Together Forever

by Jody Hedlund

  “And exactly how long have you known each other?” Elise asked, her sharp gaze narrowing on him, suspicion and anger turning her blue eyes to ice.

  “Less than a month,” he replied before Marianne could.

  “Well, that’s hardly long enough to know you’re ready to marry each other . . . unless of course you’ve been taking advantage of my sister.”

  Her words cut into Drew like a knife through his chest. At the same moment, Marianne gasped and started to pull away from him. He strengthened his hold before she could wiggle loose. “Marianne is not only innocent of all wiles, she’s above them. Even though I’m incredibly hard to resist, she’s done a fair job of rebuffing me.” He winked at Marianne.

  Elise’s stern frown was frozen in place, and she apparently found no humor in his jest.

  “Marianne is a much stronger woman than you realize,” he continued, once again feeling the need to come to her defense. “But even if she were weak-kneed around me, I pride myself on being a man of high moral principles. I consider it my God-given duty to cherish a woman’s virtue above my own selfish desires.”

  Jethro was taking in the whole interaction, and the enormous smile from earlier had all but disappeared. “They’re going to become my ma and pa after they get married.”

  Elise’s attention dropped to the boy, and her expression softened. She bent so she was at eye level. “And who are you?”

  “I’m Jethro,” he lisped, his freckles too numerous to count in his pale face. “Nobody else wanted me in any of the towns, so Miss Neumann and Mr. Brady said they’d become my ma and pa. Thataway I won’t have to go back to New York City and sleep in a coal box.”

  Elise’s eyes weren’t as expressive as Marianne’s, but the compassion they held was undeniable. “Of course you won’t have to go back to New York City and sleep in a coal box. We’ll find you a good home here in Quincy.”

  Jethro’s fingers tightened around Drew’s. “I don’t need a good home here in Quincy. I’m gonna stay with Mr. Brady and Miss Neumann after they get married. They already told me so.”

  Something in the boy’s tone warned of an escalating crisis if anyone tried to convince him otherwise. At least for the moment. As if sensing the same, Elise smiled at the boy and said, “I don’t suppose you like strawberry pie, do you?”

  His grasp stayed tight. Drew squeezed his hand to reassure him and at the same time hugged Marianne into the crook of his arm, unwilling to relinquish her just yet. He didn’t know when he’d have another excuse to hold her and wanted to make this time last as long as he could.

  “We had strawberries on the trip here, Jethro,” Marianne reminded him gently. “Don’t you remember? Mr. Brady gave them to me as my prize for winning the footrace?”

  Elise’s brows rose in question, yet she wisely chose to save the interrogation for another time. “I purchased strawberries just yesterday from a nearby farmer who brought transplants west with him. He has a small crop this year, but they’re delicious.”

  Jethro nodded hesitantly. “I guess I won’t get to be a farmer no more. But I won’t mind riding the trains with Mr. Brady and Miss Neumann instead.”

  As the boy took hold of the hand Elise offered and dragged Marianne away from his side, Drew watched them, unable to move. Jethro’s words ricocheted in his head. I won’t mind riding the trains.

  What kind of life could he give an orphan boy? Certainly not the stable life he would need. And he certainly couldn’t offer Marianne a stable life either. How could he—not when he was running from a past that still haunted him?

  Of course, he’d acted on a whim to go through with the challenge to marry Marianne. He probably should have resisted the urge to fall prey to her taunting him about not being the marrying type.

  She’d been right. He wasn’t that type anymore. Perhaps the reason he’d never gotten serious with another woman was because he hadn’t wanted to drag anyone into his precarious situation, thinking he’d endure the heartache all on his own. He’d never envisioned himself settling down with a wife but pictured himself as single, as serving the Lord without the encumbrances of a family.

  So what was he doing?

  His heart began to pick up speed until it was thrumming with an uneven, nervous energy. What had he gotten himself into?

  He watched Marianne reach for Jethro’s other hand so that the boy was wedged between the two sisters. As Marianne entered the depot, she glanced at Drew over her shoulder as though sensing his eyes upon her. She gave him a shy but inviting smile, one that offered him the world and more if he had the courage to take it.

  He hesitated only a moment before shoving all his worries to the back of his mind. Then he smiled at her in return and bounded forward, catching the door and following her inside.

  Chapter 14

  “Marrying to give an orphan a home is noble,” Elise said from her spot in bed next to Marianne. “But it’s also ridiculous.”

  “More ridiculous than your reason for marrying Thornton?” Marianne retorted.

  In the darkness of the second-story bedroom, Marianne relished the time alone with Elise. Lying side by side on the big bed and staring up at the ceiling reminded her of when they were little girls living in Hamburg, sharing the dormer room above their father’s bakery—when they giggled over silly stories, tickled each other with their cold toes, and listened to their stomachs growl from the yeasty aromas that wafted to the third story all the way from the basement oven.

  “I married Thornton out of love.”

  “You also got married to help him win the contest against his brother.”

  “But I loved him and would have married him either way.”

  Marianne couldn’t find a response. How did she feel about Drew? She couldn’t claim to love him, could she? Yes, she cared about him. And yes, she melted under his touch. But a noble cause and physical attraction weren’t enough for marriage, were they?

  A warm breeze blew in from the large bedroom window, lifting the lacy curtains and skittering across the bed, ruffling Marianne’s thin nightgown and brushing her loose hair away from her shoulders.

  She was selfishly relieved Thornton was on one of his trips east and that she had Elise to herself. After dinner in Elise’s eating house connected with the depot, Marianne had tucked Jethro into bed in the extra room above the depot where he and Drew would stay for the week. It was more spacious and private than the hotel.

  An older couple, the Grays, occupied the other room across the hallway from where Drew and Jethro were staying. Mr. Gray was the stationmaster and Mrs. Gray an assistant to Elise in her eating house.

  Thornton had offered to build the Grays a house of their own, but the older couple hadn’t wanted to move from the depot. Mrs. Gray was petite, thin, and weak from a bout of polio she’d suffered as a child. Since then, she’d had difficulty walking. The Grays decided to stay close to their place of employment and were loyal and kind to Elise and Thornton.

  After kissing Jethro good-night, Marianne had walked back to Elise’s new house, which hadn’t yet been finished when she visited the last time. One street over from the depot on North First Avenue, Elise’s house was by far the largest in town. “I told Thornton I wanted something simple,” Elise had explained, unable to contain her smile, “and this is what he gave me.” She waved a hand at the three-story home, painted white with ornate green trim.

  Elise went on to describe the house as Italianate style, specially designed by architects whom Thornton had hired. It was elegant beyond anything Marianne had seen before—except perhaps Thornton’s New York home.

  The interior was as lovely as the outside. It was clear Thornton loved spoiling Elise and had granted her every wish and then some. He’d also hired New York City’s best interior designer to come out to Quincy to help Elise decorate the home. As Elise gave Marianne a tour, the reality of Elise’s new life and the vast difference in their status had finally struck Marianne. Marianne was the type of woman who would have considered
it a privilege to live as a servant in Elise’s attic. In fact, only a year ago, both of them would have been delighted to be hired as domestic help in such a beautiful home. Actually, they would have been happy with any job at all.

  It wasn’t until Elise crawled into bed with her that Marianne relaxed and was reminded they were still the same two girls they’d always been. Maybe life hadn’t turned out the way they’d expected, but they still had each other.

  “I’m sorry I haven’t found Sophie yet,” Marianne whispered into the warm night.

  “I’m sorry I haven’t found her too,” Elise whispered back.

  Marianne knew Thornton and Elise had done everything they could to locate Sophie. Thornton’s private investigators had been searching for her for months.

  “I’ve come to the conclusion we won’t be able to find her until she wants us to,” Elise said sadly. “Until then there’s little we can do to help her.”

  “Then you’re giving up looking for her?” Marianne asked.

  “No,” Elise reassured. “Of course not. Thornton has instructed his investigators to keep her case open indefinitely. But at the same time, I think we have to stop blaming ourselves. As hard as it is, we have to let Sophie grow up and make her own mistakes along the way.”

  Marianne knew Elise was right. Even so, she couldn’t shake the guilt that she should have done more for Sophie and Olivia and Nicholas and that she still needed to keep searching. “Thornton has been a blessing. Next time you see him, tell him how much I appreciate all he’s done for me—for us.”

  Elise nodded. “I miss him so much when he’s gone.” Her voice quavered as though she might cry. Marianne groped in the dark for Elise’s hand and folded it in hers. “I didn’t think it would be so difficult to be away from each other. I thought I could stay here and he could go to New York whenever he needed to.”

  The tremble in Elise’s fingers was something new. She was never afraid or indecisive or weak; she was always strong, the one Marianne could count on. “What will you do?” Marianne asked.

  “I don’t know. I love my eating house here, but I love my husband more.”

  “Perhaps you can find a competent manager and then you’d be free to travel with Thornton more often.”

  Elise didn’t say anything, and Marianne knew Elise was thinking she’d never find anyone as competent as herself. Maybe she was right. Elise took after their father. Her hands worked magic with food and turned a simple fare into a feast fit for a king. The number of passengers dining at her eating house had doubled in just six months’ time. Tonight over dinner, Elise had excitedly discussed her plans to expand and increase the number of tables.

  “I just want you to find the kind of love I have,” Elise said, sounding stronger and normal again. “I don’t want you to marry this agent simply because you feel trapped into providing a home for an orphan.”

  Marianne was quiet for a moment, listening to the strange sounds of country life—the chirp of crickets, the squeak of bats, and the distant call of a barn owl. But most of all, it was the silence that had been the biggest adjustment from the constant clatter and rumbling of city life.

  Did she feel trapped into providing a home for Jethro? Did she feel forced into marrying Drew? She didn’t think so. Nevertheless, she could admit their decision to get married had been rash and based on a silly challenge rather than sound reasoning.

  “I used to think I was in love with Reinhold,” Marianne said. “I even told myself I would find him on this trip and tell him I wanted to marry him.”

  Elise didn’t react with the least amount of surprise to her revelation. “You could visit him if you wanted to. He finally contacted me this week. He’s north of here, working on a farm in Mayfield.”

  Mayfield had been the second stop of their placing-out trip. She’d been so close to him. Maybe they’d even passed each other without realizing it. She expected her stomach to flutter at the news, but nothing happened. No blood rushing faster. No heart thumping harder. Not even a single regret that she hadn’t seen him.

  “His mother died recently,” Elise added. “He’s worried about what will become of his sisters.”

  “Will Tante Brunhilde keep the girls as her own?” Marianne’s thoughts returned to the months she’d lived with Mrs. Weiss and Tante Brunhilde in the cellar tenement, the dark, damp one-room hovel that had only a single window at ground level. Reinhold’s sisters deserved better than that.

  “Reinhold is afraid Tante Brunhilde will put the girls on a train like she did Olivia and Nicholas. And that then he may never see them again.”

  Marianne knew it was possible. If Tante Brunhilde had done it once, she could do it again.

  “But if he continues to send money to support her, then Tante Brunhilde will keep the girls, won’t she?”

  “Let’s pray so. In the meantime, he hoped I’d get a message to you. He wanted you to check on the girls. Of course, he didn’t realize you’d left the city.”

  He would have if he’d stayed in touch with her, if he’d ever written back to her. As quickly as the thought came, it flitted away. If Reinhold was in trouble, she’d help him in whatever way she could. “I’ll check on them when I get back,” Marianne said. “But what if it’s too late? Our follow-up visits to the children might take us several more weeks.”

  “Perhaps you can arrange to see Reinhold before you return east?” Elise suggested.

  Marianne hesitated. Wasn’t that what she’d wanted?

  “At the very least,” Elise said, squeezing her hand, “don’t you think you should see Reinhold before you go through with your crazy plans to marry Mr. Brady? What if you meet with Reinhold and discover you still have feelings for him?”

  “Maybe you’re right.” She’d tell Drew she needed more than a week. She’d postpone, stall, and keep him at arm’s length until she figured out the best course of action.

  Chapter 15

  “You’ve been avoiding me.” Drew stepped in front of Marianne as she exited the seamstress shop. In a new yellow silk gown, she was breathtakingly beautiful, her creamy skin and brunette hair standing out even more in contrast to the pale gown. She wore a new hat as well, and her hair was pulled back into dangling curls that hung down her back.

  “I’ve just been very busy.” She sidestepped him, but he snagged her hand before she could get away.

  “No. You’re most definitely avoiding me. Even Jethro noticed.” He nodded toward the depot down the street, where the little boy was standing outside watching them.

  Marianne smiled and waved at Jethro.

  They’d been in Quincy for three days. At first, Drew had taken her at her word that she was busy spending time with her sister and having dress fittings. But that morning, after breakfast when Marianne had scurried away, Jethro was the one to say what they’d both concluded. “She’s mad at you, Mr. Brady. You better do something real quick to make her like you again.”

  Faced with another challenge, Drew spent the morning with Jethro plotting ways he could win Marianne’s favor. Drew wasn’t exactly sure why he’d lost her goodwill or why he felt the need to woo her, except he was driven by the desire to prove to himself that he could win her if he really wanted to.

  Marianne tugged against his hold, but with Jethro watching, Drew knew he was at an advantage. She’d do anything so she didn’t have to hurt the boy’s feelings, even play along with whatever plans Drew had concocted.

  “I have a special afternoon planned,” he said.

  “I’m helping Elise in the kitchen a little later.”

  “She told me she would be able to get by without you.”

  “You spoke to her without consulting me?”

  Drew slipped Marianne’s hand into the crook of his arm and started to stroll toward the wagon and team he’d hitched in front of the depot. “As a matter of fact, Elise is the one who gave me the idea for the afternoon.”

  Marianne almost stumbled. “Elise wouldn’t have.”

  Drew smil
ed. Elise hadn’t been overly friendly toward him. It was clear she didn’t approve of the hasty marriage plans and was likely doing whatever she could to talk Marianne out of it. He wasn’t sure why that fueled his desire to marry Marianne all the more, but it did.

  “Elise didn’t anticipate I’d take you along,” he admitted. “But you can’t disappoint Jethro, can you? He’s looking forward to spending the afternoon with us.”

  The boy had climbed into the back of the wagon and was watching their approach with unbridled excitement.

  Marianne forced another smile for Jethro’s sake. “What exactly are we doing?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “I don’t want a surprise.”

  “I thought you liked them.”

  “You have me confused with you.”

  He laughed, and this time her responding smile was genuine.

  When they reached the team and wagon he’d borrowed from Mr. Gray, he helped her up onto the bench.

  “Are you in on the surprise too, Jethro?” she asked the boy as the wagon rumbled out of town.

  He nodded from his spot in the bumping wagon. “Me and Mr. Brady were trying to figure out a way to make you like us again.”

  Guilt flashed across her face. She glanced at her gloved hands folded in her lap before lifting her eyes and meeting Drew’s gaze. “Don’t worry,” she said to Jethro even as she looked at Drew. “I still like you both. Very much.”

  Her words sent both warmth and wonder to Drew’s heart.

  “I’ll sure be mighty glad when you’re married,” Jethro said. “Mr. Brady said he ain’t so sure you’ll do it. But I keep tellin’ him you won’t go back on your word.”

  Marianne’s expression betrayed her once again, but only long enough for Drew to glimpse the doubt and confusion. Truthfully, it mirrored his own. He’d been plagued with such conflicting feelings over the past few days. He knew he should find a way to release them both from their impulsive engagement. He’d allowed himself to get caught up in the moment, and he shouldn’t have rushed either of them into something so serious.