Chance Creek Brides (Volumes 1-3 & the Stagecoach Bride)

by Mary L. Briggs

  Whether he was in jest or serious, Addie’s mind did not comprehend the difference. Addie grabbed hold of a chair to keep her knees from buckling. She stared at each man in turn, then looked at her father again. “How could you do this?”

  He shook his head and slowly lifted his cane, pointing its trembling tip at Adam Zimmer. “He cheated.” His voice was cold.

  Adam’s smiling face began to change in a way that sent a river of fear down her spine. The flush of excitement went from pink to red, then purple. His eyes seemed to bulge from their sockets as he took a step toward her father.

  “How dare you accuse me of cheating, old man.” He stepped even closer, his fists clenched. “No man accuses me of cheating! Do you hear me?”

  “You want to fight it out? You’re a cheat! And a liar! You‘re nothing but a common thief,” Samson raged, still waving his cane around, as if it were a weapon.

  Addie threw herself between them. “Stop it!”

  “Now just hold everything, here,” Sheriff Warner spoke. “We were in the game, Fleming,” he nodded toward Adam. “Zimmer won fair and square. If you hadn’t wanted to take the chance, you should never have bet the property. Even for equal stakes such as he offered.”

  Addie stared at the floor beneath her feet, allowing the words to sink in.

  “Is that your final word?” In her father’s voice there was no hope.

  “It is.”

  Addie’s fingers were numb. Her body was frozen in place. Once again, she was homeless, displaced in the world. And all because of a man’s bad decision.

  Adam retrieved his hat from the floor and stood, his eyes on Samson Fleming. “I’m going right now, but I expect you and your daughter to be out of here by next week. Is that understood, Fleming?” He turned toward the sheriff. “You’re the witness to that, sir. Fair and honest.”

  It was no joke that he didn’t love her. That he had no use for her now.

  Addie stared as her former fiancé walked out of the room, followed by the sheriff and foreman, leaving the door of the house open behind them. She turned to her father. His eyes were already on her, dark with anger and rage.

  “This is your fault, Adeline. You brought that man into my house. Because of you, I have lost everything.” His whole body was trembling now, even more so than Adeline’s own small frame. “Better that I had never seen you again. Get out!”

  Another fit of coughing seized him with these words, and he slumped to the floor.

  Chapter 34

  The first rays of the sun peaked over the distant hill. A thin swirl of smoke rose from the chimney of the Murphy farmhouse. Of course they would be up. Morning started early on a small, family ranch. Only spoiled daughter’s of rich ranchers were allowed to sleep in at their leisure.

  She tied Pepper to the post outside the gate and made her way to the door, knocking softly.

  The door swung open. Della Murphy’s face registered surprise. “Why Addie! What are you doing here so early? Is everything all right?”

  She cleared her throat. “Is. . .is Mark up?” Of course he would be up. It was a stupid question. She should ask if he would be willing to speak with her. After the words between them . . .

  “Now you come on inside,” the older woman insisted. “Come sit at the table and have some coffee. Missy’s out helping the doctor and Isaac is off to school. I‘m letting Frances Anne sleep a while longer.”

  She took a deep breath. There was no time for idle talk. She had to be on her way. “Oh, no. I . . .I can’t. I’d just like to speak to Mark, if possible.”

  Della shook her head. “He’s not here, dear. He went down to San Antonio with Seth yesterday to pick up a horse. He’ll be back by this evening, if you could come back then.”

  He was gone. She’d never see him again. Tears stung the back of eyelids and she blinked them away. “I see.” She turned back to the door. “Thank you.”

  Della followed her. “I’ll tell him you were here.”

  Addie shook her head. “That won’t be necessary. Thank you, Mrs. Murphy.”

  Back on the horse, it was time to ride fast. The day was already warm and would only get hotter as time went on. She had no idea how long it would take to get to New Braunfels. A shiver of fear ran through her. She had never traveled this far on horseback alone. Until recent events, she hadn’t realized how truly sheltered her life had been. Even here with her father in Chance.

  Well, the past was past. Her future lay in front of her and she must make the choices for what happened. Rose had written many times that she should come and visit. The money in her reticule would take her to England. All she needed was a place to lay her head until a ship was ready to sail home.

  ***

  Della shrugged and poured more coffee in Mark’s cup. “I don’t know. She didn’t say. Just that she wanted to talk to you and then told me not to tell you she’d been by when she found you weren’t here.”

  Mark studied the liquid in his cup. After the last conversation he’d had with Addie, he didn’t expect to ever speak to her again. A spoiled rich girl like her generally didn‘t bother to call on a poor rancher, even to apologize for her rudeness. An apology was the only reason he could fathom for her stopping by.

  “I guess I could ride over and see if she’s home.” He didn’t allow himself to entertain the possibility that Addie had another reason for wanting to see him. Like that of her head and heart coming to their senses.

  Della sighed and sat across from him. “Mark, I know I’m always going on about you finding a girl, getting married, settling down. But there’s no need to go chasing after a woman that doesn’t want you. There are plenty of other girls around that would be proud to be your wife.”

  He pushed his tongue against the back of his teeth to stop himself speaking the words that formed in his throat. He loved his aunt, but this was none of her business. “Aunt Della–”

  A knock sounded at the door, interrupting the conversation. Della hurried to open the door, as Missy emerged from a back room.

  Mark stood as he realized that it was Birdie on the step.

  “May I come in?” she asked.

  “Well, of course,” Della sputtered. “I’m just so surprised to see you that my manners left me. How are you, Birdie?”

  Birdie shook her head as she stepped inside. Her eyes found Mark. “It is you I want to speak to.”

  Mark nodded. “Go ahead. You can speak in front of Missy and my aunt.”

  Birdie glanced at Della, then directed her words to him. “I guess you have not heard of our tragedy.”

  Mark put his hand on the table to steady himself. “Addie? Is she alright?”

  The dark woman sighed. “I do not know. Yesterday, Samson gambled away the ranch. He lost it in a card game to Mr. Adam Zimmer. Mr. Zimmer has the ranch, now, and he told Addie that there was no reason to marry her. Samson, in his foolishness, has blamed Addie for all of it. He ordered her to leave.”

  Mark stared. “He asked her to leave? He threw her out?” It was hard to believe. Impossible. How could a man treat his daughter that way? Especially one who doted the way Samuel Fleming did.

  “Yes. She was gone very early this morning. I don’t know where she is.”

  Della touched Birdie’s shoulder. “She came here. Wanting to see Mark. But he was gone with Seth. She said it wasn’t important. I. . .I would have stopped her, if I had realized what had happened.”

  Birdie shook her head. “You had no way of knowing.” She turned her eyes back to Mark. “Do you know where she might be? If you do, Samson wishes to speak with you. I think it is important you see him before you go.”

  Mark gave a slow nod. “I believe I do have an idea.” Jared walked in the door at that moment. Mark met his glance. “Would you saddle my horse for me?”

  He saw Jared’s eyes narrow as he rested on their guest. He nodded. “Sure. And I’ll saddle mine, too.”

  Mark turned his attention to Birdie. “I don’t have time to go see him. Just
tell him I’m going.” He turned toward his bedroom in the back. A few things in a bag and he would be ready to go.

  “No! Wait, please,” Birdie rushed to him, her fingers closing round his elbow. “He. . .he is very ill. Those coughing fits he has been having. It is pneumonia. It will give him comfort to speak to you, knowing you will be finding her.”

  Mark grimaced. He would go see Addie’s father. But it would take everything inside of him to keep from telling the man what he really thought of him for blaming his daughter for all this. A dying man. He must keep that in mind. “Is he at the ranch?”

  She nodded. “Until next week. And then. . .I’m not sure. He is very unwell. I‘m afraid he. . .he may not recover.”

  Mark resisted the urge to scoff at her words. Samson Fleming was too stubborn to die. “Tell him I’m coming.”

  ***

  When Mark walked out the door, Missy was standing beside the hitching post. Jared, mounted on one horse, another saddled beside him. “I’m going with you,” he said. “At least to New Braunfels. I’ll go all the way to Galveston if you need me to.”

  Missy held out a gold ring to Mark. “It was your mother’s. Take it. You may need it.”

  The reasons he might need it ranged wildly in his mind, and he was tempted to refuse it just at the thought Missy was suggesting he might somehow propose to Addie in all this tumult. But her earnest expression and his own shortage of cash made him stuff it into his pocket. Taking the reins, he swung up on Patriot and looked at Jared. “I’d appreciate the company to New Braunfels. I’ll go from there alone. But first, I’d better see Fleming.”

  ***

  “It was my own stubbornness that I blamed it on her. You understand how short my temper is. I didn’t think she would take my words so literally.”

  Mark gave a disgusted laugh. Mr. Fleming had aged ten years overnight. But try as he might, no sympathy could be worked up for him.

  “You didn’t?” he repeated. “After her grandfather failed her, left her homeless, did it not occur to you that you were doing the same? You made the decision to gamble away your home and then you blamed all of it on her?” He knew he shouldn’t speak so to the older man, but his emotions were taking over. His feelings were tense, like stretched barbed wire, in the wake of the Flemings’ misfortunes and the burdens in his own heart.

  Samson grabbed a kerchief from his pocket and coughed into it. “My decisions are none of your business, Murphy. I’m just asking that you go get her and bring her back.”

  “I would already be on my way if I hadn’t had to come speak with you.”

  The old rancher shook his head and then raised his finger, pointing at Mark. “Then go. But you bring her back here. I know you’ve had your eyes on her, Murphy.”

  Mark hardened his jaw for a moment before he answered. “To be honest with you, sir, the fact that you don’t believe I’m good enough for your daughter doesn’t really bother me.“

  He swallowed back the sour taste on his tongue at the thought of his next words. “But you’ll be glad to know that your daughter takes after you more than you think, because she is in complete agreement with you. I have her word on that.”

  But things had changed for her since their last conversation. Maybe, somewhere deep in her heart, she really did love him. That possibility, that reason for her coming to his home, seemed bittersweet in this moment.

  “But you’ll go?” Samson choked on the last word and started another round of coughing.

  Mark nodded, not trusting his voice. If he spoke the tremble in his tone might give away the fact that he wanted her back as much as the man before him. Having Addie leave Texas forever would rip a hole in his heart. Just seeing her on occasion. . .at church, a town dance, riding the hills on her horse would be enough. He would take solace in knowing she was home and safe.

  Chapter 35

  The lighthouse appeared massive next to the keeper’s cottage. Addie stared up at the huge, iron-clad, building. The sound of the waves and surf beat steadily, like a drum in a marching band. She stared out at the water. How could Rose stand to hear this day after day? For some, it must be comforting, but to her, it was the sound of loneliness. The same echo as the one in her own heart, empty and frightened.

  “She’s a wonder,” Michael said, looking to the top of the structure. “After you get settled, I’ll take you up to the top and let you see what the world really looks like.”

  Addie nodded and forced a smile to her face. She hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours. The last thing on her mind was climbing staircase after staircase. All she wanted to do was rest.

  She followed Rose to the spare bedroom of the little cottage, admiring the pretty colors on the walls and the large windows for viewing the scenery.

  “This won’t be a guest room for long,” Rose laughed, patting her rounded stomach.

  Addie smiled. Rose had mentioned the coming event in her last letter. “How long, now?”

  “Three months, still.” Rose opened Addie’s bag and pulled out the green calico she wore so many days on the ship. Her eyes came up to meet Addie’s.

  Addie sighed and sat on the bed. Her friend deserved an explanation.

  ***

  With the house quiet, the water was louder, angrier. For a moment, she covered her ears, trying to drown the constant beating of the shore. She would never sleep. It couldn’t be normal, that loud booming sound that it was making. Michael had mentioned that a storm must be brewing, though the weather station in Galveston had no warning flags out.

  She threw back the cotton blanket and found her way to the window. It was cloudy, no moon or stars showed above. Everything was cloaked in darkness. The way it was inside of her. Any light of hope had been extinguished.

  What do I do now, God? Mother always said that I could only depend on You. And now, too late, I see that she was right. Relying on myself and my own judgments has left me all alone. I’m. . .I’m so sorry. Please forgive me and show me what to do.

  For once, in a long while, she would allow the salty tears to fall, streaming down her face, wetting her nightgown. She wiped at the moisture around her mouth. It was no use to pretend otherwise, she was a failure at everything. And no one cared. Her grandfather had left her penniless and her father had thrown her out of his home. She had nowhere to go. It was too late to go back to Mark and apologize. Her bitterness had driven them apart. Her words had ruined any chance that he would marry her.

  She regretted so much in these last six months, but especially the relationship with Adam. Mark had tried his best to warn her, to tell her what she already knew in the back of her mind. She had turned a blind eye to so many things. Perhaps her father was right – if she had seen Adam’s gambling as loathsome, she would have sent him away long ago. Maybe he wouldn’t have been in her father’s house, coaxing him into ruin.

  Mark. From the beginning, he was real. Sweet, kind, honest, always good to her. His kiss once had the power to erase Adam from her mind, she remembered; but Adam’s kiss had never fully driven thoughts of Mark from her head, no matter how hard she tried to make it happen.

  If only she could have his forgiveness and feel his arms around her one more time. But he couldn’t love her now, not after the way she had treated him.

  It hurt that he hadn’t been home yesterday. She had wanted to see him one last time, tell him that he had been right. She would have apologized for the way she had behaved toward him. He deserved to hear that truth from her before she left.

  Of all the men she had known in her life, he had treated her with care and respect, always thinking of her feelings, doing his best to make her happy. And he made her feel safe. But she had treated him as if he was inferior to herself. Now she understood that Mark was too good for her. And, too late, her heart knew it as well.

  Chapter 36

  “Look at the waves!” A small boy shouted.

  Mark pulled himself from his thoughts and looked out the window. The water crashed high on the bridge as t
hey started across, the engineer slowing the train. Would the bridge hold with so much water pushing against it? He shook his head and ignored the nervous tremor in his stomach. Of course it would. What did he know about bridges?

  He stared ahead. At least they were almost to the station. He was ready to get out of this sweat box and find Addie. He‘d been rehearsing and debating on what to say to her. Your father wants you to come back. Your father is sorry. He snorted. He could stop with that last bit of thought and leave it. But no. Samson was her father, he had to be respectful. What he really wanted to say was, I love you, Addie. Marry me now, today. Then we’ll go back to Chance.

  The day he kissed her, something inside of him knew that she cared about him, even though he denied it then. She had clung to him for that brief moment as if she had finally found what she wanted. But she had so much sadness and hurt inside of her that she couldn’t accept her feelings. Circumstances had taught her to be cautious. And how could she think otherwise after what had happened to her in England, and now with her father?

  The whistle blew as the locomotive pulled into the station. Mark pulled his bag from beneath the seat. It was time to find her.

  ***

  “No sir, it’s not hard to find. In fact you would have passed it on your way in. Hard to miss something that tall. Kinda draws your attention.”

  Mark shook his head. He hadn’t paid much attention to the scenery. He watched as the man pulled a paper from behind the counter and began to draw a map, labeling the street names.