Brides of Texas

by Hake, Cathy Marie

  “As long as we’re talking, Duncan, I may as well confess another worry to you.”

  “You can always share your worries with me.”

  She gave him an appreciative look. Duncan wasn’t a glib man. He spoke directly and from the heart. That invitation wasn’t just a platitude. He’d meant what he said. “Remember when Otto’s mother dragged that awful man into my house so he could beg Mercy for her baby? It didn’t occur to me until yesterday that once Mrs. Kunstler comes to church tomorrow and finds out about Jenny staying with me, she’ll bring that man back again.”

  “We’ve discussed that at home. Mercy received a letter from Chester Heim that same week. He apologized and sought forgiveness. He and his wife are so verra eager to hae a bairn to call their own. In thinkin’ back, Mercy said he’d implored her to gie them the babe, but ’twas actually Mrs. Kunstler who’d spoken the harshest words.”

  “Since Ismelda married Otto, Mrs. Kunstler is family, and she is my elder. Part of me says I owe her respect, no matter what. On the other hand, I feel if she dares to say anything, I’ll lose my temper. So what do I do?”

  “Just as you came to fetch Rob last time, you can always run to us for help. Neither Rob nor Mercy thinks Chester Heim will trouble Jenny. Though ’tis true Mrs. Kunstler is kin to you since Ismelda wed her son, I’m not mincing words. I think it best if ever she comes to pay a call that you instruct Jenny to come help Mercy.”

  “Thank you. I’ll do that.”

  They’d arrived at the mercantile. Before he opened the door, Duncan gazed at her intently. “Dinna forget, Carmen, I intend to be your partner.”

  Partner. Such an odd word. It suggested both a union of minds and a distance of hearts. All at once, Carmen felt supported and yet very, very alone.

  Chapter 8

  Ooch, Carmen, you’re looking grand today.”

  A blush filled her cheeks. “Thank you. Wait till you see Jenny. She’s wearing her new dress.”

  Duncan nodded and winked. Carmen made for a good partner in this project. By mentioning Jenny’s gown, he’d have something to praise her over so she wouldn’t fret as much while they walked to church. The church bell began to toll. “Best we get started.”

  Once Jenny stepped onto the veranda, he mused, “I’m not a man who knows much about posies, other than to say they’re charming wee things. But your gown—†tis the same shade as those bachelor buttons in the garden.”

  “Leave it to a man to know the name of a flower named bachelor.” Carmen laughed as she shut the door.

  Duncan escorted the women down the street. Jenny held tightly to his arm, giving away the fragile state of her nerves. “Elspeth kept Rob and Mercy up half the night. They’re going to sit in the back pew. I hope you dinna mind sitting with me today.”

  “We’d be happy to. Wouldn’t we, Jenny?”

  “Yes.”

  Duncan ignored how she sounded as if she’d rather have Rob pull all her teeth than attend worship. “Mercy directed me to invite you both to lunch.”

  “You just said she was up half the night.” Carmen frowned. “Maybe some other Sunday.”

  Duncan intentionally waited until the church bell rang so Jenny wouldn’t get mobbed by everyone and feel overwhelmed. Even then, as they reached the church door, Carmen found it necessary to introduce Jenny to a few people.

  As they sat in the sanctuary, Duncan stared at the cross behind the pulpit. Lord, ’tis good to be in Your house again. Teach me what Ye would hae me know, and if it be Your will, begin to prepare Carmen’s heart so she’ll become my bride. Most of all, Lord, open Jenny’s soul to Your salvation. Blind her to any unkindness, and grant others a special love for her so she can see the difference Ye make. Amen.

  The sermon was about the woman at the well. The pastor kept echoing Christ’s admonition, “Go, and sin no more.” He applied the concept to the sins, great and small, that are so common to man. Duncan considered the sermon outstanding.

  It wasn’t until he escorted Carmen and Jenny back to the Rodriquez house that Jenny finally spoke. “I don’t want to go back. Ever. I know it’s part of the arrangement, but can’t we change it?”

  “What was so bad?” Carmen sat beside her.

  “He told that story just because I was there. Why didn’t he just point his finger at me and tell them all I’m a—”

  “Sinner, just like the rest of us?” Duncan cut in strategically. “I venture to say everyone is probably sitting at home thinkin’ the parson’s been spying on them. Impatience. Gluttony. Greed. Gossip.”

  Some of the tension in Jenny’s shoulders eased. “He did say those things, too.”

  “The Bible says we’ve all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.” Duncan met Jenny’s troubled gaze and confessed, “I can only speak for myself, but I cringe and squirm inside when those dark things are brought to light, because I know I have room to improve.”

  “Me, too.” Carmen took Jenny’s hand in hers. “I’m guilty of vanity.”

  Duncan didn’t breathe a word, but he thought Carmen had plenty to be proud of. No other woman on earth was half as pretty. Her eyes were aglow with intelligence, and her skin matched the shade of sun-warmed honey. The lively chatter and laughter bubbling from her lips lifted a man’s spirits, and, despite her limp, the woman carried herself like a queen.

  “You’re not vain,” Jenny objected.

  “Oh, but I am. I’m crippled and I limp. If I used a cane, I’d be more stable, but I won’t because I’m vain. Proud, too.”

  “What the parson said was the most important thing, Jenny.” Duncan looked at her. “Jesus Christ didna stand there and condemn that woman. He forgave her and told her to start anew. What’s done is done. He instructed her to change her ways and do better.”

  Jenny didn’t look the least bit convinced. “I went to church. I don’t want to think about any of that stuff until I have to go again next week.”

  “But you will go.” Carmen’s voice rang with authority.

  “Aye. And I’d be honored to escort the both of you.”

  “Duncan!” Mercy’s alarmed voice wavered in the air.

  Duncan bolted out of his shop and toward the house. “Aye?”

  Mercy held Elspeth over her shoulder and shouted, “The sky’s gone green!”

  He halted. “So it is. An ugly—”

  “Hurry and fetch Carmen and Jenny. This is tornado weather!”

  He needed no further urging. Duncan raced across the street. Without bothering to knock, he burst right in. “Come along now.”

  Carmen held Jenny’s wrist and was dragging her into the hall. Jenny cried out, “I thought tornadoes didn’t strike here!”

  “I’ve seen a few,” Carmen said. “The safest place—”

  “Isna here. You’re coming home with me. We’ve a large basement. I’ll keep you safe.”

  Carmen turned loose of Jenny, and Duncan felt a spurt of relief. She was being practical and cooperative. At least she was until she turned into a room.

  “Woman!” he bellowed.

  Carmen ignored him, so he chased after her. A man had no business being in a woman’s bedchamber, but Duncan figured survival rated above etiquette. He’d never seen a tornado, but from what he’d heard, no one tangled with one and came out the victor. Knowing Carmen was in danger sent him blustering into her room. She eluded him by ducking under his arm and called, “Jenny! Go with Duncan. I’ll be right behind you!”

  “This is absurd. We’re leavin’ this verra minute.”

  “Give me a second.” The daft woman swept back the magnificent star-patterned quilt covering her bed and crawled onto the mattress. “Grab that quilt—just in case.”

  Duncan didn’t know precisely what she meant, but that didn’t matter, anyway. He grabbed for her. “Woman!”

  She half stood on her bed and grabbed a beautiful mahogany and gold crucifix from the wall. “This was Mama’s.”

  When Carmen gasped as he cinched his arm about her waist a
nd yanked her down, he declared, “I’m takin’ no chances.”

  “Stop blustering and help me gather the quilt for protection.”

  The woman was daft as a drunken duck if she thought a quilt was a match for a wind that could knock over a barn. Realizing he’d waste more time arguing with her than in snatching it up, he kept hold of Carmen and grabbed the quilt.

  Jenny waddled out of the other room. Duncan had no idea what she’d managed to stuff in the pillowcase she held.

  Carmen smacked him on the chest. “Put me down. You can carry Jenny’s bag.”

  “I willna!” He shouted at Jenny, “Drop that and come on!”

  Jenny shook her head.

  Duncan wanted to drop the quilt, grab the lass, and haul them both across the street. He couldn’t, though. A woman in Jenny’s condition oughtn’t be squashed about the middle. He dropped the quilt anyway and grabbed her wrist. “I’ll come back for that junk.”

  In the blink of an eye, Jenny shoved her bag into Carmen’s hands, jerked free from Duncan, and slapped him. She scooted back and wrapped her arms around her ribs. “Don’t grab me. Don’t ever grab me.”

  He hadn’t let go of Carmen yet. She wiggled away and ran to Jenny’s side. “It’s okay. He’s not mad at you.”

  “We’re wasting dear time here.” Duncan swept Carmen into his arms again. “Let’s go!”

  “You go ahead.” Jenny’s words were hard to hear over the wind.

  “You run ahead of us, lass.” Duncan jerked his chin toward the door. “I’ll no’ leave you behind.”

  He finally got them to his house, and Mercy called from the basement, “Come on down here!”

  Duncan didn’t want Carmen to have to limp down the steep stairs. “Jenny, scamper on down. There you go.” He followed right behind her with Carmen held close to his chest.

  “I’m so glad you’re here.” Mercy set Elspeth in a crate she’d lined with a blanket and then hugged the women.

  Duncan headed back up the stairs. “Stay,” Carmen called to him.

  “I’ll be back.”

  “Hail starts to fall right before a twister.” Worry vibrated in her voice.

  “I’m sorry.” Jenny’s voice sounded shaky.

  Duncan turned around. “You’ve nothing to be sorry about. When I return, I’ll give you my apology. You stay put.” Duncan turned to his sister-in-law. “Mercy, what about Elspeth? What do you need for her?”

  “I already have blankets and diapers here. Please stay.”

  He didn’t reply. After carefully closing the door to the basement, Duncan ran to the clinic. “Rob!”

  Nothing but the sound of wind met him. Satisfied that his brother wasn’t there, Duncan scanned the street. Not a soul stirred, so he went back to the women.

  “What do you need down there?”

  Carmen shouted, “You!”

  His heart soared.

  “Ismelda!” Carmen embraced her sister. “I’m so relieved that you’re okay.”

  “I’m fine. So is Mercy’s grandfather. The twister was small. It left a zigzagging path about a mile from us.”

  “So no one got hurt?”

  “We’re all fine.” Ismelda grabbed Carmen’s hand and cast a quick look over at Jenny. Since Jenny didn’t speak any Spanish, Ismelda said very quickly, “I think it’s wonderful how you’ve taken this girl in. My mother-in-law is very upset, though. She feels you’ve tainted yourself by association. Otto and I talked it over. We want you and Jenny to be sure to sit by us in church tomorrow.”

  “Of course we will,” Carmen replied in English. “After church, you and Otto ought to come here for Sunday supper. I’m teaching Jenny how to make tortillas. For a gringa, she does a good job.”

  Jenny let out a small laugh. “When I was small, my grandmother would give me the scraps from pie dough. When I pat the tortilla between my hands to flatten it, it feels just like when I played with that dough.”

  “We’ll make lots of them and bake enchiladas. Why don’t we have the Gregors over for supper, too?”

  “There’s not enough room at the table for that many of us.” Jenny hitched a shoulder as if it didn’t matter to her one bit as she said, “I’ll just eat in my room.”

  “No. Absolutamente. ¡Absurdo!” Ismelda and Carmen said in unison.

  Ismelda giggled. “Mama used to say that.”

  “And she’d say that here and now, too.” Carmen shook her finger at Jenny. “There’s always room at my table for you.”

  After Ismelda left, Carmen and Jenny sat together and made tortillas. Carmen hesitated, but her curiosity wouldn’t let her remain silent. “You’ve mentioned your grandmother. Since she was a dressmaker, why didn’t you go into that profession?”

  “I didn’t have a choice.” Jenny slapped down a tortilla and began another. “I was thirteen when she died. No one would hire me—no one but Bart.”

  “You were just a baby!” Carmen stared at her in shock.

  “It was a long time ago.” She shrugged. “But I want better for my baby than what I had. My mother—she wasn’t married. She died when I was a small girl, and all I had was Grandma. This baby—the doctor promised it will go to a husband and wife. There will be grandparents and cousins, too.”

  “Your baby is fortunate, Jenny. Not just because of the family it will go to. It’s blessed because you’ve thought matters through and are giving it to a better home than you can provide.”

  “I can’t keep it, you know. After I have the baby, I thought I’d take the train west. Now that I’m sixteen, maybe someone who doesn’t know about my past will hire me. But I won’t be able to work if I keep the baby with me, so I couldn’t even keep a roof over our heads.”

  Aghast, Carmen echoed, “You’re sixteen?”

  “Unh-huh. I don’t know if this is going to be enough tortillas. Those Gregor men eat a lot.”

  “Why don’t I go over and make sure they can come for supper? You ought to lie down and rest awhile, anyway. Dr. Gregor said you should nap more.”

  Carmen stumbled into Mercy’s parlor and finally gave vent to her outrage. “Mercy?”

  “Yes?” Mercy remained in the rocking chair. The Gregor tartan draped over her shoulder, hiding Elspeth as she suckled.

  “Jenny’s only sixteen! I thought she was much older.”

  Duncan appeared beside Carmen. He pressed his handkerchief into her hand. “Hard living ages a body. ’Tis plain to see that’s the case with Jenny.”

  She should have been surprised or even embarrassed, but Carmen didn’t feel either emotion when she realized she was weeping. She let Duncan pull her close, and she soaked his shirt with her tears. “It’s so dreadful. We have to help her. She can’t go back to a life like that.”

  “Sure and enough, you’re right. We’ll come up with a plan, won’t we, Mercy?”

  “Of course we will.”

  “Now dry up.” Duncan tilted her face to his and brushed away the last of her tears with astonishing tenderness.

  How can a man be so big and strong, and yet so gentle?

  He reached down and took her hand. “I’ll walk you home. I have a little something to give to you and Jenny.”

  “Actually, I came over to invite you all for Sunday supper tomorrow—enchiladas.”

  Duncan’s eyes lit up. “Those are the rolled up tortillas with stuff in them and sauce atop?”

  Mercy laughed. “Carmen, he’ll eat an entire pan of them all by himself. What can I bring?”

  Carmen thought for a moment. “Do you mind giving me a little cheese?”

  “Duncan,” Mercy asked, “could you go fetch a wheel?”

  He went down into the basement.

  Drawing the baby out from beneath the tartan, Mercy chided softly, “Since when didn’t I have enough cheese to share?”

  “But it’s such a chore to make it.”

  “Going to Grossvater’s farm twice a week is a joy for me. The things I do while I’m there—they’re no burden. I’d have no room
here to make cheese. It’s my excuse to go, because Grossvater worries that I should be here all of the time.”

  “Here we are.” Duncan reappeared with a twelve-inch wheel of cheese. “I need to stop by my workshop for a moment.”

  After saying good-bye, Carmen accompanied Duncan to his workshop. He snatched something off his table. “Okay.”

  Jenny hadn’t gone to take a nap, after all. She’d been making more tortillas and was just now washing her hands. “I couldn’t seem to stop.”

  Duncan set the cheese on the table and stepped closer to her. “I made you something.” After she dried her hands, he placed a green leather book in her hands.

  Jenny ran her fingertips over the vine pattern he’d tooled into the center of the leather to form a heart. “This is so pretty.”

  “I thought that maybe you’d like to write letters to the bairn. That way, when he grows up, he’ll hae some of your thoughts and hopes to let him know you loved him. I asked Rob, and he said ’twas okay.”

  Clutching it to her bosom, Jenny didn’t say anything. She just nodded.

  Duncan then turned to Carmen. “And this, ’tis for you, Carmen. Mercy tells me you keep a journal, but ’tis spring already. I thought you might like to hae plain pages so you could sketch or keep a record of your garden since it’s always brought you such great joy.”

  He’d stained her book’s cover the shade of a pomegranate. An odd interlocking circle design filled the center. She traced it with her finger.

  “That’s a Celtic endless knot called the Four Seasons. It represents not only time, but friendship.”

  Her fingertip kept going round and round. “It is endless. How clever. Thank you, Duncan.”

  That night, Carmen lay in bed and stared at the book. Friendship. Duncan extended friendship to everyone. The man could charm a rabbit into a stewpot. But the book he made for Jenny had a heart on it. Was he falling in love with her? He’d been coming over much of the time—and that started after Jenny’s arrival.

  Rob married Mercy and they’re raising her baby. I can see Duncan marrying Jenny and loving her baby, too.

  Tears filled her eyes and slid onto her pillow. Lord, I don’t understand. I try to live according to Your will. Your Word says man looks on the outward appearance and You look upon the heart. I’m so tired of my twisted leg scaring men off. Why can’t You send me a man who sees me through Your eyes?