Page 42 of Shoshone Sun

Fred.

Her former fiancé, the man who had broken her heart all those years ago back in England. The man who had rejected her after promising her a future together, whose father had sent her and her family away from their home with nothing but bitterness and betrayal. The sight of him here, standing in Peter and Susan’s cabin, was enough to make her stomach twist in disbelief.

He was still as handsome as she remembered, yet there was a new weariness in his eyes—and an emptiness that hadn’t been there before. As their eyes met, Jane’s world seemed to still. She felt as if the years between them had evaporated, leaving nothing but the echo of pain and unfinished business.

“Fred?” Her voice trembled despite her efforts to sound steady.

Fred stepped forward, a small, tentative smile forming on his lips. “Jane, for so long I never thought I’d see you again,” he said, his voice softer than she had expected. There was a sincerity in his eyes, but it didn’t erase the hurt that hung between them like a dark cloud.

“I—what are you doing here?” Jane stammered, her heart thudding painfully in her chest. She wanted to run, to flee back out the door and into the safety of the wilderness, but her legs felt frozen to the floor.

He seemed to hesitate before answering, as if he too were unsure of how to begin. “I ... I’ve been looking for you,” Fred said quietly, his voice strained. “I never wanted to hurt you, Jane. I was a fool back then, and I regret every moment of it.”

Jane felt a sharp pang in her chest, memories of the way Fred had looked at her before he’d broken their engagement, the way his words had cut through her like a knife. How could he stand here now, speaking to her as if everything could be undone? As if he could undo the pain he’d caused?

“You hurt me,” she whispered, the words tasting bitter on her tongue. “You broke my heart, Fred. I thought I would never be able to love again.”

Fred’s face tightened with remorse. “I know. And I’m sorry. But I didn’t know what I was doing back then. I ... I thought I was doing the right thing. My father forced my hand. I thought it would be a brutal betrayal of my family if I opposed him. But I was wrong. I should have stood up to him!”

Jane’s gaze dropped to the floor, her hands trembling. She couldn’t listen to him anymore. She had moved on. She had found something real, something true in Flying Arrow—something Fred hadn’t given her.

Then, in a voice that seemed to freeze the air around them, Fred spoke again. “The woman I married instead of you ... she died in childbirth. It was sad, but I never did love her. I’m free now, Jane. I can marry you, the only woman I ever truly loved!”

Jane’s heart stopped. The room seemed to spin around her, and the words that fell from Fred’s mouth were like an iron weight upon her chest. She could barely process them at first, but when the realization hit, she recoiled, her stomach churning with horror.

“No,” she said, shaking her head firmly. “No, Fred. I will never marry you. I’m married already. I’m with Flying Arrow now.”

Fred’s face shifted, a shadow falling over him. “But we were supposed to be together, Jane,” he insisted, his voice growing desperate. “We were meant for each other. Don’t you remember? The plans we had—everything we talked about.”

“I remember, but I’m not that woman anymore,” Jane replied, her voice trembling with the force of her conviction. “I’ve moved on, and I’m happy now. I’m married to a man who truly loves me.”

“We tried to tell him, Jane,” Peter interjected.

“But he refused to believe us,” Susan added. “He said he was certain that you still loved him and would come with him back to England!”

“Never!” Jane shouted. “I will never come back to you!” Fury enveloped her now. How could he believe she would simply drop her marriage for him? It was incredulous.

For a long moment, Fred stared at her, his face filled with anger. Then, without another word, he turned away, storming out of the cabin with such force that the door rattled in its frame. “I’ll sleep in the barn and leave in the morning,” he spat behind him.

Susan hugged Jane as Peter patted her back.

“We’re so sorry, Jane,” Susan said. “I thought we’d convinced him he was too late. When you arrived, we thought he’d just want to say hello to you and then be on his way.”

“We didn’t dream that he’d still expect you to come back with him after we told him you were happily married and with child!” Peter agreed.

Jane took a deep, steadying breath, her eyes travelling to the door. “I think he finally got the idea. I feel a little guilty if that hurt him but….”

“Don’t feel that way! He broke your heart!” Susan cried.

“I agree. You have nothing to feel bad about, Jane,” Peter reassured her.

Jane took another deep breath. “Yes, you’re right,” she said. “Of course I don’t ... not after what he did to me.” She sniffed back the tears that had been forming.

The rest of the evening passed in quiet but somehow tense conversation. Although Jane tried to shake off the encounter with Fred, her heart was still racing, her mind spinning with everything that had transpired, and she couldn’t truly relax.

Later that night, as the family settled down to sleep, Jane lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling. The moonlight filtered through the window, casting soft shadows across the room. But even in the quiet of the night, she couldn’t escape the feeling that something was wrong. Eventually she fell into a fitful sleep.

Suddenly, Jane was jerked awake. She gasped as hands grabbed her roughly, pulling her from her bed.

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