Bluebonnet Bride

by Colleen Coble

  “Exactly like that.” His lips came down on hers again.

  This time the passion between them flared to red-hot. In an instant Elli found herself crushed against his chest and reveling in the strength of his arms and heat of his mouth. She wrapped both arms around him and kissed him back without a thought.

  A peck came at the back door, and she jerked away to see Abby peering in the windowpane. Elli glanced at Nathan before she sprang to answer the door. He was smiling.

  SEVEN

  Like this.” Nathan skipped a rock across the smooth surface of the lake. “Now you try.” He lifted his face into the fragrant breeze blowing through the bluebonnets.

  Biting on her tongue, Hannah took a flat pebble and flung it out. It sank immediately. Her face puckered, and Elli touched her head. “Do not worry, little one. You will learn.”

  His gaze met Elli’s, and color flared in her cheeks. What had happened between them in the kitchen? If they hadn’t been interrupted and if Hannah hadn’t been in the house . . . He dragged his gaze away and looked out over the shimmering blue water. The day couldn’t be more perfect for a picnic. Puffy clouds floated lazily in the sky. Boaters puttered back and forth across the lake, and families gathered around gingham tablecloths with spreads of fried chicken and beans. He’d found a private spot far from the other picnickers, and their own lunch of sandwiches had tasted like the finest meal in any restaurant.

  Elli joined him on a giant flat rock. “It’s so beautiful here.”

  She is so beautiful. Dressed in a blue dress with her hat crowned with newly picked bluebonnets, she was a sight to behold. He nodded and cast his gaze back to the water. “I think I’ll do some fishing now.”

  “Me too!” Hannah jumped up and down beside them. “I brought my fishing pole, Papa. I’ll get yours too.”

  He glanced at her. Papa? She’d always called him Uncle Nathan. Her cheeks reddened when he lifted his brow. He put a hand on her head to reassure her. “I don’t mind if you call me Papa, Hannah. You’ve been the daughter of my heart since you were born.”

  Her eyes brightened, and she threw her arms around his leg. After a final squeeze, she rushed back to the buggy for her fishing pole.

  He took Elli’s hand, so small and delicate in his larger, callused one. “You think that was all right?”

  She squeezed his fingers. “I think allowing her to call you Papa will reassure her she has a real family, like other children. What about me?”

  “What do you mean?” He found it hard to think with her blue eyes fixed on him. He settled onto the rock and pulled her down beside him. What he really wanted to do was pull her onto his lap and kiss her again.

  She linked her arm with his and leaned against his shoulder. “I mean, should I ask her to call me Mama?”

  He absorbed the question for a moment. Was it too soon? Though Hannah seemed to like Elli a lot, would it seem strange to her to accept her as a mother? She was only six months old when Jane died so she had no memories of her real mother. He’d made sure to have pictures around so she’d know what Jane looked like. He often told her how much her mother had loved her.

  A child couldn’t have too much love though. He placed his hand over hers on his arm. “When the time is right, I think you’ll know. Let’s see how things go the next few weeks.”

  She took off her hat and put it beside her. The sunshine glimmered on her blond hair hanging down her back, and she dangled her small feet over the edge of the rock. The water raced by only a few inches under her black boots. He liked the feel of her pressed against his side. What would she do if he slipped his arm around her waist?

  A fish splashed offshore about five feet, and she pointed. “You’re missing out on dinner.”

  “I’m too comfortable to move.” He glanced back toward where he’d parked the buggy. He didn’t see Hannah. “I’d better see what she’s up to. She should have been back by now.”

  “I’ll go.” She started to get up.

  “No, let me. You enjoy the birds singing.” He dared to brush his lips across her cheek and inhaled the faint aroma of talcum. “I’ll be right back with her.”

  She smiled and stayed where she was. “I can bait my own hook, you know. I’m quite proficient at fishing.”

  “We’ll have a duel when I get back.” Still smiling, he loped toward the buggy. Hannah wasn’t in the back of it so he looked around. “Hannah?” The grazing horses, tethered by a live oak tree, looked up, then went back to munching on tall grass.

  He examined the back of the buggy. The fishing rods and tackle box were still there. He grabbed them, then walked along the dirt road toward the bend where they’d seen other children playing when they drove in. Maybe the children had enticed Hannah to come play. Calling her name, he picked up his pace. Vague worry gnawed at him.

  He came around the curve and saw a flash of green. Then he heard her wail. “Hannah!” He broke into a run and leaped over a downed tree to reach her. She sat on the first branch of a huge tree. She sobbed as she looked down at the ground.

  She saw him and burst into tears. “The man said I couldn’t call you or he’d hurt Elli. He said I had to wait for you to find me. I didn’t think you were ever going to come. I can’t get down.”

  Hurt Elli? His gut tightened as he reached up and pulled her to safety. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”

  She shook her head. “He just tied me up. He said he was playing a game with Elli, but his eyes were mean.”

  Elli. He’d left her alone. Carrying Hannah, he raced back the way he’d come.

  Elli tossed a pebble into the water and watched the eddies ripple out. It felt good to be outdoors with her new family. She’d sought refuge here from her troubles. But what she was experiencing was something beyond a feeling of safety—it was more like happiness. Was that what this was?

  A shadow fell across the space where she sat. Before she could turn and smile up at Nathan, hard hands seized her from behind. Moments later, she was in the lake and those same hands pushed her under the water and held her there. She fought with a strength she didn’t know she possessed. A fingernail broke in her frantic thrashing to rid herself of the grip keeping her head under the surface. Her chest burned with the need to breathe, but she couldn’t break the hold on her shoulders.

  Then he let her up, though he kept his hands on her shoulders. She gasped in air and stared into the face of a stranger. He was around her age of twenty-eight, with dark hair and hazel eyes. His slim build gave no indication of the strength in his wiry muscles as he held her.

  “Where is it?” he demanded.

  She tried to wrench out of his grip, but his fingers were like a bear trap. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  He shook her, and her head flopped back and forth like a newborn kitten’s. “Don’t play games! I mean to have it. It’s not in the house. I looked everywhere. Where have you hidden it?”

  She tore at his hands, but they never moved from her shoulders. Then she was under the water again. Fish swam away from her thrashing, and her feet touched the sandy bottom. She tried to push up with her legs, but he was too strong for her.

  She couldn’t think beyond the fierce burning in her lungs. Her head was fuzzy, and she was going to die if she couldn’t get away from this man.

  There was a rocky outcropping two feet away. She lunged for it. Grasping a jutting rock with both hands, she dug the toes of her boots into the silt at the bottom of the lake and pulled with her hands in a sudden, decisive movement.

  His hands slipped off her shoulders. His legs moved toward her, but she dove out of his reach. She had to breathe again, and soon. Wriggling under the rock, she pulled her legs in so he couldn’t see them. Once his toes pointed the other way, she shoved herself out the other side of the rock and kicked up to the surface.

  His back was to her. She took a deep breath and went under again. Swimming along the bank by the water lilies, she got as far away as she could. Her dress kept tangling in her legs,
and several times she had to come up for air.

  The fourth time her head broke the water, he saw her. She dove under again, pulling herself along on tree roots sticking in the water from the bank. She came to a shady spot in the water and surfaced again.

  A hard hand yanked her out of the water. “You aren’t too smart, Elli. All I had to do was walk along the bank until you came up.” His breath smelled of cloves. “If you tell me what I want to know, I’ll let the little girl live.”

  She stilled. “What have you done with Hannah?” Her skin felt icy in spite of the hot day.

  He laughed. “I might hang her. Or drown her like a stray pup.” His eyes narrowed, and he shook her.

  The strength ran from her legs, and she sagged in his grip. He let her collapse to the ground, then loomed over her. The knife he pulled from his pocket seemed as big as a machete, and her pulse leaped.

  “I do not know what you want,” she whispered. “Please, just tell me what you are looking for.”

  Her head began to pound, and she tried to take a step back, but his grip tightened. She didn’t understand.

  He gritted his teeth, and a growl rolled from his chest. “Don’t play dumb. Where is it?” He brought the knife up under her chin.

  She heard a sound and saw Nathan running through the trees with Hannah in his arms. Elli’s eyes must have widened, or she must have given some inadvertent signal to her attacker, because his grip loosened, and he spun around. His hands dropped away, and he leaped away from her and into a high stand of shrubs. The leaves on the bushes trembled as he vanished from sight.

  Nathan reached her, pausing long enough to look her over and thrust Hannah at her. “Stay here.” He crashed through the shrubs in pursuit of her attacker.

  Elli knelt to embrace the trembling little girl. “You’re safe, honey. Your papa will protect us.”

  Hannah threw her arms around Elli’s neck. “That mean man tied me up. It wasn’t a very nice joke.”

  Joke? “No, it wasn’t nice. But it’s all over. We’ll go home and get cleaned up, then play checkers.” It wasn’t until Nathan trudged back to join them that she was able to breathe.

  “Lost him.” He reached them and scooped up Hannah. “Did he hurt you? Did he say anything?”

  The tenderness in his tone brought tears springing to her eyes. “Later.” She glanced at Hannah.

  His lips flattened. “Let’s get home. I’ll call Turley.”

  EIGHT

  Though it was a warm night, Nathan lit a fire in the fireplace so Elli’s hair would dry faster. She sat on a stool with her long hair spread out down her back. All traces of mud were gone, and she’d swathed herself in a thick robe.

  He put a cup of hot tea in her hands. “I put honey in it.”

  “Thank you. Is Hannah all right?”

  He pulled a chair up beside her and sat. “She fell asleep after her bath. I think she’ll be all right. The man scared her, but at least he told her it was a game. She didn’t like the game, but she didn’t realize the danger either.”

  “That’s a blessing.” She sipped her tea. “The man wants something from me, and I have no idea what he’s talking about.”

  He listened while she told him about the man’s demands. “You have no idea what he’s looking for?”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t bring anything of value with me from Finland.”

  He frowned and thought about it. “What if we’re looking at this wrong? Who did you spend time with on the ship? Maybe the item came from the ship. Or he thinks it did.”

  Her eyes grew shadowed. “I had several friends on the ship. Four of us shared a cabin and looked out for one another.”

  “Looked out? Was there danger?”

  “Some of the crew tried to take a few liberties when they found a lady unaccompanied. We stayed together to prevent any such occurrence.”

  “How many women came over?”

  “One thousand and two.”

  He gaped at that. “And they all found husbands?”

  She began to plait her hair. “Most of us had men waiting for us. The dock was crowded when the Baltic arrived. Men threw their hats in the air and waved. Some of them chose to travel on to other cities. One woman I met intended to go to Michigan to try to find her grandparents in hopes they would help her find a suitable man. Another said she’d heard all the millionaires resided in Pittsburgh so she was going there.”

  He could well imagine the scene. “Sounds like a great adventure. I should have met you in New York.”

  She flipped her braid over her shoulder. “You provided a ticket and good instructions. It was all that was needed.”

  He found it hard to take his gaze off her. With her hair pulled back, the robe revealed the long, slim line of her neck. “And when you arrived did you speak with anyone? Could someone have slipped something onto your person?”

  “I suppose it is possible. There was quite a press of people. But I spoke to no one but the immigration authorities.”

  “Could it have been the immigration agent? Was there any problem when you arrived?”

  She paused, her blue eyes thoughtful. “You sent firstclass passage so there was only a brief inquiry aboard ship. He did inspect my luggage though.”

  “Did you watch him the entire time?”

  “No, I turned away to say good-bye to my friends. I suppose he could have slipped something in there.”

  “Where’s your satchel now?”

  “Under the crawl space. You put it there the night we arrived.”

  He remembered. “Let’s take a look.” He stood and turned toward the door.

  She held out her hand. “Tomorrow. Please? I am quite weary.”

  Shadows darkened the skin under her eyes. He sat back down. “The man who attacked you didn’t look Finnish so there might be something else going on.”

  “He wasn’t. He had a Texas accent.”

  Nathan smiled. “Oh, we have an accent? I thought you were the one with the cute accent.”

  “I speak very good English.”

  “You do, but with a Finnish lilt.”

  Her eyes danced. “And you know so much about Finnish accents.”

  “I know I like yours.” He leaned forward and twirled the hank of her braid around his hand. “In fact, I like everything about you.”

  Color ran up her neck, but she didn’t look away. “I almost drowned today, Nathan. He held me under the water.” His smile faded, and he clenched his fists, but she held up her hand before he could answer. “I do not say this to anger you, but because it made me realize something important.” She leaned forward and took his hand. “I am happy for the first time in many years. Happy you chose me for your wife. Happy to be here with Hannah. But I know our lives could change tomorrow. I do not want to have any regrets when God calls me home.”

  “I don’t have any regrets about marrying you.” He wanted to lean forward and kiss her neck, smell the fragrance of her hair.

  “That’s not what I meant.” Her chest rose and fell with the deep breath she took as if she were breathing in courage. “It is hard for me to say, and really quite forward. But I want us to be a real family. I want to have children with you. A little boy with your eyes, and a little girl for Hannah to mother.”

  Heat rushed through him as he understood what she offered. His throat tightened at the thought of loving her, being with her. “I’d like that too, Elli.”

  Her fingertips barely brushed his face. The feather light touch intensified his desire to fold her in his arms. “But not tonight when you’ve been through too much.”

  The disappointment in her face made him smile.

  The oilcloth Nathan had wrapped the luggage in lay spread out on the kitchen floor. Elli rose from her hands and knees and dusted off her hands. “I don’t see anything inside, Nathan.” She’d been so hopeful the nightmare would be over if they could find what the man wanted and give it to him.

  The fading sun slanted through the kitchen window. T
hey’d had church today, then dinner with his employer and the Hawkins family. This was the first opportunity they’d had to examine the satchel.

  “I don’t either.” He picked up a dish towel and wiped her cheek. “A smudge.”

  He was close—close enough to kiss. Was he thinking about kissing her too? His eyes darkened, and he reached out to wind her braid around his hand. She let him pull her closer still. Her fists were full of his shirt before she realized it, and she lifted her face to receive his kiss. Their lips touched in a familiar way, as though they’d done this a thousand times. His muscles flexed under her hands as his embrace tightened. She closed her eyes and let the power of his kiss swirl through her.

  When he finally pulled away, she opened her eyes and smiled. “I find I quite like kissing, though it is a new experience.” His grin came, and the self-satisfaction in it made her smile widen. “You are rather smug about it.”

  “I’d like to become adept at kissing you.”

  “I think you already are,” she whispered.

  When he started to pull his hand out of her braid, he caught a finger on her necklace. The chain broke and tumbled to the floor. The golden locket sprang open to reveal her father’s face on one side and her mother’s on the other.

  He knelt to retrieve it. “I’m sorry, Elli. I’ll get you a new chain. The locket appears to be undamaged.”

  He started to place it in her hand, then stopped and peered closer. “There’s an odd symbol here behind your father’s picture. What is it?”

  She peered at the symbol that appeared to be a distorted figure eight. “I had no idea it was there. I have seen that before.” Her brow wrinkled as she thought. “Wait, I remember. It is on the bottom of the nesting dolls.”

  “Nesting dolls?”

  “They’re Russian dolls, usually five or six. Each one is smaller than the next, and they fit inside one another. It looks like a wooden doll from the outside, but inside are more dolls. I gave Hannah one when I arrived.”