The Bride’s Secret_A Western Romance Story

by Elliee Atkinson

  “What’s that?”

  “Earlier today, a young woman was killed.”

  Rachel and Emily both gasped, their hands flying to their mouths. Emily felt a cold chill run over her. Sam wouldn’t be mentioning it if it didn’t have some relevance.

  “It was the wife of Andrew, the man who just left. Some of you knew him. His wife, Sheila, was kicked by a horse into the path of a wagon coming down the road. She was trampled.”

  Emily felt the sting of tears on the back of her eyes. She closed her eyes, lowering her head. “That is so horrible, Sam. So horrible.”

  “Yes, it tore our friend Andrew apart. He was thinking of moving here to Wickenburg. But without her and this being the place she was killed, he will most likely leave. I would.” He glanced at Emily, thinking how broken his heart would be.

  “So you said she was killed,” Ryan said. “But it sounds like it was an accident.”

  Sam turned his eyes to Elizabeth. “Beth.”

  She looked up from her papers.

  “You didn’t see whose horse that was that kicked Sheila, did you?”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “No, Mr. O’Connell. I told you that before.”

  Sam nodded. “I know you did, dear. I’m just reconfirming in front of everyone.”

  She smiled at him. “You know, there were people outside. Surely someone can tell you whose horse it was.”

  “What are you saying, Sam?” Adam approached from behind Sam. The big man looked at him.

  “I’m saying that if Max knew who Andrew and Sheila were, he’d be the first one to suspect on this. Andrew provided us a lot of information. Taking his wife out of the picture would take him out, too.”

  Adam wore a look of understanding. He nodded. “A valid point.”

  “I thought so. So if we ask around and find someone who can identify the horse and rider, we will have more evidence that Max knew why Andrew was here. For Ryan. Max didn’t want to lose his slaves, so he got rid of the investigator that was searching for him.”

  “He followed us for two years, Ryan,” Mrs. Whittaker told her son, whose eyes widened.

  “You must be joshing me,” Ryan said in an incredulous voice. She shook her head.

  “I am serious. He watched our every move.”

  “When he could,” Adam interjected. “He wasn’t in all the places you were in. He had to keep searching for a schedule, a travel plan. He never mentioned whether he found one or stole one from Max.” Emily gasped, prompting him to look at her. “He was trying to capture your brother. It doesn’t surprise me what levels he will stoop to. He was trying to catch a criminal. He’s not a bad man.”

  “I reacted that way because Max is so dangerous,” Emily said softly. “I would fear for Andrew’s life.”

  “Do you really think he’s that dangerous?”

  Emily nodded. She moved her eyes to her mother and brother, who also nodded. “He’s a bad man.”

  Sam, Adam, and the sheriff all shared looks. It didn’t look like they were going to get through this without some kind of fight.

  “Did you see him at the rodeo site, Adam?” Sam asked.

  Adam shook his head. “That doesn’t mean he didn’t see us. It just means he didn’t let us see him.”

  Ryan grunted. “You’re right about that. He could be coming for us at any minute.”

  “Let me ask you this,” Sam said, looking at the younger man. “Does he have any loyal people at the rodeo who will run with him into town?”

  Ryan looked at his sister. They both thought for a moment before nodding. “Yes,” Ryan replied. “He’s got at least ten men on the team who would ride for him.”

  “Ten.” Adam calculated in his mind how many men of Wickenburg he could gather together in the next hour. “All right and do you think he will come into town or leave without looking back.”

  “Oh, he’s coming into town,” Emily replied, this time, in a confident voice. “He’s definitely coming into town.”

  “Why do you say that?” Sam asked. “You seem so sure.”

  “That’s because I am. He isn’t going to leave that rodeo behind. Too many animals, too much investment into trailers and everything else.”

  Sam nodded. “I see your point. All right then, let’s prepare. We need to think of ten men at least who will help out.”

  “My brother, Kyle, is in town,” Adam said. “He’d be with me but he was working in Alice’s garden when I left this morning. I know he will ride. That's four with you,” he pointed at Sam and then himself. “Me, Mark and Jim. We know we can depend on Mr. Samuel and the doc. That’s six. We need at least six more.”

  “You’ve forgotten Daryl. You know he will help.” Rachel smiled at her brother. It was typical for Sam to forget her husband. Daryl was a soft-spoken, kind man with a heart of gold.

  “Oh, yes, of course. Daryl. And Mark’s cousin, Gabe Stapleton. He’ll help.”

  “Tom, Allan and Chris will probably want to get involved.” Adam said, looking over at Elizabeth. She shook her head.

  “Not Allan. He’s not well enough for all that. And I’d rather you not get Tom shot but that’s not my decision.”

  “I just thought of something.” Adam looked at Ryan. “You said he has about ten men. Are any of them sharpshooters like you and your sister?”

  Ryan smiled at him. “Fortunately for us, no. And you know Jack and all the men that are in the woods will want to help. Obviously or they wouldn’t be out looking for Emily. Speaking of… shouldn’t someone go inform them that she’s safe and sound?”

  Adam nodded with a grin. “I think it would be best if someone did go tell them. They won’t stop till they know she’s safe.”

  Emily blushed. “I am so sorry for causing all this trouble. I didn’t mean to.”

  Ryan grunted. “You are not to blame, little sister. This was about me. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I’m the one who’s sorry.”

  They gave each other loving smiles.

  “Now that you have that squared away,” Sam grinned. “Who wants to go get the men in the woods?”

  “I’ll get them,” Adam said, moving toward the door, plopping his hat down on his head. “I’ll be back. Should I come back here?”

  Sam nodded. “We’ll use this as a headquarters of sort, if you don’t mind, Elizabeth?”

  She shook her head. “Not at all, Mr. O’Connell. If there’s anything I can do, please let me know.”

  “I will.”

  Adam touched the tip of his hat to the ladies and went out the door.

  “Now that the men are finally gonna be told Emily is safe, we can plan on having them all here. Should we go to the rodeo site? There’s really never anywhere good for a battle like that. I don’t want innocent citizens to be hurt in the process.”

  “I don’t either, Sam,” Emily said. “But unless we go get him first, he will come for us. I promise you that.”

  “He is such a horrible man.” Mrs. Whittaker shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. Emily reached across and patted her knee the way she’d seen Rachel do.

  “It’s going to be okay, now, Ma. We’re going to be free. Do you know how wonderful that’s going to be? I’m going to have a garden. I’m going to ride horses all over this land of Wickenburg and say hello to everyone I meet. I’m happy, Ma. I want you to be happy, too. We’ll get a nice little house and live in comfort and peace with no wheels under our home.”

  Mrs. Whittaker gave her a big smile. “You are right, my dear! You are right!”

  Emily smiled. She loved seeing her mother smile once again. It had been far too long, in her opinion.

  “It sounds like we have plenty of men, since the rodeo men are willing to go up against their boss. I don’t know why they wouldn’t want to since Jack would be the one to take over. Everyone gets along with Jack.” Mrs. Whittaker said. “I wish there was something I could do to help, and age and gender might not make a difference to some, but I am a weakened woman. Can’t expect much
from me. They don’t at the rodeo.”

  “Ma, you are a great contributor to modern day society.”

  Mrs. Whittaker looked at her son like he was crazy. “You’ve lost your mind, son. I don’t have a job or a career.”

  “We were your career,” Ryan insisted. “Me and Em. You’ve always taken such good care of us. We can never repay you for what a wonderful mother you’ve been.”

  Mrs. Whittaker chuckled, looking at him. “Thank you, son. Thank you and thank Him.” She pointed upward. Emily grinned at her mother.

  “You just did the same thing I did to Rachel.” Emily turned to her new friend. “Rachel, this is my mother, Caroline. And my brother Ryan.”

  Rachel nodded at them. “It’s good to meet you. Better to be under different circumstances, but still so glad we have.”

  “Yes, good to meet you, too,” the older woman replied.

  Sam sat down again next to Emily. “I wanted to ask you something,” he said quietly. She gazed at him, admiring his handsome face, his bright, intelligent green eyes, his dark red hair. She thought she had never looked upon a face as handsome as his. She hoped he was thinking similar thoughts about her.

  He was. He couldn’t help noticing how blue her eyes were. He made an appreciative sound under his breath that made Emily blush.

  “What is it?” She asked.

  “Would you care to visit the church at the end of the street with me? I’d like for you to see it.”

  She smiled wide. “I would love to visit the church! Thank you!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  OH, SAM

  OH, SAM

  Sam and Emily left the hotel, leaving everyone behind to discuss the situation. Sam was anxious to have time with her alone. The church was the best place for that because no one would think badly of her. He didn’t want to ruin her reputation before she had a chance to become established in Wickenburg.

  They walked for a moment in comfortable silence before Sam broke it, saying, “Emily, you had us all scared for a while there. But you were right. While you were gone, and I discussed this with your mother, too, while you were gone, none of us was really afraid for you. We were scared because you were gone and… well, things are a little chaotic right now. But somehow, I knew, and your mother knew, that you were all right.”

  She grinned up at him, her heart doing flips along with her stomach. He was such a handsome man. She never wanted to take her eyes off him. “You probably knew I was safe because I was with your sister.”

  Sam tilted his head to the side. “You could be right. Rachel and I have always been close.”

  “She is a wonderful woman. I’m so glad I happened to come up on her house. She was outside in the garden. I would have gone to her house anyway. It’s such a pretty little cottage. I’m surprised her husband let her keep it that way.”

  Sam looked down at her, feeling yet another connection to the woman. They seemed to be on the same wavelength for many things. “I have always thought the same thing. I’m sure if you looked close, you could find some of the masculine things I found the last time I was there. But most of that, yes, it was there when Daryl came to town. Rachel told me he said not to change a thing and he might add something sometimes but all of that, what you see, is her doing. She’s an incredible decorator, don’t you think?”

  Emily nodded. “I do think so, yes.” She was quiet for a moment and when he didn’t speak, she did. “Sam, I want to thank you for being so open-minded about Ryan. He wasn’t always so suspicious and angry. He’s been taken advantage of so many times, especially by Max. And I’m anxious for that to stop. I want him to be happy and free.”

  “You need to be happy and free, too,” Sam said. “It’s not all about him, you know.”

  “It is for me,” Emily replied. She looked up at him. “At least, it was. I love my brother. I know he’s gotten himself into trouble. But he’s always been loving and kind to me. Of course we argue and bicker.” She laughed. “He’s my brother. We wouldn’t care about each other if we didn’t argue, right?”

  “I suppose. I never argued with Rachel that way. In fact, I think we have always gotten along rather well. It’s a little surprising.”

  “Not even when you were little?” Emily raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I thought all brothers and sisters argued about something.”

  “Maybe if I took her tablet and she couldn’t write. Or I would hide her chalk so she couldn’t draw with it. She hated that.”

  Emily laughed. “See? Brothers and sisters. Or brother and brother. Or sister and sister.”

  He chuckled. “I got the point, dear.”

  Emily was suddenly serious, biting her bottom lip. “I worry about what Max is going to do. I wonder if he even knows what’s going on. I think he does. He’s not a stupid man. He may be violent and angry but he’s not stupid.”

  “It seems to me, most criminals are intelligent. The stupid ones are the ones who get caught. It’s obvious Max isn’t stupid. He’s not been caught until now.”

  “He’s not caught yet,” Emily said in a cautious voice. “We shouldn’t let down our guard.”

  Sam looked up at the approaching church. “I think for a little while, we are going to let down our guard. He’s not going to come to the church. We will be safe there. If anything happens out here, I’m sure I’ll hear it or someone will come and get me. However, for the next hour or so, I’d just like to sit and talk to you about life here in Wickenburg. I’d like to hear your stories about what you have done. Most of all,” he grinned at her. “I want to know how you manage to shoot like that.”

  Emily laughed. “It’s a natural talent. I didn’t know I had it until Ryan showed me how to shoot. He was already very good himself. Once he taught me, we knew we had something special. It’s amazing how God gives us certain talents. I wonder what he wants me to do with that one.”

  They turned to go up the steps and into the church. He opened the door for her.

  “Maybe he gave you that so you could get to this point in your life and free Ryan from his chains.”

  Emily was quiet as they walked into the sanctuary. She looked around. The windows that lined the sides of the building were painted with depictions of Jesus, God, Moses, Noah and the Cross. At the back of the church, a large wooden cross had real flowers draped over the top post. More flowers were wrapped like a chain around the middle post.

  “What a beautiful cross,” Emily breathed, feeling a bit of a chill. The ceiling was slanted. Lanterns lined either side, in between each window. The pews looked new.

  Emily and Sam walked down the center aisle to the front row. They both sat down at the same time. They looked up at the cross.

  “Who is your preacher?”

  “His name is Darren Potter. He is a true man of God. Wise beyond his years. He’s about my age. He doesn’t yell out at his parishioners. He reads from the Bible. He’s a good man. I like him.”

  “I can’t wait to hear what he has to say next Sunday.” Emily said, never taking her eyes off the Cross.

  “Were you ever able to attend church? Before you joined the rodeo?”

  Emily nodded. “When I was very small, my mother would take Ryan and me to the services on Sunday at a church not far from where we lived. I don’t remember it really well. I do remember going in and thinking about how big everything was. I look back on it now and realize it was me that was small, not everything else that was big.”

  They both laughed.

  “Do you remember when you were little?” she asked him.

  He nodded, thinking about those years so long ago. “I do remember some. Not a lot. We came from Ireland when I was ten years old. So I do have some memories of Meade County where we were born and raised. Well, until I was ten.” They laughed again.

  “Did you move straight here to Wickenburg?”

  Sam shook his head. “I’ve only been in Wickenburg for about 20 years. Before that, we were in New York. That’s where I spent the second half of my c
hildhood. The real, growing years. I’m glad to be in America. Things were so difficult in Ireland. I remember hearing my parents arguing because we didn’t have enough to eat. There was a drought and a famine, one right after the other. It makes sense because the drought caused the crops to fail. And there was no food for anyone. We were literally starving to death out there. Therefore, I’m very grateful that America let us come and stay. This is a much nicer environment. Don’t get me wrong. I love my home country. But I have to say, life is easier here in America.”

  “I’m surprised you think that,” Emily admitted. “Life seems extremely hard for these people. Well, for anyone who isn’t rich.”

  “We don’t have too many of the rich elite here in Wickenburg. We have mostly kind, loving people who work hard for a living and always have a smile on their faces.”

  “I fall in love with this town more and more every day,” Emily said.

  Sam laughed. “You got here yesterday.”

  She looked up at him. “And I love it more today than I did yesterday. I hope that’s a pattern. I want to stay here in this cute little town and have a family.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes.”

  He thought about it for a minute. He had no children. He wanted them, but had never been married or even really carried on with a woman.

  “I think we’re in the perfect place,” Sam said.

  “Oh?” She raised her eyebrows. “Why is that?”

  “Because you are a miracle to me, a true blessing. I don’t want to ever be without you. I already know that.”

  Emily felt a chill cover her and all the breath left her lungs. She almost felt faint. She had never heard those words from a man before.

  “Oh, Sam.” She scooted a bit closer to him in the pew. She could feel the heat from his leg when it touched her and it flooded her with warm desire. “You truly are the man I’ve been looking for. I’ve been looking for you all my life. I’m so glad I finally found you.”

  He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder and put one hand on the one he had wrapped around her.