An Unexpected Groom

by Nerys Leigh

  “I don’t think you should ever have to hide who you are or what you can do. And certainly never from me. I’m fully ready to concede you’re better than me at anything that doesn’t involve lifting a heavy weight.”

  To his relief, she laughed. “I’m sure that’s not at all true, but thank you.”

  “So you promise to never hide from me? I want you to be able to say or do anything you want.”

  She nodded, smiling.

  “And not to ever feel you can’t be exactly who you are?”

  Another nod.

  “And to wear that dress as often as possible?”

  To his delight, her smile turned into laughter. He would never tire of hearing her laugh.

  Louisa picked out a book from Jesse’s collection and read as he worked, slipping her stockinged feet from her shoes and pulling them up under her dress on the settee. He did his best to not keep glancing at her from his place at the desk, but it wasn’t easy. She drew his eyes like a magnet, one elbow resting on the arm of the settee and her head leaning on her hand, the soft light from the lamps making her skin glow.

  With her presence no end of a distraction, he took longer than he should have to work, comparing totals, calculating percentage rates and payments, cross checking everything with his own work books which he’d brought home with him. Not that he would have had it any other way. Every second he spent with her filled him with happiness and every second apart from her was spent wishing they were together.

  He asked her a few times if she was bored and would she like to return home, but she assured him she wanted to stay. He began to consider that it wasn’t just the outcome of his investigations she was there for and maybe she simply wanted to spend more time with him.

  After some time she closed the book and rested her head on her arms, yawning. When he looked up again, her eyes were closed and her breathing slow and regular. He considered waking her and taking her home, but he didn’t have much more to do so he decided to leave her to sleep until he was finished. Then he could tell her what he’d found and walk her back. There was no sense in disturbing her now.

  He wheeled quietly to the settee and took a blanket from the back, unfolding it and draping it gently over her shoulders. She stirred a little before quieting again. Jesse reached out to move a strand of hair from across her face, resisting the urge to touch her cheek.

  What would it be like to wake beside her, her beautiful face the first thing he saw every morning? To have her open her eyes and see him, her smile lighting the room more brightly than the sun? To draw her into his arms and feel her lips on his?

  Sighing softly, he backed away and returned to his desk.

  He’d wake her as soon as he was done.

  Chapter 12

  Louisa drew in a deep breath as she woke, wincing at a crick in the side of her neck. She lifted her head from her arms and looked around blearily, for a few moments unsure of where she was.

  Then she remembered.

  She was on the settee in Jesse’s parlour. Across the room, he was still at his desk, albeit fast asleep with his head resting on his arms on top of one of the open ledgers.

  The lamps had burned down, but it didn’t matter because light was filtering through the curtains from outside. What time was it?

  She sat up and a blanket she was certain she hadn’t placed there slipped down her arm. Her eyes went to Jesse again and she smiled. He must have put it over her when she fell asleep. He was always so thoughtful.

  Except now it was light outside and she was still in his house. She twisted round to look up at the clock on the wall behind her, horrified to see it was almost ten minutes past six.

  What if Pastor and Mrs Jones were already awake? How would she explain being out all night?

  She pushed the blanket off, slipped her feet into her shoes, and crept over to Jesse. He looked so peaceful, with his eyes closed and his lashes brushing his cheeks.

  She reached out to move a lock of hair from his cheek, only realising at the last second what she was about to do and instead touching his shoulder.

  “Jesse?”

  He drew in a slow breath and lifted his head, blinking sleepily. “Louisa? What...” His eyes snapped open wide and darted around the room. “I fell asleep.”

  “Me too.”

  His gaze went to the window. “It’s light outside.”

  “I noticed that.”

  “That’s not good.”

  “No.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Ten past six.”

  He sat up and hissed in a sharp, pain-filled breath through his teeth, looking down at his lap.

  Louisa stepped towards him, alarmed. “What’s wrong?”

  He pushed away from the desk and rubbed at his thighs, grimacing. “If I don’t sleep in the correct position my leg muscles bunch up and stiffen. Sitting at my desk is definitely not the correct position.”

  She had to stop herself from reaching out and touching him. “Does it hurt a lot? Can I do anything?”

  “They’ll be okay, they just need a good stretch and massage to loosen them up.” He pushed the heels of his hands into his thighs and winced. “Just give me a minute and I’ll be okay to take you back.”

  “Oh no, you do what you need to to get out of pain,” she said, going to the chair to fetch her cloak. “I’ll be fine walking back by myself. It’s not far.”

  He frowned. “I don’t know...”

  “Well, I do.” She walked back to Jesse and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Just take care of your legs. Will I see you this afternoon?”

  The half smile she liked so much twinkled in his eyes. “Do you really have to ask? I’ll pick you up with the buggy at five. I have plans for us.”

  “I’ll look forward to it.”

  As she pulled her hand from his shoulder, he caught hold of it.

  “Thank you,” he said, looking earnestly into her eyes. “Everything you’ve done, the way you’ve helped me... I’m grateful. And I’m real happy you’re here.”

  Her heart fluttering, she didn’t even think about censoring her response so he wouldn’t be encouraged. “I’m happy too.”

  Smiling, he brought her hand to his lips and brushed a soft kiss onto the back before releasing it.

  Oh! She looked down at her hand, then back at him. “I... I’ll see you at, uh, five.”

  Swallowing, she turned for the door and almost tripped over her own feet.

  Recovering, she looked back at him, gave an embarrassed laugh, and fled.

  ~ ~ ~

  Louisa ran back as fast as she could, hoping all the time that no one would be about. There were a couple of people out early, but she managed to hide before they saw her. She didn’t recognise either of them, but better to be safe than sorry.

  All the way home, she thought about Jesse’s kiss. She was certain she shouldn’t still be able to feel it, and yet the back of her hand tingled with the memory of his lips on her skin.

  It was only a light kiss on her hand, she kept telling herself. It wasn’t like that had never happened before. She’d been kissed on the hand many times, in fact, by many different men back in New York. Her reaction to each of those had largely ranged from mildly flattered to apathetic.

  So why was her heart still stuttering and her skin still tingling from this one? It was just a simple kiss on the hand. That was all.

  Jesse’s full, warm lips on her trembling, tingling hand.

  Her feet tangled in her dress and she grabbed at a wall as she tripped, only just managing to stay upright. Rolling her eyes, she lifted her skirt higher and resumed her rush for home, trying to put Jesse and his kiss from her mind. She needed to arrive in one piece.

  On reaching the house, she ducked down and ran up the front path on silent feet, tiptoed up onto the porch, and flattened herself next to the parlour window. Holding her breath, she peered in. She breathed out again when she saw no one inside. She couldn’t hear anything either, so hopefully that mean
t Pastor and Mrs Jones weren’t yet awake. She might just get away with this.

  Creeping around the side of the house, she rounded the back corner.

  And collided with Mrs Jones.

  Louisa yelped, stumbling backwards, and tripped on the hem of her overlong, bustleless dress. She landed on her backside in a bed of marigolds, gasping for breath.

  “Louisa! Are you all right?” Mrs Jones dropped the basket she held and hurried forward to help her out of the dirt.

  “I’m okay.” She looked behind her at the flattened orange flowers, absently brushing at the back of her dress. “I’ve ruined your marigolds.”

  “Oh, don’t worry, they’ll spring back.” She took hold of Louisa’s shoulders. “What in the world are you doing out here this early?” Her eyes travelled down. “Are you wearing an evening gown? Louisa, have you been out all night?”

  “I...I...” She floundered for something to say, some excuse that would convincingly explain being out at six-thirty in the morning dressed in a ball gown. Her shoulders slumped. She had nothing. “I was at Jesse’s house, for most of the time. I didn’t realise how late it was. We fell asleep.”

  Mrs Jones released her shoulders and frowned.

  Louisa’s hand flew to her mouth. “Not that we were... I mean, we weren’t doing anything. At least, not anything wrong. Well, maybe it was wrong, but we weren’t doing that, I swear.” Giving up, she covered her face with her hands and groaned.

  There were a few seconds of silence during which she wished the ground would open up and swallow her.

  “I think perhaps you should tell me what’s going on,” Mrs Jones said, her tone mildly disapproving.

  They sat on a nearby bench and there were a good twenty seconds of silence while Louisa decided what to do. She felt compelled to tell the truth to the woman who had been so kind to her since she’d arrived, but she wasn’t sure if Mrs Jones would approve of what she and Jesse had actually been doing any more than what she thought they’d been doing.

  “If I tell you this, will you promise not to tell anyone else?” she said, unwilling to betray Jesse’s confidence without some assurance. “Even Pastor Jones?”

  Mrs Jones was quiet for a few seconds. “I’ll make that promise if you promise me that if anyone needs to know, you will tell them.”

  She thought about that, finally nodding. “I will.” She sighed and looked at her lap. “Jesse thinks that someone at the bank is stealing from the customers, but he has no proof. He needed to see the ledgers and some other papers, but whenever he tried, this person stopped him, even though he had every right to see them. So I persuaded Jesse to let me sneak into the bank through a window late last night to get the ledgers for him so he could check them without this person knowing. Afterwards I went back to his house because I wanted to know what he would find, but I fell asleep on his settee while he was working on them and then he fell asleep at his desk and we didn’t wake up until fifteen minutes ago and I came straight back here. And that’s all that happened, I swear.”

  “And did he find anything?”

  Of all the questions Mrs Jones could have asked, Louisa hadn’t imagined that would be the first. “I forgot to ask,” she said a little sheepishly. “I wanted to get back before you noticed I was gone. I was hoping you’d still be asleep.”

  Mrs Jones looked out over her garden where the low, early morning sun cast long shadows across the dew-dampened ground.. “I like to come out here early, before anyone needs me, and pray while I pick out weeds and deadhead and do whatever else needs to be done. It’s my time to be alone with God.”

  Louisa considered that. “I’ve never thought about needing to be alone with God. But I’ve been reading my Bible and praying a lot since Sunday, and it feels like He wants me to give Him my attention. I didn’t very often at home. I’m beginning to think I haven’t been a very good Christian.”

  Mrs Jones swivelled on the seat to face her. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but have you ever invited Jesus into your life?”

  “Once, when I was fourteen. It was in church and the reverend was talking about the parable of the lost sheep. When he said that Jesus was searching for each one of us, waiting for us to come to Him and ask Him to come into our lives and save us, I had the strongest feeling that He was speaking right to me. So I did it then and there, quietly.” It was strange that she remembered that so vividly when just about all the other Sundays she’d spent in church were lumped into a vague blur of boredom and awkwardness. “I don’t know if I used the right words, but I thought Jesus wouldn’t mind if I didn’t.”

  Mrs Jones was smiling. “He certainly wouldn’t. All that mattered was that you heard Him calling you and you answered. And you only had to do it once. That’s all you needed to do.”

  Louisa nodded, thinking back to that Sunday nine years before. “We never went back to that church after that. I wish we had. I would have liked to hear more of that reverend’s sermons, but it wasn’t the kind of church my parents approved of. A lot of the others I heard talked about judgement and sin and damnation, but he talked about love. Just like Pastor Jones did on Sunday. I much prefer that to all the doom and gloom.”

  Mrs Jones leaned forward and whispered, “I’ll tell you a secret - I do too.”

  “So do you think I should have a time every day when I’m alone to talk with God too?” It seemed to be working for Mrs Jones. She was one of the happiest people Louisa had ever met.

  “I think that’s a very good idea.”

  Without warning, a huge yawn stretched Louisa’s mouth and she clapped her hand over it. “Does it have to be this early?”

  “No, it certainly doesn’t,” Mrs Jones said, laughing. “It can be any time you want. Maybe you need to get some more sleep after your adventures last night.”

  Louisa bit her lip. She’d almost forgotten about that. “So... you aren’t angry with me for staying with Jesse all night and breaking into the bank?”

  “I won’t ever be angry with you, Louisa. And as far as staying with Jesse all night goes, I know the two of you weren’t doing anything. I’ve known Jesse since he was three years old.” Her smile became wistful. “Simon and I were never blessed with children so I’ve taken every chance I get to be around them and I’ve gotten to know the young people of this town well. I guess you could say I’m like a surrogate aunt to Jesse. And I know his heart. He turns on the charm and flirts, but he’s one of the most honourable young men I’ve ever known. He’s committed to following the Lord in everything and I trust him. Didn’t you find it strange that Simon approved of the situation with Adam and Amy?”

  “I did.” The truth was, Louisa had been shocked. She knew for a fact nothing was happening between the two of them, but a pastor endorsing an unmarried man and woman living in the same house? She’d never heard of such a thing.

  “The reason Simon did that was because we’ve also known Adam almost all his life and he’s the same as Jesse. Nothing is more important to those two young men than obeying God. We trust both of them and we trust God to guide them, so when Adam told Simon he felt God was telling him to give Amy a safe place to stay, we believed him.”

  Louisa was quiet as she absorbed Mrs Jones’ words. Coming from a life where appearance was more important than truth and a person was often judged and condemned with no recourse to the facts, finding two people like Pastor and Mrs Jones who offered only love and acceptance was a revelation. She couldn’t help wishing there were more like them in the world.

  Overcome by a rush of affection for the older woman, Louisa leaned forward and hugged her. “Thank you. I’m so glad to be staying with you and Pastor Jones.”

  “We’re glad to have you here,” Mrs Jones said, returning her embrace. “Just try not to have to break into anywhere again. I wouldn’t want you to get into trouble.”

  Louisa smiled. “I’ll do my best.”

  Mrs Jones sat back. “You must tell me what Jesse finds out. I hate to think anyone in the town is bein
g taken advantage of.”

  “Jesse thinks the same. He’s really worried about it all. That’s why I wanted to help him however I could.” She covered her mouth as another yawn erupted.

  “Maybe you should go to bed,” Mrs Jones said with a smile, “before you fall asleep right here.”

  Chapter 13

  Jesse covered a yawn with one hand and leaned his head on the other, resting his elbow on the desk.

  He’d only been at work for half an hour and he was already close to drifting off. How many hours’ sleep had he got last night? Couldn’t have been more than four, if that. His mind wandered back to watching Louisa as she slept on his settee while he worked on the ledgers and he smiled. Having her in the same room didn’t exactly help him focus, but it did make the work a lot more enjoyable.

  The door to the back corridor opened, startling him from his sleepy, Louisa-based reverie. Mr Ransom stepped through.

  Jesse lowered his head, pretending to concentrate on the figures in front of him. He wasn’t at all certain of his ability to keep a civil expression when around Mr Vernon’s secretary any more. What he really wanted to do was shout at him until he admitted what he was doing.

  Jesse was also nervous it would be discovered that the ledgers and loan agreements he’d been trying to see for two days were missing. Until he found out what Ransom was doing, if Jesse was suspected of taking them it would be very bad for him.

  He again wondered if behind the pots in the shed behind his house was a secure enough hiding place.

  “Mr Johnson?”

  Jesse closed his eyes for a moment, gathering strength before looking up. “Yes?”

  “I just wanted to let you know that I went out to see Mr Foster before I came in this morning, to reassure him and his son that everything is in order with his loan. They’re happy that it’s all been explained sufficiently, so you needn’t be concerned that Mr Foster will return.”

  Jesse studied him carefully. Was he imagining things, or were those nerves he detected behind Ransom’s eyes? “Thanks for letting me know.”