An Unexpected Groom

by Nerys Leigh

  She nodded, not knowing what to say. Especially as she didn’t at all mind.

  “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable, but it’s such a beautiful shade.” His eyes wandered back up. “The way it changes colour when the sun shines on it is so... beautiful.”

  There had been times back in New York when men had complimented her, even called her beautiful, but she’d always had trouble believing their sincerity. Being flattered had always felt awkward. It was different with Jesse. When he said something there was no artifice involved, no ulterior motive to garner her attention. He genuinely thought her hair beautiful, and rather than making her awkward it made her happy. Very, very happy.

  “Thank you,” she said, hoping she wasn’t blushing. “I get it from my mother. Father once said he fell in love with her hair from across the room, even before they’d met.”

  Jesse’s gaze returned to her face. “I can understand that.”

  Now she knew she was blushing.

  He ran one hand over his own hair. “I probably should get this trimmed...”

  “Oh, no!”

  At her exclamation, his eyebrows shot up.

  “I mean, I like it that length.” It was her turn to stare, her eyes lost in the golden caramel depths of his hair. “It suits you.”

  She lowered her eyes to his and for a few seconds she was caught in his gaze. Swallowing, she moved her attention to the horses. “So, why did you name him Duke?”

  “Um... he’s... uh... I didn’t.”

  It was the first time she’d seen Jesse flustered and it suddenly occurred to her it was likely because of her compliment. She almost smiled. What would happen if he knew how attractive she truly thought him?

  “His name isn’t really Duke,” he said.

  “It isn’t?”

  “The truth is, I happened to get him on my sister’s sixth birthday and she asked if she could give him a name. Since it was her birthday, I said yes. I should have known better.”

  She looked back at the horse. “So what’s his real name?”

  Jesse looked down at the blanket. “Duchess Primrose Sunshine.”

  There were a few seconds of silence during which she wondered if she’d heard correctly. “Could you repeat that?”

  He looked sheepish. “I begged her to change her mind, I really did, but she said just because he was a boy didn’t mean he couldn’t have a pretty name. I kind of had to keep it after that.”

  She had always thought it fanciful poetic licence when people talked about a heart melting. Until that moment.

  He must have seen something in her expression because he said, “You don’t think it’s a ridiculous name?”

  “I think it’s a ludicrous name for a male horse, but I also think it’s the most beautiful name because it shows how much you love your sister.”

  The smile he gave her sent what remained of her heart trickling into her knees, which was strange since she could also feel it thumping in her chest.

  This wasn’t supposed to be happening. She was meant to be spending a casual, non-committal two weeks in California before returning to New York to resume the search for a suitable husband. She wasn’t meant to be having feelings that might make her wish things were different.

  Louisa suspected she might be in trouble.

  They spent several hours there on the blanket, eating the picnic Jesse had brought and enjoying each other’s company, and she loved every moment of it.

  How was it possible she had never felt this way with any other man? Was it because she’d always been chaperoned and hadn’t felt able to relax? Was it because she hadn’t met any other men who made her feel so at ease? Or was it simply because there were no other men like Jesse?

  She didn’t hold to the notion that a person could only be happy with one other in the whole world. It would be entirely impractical. Besides which, as a woman she didn’t need to be blissfully happy, she just needed to be secure, safe, and provided for. She could learn to enjoy another man’s company, she was certain.

  And yet she didn’t put her bonnet back on, even on the journey back to town, and she had to admit it had nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with the fact that Jesse liked to see her hair.

  There was no denying it. She was definitely in big, big trouble.

  Chapter 7

  Waking early enough to ensure she had enough time to prepare for church felt like the hardest thing Louisa had ever done, still recovering as she was from a week of discomfort and infrequent sleep on the train.

  She hauled herself from the wonderfully comfortable bed with a soft groan and set about getting ready. It being her first time at the church, she needed to look her best. Thank goodness she’d pressed her clothing when she got back the previous evening.

  When she left her bedroom over an hour later, she found Pastor and Mrs Jones in the kitchen, Mrs Jones preparing breakfast at the stove and the pastor sitting at the table with a pencil in his hand, his large, leather bound Bible open in front of him and a few sheets of paper beside it.

  “Good morning, Louisa,” Mrs Jones said, smiling. “Goodness, you look like you’re attending a ball.”

  Louisa looked down at her cream formal day dress with its lace edging and pearl buttons. It was one of the best she had, purchased from Lord & Taylor on Broadway, and her father had saved for months to afford it for her. “Is it too much? I wanted to look nice for church.”

  “Oh no, dear, you look absolutely lovely. Doesn’t she look lovely, Simon?”

  “Hmm?” Pastor Jones looked up from his Bible. “Oh, Louisa, good morning. I didn’t see you there.”

  Mrs Jones shook her head. “Forgive my husband. He’s putting the final touches to his talk for today and he forgets the rest of the world exists when he’s working on his sermons.”

  “Sounds like it’ll be a very good sermon then,” Louisa said, but the pastor’s attention was already back on his Bible.

  Mrs Jones rolled her eyes and smiled.

  Louisa walked around the table to join her at the stove. “Can I help?”

  “I wouldn’t want you to get anything on your beautiful dress, but you can set the table if you like.”

  “Of course.” She turned towards the cupboard where the plates were kept then turned back again. “Do you really think the dress isn’t too much? I don’t want to look out of place.”

  Mrs Jones moved the pan of scrambled eggs from the heat and wiped her hands on her apron. “I think you will fit right in, and that has nothing to do with your clothing. And I’m sure Jesse will appreciate the dress.” She sent Louisa a sideways glance and winked.

  Her face heating, Louisa spun away and headed for the dresser, a smile tugging at her lips.

  Following the simple but delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs and pancakes, Pastor and Mrs Jones left for church to prepare for the service.

  Mrs Jones turned around at the door. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like me to fetch you? I’m sorry we have to leave early, but I can come back.”

  “Oh no, it’s only just along the road. I can make it that far on my own. But are you sure I can’t do anything to help?”

  Mrs Jones waved a hand. “I have more than enough ladies to help me. You’d only be sitting around with nothing to do. You take the time to pray, read your Bible, whatever you usually do on a Sunday morning before worship.”

  Louisa nodded and smiled and pretended that was exactly what she did before Sunday services. Back home in New York the time before church would be taken up with her mother making sure her hair was perfectly fixed and her outfit was chosen to make it look like it wasn’t what she’d worn a few Sundays before. She owned more separate skirts and blouses than full dresses for just that purpose. In addition, they didn’t attend the local church, instead travelling to churches in the more affluent parts of the city where her parents could socialise and discover any well-to-do bachelors, so the journey to get there invariably took longer.

  Louisa wasn’t sure wha
t to do with the extra time now.

  She returned to her bedroom to check her hair and clothing, but both were in order. She spent a few minutes deciding between her two bonnets, eventually settling on the blue. Then she looked around the room, wondering what to do next.

  Her eyes came to rest on the Bible on the nightstand beside her bed. She kept it there for appearance’s sake, in case Mrs Jones should walk in and see it and think their houseguest read God’s word and said her prayers daily like any good Christian woman.

  There had been a time, when Louisa was a child, when she had done just that. She’d accepted Jesus Christ as her Saviour at the age of fourteen and had truly felt that He was her friend, as the teacher at her Sunday school classes said. She’d prayed and seen answers to her prayers. She’d read her Bible every day, often more than once, and learned about her faith and her God.

  Looking at that Bible now, a gift from her grandmother before she died, Louisa couldn’t remember why she had stopped doing all that. Somehow, as she made the transition from childhood to womanhood, she’d become caught up in all that entailed and her closeness to God had fallen by the wayside.

  She wandered to the nightstand and picked up the small Bible, feeling the soft texture of the leather against her fingertips as she rubbed her thumb over the surface. Maybe it was coming to this place where priorities were so different from at home, or perhaps it was staying with two people for whom a close relationship with God was part of everyday life, but for the first time that Louisa could remember, she wondered if she had lost something.

  She carried the Bible out to the parlour, sat on the settee, and flipped through the pages. She wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but on the first page she stopped at her eyes were drawn to the words ...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

  It was the first chapter of Ephesians, one of Paul’s letters if she remembered correctly.

  The talk of wisdom, revelation, knowledge, understanding and enlightenment were what had caught her eye. She could use all those things, especially now in the midst of her confusion over Jesse. Paul didn’t seem to be talking about life so much as he was saying the important thing was to understand what it fully meant to belong to God. Louisa had invited Jesus into her life, but did she truly know what that meant? When she really thought about it, she had to admit the answer was no.

  Settling back into the settee cushions, she began to read.

  She’d gone through the first three chapters of Ephesians and was about to start on the fourth when a knock on the front door startled her from her reading. She realised in horror that she had no idea how long she’d been sitting there, immersed in God’s Word as she was. Was she late for church? Had Mrs Jones come to fetch her? Was church over?

  Embarrassed, she leaped from the settee and ran to the door, pulling it open without even checking that her clothing was straight.

  Jesse’s smile melted from his face, his eyes darting down to her dress. “You... um... I came to escort you, if you have no objections. And good morning.”

  The way he was looking at her made her forget for a moment why she was in a hurry. And what she was meant to be doing. And what her name was.

  “Uh... no. No objections.” Where were they going? “Church! What time is it? Am I late?”

  A smile spread across his face. “No, we have plenty of time.”

  She stepped back from the door and waved him in. “I was reading my Bible and lost track. Give me a moment and I’ll fetch my things.”

  “Are you going to wear that dress?”

  She came to a halt halfway along the hall and whirled back to him. “What’s wrong with my dress? Is it too much? It’s too much, isn’t it? I wanted to make a good impression on my first Sunday at church, but I’m realising things are different here and I don’t want to look like I’m putting on airs and...”

  “Louisa, the dress is fine,” he said, halting her in mid-panic. “In fact, it looks beautiful. Which is the problem.”

  Now she was confused. “Problem?”

  One corner of his mouth hitched up. “How am I going to concentrate on anything Pastor Jones says with you sitting beside me looking like that?”

  Her hand flew to her mouth, her heart stuttering in her chest and her cheeks heating

  Jesse gave her a smile that didn’t help her at all.

  “I... um... I’ll just... go and...” Spinning away, she fled to her room, shut the door behind her and leaned back against it as she caught her breath.

  A smile crept onto her face and grew until it was stretching her cheeks. She pushed away from the door and went to her mirror to check her hair, almost laughing at the huge grin still plastered across her face. The sparkle in her eyes was unexpected. It was something she hadn’t seen before, but then these feelings she had around Jesse weren’t anything she’d ever felt before.

  A small voice in the back of her mind that sounded very much like her father’s told her she’d known him less than forty-eight hours and anything she felt was simply fanciful infatuation and not to be entertained. But right now, with warmth blossoming in her heart and a smile on her face, she wasn’t inclined to pay the voice any heed. Why not enjoy herself, just for this two weeks? She’d made her position clear to Jesse and she would remind him of it if the need arose. But it felt good to have someone look at her like he did, to allow herself to have fun without having to always be judging someone’s wealth and social standing and whether or not they were suitable husband material. With Jesse she could simply enjoy herself, and where was the harm in that?

  Her smile grew as she made her decision. She was going experience her freedom for the next two weeks, and she was going to do it with an exceedingly attractive man who thought she was worth spending time with.

  And no one could stop her.

  She grabbed her reticule from where she’d left it on the bed but paused in the act of reaching for her bonnet. She knew she ought to wear it, at the very least to church, but she also wanted to leave it off and watch Jesse being captivated by her hair.

  Rolling her eyes, she picked it up. It was church. She couldn’t go without a bonnet. She’d just take it off afterwards.

  With one final look in the mirror, she left the room.

  Jesse was in the hallway and his face lit up in a smile when he saw her. “What did you do?”

  She looked down at herself. “Um... nothing?”

  “Well that can’t be true because I’m sure you look even prettier than when you went in there.”

  Her cheeks heating yet again, she gave him a playful slap on the shoulder as she walked past him to the front door. “Stop it.” Then she paused and turned back to him. “On second thoughts, don’t stop it.” Flashing him the kind of smile she never would have used back home, she walked outside.

  He caught up with her out on the road. “What happened to you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You seem different. More... playful. Happier.”

  She shrugged as she pulled on her bonnet and tied the ribbons beneath her chin. “I’ve had an epiphany, of sorts.”

  “An epiphany?”

  “Yes. I’ve come to the conclusion that since I’m going to be here for the next two weeks, I might as well enjoy myself. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to relax and enjoy myself.”

  His lips twitched. “Sounds like my kind of epiphany. So I guess I’m going to have to work on making this the most enjoyable two weeks of your life.”

  She wrestled the grin attempting to take over her face into submission. “I guess you are. Although this doesn’t mean I’m staying.”

  “I know.”

  She had the sudden urge to perform a joyful twirl, right there in the middle of the street. She didn’t,
but her steps took on a bouncing quality she couldn’t quite restrain.

  “You know,” Jesse said, looking up at her, “I’m liking this epiphany more and more. You’re practically glowing.”

  Her grin broke through. “Am I?”

  He chuckled at her expression. “Yeah.”

  “Hmm,” she said thoughtfully, “must be the company.”

  She’d walked a few steps before she realised he was no longer at her side. She looked back to see him staring at her in amazement.

  “Yup,” he said, pushing to catch up with her, “definitely loving this epiphany.”

  The Jones’ house being just down the road, it only took them a couple of minutes to reach the church. People were gathered outside chatting in groups, children running and playing and laughing amongst the adults, more arriving every minute on foot or horse or by wagon or buggy. It was a pleasant, welcoming scene, so unlike the churches Louisa had attended with her parents.

  Her mother and father didn’t hold with the types of church where people were overly sociable. Church was a serious affair, her father had once told her, to reflect the majesty and grandeur of a God who was above such frivolities as fun. It was filled with sombre music and sombre sermons and sombre congregants.

  They’d moved church often after Louisa turned eighteen, staying for just enough Sundays for her mother to ascertain if there were any suitable matrimonial candidates for her and moving on when there weren’t. Then returning and doing the circuit again after a while, in case any new eligible men had arrived.

  The Emmanuel Church in Green Hill Creek didn’t seem like any of those places. The crowd of people socialising with family and friends before they went in to worship the Lord seemed to actually want to be there.

  Many of those gathered greeted Jesse and he was clearly well liked, and he seemed eager to introduce her to everyone, as if he was proud of her. By the time they reached the door she had a sense of peace she couldn’t explain, and she did something she’d rarely, if ever, done before – she offered up a spontaneous prayer of thanks.

  Thank You for bringing me here, Lord.