The Black Widow Bride (Mail Order Matrimony Book 3)

by Sarah Banks

  Chapter Ten

  The next morning Elizabeth was standing on a chair, flipping the somewhat indecent painting to face forward again when she heard someone come in the back door.

  “Shorty, if that’s you, we’re not open yet!” She called over her shoulder. Satisfied the painting was mostly straight, she gathered her skirts and hopped down from the chair.

  When she looked up, there was a petite woman Elizabeth had never seen before standing in the doorway to the storeroom. She was wearing a pink dress trimmed in black that had seen better days and a long, black shawl, big enough on her to be a blanket.

  “Oh, hello,” Elizabeth said tentatively. “May I help you?”

  The woman was slowly looking around the bar before she focused on Elizabeth. “Are you getting rid of the last painting?” She asked with a small smile.

  “What, this?” Elizabeth asked, thumbing over her shoulder. “No, my younger siblings clean the bar each morning. Will flips it backwards each night and since I got here first, I decided to face it forward again.

  The woman nodded but didn’t say anything else.

  Elizabeth took a step toward the woman. “Do you know my husband? Will.”

  “Willy? Oh yes, I know Willy,” she said with a secretive smile.

  Elizabeth had never heard anyone refer to her husband by that name in the past few weeks she had been here. Who was this woman? She held out her hand. “My name is Elizabeth and Will is my husband.”

  The woman hesitated and then took Elizabeth’s hand, but only for a second, before dropping it. “Yes, I heard that Willy got married. Good for him.”

  The woman had failed to introduce herself and Elizabeth was losing patience with her, not to mention her familiarity with her husband. “And you are…?”

  “Oh sorry. Kitty, my name is Kitty. Well, actually, I was christened Katherine, but nobody has called me that in a long time.” The woman’s eyes took on a faraway look.

  “I could call you Katherine, that is, if you wouldn’t mind?”

  Kitty’s eyes focused back on her and she finally nodded, “Sure, why not. Although I doubt very much we’ll ever speak again.”

  Elizabeth gave her a curious look. “Everyone calls me Elizabeth, except for when my siblings want something. Then they call me Lizzie. I have two younger brothers and two younger sisters.” She decided for the moment not to mention Daniel. “What about you? Do you have any siblings?”

  “I did. I do,” she corrected with a wave of her hand. “But they’ve long since scattered. I have no idea if they’re still living or dead.”

  Elizabeth’s heart broke for the woman. Her family was everything to her. She couldn’t imagine ever not being apart of their lives, even once they were grown and married, let alone not knowing whether they were living or dead.

  Elizabeth gestured to the table she had been sitting at earlier, scribbling in her notebook, trying to figure out how much they should charge to turn a small profit on the meat pies she had made for the first day of their selling food in the saloon. “Care to sit down?”

  “Just for a minute. I can’t be gone long, or Ray will notice.”

  Elizabeth took the seat next to her. “Ray? Is he your husband?”

  Kitty snorted. “Lord no! He’d make the world’s worst husband. Ray’s my…employer.”

  Elizabeth thought that she was finally beginning to understand exactly what Kitty was.

  Kitty gave her a sly smile. “I see that you’re starting to puzzle it out. I’ll finish it for you. I’m a prostitute, lady of the evening, soiled dove.” She waved her hand again. “Whatever you want to call it. I used to work here before Will inherited the joint and decided he didn’t want that part of the business. I work at Ray’s now.”

  “I see.”

  Kitty gripped the edge of the table and made a move to stand. “Listen, you have no right to judge me.”

  Elizabeth reached forward and gripped the woman’s forearm. She noticed it was covered in faded bruises. She slid her hand down, taking Kitty’s hand instead. “I wasn’t. I swear. Please don’t go.”

  Kitty slowly sat. The anger faded from her face and she blew out a sigh. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m a mite defensive. I suppose I always have been.”

  “I understand. I do.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments before Elizabeth reached for the basket that sat off to the side, flipping back the towel. “Would you like a meat pie?”

  Kitty lifted her hand before dropping it back to her lap. “I’m no charity case.”

  “I never said you were. It’s just that this’ll be the first day that we’re serving food in the saloon. I’ve never made meat pies for anyone else besides my family before. I wouldn’t mind having another opinion.”

  She handed Kitty a pie and took one for herself. She hadn’t been able to sleep much last night. She had been too excited. She got up early and started cooking the meat pies. She had been so absorbed she had forgotten to eat the breakfast she made for everyone else. She was ravenous now.

  They consumed their pies in silence and Kitty licked her fingers clean when they finished.

  “That was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.”

  Elizabeth smiled at the lovely compliment. “Thank you. Just for that, here’s one for the road,” she said, handing Kitty a towel wrapped around a second pie.

  Kitty hesitated for a moment before taking it and murmuring, “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “So, you’re turning this place into a restaurant?”

  “No, maybe someday we’ll add on a small kitchen, but for now, I’m just making something up at the house and bringing it down to sell.”

  “That’s a good idea.”

  “Thank you. I hope it works out. I love cooking and if I can bring in a little money that way to help Will, who not only takes care of me, but my entire family, it’ll be worth it.”

  Kitty nodded and stood. “Well, I’d best be going. I’ve already tarried longer than I should’ve.”

  “Wait, you never said why you stopped by. Not that you’re not always welcome,” she added.

  “I was just walking by and saw you through the window. I heard Willy married and I guess I just thought I’d pop in and meet his bride. I’ve known him more than half his life. From before he used to sleep in the storeroom.”

  Her husband used to sleep in the storeroom?

  “Don’t worry,” Kitty assured her. “He never came upstairs. He was like a little brother to us girls.”

  Elizabeth’s cheeks burned. “Oh, well, uh, thank you for the reassurance.”

  “I’m real glad he found someone,” Kitty said, before slipping into the storeroom and out the back door.

  Chapter Eleven

  Later that evening, Elizabeth was putting the finishing touches on Will’s shirt while he ate his supper. It had been a successful first day selling food at the saloon. When she walked down the hill to meet Will near closing time, she had been astonished to learn they sold out of all the meat pies before five.

  Will reached for another meat pie that she had set aside for his supper. “These are good.”

  “I’m glad you like them Willy,” she replied, peeking at him from underneath her lashes. The pie stopped halfway to his mouth.

  She looked up. “Something wrong?” She asked innocently.

  “I’m not sure,” he answered. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

  She fought the urge to giggle.

  “No one’s called me Willy in a long time,” he said.

  Elizabeth nodded, wondering if she should tell him about her meeting with Kitty earlier today. She decided that she didn’t want to keep any more secrets and said, “I met Katherine this morning.”

  “Katherine, who?”

  “Kitty, I mean. She used to work at Hank’s and now works for Roy.”

  He finished his last bite of pie and swallowed, pushing his plate away. “Ray,” he corrected her. “And how, by chance, did y
ou happen to meet Kitty?”

  “She stopped by the saloon this morning”

  “She did?”

  Elizabeth nodded.

  “I haven’t seen her in years. What did she want?”

  “Nothing really. She said she saw me inside and heard that you had gotten married and wanted to meet me.”

  Will leaned back in his chair, folding his hands over his stomach. “Huh.”

  Elizabeth took a deep breath and asked a question that had been bothering her all day. “Will, did you really used to sleep in the storeroom?”

  He stiffened. “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “After my father died, I had nowhere else to go. Hank offered me a job, cleaning the bar before and after school, although I never did as good of a job at it as Charles, George and Alice do. And in exchange, he let me sleep in the storeroom. My pallet was on the other side of the wood stove. The wall in between would retain the heat through the early morning.”

  “But why?” She burst out, hating to think of her husband, especially as a child, her siblings or anyone else she loved sleeping on a floor in a dark storeroom. “He had this big house on the hill. There was plenty of space for you. Why didn’t he let you sleep up here? In an actual bed?”

  “I don’t know. He built this house for his own family. That never quite came to pass.”

  Will leaned forward and ran his thumb over her brow, smoothing it. “Hey, that’s all in the past. But I owe Hank everything. I don’t know what would have happened to me if he hadn’t taken me under his wing. God knows, nobody else stepped forward. And because of him, I have all of this, including you.”

  “Oh Will,” she cried, throwing her arms around his neck.

  He pulled her onto his lap and held her tightly.

  A few minutes later when she heard someone on the stairs, she reluctantly pulled out of Will’s arms and moved back to her own chair moments before Margaret entered the kitchen.

  Elizabeth shot to her feet. It was well past midnight and Margaret had clearly been crying, her eyes puffy and red. She rushed to her sister’s side. “Margaret, what’s wrong? Is it Daniel?”

  “No. Not exactly.”

  Elizabeth pushed her into a chair. She dampened a dishtowel at the hand pump and dropped to her knees in front of her sister, pressing the cool towel against the side of her red face. She gripped both of Margaret’s hands with one of hers, squeezing tightly. “What is it? Please tell me.”

  Will stood and cleared his throat. “I’ll leave you two alone.”

  Margaret held out a hand to waylay him. “No Will, please stay. Sit. You too Elizabeth,” she said, pulling her to her feet. “This involves both of you.”

  Elizabeth resumed her seat.

  “Will, there’s something I need to tell you,” Margaret began.

  “Margaret, you don’t have to do this,” Elizabeth interrupted.

  “Yes, I do. It’s past time.”

  Will was looking back and forth between them with a frown. “Tell me what?”

  “Daniel’s not Elizabeth’s son. He’s mine.”

  ∞∞∞

  Will sucked in a breath at Margaret’s revelation. “What? How’s that possible? You’re not even seventeen years old.”

  Margaret’s shoulders dropped.

  He looked at Elizabeth. She had lied to him. Again.

  His wife’s eyes began to fill with tears as if reading his thoughts. “I’m sorry Will.”

  Will pushed back his chair but Margaret reached for his hand, staying him. “Please don’t be mad at my sister Will. I made her promise a long time ago, she wouldn’t tell anyone the truth and she never has. Not even you. And knowing how I know she feels about you, that must be tearing her apart inside.

  He glanced back at Elizabeth. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and the sight of them gutted him. One of her arms was protectively wrapped around her middle. Her bottom lip was shaking and she wouldn’t meet his gaze. He dropped back into his chair with a sigh.

  He rubbed his hand down his face. “Tell me what happened Margaret, if you can. Make me understand.”

  Margaret nodded and she took a deep breath. “It happened after Elizabeth’s first husband, Sam, died. We were living in a boardinghouse. Elizabeth and Charles were working, trying to support all of us. George and Alice were in school and so was I, but only in the mornings. And, well…Mr. Peters and his wife owned the boardinghouse. He…”

  Elizabeth shot to her feet. “Please don’t make her say it Will. Please!”

  Will looked down at his hands, as Margaret’s words began to sink in. He felt like throwing up. “Okay. I think I understand. You don’t have to say anything else.”

  “I don’t think that Elizabeth would have gotten married for a second time, at least not when she did, if it hadn’t been for what happened. And of course, learning that I was expecting Daniel.”

  “That man, Mr. Peters, ought to be shot!”

  Elizabeth crossed her arms. “He was.”

  Will looked up at his wife and for the very first time he could see her capable of killing a man, worthy of the moniker ‘Black Widow Bride,’ with her back straight, arms crossed, jutted chin and rage in her eyes.

  “Lizzie! Don’t you dare for another second let Will believe it was you that killed him!”

  A slow smile creeped across Elizabeth’s lips as she looked at her sister. Will followed her gaze.

  Margaret sighed and rolled her eyes. “I didn’t kill him either.”

  “His wife did that favor for us when she found out what he had done to Margaret,” Elizabeth informed him.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner Will,” Margaret said. “I knew from the day that I met you that you were a good man. But the longer I waited, the harder it became. And now I see how close you and my sister have become and that she’s keeping a secret from you, only on my behalf. I don’t want it to jeopardize your relationship. I realize it was wrong of me to wait so long. Please forgive me.”

  He patted Margaret’s hands. “There’s nothing to forgive. I understand why you did what you did. And I’m happy I know the truth now. Daniel’s a terrific little boy and you’re a wonderful mother to him. I don’t know how I didn’t see it sooner.”

  “Thank you Will,” she replied, her voiced filled with emotion. Her teary eyes went from him to Elizabeth. “And you won’t hold it against my sister?”

  “No,” he said honestly. “I couldn’t.” He looked at Elizabeth. “I love her.”

  Elizabeth gasped.

  “I realize that she was just trying to protect you and it’s just one of the many reasons I love her.”

  Elizabeth sank back into her chair and buried her face in her hands. She started to sob.

  Margaret hugged her sister tightly, murmuring, “I love you too Elizabeth.” She shared a final look with Will and went back upstairs.

  It broke Will’s heart to see his wife fall apart and he wondered when the last time she cried was. Her shoulders shook violently. He tried to take her hands from her face, but she held firm. Instead he lifted her in his arms and carried her to their bedroom. He sat back against the headboard and held her in his arms until finally she stopped crying.

  She was silent for a long while afterward and he waited patiently as she sorted through her thoughts. She finally whispered, “It was my fault.”

  “No, it wasn’t,” he said firmly.

  “Yes, it was,” she insisted. “I was the one who chose that boardinghouse because it was one of the few we could actually afford to house all of us. I was the one who worked long hours. I wasn’t home. If I was, if I knew…I could have stopped it.”

  “You can’t control the actions of other people Elizabeth. You’re smart enough to know that.” He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and asked, “Was Margaret right? Was that why you married a second time?”

  “Yes. We could barely afford to make ends meet as it was. We lost our place to live and the next one wasn’t much better. Then we
learned that Margaret was expecting. I realized that if I married again I could pass the baby off as my own, from my first marriage.”

  “And spare your sister any judgement?”

  “Yes. It wasn’t her fault. She was violated. And left pregnant at barely fifteen years old. She had already been through enough. I just wanted to protect her. I didn’t want to let her down again.”

  “I don’t ever want to hear you blame yourself again, do you hear me? The overwhelming love you have for your brothers and sisters is as clear as day. All that you have done for them, since your parents died. They are lucky to have you Elizabeth. I’m lucky to have you. If I had a fraction of the love you had for them, I’d die a happy man.”

  She looked up at him, her eyes wide. “I do love you Will.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t have to say that Elizabeth, just because I did. It wouldn’t change the way I feel about you. I love you more than life.”

  She scrambled out of his arms, kneeling beside him, eye to eye. “I’m not just saying it Will. I do love you. I knew the first day I met you that this marriage would be different. I cared for Sam and John but what I feel for you,” she said, placing her hands over her heart. “It’s so much more. I want to be with you all the time. And when I’m not with you, I’m thinking of you. I love it when you look at me, hold my hand, kiss me, make love to me.” She blushed. “The way you embraced not only me, but my entire family, as if they were your very own. Seeing you happy, makes me happy. And I just want to figure out ways to make you even happier. Whenever I see you smile or laugh, it fills my heart with such incredible joy.”

  He cupped her face and pressed a hard kiss to her lips. “If we weren’t already married, I’d ask you to marry me right now,” he said against her lips.

  “If we weren’t already married, I’d absolutely say yes,” she whispered and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him for all she was worth.

  Chapter Twelve