They were the longest few seconds that Zoe stood there waiting. Finally, she heard her mother’s voice on the other side of the door. “Coming!”
The sound of the latch unlocking made Zoe’s heart gallop. Then it opened. “Hi, Mama,” she said with a smile as her mother appeared in the doorway.
“Zoe!” her mother exclaimed, as a smile overwhelmed her face. A moment later Zoe was standing in her mother’s embrace, thin arms holding her tight as her mother laughed with joy and began to ask her a thousand questions at once.
She couldn’t stop laughing as her mother bombarded her with questions. “Okay, Mama,” she replied. “One question at a time.”
“Francis!” her mother called into the house. “Come out here!”
“I’m doing something, Rosie. Can it wait?” Her father replied.
“Is what you’re doing more important than welcoming me back?” Zoe called, before her mother could say anything. The sound of something dropping soon followed, and the heavy footfalls of her father came shortly after.
“Zoe, I can’t believe it,” her mother said as she smiled at her. “I didn’t think we’d ever see you again. Now, look at you. You look so lovely.” Her mother looked as if she was about to cry, but then her expression changed as she looked past Zoe.
Zoe turned to look at Quinn. She smiled at him as he stepped closer. “Mama,” she said as she turned back to her mother. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
Quinn took his hat from his head. His long black hair was gone, cropped close to his ears, though his chin had the slight shadow from the days of travel. “Ma’am,” he said with a nod.
Zoe was about to say more, to explain who Quinn was, but the shocked look on her mother’s face stopped her. A quivering hand rose to her mother’s mouth as she stepped back into the house.
“What is it Rosie?” her father asked as he stepped up behind her. It wasn’t a moment too soon, as her mother’s legs gave out beneath her and she crumbled to the floor.
“Mama!” Zoe exclaimed as she and Quinn both rushed forward to help her. They were at her side a moment later, but her father already had her securely in his arms.
“What happened?” he asked as he looked at her. His eyes drifted to Quinn. “Who’s this?”
“This is Quinn,” Zoe explained. “He’s my fiancé.”
“Rosie? Rosie?” her father called as he patted her mother’s cheek several times to rouse her. She groaned beneath his hands as her eyes fluttered open. He looked at Zoe as she spoke. “Is that what made your mother faint?”
“No, sir,” Quinn replied. “But it was my fault, I’m afraid.”
Her father’s brow knitted so tightly that Zoe was sure it was uncomfortable. “What?”
Zoe sighed. “Let’s help Mama first. We’ll explain after.”
Her father’s gaze shifted between her and Quinn several times before he agreed. He lifted her mother to her feet. She was groggy and disoriented but she was conscious.
They helped her mother to the couch while Zoe rushed to the kitchen to get some water. She filled a glass and brought it out. When she returned her mother was fully aware.
“Mama, are you all right?” Zoe asked, as she sat beside her. Quinn was standing nearby. He looked helpless.
“I’m fine,” her mother replied as she looked at her. “I was just surprised,” she continued as her eyes looked over at Quinn. “I’m sorry, young man. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“No, Ma’am, it’s me who should apologize. Zoe wanted to tell you we were coming, but I wanted to surprise you.”
Her mother laughed. “You did that,” she stated. She took the glass of water and drank from it. Zoe could see that her hand was still trembling. She set the glass back down.
“What happened?” Zoe asked, as she stroked her mother’s dark hair.
Once again her mother’s eyes rose to Quinn. “You look so much like someone I used to know,” she said with a hint of sadness.
“Who?” Quinn asked as he took a tentative step forward. “Who do I look like?”
Her mother sighed. “It doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago.”
“Thirty years ago?” Quinn interjected. Her mother stopped.
“Yes,” she replied.
Quinn stepped forward and took a seat in a nearby chair. “What happened thirty years ago?”
“Excuse me,” her father interrupted. “What is this all about? Who are you?”
“Dad, there’s something we need to say to you both,” she stated. She turned to find Quinn reaching into his breast pocket. She knew what he was getting. A moment later he presented the brooch to her mother.
“Do you recognize this?” he asked.
Her mother was speechless as she stared at the peacock brooch in her hand. She looked up with tears in her eyes. “Alexander?” she whispered.
“Quinn. My name’s Quinn. Quinn Mortensen,” he corrected. “Was that what you named me?”
Zoe could see the confusion on her father’s face as her mother and Quinn looked at each other. She wanted to explain, but she didn’t want to interrupt her mother and Quinn. This was their moment. Everything would be revealed in time, but for those few minutes, she thought it best to allow the two of them to have their time together.
Her mother leaned forward and placed a hand on Quinn’s cheek. “You look just like your father,” she said as tears rolled down her face. “I thought I was seeing him when you stepped toward the door. I thought George was in front of me. You look almost identical. He had the same blue eyes and the shape of your face…”
Her mother’s words trailed off as she continued to scrutinize Quinn’s features. His eyes were glassy as he looked at her, allowing her to inspect him without interference.
“Rosie?” her father asked as she turned to him.
Her mother released Quinn’s face and turned to her husband. She smiled at him. “It’s Alexander. It’s really him. I told you he would come one day.”
Her father smiled. “Yes, you did.” He turned to Quinn. “How did this come about?”
Zoe looked at Quinn as they both began to tell the story of how they met, fell in love, and became engaged. Her parents looked at them in awe, wonder, and distress as she spoke of her time with Victor Norton.
“That is everything,” Zoe confirmed as she finished the story with Quinn’s proposal in the coach on the way to Boston.
Her mother smiled. “That is some tale,” she stated. She looked at Quinn. “I suppose I should share a story with you.”
Zoe looked at her fiancé as expectation painted his features. “If you want to.”
“I do,” her mother agreed. She folded her hands in her lap. “I suppose I should begin at the beginning.” She smiled as Zoe’s father looked on.
Zoe, like Quinn, was eager to hear this tale. Her mother never shared with her what happened before she was born. She never mentioned Quinn or his father. Zoe was curious to hear how it came to be that she and Quinn ended up where they were.
“I met your father, George, when I was just a girl. His father was the butcher on my street and my mother would send me to buy our meat there. He was so handsome.” She looked at Quinn. “You could be him, you know? Same hair and eyes, and that smile,” she commented as she continued to grin. “We were married when I was twenty and your father was twenty-three. He became a soldier, and he was such a handsome one at that.”
“Keeping the peace must run in the family,” Zoe commented with a smirk.
“Yes,” her mother laughed. “It must.”
Quinn smiled. “Go on.”
“All right,” her mother began. “It was the beginning of the Indian Wars in California. Your father was sent there to help keep order,” she stated as her lower lip began to tremble. “He promised he’d be back soon. I was pregnant with you at the time and he hoped to be back before the birth.”
The room fell silent as her mother stopped speaking. Zoe waited patiently as she watched the shadow of s
adness fall over her mother’s features. Her father held her shoulders gently and patted them intermittently.
“He didn’t make it back,” she finally continued. “I was almost ready to give birth when the news reached me. He’d been killed at Yuma,” her mother stated. “He didn’t make it home to see his son born. After you were born, I wasn’t able to care for you. I was so terribly sad and with your father gone, there was no income. I was struggling to make ends meet. That’s when I met the Mortensens. They were a good couple, who visited the area often, doing collections for charity. They’d been married a long time but had no children. They said it was due to an accident when the wife was young. They wanted a child and I had you. It hurt me to give you away, but I wasn’t able to care for you. I spent hours in tears. I hardly left my bed. If it weren’t for them coming to check on me, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”
“My mother did that?” Quinn questioned.
Zoe was silent, as were her mother and father.
“Yes,” her mother replied. “Your mother did that.”
Quinn’s mouth opened but he didn’t speak.
“After they took you in, they wanted to bring you to visit me, but I told them not to. I made her promise to tell you that you came from an orphanage. I thought it would be easier. It was difficult enough to give you away, let alone seeing someone else raise you. I thought it would be more difficult on you to know that I had handed you over to someone else. I didn’t want my proximity to you to ever hamper your relationship with your new family. Then one day they came by to say they were moving and I didn’t see them again.” She turned to Zoe’s father. “I met Francis four years later and we were married. Zoe came into our lives shortly after that, and we’ve been a family ever since.”
“A happy family,” her father reiterated, as he smiled at her mother.
“Still, I thought of you. I wondered what you were like. If you looked like your father or more like me. If you’d had the happy life I wished for you. I can see now that you did. You became everything I hoped you would.”
Quinn smiled. “I had good parents,” he answered. “They taught me well and raised me to do what’s right.”
“They must be very proud of you,” her mother replied.
“I suppose so. I haven’t seen them in a long time,” he stated.
“Why is that?” her mother asked.
“As Zoe mentioned, I spent the past five years chasing down Victor Norton. There was no time to come back and visit.”
“So your mother hasn’t seen you in five years?” her mother questioned.
“No, Ma’am.”
“Then you need to see her. Tell me you plan to visit while you’re in town,” her mother insisted.
“Yes. I do plan to visit my parents while I’m here. I want to introduce Zoe to them and tell them of our engagement,” Quinn explained.
“I would like to see them again,” her mother stated. “Why don’t you let them come here and I will make dinner for us? I will do something simple and we can all get to know one another again.”
Quinn smiled. “I’d like that.”
Zoe watched the scene unfold and her heart was full. She never heard the story before, and yet she felt the pain her mother still harbored because of the loss of her first husband and son. She was grateful that at least the pain of the latter’s loss could now be remedied with Quinn’s return to her life.
“I’ll write an invitation to them,” her mother stated as she got to her feet. She was no longer shaky and disoriented, but bright and alert. “Where will you be staying?” she asked, as she looked at them.
“I’ll be staying here, Mama. Quinn will go to his parents,” Zoe replied.
“That sounds right,” her father said as he stood beside his wife. He extended his hand to Quinn, who rose to take it. “Welcome to the family, Quinn.”
The smile that lit her fiancé’s face was brighter than any she’d ever witnessed before. “Thank you, sir. It’s a pleasure to be part of the family.”
Zoe smiled. They truly were becoming a family, and soon it would be official. She hoped Quinn’s parents would be as happy as hers were to hear the news.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Quinn always had love at home, but now he had twice as much. The evening he met Rosalyn and Francis, he’d gone to his parents’ home to inform them of his return and of his engagement. Immediately, his mother, Agatha, wrote a note asking the woman who had completed her family to come to their house. She was overjoyed to know that her son had found someone who made him happy, and someone who was raised by the woman who had brought joy and happiness to her own life. It seemed the perfect completion of an unexpected circle. Now, the six of them were gathered in his parents’ home, along with Reverend Kibble.
Quinn stood in a suit he hadn’t worn in years. It was a little looser than it was when he last wore it—the years on the road had helped him lose a few pounds. His dark hair was gone, cropped and smoothed back against his head, close to his ears, as he stood talking to the Reverend.
“I was so pleased to receive your mother’s invitation,” Reverend Kibble said, as he sipped from the glass of lemonade Quinn’s mother had just handed to him.
“We’ve looked forward to this day for a long time,” Agatha sang out as she gave a smile before turning to serve drinks to her other guests. Zoe and her parents were across the room, seated on the couch with his father, Neil. His mother went to join them.
Zoe looked up from the conversation she was having and flashed a smile in his direction. Quinn smiled back at her. She was beautiful sitting there with her hair neatly pinned up. Her dress was new. She’d insisted on making the best impression possible and had gone out the day before to purchase it. She had suggested that he join her, but he was sure his suit was still in good enough condition, and to buy a new suit just to sit to tea with his parents didn’t seem significant enough to require the expense. He should’ve listened to Zoe.
“Are you back to Boston for good?” Reverend Kibble asked. His question drew Quinn’s attention back to the conversation.
“No,” he answered. “Once Zoe and I are married, we’ll be going back to Shaniko.”
“Shaniko? Is that where you’ve been living all these years?” the Reverend questioned.
“No, that’s where I’ll be living from now on. Zoe has lived there for the past six years. She has a thriving business there and all of her friends are there. I’ve been on the road ever since I left Boston five years ago. I had no place to call home,” he admitted.
“I, for one, am very happy to hear that you’ve found someplace to settle and start a life,” the Reverend mused. “When I gave you your First Communion, I hoped to marry you one day. I’m pleased to know I will finally get that chance.” Reverend Kibble sipped his lemonade again.
Quinn smirked. Everyone was happy to hear about his pending marriage. The Reverend, who had known him his entire life, was quite struck by the woman who was to be his bride. Zoe was a surprise to most. She was bold and straightforward and she wasn’t someone who hid. She’d told his parents everything that had happened when they shared their story before the Reverend got there. She left nothing out, including the fact that she’d concealed her knowledge of Victor Norton. She wanted them to know the truth. She didn’t want any lies between them. Neither did Quinn.
“What were you two thinking about the ceremony?” Rosalyn asked. He could hear the excitement in her voice.
Zoe looked at him before answering. “We hadn’t really thought of it,” she admitted.
“We figured something small and intimate,” Quinn added.
“At St. Augustine’s, of course,” Reverend Kibble said. “I believe the entire congregation would come out for that wedding,” he said with a smile. “After all, you’re one of our own since you were a boy. Most in the church have watched you grow, become a man, and leave home. I’m sure they’d love to see you married, as well.”
Quinn’s gaze met Zoe’s. A church
full of people?
“That sounds wonderful,” his mother, Agatha, agreed. “I know Mrs. Todd and Mrs. Breckett would love to be there. They used to look after you for me when I had church meetings for the women’s auxiliary,” she stated. “We can have the reception here afterward.”
Rosalyn was silent, but Quinn could see she was conflicted. Did she have a suggestion?
A Western Tale of Love and Fate: A Historical Western Romance Book Page 24