by Sondra Grey
“You send a maiden girl, the sister of a neighboring rancher who hates my guts, to my bed chamber, alone and unattended?” His voice raised with each word. Nic turned to the two men and for the first time ever, Elizabeth saw the two men cowering.
“How did you get her here? You kidnapped her? Forced her? Threatened her?” once again his voice rose with every word.
“I came on my own accord.” Jessica said, her eyes lowered. “Vincent just told Juan that they would bring the sheriff and the magistrate to show them how I was treated, and that Franco and Paloma would testify about the false burial. Juan knew that he could not stop me from coming after that.”
“Well then, the two of you will go outside and await further orders from me. Miss Alvarez and I have things to talk about. And you my dear wife, will stay right here as the young lady’s guardian.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
W hen Franco and Vincent had left, Nicholas turned to Jessica.
“Sit down Jessica, I am sure you have already met my wife Dr. Elizabeth Rhymer.” He said nodding to Elizabeth who was standing right next to him.
Jessica sat at the head of the table and nodded as Nic and Elizabeth took seats further down the bench, the large table between them.
“It was a shock for me Jessica, when Franco told me that you were alive earlier today. Myself and everyone else in Jacksonville had been made to believe that you were…well…killed in that accident,” he said not breaking eye contact.
“They sent me away. After a while I lost all track of time.” Jessica said softly as tears streamed down her face. When Nicholas did not move from his place, Elizabeth went to her and folded her in her arms. The girl felt frail and breakable in her embrace.
“You poor dear.” she said gently stroking her hair.
“So, my wife tells me that you had something to say to me.” Jessica nodded. Nic waited in silence as seconds passed. Elizabeth sat now on the side of the bench, nearer to Jessica. She held her hand, stroked her hair and nodded in encouragement.
“I just wanted you to know Nicky, that …”
“Don’t call me that Jessica. I am not your playmate anymore.” he admonished and Elizabeth was startled at the harshness in his voice. Wasn’t her husband in love with this girl? He dreamed of her and spoke her name in his sleep. Then why, when she was in front of him now, did he behave so unkindly?
“I wanted to tell you what happened that day. I was telling Paloma about us, that you had asked me to come and meet you at the shack so that we could run away, get married and come back only when we were husband and wife so that Juan could not do anything to stop us.” Jessica stopped suddenly and wet her lips.
“And…” Nicholas prodded.
“Juan heard us and he went wild with rage. He shut me up in my room and said he would take care of you for good. When he was gone, Franco and Paloma let me out and I came as fast as I could. But, he was already there, with all those men and they were hurting you…I got scared and I hid outside the shack.”
“They nearly killed me that day Jessica. You could have gone and gotten me some help instead of hiding outside and watching the show.”
“I told you…I was scared.” She suddenly snarled at him.
“No, you weren’t. You did not help me because you thought it was a good way to end it all. Let your brother rough me up and put all the blame on him for something that you had been wanting to do yourself for days… split up with me.” He said and his tone was dead calm.
Jessica looked at him now with pure loathing and Elizabeth suddenly withdrew herself from her. She was not at all sure if what she was witnessing was indeed reality or a nightmare, it was so surreal.
“I have been hearing this thing, that you came that day. You did not betray me. So, tell me Jessica, if you had come to the shack to go away with me, then where were your things? Why did you not have any baggage, a small bundle of something, anything.” he said forcefully. When Jessica failed to explain Nic continued.
“I wondered about that back then. I wondered why you did not get me any help. I wondered how come you got caught twice by your brother so easily that day when he could never catch you before. I wondered why you had come to the shack empty handed. I had been sensing a coldness in you for some time before that, you know. But once you had that horrible accident, I thought it to be unkind to think ill of you in death, and so I just pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind. Never let them surface.”
“You were an emotional fool back then Nicholas Rhymer, and I see you have not changed a bit. Now what should I have done? My father had offered to buy your ranch and offered you a job to work for him. If you had done that and then asked for my hand he would have accepted easily, even allowed us to stay at the Alvarez Mansion. But you wanted to play in the dirt. You wanted to work your own ranch and even if you earned nothing, you wanted your independence. Foolish notions, if you ask me!”
She jeered at him then stood up and paced along the table. Elizabeth got up quickly and went and stood behind her husband looking at the scene unfolding in front of her in disbelief.
“So, it was all for money? Because I did not have enough of it to merit you?”
“I was not going to come to this shack and cook for those men of yours, Nicholas.”
“You could have said so, clear and straight, without all this drama.”
“A smart man would have known.”
“You are right. I was a fool. And I paid dearly for it. Today when Franco told me that you have been staying in Denver with your relatives, it really struck me. I thought carefully about all those facts I had avoided thinking about back then. If you had really loved me Jessica, you would have reached out to me, contacted me. At least let me know that you were safe. I have been having nightmares for the last five years, thinking that I somehow caused your death.”
“I told you that you were an emotional fool. Even now I am sure you expect me to fall at your feet and beg for forgiveness.” She said suddenly stopping her pacing and stood in front of him, looking down, her eyes narrowed, her hands folded across her midriff.
Nicholas let out of wistful smile.
“I don’t expect anything from you Jessica, least of all remorse. You are not capable of it. Besides I would have forgiven you of my own accord for all your indiscretions. But there is one thing I am not going to either forget nor forgive. And that is, the way you used my wife. You tried to scare her, feed her false information, tried to put a wrench in our relationship by acting like a victim. But let me tell you Jessica. Nobody messes with my wife. I will not tolerate it.”
“Really? What are you going to do?”
“I am taking my story to the Magistrate. I will tell them how your brother and his men beat me up, how they left me there to die, how they faked your death, how they have been harassing me and my men by cutting our fences and stealing our animals. I will tell them how you have been harassing my wife.”
“Yes, and they will listen to you.” Jessica laughed out in derision.
“Of course, they will. I am an outstanding citizen of this town; my wife is the only physician in the region and she has helped people. One of my men is the minister of this town and he will vouch for my exemplary behavior. Besides Franco and Paloma will tell them your side of the story.”
“You ….” Jessica muttered a string of expletives and rushed to the door. Before she went out the door she turned and snarled at them.
“You will pay for what you have done to me Nicholas, you will pay.” she spat and slammed the door behind her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
E lizabeth stood rooted to her place in shock as Jessica left. Nic turned on the bench, throwing his legs over to the other side so that now the table was behind him and his wife in front. But he still did not stand.
“Come here, Elizabeth.” he said making a beckoning gesture with his hand. She approached him tentatively. He held her wrist in his and pulled her nearer until she stood nearly in-between his legs.
/> “You were ready to give me away to that woman today?” he asked softly.
“I thought it was what you wanted, that you loved her.” Elizabeth trembled from the effect his touch was having on her rather than anything else.
“Considering for a moment that you did not know the true nature of Jessica Alvarez, you were ready to give me up?” He asked again in his softest tone. Tears flowed down Elizabeth’s cheeks as she nodded and he pulled her down gently on to his lap.
“When Franco told you earlier that she was alive, you were devastated. I did not want to impose myself upon you nor come between you and your true love.”
“And what made you think she was my true love, my pet?” he asked, taking her in his arms as she clung to him and sobbed harder.
“The way you played the harmonica, it was so sorrowful.”
“Well that’s what happens when you order a bride out of a catalogue. She knows nothing about you. My mother and Vince can both vouch for this my love, that when I am thinking hard, I play the mouth organ. I don’t play it to serenade my love. Otherwise I would have been playing the organ under your window every night.”
“I love you too much to see you in pain. It was not easy for me. It scared me to death. I had to face the possibility that you might want Jessica back in your life and would send me back to Cleveland.”
“I might still have to.” he said gently pushing her down on to the bench beside him.
“What do you mean?” she asked as she was suddenly deprived of his warmth. Nicholas strode to the chest on the other side of the big table and from one of the drawers pulled out a fat envelope. He brought it back to her, sat down beside her again and handed it to her. It was addressed to her, at the ranch, and it mentioned her name as Dr. Elizabeth Rhymer. Elizabeth looked up at him puzzled.
“Go on. Open it. It’s for you” he prodded.
She tore the envelope with her steady doctor’s hands. The first thing that fell out was a round medallion made of solid gold tied on a thick long silk ribbon. Elizabeth turned the medal to see the logo and name of the Cleveland Medical College and Homeopathic Institute engraved on one face and on the other was her name and the year of her graduation.
She looked up at Nic in surprise. He shrugged, rising his eyebrows and giving out a single cluck of his tongue in his usual manner.
“Go on, there’s more.” he said and she suddenly tore the envelope in a frenzy to see what more was inside. There was her diploma, with the Dean’s signature and the institute’s seal on it. The next was a letter, handwritten, by the Dean of her college, apologizing for their previous refusal to issue her degree.
“How did you manage to get all this done?” she asked in disbelief, looking in turn at Nic and then the documents in her hand.
“Well, when was Jim going to be of any use, with all that rubbish he reads all the time about the law, ignoring even his ranch duties at times.” Nic said in mock annoyance as he went to the kitchen door, pulled it open and let out a shrill whistle. The men all filed into the kitchen with expressions of varied degrees of worry. Martha, Lydia and Molly were right behind.
“Jim, you did this for me?” Elizabeth ran to him with the envelope, papers and medal in hand and hugged him tightly. The boy turned red and babbled something no one really understood.
“I just helped the boss to form the letter to the Dean explaining the legal consequences of not giving you your degree. There was a lot your friend Martin did at his end.” Jim explained
“You have been corresponding with Martin? How did you get his address?” Elizabeth turned to Nic and he laughed at her complete bafflement.
“It was easy. I took Miss Rutherford’s address from Lydia. Swore them both to secrecy. Got Martin’s address. Asked him if he would help me with what I intended to do. And well, the result is in your hand. As a matter of fact, the Dean has personally invited you to this year’s graduation ceremony, so that they can honor you. That’s why I said earlier that I might have to send you back. Or maybe take you there myself.
Elizabeth, forgetting that all their people were watching them, threw herself into her husband’s arms and gave him wet, tearful, kisses on both the cheeks.
“Nicholas Rhymer, what I have here is much, much more than what I could have ever hoped for. I am most certainly not going anywhere, least of all on a month-long train journey. I want to stay right here and take care of you and our men while you guys work our ranch. This is my home and I don’t want to leave it even for a second for the rest of my life.”
Nic pulled her into his arms and claimed her lips with a fierce kiss. The others simply picked up things they could stuff into their mouths on the way out and went away on their respective jobs, eager to disappear.
When Nicholas had his fill of her sweet mouth, he pulled back and looked down at her. Gently he secured a silky auburn curl behind her ear and looked at her with undisguised adoration.
“When I was corresponding with Martin, he told me how that guy Maclash and the goon Rutherford treated you after your father’s death. If I ever come across those two…” he said, his fists curling at his side and Elizabeth laughed out loud.
“Oh, Nic. All that seems so far away now.”
“I am sorry Elizabeth, I never realized what you had gone through to reach me. I was so harsh to you when you arrived.”
“What matters is I did reach you Nic Rhymer.”
“What you need to know is you will always reach me, Dr. Rhymer. I will always be there for you no matter what. When Franco told me about Jessica earlier today, the old wound opened and it bled for a time. And then I realized, Liz, what kept me sane through the ordeal was my love for you. I thought once that I loved Jessica, but I was young and foolish. Today I stand here and look back and I see that what I had with Jessica doesn’t hold a candle to what I feel for you. I love you Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth felt the truth of his words resonate deep within her soul and echo in return to the man she had grown to love so very much. She knew that they would have a solid life there on the ranch and she couldn’t wait to begin building their future together.
THE END
