Page 79 of The Preacher's Bride

He hurried to slip into his jacket and rushed out the door. He caught his white stallion and didn’t even bother to saddle him. With no time to waste, he put on his bridle and slid on bareback. “Help me, Trapper,” he said as a smile spread across his face. “Yah!”

Trapper lunged into a full run as he headed toward Mrs. Jenkins’s boardinghouse. He just prayed that she would be able to keep the children for him while he was gone. He didn’t know for how long it would be. A few moments later, he stopped in front of the boardinghouse on the edge of town.

Caleb pulled Trapper to a stop and wrapped the reins around the hitching post out front. Then, he skipped up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and beat on her door.

“Coming!” Mrs. Jenkins said from inside the house. A moment later, the door opened. “Preacher Henley! What a surprise!”

“Mrs. Jenkins, I hate to barge in on you so abruptly,” Caleb said, breathless. “But would you mind coming over to watch the children now? It’s an emergency.”

“Yes, of course.” She grabbed her reticule and quickly pinned her hat into place. She slipped on her coat and pulled the door closed behind her. “Caleb, what’s the matter?” she asked, looking around.

“I’m going after Mia.”

“Well then, what are you waiting for?” Mrs. Jenkins asked. “Go get her! You’d be a fool if you let her get away. I’ll have my man George hitch up my team and I’ll head straight over to your house. So, don’t worry about the children. Now, go! Catch her before it’s too late!”

A broad grin spread across his face as he slid onto Trapper’s back and headed toward Colton and Ella’s farm as quickly as he could. He just hoped that he wasn’t too late.

Chapter 21

Mia

Mia cried all the way to Ella and Colton’s house. She had hoped that Caleb would ask her to stay, but he didn’t. He just stood there, watching as she left. Images of the children passed through her mind as the horses plodded through the melting snow. She hated having to leave them, but they weren’t her children… not really… although she would love it if they were. Tears rolled down her cheeks as images of them playing in their room ran through her mind… images of them laughing at breakfast, the closest they had ever come to being a family… images of Shane yelling at her, then coming to love her… images of Hailey calling her Ma.

Then, she remembered Caleb’s broad, bare, muscular chest the first morning after she came to live with them… the curve of his mouth when he was amused… the sound of his laughter… Caleb greeting his parishioners happily and then preaching from the pulpit. She committed it all to memory, for she knew she would never come to love anyone else the way she loved them.

A few minutes later, she pulled down the long driveway leading to Ella and Colton’s farmhouse. As she pulled to a stop, Colton stepped out on to the porch, smiling. “Over again so soon?” he asked as he dried his hands on a dish towel. “Come on in! Ella will be delighted.” But when he saw her tear-stained face, his smile faded. “What’s wrong?”

Mia squared her shoulders as she quickly swiped her hand across her cheeks. “Will you be so kind as to take me to Laramie? I intend to catch the train, and I need to get there early before it departs. I don’t want to be caught there overnight.”

Colton’s eyebrows pulled together in concern, and then nodded. “Come on in and say goodbye to Ella while I get ready.”

She nodded. Then, she wrapped the reins around the bar of the buckboard and stood. Colton offered her his hand to help her down, when a rumble of horses’ hooves pounding along the drive filled the air. Mia thought she was dreaming when she saw that it was Caleb, riding up on his white stallion.

He pulled to a stop in front of her as the horse snorted loudly, pawing at the ground. Caleb jumped off and hurried over to her. “Mia, don’t go.”

Colton suppressed a smile. “I’ll be right over here… if you need me,” he said in a low voice as he walked casually onto the porch.

Caleb never took his eyes from Mia. “Mia, I’ve been a fool. Please, don’t go.”

Tears welled up in her eyes as she shook her head. “Caleb, I can’t keep going on this way… the way we have. I can’t be just a caregiver for the children and a maid.”

Caleb nodded. “And I don’t want you to.” He reached out for her and helped her down from the buckboard. “Mia, I’ve been such a fool. I love you and I want you to be my wife… my real wife. I’ll move the children into the spare room this afternoon.”

Mia’s eyebrows pulled together in concern. “But what about… Jessica?” She hated herself for asking, but she had to know. She meant what she said. She couldn’t go back to the way that it was… the way it had been between them.

He took her hands into his own. “Yes, I love her, and I always will.”

Mia’s face fell as her heart shattered into a million pieces at his feet. She knew that he would never get over the death of his first wife.

“But I love you, too.”

Mia’s eyes snapped up.

Caleb let out a deep breath. “I said goodbye to her. Yes, I will always love her, but I love you, too. Wasn’t it you that said that you can love more than one person?”

She nodded.

“Mia, when you ran into the burning barn last night and didn’t come out….”

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