Dead Set Delphinia

by Zina Abbott

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  CHAPTER 26

  ~o0o~

  Delphinia stood in the back of the chapel, surprised she felt as nervous as she did. Perhaps it was due to the delay. The marriage had been scheduled for the morning, but an illness of one of the pastor’s congregants had led to him asking for a delay until three o’clock so he could make a visit to the home several miles out from Jubilee Springs. Delphinia had felt uneasy about the wedding being postponed until after the arrival of the train from Denver, but what could she say? She could only hope the train brought no one that would be a threat to her.

  Delphinia smoothed the folds of the fabric of her skirt. Her dark green velvet gown in the latest style had a modest bustle with ruffles down the back that ended in a short train. Instead of one sweeping drape, the jacket with its stand-up neckband, had a yoke with inlaid white lace and buttoned from the neck down to the waist with pearl buttons. She had not had time to send for real flowers, so rather than use the pink silk bouquet she had bought for display purposes, she opted to carry a white, lace-edged handkerchief instead. After all, the three women in attendance, Minna Alwin, Clara Howard and her matron of honor, Winifred Shumaker, were already married, so throwing a bouquet would have been an empty gesture. She had already come to the conclusion the tradition of carrying a bouquet had probably developed as a result of the nervous bride needing something to hang onto as she walked down the aisle.

  “Are you ready, Miss Blakewell?”

  No, she wasn’t ready. She and Bennett Nighy had yet to finalize their business arrangement. His lack of concern over the details bothered her. Even though this was to be a marriage of convenience, a lack of a clear understanding could lead to disagreements and discord in the few short years they would be together.

  Delphinia looked over to Gerald Shumaker who had agreed to walk her down the aisle and now offered her his arm. She gratefully accepted it and in silence stayed at his side until he guided her to stand next to Bennett.

  Delphinia looked over at Bennett as the pastor began the words of the ceremony. The thought crossed her mind that if she ever were to enter into a real marriage, she would probably want someone like Bennett. Bennett would say, “We can only hope.” Delphinia felt more comfortable thinking in terms of reality. Reality was, she was a difficult person to live with—stubborn, opinionated, bossy, and critical. In the future he will be grateful he has a way out of the marriage.

  Delphinia spoke her vows at the proper time, and the next thing she knew, she was married. Bennett’s kiss at the conclusion tempted her to think back on their time together on the fishing trip. Only the fishing trip was over, and she was unsure if the weather would allow another one before spring. She smiled as she received congratulations all around, and hugs from both Winifred and Clara.

  Clara whispered in her ear. “Congratulations. I’m sorry I can’t stay longer, but I have to get supper on the table. When you figure out what name you wish to be known by now you’re married, let me know.”

  “Delly Nighy. Thank you for coming. And since I haven’t learned to cook, you’ll still be seeing us often for supper.”

  As Delphinia signed the register, then watched both the witnesses sign, she felt relief wash over her. She was married. Even if her father came for her, she no longer answered to him. Andrew Sopworth would have to find another heiress to support him and his mistress, because she was now beyond his reach. Her belongings were already out of Howard Boarding House and in the upstairs apartment above the furniture store. After night, everyone would assume their marriage had been consummated.

  Pastor Alwin shook the hands all around. At the sound of the back door of the chapel opening and closing, he excused himself. “It looks like we have a late guest. Let me go greet him.”

  Winifred turned to Delphinia. “I’m sorry…” she blinked. “What name did you say you wish to go by now?”

  “Delly. Short for Delphinia.”

  “Oh, Delphinia, a lovely name. Delly, I’m sorry we cannot stay longer, but Mr. Shumaker and I are expected at the home of the Alwins for supper—the other Alwins, the pastor’s brother. We won’t be able to stay.”

  Delphinia took her offered hand in both of hers. “Thank you so much for coming on such short notice and standing up with me, Winifred. We’ll see each other soon.”

  With the Shumakers making their way out of the church, Delphinia’s eyes turned to the new arrival. She sucked in her breath and clutched Bennett’s arm. “Mr. Nighy, it appears one of my hopes has not been realized. That man coming towards us is my father.”

  Bennett looked at his new wife. He next looked up at the man walking towards them, led by Pastor Alwin. Bennett could see where Delphinia got her height. It also appeared she inherited her dark hair and eyes from him.

  Bennett took her hand and placed it in the crook of his arm. “Then come, Mrs. Nighy, let’s go greet him.”

  “What if….”

  Bennett leaned over and whispered in her ear. “The good pastor does not like people bringing weapons in the church. However, under the circumstances, I came prepared for trouble as much as I hope there won’t be any. After all is said and done, he’s your father.”

  As the two groups approached each other in the chapel aisle, footsteps slowed.

  Franklin Blakewell’s eyes zeroed in on his daughter. “Delphinia.”

  “Father. I’m sorry you missed the wedding. May I introduce you to my husband, Bennett Nighy?”

  Franklin nodded to Bennett. “Mr. Nighy.” Franklin turned back to Delphinia with a sardonic smile. “You aren’t sorry, Delphinia, or else you would have invited me. If I had known about it at the time the train pulled in, I would have come straight here rather than arrange for my room first.” He dropped his smile, his voice all seriousness. “Delly, you don’t have to do this.”

  “I chose to do this, Father.”

  “A rushed marriage like this with no chance to know one another first?” Franklin shook his head. “Please reconsider. There hasn’t been enough time for the marriage to be consummated. It is easily undone.”

  “I can consummate the marriage on the floor right now.” All eyes turned to Bennett.

  Pastor Alwin threw up his hands in protest. “No, Mr. Nighy, I’d rather you not.”

  Bennett shrugged. “Here isn’t my first choice, Pastor. But Mr. Blakewell, I promised your daughter I would protect her from being taken against her will. If that’s what’s necessary to convince you to leave her alone, so be it.”

  Delphinia’s body tensed at Bennett’s words. She knew he was posturing to make a point with her father. Still, consummating the marriage anywhere would make it much more difficult to end it once she received her trust money. “I knew Andrew Sopworth for months, Father, and you knew him and his father longer than that. Yet a match with him is what would have not been wise.”

  “Ah, yes. Mr. Sopworth. You are correct, I’m afraid.” Franklin turned to Graham. “Mr. Wardell, I didn’t mean to ignore your presence. I received your message.”

  “I didn’t send you a message, Sir.”

  “No. You sent one to your father. Evidently you voiced the concern that with my daughter missing, the wedding may be delayed. You must have known the elder Mr. Sopworth had a large loan due, and he was relying on the money his son would receive from me after the wedding to pay it off. Your father asked if the money would be forthcoming to Mr. Sopworth whether the wedding took place on time or not. There was your message to me, Mr. Wardell. I did some additional investigating, and evidently Andrew also has overextended himself. After reviewing their degree of insolvency, I didn’t like what I saw. I made arrangements with the elder Mr. Sopworth so he could meet his loan obligation, but terminated the association with the younger Mr. Sopworth.” Franklin turned back to his daughter. “That is why you are free to return. Your mother is disappointed, of course, but Mr. Sopworth is out of the picture. Unless your mind is made up about this marr
iage, I came to bring you home.”

  Delphinia shook her head. “My mind is made up regarding my marriage to Bennett Nighy. Whether Andrew is in or out of the picture, I will not be going back.”

  “You have always been stubborn, Delphinia. If you are sure this is what you want, I won’t interfere.”

  “I’m sure, Father.”

  Minna Alwin hurried over and looked between the two groups. She addressed her husband. “Dear, perhaps the Nighy’s and their wedding party plus this gentleman would like to join us in our parlor where it is more comfortable. Please, ladies and gentlemen, if you will follow me.”

  Pastor Alwin joined with his wife in shepherding the party out of the church.

  Once the group was outside, Bennett turned to Minna Alwin. “I appreciate your invitation, Mrs. Alwin, but I promised my wife I would take her to supper. We better go before it gets much darker.” Bennett turned to Franklin. “Mr. Blakewell, you missed the wedding, but I invite you to join us for supper at the River Valley Inn. You too, Graham.”

  Graham stepped back, as if to bow out. “Thank you, Ben, but…”

  Franklin interrupted. “I’ll be happy to come but I must insist on paying for it. As the father of the bride, it is only right I cover her wedding supper.” He turned to Graham. “Unless you have other plans, Mr. Wardell, please join us. I may have need of your professional advice before the night is over.”

  Delphinia turned to Franklin with a hint of a smile. “Trust you, Father, to turn my wedding supper into a business meeting.”

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  CHAPTER 27

  ~o0o~

  With Graham’s consent to join them, Franklin guided the remaining wedding party to the surrey he had rented. “It’s the only one your livery man had with panels that roll down for weather protection.”

  At the River Valley Inn, after their food orders were placed, Franklin fixed his attention on his new son-in-law. “I will get around to letting you tell me about yourself, Bennett Nighy, because I do want to know more about my daughter’s new husband. First, I wish to know exactly why you chose to marry my daughter.”

  Bennett had suspected something like this was coming, but he still wasn’t ready for it. He couldn’t tell the man the full truth. He hadn’t told Delphinia yet, and he wasn’t sure she would believe him when he did. “She approached me with a business proposition I couldn’t refuse. It involved marriage. Since she had already demonstrated the value of what she proposed to offer on her part by coming into my store, reordering it, organizing my financial papers, setting up my displays and making a large sale to one of the town’s prominent families, I couldn’t refuse.”

  Franklin glanced at Delphinia and back. “That sounds like my daughter. You’re in furniture, are you?” At Bennett’s nod, he continued. “And what did she require in return?”

  “She would share my home, of course, which right now is above my store. A single man is not in need of more space than that. No offence intended, Graham, since I know you are single and have that big house along the river. She asked for my protection, which I am providing, although it appears the crisis has past. And she asked that I take her fishing twice a month. We settled on at least twice a month as long as the weather allows.”

  Franklin sputtered. “Fishing? Why, I don’t think Delly has been fishing since she was a child.”

  “She still knows how to handle a pole. The other night she caught a very nice brown trout we enjoyed for supper. My only complaint I have against you, Sir, is you did not do a thorough job of teaching her to fish. You have left it to me to teach her to bait her own hook and take her own catch off the line. That she learn to do so was one of my requirements to our business agreement.”

  Franklin burst out laughing. “I must agree with you. I taught her brothers how, but when it came to Delly, I felt it best to bow to her mother’s wishes. Helena, my wife, was not in favor of Delly learning to fish in the first place, no matter how much Delly begged to go like her brothers. Her mother finally allowed it on the condition I did not let our daughter handle the hooks. She was afraid the barbs might injure Delly and she would sicken with an infection.” Franklin grew serious once again. “You will find Delphinia is a very unusual woman. She’s intelligent, talented, stubborn and somewhat difficult at times. I hope you are prepared to live with that.”

  “Yes, Sir. I figured out the difficult trait within seconds of her walking into my store. As for the other, that is why I married her.” Franklin Blakewell didn’t need to know about peeling away onion layers, or how beautiful his daughter’s hair looked when she wore it loose down her back and across her shoulders.

  Franklin studied Bennett closely. “What about the money?”

  Bennett tilted his head and cocked up his eyebrow. “Sir, I assure you I make sufficient to support a wife. We may never live in as fancy of a house as she grew up in, but I have a good business that is growing. It will grow even more now with her help. We’ll soon have a house separate from my shop. She won’t go without.”

  “I meant the money you assumed would be coming to you as a result of marriage to her.”

  Bennett shrugged. “Since you control your money, and she didn’t marry the man of your choice, I never assumed there would be any money coming to me. Besides, I don’t feel right about taking another man’s money when I can earn my own.”

  Franklin narrowed his eyes as he further considered Bennett. “Hmm. Interesting perspective.” Franklin sat back in his chair as he interlaced his fingers and rested them across his abdomen. “I’m interested in your business plan, Mr. Nighy, if you don’t mind sharing a bit about it.”

  Bennett nodded in Delphinia’s direction. “My wife knows my business plan. She’ll be better able to explain it to you than I can.”

  Bennett was just as interested as his new father-in-law to learn what his business plan was. Delphinia talked about expanding the shop, hiring men who could take over the mundane tasks leaving him free to focus on what he does best and actually brings in the money. He listened with interest as she described developing a brand, obtaining contracts with retailers in Denver and other large cities, working with wholesalers, and much more. The more she talked, the more he realized she did have the same vision he did. However, where he had seen it in bits and pieces and had not known how to start or put it all together, she did.

  “If your husband were to get an infusion of money into his business, Delly, what would be the first thing you would advise him to do?”

  “Infusion of money or not, Father, one of the first things he is going to do is separate himself from being the town’s unofficial mortician.”

  Bennett looked at his wife with both eyebrows raised this time.

  I am?

  Delphinia continued. “The home of the late Hester Smith is conveniently located between the two town cemeteries and could be converted into a functional mortuary if we can buy it at a reasonable price. I’m sure we can hire a competent man with carpenter skills and perhaps a wife who has a talent for easing the concerns of the bereaved to take over those responsibilities for the town. One of our current agreements in our business arrangement is for me to assist him as I did the other day with Mrs. Smith’s viewing.”

  Franklin shot a glare at Bennett as he spoke to his daughter. “Your husband has you working with the dead?”

  Delphinia waved away her father’s concern. “It really wasn’t much different than one of Mother’s soirées except the guest of honor was deceased. But I do agree it isn’t something I particularly care to do on a regular basis. It’s not the best use of my time and talents. More importantly, Bennett’s time is better spent designing and building quality furniture.”

  Delphinia held up two fingers and waggled them. “Two days, Father. Because a resident of Jubilee Springs died, our wedding was postponed two days and Bennett lost two days working on his own projects in order to nail together a pine box, help dig the grave, and assort
ed other services. For that he was paid as if he were a common laborer. He can accomplish more and earn more money if he turns those duties over to someone else. We will hire that out and provide employment to someone with those particular skills, even if we don’t make a great deal of return on our investment until the town grows more. We can always sell the mortuary once it is profitable. Except for the quality caskets Bennett builds, we can get out of the funeral business completely.”

  Franklin turned to Graham Wardell who had been quietly listening. “What do you think, Mr. Wardell?”

  Graham sat up straight and leaned forward. “I think it’s a sound business plan. I agree with Mrs. Nighy’s assessment about the mortuary. He turned to Delphinia. “I can perhaps help you in acquiring that property since I know there are no heirs and it will be sold to cover her final expenses.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Wardell.”

  The quartet suspended their conversation as their food was served. Eyes focused on cutting his steak, Franklin addressed Bennett. “I have no reservations about my daughter’s abilities, Mr. Nighy, but the size and remoteness of Jubilee Springs concerns me as far as the availability of investment opportunities. I have decided to release to you half of the money that goes to Delly upon her marriage to a man I approve of. I’ll continue to invest the other half for her back east. Perhaps Mr. Wardell will be interested in managing your account at the bank and help keep you apprised of local investment opportunities. What do you say, Mr. Nighy?”

  “I have no objection to Mr. Wardell handling any money you send, although it may be a little tricky explaining it to the bank owner, Mr. Shumaker.”

  “I work for his bank, Ben. He’ll be glad to see I’m earning my keep.”

  Bennett waved towards Delphinia. “If the money is Delly’s portion, then you need to give it to her. Besides, she is much better at doing the bookwork than I am. She’ll know what to do with it and keep everything organized. I’ll focus on my furniture-building.”