Page 388 of Conveniently Wed
Could he really get her to fall for him? He loved everything about her. Their conversations when he went to visit her each week were insightful and engaging. Her personality was fiery. She wasn’t one to bend to his every opinion. He really liked that. The women in town bored him silly, falling over his every word in agreement.
She challenged him, ignored him, trembled at the mere touch of his hand, and yet he couldn’t wait to go back for more. They were worlds apart—in age, in experience, and in social standing—yet his heart knew no barriers. He fell a little more in love every time he visited, even if her aloofness infuriated him.
There was something inside him that longed to protect her. He wanted to show her what a true gentleman was. If only her dire situation offered more time, he would woo her gently rather than rushing the wedding. But after finding her desperate enough to work in the saloon—and not telling her pa—he couldn’t risk where her need to help her family’s plight would take her. And if he didn’t marry her, how would they all survive?
He laughed at the noble twist he’d put on it all, but, truthfully, he had pushed for an immediate wedding for fear she would never look his way and be snatched up by a much younger man. This pint-sized lady full of life and grit made the thought of having a wife, a lover, a life partner once again, burn within him. Katherine would bring purpose to building his horse ranchwith sons and daughters to pass it on to. He couldn’t let theirarrangement,as she so bluntly put it, fall through. His heart had bought into the dream and would be crushed.
He rolled over and punched his pillow. She’d loved the ride on his stallion. The way she had come back with her cheeks flushed with color and a smile on her face… Well, he had the power to give her a beautiful horse and a whole lot more. Yes. He was doing what was in her best interest. He was the one man in the valley who could give her a life she never dreamed possible—a life every girl would love.
The wedding day dawned bright and beautiful. The early morning rays filtered through the cheery yellow curtains that hung in the window adjacent to the wood stove. Katie had tossed and turned all night. With a sigh, she rolled over one more time on her straw-filled pallet and buried her head under the covers, but sleep would not find her. She envied Amelia, who lay still beside her, drawing in deep restful breaths. All around her, everyone slept.
Katie slid from the bed with care. A shiver produced goosebumps that had nothing to do with the briskness of the morning air. All week, she had been strong, but this past night, her head had ached as if drums were beating close to her temples. Dread sat heavily in her gut. She pulled her threadbare day skirt and plain shirtwaist over her unmentionables. Her warm shawl hung on a hook by the door. All she had to do was pick her way over her sisters and cousins, creep down the ladder without stirring her parents, who slept in the living area, and slip outside. She needed time alone.
She let out a deep breath when she managed to open and close the screen door without the hinges creaking. She tiptoed across the porch and down the stairs, then ran. If she just kept going…
Her lungs screamed by the time she reached the top of the nearby ridge, but the exertion settled some of the nervous tension that flowed through. The sunrise grew and spread over the mist that draped the lower valley like wet cotton, and the cloudless sky opened to depths of enamel blue. The birds dipped and soared overhead, twittering and singing their morning song. The sugar maple trees were starting to turn that brilliant scarlet, and the craggy Massanutten mountain range rose majestically in the background. All was as it should be, except for one small devastating detail. She was about to step into a loveless marriage with a foundation built on nothing more than a rich man’s eye for beauty.
Why could men not see past the outward shell? She had always dreamed of finding a man who would care more about her dreams, her fears, her heart, than the way she looked. Today was her wedding day, and the sad realization that the day she’d dreamed of would never come slammed in hard.
She bit down on trembling lips. Unable to stop the pool of tears that once again gathered on her thick lashes, she blinked them away. Their hot salty flow trailed down her cheeks despite the fact that she had promised herself she would cry no more.
With her face set in stone she chose anger instead of sadness.
“God, if you’re up there, take this as a promise. I’m going to go through with this fraud of a marriage for my family, but Mr. Richardson shall rue the day he let his eyes take over common decency.”
6
“Where is that girl?”
Katie could hear her ma’s disapproving tone clear across the yard.
She swept through the screen door with a jut to her chin. Her capability to express anger without words was a skill she had honed. Was she not entitled to one last morning alone?
“Where have you been?”
She remained silent.
“You’ve missed breakfast, and we need enough time to get you ready.”
“Ma. Stop.” Katie threw her hands in the air. “I couldn’t eat if I tried, and you’d be the last one I’d expect to encourage I spend time on the way I look. Before Josiah came on the scene, you spent a lifetime demanding the opposite of me.”
The room went silent. Even Gracie stopped the chatter to her doll.
Katie dared a look at Ma. She never cried. Even when the twins died, Ma showed little emotion. But there she stood with tears glistening.
Katie had failed to notice the signs of age creeping up. The years of war had taken their toll. The rounded shoulders fromyears of hard labour, the speckled gray in her bun, the wrinkles around her mouth, collectively told the story. The pain in her dark eyes sent a wave of regret over Katie. She should have kept quiet, but mulling over her plight had brought the hurt close to the surface.
Ma turned and stumbled out of the door, and Pa followed.
“Out. All of you out. We need a few moments of privacy.” Aunt May shooed the kids outside and asked Amelia to watch them. She pulled Katie into her arms.
“There, there child,” her Aunt May soothed. “Your ma is as prickly as a hedgehog at times, but she loves you.”
Katie pulled out of the hug. “Always with me?—”
“Yes, I know, but there’s unhappiness from the past that gets the best of her at times. It’s…” She wrung her hands and turned away.
“It’s what, Aunt May? What have I done?”
