Trace went to the wash basin and splashed water on his face. “You stay here and trust. I have to go find out how to have a marriage annulled in this town.” He sounded totally bitter and he didn’t even care.
Mose caught his arm at the door. “What are you doing, man? I just told you we can sell and stay here. You love that girl. Don’t leave her!”
He shrugged out of Mose’s grip. “I don’t want to leave her, Mose. But that’s been the plan. And we don’t even know if we are staying for sure. She already has plans to move on with her life here. Some old idiot geezer wants her for his second wife.”
“If he wants Giselle, he doesn’t sound like an idiot to me. She’s a grand girl. That’s why you’re going to stay married to her and live happily ever after.”
Trace looked up at his friend. “You make it all sound doable, Mose, but I’m not sure it really is.”
Mose put a big finger into Trace’s chest. “One thing’s for sure, Trace. She’s worth fighting for with everything you’ve got. Don’t you give up on that girl. If you left here, you’d smash her heart into tiny pieces. And that girl’s got a lot of heart. A whole lot of heart.”
Trace just looked up at him until Mose nodded at the bed. “Get your boots on. Let’s go talk to John. What, do I have to hold your hand through this? I have another hand I want to hold now, you know. I don’t want any part of California right now and neither do you.”
They talked to John who was all for selling to the Mormons and staying put for the winter, except that a couple of the wilder teamsters wanted nothing to do with those blankety blank Mormons. John and Trace and Mose decided that they’d sell here and let the others do as they pleased.
With that decided, Trace took Mose with him to meet back with Brigham Young. Somehow Brigham had found out that Trace was a skilled doctor, and he wanted to find out what it would take to talk him into staying there in the valley on a permanent basis. Trace explained that he still had another year in Pennsylvania to truly be where he wanted to be as far as education. President Young offered to help pay for that education, and had several other options to try to talk him into staying there and practicing. Trace didn’t commit to anything, but he had a head full of ideas when he went in search of Giselle that afternoon.
Back at Bishop Syndergaard’s, they told him she had gone with his wife to the general store and Trace headed there next. She wasn’t there and he asked the proprietor if he had seen a pretty, young Dutch woman named Giselle. There was an older couple there and the man turned to Trace with a scowl and asked, “Who would be asking about Sister Giselle?” His wife looked livid at the question and Trace had to wonder if this was one of the men who wanted Giselle for his second wife.
The very thought made him furious and he turned to the man and pointedly said, “Her husband would be asking. Is there a problem?” The man’s mouth fell open in shock and his wife looked pleased. Trace probably shouldn’t have done that. There was still the possibility that they would end up annulling their marriage, but he hadn’t been able to resist. The whole idea of this man with his Giselle!
Just then, she walked into the store with an older, matronly woman. When she saw Trace, she came up to him with serious, wide, blue eyes. She looked at him and paused before she asked, “What did you find out, Trace?”
He glanced around them at the store and then said, “Could we go somewhere and talk, Elle?”
Still watching him, she said, “Sure, Trace. Is something wrong?”
He nodded. Something was definitely wrong. The whole idea of leaving her was terribly wrong. He just hoped he could convince her of that. He took her elbow and led her out of the store. As they left, the older gentleman who had braced Trace looked at her almost coldly, while the wife looked mean and smug.
Once outside, Trace said dryly, “I’m assuming he’s one of the men who wanted to marry you.” She grimaced and nodded. “No wonder you weren’t very excited about the idea.”
She paused and then said, “The gospel is perfect, Trace. It’s just the people who aren’t.”
Outside the store it was cold and he asked her, “Are you warm enough if we just walk or should we go back inside somewhere?”
Giselle laughed up at him. “I’m wearing your stockings I knitted. They aren’t pretty, but they’re very toasty. I’m fine. Are you?” He laughed with her and thought to himself, I’m fine when I’m with you, Elle.
Just up ahead, he realized Lucretia Tapp was approaching them on the boardwalk. Trace had never been so glad to have Giselle with him in his life. As Lucretia approached them, at first her face lit up, but then when she realized Trace was with Giselle, she took on a pouty lower lip.
Trace stopped beside her on the walk. “Miss Lucretia, what a surprise. May I introduce you to my wife, Giselle? Giselle, this is a neighbor from back home in Georgia, Lucretia Tapp.”
Giselle smiled sweetly and dropped the smallest of curtsies. Trace subtly tugged on her hand and they continued on up the walk, leaving Lucretia standing on the boards, gaping behind them.
After a few more minutes of walking, Giselle glanced up at him. “She didn’t appear too happy about you having a wife.”
“Nope. Just about as happy as your suitor there in the store. I, on the other hand, have never been more grateful to be able to introduce you that way. Lucretia hasn’t been the most pleasant experience of my life. Her father was the one who nearly killed Mose when he was seven, and he was Mose’s wife’s master.”
Giselle put a gentle hand on his arm. “I’m sorry that you had to see her then, Trace. Does Mose know she’s here?”
He nodded. “Mose is good though. He’s learned to deal with her kind better than I’ll ever be able to.” They reached a vacant lot and Trace pulled her to a stop beside him.
Giselle looked up at him with big eyes. “What did you find out? About the annulment?”
Trace put up a hand and rubbed the back of his neck, but before he could admit he hadn’t even checked, she interrupted, “Trace… ” She hesitated when he looked at her, dropped her eyes, and started again. “Trace, is there any way I can go on to California with you?”
He looked down at her, puzzled. “What about coming to Zion, Elle? You’ve worked to get here for years. You wanted it more than anything.”
Nodding up at him, she admitted, “I know. I did want it more than anything. But now I don’t want it as much as I want to be with you. Could I go with you?”
He looked at her steadily. “I’m not going through to California anymore. Brigham Young is buying all of our goods here. He’s been trying to talk me into staying here and practicing medicine.”
She didn’t say anything, just looked at him quietly, and he continued, “Mose wants to stay as well. He’s joining your Church, even though he can’t hold the priesthood.”
He looked down and then back up and then admitted, “I’ve been thinking about joining too. I believe that Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son. I’m just trying to figure out how to deal with a couple of other things.” She still didn’t say anything, and he said, “Say something, Elle. Why are you not saying anything?”
Quietly, she said, “I’m wondering what you are thinking about me.”
He took both of her shoulders in his hands. “Giselle VanKomen Grayson, I’m thinking that I love you.”
He let her go and turned aside. “I know that I don’t deserve you, Elle. You’re such a good person. And I’m sorry I’m not completely sure about the Church yet, but I love you. I’m in love with you. And I don’t want to have our marriage annulled.”
He turned back to her. “I want to be married to you really, Giselle. Not just in name. I want it all. Your heart, your intimacy. Forever. Eternity. We’re happy together. We work well together. We could make a great life. I’ll die without you, Giselle.” He paused again and searched her eyes. “I love you, Elle. Can I stay here with you and we’ll be married? Truly married?”
She was looking up at him, studying him intently,
her eyes shining with unshed tears. He pulled her close to him and urged her, “Please say yes, Elley. It will kill me if you don’t.”
She hugged him tightly and finally broke the silence and went off talking excitedly, just as fast as she could. He listened for a minute, pulled back, bent, and kissed her for a long moment and then laughed and said, “English, Elle, English. I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I don’t understand Dutch.”
The End
About the Author
Jaclyn M. Hawkes grew up in Utah with 6 sisters, 4 brothers, and a number of pets. It was never boring! She earned a bachelor’s degree, had a career, and travelled extensively before settling down to her life’s work of being a mother of 4 magnificent and sometimes challenging children. She loves shellfish, the outdoors, and children and their laughter. She and her fine husband, their family, and their sometimes very large pets, now live in a mountain valley in Northern Utah, where it smells like heaven and kids still move sprinkler pipe.
To learn more about Jaclyn visit:
www.jaclynmhawkes.com
To find other great books like this one go to:
www.spiritdancebooks.com
Journey of Honor A love story Page 21
