The Redemption 0f A Hunted Bride (Historical Western Romance)

by Clarice Mayfield

  Hope started to compose a letter to Mister Wyatt Dalbow, a rancher from Nevada. Shortly after starting, she would tear up her response and start over. Never in her life did she feel this nervous. Everything she wrote felt wrong.

  “This is just too silly,” she tore up another one.

  Then Hope started to list all her accomplishments, only to cross everything out, feeling like she was bragging too much.

  I need to start again, she realized, not liking anything she had written so far. Hope completely abandoned her work for a moment. She closed her eyes and simply started to breathe deeply. She needed to find her center again. Yes, a lot depended on this. At the moment that did not matter. For now, all I have to do is see if there is a real connection between me and Mr. Dalbow.

  With her mind calm again, she started to write. In the end, many hours later, she was satisfied with her last draft. She was going to send it to the gentleman in question and hope for the best.

  Here goes nothing. Hope felt actual butterflies in her stomach when mailing it. Remember why you are doing this, she told herself sternly and that actually made everything much easier.

  Things inside Hope’s household did not improve much over the next weeks. Her parent’s acted as if her rebellion was just a temporary thing and that she would come to her senses, as her mother put it. Luckily, she still had not seen Kristopher Hewitt. And it wasn’t because of his lack of trying. Hope simply became better at making excuses. She tried to spend as much time as possible away from home. She was always going to visit a few friends she had or walking with Maria. And that saddened her. Until recently, home was her safe haven, the place she felt most comfortable and the safest, as it should be. But not anymore. Now the whole place reeked of disappointment to her.

  “I cannot believe you lied to me,” Angelica accused her when they ran into each other one day.

  “When did I do that?”

  “A few months back. You told me you do not have a betrothed. But I heard from Jane Mackenzie, who heard from Clara Burlington, that you are marrying Kristopher Hewitt.” She hurled the accusation in one breath. Hope’s worst nightmare had come to life. A rumor, that was no rumor at all, started to spread through the town.

  “That’s my father’s business, I have nothing to do with it,” Hope tried to defend herself. It was all in vain. Her friend glared at her like she was a traitor of the worst kind. “I don’t want to get married,” Hope confessed. Maria looked at her sympathetically.

  Angelica regarded her for a few heartbeats before giving her a big hug, which took Hope by surprise. “Everything is going to be all right.”

  “I know.” Of course it will. Because I have a plan to escape all of this.

  “Let’s have some tea. Mother’s garden is beautiful this time of the year,” Angelica offered.

  Hope nodded. “That would be lovely.”

  Returning from her visit with Angelica, Hope was not that surprised to find a reply from Mr. Dalbow. Luckily, Maria accepted the letter for her and placed it in Hope’s room. Hope could not imagine what would have happened if her father stumbled upon it.

  It would be a disaster. And the shortest escape plan in history.

  Mr. Dalbow was overjoyed with her letter, she was pleased to discover. He offered a little bit more information about himself this time than was provided in his original advertisement and she absorbed every single word.

  He has nice handwriting. Hope liked that. What surprised her the most was that he immediately invited her to come to Rippingate. He certainly does not waste time.

  He expressed his desire for her to come and stay at his ranch so they would have an opportunity to get to know one another properly and perhaps, one day, even marry.

  “Oh, my.” Hope’s heart threatened to leave her rib cage, it was beating that hard. This is what you wanted. Hope had troubles swallowing.

  It felt like everything moved at a much faster rhythm than she was accustomed to. On the other hand, she really did not have that much time at her disposal. Her birthday was approaching fast and with it, the announcement of her marriage.

  Hope sat down on her bed, trying to steady herself. Her twenty-first birthday, a day she so looked forward to, was practically upon her. She couldn’t believe now how much she had looked forward to the party and stressed about the dress she was to wear.

  And now? None of that mattered to her. Hope felt quite detached from all that charade. She completely handed the reins over to her mother to do as she pleased, organizing everything. And by the looks of it, she was doing a splendid job. Too bad I won’t be there to see it, Hope thought, not feeling sorry at all. That was not completely true, despite everything, she did not want to see her parent’s reputation tarnished. Unfortunately, this was going to be a rather nasty blow for them. They will recover, Hope was certain of it.

  Looking at the letter in her hand, Hope sighed. What am I to do now?

  * * *

  You already know what you need to do, Hope, she answered herself immediately. And that was true. There was only one viable course of action, but despite that, a part of her was reluctant. Was she really about to leave everything she knew and cared about, all the comfort and luxury, and for what? For a complete unknown.

  For a chance to live my life, my way. Also, she wasn’t going to be alone, Jessamine would be there, by her side.

  Jessamine! Thinking of her friend gave Hope an idea. Since Jessamine and Mr. Dalbow both lived in Rippingate, then Hope did not have to walk into a complete unknown. Jessamine could go and meet him, if she did not know him already, and see for herself if he was exactly who he said he was.

  Yes, I will send Jessamine to see if Mr. Dalbow was a trustworthy man, Hope decided.

  Realizing a letter would simply take too long to reach Jessamine, Hope decided to send her a telegram, including the most basic information about Wyatt Dalbow and a plea for help once more. Escaping Maria was tedious work, yet Hope managed. She was about to leave the house to send her precious telegram when her father stopped her.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Again, suspicion was somehow implied in his question. Truth be told, she spent most of her days outside of the house.

  “Out,” she replied simply, having no intention of explaining herself.

  “You are not going anywhere. The Hewitts are about to arrive,” he informed her and Hope blanched.

  No. No. No. I have to get out of it. Think fast, Hope. Nothing came to mind. By the look on father’s face, it was obvious he did this on purpose, waiting for the last moment to tell her they were coming.

  Well played, Father. But Hope was not giving up.

  Perhaps it was childish of her, rebellious, refusing to meet Kristopher Hewitt as though that was going to somehow stop the entire wedding. Then again, since it annoyed her father, it was all right with her.

  “It will be just a quick visit to the post office, Father,” Hope explained. The sooner she sent the telegram, the better.

  Her father snorted in return. “So you could midway forget about this appointment, or hurt your leg on an imaginary rock, or be kidnapped by your cousin again,” he listed. “I don’t think so.”

  “I would never—” She started to protest yet her father stopped her with a raised hand since they both knew perfectly well she would.

  “I promise I will be back in a jiffy,” she pleaded. If she was really to meet Kristopher, then sending this telegram meant everything, now more than ever.

  “Your friend can wait,” he said sternly, leaving no room for future argument. And since he was physically blocking her way, there was not much she could do. Blast, she wanted to curse.

  Hope was not surprised he was aware of her correspondence with Jessamine. She was also very much relieved he still did not know about the other thing.

  Well, how could he, I just received the letter myself. At any rate, she hoped he never would know. At least, until she put her plan into motion.

  “Shall we,” he gestured toward
the receiving room.

  Annoyed to no end, Hope followed her father and sat down in a huff on a chair to wait for her future jailer, correction, husband-to-be. This whole experience really brought out the worst in her, and Hope had not even met the man. She could not bring herself to think about what would happen to her usually cheerful personality afterward.

  Her mother started tsking instantly upon entering the room. “Look at you,” she practically accused. Hope looked as always, immaculate, it was just that as of late that was not good enough for her mother. “I guess it will have to do,” her mother added with a sigh. Hope refrained from replying.

  They did not have to wait long before their guests, or better put, her father’s guests, arrived. As predicted, Mr. Hewitt and his son were tedious, practically putting Hope to sleep. All they wanted to talk about was what they drank and ate while visiting their mutual friends. It was a miracle they were both rather skinny compared to how much they supposedly ate.

  And then there was Kristopher Hewitt’s laughter. Hope never heard anything like it. He certainly would not have problems roaming alone in the wild since all the animals would run scared in the opposite direction once he started to laugh. Unfortunately, he found everything funny.

  “Miss Hope, I am delighted to finally meet you,” Kristopher Hewitt said, taking her hand and slobbering all over it while giving her knuckles a kiss. I wish I could say the same.

  Upon releasing her, Hope had to wipe her hand against her skirt. It was a movement only her father noticed. His frown was so deep all the household servants vanished, finding work in other parts of the house. Hope found that rather amusing.

  The usual small talk started, some questions were directed her way, to which her answers were very terse. She could not stop looking at the clock, hoping this nightmare would soon be over. Throughout their visit, one thing became perfectly clear to Hope. She was not marrying Kristopher Hewitt.

  “You were rather mean to Kristopher,” her mother wasted no time to scold her the minute the Hewitts left. “And he is such a nice man.”

  “And he will be a fine husband,” her father added.

  “Why don’t you marry him then,” Hope grumbled back. Her parents ignored that remark. She had gotten used to it. “I think I’ll go for my walk now, and to the post office.” God knew she deserved going out.

  “I sent Maria away on some business for me,” her mother called out after her. She was worried when Hope decided to go alone.

  “I won’t be long,” Hope replied, dashing to the post office. She felt quite a sense of accomplished once she sent Jessamine the telegram. Now, all I have to do is wait. Hope detested waiting.

  Fortunately, Hope did not have to wait long for her friend’s reply since she answered by telegraph. Jessamine agreed to try and find that ranch and the man who lived on it. Hope was slightly worried if she was right to send her friend on such a mission, but Jessamine assured Hope that she would not be going to see this strange man alone. Jessamine would bring her cousin with her, for safety.

  With that settled, Hope wrote Mr. Dalbow, accepting his invitation to go to Rippingate. Her stomach fluttered sending that telegram. It felt like everything was about to change after it.

  It is finally done.

  All she had to do now was find a way to actually leave the house with some of her belongings, unnoticed, and travel discretely to Rippingate.

  Piece of cake.

  5

  A couple of days passed, and then a few more, and Hope still did not get a reply from Jessamine. Mr. Dalbow, on the other hand, did reply, expressing his happiness she was to come. Not knowing what else to do, Hope returned to the post office and sent another telegram to Jessamine, inquiring about the success of the mission. Alas, it went unanswered as well. Then Hope really started to worry.

  Was this my fault? Did I send her to danger? What happened to my friend?

  Despite her worry, she refrained from writing directly to Jessamine’s family. There were so many possibilities for her silence that Hope did not want to be too hasty with assuming something bad occurred. If Jessamine’s parents knew what Hope was about to do, they would surely try to stop her. Hope could not allow something like that to happen.

  I will just have to get to Rippingate myself and see what happened with Jessamine before visiting Wyatt Dalbow. Her mind was set, she was going, and now she had one more reason for doing so.

  Hope tried to organize her escape plan perfectly. Everything she came up with turned out to be too difficult—like climbing out through her window—to downright impossible, like trying to sneak out through the cellar. Moving through the house in the middle of the night with my bags simply won’t do.

  The problem was there were simply too many people inside the house who could notice her. She would be detected at once. Eventually, Hope chose to use that to her advantage and pray for the best. She chose the busiest time in the household for her departure. On the day of her birthday party, late enough so the preparation would be in full swing and early enough no one would bother her to start getting ready.

  As far as she could see, the party was going to be brilliant. Her mother chose Midsummer Night’s Dream as a theme and the guest list was rather impressive, even for them. The menus were brilliant and made Hope’s mouth water simply by thinking of all the delicious food that would be presented.

  Hope felt the tiniest of pangs inside her heart that she was leaving. Her parents would be devastated, finding her gone without a word. Since she knew she couldn’t start doubting the decisions she made, she banished those thoughts.

  Hope was already packed and she managed to procure herself a train ticket for the first part of her journey. It was going to be a long one, with lots of transfers between trains and coaches. Hope found one of Jessamine’s old letters in which she complained how long it took her and her family to reach Rippingate. Trying to be smart about her travels, Hope packed only the most important things in one travel bag.

  It contained only several clothing items, a few mementos she simply could not part with, her savings money, and some jewelry. The valuables were hidden inside various compartments and inside small pockets on her garments. She wasn’t taking any chances keeping all her money in one place.

  From the start, Hope realized she would have to be quick and agile on her journey, so pretty much all her belongings had to remain in her room. In a way, that broke her heart. Nonetheless, she was adamant about bringing only one bag with her. Things do not matter, memories do, she tried to console herself. What she was fighting for was far more important.

  For traveling, she actually stole one of Maria’s dresses. She thought it would be best if people she met along the way, other travelers, did not know about her status. If she was just a regular girl from the working class, then perhaps she could go undetected for a longer period of time. Hope’s father would be looking for her, that was a given. If she did not look like herself, maybe he wouldn’t be so successful in finding her.

  Hope managed to hide her bag in the gardener’s shed a couple of days prior to the party. It was a risky place because it was used every day by their gardener, Peter. At the same time, it was closest to the back garden door, where Hope planned on slipping from unnoticed.

  If she wanted to do this right, then she needed to take a lot of risks. And no, she wasn’t simply thinking about the shed. This journey would be dangerous and from the moment she chose to write Mr. Dalbow she started preparing herself for just that. She would be completely alone for weeks, and finding courage deep inside of her was essential. Without it, she might as well stay home and marry Kristopher.

  Never.

  Looking at herself in the mirror, Hope took a few deep breaths. She tried to spot any changes in her and could find none. It was finally her twenty-first birthday yet all the changes that occurred were internal. On the outside, she looked the same as ever. Same straight blonde hair, that Maria insisted on braiding, same green eyes, and pale skin. Luckily, the changes th
at were more important, like her resolve and rising courage, could not be seen by the others.

  Her mother visited her first thing in the morning to wish her a happy birthday and warn her to be on her best behavior during the engagement announcement. Hope promised she would give her best. Her mother simply did not know they were speaking about two different things.

  Hope checked the time. Time to begin. She was ready. “Here we go,” she told her reflection. Taking a blanket and the first book she grabbed from her desk, Hope went to the garden and nestled herself under the Sweetbay Magnolia tree.