by Regina Scott
Meredith gasped. “Walk! I cannot be expected to walk all the way into town from the harbor.”
“It isn’t so far,” Nora assured her. She waved toward the hillside rising above them. “That’s all there is.”
Charles and Meredith exchanged looks of dismay. Perhaps they would be concerned enough to turn tail and leave on the first ship out. Hiding the hope that thought engendered, Nora motioned to the waiting teamster to come take her family’s belongings.
“Mr. Mercer will carry your things up to the house,” she explained as the fellow pushed past them with a nod. “He’s the older brother of the Mr. Mercer who escorted us here. You remember him.”
“Indeed,” Charles assured her, giving Asa’s brother a sharp look. “He was quite persuasive about the opportunities to be found in Seattle.” He returned his gaze to the hillside, clearly dubious.
Nora managed to lead them up the hill to Third Avenue, where most of the finer houses had been built. She’d found one owner ready to leave the area and willing to lease his framed home to her family. Now she climbed up to the wide front porch and let Charles and Meredith into the house. She thought it might suit them. The walls were papered and hung with pictures, the heavy wood furniture covered in floral. She fancied she could already smell the perfumed powder, essence of roses, that Meredith favored.
But of course, nothing was good enough. Charles did not appreciate the view down to Puget Sound. “If I wanted to look at water, I would have moved to Boston.”
Meredith was certain the house was too small for her purposes. “How am I to entertain with a single parlor? And I don’t know where you think you will sleep, Nora, with only one bedchamber.”
“I suppose we could put a pallet on the floor of the attic,” Charles mused.
“No need,” Nora said. “I have my own room at the ladies’ boardinghouse.”
“And do you expect us to wait for you to arrive each morning?” Meredith exclaimed. “Honestly, you are so impractical.”
By the time a knock sounded on the door that afternoon, Nora was worn-out from placating them. She couldn’t help beaming at the sight of Simon on the porch. He was dressed for work, bulky brown coat open at the throat to reveal a red-and-blue-plaid wool shirt over red flannels. His thick wool pants were tucked into heavy boots. At least he took the trouble to knock the worst of the mud off his feet before following her into the house.
“You are a sight for sore eyes,” she told him. “Please, come meet my brother and sister-in-law.”
Meredith and Charles were seated on the overstuffed chairs at opposite ends of the parlor, her brother by the multipaned window, his wife nearest the stone hearth. Charles had the Puget Sound Weekly Nora had left him open before him, his brows drawn down as he studied the news. Meredith had already instructed Nora in the unpacking of her things and was taking dainty stitches in the pillow cover she had been embroidering for as long as Nora could remember. Like everything else she did, Meredith put on a good show while managing to accomplish very little.
“May I have your attention?” Nora asked.
Neither looked up. “Not now, Nora,” Charles said. “Shouldn’t you be seeing to dinner?”
“She has no concept of time,” Meredith complained. “I suppose it is too much that you would consider our needs after we took the trouble of traveling thousands of miles to care for you in this wretched wilderness, with no friends and a thorough lack of opportunity for your talented brother.”
Each word felt like a nail pounding into her heart, but Nora held her ground. “I’m sorry to inconvenience you, Meredith. But you see, I got married.”
She knew she should not take such delight in the way Meredith’s head snapped up and her pretty pink lips gaped.
Charles lowered his paper at last, blinking at Nora and Simon as if bewildered that they’d appeared in his parlor. “Married, you say? What nonsense is this?”
“It’s hardly nonsense. You can’t miss him standing here beside me.” Nora looked pointedly to Simon, who seemed a bit bewildered himself. She supposed Charles and Meredith might have that effect on people. Still, he stepped forward and nodded to her brother and sister-in-law.
“Mr. Underhill, ma’am. I’m Simon Wallin, and I had the honor of marrying your sister last week.”
Now Charles stared, his face washing white and his hands shaking so hard the paper rattled. Whatever reaction Nora had been expecting, it was hardly that.
Meredith recovered first, rising from her chair. “I know you are given to odd fancies, Nora, but this is too much. How could you leave your brother out of what must surely be the most important day of your life?”
Her guilt rose like the tide on Puget Sound. She would not allow it to swamp her this time. “It was expedient.”
“Expedient?” Meredith clutched her beribboned chest. “To ignore your family, run off with some stranger? Expedient?”
This was not going as she’d hoped. Again she glanced at Simon for help.
“We are properly wed,” he assured them both. “You can ask Mr. Bagley at the Brown Church. He performed the ceremony.”
Charles climbed to his feet, shoving the paper away. “You can be sure I shall, sir. No clergyman has the right to perform a marriage ceremony for an impressionable young woman without consulting her family. And I hold you responsible as well, turning her head with your promises, your flowery phrases.”
The picture of the practical, stern-faced Simon Wallin swaying her with flowery words brought a giggle to her lips. She hastily clamped them together to keep it from coming out.
“Your sister is a grown woman, of age under Washington territorial law,” Simon informed Charles. “She can marry whom she likes.”
“Of age?” Meredith sputtered. She pointed a finger at Simon. “Oh, I see your game, sir. You think because she comes from a good family she must have a considerable dowry. Well, let me tell you—”
“Meredith.” Charles’s tone cut off the rest of her bile. “Please, allow me to handle this.”
Meredith shut her mouth and threw herself back into her seat, sending her embroidery tumbling to the carpet. She looked daggers at Nora, as if this was all her fault.
For once, she was right.
Her brother came forward to meet Simon, raising his head in the process, which only brought him to the tip of Simon’s firm chin. “You can see the trouble you’ve caused, sir. I demand that you annul this sham of a marriage immediately.”
Fear leaped up. Could they do that? Simon had claimed that only the territorial legislature could issue a divorce. She hadn’t considered what would happen if her brother pushed for an annulment. Would Simon be able to keep his claim if she was no longer his wife?
Simon, however, did not back down. He took Nora’s hand, his grip sure, strong. “I will do no such thing,” he told Charles. “Nora knows her mind, and so do I. I called on you as a courtesy. Whether she wishes to continue to associate with you is up to her.”
Oh, but he was masterful! She’d chosen well when she’d asked him to marry her. She glanced at her brother, to find his brows once more furrowed, as if he hadn’t expected an argument and wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
Meredith brought both hands to her face and bowed her head. “Oh,” she moaned, her voice coming out muffled. “That you would take our dear Nora away. I do not know whether I can bear it.” Her shoulders shook with her sobs.
How could she be so distressed? She scarcely abided Nora. She’d been positively eager to send her off to Seattle. This had to be an act. But why?
Charles evidently thought it sincere. “See what you’ve done?” he said with an audible sigh. “Calm yourself, Meredith, dear. I will have words with Mr. Wallin. Kindly take Nora to the door and make your farewells.”
Her farewells? He was going to let her go! Nora wanted to gr
ab both of Simon’s hands and dance around the room in pure joy, but she knew that would only give away the game. Instead, she squeezed his hand for encouragement, trusting him to withstand any of her brother’s blandishments, and turned for the entryway.
The sound of a sniff behind her told her Meredith was following.
“Oh, take heart, Meredith,” she said as they entered the shadowy space at the front of the house. “Think how much happier you’ll be without the burden of caring for me.”
Meredith sniffed again as she took down Nora’s cloak from the brass hook at the side of the door. “It was a burden I gladly bore, I assure you. Right now, I can only pity you, Nora.”
Nora frowned, accepting her gray cloak from Meredith’s elegant fingers. “Why would you pity me? I married a good man.”
“I can certainly see that you believe so,” Meredith said, her hands fluttering. “I can imagine how exciting it must have been to have such a commanding fellow propose, but you must have known that it wasn’t love motivating him.”
Of course it wasn’t love, but she wasn’t about to hammer the point home. “I am satisfied with Mr. Wallin’s intentions,” she replied.
“How nice that you are now a better judge of character,” Meredith said, her voice verging on a sneer. “I remember another young man you thought was serious, but alas he never came up to scratch.”
She would bring up Mr. Winnower. Nora shook out her cloak and slipped it over her dress even as she pushed away the memory. “I will always be grateful you and Charles took me in, Meredith. But I’ve made my own way here, and I no longer need your help.”
Meredith reached out a hand to smooth back a tendril of Nora’s hair. The touch would have been tender if not for the hard look in Meredith’s eyes. “You have no understanding of the world, Nora. A man says he’ll marry you, take care of you, and off you go, with no thought of the consequences, no idea of the damage he could do.”
Damage? Despite her hopes, a shiver went through her. She’d thought Simon Wallin a good man, had believed in him because Catherine and Rina had married his brothers and Maddie had spoken highly of him. But what did she actually know about Simon? Would he hurt her? Treat her unkindly?
“I cannot sit idly by when your very life is in danger,” Meredith continued as if determined to press her case. “Did you not see the squint in his cold eyes, those brutish hands?” She lowered her voice as if suspecting Simon might be hiding just around the corner even now, waiting to pounce. “Nora, I fear for you if you go with him.”
Nora squared her shoulders. “I’m not going with him. I shall live in town. He will live on his claim.”
“Indeed.” The sweetness of Meredith’s tone warned Nora she had made a mistake, but she wasn’t sure how. “What a quaint arrangement. However did you convince him to agree?”
By giving him one hundred and sixty acres.
Now she just needed to know that he would keep his part of the bargain and stop her brother from ruining her life.
* * *
“What do you want from me?” Charles asked Simon the moment the ladies left the room. “I warn you, I do not take well to blackmail.”
The man was insufferable. Did he really think that Simon and Nora’s marriage had anything to do with harming him?
“I want nothing from you,” Simon told him. “Your sister is of age, as am I. We married. She is mine now to protect.” He met Charles’s gaze head-on. The man had gray eyes, like Nora, but they were not nearly as warm and welcoming as his sister’s. In fact, right now, they swam with tears.
Tears?
“Do you have a sister, Mr. Wallin?” he asked. “Would you want to learn of her marriage in this cold manner?”
Not at all. He couldn’t imagine how he’d feel if Beth had walked into Wallin Landing with a stranger on her arm claiming him as her husband. But Nora wasn’t Beth.
“Perhaps you should ask yourself why your sister chose to marry without informing you,” he countered.
“I don’t have to ask,” Charles said, his voice as heavy as his look. “I know. She is simple, unaware of life’s dangers. She trusts too easily. I have done all I can to shelter her.”
Simon frowned. From what he could see, Nora might be a bit whimsical, with unexpected giggles and hearts embroidered on her sleeves, but she did not appear to have a diminished mental capacity. Was that how her family saw her? Was that how they treated her? Small wonder she longed to escape.
“Nora will want for nothing,” Simon promised him. “I earned the patent on my original claim, and I registered another for my wife. I can provide for her, should she need it.”
“Well, certainly she will need it,” Charles insisted. “You didn’t expect me to hand you a dowry, did you?”
Why did they both pluck on that string? Perhaps dowries were important where they came from, but not in frontier Seattle.
“I don’t want your money, or hers,” Simon told him. “All I demand is that you treat her with respect and consideration. Do that, and you will have no trouble with me.”
“Yes, well...” Charles smoothed back his hair with one hand. “I have some demands myself, sir. You will bring her to see us at least once a week, and you will see to it that she accepts our invitations to dinner.”
“Nora can see you if she likes,” Simon returned. “But I won’t have time to come in weekly.”
Charles’s face fell. “Live that far out, do you?” He sighed. “Oh, but I cannot like it. She’s never dealt with farms and animals and that sort of thing. She’ll be completely out of her element, and that is never good, let me tell you. No, you must move into town, for her sake.”
Simon stared at him. Was he truly so selfish he would give no thought to Simon’s plans, his family’s needs or Nora’s hopes? He wasn’t sure how to respond.
Meredith spoke for him as she sailed back into the room with Nora right behind her. He noticed she hadn’t fastened her cloak. Was she uncertain as to whether she was leaving?
“No need for concern, Charles,” Nora’s sister-in-law announced. “Nora tells me she and Mr. Wallin do not intend to live as man and wife. She will be staying in town while he returns to his claim. We can go on as we always have.” She came to her husband’s side and gave his arm a squeeze. “Isn’t that good news?”
Charles seemed to grow a little taller. “Excellent. Nora can stay with us, then. You can visit when you like, Mr. Wallin, but do provide a few days’ notice first. Only practical considering our busy schedules.”
Simon felt as if he’d turned the page in the book he’d been reading only to find his adventure novel had become a farce. “Nora?” he couldn’t help asking. “Is this what you want?”
She opened her mouth, but once again Meredith spoke first. “Of course it’s what she wants. We are her family. We know what she needs. We understand her.”
Nora raised her head, her gray eyes solemn, then crossed to Simon’s side. “No, you have never understood me. I don’t need you to take care of me. I took care of myself all the way to Seattle.”
“Now, now,” Charles said. “I know it must have seemed that way to you, but I paid Mr. Mercer to take care of you while Meredith and I settled our affairs in Massachusetts.”
Nora blanched. “What? He said nothing.”
“As it should be,” Meredith said with a nod. “We wanted you to have a taste of the freedom that has been denied you because of your tragic constraints.”
Nora was curling in on herself again. Simon wasn’t sure whether to intervene or merely pick her up and carry her away from them.
“I, for one, worried about you every moment we were parted,” her brother confessed. “Now that we have been reunited, nothing will stand in the way of me doing my duty.” He clapped his hands together. “There! It’s all settled. Thank you for stopping by, Mr. Wallin. S
afe trip home.”
It was like trying to stop a falling fir. The tree was coming down, breaking everything around it as it crashed. He refused to allow Nora to be crushed under the weight of their assumptions. He owed her that at least.
“Nora?” he pressed. “Do you want to stay with them?”
She gazed up at him, her eyes stormy, then glanced at her brother and sister-in-law, standing there with delight stamped on their faces.
“No,” she said. “I want to get as far away from them as I can. I’m coming to live with you, out at Wallin Landing.”
Chapter Four
Nora knew she was changing their bargain. She had made it very clear to Simon that marrying her would not affect his day-to-day life. But what else was she to do but beg to come to Wallin Landing with him? Charles and Meredith were even more determined to control her than she’d feared. Her only hope was putting distance between her and them, just as she’d done when she’d left with Asa Mercer.
But first she had to convince Simon that moving out to Wallin Landing was a good idea.
As Charles and Meredith protested her decision, she focused on her husband. Simon’s eyes narrowed until she could barely see their color. His lean body was tensed, as if she had dealt him a blow and he expected another. She didn’t know the words to say, the facts to offer that would ease his mind.
She simply laid her hand on his arm and said, “Please, Simon?”
After how hard she’d worked to convince him to agree to their Christmas wedding in the first place, she hardly expected instant capitulation now. But she saw the moment he reached his decision, for the green deepened as his eyes widened, and he snapped a nod.
“Fetch your things,” he said. “We’ll leave now.”
She didn’t know whether to hug him in thanks or run to do as he bid. Of course, besides her cloak, she really didn’t have any of her things at the house.
“See here,” Charles started, his chest puffing out.
