“Please, don’t—”
He didn’t stop. “I wouldn’t let you close, because I didn’t want you to end up the way Eva did.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Dead. After our fight, she took the skiff and rowed across the river, but the ice and the strong flow tipped over the boat. She drowned and I couldn’t get to her in time.”
“You don’t need to tell me this.”
“Don’t you understand, Pearl? I almost lost you the same way. I didn’t make sure you were following me.”
“You couldn’t have done anything. You needed to get Sadie to safety.” She had to make him understand. “That’s what I prayed for, that Sadie would live even if I had to die.”
His chin shook before he looked away. After a moment, he composed himself. “And you call yourself selfish? That’s the most unselfish act I’ve ever seen.”
“No more than you running through the fire to find me. I blamed you for starting the fire, but now I know that I was wrong. It was an accident, a terrible accident. I leaped to conclusions and didn’t even try to learn the truth. I’m so sorry.”
He held onto her hands as if to a lifeline. “There is no reason to be sorry, Pearl. I love you. Love forgives.”
Oh, such words! But love could not be founded on anything but truth. “You need to know that I’m not exactly an orphan. That is, I may be, probably am now, but I don’t truly know. You see, my parents abandoned me at the orphanage. I wasn’t good enough.”
He pulled her close and hugged her so tight that she could barely breathe, but she didn’t care. No one had held her like that since her papa sobbed before leaving her.
She gasped.
He held her at arm’s length. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s vague, the smallest memory, but I think my papa wept when he left me at the orphanage. I remember him crying.” Tears sprang to her eyes. “He didn’t want to let me go, but he had no choice.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “He said that he would be back as soon as he could.” She drew in a shaky breath. “He must never have had the chance.”
He drew her close again, this time cradling her in his arms and whispering the verses of “Amazing Grace” into her ear.
She was lost. But now she was found.
“I won’t ever let you go, Pearl, if you will let me.”
The words flowed down her spine, driving away every tear and every ache.
She drew in her breath. Was he saying what she thought he was? “Do you mean?”
“It means I would love you and cherish you in sickness and health as long as we both shall live. Yes, Pearl, it means that and so much more.” He cradled her head in his hands. “You are my everything, my spitfire, my joy and my laughter. I can’t imagine a day without you.”
“Nor I you,” she began before he touched a finger to her lips.
“I haven’t much to offer you.” His brief laugh turned to the desperate hope of a boy asking for his heart’s desire. “But I will work hard to give you the kind of life you deserve.”
“No.”
The hope left his eyes. “No?”
“Not that! I meant that I don’t want you to work hard to give me anything. I want to work together with you to build a life.”
“Together?” He shook his head. “Pearl Lawson, you are an unusual woman.”
“Too unusual?”
“Never.” That hopeful smile returned. “Are you saying what I think you are?”
She nodded and threw her arms around his shoulders. “Yes, oh, yes.”
His lips met hers in an explosion of feeling that melted away the icy day. Gone were the harsh wind and pelting sleet. Pearl didn’t care if the entire town witnessed it. Roland Decker loved her, truly loved her for who she was, not what she claimed to be.
“Oh!” She broke the kiss as a sudden realization shot an arrow through their plans. “I can’t get married until my contract ends.” She frowned. “And I still intend to teach school as long as I can.”
To her surprise, he was chuckling.
“What’s so funny?” she demanded.
He shook his head. “Just you, darling. From the first moment I adored your practicality. As for your contract, I can wait if you wish. A long courtship would give me time to consider our future.”
“Don’t you mean that it would give us time to consider our future?”
He laughed. “Precisely.” He reached into his inner coat pocket and extracted a piece of paper. “However, if you are in a rush to marry, you could exercise this little addendum to your contract.”
“What addendum?”
“One I worked out with Mr. Farmingham and the school board that releases you from the marriage clause if you promise to complete the term of your contract.” He handed her the piece of paper.
Pearl read the brief paragraph and noted the date. “You did that before we reconciled?”
“I figured you’d come around.”
She swatted him with the paper. “A bit presumptuous, don’t you think?”
He laughed and gathered her close again. “Hopeful, Miss Pearl.” His eye twinkled. “Knowing one’s partner is the basis of a successful proposition.”
“And a successful union.”
His lips touched hers again. This time she let his embrace carry her away to that place where wrongs got righted, orphans found families and dreams came true.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from SHOTGUN MARRIAGE by Danica Favorite.
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Dear Reader,
When I first married, my new husband and I lived near the former site of Singapore, Michigan, and I was fascinated by its story. Like many lumbering towns, it sprang up on the shores of a river that offered a protected Great Lakes harbor for shipping. The history of many Michigan coastal towns leads back to lumbering. Some towns thrived, and some died when the timber was gone. Those that survived found another industry to push the town forward.
Though the characters and situations in this story are purely fictional, I wanted Roland to be that kind of visionary. He wants to put down roots and turn Singapore into a thriving community. For Pearl, who has no roots, this sense of place and an unbounded future holds a strong appeal. I can’t wait to see how their plans turn out!
I love to read mail-order-bride stories. Those women had incredible courage and faith! They also must have been spurred to this drastic solution by devastating circumstances. Imagining each woman’s story has been and will be a great adventure throughout this four-book series. I hope you will join me for Amanda, Fiona and Louise’s stories.
Please visit me at christineelizabethjohnson.com and send me a note. I’d love to hear from you!
Blessings,
Christine
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Shotgun Marriage
by Danica Favorite
Chapter One
Leadville, CO, 1881
“Did you hear he spent their wedding night in a brothel...” The whispers came from one of the pews to Emma Jane Logan Jackson’s left. But as she looked in the direction of the sound, all she saw were pious young women seemingly engrossed in their Bibles.
Jasper reached over and patted her hand. “Ignore them,” he said quietly, clasping the fingers that rested in the crook of his arm and giving them a gentle squeeze. Odd to be receiving this small amount of comfort from the virtual stranger she’d just recently married. He’d barely talked to her, let alone touched her, since their wedding two weeks ago.
Ignoring the gossip was easy enough for him to say. He was Jasper Jackson, son of the richest man in Leadville. But Emma Jane? She’d spent her whole life the laughingstock of town.
Smoothing the delicate fabric of the pale blue silk dress her mother-in-law had purchased for her, Emma Jane remembered all the times she’d wished for finer clothes to wear to church. She’d been wrong in thinking a new dress would keep the other women from talking about her. Whether it had been the poorly mended hand-me-downs, her father’s drinking, her mother’s antics in trying to make their family more respectable and even Emma Jane’s own awkwardness, people always found a way to make fun of her.
All she’d ever wanted was to find respectability in the town’s eyes, but even with marriage to Leadville’s most eligible bachelor, it eluded her.
“I thought getting married was supposed to stop all the talk,” Emma Jane whispered back.
Jasper squeezed her hand again. “It will be all right. Eventually some other scandal will hit town, and they’ll forget all about the circumstances of our nuptials. Soon enough, they’ll be begging to be invited to tea because they can’t resist the Jackson fortune.”
His emphasis on the words the Jackson fortune made Emma Jane stop and look at him. Her strikingly handsome husband, with his dark good looks, seemed almost bitter, like he resented having so much wealth. Surely being well-to-do was a good thing. With her father’s rising and falling fortunes, she knew both what it was like to be in plenty and in want, and frankly, she’d much rather have the plenty.
“What do you expect from a marriage practically forced on him by a scheming...”
Emma Jane turned in the direction of the voice, but all she saw was a group of women demurely peeking behind their fans. She squared her shoulders, straightened her back and gave them all a tight little smile. The only scheming going on was among the other women and their nasty gossip.
Jasper tugged at her hand again. “It’s not worth it. They’re just jealous because they aren’t Mrs. Jasper Jackson.”
More of the bitter tone as he emphasized Mrs. Jasper Jackson.
“You seem...” Emma Jane struggled for a descriptor that might induce her reticent husband to talk to her about it.
His lips turned upward in a smile that looked to be more painful than the effort was worth. “It’s no secret that every woman in town wanted to marry me.” He snorted. “Or, at least, they wanted to marry my fortune.”
Then he looked down at her, his dark brow creasing. “I’m sorry. I know our marriage benefited your family financially. I didn’t mean to insult you.”
She couldn’t give an answer to that, even if he’d wanted her to. The truth was, her family had insisted on the marriage, more for the funds it would bring to their coffers than any cares for Emma Jane’s reputation. Her father had gambled away her sister Gracie’s hand to settle a debt, and the only way to save Gracie from marriage to the town’s most odious man had been for Emma Jane to marry into wealth. Her mother had come up with a scheme for Emma Jane to trap Jasper into marriage, but Emma Jane hadn’t been able to go through with it.
Fortunately for the Logan family, Emma Jane’s clumsiness took over where her conscience wouldn’t let her act. She’d ended up trapped overnight in a mine with Jasper. Emma Jane’s reputation at stake, marriage to Jasper was the only solution. Her family caused such a fuss that the Jacksons were glad to give them whatever funds necessary to avoid any further embarrassment. Emma Jane’s family left town shortly after the wedding, pockets full of Jasper’s money.
No wonder he was bitter.
Jasper cleared his throat. “It just would be nice, you know, if people cared about what I wanted to do with my life.”
“Forgive me,” Emma Jane said softly, pulling her hand out of his arm, then she tugged at the lace edging on the sleeve of her dress.
She hadn’t considered what their marriage had cost Jasper. Nor had she thought about what he’d wanted. Her parents had browbeat her into the marriage, and because it was what Emma Jane had always done, she’d meekly agreed.
“No, forgive me.” Jasper took her hand again and settled it back into the crook of his arm. “It was a thoughtless remark. You had as little choice in the matter as I did. Honestly, my frustration isn’t even about that. I just can’t stand the way everyone is so concerned with trivial matters.”
Now that Emma Jane could understand. “We should find our seats,” she said, tugging at her husband’s arm.
“You go on. I see the sheriff has arrived.”
Jasper’s brow furrowed, and the line between his eyes had deepened. His thick, dark hair flopped over, seeming to have ignored the way he’d slicked it back earlier this morning.
“Is everything all right?” She followed his gaze and noticed Sheriff Calhoune standing on the other side of the church.
“We’re tracking down some of the bandits who got away the night of the brothel fire. I’m hoping he has some leads. This town’s not safe with scoundrels like them on the loose.”
The brothel fire. Jasper had spent their wedding night helping their friend, Will Lawson, rescue an innocent young lady from the clutches of a gang of bandits. During the rescue, the brothel had gone up in flames, creating chaos in their community. With Jasper’s scornful words about no one caring about what he wanted, it seemed wrong to prevent him from speaking with the sheriff. Even if church was about to start.
“I’ll see you at our seat,” she said.
Jasper gave a quick nod before turning away.
Polite strangers, that’s what they were. And while part of her yearned to know more about this enigmatic man she married, she couldn’t bear to impose on him any more than she already had.
“Don’t be a bother, Emma Jane.” Her mother’s words echoed in her head. Day and night, she’d worked so hard to not be. But because of her, Jasper was in a marriage he didn’t want. How could she ask him to give more than he already had?
The sound of giggles to her right drew Emma Jane’s attention. A beautiful baby girl, with golden hair and dressed in a pretty lace dress, bounced on a woman’s lap.
“Your baby is darling,” Emma Jane said to the woman, who gave her a smile in return.
“Thank you.”
“What’s her name?”
“Hannah.”
“What a lovely name. I’m Emma Jane...” She paused at the introduction. No longer Logan, it didn’t seem right to call herself Jackson, either.
Would being married ever seem normal?
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Pamela Woodward.�
� The baby reached in Emma Jane’s direction. “Would you like to hold her?”
Emma Jane automatically took Hannah in her arms, breathing in the soft powdery scent. Her heart warmed as the baby immediately snuggled up to her.
Hannah pulled at the collar on Emma Jane’s dress, and Emma Jane gently took the baby’s tiny hands in hers. Such a sweet child.
Which was when it hit her. Married to Jasper, there would be no children. He’d told her, just before they were married, that theirs was to be a marriage in name only.
“If it isn’t the town harlot, stealing other women’s beaus and tricking them into marriage.” Flora Montgomery nudged Emma Jane as she passed, giving her a haughty glare, then turned to the baby’s mother. “It’s very brave of you, letting a woman like her hold your baby. But perhaps you haven’t heard...”
With the pain of not having children heavy in her mind, Emma Jane handed the baby back to her mother. “Thank you for letting me hold Hannah. She is a dear.”
She turned to leave to avoid making a scene, but Flora blocked her path.
“You haven’t heard about our dear Emma Jane, have you?”
Pamela’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve been in Denver, visiting my parents.”
“After the church picnic, we were caught in a terrible storm,” Flora said. “Jasper found shelter for us at a nearby farm. When we were supposed to be getting ready to bed down for the night, Emma Jane lured him outside, then pushed him into an abandoned mine. She jumped in, and when they were found the next morning, her dress was in tatters.”
“I did no such thing!” Emma Jane had gone for a walk to clear her head after listening to Flora’s taunts. Well, all right, she’d run out of the barn crying. But Flora had been particularly cruel, telling the other girls that Emma Jane was going to be sold into a brothel. Not that Emma Jane would ever admit to Flora how those horrible rumors had affected her. For whatever reason, Flora had always picked on Emma Jane—had done so ever since they were in school together. Though Emma Jane had often wished she knew what she’d done to offend the other girl, mostly Emma Jane wished Flora would just leave her alone.
Mail Order Mix-Up Page 25
