Page 34 of The Rancher's Wedding

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Estelle and Michael spent the bulk of their day away from the ranch, and when they came home, Estelle found a letter from Megan waiting for her. She ran and took it to her room, lighting a candle so she could read it.

Dearest Estelle,

Oh, how I miss you! Life around Philadelphia is dull and lifeless without you here with me. I pass my time reading and writing and awaiting your responses, hoping every day to receive another letter about all of your adventures out on the ranch in Utah. I read every letter you send over and over again, imagining myself there with you, feeling both overjoyed for you and jealous of the life you get to live.

I feel as though I must be true to you and say that there is one other thing that I look forward to, and that’s another letter from Jacob. Perhaps you wouldn’t know it from speaking to him, as he’s shy and a man of few words, but he writes absolutely beautifully and every letter he sends is poetry to me. I whisper the words aloud just to hear how they sound, but I must keep my voice down for fear that I will betray my feelings to my parents.

I do believe you had the right idea, running off from Philadelphia. Life here is so dull and ordinary, and I am giving serious thought to doing exactly what you did. It seems so easy, having seen you do it: just buy a train ticket and make my way to Utah. Not only would I be able to spend time with my closest friend, but Jacob and I could be married. And then you and I would be sisters of sorts. How wonderful would that be?

Be warned, however, that word of your escape has been the talk of the town out here and Ethan finds it utterly humiliating. I fear that he and your father may go looking for you. Your father even spoke to me a bit of it. He told me that he received your letters and feels that you have been taken in by the empty charms of the rustic West. There were daggers in his breath when he described how you presented Michael, though he wouldn’t dare use his name and certainly wouldn’t call him your husband. No, instead he referred to him as a “kidnapper,” which is absolutely absurd.

I told him that you went out there of your own volition and, by letters I received (I did not tell him that I was sending letters to you for fear that he would suspect I knew where you were), it sounded as though Michael was quite the gentleman and you were very happy with him. He accused me of not understanding what was on men’s minds. Can you imagine?

I do not know when this letter will reach you, but it appears that both Ethan and your father are on the verge of leaving to go find you. I urge you to take whatever precautions or preparations are necessary. I suspect that if they make it all the way to Utah, they won’t be satisfied until they leave with you in tow.

Please be safe and be careful, my friend. Keep everything there ready for me. I dream of being out there with you and I promise that the second Jacob proposes to me, I will be there in a heartbeat to accept. Could you be a dear and drop him a few hints, please? I’m beginning to get impatient.

Lots of love to you, Estelle. I miss you terribly.

Sincerely,

Megan

Estelle put the letter down. There was much to take in, some of it providing some much-needed hope and some of it inspiring her worst fears. In the back of her mind, she kept on hoping that marrying Michael would solve all of her problems relating to Ethan. He couldn’t very well marry her if she was already married to someone else. Still, with both her father’s and Ethan’s father’s legal connections, it was likely they could find some sort of loophole to annul the marriage.

She knew that her only hope of getting ahead of this was letting Michael know everything. Telling him about her arranged marriage and that she had lied about being an orphan. Warning him that her father may be coming and bringing her one-time fiancé along with him.

Throughout the time she’d been with Michael, she had built up trust with him. And now, if she told him that it was all a lie, he may just tell her father and Ethan to take her back home to Philadelphia. She had to explain herself before anyone else revealed it for her.

But, deep in her heart, she knew she wasn’t ready. Just the thought of telling such things to Michael tensed up all her muscles and made her feel dizzy.

Sometimes, the seemingly simplest things to do—like just tell someone a few words about your past—could be the hardest.

Chapter Thirteen

How long are you going to keep it from her?Michael asked himself.If you’re not going to tell her now, then when? She has to know sooner or later.

It was a fact of life that, with anything painful, the best bet was to get it over with as quickly as possible. He’d seen it once when he was only eight years old and he was bitten by a rattlesnake while out on the prairie. He’d run inside and his dad had brought out his knife and a bottle of gin.

“Son,” he’d said, “this is going to sting, but I promise you, it’s for the best. Be brave.”

His mom had held him down as his father poured the gin on his arm, stinging the wound.

“Don’t move,” his father had said. “This is going to be a lot easier if you don’t move.”

His mom had tightened her hold on him into a painful hug that made it hard to breathe. He couldn’t have moved even if he’d wanted to.

With intense focus, his father had cut the wound out, taking the poison along with it. The pain was excruciating, so much so that Michael hadn’t realized he was even screaming until his father told him about it later. All he could focus on was the wound and the blood that flowed out of it.

His father had stuck the knife into the kitchen table and grabbed a cloth rag, wrapping it tightly around Michael’s arm. The blood had immediately soaked into it, but the rag was thick enough to hold it all in.

Whatever happened after that, Michael didn’t remember. At that point in his life, it was the worst thing that had happened to him. The treatment itself was worse than the bite and, even with the wrap, his arm had still swelled up quite a bit, but after a few days’ rest, he was fine.

The same was probably true with telling Estelle about the incident at the old ranch. It would be painful for him to revisit, but she had to know. The sooner he got it over and done with, the sooner they could move on and he wouldn’t be keeping a secret from her.

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