Page 64 of Mail-Order Bride Secret
The man climbed back into the saddle. He adjusted his hat so she got a clear look at his face. Her breath whooshed out. “It’s not him.” But it was too late to pull back her confession. Sticking out her jaw, quelling the pain at the way he looked at her, she faced him with determination. “Yes, he did.”
“And you didn’t think this was something you should have told me?” Wally guided the horses to the side street and pulled them to a halt. “You know how much I value honesty and yet you chose to hide this.”
“I never once lied.” She ducked her head. “Except when I pretended to be a widow.”
“How can I be sure of that?”
“Wally, didn’t you say that the past is passed?” She was ready to beg, to plead her cause.
“You could have trusted me.” He looked away from her. The rigid set of his shoulders spoke things he hadn’t voiced. Knowing what had happened made him despise her.
Weary words wheezed from her mouth. “What difference would it have made?” She lowered herselfto the ground. Seeing she was at the church, she went inside and found a pew in the cool dimness of the interior. When she heard the wagon drive away, she buried her face in her hands and wept.
Time passed as she cried. Finally, her tears spent, she stared straight ahead.
A door opened. She jumped. Wally? Had he come for her?
“Mrs. Edwards, you seem distressed.” Pastor Ingram approached, a look of compassion on his face.
Tears threatened to burst forth again at his kindly demeanor.
He sat by her. “Care to tell me what’s wrong? Maybe I can help.”
She swiped at her eyes. She’d cried all she meant to cry over what Delroy had done. “I doubt anyone can help. You see, I’m a ruined woman. I was young and innocent when my brother’s friend came to my room one night.” She told him every detail from what Delroy had done to the nightmares and fears that followed. How she’d been sent from home. How she’d decided against all advice to keep her son. “Wally said he didn’t care about my past but when I thought I saw Delroy and blurted out the truth, it was a different story.”
“I imagine it was a terrible shock to him.”
She gave an unladylike snort. “Not half as much as the shock I endured.”
“True, my dear. But tell me, why didn’t you tell Wally?”
“I was afraid.” She studied her hands. “And ashamed. All I wanted was to forget everything about that…that…” She shuddered and didn’t finish.
“How is your marriage to Wally doing?”
“Oh, Pastor, it’s been everything I ever wanted. More than I dreamed possible. I love him so much. You can’t imagine how it hurts to know he looks at me differently now. He’s left without me.”
“What are your plans? Do you have a place to stay?”
“I have to go back and get my son. The twins too. But then I don’t know.”
Wally drovethe wagon until he was away from prying eyes then set the brake and jumped down. He strode into the nearby trees trying to outrun his anger.
Maddie—his wife—the woman he adored, had been raped. Her innocence stolen. When it was discovered she carried a baby, she was sent away. Punished for the sin of another.
But what hurt the worst was she hadn’t told him. Hadn’t trusted him.
He strode back and forth, breaking off dry branches and whipping them to pieces on the trees.
Words raged through his mind.
She didn’t trust him.
She’d been punished for a man’s sin.
Finally, he fell to his knees. “Oh, God. How can I bear this pain?” He rocked back and forth, tortured pleas going to his heavenly Father.
Spent, he remained there, silent and waiting.
