Even stranger how empty his room and his bed felt without her beside him.
Until he remembered the pile of charred debris not fifty paces from the cabin.
Pa’s footsteps preceded a knock.
“What?”
He entered and closed the door. “We should talk.”
Axel was hardly in the mood, but that mood wasn’t likely to change any time soon. “Fine. What do you want to say?”
Pulling up a chair, Pa seated himself and leaned his elbows on his knees. “Elizabeth has been asking about a ride down to Bumble Bee. She doesn’t want to ask, but we should pay her fare—at least enough for the stage to Phoenix.”
“Supplies for rebuilding the barn will make cash tight enough.” Axel blew out his breath. The action made him wince. “Fine, we can manage that much. Send her all the way back to New York if that’s what she wants.”
“What do you want?”
Axel pushed up higher, stuffing another pillow behind him. “Now you’re asking me?”
“I didn’t force you to marry her. In the end it was your choice.”
“After she was already on her way. Not to mention, you led me to believe she was everything she portrayed in those letters. It was all a lie. It wasn’t a marriage. How could it have—how could it ever be?”
Pa’s arms folded across his chest, a pose Axel would have gladly taken if it didn’t hurt so badly. “Son, she’s still your wife. And I believe she has come to care for you.”
Axel forced a laugh—again, not a wise move. “In the two—three weeks she’s been here? Most of which time she used me to get revenge at you.” He shook his head and glanced back to the window. “But of course, why should I be upset with her? You started all this by using me to bring her here. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. You’ll have to be content to let me live my own life. And I plan to live it alone up here, because right now, that’s what I want.” Leaning his head back he balled his fist and pressed his thumb into the sore spot between his eyes. “I’ll take her down to Bumble Bee myself as soon as I’ve healed enough.”
Standing, Pa nodded and reached into his shirt pocket. “Why don’t we give it a week or so, then—see if you change your mind.” He withdrew Mama’s ring and placed it on the bed beside Axel before turning to go.
Axel locked his jaw as he took up the priceless heirloom, beautiful and unique like the quilt, and meant for his marriage—his wife. “I’m not changing my mind, Pa.” There was no way.
***
Elizabeth rubbed the thin white blaze on Stitches’ face. “Good bye, girl. I’ll miss you.” And so much about this place. The towering mountains, the way the sun rose over them, the cattle’s low bellows, and everything about the horses. She couldn’t return to New York after experiencing the freedom and scope of this place—no buildings to block the sun’s splendor as it slipped below the horizon. Hopefully she’d be able to make a life for herself in Phoenix. If not, she’d try California.
“We’re about ready here,” Lars called.
Axel stood beside him fussing with the straps across the horses’ backs. Anything to avoid her. His father had hitched the wagon before loading the small chest with her things into the back.
Oh, Axel. She would miss him the most.
She turned to Stitches and patted her forehead. They’d told Elizabeth she could keep the little mare, but as much as she would have loved to, she would never feel right about that after everything she’d done.
One farewell said, a ride down the mountains, and two more remained. She would have preferred to say goodbye to Axel here—though he’d gotten so good at not acknowledging her presence, he might not return it—but for reasons that eluded her, he insisted he would be the one to deliver her to the stagecoach. Probably just wanted to make sure she left.
Fortifying herself with a breath, Elizabeth strode to the wagon and Lars. He wrapped her in an embrace. “Write to us now and again and let us know how you get on.”
A nod was all she could supply. She pressed a kiss to his cheek. Over the last two weeks, all her notions of this man had been flipped on their heads. His kindness, his forgiveness, and all that gentle wisdom he’d fed her soul now gave new understanding.
“I will,” she said after a moment. “Thank you.”
Lars boosted her onto the wagon seat beside Axel. The older man looked to his son. “I still think you’re a fool for thinking you can handle this rig again so soon. You’re going to do yourself damage if you’re not careful.”
“I’ll be careful.” Axel followed his terse growl with the slap of leather lines against horse flesh. “Giddy-up.”
Lars stepped out of the way, face grim. Elizabeth waved before settling into her seat and focusing forward. She could see Axel’s granite expression out of the corner of her eye, looking as stoic as an executioner following through with a sentence. The verdict had been given, and she could not refute it. Undeniable and horribly guilty.
The next few hours passed in slow motion, not a word said between them, and yet the twig of a town appeared ahead of them all too soon. The stagecoach waited in the same place she’d seen it a month earlier. An absent driver meant he probably hurried with his dinner so they could be on their way. Elizabeth’s ribs constricted her breath better than any corset. Panic surged through her as she looked to Axel. Once she got on that stage, she would never see him again. If there was only a way to freeze time until she could figure a way to turn it back—or convince him to forgive her.
“Axel?”
He glanced at her, his lips pressed thin. To think of the times they had pressed gently to her hair as his palm warmed her shoulder. Or the couple of times they had found her mouth and silently spoken of his desire for her. He might have grown to love her if she’d let him.
“I know I said it already, and you have little reason to believe me, but I am sorry. For everything.” Except for loosing herself in his arms that one morning. If only there were a way to go back.
As usual, he answered with silence, the muscles in his jaw working. He pulled the wagon to a halt across the street from the station.
“You’re a good man, Axel Forsberg. Thank you for being the husband any girl would be lucky…blessed…to have for her own. Maybe someday…” Hope fled her. Elizabeth pivoted away and jumped down from the wagon seat, not sure what she would have said. There was no someday. She needed to get herself on that stagecoach and not look back.
Vision swimming, she hastened across the street. Then slid to a halt as the stage driver, Sam, burst through the station door. He looked from her to Axel and raised his hand in a wave, before motioning behind him. “I just left a note to be given to you next time you came into town. It’s in there with your shipment of nails and hinges. Sent word to St. Louis for you and heard back from them before I left Phoenix Wednesday. They said they’d freight out that piano you wanted, so I went ahead and sent the money you gave me for it. So there you are. Your piano is on its way.”
Elizabeth rotated to Axel, her heart both skipping a beat and plunging to her boots in the same instant. “A piano?”
He made a slight nod as he met her gaze. The blue in his eyes glistened and his expression lost some of its severity. “Yep.”
“How were you going to get a piano up to the ranch?”
“Same way we hauled up the stove. I figured a piano would be lighter.”
“But…” He was going to do that for her? Why? “When?”
He swallowed. “After we talked and you said you didn’t want to leave. That night you rode to the Coopers and set fire to their hay.”
She covered her mouth with the tips of her fingers, but it could only hide the tremble of her chin, not the welling in her eyes. Her mind told her to turn away from him, to not let him see what he did to her, but she couldn’t remove her gaze from him, even as it hazed.
“Did you mean what you said that day?” He took a step forward. “Or was it more lies. Did you want to stay?”
“I did.�
��
Another step. “And now?”
“I do.”
Three more steps and Axel’s strong hands braced her shoulders. “Tell me truthfully, Elizabeth. Don’t even color the truth.”
She held his gaze as it penetrated her. “I never want to leave you. Or hurt you again. Ever.”
***
Axel didn’t budge, or hardly blink. He wanted so much to believe her, to forgive her, but trust seemed too far out of reach. Much too far. He had no choice but to let her go. To put her on that stagecoach.
Yet so much hope shone in those pretty eyes of hers. And tears tumbled down her cheeks.
She probably just wanted to stay because she had nowhere else to go. Using her womanly wiles to weaken his resolve.
“It would never work.” He dropped his hands to his sides. “You don’t belong here.”
“Of course, I don’t.” Her voice gave a squeak as she spun away and stepped to the door of the station. She gripped the latch. “That is, I didn’t.” Slowly, Elizabeth rotated back to him, her hand wiping across her cheeks as she blinked her eyes dry. “I was angry, and a perfect mess inside. I should never have come. But I don’t regret it.”
He opened his mouth, but she held up her hand.
“I regret everything I did—the lies, the open gate, the fires.” She shook her head. “But I can’t regret coming here. I can’t regret finding God again. The feeling being wanted and cherished. Or being a part of a family.” She filled her lungs as she held his gaze. “I don’t regret falling in love with you.”
Elizabeth turned and pushed into the station office, leaving Axel to stare after her, and Sam to chuckle.
“Sounds like your marriage has been a right interesting one thus far,” the stage driver said, striding past. “Reckon it can only get better from here on out.”
Axel glanced to the man as he moved to the stagecoach. The horses looked fresh. Which meant there wasn’t much time to get a ticket bought and load Elizabeth and her luggage. But instead Axel stood in place, mulling over what life with that woman might be like from here on out. It wasn’t as though he had another barn to burn. And he’d already been shot. Couldn’t get much worse. One thing was for sure, though. After the past month, life would be rather dull without Elizabeth, and his bed was already mighty empty.
He glanced to the heavens. As much as he’d tried to hide behind his anger, Axel couldn’t deny the change the last couple weeks had wrought in Elizabeth. She wasn’t the same woman who had stepped off of that stage…but much more like the one he had been expecting to.
Axel charged through the station door. And right into Elizabeth. She hadn’t gone very far.
“Swear to me you’re telling the truth, woman,” he said bracing her arms.
Her eyes widened with such hope, he couldn’t help himself. He leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers. She stiffened momentarily before melting against him, her hands slipping around him, her fingers finding the hair at the nape of his neck. The way her lips moved against his sent a fire right through him.
Finally, he relaxed his hold enough to look down into the large brown eyes that had been his bane.
“What do you think?” she asked slightly out of breath.
“I think the pastor’s long gone from town.”
Her brow crinkled. “Why would we—?”
“Because I don’t know what the laws in Arizona Territory are for marrying under an assumed name, and I’m not taking any chances.” Axel’s wound pinched with the reminder that he was a glutton for punishment if he kept her, but there was nothing for that now. Besides, Mama would roll over in her grave if he didn’t set things right. “I’m going to marry Elizabeth Landvik right and proper.” He led her outside and toward the cavalry station. “I have an idea.”
It wasn’t long before he’d tracked down Captain Gray and stood Elizabeth before him as a simple ceremony was performed. Axel’s fingers intertwined with hers as the captain concluded his words. He gave Axel a smile. “Mr. Forsberg, you may kiss your bride.”
Axel turned Elizabeth to him. Her full lips beckoned, and he planned to start this marriage right.
Then they’d make it something beautiful.
Author’s Note
I hope you enjoyed this story. If you did, please join me on some future adventures. Here are a couple coming your way!
Prism Book Group / Inspired Publishing
Her Blue-eyed Brave (2017)
Pelican Book Group / White Rose Publishing
Hearts at War series:
The Scarlet Coat (Jan 27, 2017)
The Patriot and the Loyalist (2017)
To keep informed, pop by my website,
www.angelakcouch.com, and sign up for my newsletter or follow me on Facebook or Twitter.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to all those who have helped bring this story come to life! To my amazing critique partners who have put so much time into pouring over each sentence with me. To my enthusiastic beta readers. Rachel Pedersen, my editor. Jessica Sprong, my amazing cover artist who was able to make my vision a reality. And a huge “thank you” to all my encouraging friends and family…especially my very patient husband!
Most of all, I thank the Lord for blessing me with this story to tell.
About the Author
Angela K. Couch is an award winning author for her short stories, and a semi-finalist in ACFW's Genesis Contest. As a passionate believer in Christ, her faith permeates the stories she tells. Her martial arts training, experience with horses, and appreciation for good romance sneak in there, as well. Angela lives in Alberta, Canada with her "hero" and three munchkins. Visit her at www.angelakcouch.com, or follow on Twitter or Facebook!
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