“By all means, lead the way.”
Her sensed her sarcasm but didn’t acknowledge it. If she wanted to make snide comments he’d allow that, for now. It would appear neither of them were pleased about this union and yet here he was, marrying again. If it could have gone any other way…
But no, his hands were tied. He was a slave to his company and, as far as his future business associate still knew, he was married. That persona needed to be upheld if he were to gain favorable ground.
The silence between them stretched on and he wondered if he should say something. He ground his molars instead. This was going to be more difficult than he thought. Just looking at her made him think of Maddie…
No, he couldn’t go there. Her death was over a year ago and they had moved on. They’d had to.
Mercifully, the church came into view and he was distracted by the process of marrying the woman he’d paid an arm and a leg for. He cringed. When he thought of it like that it made him feel like a scoundrel. Some man who had to buy a bride. But then again, her brother had said she was happy to come be his wife.
Looking down at her, her light brown hair framing an oval shaped face with ruby red lips and eyes downcast, she didn’t look happy.
They said their vows in a quiet way that would almost be considered reverent but was more likely due to the fact that neither of them were very happy about this situation. It would have been almost comical if he hadn’t been the one living it out.
Then, when they had signed the documents making everything legal they set out for his wagon out front.
He helped her in, feeling a strange sensation as her hand rested light in his, and then he climbed in next to her.
“Do you live far out of town?” Those were the first words she’d spoken to him aside from their vows in the past few hours.
“Not too far.”
They rode on in silence until he turned down the long dirt road that led to his ranch.
“Oh,” she said. He knew she was surprised at the grandeur of his house. He felt the prick of pride but squashed it down. None of this would matter if he didn’t sufficiently impress Thomas Sullivan.
When he pulled up in front of the house a ranch hand came over immediately to take care of the wagon and he led Belle inside. She stood just inside the doorway and stared around at the large, lodge style entryway. It was meant to impress and he could see that it had sufficiently done its job. She was stunned.
Then the sound of feet running his way drew his full attention. “There you are, Minnie-girl.” He swung is daughter up into his arms then turned to face Belle.
The look of complete shock on her face struck him as odd. In the interest of full disclosure, he’d told her brother John all about his daughter. He assumed the man had relayed that information, but the look on her face said otherwise.
“Let me guess, your brother also didn’t tell you about Minnie.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. Then, recovering quickly, she looked up at Minnie still in his arms, “Hello. My name is Belle.”
“I’m Minnie. I’m six.” She grinned and he could see his daughter’s magic smile was already working wonders on Belle’s heart.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“Remember how I told you that Belle would be coming to stay with us?”
“Yes,” Minnie said.
“Well, here she is.”
He put Minnie down and turned to Belle. “We can discuss…logistics later. But for now I need to go check in with my men. Minnie and Cook can show you around.”
Belle nodded but didn’t say anything so he turned and left, hearing her strike up conversation with his daughter.
The familiar hurt entered his chest again, but he squelched it. Belle wasn’t Maddie and this wasn’t the past. He had to remember that.
Chapter 2
Belle couldn’t sleep. She’d laid down for a nap earlier in the day while Minnie rested and now it had completely thrown off her schedule. How was she supposed to adjust to a new life like this when so much continued to be a surprise? At one point she had imagined the best-case scenario. That the man she would marry would be kind, understanding, and have a desire to get to know her. Now she realized she had built up too many hopes.
Slipping from the covers her stomach grumbled. Dinner had been tense with Dennis arguing with Cook about something inconsequential as she’d tried to distract Minnie. Was Dennis always in a bad mood? Either way, she was hungry now. Maybe a trip to the kitchen was in order.
She pulled a shawl tightly around her shoulders and opened the door. It creaked a little but not in a way that would wake anyone, thankfully. Then she walked down the hall and made her way downstairs to the kitchen.
Finding a loaf of bread, she cut off a hunk and slathered butter over it, relishing the yeasty, sweet taste. She looked around the kitchen and then wandered back into the front room. The vaulted ceiling was something she’d never seen before and she still couldn’t get over the shock of it.
Everything about this house—about Dennis—screamed out for attention. It wasn’t in a completely arrogant, opulent way, but she could tell that appearances meant everything to him.
She finished off the bread and dusted her crumb-encrusted fingers on her nightgown. One last look around the entryway confirmed her earlier thoughts and she was about to head back upstairs when she saw a door on the other side of the room that she’d missed. Cook and Minnie had given her the formal tour but they hadn’t showed her this room.
Curiosity pushing her forward, she crossed the room and came to the door. She reached out a hand but hesitated. This was her house now, but it didn’t feel like it. Not yet, and not with Dennis’s attitude being what it was, but he shouldn’t scare her. He was her husband wasn’t he?
In a stroke of boldness, she reached out and opened the door. Immediately she was greeted by the sight of dark leather, a large desk strewn with papers, and shelves and shelves of books. It was stunning and caused Belle’s heart to race. She just wanted to look through all of the books and pick one out to read in the cushy looking leather chair, but she held back, still staying at the entrance to the room.
It wasn’t her room. In fact, it looked as if it were Dennis’s study. Still, she took one step inside and looked around to the other spaces she hadn’t seen from the doorway. The books lined the other sides of the room as well, nearly encasing the whole room with leather bound tomes.
Then, to her right, she saw something that made her stomach drop. It was a framed photo sitting on a shelf with several items strewn around it. The thing that caused most of her surprise though, was the striking resemblance of her and the woman in the photo. They could be sisters they looked so much alike.
“What are you doing?”
Startled, Belle jumped around clutching her hands to her chest while letting out a strangled cry of surprise. “Dennis!”
“What are you doing in my study?”’
“I—I didn’t—I’m s-sorry—” she stammered, not sure what question to answer first or what to say to calm him down. His cheeks were red and his dark brown eyes blazed.
“Get out!” he threw his arm behind him, finger pointed. “Now!”
“I’m sorry,” she said, nearly running past him.
“You are never to come in here,” he said, his gaze searing her to the core.
“I didn’t know. I’m s-sorry. R-really!”
“Just go,” he said, his shoulders dropping and his voice now sounding more tired than angry.
She didn’t need him to tell her again and went scurrying up the stairs to her bedroom, her heart pounding in her chest. She didn’t stop until she was safely behind her door with the lock engaged.
One thing was abundantly clear—she was terrified of her new husband.
***
Dennis slumped into the chair behind his desk, resting his head in his hands. He stayed like that for a few moments before pushing to his feet to pace the small space. How dare she enter i
nto his private quarters? To look through his things? To look at Maddie’s picture…
He walked over to it, picking up the heavy frame and smoothing his thumb over the metal ridges. His Maddie. She was so beautiful, so lovely, so completely innocent and sweet.
As it always did when he thought about her, his heart hurt in his chest like it was physically being broken in half. He still felt he rawness of the wound like she had died yesterday. Sometimes he wondered if it was because he hadn’t—couldn’t—let her go, not really at least. But he didn’t want to think about it. In fact, he wouldn’t let himself spend time thinking about it.
He knew that was a foolish, child’s response, but he was afraid that, should he spend too much time thinking about her loss, the answer of what to do about his feelings would be something he didn't like. Dennis wasn’t ready to admit to himself that she was really gone and he needed to let go.
Instead, he kept her image here in his study and, at times, he would still talk to her as if she were just perching on the edge of his armchair, interrupting his reading like she’d often done.
“I miss you, my love,” he said, brushing a soft kiss to the picture.
He knew she was gone. Deep down he’d come to terms with that, but he hadn’t liked what that meant for his own life. It was much easier to focus on work, building up the ranch, and putting all other matters aside.
He turned away from her picture and sunk into the leather chair, relishing the comfort and familiar embrace it offered him. He ran his hand over a volume sitting on the table beside the chair. The latest book he was reading, yet he hadn’t had much time recently.
His mind conjured up the awe he’d observed in Belle’s eyes when she took in his books. It seemed they had at least one thing in common. But then her gaze had turned to Maddie’s picture and the force of reality had hit into him. She was seeing into one of the most personal places he had and he hardly knew her.
Granted, he’d overreacted, he realized that now, but he had to make sure she didn’t wander back into his private room. He needed this space.
Closing his eyes, he thought about the reality that he was married again—this time to a stranger—and how he wasn’t sure what to do with Belle. She was sweet and kind, even beautiful, but she was a total stranger. The fact that he was technically using her for his own gains grated on his conscience, and yet he saw it as offering her things too. She wouldn’t want for anything, he could promise her that much. But what else?
He felt the guilt weighting on him more heavily. What had she given up to come here? His dealings with her brother John had at first seemed like the perfect arrangement. All details would be taken care of by John and she would just arrive, marry Dennis, and they would be on their way to…what? He hadn’t thought this far ahead really.
“What were you thinking, man?” he asked himself in the stillness of the space.
Running a hand over his face he remembered the deal he needed to close with Thomas Sullivan. Belle would be crucial in that deal even though she didn’t realize that yet. He would need to talk to her about it, coach her on what to say. His stomach ached at the thought of being so close to her and sharing personal details with her, but if his plans were going to work they would need to play the part.
He rested his head back, eyes still closed, and gave in to the fact that he would need to spend more time with Belle…his wife.
Chapter 3
Belle was furious. “You want me to play a part in all of this?” She stood in the middle of the sitting area, the vaulted ceilings echoing back her words making her sound even angrier, if that were possible.
“You’re not listing. This is probably one of the most crucial deals for the ranch—no, for our family.”
She wanted to slap him in the face. He dared to use the word “family” when he knew that they were nothing of the sort. Then again, she couldn’t say anything to him, knowing that she had done her own part to completely avoid him as much as possible.
Thankfully Minnie took up a lot of her time and she had bonded to the sweet child immediately. But he couldn’t seriously consider them a family when he either worked or was gone all hours of the day and spent the rest of the time brooding or in that study of his. He was likely looking at a picture of his wife. The same wife whose death he hadn’t bothered to mention to his potential partners.
What kind of man lost his wife and kept working, not even bothering to tell people she was gone?
“No.” She crossed her arms, her gaze unwavering.
“No?” He looked incredulous.
“No. I won’t lie for you.”
“Don’t think of it as lying,” he said, pacing back and forth now. “Just…not telling them that you’re my second wife.”
She couldn’t believe this. “A lie by omission is still a lie.”
He blew out a frustrated breath and paced back toward her. His hands lightly griped her arms so that she was forced to look into his face. The intensity of his gaze was overwhelming, his dark brown eyes boring into hers and his brow furrowed in concentration.
“Look,” his voice softened, “I understand that you don’t want to lie. I don’t want to ask you to do that either. But I will introduce you as my wife—a truth—and that will likely be the end of the conversation. Will that suffice? Or will you feel the need to blurt out that Maddie is dead and gone?”
The lightness of his words was betrayed by the look in his eyes. It wasn't anger she saw there but hurt. Deep hurt.
“I—” she paused, trying to formulate her thoughts but he was so close and his hands were warm on her arms, causing her to be distracted.
“Please.” His tone was gentle, kind even and it was her undoing.
“All right.”
“Thank you,” he said, dropping his hands from her arms and taking a step back. “They’ll be here in a few days. I’ll have Cook fill you in on what I’ve got planned but you shouldn’t have to do much with us if you don’t want.”
She bit her lip, not responding. He continued, not needing her for the conversation.
“I’ve got a lot of plans but it will be the dinner at the end of the week that I hope will truly seal the deal. If you can watch out for Minnie that would be a great help.” Then, turning to her he stopped on his way out of the room and said, “Thank you.” Then he was gone.
Her stomach constricted as she watched him go. He was such a confusing man. One minute he acted like an overbearing monster, the next she saw the true depth of his emotions etched in those dark eyes. He tried so hard to hide the pain, but it practically cried out without him even realizing it.
Minnie bounded into the room, a grin on her face. “Will you play with me?”
The little girl was adorable and Belle didn’t even need to think about her answer. “Of course!”
When the girl slipped her hand into Belle’s and tugged her outside, the heaviness of their prior conversation sloughed off and she felt lightness return to her. Everything would work out just fine. At least she prayed it would.
***
Dennis dug his heels into the horses’ side spurring him on. He’d just about made it to the outer perimeter of the land that ran along the river and, so far, what he’d seen looked good. He’d had his men working on shoring up the back pasture fence but it was clear to him, and would hopefully be clear to his potential backers, that his land was fertile and perfect for ranching.
If he could just make it through the end of this week, then everything would be all right. At least he hoped that was the case. But he couldn’t help feeling as if this meeting had him acting a bit shortsightedly.
The memory of the feeling of Belle’s thin arms beneath his hands, her close proximity to him, and her impossibly wide, blue eyes captured his attention. He directed the horse toward the river for a drink, but his mind stayed with her.
She was his wife. He wanted to treat her as a momentary person in their lives, his and Minnie’s, but that simply wasn’t true. He groaned with the r
ealization that he hadn’t thought this out long term.
“Dennis!” The shout behind him drew his attention back from where his horse had ducked its head to drink in the cool river water.
“What is it, Ralph?” Immediately he was on alert, thinking something had gone wrong. That something wouldn't be ready for the visit.
“Hold yer horses,” Ralph said, laughing. “Nothing’s wrong.”
Dennis felt the fist of anxiety loosen in his chest. “You can’t do that to me, man.” He forced a laugh. “I’ve got too much riding on this visit.”
“I know, sorry about that. I just wanted to check in and see what else you needed me to do. I was riding along the south ridge earlier and things are looking good there too. Thought I’d come out and ride the rest of your route with ya so we could talk.”
Dennis felt even more of his anxiousness ease. Ralph was a few years older than Dennis but one of the hardest workers he knew. He would trust him, and his ranch, to this man in a heartbeat.
“I’m just circling the corpse of trees and then heading back. Let’s go.”
The two men directed their horses down the well-worn path, easy in silence for the first few minutes. Dennis let the beauty of nature that surrounded them sink in to his soul. Maddie had always said that God spoke to her through nature…he was beginning to think she had been right. Though he wasn’t exactly sure what God was trying to say.
“You look like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders, boss.” Ralph kept his gaze ahead, but Dennis knew he was paying closer attention than it appeared.
“This visit. It’s just very important.”
“Right.” He stretched out the word and Dennis knew another question was coming. “It wouldn’t also have anything to do with that new wife of yours, would it?”
Dennis opened his mouth to say no, but stopped. He would be lying if he said that Belle wasn’t on his mind causing him to be distracted. She was pretty, stubborn, inquisitive, and looked so much like Maddie…
[2016] A Bride's Journey Page 30
