“I want to thank you for everything, Mrs. Emerson,” she said, before the older woman could speak. “I truly appreciate all you and Mr. Emerson have done.”
“We were glad to help,” Mary said. “And please call me Mary.”
Abby nodded. “I’m sorry all this happened,” she said, her voice a thread of sound. “Neither Caleb nor I intended for things to end up this way.”
“End up?” Mary said, reaching out and taking both of Abby’s cold hands in hers. “My dear, things have not ended up. They are only beginning for you and Caleb, and I know full well that you both had only the best in mind for Betsy when Rachel brought you here.”
Abby blinked back the sudden rush of tears. “It’s hard to believe people can be so mean-spirited.” She met Mary’s gaze with customary directness. “I’ve never been anything but kind to Sarah VanSickle and her friends.”
“I’m sure that’s true, and I know how disheartening it can be when things like this happen, but I’m convinced there will always be people who love making others miserable. I’ve never been sure why, but I suspect it may be because they are so unhappy themselves.”
Abby gave a short laugh. “What does Sarah VanSickle have to be miserable about? She’s one of the most prominent women in Wolf Creek.”
“Unfortunately, things and position don’t guarantee happiness. I can’t say for certain, but I do know that Sarah set her cap for Lucas Gentry back when she was just a girl, and when he chose Libby, she never really got over it. Or forgave him,” Mary said in an attempt to explain the woman’s mindset.
Abby did her best to dredge up some compassion for Sarah’s plight, but it was hard when she had tried so hard to wreck both Abby’s and Caleb’s reputations.
“We have no control over things that happen in our lives, but we can control how we react. Sarah chose to be miserable instead of embracing the man and the life she has now. Which is what I want you to do.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“Both you and Caleb have been put in a bad situation. You’ve both lost spouses and you both need something the other has.” Seeing surprise on Abby’s face, Mary offered her a gentle smile. “It’s no secret in town that you’ve been struggling, Abby, or that you were struggling before your husband was killed. When Emily died, you and Caleb were brought together, and Sarah VanSickle’s lies have more or less forced you into a marriage I’m sure neither of you wanted. I know that because Caleb wasn’t too overjoyed when he and Emily married.”
Though Caleb had told her as much, Abby was surprised to realize that Mary knew the truth. “And you knew it from the start?”
“Oh, yes. Actually, Emily wasn’t too thrilled about marrying Caleb, either.”
Abby shook her head in disbelief. “Yet they both agreed to a loveless marriage.”
“Loveless?” Mary seemed to consider that as if it had never before occurred to her. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.” Wryness edged her voice. “Oh, Emily wanted to get married, but the eligible men in Wolf Creek were too rough around the edges to suit her. She’d gone to school in St. Louis to study art—though she never finished—and she spoke of going back east to Boston or some such place, marrying some starving artist and living in genteel poverty on wine and cheese or something.”
“Why didn’t she?”
“She was very shy and not cut out for life in the big city,” Mary said in a reminiscent tone. “Which is why she came home before finishing her studies. Also, I’m afraid Bart and I indulged her more than we should have. She was spoiled. There’s no way she was going to strike out on her own. Time passed and before we realized it, she was twenty-four and considered a spinster.”
“How did the marriage come about?” Abby asked.
“Lucas Gentry wanted grandchildren,” she said bluntly, “and since it didn’t look as if Gabe was ever going to come home and settle down, Caleb was the one expected to come up to scratch. He was always the one who tried to smooth things over when he and Gabe were children, and Lucas had come to expect it.
“If you think Caleb is hard, you should have met his father,” Mary told Abby with a lift of her dark eyebrows. “Lucas Gentry was a despot if ever one breathed. He was always difficult, but when Libby went to Boston and he was left with the boys, he lost what little kindness he had. He always expected everything and more that Caleb could give him and the farm, and even more so after Gabe took off.”
“Rachel told me a little about that. Has he ever been back?”
Mary shook her head. “Not to my knowledge, though we’ve heard plenty of rumors, none of them good.”
“It’s a wonder Caleb didn’t grow up to be just like his father.”
“In many ways he did, but thankfully, mostly the good ways. For all his bitterness and his toughness when it came to business dealings, no one can say Lucas Gentry was anything but honest. Sometimes ruthless, but honest. Caleb’s just like him when it comes to that.”
They didn’t speak for a few moments, and finally Abby asked, “It didn’t bother you that Caleb and Emily’s marriage wasn’t a love match, then?”
Mary laughed. “Oh, you young people and your romantic notions! The truth is that people marry for many reasons, but a scant few of them marry for love. Caleb and Emily had known each other all their lives, and they were fond enough of each other, and that was good enough for me and Bart. We knew Caleb possessed a strong sense of duty and that he would take good care of her, and I suppose we pressed her more than we should have. We wanted to see her settled in case something happened to us, and like Lucas, we wanted grandchildren nearby. Our other daughter and her family live in St. Louis, and it’s too far to go unless you have more than a few days to stay. Unfortunately, Emily was never able to conceive until Betsy.”
Abby was fascinated by Mary’s willingness to share so much of her daughter’s past, but still didn’t know exactly why Mary was doing so. “What do Sarah’s choices and Caleb and Emily’s marriage have to do with me and Caleb?” Abby asked at last.
Mary offered her a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry. I do get to rambling, don’t I? What I’m trying to say is that fate or circumstance or perhaps God has brought you and Caleb to this place in your life. You both took vows that bind you until death. You’re both young and healthy, and God willing will have many years together and children of your own. I just don’t want either of you to do what Sarah has done and dwell on the past, whether it’s William’s death or Emily’s or what might have been. Do you see what I’m getting at?”
Abby gave a tentative nod. “I think you’re saying to let go of the past and look to the future.” Though Mary hinted that Emily had not made Caleb happy, Abby couldn’t find the courage to have that confirmed. “So you and Mr. Emerson don’t mind that Caleb and I have married so soon after Emily’s death?”
Mary shook her head. “Not at all. In fact, we’re thrilled that you’ll be Betsy’s mother, because we believe you’ll be a good one.” She squeezed Abby’s hands again and her eyes filled with tears. “We loved our daughter, but we were not ignorant of her faults and weaknesses. She wasn’t the right woman for a man like Caleb. I pray you are. Embrace this marriage and this new life as best you can. Caleb needs someone who can see the man he truly is. He needs someone who can bring joy into his life, Abby. Believe me when I say he’s had little enough of it.”
With a brief hug, Mary left Abby standing there with much to think about. After hearing what she had about Caleb’s past from Rachel and now more from Mary, Abby was beginning to have a clearer picture of the man she had married. She understood now why there was so little softness in him, so little tolerance. He’d been duty bound and forced to take responsibility since childhood. Under the circumstances, he was accepting the invasion of his house by three strangers better than she would have done. It was a miracle he’d turned out as well as he had. It would behoove h
er to remember that when things between them grew rough.
* * *
Mary and Bart left soon afterward, and shortly after that Rachel and the other women trooped out of the house, announcing that things were back in order and both weary babies were asleep. Ben was going home with Daniel for a couple of days so that they could go fishing with the father of one of Daniel’s friends before the weather turned too cold.
After giving Ben a goodbye hug, Abby stood next to Caleb watching the buggy pull down the lane and disappear around a curve. An uncomfortable silence stretched between them. It wouldn’t be long until sundown. A slight breeze and the shade beneath the porch hinted of colder weather that would soon descend. Abby gave an involuntary shiver.
Without a word, Caleb shrugged out of his suit jacket and draped it around her shoulders. The warmth from his body and the woodsy scent of his soap permeated the fabric. Abby tipped her head back to look up at him, suppressing another tremor, one she suspected had nothing to do with the chill of the late afternoon and everything to do with the nearness of the man standing so close to her.
“Everything went better than I expected,” he said, taking a step back and running his fingers through his hair in a gesture that spoke volumes about his real state of mind. He needed a haircut, she thought again, making her first wifely observation. And his lean cheeks were already shadowed with end-of-day growth.
Focusing her attention on the tree with its shedding crimson leaves, she said, “I thought it was very nice considering the time we had to get things together,” she agreed in a voice that held an unnatural primness.
Wearing a solemn expression, Caleb held out his hand and cocked his head toward two rocking chairs that sat in front of the parlor window. “Let’s sit for a while if it isn’t too cool for you. I’m so stuffed I don’t need any dinner, and hopefully the girls will sleep for a bit.”
With a bit of reluctance, Abby placed her hand in his and let him guide her to one of the chairs. As before, his touch produced that peculiar tingling that sizzled throughout her body. Grudgingly, almost fearfully, she accepted the significance of the feeling. Not only did she find the irascible man she was now married to attractive, she was attracted to him. Her husband. Her reaction was unnerving and unacceptable. She and Caleb had a business arrangement, nothing more.
He released his hold on her, and they sat, both of them beginning to rock as they gazed out over the front lawn. Still somewhat befuddled by her reaction to his touch, she could not think of a single intelligent topic of conversation.
“You look very pretty,” he said at last, turning to look at her. “Like newly minted gold.”
“Th-Thank you,” she stammered, surprised to find that her voice still worked. “You look very handsome yourself.”
Though brief, his laughter was rich and throaty, and that unexpected, arresting smile was back. “Handsome? I don’t think so,” he said with a shake of his dark, shaggy head.
“You need a haircut,” she said without thinking, She looked away, stifling a groan. No telling how he’d react to that! He had not married her to be inflicted with her wifely judgments. How long his hair grew was none of her business. She waited for his response, her spine straight, her body racked with tension.
“Yeah,” he said, scraping back his hair again. “I know. But I wasn’t around the afternoon you cut Ben’s, and we’ve all been so busy the past few days I didn’t want to put anything more on you. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.”
“I wasn’t embarrassed!” she said, aghast at the thought. “I was just—” she gave a helpless shrug “—making conversation.” Actually, she found his slightly unkempt look appealing.
For long moments, the only sounds to be heard were the sassy solo of a nearby mockingbird and the squeaking of the rocker runners on the porch.
“What is it, Abby?” he asked.
She stopped rocking and turned his direction, without actually meeting his gaze. “I guess I’m wondering what happens next.”
Her meaning could not be clearer, and he considered her question with care. “Well, I’m going to get up from here—preferably before it gets dark—take off this suit and put on my everyday stuff. Since Ben’s not here, I’m going to milk your cow and that blasted goat while Frank and Leo feed.”
“Oh.” She was unable to deny either the relief that swept through her, or the tiniest pang of regret.
“I’d planned on moving my things back into the house, if you have no objections, but it’s getting a little late for that.”
Her eyes met his. Abby couldn’t breathe...or think. “You don’t have to ask my permission,” she said. “It’s your house.”
“No, Abby. It’s our house. Our home. It would make things easier if I moved back in, and there’s no reason not to now, but if you’d be more comfortable with my staying at the bunkhouse, that’s what I’ll do. I thought I’d take the room with all the junk in it. It was my dad’s.”
It went without saying that she would be more comfortable the less she saw him, the less she had to deal with him, but that was not the issue here. No matter what he said, it was his house and he had a right to live in it, especially since no one in the community could possibly object after today.
“That’s fine,” she said. “I’ll put clean linens on the bed for you.”
“I can do that. I’m used to it.”
“Absolutely not!” Her mother would roll over in her grave at the idea of any daughter of hers allowing a man to do her chores.
He nodded, and she imagined she saw the corners of his mouth turn up just a bit. The expression in his eyes looked very much like wry humor.
“As for what happens next...I think it’s called getting on with our lives, whatever that involves. We just go on doing what we’ve been doing. A few words and a piece of paper haven’t changed anything except that now we don’t have to feel guilty about our arrangement.”
“Can it really be that easy?” she asked, letting her eyes meet his at last.
“Easy?” He seemed to consider the situation. “Let’s see. We have two people forced into a marriage, one of them a man who isn’t used to kids and is suddenly accountable for three—one of whom can hardly tolerate him.” His tone was pseudo-serious. “We also have a man and a woman who both have hair-trigger tempers living under the same roof.” He shook his head. “Easy? Hardly. But I’ve never had too many things come easy in my life, and I think I’m up to the challenge.”
Challenge? Yes, that’s what it would be, just as her life the past few years had been a challenge. Only the kinds of trials this new life presented would be far different from those she shared with William.
“Reach into the left inside pocket of my coat,” he said.
Abby gave him a questioning look and did as he asked, her fingers encountering a small package. She pulled out a small gift wrapped in a piece of crisp tissue paper and tied with a length of red ribbon.
“What’s this?” she asked, turning it over in her hands. It felt like something metal.
“It’s for you. Consider it a wedding gift.”
The unexpected gesture caught her off guard. “It never occurred to me... I don’t have anything for you. I’m sorry.”
He waved aside her apology. “Go ahead. Open it.”
Abby untied the ribbon, wondering if she imagined the expression of anticipation in his eyes. Sliding the thin strip of satin from around the package, she spread aside the paper. When she saw what was inside, her eyes filled with tears and she choked back a sob of disbelief. Lying in the nest of tissue paper lay the cameo brooch she’d traded for her wedding dress. She lifted her stunned, tear-filled gaze to his. “How...?”
“Simon waved me down when I went into town the other day. He knew I’d want you to have it back.”
“I can never repay you,” she said, rising and clas
ping the precious pin to her chest.
“You repay me every day,” he told her, getting to his feet. “By cooking and making this house a pleasant place to come to at night. By taking good care of Betsy. I’m the one in your debt.”
“But you’ve had to take on people and responsibilities that—” He reached out and placed his fingertips against her lips to silence her. His touch almost stopped her heart.
“As far as I’m concerned, the responsibilities are equal on both sides, and I’m perfectly happy with our deal. How about you?”
Her gaze, still blurry with tears, clung to his. “I think so, yes,” she whispered.
“Good.” Then, without a word, he strode past her and down the steps, leaving her emotions in more turmoil than they had been before he subjected her to his unexpected gentleness...or his touch.
* * *
Caleb went to the bunkhouse and changed into clean work clothes, then set about doing his evening chores, his mind filled with memories of the day.
He thought of how he had fumed for days before the wedding about the unfairness of being tied to a family he didn’t want and needed less. He’d even let God know how unhappy he was about it, but Bart had assured him earlier that God knew what He was doing, even if Caleb and Abby didn’t.
When she’d stepped through the bedroom door, looking like a ray of autumn sunshine in a dress of rich gold, his fury vanished. Her blond hair was caught up atop her head. Curly wisps teased the nape of her neck and small sprigs of ivy and yellow flowers were nestled in an artful jumble of curls.
His heart seemed to stumble, and he’d swallowed hard. Then she’d spied him from across the room and headed in his direction, pausing to speak to people she knew along the way. When she stopped in front of him, the sweet scent of gardenia made a soothing assault on his senses. Funny, he’d never realized that she barely came to his shoulder. She’d looked up and attempted a smile that fell far short.
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