by Rose Gordon
Gray stared at the man, so much more of today’s events now making sense and yet, just as much still didn’t. “Was this entire thing a ploy?”
“Not exactly,” Colonel Lewis said. “After you and Jack disappeared from the rounders game, I tried to keep General Davis occupied in my office to give Jack and Ella a bit of privacy before being interrupted. While we were chatting, we overheard Soaring Eagle shouting at General Ridgely. General Davis excused himself and I didn’t see him again until he arrived at my house to have dinner and he didn’t say a word then about his plan to announce you were engaged to Michaela.”
Gray closed his eyes and leaned the back of his head against the side of Colonel Lewis’ log cabin. Did he have a choice not to marry her now? Not really. He could try once again to convince General Ridgely he was innocent, but Colonel Lewis was right, he’d have a better chance of being believed and treated fairly if he was married. He almost groaned. Married to Michaela? Could he do that? She was certainly appealing to the eyes with her curly, auburn hair, deep green eyes, and generous feminine curves in all the right spots. As her father had pointed out earlier, finding a passion for her would not be a problem. But what of the rest? How would they get along in the evening hours? Would they just stare at their plates during dinner and tolerate each other’s presence for the rest of their days on this earth?
Did it even matter? Wasn’t that a better fate than doing seven years of hard labor?
He took a deep breath and nodded to the colonel. “I suppose I’ll need to go in there and allow General Davis to announce our engagement.”
“I would if I were in your position,” General Davis said, peeking his head outside the door, a triumphant gleam in his green eyes. “Although, I’d probably ask the young lady in question if she’ll marry me first.”
Gray forced himself to meet the General’s eyes. He knew he needed to thank the man, but the words were too bitter on his tongue. He just couldn’t. Not with everything that lay between them. “And if she says no?”
He shrugged. “She might surprise you yet.”
Chapter Five
Michaela sighed with relief. Dinner was over, and true to his word, Pa hadn’t made any kind of wedding announcement. He’d left a few minutes ago with Jack and Uncle George to speak with some fellow named General Ridgely. As soon as they returned, she’d claim to have a headache and she’d be able to go to bed without worry.
Jack came in and resumed his seat, then Pa followed, opting to stand by the door, presumably to wait for Uncle George, or Colonel Lewis as his men preferred to call him. She’d never be able to call him that though, she’d forever remember him as one of the captains under her father’s command when she was but a young, carefree girl.
Uncle George came in and took his seat, not making eye contact with anyone. Odd.
A moment later, her father joined them.
Trying not to look overeager and give herself away, she said, “Pa, we were up very early this morning, perhaps we could finish visiting tomorrow?”
“Are you saying you need some rest, Michaela?” Pa asked.
Michaela tucked a tendril of her dark hair behind her ear. “Well, I don’t mean to sound so rude, but I am quite tired and suspect I’ll need some rest for tomorrow.”
“I see,” Pa said slowly. “Tomorrow will be quite an important day, won’t it?”
She narrowed her eyes on him. He didn’t plan to renege on his agreement with her, did he?
Silence fell over the room. She casually lifted her right index finger up to her lips and moved it across. To an onlooker, the gesture meant nothing. Between them, it meant everything. Most people might not care about Pa’s secret indiscretion, but she did and so would most everyone in this room who had been led to believe a lie. She’d promised him she’d never tell, and hadn’t ever breathed a word—not even to her sisters—but heaven help her, if her father reneged, she’d hold nothing back.
He held her gaze, looking unaffected as the silence stretched in front of them, broken a moment later by a knock at the door.
“Who could be visiting now?” Aunt Lucille said, easing the tension in the room.
Father sat back in his chair and sighed and for her part, Michaela did the same.
“Mrs. Lewis,” a deep voice drawled from the door, sending chills up Michaela’s spine. What was Gray doing here? He walked inside, quiet and drawn up to every inch of his six-foot height.
She gave her head a simple shake, hoping he’d take that to mean that everything was fine just like she’d promised it would be.
He seemed not to notice her as he walked inside. “Colonel Lewis, Jack, Ella,” he greeted, giving a nod toward each as he said their name. He turned his eyes toward her. “Might I talk to you outside for a moment, Michaela?”
“I—I don’t think so.” She cocked her head to the side and gave a pointed look at her father. What was wrong with Gray? Didn’t he know his presence might make her father do something rash?
“Do you have something to say to Michaela, son?” Pa asked.
Had she not been staring at Gray she might have missed the way he flinched at the way Pa had addressed him. Pa had often called the young men about the fort ‘son’ or ‘boy’, but none had ever seemed as rattled by it as Gray appeared. Or perhaps he was more worried that Pa’s word choice was intentional, to remind Gray that he’d been forced to ask Pa for Michaela’s hand and had been granted permission.
“I do have something to say,” Gray said, his voice not giving anything away. “Privately.”
“I don’t think you’re going to get your chance,” Pa said with a slight chuckle. “She just said she wouldn’t go outside with you.”
“Yes, I heard her,” Gray said tonelessly, his gaze fixed on Michaela. “It’s important.”
She bit her lip. If she left with him, her father could call foul on her being alone with a man after sunset at the fort. Even if it was just to the porch. “Can’t it wait?”
“No.”
“Then say it here,” her father encouraged, punctuating his words by slapping his open palm on the armrest of his chair.
“All right.” Gray swallowed visibly, his nostrils flared and his hands balled into fists at his sides. “Michaela, will you marry me?”
The blood rushed to Michaela’s toes and she had the strangest sensation that the floor had just fallen out beneath her and she was falling into an abyss. “Wh-what did you say?” Surely she hadn’t heard him correctly.
“I believe the boy asked if you’d marry him,” Pa said with a chuckle. “Isn’t that what you heard, Jack?”
“Yes, sir,” Ella’s husband said in a solemn tone. “That’s what I heard.”
“Well, don’t keep the boy waiting, Michaela, give him your answer.”
Michaela licked her lips; then again. But it was no use, the inside of her mouth was just as dry as the outside. When had this come about? Earlier he’d accused her and her father of scheming against him, but now it was quite clear he was the schemer and she was the one who fell victim to his trap. She dug her fingers into her thick skirt to keep from trembling as her mouth moved to form her answer, one she didn’t want to give but had promised she would if he asked. “Y-yes.”
***
The relief that Gray thought would course through him at hearing her answer never came and the knots of unease in his stomach only tightened. If he didn’t know better, he’d think Michaela was on the verge of tears—and not ones borne of joy. Her face was red and her green eyes lacked the sparkle he’d glimpsed earlier, replaced with the mask of hesitation she’d worn when he’d first approached her this afternoon.
Did she already know of the disgusting offense that General Ridgely had accused him of earlier? Did she believe it to be true and now she feared him? Nausea swirled within him.
He ignored the curious looks of everyone else in the room and forced his legs to carry him over to her and sank down to his haunches next to where she sat in her chair. “Michaela,” he wh
ispered. When she didn’t respond, he leaned closer and reached to take her delicate hand in his. He ran his thumb over her row of knuckles to ease her trembling. She clenched her hand; then jerked it away from him.
He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. There was no denying it now, she’d been a pawn in all of this and somehow her father had manipulated her into saying yes. If he didn’t need to marry her as a means to gain a fair trial, he’d release her of the promise she’d just given him. But he did need her.
“I’ll make this up to you,” he promised in a broken whisper next to her ear. He didn’t know how or when, but he’d make this right for her.
Chapter Six
“I will absolutely not marry that man,” Michaela burst out as soon as she and Pa were out of earshot of anyone.
“Yes, you will. The announcement has already been made.”
She furrowed her brow. “I didn’t hear any announcement.”
“It came in the form of you responding ‘yes’ when he asked you if you’d marry him.”
“You tricked me.”
“Perhaps,” he said with a lopsided shrug. “Regardless, the wedding is tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” she asked with a shaky laugh. “That’s ridiculous.”
Pa lifted a single eyebrow at her. “Would you rather marry him tonight, then?”
“No, and I’m not marrying him tomorrow, either.”
“Yes, you are. You gave your promise.”
Michaela stared at her father, dumbfounded. When she’d first been seen alone with Gray when she was fifteen and Gray was sixteen, her father had warned her against being in his presence, alone or otherwise, saying boys like him weren’t the kind girls like her should be seen with. That hadn’t kept her from finding ways to talk to him, of course. She’d just had to keep it a secret. Until… She shoved away the thought. She wouldn’t think about the past. What mattered now was her future. The very one that seemed to be slipping through her fingers.
“I don’t see why I should marry him.”
“Because you said you would and now you need to honor your promise.”
“I only agreed to say ‘yes’ to him, if he asked. I never said I’d actually marry him—”
“That’s enough,” her father snapped, cutting her words off. “I will discuss this no further with you. You will not make a liar out of yourself or me. ”
Michaela recoiled as if he’d struck her. That’s all this was about: him. He’d always been high-handed with her and her sisters, treating them like the men in the army, by shouting orders and making nearly impossible demands, without giving a thought to what they might want. She didn’t know what his sudden interest in seeing her married to Gray was about, nor did she think he’d be inclined to tell her if she were to ask.
“I don’t think he’ll make a good husband,” Michaela said at last, settling for honesty. “He—he…”
“Has done nothing to give you faith in his abilities as a husband?”
Michaela nodded slowly at her father’s softly spoken words. Gray had this way about him that was hard to describe. Dashingly handsome, he had a grin that could make a girl’s knees buckle. And he was always quick to show that grin, finding humor in everything, and always full of wit. Unfortunately, he was this way with all the girls. No matter who they were. None seemed more special to him than any of the others, and it irritated her. Actually, irritated her wasn’t the right word. It infuriated her. The way he could go from this woman to that woman without a care was maddening. He’d never be able to offer her or any woman fidelity. She’d learned this for herself the last time she’d seen him.
She sighed. “Pa, I cannot marry him and you of all people should understand why.”
Pa waved her off, saying, “Appearances can be deceiving, Michaela.”
“And so can affections,” she added under her breath, thinking of the way she’d been made a fool by her body’s traitorous response to Gray, both today and the last time they’d seen each other.
“He’ll make you a good husband.”
“He has no reason to,” she argued.
“Sure, he does. He doesn’t want to be forced to do seven years of hard labor if he doesn’t treat you right.”
***
“I hear congratulations are in order,” Wes said, grinning as he entered Gray’s room uninvited for the second time that day.
Gray pulled his shirt on and began fastening the buttons that went down the length. “You hear correctly.”
Wes pushed his hands into his pockets and leaned against the doorframe. “I also heard something else.”
“Depending on who you heard it from, you heard it correctly.”
“Is there anything I can do to help, Gray?”
“Not unless you know of a way to travel through time.”
“I’m afraid I haven’t discovered that yet.” He twisted his lips up as if he were in deep contemplation. “My grandfather once told me that if such a thing was possible that I have some relation in England who would have discovered it already.”
Gray poked out his bottom lip in an overdone frown and put his shako on his head. “How unfortunate.”
“Is there anything else I can do to help you?
“Take my night in the watchtower?”
Wes chuckled. “Not a chance.”
“Then I must be off.” He shoved his pistol in the holster and grabbed his spyglass. Truly, he didn’t mind spending the night in the watchtower. He wouldn’t be able to sleep even if he was in his bed. Might as well have some sort of distraction.
Though Wes looked reluctant and like he wanted to ask more questions, he stepped to the side and allowed Gray to leave to go do his last night of duty in the watchtower. For once he married, he wouldn’t be assigned the task again.
Thirty minutes later, Gray sighed and scrubbed his face with his fingers. What a mess he was now facing. Never had he imagined that offering women of ill-repute a few extra coins and some advice would lead to accusations of rape and a hasty marriage to the daughter of a man he hated.
Something flickered in the distance and he plucked up the spyglass next to him. He put it to his eye but didn’t see anything. He walked to another hole in the northeastern watchtower and pressed the end of his spyglass against it. Squinting, he muttered a curse and a phrase about how he wished whoever was responsible for making such small holes in the watchtower should be made to spend a night looking out for the fort through them.
“Then, he might get shot,” came a voice behind Gray.
Gray stiffened. Satisfied that what he saw off in the distance was only the moon reflecting off the river, he turned around to face General Davis. “What do you want?”
“Is that any way to speak to your future father-in-law?”
Gray released a breath. “No, sir.” He raked a hand through his black hair. “Why did you do it?”
General Davis made himself comfortable on the wooden chair that rested in the middle of the room. “I do hope you mean that in a nice way.”
“Why do you care what happens to me?” Gray forced himself to ask.
“Because I made a promise.”
“A promise,” Gray scoffed. “Are you sure you don’t mean a debt?”
“Son, I owe you no debt. As I said at the time, I am terribly sorry for your loss and my role in it all, but my remorse only goes so far. I wouldn’t give you my daughter’s hand as a peace-offering.”
Gray wasn’t sure if he believed him or not. “So instead of a peace-offering to me, you’re giving your approval for us to marry as a means to keep a promise.” He paused. “A promise to my mother, I suppose.”
General Davis nodded once.
Gray fought to keep from pursing his lips. Though he was grateful for General Davis’ intervention—yet again—he couldn’t help but think this might go too far. It wasn’t nearly as innocent or well-meaning as allowing a boy of fifteen to live at a fort under the care of a colonel so he could learn basic skills or ‘anonymously’ payi
ng for him to attend West Point. “Are you saying the promise you made to a dead woman trumps the happiness of your daughter?” His words more a statement than a question.
“Trumps it?” he echoed slowly. “I don’t know if I’d say that. But I don’t think I was so out of line. Michaela did manage to make it to a score and four unwed. She’ll be happier this way.”
“I have my doubts about that,” Gray muttered.
“Do you intend to treat her poorly, boy?” General Davis snapped.
Gray scoffed. “I don’t think I’d have to for her to be miserable.”
“What makes you say that?”
Gray sagged against the wall of the watchtower. “As you say, she is four past a score. If she hasn’t married by now, she might be just as happy to remain unwed.”
“That’s preposterous. All women wish to marry.”
“Then I’d imagine she’d have done so by now,” Gray pointed out.
“She claims she hasn’t found the right one yet.” General Davis’ voice dripped with disbelief. “I’ve suggested that she might have better luck finding a husband if she’d actually look.” He tapped his foot on the ground. “Now she doesn’t have to.”
“A fact which I’m sure she appreciates more than words can express,” Gray said dryly.
“Just so.” A moment passed. “And you?”
“I hadn’t planned to marry.” Gray ran his fingers over the cool tube of his spyglass. “But considering the circumstances, I’m appreciative she has consented to be my bride.” He twisted his lips and closed his eyes halfway. “I just have one concern.”
“Which is?”
“Is there any possibility that Michaela and I—”
“No,” General Davis barked. He cleared his throat. “Is there anything you’d like to know before your wedding, son?”
“Just that the bride will be there.”
“She will. Is there anything else you’d like to speak about?”
“Not with you.”
