“The old gent was quite a sight,” Chris agreed. He stopped and trailed his rough fingertips down her cheek.
She fought the nearly overwhelming need to lean into his touch. Confusion made her mind whirl. The day he’d rescued her from Hepplewhite’s Emporium, he’d told her she could trust him. Somehow, he’d overcome her defenses and actually earned her respect—only to obliterate it all when he towed her off to jail and believed the worst of her. But he confessed he was wrong and championed me. Do I trust him again? Dare I risk that?
“You’re a rare woman, Kathryn Regent. Aye, that you are.” Chris gave her a steady look. “A man would gladly put on the armor of God and battle a legion of demons just to protect you.”
Her pupils dilated wildly. Chris could see he’d taken her by surprise. “I canna help thinking your brother’s biggest regret must be having left you behind. He went off seeking riches and never saw the treasure he already had.”
Tears filled her remarkable eyes. “I’m no treasure, and I’ll not delude myself. His greatest regret is having been captured and knowing the evidence against him is irrefutable. Robbery and murder—he’s done several of both. When the jury finds him guilty, he’ll be sentenced—”
“Aye,” Chris cut in, trying to spare her from having to speak the truth. In the days ahead, she’d come to accept the inevitable, but in the meantime, he decided to distract her. “He’ll be sentenced. But for now, I’ll get you home. Duncan and Rob both hold the opinion that their wives are overdoing. If you’d talk sense into them, I’m sure my brothers would be grateful.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Good. Good.” He started walking again.
“Chris, you’re trying to be kind by diverting me from thinking about what lies ahead. It won’t work. Something truly dreadful lies ahead.”
“Aye.” He looked down at her. “Many a town would have held a kangaroo court and lynched him. We’ve bent over backward to give him a fair trial. Justice will prevail. With several murders and robberies against him, he’ll receive the harshest sentence.” He paused a moment. “You’d best prepare yourself for the worst.”
She bit her lip and nodded.
His brow furrowed. “Do you hold feelings for him?”
Slowly, she nodded.
Surprise and a flash of jealousy shot through him.
“He’s done wicked things, evil deeds—yet he’ll always be my brother. I prayed that he’d be like the one thief on the cross and repent.”
“So you’ve been praying for him.”
“Yes.” She shrugged—a tiny, tense movement. “You can be proud of Duncan and Rob. They’re fine men, and they return your love in full measure.” Pain flickered across her features. “Whelan’s awful, but he’s still my brother.”
“Kathryn Regent, ’twas an understatement when I said you’re a rare woman.”
“Crackers,” she rasped. “Carmen needs more of them.”
“Did the ones we got that other time help settle her stomach?”
Kathryn nodded. “She’s run out.”
Though Carmen had his sympathy, Kathryn deserved his support. She’d been through so much already. If accomplishing this task gave her even a moment’s respite, he’d gladly accompany her on a whole string of errands. “Then let’s get them.”
Once they reached the mercantile, he opened the door for her and walked beside her to the cracker barrel. Leonard hastened over. “Katie, Chris, I’m surprised to see you here—after this morning.” He caught the look Chris gave him. “Thought you’d be eating lunch like the rest of us. What can I do to help you today?”
Gently wiggling the scoop so she wouldn’t break the crackers, Wren said, “We just dropped in to buy a few crackers.”
Chris gave the meager supply she gathered a dubious look. “That’s only a quarter scoop.”
She added just a few more of the tiny oyster-shaped crackers. “How’s that?”
Chris curled his fingers around hers. “You dinna ration your comfort or your friendship, Kathryn. God doesna hoard His love, either. He gives abundantly above all we can e’er ask or think.” Chris guided her hand, dipped the scoop, and lifted out a heaping mountain of crackers. Several fluttered down into the barrel again. “Are you watching, lass?”
She stared at the scoop. “That’s so many, you’re dropping some!”
“Leonard, go fetch us something to carry these in.” Chris waited until the storekeeper was out of earshot. “Kathryn, canna ye see, lass? You’re looking at the wee little crackers that fall. Leonard sees the ones in the scoop. God? Well, I’m thinkin’ God sees not only those and the ones filling the whole barrel, but also all the ones that will e’er be made. You’ve lived on the fallen scraps far too long. Dinna tally your worth by who your stepbrother is. Your heavenly Father counts you as priceless.”
Leonard arrived with a pasteboard box. “This ought to do.”
Kathryn bit her lip and nodded. She didn’t say another word the whole way home.
“To be hanged by the neck until dead.” The sentence rang in Chris’s head. The trial had progressed swiftly, and the evidence made for a compelling case—so compelling, the jury took only fifteen minutes to deliberate.
Whelan snorted. “Didn’t expect nothin’ different.”
Chris rose. “Your Honor, folks here love Miss Regent, and we don’t want to see her suffer any more than she already has. If it’s all the same to you, I’d request Whelan’s sentence be commuted to life in prison.”
“I’d druther be hanged!” Whelan shouted.
The judge pounded the gavel. “Order. Order. Whelan, you’ll get what you want. Hanging’s what the law dictates, and that’s what you deserve.”
The sheriff from the town whose banker had been murdered announced, “Plenty of folks in my town already picked out a hangin’ tree. We’d be happy to oblige the court.”
Chris left and went back to the empty jailhouse. He felt no satisfaction in having apprehended his friend’s killer. He’d seen the job through to the end—as a Texas Ranger, he’d gotten his man. In doing so, he’d probably spared several more people from theft and murder. Slowly, he wound the clock, reset the hands according to his prized pocket watch, and started the pendulum with a faint tap.
Time is a gift. Don’t waste it.
At that moment, he knew what he had to do.
“Kathryn, I’m needing to talk to you.” Duncan stood by the front door and half shouted the words.
“I’m a little busy just now.”
“This willna wait.”
She swung around and gave Duncan an incredulous look. “Do you think Mercy’s baby will wait?”
Chris stood beside Duncan. Both seemed to have lost their deep tans and gone an odd shade of green. Chris rasped, “We only want a minute.”
“Go on. Hurry up.” Carmen gave Katie a push.
Mercy sat on the steps and glared at her brothers-in-law. “Don’t you dare try to convince my friend to drag me over to that clinic.”
“They willna as long as you don’t make any cookies or mashed potatoes today,” Rob said as he rubbed her back.
Kathryn scurried out to the veranda. Duncan yanked the door shut, and Chris tilted her face upward. “Tell Duncan you dinna mind me having as much gingerbread as I want.”
“You’re hungry?”
Duncan patted her shoulder. “The wooden frills, lass.”
Flummoxed, Kathryn shook her head. “I don’t know why you’re asking me.”
“Dinna you recall me sayin’ I’d share it all wi’ you, lass?” Duncan nodded. “I gave my word, and I’ll not go back on it.”
“Chris is your brother. You Gregors all bought the gingerbread. I couldn’t care less what happens to it—all I care about right now are Mercy and the baby!”
“I told you so.” Chris slapped Duncan on the back and strode off.
Mercy moaned from inside the house.
A stricken look swept over Duncan’s face. “Chris! You’ll be need
in’ my help!”
Kathryn headed back into the house. Soon she was busy bathing Rob and Mercy’s newborn baby. As dawn broke, footsteps sounded on the veranda. The door barely opened, and Chris stuck his head into the house. “How’s she doing?”
“Fine,” Kathryn whispered as she sat in the rocking chair coaxing Elspeth back to sleep.
“I didna mean Elspeth.”
“Mercy’s doing beautifully.” Kathryn smiled wearily. “You’ll have to go on upstairs. The news is Rob’s to tell.”
Relief flooded Christopher’s face, and he swiftly entered the house. “So she’s had the wee bairn?”
Yawning, Kathryn nodded.
“Go on to bed, lass. I’ll tuck wee Elspeth in.” He stole Elspeth from her and headed up the stairs. A moment later, delighted male chuckles echoed down the stairs.
The sound rolled over her, and Kathryn’s eyes sank shut. I should have known better. Chris wouldn’t care that it’s another girl. The Gregors all love one another. Lillith is such a fortunate little girl to be born into such a family.
Chapter 14
Carmen laughed as she hung diapers out to dry. “I’m trying to figure out how many diapers to make for my baby. I never paid much mind to that, and suddenly it’s important.”
“A dozen a day,” Mercy said as she nursed Lillith in a shady spot. “But I wish I’d made more than three dozen when I expected Elspeth.”
“I’ll get more cloth and hem up more on my machine. It’ll take no time at all.”
“Would you?” Mercy beamed. “I can’t thank you enough, Katie. Chris? Katie’s going to the mercantile. Didn’t you say you had to get something?”
“Sure,” he called back. He followed Katie out the door.
As they walked along the boardwalk, he suddenly stopped.
Kathryn halted, too. She didn’t want to embarrass him, but concern caused her to ask, “Is it your wound? Do you need to sit down?”
Chris stared over her shoulder. “Rob did his best on my leg, and I’ve recovered well, but he claims I canna ride days on end as I once did.”
“After riding a horse just that one day, I cannot imagine how anyone is able to ride for a prolonged period.”
“The governor willna allow a ranger to remain in active service if he’s impaired. Though I canna serve as a ranger, the town’s asked me to become the sheriff.”
She studied him closely, but it was hard to determine what he was thinking. “I can’t tell whether you are resigned or upset.”
“That all depends on you, Katie.”
She blinked. He’d called her Katie—not Kathryn or Miss Regent. He turned her to face the opposite side of the street. Her breath caught.
The small storefront beside the mercantile had been freshly whitewashed. Pale green and forest green gingerbread adorned the eaves and windows. A sign out front read, KATIE’S.
Tears filled her eyes.
“None of that, now.” He escorted her across the street and threw open the door. “Take a peek.”
Her sewing machine rested in one corner. A deep green velvet settee lined part of a wall, and walnut-stained gingerbread hung from the ceiling to form clever arches. Lighter green curtains hung from them to form a dressing room. Shelves with little gingerbread flourishes in the corners completed the wall, and her measuring tape draped around the neck of a brand-new dress form.
Tears slipped down her cheeks. “But I’m s–supposed to l–leave.”
“Why would you be doing that when this is where you belong? Everyone here loves you.” Chris took her hand in his. He squeezed it. “Aye, they do—but not the way I do. I love you, Katie. Truly, I do.”
“You do?”
“Ooch, Katie, I did you a grave injustice the day I let vengeance rule my head and heart. Nothing shames me more than knowing I hurt you.”
“I told you that was forgiven,” she said softly.
“You forgave, but I couldna forget. But Da told me time is a gift and isna to be wasted. I’m tired of wasting time on regrets. I’d rather spend my days knowing the joy of being your husband.” He lifted her hand and kissed it. “I love ye, lass. With all my heart, I do. I’m askin’ you, Kathryn Regent, if you’ll do me the honor of being my wife.”
“When I saw this”—she gestured—“I could scarcely believe my eyes. This is a gift far beyond my dreams—a place of my own, a place to stay. But it’s nothing at all compared to what you’ve offered.” Kathryn paused so she’d not spoil the moment by weeping. “You’ve offered me your heart, Christopher. No one has ever loved me. Not until now. I love the Lord with all my soul—but you…I love you with all my heart. Nothing would make me happier than to be your bride.”
The Gregor men wore their kilts proudly and stood at the altar. Lillith took a mind to squall like a heathen the whole time the pastor prayed a blessing for her. Once that was over, the pianist started to play the “Wedding March.” Mr. Rundsdorf proudly escorted Katie down the aisle. He refused to sit down until he got to kiss the bride.
Chris proudly wore his father’s golden watch draped across the waist of his plaid. He pulled Katie close and spoke his vows in a booming voice. She said hers in one that quivered with emotion. Mercy and Carmen both wore lengths of the Gregor tartan over their shoulders, but they never told her why. She’d asked, but the two of them refused to answer her.
Once the vows were said, Chris pulled a length of the lovely plaid from a leather thong at his waist and draped it over her. “We’ve a tradition, Katie-mine. I’ve wed ye and given ye my name, and ’tis the Gregor plaid I’m placing o’er your shoulder to remind you always of a love that will warm and protect you and a family that claims you. There’s another tradition, too. A man says this poem only once in his life. Hear me now, for ’tis from the depths of my heart these words come:
“As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I,
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun!
And I will luve thee still, my dear
While the sands o’ life shall run.”
Epilogue
Five years later
Ian, don’t you dare pick that. It’s a carrot, not a weed.” Mercy swept up her son and tickled him. “Remember? Mama said you aren’t to pick anything until she says so.”
Carmen pried a small sprig of green from little Micah’s grubby hand. “I’m afraid my son set a bad example.”
“At this rate, we’re going to have to have Great-grandpa Stein and Jenny let us put a garden up over at the farm.” Katie brushed back a wisp of hair. “If we had to survive on what we grow here, we’d all starve.”
“There’s no risk of us starving.” Rahab smiled. Since leaving the bordello after Wren’s continued urgings through her letters, Lucille had changed her life drastically, including a permanent name change, which, according to her, reflected the change God made in her heart. “God provides. But as much fun as it is to visit the farm, I’d love to have an excuse to go there more often.”
Mercy waggled her brows. “I think you’re looking for an excuse to be near Grossvater’s new field hand. You have to admit, Barry is strong and handsome.”
Rahab shrugged. “In a manner of speaking, that’s true enough. But I’m not interested in marrying. Helping Katie run the dress shop is enough to keep me happy. Going out to the farm,” she paused as a smile crept across her face, “well, I think Jenny and Barry fancy one another, and I enjoy watching them. Last Sunday I told him he ought to ask Mr. Stein’s permission to court Jenny.”
“How wonderful!” Katie gave Rahab a hug.
Duncan wandered over with his daughter. “Carmen, Anne’s up from her nap.” He laughed at Ian. “How did you get so grubby?”
“Weeds!”
Rob and Chris rode over. Each held one of Katie’s twin boys. “Songbird,” Chris said, “we’ve a problem. Th
ey climbed out of the crib.”
Katie laughed and went over to take one of the boys. “That actually solves a problem, dear.”
“Oh?”
She nodded. “We’ll be needing the crib again in about seven months.”
Leather creaked a bit as he dismounted. She’d never before paid attention to that masculine sound of a large body easing from a saddle and hitting the ground. Wren felt him close the space between them with a few leggy strides and heard the grit scrape softly under the soles of his boots. His hands rested on her shoulders as he brushed her lips with a kiss of abiding love.
Coming Soon from
Barbour Publishing
The bleak wilderness of America’s 49th state
challenges three generations of women in the
Erikson family in different ways, but overcoming
the odds through faith will lead each to lasting love.
Available wherever Christian books are sold
Brides of Texas Page 32
