by Ember Pierce
“You know what my name is. You asked me to marry you, didn’t you? Again, that’s why I’m here, Mr. Henderson. Why are you playing like you don’t know what I’m talking about?”
* * *
“I’m not playing at anything. Believe me, I’m trying to understand just why you think I asked you to come here to become my wife. But...It may be, I mean I think, I might know what happened here, Miss…”
* * *
“Andrews.” She rolled her eyes. “Are all you men the same? Unthinking dolts that act in the spirit of the moment? Then, on to the next adventure, I reckon. Have you so easily forgotten whatever it was that you were thinking when you asked me to marry you?”
* * *
“My apologies, Miss Andrews. I think I know what has happened. You see, my friend, the mayor of Fable Springs, has been on my back to get married. He has decided that my life is lacking a certain female influence. Just two weeks ago he was very insistent that I put an advertisement in one of the matrimony newspapers. He told me it would do me good to get married. As if marriage is a panacea for everything that ails a man.”
* * *
“Excuse me if I don’t know what you’re rambling on about. You put an advertisement in the matrimony paper and I answered it. That’s why I’m here. Why else would I have left my home in Virginia?”
* * *
“No, you see, there’s been some mistake. I did not put an advertisement in any paper. He did. Or at least that’s my guess.”
* * *
Mae’s stomach fell. Anxious feelings were plaguing her. “Who did? Look. I have the letter you wrote me right here.” She searched in her satchel and withdrew the letter she’d gotten in response to her introduction.
* * *
“See...Mr. Scott Henderson, Fable Springs, Texas. Now that’s you. Isn’t it?”
* * *
“Let me look at that.”
* * *
“I asked at the train station where you live. I have to say I was surprised you weren’t at the train to meet me when I got in. I know I’m a day earlier than I’d anticipated, but I would have thought you’d stop by daily. There’s only two trains a day, you know.”
* * *
He’d been scrutinizing the letter as she spoke and now he spoke. “This is my friend’s handwriting. It must have been Ephraim who put the advertisement in the periodical.”
* * *
“Well, that’s silly. Why would your friend do something like that? To trap an unsuspecting lady into coming here and then being left destitute? It’s a nasty trick, if that’s what it is. I hope you’re not planning on remaining friends with him.”
* * *
At this point, Mae was thoroughly confused, upset, and losing patience with the entire situation. Everything seemed to be in a big mess and she was far away from anything or anyone she knew.
* * *
“It’s a long story.”
* * *
“That doesn’t help, Mr. Henderson.”
* * *
“Ephraim… like I said...he thinks that I need to get married. That’s what’s behind this whole thing. The advertisement, the letter, the...”
* * *
“The marriage proposal.”
* * *
“Yes, that too. The marriage proposal. Ephraim sometimes doesn’t keep boundaries when it comes to his friends. In a word, he meddles.”
* * *
Mae was beside herself at this point.
* * *
“Well, actually, whoever put out the advertisement, or wrote the letter doesn’t matter much to me at this point. I came here to get married. And I am going to get married. You, Mr. Henderson, have no choice. Otherwise, if you abandon me to a strange town and people I don’t know, you are not a gentleman.”
* * *
“Miss Andrews. Please don’t get upset. This is not a dire predicament at all. I can take you to a boarding house in town. I’m sure we can come to an agreement that will suit you.”
* * *
“Oh, don’t you try to pacify me. I came here on your invitation, Mr. Henderson. I don’t know a soul in Fable Creek. Not one. What am I supposed to do?” She realized she sounded as if she was begging, but she was feeling desperate. Panicky almost.
* * *
She couldn’t tell if Mr. Henderson was being stubborn or if he was actually angry about her presence here. What would she do if he didn’t come around to her way of thinking?
* * *
He stepped out on the porch. He appeared to be quite a handsome man as he returned her gaze. Because he’d been in the doorway earlier, the shadow had cast a strange look to his skin. It had taken her aback slightly, but it was just a shadow. Or so she’d thought before.
* * *
His face was turned away from her again, only the side of it was visible as earlier. Slowly, he turned and faced her head on. She blinked. In the brighter light of the porch she saw that it wasn’t a shadow that had given his face an odd look.
* * *
The scar took up the entire side of his countenance from his ear to the side of his nose and up to just beneath his eye. The skin was thick and mottled. The scar was a bad one.
* * *
Mae was momentarily shocked at the sight of the disfigurement as anyone would be. She recovered quickly, though, and made a point of looking him directly in the eye.
* * *
“Are you so keen to marry me now, Miss Andrews? I had an accident one year ago to this very day. Do you think you could live with such a visage? In holy matrimony, til death do us part?”
* * *
Mae was more taken aback by his sudden change of attitude. Where before she’d thought him rude, at the moment she thought him nasty. Very nasty. She’d come to terms with the unsightly affliction he bore quite quickly. If she didn’t want to be judged by her looks, then who was she to judge someone else by theirs?
* * *
Her judgement had everything to do with his unpleasant nature. She weighed her options. She had to think fast. The basic situation hadn’t changed. There was not a soul that she knew in Fable Springs. She had no option but to stay right where she was. And marry Mr. Henderson.
* * *
“Yes, Mr. Henderson, I believe I could. I can, I mean. In our world the emphasis placed on physical looks is entirely out of control. I do want to marry you still. I’m keen on it as you say. I don’t care how you look.”
* * *
“I reckon it must be easy for someone like you to say that.”
* * *
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
* * *
“Someone as lovely as you are could have no idea of the things that someone like me must live with.”
* * *
“Oh. Do you mean folks reacting to your appearance only? Or do you mean having to accept that the first thing anyone values about you is your physical self? Or possibly you’re referring to the blatant staring of others.”
* * *
“Yes, yes? All of it. How did you know?” He seemed taken aback that she had guessed so accurately.
* * *
“Because, it might be difficult for you to understand this, but I, myself, have had to handle those very issues, Mr. Henderson. All of my life. So you see, despite having been initially taken aback when you turned to look at me, I am not adversely affected by your scar. I am much more interested in the person beneath the scar.”
* * *
“That’s a very forward thinking notion. I wish I could believe it.”
* * *
“Time will prove it, Mr. Henderson.”
* * *
Scott sat on the top step of the porch. “Hmm. Alright. How about this? I will take you as my wife, Miss Andrews, but in name only. You will occupy your own bedroom and you will keep house and cook. This will be your home.”
* * *
Mae avidly agreed. She nodded her head “Oh yes, Mr. Henderson. That sounds just fine.”
* * *
“But…
* * *
Her stomach fell. Was this to be a temporary situation? What could he mean by adding an addendum?
* * *
“I remind you that we will be married in name only. There will be no relationship between us such as husbands and wives have. I will not be a husband to you, Miss Andrews. I will simply be the man you married because you had no other choice. Is that understood and agreed?”
* * *
“Uh, yes. Yes, Mr. Henderson. It is.”
* * *
“One more thing, we will live separate lives under the same roof. I don’t want to engage in conversations or any kind of friendly banter or anything that would have us acting as a couple. No dances, no dinners in town. No sitting in the parlor after supper. Nothing of the sort. Is that clear?”
* * *
She reckoned the only thing she could do was agree.
* * *
“I’ll escort you to the boarding house downtown. It’s a ten minute walk. Do you have a piece of luggage?”
* * *
“No, only my carpet bag.”
* * *
“Do you have money?”
* * *
“Yes. The money you sent me.”
* * *
Mr. Henderson pressed his lips together.
* * *
“That was Ephraim’s money. And we will give him back the money and I’ll pay him back what you spent.”
* * *
As they walked to town, Mae couldn’t help but notice that aside from the scar that marred the left side of his face, Mr. Henderson was even more handsome than she’d originally thought. He was tall with a good, strong build. His stride was easy but she had to hurry to keep up with him.
* * *
She noticed he maneuvered the two of them so when he walked on the street beside her, the left side of his face was to the street. She also noticed that his Stetson was tilted over his left eye which shadowed that side of his face.
* * *
It gave him something of a dashing look and Mae realized that all of Mr. Henderson’s movements were geared so she, or anyone for that matter, wouldn’t fully see his face. It saddened her.
* * *
Everything he did was somehow influenced by what had happened to him. She wondered how many of his choreographed movements had become second nature to him and how many he consciously had to perform.
* * *
Something else Mae noticed was the lingering looks of other men as they passed her and Mr. Henderson. She was used to those kinds of looks and considering she was new in Fable Springs she wasn’t surprised that she was being scrutinized.
* * *
However the men all said good day, howdy or some such salutation as they passed by her and Mr. Henderson. She noticed that Mr. Henderson didn’t respond to any of them so she merely smiled and kept walking.
* * *
He took her to a boarding house and asked the girl inside, for the best room for a lady they had. As it turned out, the girl led Mae up the front stairs and showed her to a lovely room on the second floor.
* * *
“Miss Andrews, you must always use these stairs, you see, because the men use the back stairs to go up to the third floor. The door from the back stairs onto the second floor is closed and locked and there are no front stairs up to the third floor. So, everything is very private and the men and women are separated.”
* * *
“I understand.”
* * *
“Of course, Mama has a room up here,” she went on as Mae followed her to the room. “It used to be a suite, so now the little sitting room of hers is my room that I share with my sister. The boys have the room behind the kitchen. It used to be a porch, but it was built up as an addition to the house shortly before my mother bought it.”
* * *
“Very good. This is a lovely room.”
* * *
“Thank you, Miss. Should I come up and get you when it’s time for supper?”
* * *
“Yes. That would be fine, Thank you.”
* * *
The girl left and Mae turned into the room.
* * *
The lovely space boasted a huge fireplace and a great big four-poster bed with a down mattress. She went to the window and watched Mr. Henderson walk back the way they’d come.
* * *
This time, though, on the other side of the road presumably to hide his face. Was that why he didn’t want a wife? Because it would be distracting for him to always be on guard, afraid that he was being looked at, or watched?
* * *
Mae sighed. Her two full days of travel had exhausted her and she had so many questions. She went to the chair and dropped into it. The afternoon had been trying and filled with tension. She was relieved if not happy that things had worked out somewhat.
* * *
His house would be a nice place to live and her homelife would be secure. The fact that she would essentially be a roommate to Mr. Henderson was a little disappointing.
* * *
The thought of spending her life, basically alone, and without a family was not a happy one. But it was the only available option. She had no choice but to make the best of it.
* * *
Without Mr. Henderson’s offer, she would have to go back to Virginia and a most certain marriage to Bill Masters. Or who knew what would happen to her if she didn’t return home. The terrible stories her mother had warned her and her sisters about unprotected women filled her mind.
* * *
But she pushed the thoughts from her mind. She would be married to Mr. Henderson and though it wasn’t exactly the way she’d thought it would be, it would be fine.
* * *
Everything was going to work out just fine.
7
After leaving Miss Andrews at the boarding house, Scott walked across the town square and over to the Mayor’s Residence. He went around to the back door like he usually did and knocked.
* * *
The cook opened the door. “Mr. Henderson! It’s so good to see you. It’s been ages if it’s been a day. Come in, dear, come in. Let me get him for you. That’s why you’re here isn’t it? Or have you taken a shine to one of the ladies who works here?...let me see. You want to talk to the mayor about it, is that right? Is it that new lady assistant to the mayor isn’t it? Very forward thinking, our mayor is Mr. Henderson, wouldn’t you say?”
* * *
Scott waited patiently for Molly to run out of things to say.
* * *
“Yes, I would, Molly. And, though I am here to speak about a lady, she is not the assistant to the mayor. I’m here to see the mayor. Is he in?”
* * *
“He is. You can go in, Mr. Henderson. He’s in his study.”
* * *
“Thank you, Molly.”
* * *
Scott left the kitchen. He liked the cook. She was one of the people who didn’t seem shocked when she saw him in the light.
* * *
The first time he’d been at the Mayor’s Residence after the accident, Molly had opened the back door to let him in. Instead of averting her eyes or staring at the side of his face, Molly had expressed her sympathy over the death of Annie. Then she’d done a peculiar thing.
* * *
Or, at least, something no one, not even Ephraim had thought to do. She’d expressed her condolences about the burn on his face. And that had been that. Molly was one of the few people in his life who didn’t stare at his wound when they thought he didn’t notice because he was looking away.
* * *
He headed into the main part of the house and made his way to the study on the second floor. Oddly he saw no guards about or no maids working behind the scenes.
* * *
As it was he got to the second floor without seeing anyone and made a mental note to tell his friend that things at th
e Mayor’s Residence were not too secure.