The Gift of Twins

by Gabrielle Meyer

  Mrs. Carver played the march and all eyes turned to Emmy.

  He could hardly believe that after the dozens of weddings he’d performed in this church, the bride was finally walking down the aisle to join him and not another groom.

  Mrs. Carver finished playing and took her seat with the boys. Their excitement couldn’t be contained as they bounced on the pew beside her. She had to put her hands on their knees to still them.

  “Who gives this woman away in marriage?” Judge Barnum asked.

  “It is my honor to give this bride to my son, on her father’s behalf,” Phillippe said with a hint of pride in his voice, his French accent thick.

  Ben smiled at his father and then gave his sole attention to Emmy. He took her hand, drawing her gently to his side, and hoped his eyes conveyed how lovely she looked.

  She smiled back at him, already nibbling on her bottom lip as tears of happiness filled her eyes.

  Soon, very soon, he would kiss those lips every time they started to tremble, though he would do all in his power to prevent her tears from shedding.

  “Dearly beloved,” the judge began. “We are gathered here today in the sight of God and these witnesses to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony. Marriage is commanded to be honorable among all men, and therefore it should not be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently, discreetly, advisedly and solemnly. If any person can show just cause why they may not be joined together, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”

  Ben held Emmy’s hand confidently, knowing that no one or nothing could come between them now.

  “Benjamin.” Judge Barnum smiled at Ben and nodded. “Do you take Emery Anne Wilkes to be your wedded wife, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and, forsaking all others, be faithful only to her, for as long as you both shall live?”

  He couldn’t wait to make this promise. “I do.”

  “And do you, Emmy, take Benjamin Lahaye to be your wedded husband, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and, forsaking all others, be faithful only to him, for as long as you both shall live?”

  “I do.” She squeezed his hand, looking deep into his eyes. “With all my heart.”

  “Do either of you have a token of your commitment?”

  Ben took his mother’s ring out of his pocket. It was the one his father had given to his mother, though they’d never legally married. It was a beautiful ruby with diamonds on either side. Phillippe had kept it on a chain around his neck all these years and had given it to Ben just before leaving the parsonage to pick up Emmy. Ben handed it to the judge now.

  The judge took it and admired it for a moment before saying, “May this ring be blessed as the symbol of this affectionate union. These two lives are now joined in one unbroken circle. May these two find in each other the love for which all men and women yearn. May they grow in understanding and in compassion. May the home which they establish together be such a place that many will find there a friend, and may this ring on Emmy’s finger symbolize the touch of the Holy Spirit in their hearts.”

  Ben had spoken the same words at every ceremony he officiated, but this evening, with the holy season of Christmas upon them, the words felt intimate and personal, as if they’d been written just for Ben and Emmy.

  Judge Barnum handed the ring back to Ben and said, “Put this ring on your bride’s finger and repeat after me, ‘Emmy, with this ring you are now consecrated to me as my wife from this day forward.’”

  Ben faced his bride, the words memorized in his mind and sealed in his heart. He didn’t need the judge to tell him the rest. He slipped the ring on her left ring finger and repeated his vows, then added the ending. “I give you this ring as the pledge of my love and as the symbol of our unity, and with this ring, I thee wed.”

  Her eyes were filled with such love, and such hope, Ben almost didn’t wait for the judge to finish before kissing her.

  “By the power vested in me by the state of Minnesota,” Judge Barnum said. “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

  Ben took Emmy into his arms and placed a kiss on her soft lips. She wrapped her arms around him and met his kiss, giving the congregation cause for good-hearted laughter.

  They pulled apart and Emmy smiled up at him. After she composed herself, she whispered, “Thank you for choosing me, over all else, Ben.” Her smiled dimmed just a bit. “You really don’t mind not going to Montreal?”

  Not only did he not mind, he was grateful for a reason to stay. “‘Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.’” He quoted the Scripture from Genesis and shook his head. “I couldn’t imagine being anywhere, but right here with you and the boys.” He motioned for the boys to join them, taking Levi’s hand as Emmy took Zeb’s. “I can’t wait to bring all three of you home, once and for all.”

  He walked them to the main door where they would receive their guests before going to the Northern Hotel for a Christmas wedding feast.

  The door opened and Mr. Samuelson walked in, his eyebrows drawn together in a frown. “So it’s true.”

  Ben’s laughter rang throughout the church, the irony not lost on him. “I’m sorry, Dennis. I was just as adamant that we hire a male teacher as you, so we wouldn’t have to look for another one so soon—but I’m the one who went and married the one sent by mistake. I’ll personally take it upon myself to find her replacement.”

  Others joined in on the laughter, though Mr. Samuelson only scowled.

  “It wasn’t a mistake,” Emmy said to Ben with just as much humor in her voice. “It was exactly as God had planned.”

  He put his arm around her waist and nodded. Emmy was right. Hiring her was not a mistake—it was the best thing that could have happened to all of them.

  * * * * *

  If you enjoyed this story,

  look for the other books in the

  LITTLE FALLS LEGACY series,

  A FAMILY ARRANGEMENT

  INHERITED: UNEXPECTED FAMILY

  and this other heartwarming

  Love Inspired Historical title from

  Gabrielle Meyer

  A MOTHER IN THE MAKING

  Find more great reads at www.LoveInspired.com

  Get rewarded every time you buy a Harlequin ebook!

  Click here to Join Harlequin My Rewards

  http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010003

  Dear Reader,

  When I research the history of my hometown, I’m always amazed at the little nuggets of information I find. One of those nuggets is about Miss Ellen Nichols. She arrived in Little Falls in 1855 and served as the first schoolteacher in town. She and her husband, C.S.K. Smith, also have the distinction of celebrating the first wedding in Little Falls soon after her arrival. In a town known for its large male population, it’s no wonder the schoolteacher married quickly. This historical information was the idea that sparked and grew into the third story in my Little Falls Legacy miniseries.

  This story is especially dear to my heart because I modeled the twins, Zeb and Levi, after my own twin boys, Judah and Asher, who were six at the time I wrote The Gift of Twins. I tried to imagine how Judah and Asher would react if put in the same situation as Zeb and Levi. Some of the scenes were hard to write when life wasn’t fair to the Trask boys, but other scenes were a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed watching Ben and Emmy fall in love with them.

  I hope you’ve enjoyed this story as much as I have.

  In His name,

  Gabrielle Meyer

  Kee
p reading for an excerpt from WOULD-BE MISTLETOE WIFE by Christine Johnson.

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired Historical title.

  You find illumination in days gone by. Love Inspired Historical stories lift the spirit as heroines tackle the challenges of life in another era with hope, faith and a focus on family.

  Enjoy four new stories from Love Inspired Historical every month!

  Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

  Other ways to keep in touch:

  Harlequin.com/newsletters

  Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks

  Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks

  HarlequinBlog.com

  Join Harlequin My Rewards and reward the book lover in you!

  Earn points for every Harlequin print and ebook you buy, wherever and whenever you shop.

  Turn your points into FREE BOOKS of your choice

  OR

  EXCLUSIVE GIFTS from your favorite authors or series.

  Click here to join for FREE

  Or visit us online to register at

  www.HarlequinMyRewards.com

  Harlequin My Rewards is a free program (no fees) without any commitments or obligations.

  Would-Be Mistletoe Wife

  by Christine Johnson

  Chapter One

  September 1871

  Singapore, Michigan

  Louise Smythe spotted her quarry and motioned her students to follow her across the sand dune. The sun shone hot for so late in the year, and the sand reflected the heat, bringing beads of perspiration to her brow.

  As expected, her instructions were met with a chorus of complaints from the handful of young ladies currently enrolled in Mrs. Evans’s School for Ladies. Ranging from fifteen to eighteen years of age, the students had come to Singapore, Michigan, to better themselves. Louise taught the intellectual courses, such as literature, writing and mathematics, while Fiona Evans covered the arts. In addition, Louise included an occasional class on the sciences in order to improve the ladies’ ability to converse on all topics.

  “My feet ache,” whined Linore Pace. The eighteen-year-old had landed in Singapore last fall after their ship foundered. She and five other young women were bound for the utopian colony of Harmony on Low Island. After completing the voyage on another ship, Linore had returned to Singapore in August after finding the island—and the man selected to become her husband—not at all to her liking.

  “Mine too,” her cohort, Dinah, seconded. “I can’t figure how all this traipsin’ around is gonna get me a husband.”

  “How this will procure a husband,” Louise corrected.

  “Huh? Cure a husband o’ what?”

  Louise inwardly groaned. A full summer of demonstrating proper grammar coupled with three weeks of formal instruction had failed to improve Dinah’s speech. Her writing was even worse. Suggesting that a man valued a woman who could speak properly was useless, since most of the men in town—including Dinah’s former beau—were lumberjacks and sawyers with even worse grammar.

  One of the wealthier girls snorted and whispered to her pair of friends, doubtless to emphasize Dinah’s lowly estate. The three paying students always managed to separate themselves from the orphans, Dinah and Linore, whose tuition was paid by scholarship. No matter what Louise did to pull the ladies together, they always ended up in two distinct groups.

  “Enough chatter!” Louise clapped her hands and stopped before her quarry, a rather sad example of the tall wormwood plant. “This is our specimen today.”

  The whispers turned to giggles.

  Louise was about to reprimand them when Priscilla, her perfectly curled blond hair on full display beneath a tiny straw hat, pointed past her.

  “Now, that is a fine specimen.” Priscilla Bennington gave her two friends, Adeline and Esther, a look that cautioned them she had first claim on whatever she’d spotted.

  All five girls sighed as one.

  Clearly Priscilla was not talking about the wormwood plant. Like the rest, her attention focused on humans, especially the masculine variety. Louise turned just enough to spot what had quieted the girls’ complaints without letting them out of her peripheral vision.

  Heading her way was a giant of a man, surely the tallest man she’d ever seen. Her late husband had been tall at six foot. This man must be well over six feet, perhaps even six and a half. The white shirt and navy blue trousers only accentuated his broad shoulders and muscular limbs. It being an overly warm day, he wore no jacket or coat. In spite of sleeves rolled to his elbows, he managed to look proper and formal. Atop his head sat a navy blue cap, like that worn by Mr. Blackthorn, the lighthouse keeper. Louise had heard there was a new assistant at the lighthouse. This must be the man. Neatly trimmed sandy blond hair peeked from beneath the cap on either side of his rugged, clean-shaven face.

  If she’d been the girls’ age, she would have sighed too. This man was exceedingly handsome. He was also storming toward them in a most intimidating manner.

  “He’s positively the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen,” Adeline sighed. The sixteen-year-old found every man she saw more handsome than the last.

  Louise turned, finger to her lips, to hush such untoward comments. “A lady conducts herself with dignity at all times.”

  “Even when hiking across the wilderness?” Priscilla, with her matching hats, bags and gowns, managed to irritate Louise on a daily, if not hourly, basis. “There’s sand in my shoes, and my stockings are ruined. That doesn’t even begin to address the damage to my complexion.” She tilted her parasol so it now shaded her face.

  The girl came from wealth and no doubt the Evanses needed the income that such a student brought, but she was a handful. The new school had been blessed with a benefactress in Fiona Evans’s mother-in-law, who had helped to get it started and instituted the scholarships, but she could not support its continuing operation. To survive, the school must turn a profit. That meant accepting and enduring spoiled girls like Priscilla Bennington. In three weeks, the eighteen-year-old had thrown nearly a dozen tantrums and refused to follow direction. Louise suspected Priscilla had been refused by or expelled from every school in Chicago. Here, she headed up the haughty trio.

  “This is hardly the wilderness,” Louise pointed out for the benefit of the other students, for whom she still had hope. “We are only a short distance from the school.”

  She might as well have been talking to herself, for all five girls bunched together whispering and giggling. Louise’s calm temperament frazzled.

  “Then perhaps you should return to that school.” The strong bass voice sent a jolt through Louise and brought a sudden halt to the giggling. This man was not pleased. Not at all.

  Louise had endured enough opposition for one day. Though he towered over her, she would not let a perfect stranger determine what she would and would not teach her students.

  She squared her shoulders. “We will return as soon as we finish examining this example of artemisia campestris.” She pointed to the tall wormwood. “As you can see, the drought has stunted its growth, making it an ideal subject for study.”

  The man stared at her as if she’d spoken a foreign language—not an unusual reaction from the men in Singapore. This lumber town didn’t boast many educated men or women. Before Mrs. Elder grew gravely ill and left for Chicago with her husband, Louise had kept house for her and the Captain. Both were well-read and their home boasted a large library, but they’d sent for their books this summer, leaving the town woefully deficient in reading material.

  “You’re standing on federal government property,” the man stated. “That’s trespassing.”

  “I am a teacher from Mrs. Evans’s School for Ladies. We are conducting the day’s study in the field.”
/>
  His scowl showed no sign of departing. “I don’t care if you’re Mrs. Evans herself, this is still government property. Regulation states that you must obtain permission to be here. Mr. Blackthorn didn’t tell me he’d given anyone permission to walk on lighthouse property.”

  Louise set her jaw. “He has never objected to my presence in the past.”

  “He gave you permission then?”

  “No one has ever needed permission before. Why, many walk to the lighthouse in order to visit with members of the Blackthorn family.”

  “That’s different,” he acknowledged. “The walkways are open to everyone, but you are not on them.”

  The man was being most impertinent. “According to the late President Lincoln, our nation’s government is of the people, by the people and for the people. Thus, government property belongs to the people of this country.”

  The girls twittered. A most inopportune reaction, for it clearly incensed the man standing before her.

  His face darkened. “And the people have elected representatives to put laws in place. Those laws state that the land surrounding a lighthouse is set aside as federal government property. The marking posts and signs are clear.” He pointed to a half-buried post. “You are trespassing.”

  “We are a small group of women. What harm can we do?”

  “Don’t you know that the previous lighthouse collapsed into the river thanks to erosion?”

  Louise did not, but she saw no relevance in this point. “I’m certain a small group of women were not responsible for undermining the structure.”

  “Footsteps break down the surface of the dune, making it easier for the sand to slide downhill.”

  The hulking man was grasping at straws, and she had no intention of letting him push her from her purpose. Ordinarily she preferred calm to the storm, but this man was utterly unreasonable.