Lily stared at his retreating back. The world felt like it was falling away. Tears blurred her vision, and she blinked hard to get rid of them.
But it was no use. Lily turned and hurried away, keeping her back straight, and her pace dignified until she could find somewhere where she could collapse and sob in private.
Chapter 4
When Kit had seen the woman with his children a mixture of emotions overwhelmed him. First, there was grief and then fear. Fear, because he knew this was Lily and knew that he was about to marry again. It felt too soon, it felt like a betrayal. There was also fear for his children. How could he let a stranger come near them?
Then he saw her, and she was scarred. Kit was furious. Not so much about the scars but about the fact that the woman had lied to him. How could he replace his beloved Amie with someone dishonest? Grief curdled his stomach and turned his shoulders to stone. This Lily was no good, if she hadn’t told him about her facial scars what else was she hiding? Yet now she was expecting him to carry on as if he hadn't noticed and marry her anyway?
Deep down Kit knew he was using the scar as an excuse... but he could not admit it to himself. Instead, he told himself there was no way he was marrying someone who looked like that and to top it all, someone who lied! If he was going to marry someone for the kids' sake, she should at least be honest and physically attractive.
And that was the problem. Her body looked incredible, slender and curvy in all the right places. But the scar was very hard to miss. Kit could grudgingly admit that if she weren't scarred, she would be a very pretty woman, someone he would have happily married. However, the scar changed things. No way was he going to marry a woman like that. People would laugh at him, and he wouldn't live it down. Besides, what if she lied to the children?
Kit picked up his hammer and pulled a red hot bar from the fire. Once on the anvil, he hit the hot metal with more force that was needed. He pounded it over and over until it was curved into the shape of a horseshoe. The work calmed him a little, and he pulled out another. Again and again, he worked raising the hammer and bringing it down with all the force his anger could muster, only stopping to put more metal into the forge.
"Kit?"
Greg appeared in the doorway, his suit jacket off and slung over his arm. Now dressed as the town's lawyer, he looked the part, smart and business-like in a black suit. Greg tilted his Stetson back off his head and frowned at his brother.
"What's the matter? You look mad."
That was an understatement. Kit was fuming. His bad mood from lunch had carried through the rest of the day, despite hammering up a two months’ supply of shoes and being so ornery that his customers were keeping out of range and scurrying away as soon as they could.
He was going to lose customers because of that damn woman.
Kit turned away and stuck a lump of iron into the fire.
"She's scarred, Greg... and she lied about it!"
"Who?"
"Lily Herod, the woman I asked to become the mother of my kids. She came to the forge today. She's got a scar from her left eye all the way down to her chin." He shuddered as he remembered it. "God, it was ugly."
Then he remembered the pain in Lily's eyes when he rejected her. That made him feel small as an ant on the barn floor and mean as a bear woken too soon in the spring time. Shaking his head, he squashed his guilty pretty quickly. If she didn't want to be rejected in that way, she shouldn't have lied to him. If Lily had told him from the start, then he could have saved them the heartache and told her no thanks at the beginning. But the woman had kept that from him. Now she was looking a fool for moving her entire family to Hope Springs for nothing.
"Poor woman." Greg sat on a stool by his worktop. "Did she say what happened?"
"No, and I don't care. I withdrew my proposal. She can go back to where she came from."
"You withdrew the proposal and left her out in the cold?"
Kit could hear the surprise in Greg's voice. He focused on the metal rod, which was starting to glow brightly among the embers.
"She's not left out in the cold," he snapped over the roar of the flames. "She's got three sisters to fall back on. If they're all scarred like her, they can congregate on their own. I'm not having anything to do with her.”
Even though he put passion behind the words, Kit knew his father would be turning in his grave if he knew about his behavior.
"You do need a wife, Kit. Think of the children."
"They don't need to see that every day of their lives... it would give them nightmares. Besides, she lied, and what happens when she lies to the kids?” Kit sighed and withdrew the rod. "No, I'm going to have to look elsewhere."
He turned towards his anvil when he heard a sharp female voice from the open doors.
"Are you McFarlan?"
Kit looked up. A petite woman with black hair and a pleasantly plump figure stood on the threshold, hands clenched into fists at her side as she glared at Kit.
"We both are." Greg eased off his stool. "Which one are you looking for?"
"Christopher."
The name was spat out. Kit lowered the metal rod into the bucket of cold water by the anvil. It hissed angrily and filled the air with steam and he took off his gloves and walked towards the woman. Now this one he wouldn't mind being a stepmother to his children. She was pretty, albeit on the slightly larger side, and there was a fire in her eyes.
"Can I help you?"
Hang on, wasn't that fire a lot like...
But Kit's thoughts became a jumbled mess when he was hit in the face hard enough to be knocked back off his feet. His foot twisted under him, and he landed on the floor of his forge, his lip stinging, and his head spinning. When he looked up, the woman was standing over him, jabbing a finger at him furiously.
"What gives you the right to treat my sister like crap?" she demanded. "You are nothing more than an ungrateful beast!"
She aimed a kick in his direction, and Kit caught it in the stomach, causing him to curl into a ball as pain rocketed through his body. He was glad she hadn't kicked any lower or more than his pride would be suffering.
"Easy there, Miss." Greg took the woman's arm but instantly jerked off when he saw her eyes. He held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Start at the beginning, please. We're a little confused. Who are you?"
"I'm Harriet Herod." The woman glared at Kit. "Lily's my little sister. And you reduced her to tears because of the foul way you treated her."
That would explain the fire. Both sisters had the same fire. Kit sat up, rubbing at his jaw. His fingers came away with blood after he touched his mouth. The woman had split his lip.
Greg glanced at Kit, his mouth twisted in displeasure, then he turned back to Harriet. "My brother's not the most respectful man on the planet, but he is suffering from grief. He did lose his wife and is struggling to raise three children. You have to understand..."
"You think that's going to make me back off?" Harriet snapped. She rounded on Greg. "We lost our parents three months ago. All four of us were injured in the accident that stole them from us. Lily was the one who saved our other sisters and me. Her bravery had saved us before we were killed. She has the courage of a lion, and she has had to deal with the guilt that she wasn't able to save our parents." Harriet turned back to Kit, her eyes blazing her fury. "Since then, we have lost our home and been forced to peddle ourselves to men... men like you!” Her eyes raged as she stared down at him. After all that... You have just made her feel worthless and ugly."
Kit listened to this speech and was floored. Lily had mentioned her parents’ deaths, but she didn't elaborate. He guessed he wasn't too interested in asking how they died because he was too busy seeing if she was suitable to be his wife.
"I'm sorry." He hoped this sounded heartfelt. "I didn't know."
Harriet snorted rudely.
"You conversed with her through letters for weeks. You should've known."
"She said that her parents had died, but she never
said what happened. She never said anything about it."
"And that gives you the right to be ignorant?" Harriet shook her head, her expression showing one of disgust. "You'd better go to my sister and apologize. She deserves better behavior from someone who's supposed to be a gentleman, and you don't deserve a good woman like her. I don't wish any ill will on your children, but I hope you rot in hell."
With that, Harriet turned in a swirl of skirts and stormed out of the forge.
Kit stared after her. Had all that just happened? He hadn't expected the family to come and seek out their revenge on him just because she wasn't up to his standards.
He rubbed at his jaw. That woman had a mean right hook.
"Wow." Greg was still staring at the open door. "She's got some spirit."
Kit could see where his mind was going. Greg found Harriet Herod attractive. That would be interesting. Maybe he could get Greg matched with Harriet if the woman was amenable to it.
But he would have to ask Kyle to set them up. If he went near the woman, she might knock his head clean off his shoulders.
But first things first. Harriet was right, and he had some groveling to do.
Chapter 5
"Mind if I join you?"
Lily looked up. Kit stood on the porch, his Stetson in his hands which couldn’t seem to keep still. He had put on a shirt that was unbuttoned at the neck. But Lily couldn't get the image of the shirtless blacksmith out of her head.
That image wasn't helping with her heartache.
Still, she didn't want to talk to him. After what he said to her today and the way he looked at her, she wasn't in the mood for any more embarrassment.
Her hesitation must have said it all, because Kit began slowly backing away.
"I'll go away if you want me to. I just wanted to apologize for my behavior towards you earlier today."
Lily wasn't a mean woman by nature. And from what she could tell from Kit's expression, he genuinely meant to say he was sorry. So she swallowed and nodded.
"Then you may join me."
"Thank you."
Kit sat on the edge of the porch, not coming any closer. Lily wasn't sure if this was because he was still uncertain of her physical appearance or because he was nervous about coming closer, unsure of her reaction. She decided to go with the latter.
When Lily had come back to the house earlier in tears, she had gone to her bedroom and stayed in there all afternoon, crying. Her sisters had tried to calm and console her, but Lily refused to be consoled. Then when Nana, exhausted from the travel, came to bed, Lily had left the bedroom. Now here she was, sitting on the porch in a rocking chair, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders as she huddled down, wallowing in her rejection.
She wasn't sure she could cope with much more heartache, especially today. The first man she actually found herself attracted to had turned away in disgust and was rude to her. That hurt. A lot.
"I'm sorry about your parents," Kit said suddenly.
Lily blinked and stared at him. "How do you know about them?"
"Your sister Harriet confronted me about my treatment of you. Gave me one heck of a wallop." Kit rubbed at his jaw. "She's got a good right hook."
The fading light hit his face, and Lily saw the bruise coming up on Kit's cheek and the cut to his lip. For a moment, a smile almost crossed her face, but that was not the right thing to do. "She should've stayed out of it," she said stiffly.
Kit was silent for a moment. Then he shifted so he was turned more towards her, leaning back against a wooden post.
"What happened?"
Lily wasn't sure she wanted to talk about it. The memories were still painful, the grief still sharp, but he deserved to know. She looked down at her hands, which were trembling. Quickly, she clenched them in the blanket so that he could not see.
"We were returning from visiting friends. Our carriage driver had been drinking heavily. He passed out and fell off his seat. Then our carriage went out of control with the horses on free rein. A wheel drifted off the road, and the carriage fell down an embankment and overturned. I was thrown free and caught my face on some rocks." She reached up to the scar as she felt the memory of her face being ripped open as she slid along the ground. "This is a faded version of what it used to be."
Kit was watching her silently. Lily was grateful he didn't say anything. She wasn't sure if she could answer his questions.
"The carriage stopped on the edge of a ravine, teetering on the brink. I could hear my family screaming. I went over and looked in. Father was unconscious, and Mother was holding him. She told me to help my sisters out first. So I did. It was difficult, for they were caught in the wreckage. I had to free the horses while I knew my family was in such danger. The more the horses kicked, the more the carriage slid towards the drop. It was hard, and I took too long. The horses were on their sides caught in the harness and kicking something terrible. I managed to get them free, and all the time the carriage was slipping closer to the edge. I should have kept the horses and got them to pull the carriage out. But I didn’t know how! Then I went back for my sisters…”
Lily’s had to swallow hard as she saw the ravine and the carriage. Saw her mother’s face as she held her father and tried to free their legs. Both of them were trapped. Lily went to her first but once again, she had insisted that she help her sisters. Lily fought so hard to pull away the debris and clear the way to pull her sisters free. Each time she got one out, the carriage slipped further and she knew that she would not save them all.
“Once my sisters were free… I tried to get my parents out." It was too hard to go on, and her voice hitched. "But the carriage had nothing to weigh it to the ground. It tipped over and fell into the ravine. Smashed to pieces on the rocks below."
Again that day Lily was crying. But this time not over her disastrous meeting with Kit. She cried for her parents, burying her face in her hands as she sobbed.
She heard Kit move and thought he was leaving. Then Lily heard his boots on the porch as he moved across to her. Hands gently lowered hers and Lily found herself looking Kit in the eye as he knelt before her. He didn't look disgusted being that close to her. The softened, sad look completely changed his face. He looked… different.
“You could not have saved them, and you were very brave, braver than anyone I know.”
Lily gulped at the kind words.
"What happened to the driver?" he asked quietly.
"He had a bang to the head but was otherwise unscathed." Lily snorted in disgust. "He even had the nerve to say it was our fault for making the carriage too heavy. He has no regards for the lives he lost."
"I'm sorry," Kit said, his voice so deep and rich it was almost like a caress.
Lily looked up, and he did look sorry. Lowering her eyes, she looked down at their hands, noticing that he hadn't moved his away. Was that a sign?
"We were all harmed in the crash. Hattie's got scars on her body. If they had been any deeper, she would have been sliced in half. Nana's got nerve damage in her hand, and it's likely she won't be able to use it properly anymore. And Maye's leg was mangled so she now walks with a limp." She closed her eyes. "We're all damaged goods, and so no one will marry us. We were thrown from our home and had no hope. You said you didn’t want a wife… just a governess... so what does my face matter?"
Kit looked down, and she saw that his cheeks were red. Was it with shame or embarrassment? Was he going to just walk away and reject her again?
It didn’t matter, she had told him now. She had told him the truth. It was up to him whether he wanted to pursue anything or not. This act of kindness towards her was a good start. Maybe they could work on it.
Kit sighed. "You are right… I still need a wife and a mother. Maybe one of your sisters will accept me?"
Lily's heart sank. He wasn't going to choose her. Her scars were something he couldn't get past. She pulled her hands away and stood.
"Good luck with that," she said stiffly. "All of them consider you
unmarriable. None of them will willingly go near you." Wrapping the blanket around her shoulders in a tight grip, Lily stalked towards the door. "Goodnight, Mr. McFarlan."
She was aware of Kit still standing there when she slammed the door.
Chapter 6
"So, what is happening with regards to you and Kit?" Hattie asked.
Lily stopped her digging and sat back on her heels. She had been on her knees digging up the weeds from the flower bed while Hattie and Nana worked on cleaning up the vegetable patch. Maye was sitting on the back porch out of the sun, working on a quilt. Everything seemed normal and homey.
But Lily was feeling anything but normal and homey. It had been two days since Kit had come to their home and apologized, but then, in virtually the same breath, said he’d prefer to court one of her sisters instead of her. Lily had taken refuge in her bedroom, refusing to talk to anyone. Even Nana could not bring her out of her shell, and they had always been so close. The problem was she hadn't wanted to talk about it, about how humiliated she had been when Kit had shown his real character and pushed her away. There was also the worry of what to do now. They had very little to live on, and if something didn’t come up soon, they would be destitute. Because of this Lily, had stayed in her room and refused to talk or do anything. She felt guilty for dragging them all out here when there was no future.
It was only when the three sisters dragged her out and said they needed to tidy the garden up that Lily grudgingly went. In the end, she realized it was something to take her mind off the insufferable man and it may provide them with some small living if they could get some vegetables growing. She had also thought about doing alterations, mending and possibly washing for the town’s men. If they couldn’t get husbands, maybe they could take some of the burdens off the men and give themselves an income that way. So far, she hadn’t mentioned it to her sisters, knowing what hard work it would be and knowing that they were unaccustomed to such labor. How their life had changed!
Christmas Miracles: Mega Mail Order Bride 20-Book Box Set: Multi-Author Box Set Page 30
