancy, had put him to bed and called for the doctor. Within three days, however, her husband was dead from pneumonia, and Jessica faced an uncertain future with a child not yet born.

  It was at the funeral for Newman that Jessica realized the full truth of his affairs. Not one but three mistresses turned up to grieve their beloved Newman. None of the women had any idea about the others, and none knew Newman to have a wife and child. One particularly seasoned woman actually apologized to Jessica and later sent money that she explained Newman had given her for the rent. Jessica wanted to throw the money into the street but was too desperate to even consider such a matter. As a Christian woman of faith, she knew God had interceded on her behalf to provide this money. To throw it away would be to ignore God’s answer to her prayers.

  It had been painful to admit to her father that she was living from day to day in abject poverty, but even more painful to endure his response. He had raged about the injustice, but never once had he suggested she come home to live at Windridge. Jessica never even mentioned the baby to him. She was too afraid of what his reaction might be. Instead, she did as he asked, providing the information he sought on her finances. Then she followed his instructions when a letter came informing her that he’d hired a realtor to move her elsewhere and had set up an account of money in a New York City bank so that she might have whatever she needed. Such generosity had deeply touched her. But still, he never asked her to come home.

  That broke her heart.

  Then her life grew even more complicated when her best friend, Esmerelda Kappin, began to suggest Jessica give Ryan over to her for raising. Essie, as Jessica had once affectionately called her friend, was barren. She and her husband had tried every midwife remedy, every doctor’s suggestion, and still they had no luck—no children. Essie took an interest in Ryan that Jessica didn’t recognize as unhealthy until her friend began to suggest that Ryan preferred her care to Jessica’s. Then Essie’s very wealthy mother appeared on the doorstep to offer Jessica money in exchange for Ryan.

  Of course, Jessica had been mortified and from that point on began guarding Ryan as though the devil himself were after the child. The Kappins grew more insistent, showing up at the most inopportune times to remind Jessica that she was alone in the world and that Ryan deserved a family with a mother and a father.

  Jessica looked down at the sleeping boy. He did deserve a father, but that wasn’t to be. She had no desire to remarry. Perhaps it was one of the reasons she’d decided to come to Windridge. Running Windridge would keep her busy enough to avoid loneliness and put plenty of distance between her and anyone who had the idea of stealing her son.

  The prairie hills passed by the window, and from time to time a small grove of trees could be spotted. They usually indicated a spring or pond, creek or river, and because they were generally the exception and not the normal view, Jessica took note of these places and wondered if their gold and orange leaves hid from view some small homestead. Her father had once prided himself on having no neighbor closer than an hour’s distance away, but Jessica knew that time had changed that course somewhat. Kate had written of a rancher whose property adjoined her father’s only five miles to the south and another bound him on the west within the same distance. The latter was always after Gus to sell him a small portion of land that would allow him access to one of Gus’s many natural springs. But Gus always refused him, and the man was up in arms over his unneighborly attitude.

  Jessica wondered at her father’s severity in dealing with others. Kate told her it was because he’d never managed to deal with life properly after the death of Jessie’s mother. But Jessica thought it might only be an excuse for being mean tempered.

  Her conscience pricked her at this thought. She didn’t know her father well enough to pass judgment on him. Her Christian convictions told her that judgment was best left to God, but her heart still questioned a father who would send away his only child and never suggest she return to him for anything more than a visit. With this thought overwhelming her mind, it was easy to fall asleep. She felt the exhaustion overtake her, and without giving it much of a fight, Jessica drifted into dreams.

  ❧

  Her first conscious thoughts were of a baby crying. Then her mind instantly awoke, and Jessica realized it was Ryan who cried. She sat up to find the nine month old trying to untangle himself from the blankets she’d so tightly secured him inside.

  “Poor little boy,” she cooed. Pulling him from the confines of his prison, Jessica immediately realized his wetness.

  Looking out the window, Jessica wondered how much farther it was to the house. She hated to expose Ryan to a chill by changing him in the carriage. Wrapping a blanket around the boy, Jessica shifted seats and knocked at the little window sl
ide. Within a flash, Buck slid it open.

  “Something wrong?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

  “How far to the house?” she questioned.

  “We’re just heading up the main drive. Should be there in five minutes. Is there something you need?”

  Jessica shook her head. “No, thank you. I’m afraid the baby is drenched, and I just wondered whether to change him in here or wait. Now I know I can wait and not cause him overmuch discomfort.”

  “Kate will probably snatch him away from you anyway. That woman just loves babies.”

  Jessica cringed. What she didn’t need to face was yet another woman seeking to steal her child.

  “Sure wish you’d told us about him sooner. Kate would have come east in a flash to help you out and see the next generation of Gussops.”

  She didn’t bother to correct Buck by pointing out that the baby was an Albright. She thought of him as a Gussop as well. Despite the fact they both carried the Albright name, Jessica considered both herself and her son to be Gussops.

  Buck left the slide open in case Jessica wanted to say something more, but she held her silence. She was nearly home, and the thought was rather overwhelming. Home. The word conjured such conflicting emotions, and Jessica wasn’t sure she wanted to dwell on such matters.

  “Whoa!” Buck called out. The carriage slowed and finally stopped all together. Jessica looked out and found they were sitting in the wide circular drive of Windridge. The house stood at the end of a native stone walk, and it was evident that her father had sorely neglected the property in the last five years.

  “Well, we’re here, Ryan,” she whispered against the baby’s pudgy cheeks. “I don’t know about you, but I’m rather frightened of the whole thing.”

  Ryan let out a squeal that sounded more delighted than frightened, and Jessica couldn’t resist laughing.

  Buck quickly came to help her down from the carriage, and just as he had predicted, Kate appeared to whisk them both inside.

  “Oh, my!” Kate remarked in absolute delight upon catching sight of Ryan. She reached arms out for the baby, but Jessica shook her head.

  “He’s soaking,” she warned.

  “Like that could stop me.” Kate laughed and took the baby anyway.

  Jessica felt a moment of panic, then forced herself to relax. This is Kate, she reminded herself. Kate, who had kept up correspondences over the years. Kate wouldn’t try to steal her baby. Would she?

  “What a beautiful boy!” Kate declared. “Come on. Let’s get you in out of this wind and into a dry diaper.”

  Jessica glanced around and felt the breeze on her face. It invigorated and revived her. Somehow it seemed that city life had stifled her and drained her of all energy. Windridge had a way of awakening Jessica. It had begun with that first visit at twelve and continued with each subsequent trip home.

  She finally looked back at Kate and found the woman was already ten feet ahead of her and heading up the stone steps to the porch. Drawing a deep breath, Jessica followed after the older woman, thinking to herself how very little Kate had changed. She now had a generous sprinkling of gray in her hair, and she wore small, circular, wire-rimmed glasses that gave her an almost scholarly appearance. But she was still the same old jolly Kate.

  “You can see for yourself that the place has suffered miserably,” Kate told her as they made their way into the house. “Your father wasn’t himself for the last five years.”

  “Since my marriage,” Jessica replied flatly, knowing full well that she had grieved him something terrible when she’d married Newman.

  Kate stopped dead in her tracks. “Oh, Jessie, I didn’t mean it that way.”

  Jessica shrugged. “But it’s true. I know it hurt him. I wish I could take it back, but I can’t.”

  “Don’t wish for things like that,” Kate admonished. “You’d have to wish this little fellow away as well. Everything comes with a purpose, and God turns even our disobedience into glory for Himself.”

  Jessica smiled. How good it felt to hear someone speak about God. Most of her friends in New York were into mystic readings and psychic adventures. They believed in conjuring spirits of dead loved ones and held all-night parties in order to satisfy their ghoulish natures. Jessica could have no part in such matters, even if the likes of such things were sweeping the eastern cities in a rage of acceptance.

  She’d been told by a friend that Essie had purchased a charm to make Ryan love her more than Jessica. It was all madness, or so it seemed. Playing at what most considered harmless enchantments and magic spells had left Jessica desperate to find new friends. Friends whose faith was steeped not in manipulating people to do what they wanted but in seeking God and learning what He wanted.

  “Did I lose you?” Kate asked, turning suddenly inside the foyer.

  “Not at all,” Jessica replied. “I was only thinking of how wonderful it was to hear someone speak of God again. I’m afraid all manner of strangeness is going on in the city, and I’ve been rather alienated from good fellowship.”

  “You’ll have to tell me all about it,” Kate answered, and Jessica knew she truly meant it. Ryan began to fuss and pulled at Kate’s glasses in irritated fashion. “Come on, little guy; let’s get you changed.”

  Jessica felt a momentary panic as the baby continued to cry. She fought her desire to rip him from Kate’s arms. It wasn’t Kate’s fault that Essie had treated Jessica so falsely. Swallowing her fear, Jessica followed Kate up the ornate wood stairs.

  Focus on the house, she told herself. Look at everything and remember how good it always felt to come here.

  Inside, the house looked much the same as it always had. Kate kept it in good fashion, always making it a comfortable home for all who passed through its doors. She was, for all intents and purposes, the mistress of Windridge, and she had done the place proud.

  “We’ve created a nursery for you in here,” Kate announced, sweeping through the open bedroom door. “Your room is in there.” She pointed to open double doors across the room. “Of course, you have access through the hallway as well.”

  Jessica looked around her in stunned amazement. A beautiful crib stood in one corner, with a cheery fire blazing on the stone hearth on the opposite side of the room. A dresser and a changing table were positioned within easy access of one another, and a rocker had been placed upon one of Kate’s homemade rag rugs, not far from the warmth of the fire. There was a shelf of toys, all suitable for a baby, and yet another long oval rag rug on the floor where a small wooden rocking horse had been left in welcome. No doubt, Jessica thought, Buck made most of the furniture, including the rocking horse.

  “It’s charming here,” Jessica said, noting the thin blue stripe of the wallpaper. “But really you shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble.”

  “It wasn’t any trouble,” Kate replied, taking Ryan to the changing table. “I had kind of hoped that if I filled the place with welcome, you just might stay on.” She looked over her shoulder at Jessica, her expression filled with hope. “We’d really like it if you’d give up the East and come home to Windridge. Would you at least think about it?”

  Jessica nodded. “I’ve already thought about it. I had kind of hoped that you’d let me stay.”

  Kate’s face lit up with absolute joy. “Do you mean it? You’ve truly come home for good?”

  Jessica nodded. “If you’ll have me.”

  Kate threw up her arms and looked heavenward. “Thank You, God. What an answer to prayer.” She looked back to Ryan, who was now gurgling and laughing at her antics. “You’re both an answer to prayer.”

  ❧

  Jessica found her own room much to her liking. Delicate rose-print wallpaper accented by dusty rose drapes and lacy cream-colored sheers made the room decidedly feminine. Kate had told her earlier that the room had be
en designed for Naomi, and in spite of the feminine overtones, Gus had left everything exactly as Naomi had arranged it.

  The massive four-poster bed was Gus’s only real contribution to the room. It seemed a bit much for one person, but Jessica realized it had belonged to her parents and had always been intended for two. A writing desk was positioned at the window, where the brilliant Kansas sunlight could filter into the room to give the writer all possible benefit. A six-drawer dresser with wide gown-drawers was positioned in one corner of the room, with a matching vanity table and huge oval mirror gracing the space in the opposite corner. A chaise lounge of mahogany wood and rose print was the final piece to add personality to the room. Jessica could imagine stretching out there to read a book on quiet winter evenings.

  The room seemed much too large for one person. But Jessica was alone, and she intended to stay that way. There seemed no reason to bring another husband into her life. How could she ever trust someone to not take advantage of her? After all, she was now a propertied woman—not just of a house, but of thousands of acres of prime grazing land. She would no doubt have suitors seeking to take their place as the master of Windridge. She would have to guard herself and her position.

  But while she had no desire to bring a man to Windridge, she did want to bring people into her life. She wanted to share her faith and let folks see the light of God’s love in her life. She didn’t know exactly how she might accomplish this stuck out in the middle of the Flinthills, but she intended to try.

  After changing her clothes into a simple black skirt and burgundy print blouse, Jessica checked on Ryan and found him still asleep. His tiny lips were pursed, making soft sucking sounds as he dozed. She loved him so much. The terror that gripped her heart when she thought of losing him was enough to drive her mad. Surely God would help her to feel safe again.

  Jessica left Ryan to sleep and made her way downstairs. Her mind overflowed with thoughts about how she would fit into this prairie home, and she was so engrossed in figuring things out that she didn’t notice the man who watched her from just inside the front door.