Brides of Iowa

by Stevens, Connie;

A surge of hope filled Hubert’s chest. “You must understand, son, being a Christian isn’t something you inherit. You told me that you are waiting to hear from your grandfather’s attorney regarding your inheritance. You also mentioned that this minister said your grandfather knew Jesus.” He paused a moment to let Everett respond, but his son remained silent and simply nodded as though mulling over his father’s words. So Hubert continued.

  “You might inherit money or property from your grandfather’s estate, but you cannot inherit the relationship he had with Jesus Christ. When you acknowledge the sinfulness of your heart—and all of us have sinned—and desire to accept the payment of Christ’s death as atonement for that sin, you inherit eternal life. But you don’t inherit it from your grandfather, you inherit it from God. You become His child. It’s a decision you must make on your own.”

  Hubert’s heart thumped in hopeful anticipation. He’d prayed for the opportunity to share his faith with Everett. Gratefulness flooded his soul, especially when Everett didn’t respond with indignation as Hubert feared he might.

  Everett sat quietly for several minutes staring at the dying fire. Finally he rose. “I think I understand what you’re saying, Father. Reverend Werner explained it much the same way. You’ve given me quite a lot to think about.” He started toward his bedroom but stopped and turned back to Hubert. “You say Tillie and her family believe this way also?”

  Hubert clasped his fingers together. “Not being able to examine their hearts the way God can, I can’t say for certain. But when a person becomes a child of God, it’s usually evidenced in their life. That being the case, I think I can be relatively sure that Tillie and her family are Christians because of the testimony they live. When Jesus is in residence, a change occurs in the person’s life that’s hard to hide.”

  Everett nodded. “Hmm. Well, good night, Father.”

  “Good night.”

  After Everett’s door closed, Hubert sat watching the glowing embers in the fireplace fade. He whispered a prayer of thanksgiving for Everett’s willingness to listen, and once again asked God to send the power of the Holy Spirit to deal with Everett’s heart. Only one thing squeezed him with regret. He wished he could share this answer to prayer with Pearl.

  Chapter 10

  Pearl glanced through her mail as she exited the post office. Even the envelope with her favorite niece’s return address on it failed to stir her excitement. She glanced down the street where the mercantile doors stood open. Oh how she longed to march straight inside and tell Hubert she’d marry him no matter what Everett thought, but she’d already made her choice. There was no going back.

  She crossed the street and headed toward the Feed and Seed. In order to keep the residents of the boardinghouse in fresh vegetables all season, as well as have enough to can for the winter, she needed to plant more peas, carrots, cabbage, and parsnips in her garden. The tedious work hoeing the ground in preparation for the late summer and early autumn vegetables would be a welcome diversion. Anything that kept her hands busy and her mind occupied helped to head off the melancholy moods that haunted her.

  “Mrs. Dunnigan.”

  Pearl looked up to see Everett coming toward her. She hesitated. Given their last conversation, the young man must have already fired every poison dart in his arsenal at her. She certainly hoped he wasn’t planning on further accusing her of any more ulterior motives. She set her lips in a tight line and waited for him to approach.

  “Mrs. Dunnigan, forgive me for interrupting your day.” He glanced around. Was he afraid someone might see him speaking to her? “I wonder if you would agree to accompany me somewhere we might talk privately.”

  She bit her lip to keep from blurting out what she truly wanted to say. Instead, she raised her eyes to meet his in an unblinking stare. There was little Hubert’s son could say or do at this point to inflict any more pain than he’d already done.

  “I can’t imagine there being anything else you need to say to me, Everett. I fulfilled your wishes, only because I care so much for your father.” Was it her imagination or did she see a grimace flit across Everett’s features? “I will not stand in the way of you and your father growing closer. I believe I’ve proven that. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

  She started to step around him, but his hand on her arm stopped her in her tracks.

  “Please, Mrs. Dunnigan.”

  The arrogance that had laced his tone three weeks ago was absent. Curious, but wary, she nodded. “All right.” Common sense told her to employ caution. Like one who learned by touching a hot stove, she wouldn’t be burned again. “Can’t you say whatever is on your mind right here?” There weren’t many people coming and going on the boardwalk in front of the Feed and Seed, but the noise of horses and wagons driving by necessitated the raising of voices.

  “I stopped by the boardinghouse, but you were out.” Everett glanced up at the sky and shaded his eyes. “Why don’t we go someplace where we can get out of the sun? The hotel dining room, perhaps.”

  Pearl wasn’t sure why she agreed, but she gave him a single nod and walked along beside him. Had he, by chance, had a change of heart? If he started accusing her again of improprieties, she would simply walk away and not dignify his outrageous claims with a reply.

  He held the hotel door open and escorted her to the dining room. Too late for breakfast and too early for lunch, the dining room was nearly deserted. Everett led her to a table close to the entry but tucked into a nook. Three months earlier she and Hubert had sat at this very table the first evening he had taken her to dinner. Pearl swallowed back the tightness in her throat.

  He held her chair before seating himself. She waited for him to speak.

  “Mrs. Dunnigan, this is rather awkward, but I feel I must ask something of you.”

  Pearl had no intention of indicating her agreement with his request until he’d spoken his mind. “You may ask, and I may refuse, depending on what it is. But I will hear you out.”

  A fleeting glimpse of relief softened his eyes for a moment. He folded his hands in front of him and studied them before raising his gaze to her again. “First of all, thank you for agreeing to listen. You are under no constraint to heed anything I say.”

  They agreed on that much.

  He cleared his throat. “I am quite concerned about my father.”

  Pearl’s defensive posture fell away and instantly her senses were piqued. Her first instinct was to immediately see to Hubert’s welfare, but she’d seen him earlier that very morning sweeping the boardwalk in front of the store, so she knew he wasn’t ill. Or was he?

  “What’s wrong? Hubert isn’t sick, is he?” She tried but couldn’t modulate her voice, and concern for Hubert’s health and well-being wove its way into her inquiry.

  “No, at least not physically sick.” Slight lines appeared between Everett’s brows. “That is, not yet. These past few weeks, my father seems to have fallen into a state of depression. He doesn’t eat except a bite or two. He sleeps poorly. I hear him up at night, pacing. He has dark circles under his eyes and his complexion is pale. He seems quite listless. Often his thoughts are distracted, and he is unable to carry on a conversation without asking me to repeat something I just said.”

  Pearl lowered her gaze to her hands. Everett had just described her own habits for the past weeks. Her heart longed to go to Hubert, but she could not. Everett’s candid remarks revealed a transparent side of the young man she’d not seen before. If Everett was thinking of someone besides himself, perhaps he wasn’t the self-serving individual she thought him to be. Quite frankly, she didn’t understand why he was telling her these things. How did he think she could help if he’d demanded she break the engagement?

  “There is talk…” Everett shifted his gaze aside. “Your new boarder, a Mr. Cain, if I am not mistaken, was once a suitor of yours.”

  Heat ignited in Pearl’s middle and rose to her face. Was everyone in town gossiping about her? She clamped her teeth tightly and waited for Ev
erett to continue.

  “Mrs. Dunnigan, I don’t mean to be impertinent, but I wondered if you and Mr. Cain have renewed your courtship.”

  Impertinent didn’t begin to describe her opinion of his question, but she held her temper. No good would come of a display of anger, but she became aware that if pushed far enough, her self-control might give way. She took a deep breath.

  “Mr. Cain expressed his wish to court me seven years ago, which I refused. He is a paying customer at the boardinghouse, nothing more.” She narrowed her eyes at Everett. “Not that it is any of your business. I can’t help wondering why you are asking such a personal question, and what does it have to do with Hubert not eating or sleeping well?”

  A flush crept up his neck. At least he had the grace to appear uncomfortable. “Mrs. Dunnigan, despite what you may think, I care very much about my father. I am distressed to see him making himself sick. I thought perhaps, if you and Mr. Cain announced your intentions, my father could free himself of any lingering thoughts of his courtship with you being revived, thus allowing him to move past his melancholy moods.”

  Outrage rushed into her chest and threatened to explode. How dare he make such a suggestion! Before she could express her offense, the waitress came to take their order.

  “Hello, Miss Pearl.”

  Pearl glanced up to see Tillie O’Dell’s pretty face. The girl sent Everett a shy smile and lowered her dark lashes in a demure fashion.

  “Hello, Everett. It’s nice to see you again.”

  Everett cast a puzzled glance toward Tillie. Pearl watched the scope of his gaze take in her apron and the tray in her hands.

  “What may I bring you?” Tillie pulled a pad and pencil from her apron pocket.

  The expression on Everett’s face changed from confusion to disbelief, and then to disdain. If Pearl’s vexation over his shocking and insulting suggestion wasn’t so great, she might have found his disconcertment comical.

  He looked away from Tillie and cleared his throat. “Tea, please. Cream and sugar. Mrs. Dunnigan?” His abruptness took Pearl aback. This certainly wasn’t the attitude he’d displayed last Sunday at the church picnic. Quite the contrary, he and Tillie had seemed to enjoy each other’s company. So why was he now acting like he didn’t know her?

  “Uh, nothing, thank you, Tillie.” She looked into Tillie’s face and saw bewilderment, even though the girl’s focus was on Everett.

  Tillie bit her lower lip for a moment. “Everett, I wanted to tell you again what a nice time I had at the picnic.”

  A momentary flinch raced across Everett’s face, and he slid a glance around the room. “Just the tea, please.”

  Tillie blinked and took a backward step. If Everett’s demeaning suggestion to take up with Silas Cain incensed Pearl, his blatant condescending attitude toward Tillie magnified her anger even further. As soon as Tillie hurried away, Pearl stood and picked up her reticule. Every nerve ending in her body wanted to shout her indignation at Hubert’s son, but to do so would only further alienate him. However, regardless of his treatment of her, she refused to stand by and watch a sweet girl like Tillie get hurt.

  She sucked in a steadying breath and rose from her chair. “Everett, I’m going to forget this meeting took place, except for one thing.” Pearl lifted her chin and straightened her shoulders. “Tillie O’Dell is a lovely, sweet Christian girl, and for you to snub her the way you just did is simply…mean and hateful.”

  She didn’t bother to wish him a good day as she turned and marched resolutely out the door.

  Hubert ran his hand over a bolt of new material he’d just pulled from the crate and placed on the shelf. Blue, Pearl’s favorite color. The fabric with its tiny forget-me-not pattern sprinkled over it was the same shade as Pearl’s eyes. Maybe when she came into the mercantile, he’d just give her a dress length. If she came in. She’d not set foot in the store in over three weeks. He suspected that she’d coaxed Tessa to pick up supplies for the boardinghouse.

  He’d caught glimpses of Pearl at church or as she walked down the boardwalk. His heart wanted to call out to her, but he couldn’t embarrass her that way. The day he’d caught her when she tripped on the church steps, she’d made it clear that she considered a public confrontation inappropriate. He’d considered writing a letter, but he could only imagine the postmaster’s amusement when Hubert spent two cents to mail a letter he could walk down the block and deliver in person for free.

  He glanced toward the door, like he did a hundred times a day, hoping to see Pearl entering. Instead, a young lad with unruly brown hair and too many freckles to count stepped through the door. With only a cursory peek at the candy jars lined up on the counter, the youth marched up to Hubert.

  “Hullo, Mr. Behr. Fine day, ain’t it?”

  The boy’s precociousness pulled Hubert’s mouth into a smile. “Hello there, young fellow. I believe I’ve seen you at church, haven’t I?”

  “Yessir. I’m Grady O’Dell.”

  “How nice that you’ve come to visit, Mr. O’Dell.”

  A few of Grady’s freckles went into hiding when the boy grinned. “I ain’t here to visit. I’m workin’.”

  Hubert chuckled. “Is that so? Well then, how may I assist you today, sir?”

  Grady dug into his pocket, the tip of his tongue stuck out in concentration. He extracted a wrinkled scrap of paper, which he held out to Hubert. “This here’s the list. I’m gettin’ paid a nickel to take these things to—” He clapped his hand over his mouth, eyes wide.

  Hubert took the paper and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Don’t you worry, Grady. I won’t tell anyone about your good fortune.” He unfolded the paper. “Now, let’s have a look at your employer’s list and—”

  The handwriting on the paper was as familiar as his own. Pearl. Realization sent a stab of remorse through him. Pearl apparently wanted to separate herself from him and was paying Grady to pick up and deliver her groceries.

  “Got my cart out on the boardwalk,” Grady declared. “I’m a lot stronger than I look, so I can load it myself. Oh, and I got the money right here.” He pulled a wadded-up hanky from his other pocket. When he set it on the counter, coins clinked inside its folds.

  Hubert rubbed his hand over his bearded chin. So that’s the way it was. His heart grappled with his common sense. Why couldn’t he simply take the supplies to Pearl himself?

  “Well now, there’s no need for you to tote all these things.” Hubert flapped Pearl’s list. “I can deliver them to Miss Pearl this afternoon.”

  Grady’s eyes bugged out. “How didja know they was for Miss Pearl? I wasn’t s’posed to tell.”

  Hubert patted the boy’s shoulder. “It doesn’t matter. But I’d be more than happy to deliver these items to her personally.”

  Grady’s bottom lip stuck out in a pout. “But then I can’t earn my nickel. I was gonna buy some peppermint sticks for my sister Tillie’s birthday.”

  Hubert bent at the waist and put his hands on his knees. “Tell you what. I’ll give you the peppermint sticks. How’s that?”

  A frown tainted Grady’s countenance and he shook his head vehemently. “Uh-uh! My pa says a man should do a day’s work for a day’s pay. I want to do what Miss Pearl’s payin’ me to do.”

  How was Hubert supposed to refute that? He straightened and heaved a sigh. “All right, son. It’ll take me a few minutes to get everything on this list together. Why don’t you go look at the peppermint sticks.”

  Grady’s frown dissipated, and he stuck his hand out to Hubert. “Yessir.”

  Hubert shook the boy’s hand and began making Pearl’s selections. After he wrapped up each item, and while Grady was still distracted, he quickly measured out a dress length of the blue forget-me-not material and added a yard of lace trim. Discreetly folding store paper around the yard goods, he tucked the package between Pearl’s other supplies.

  “Here you go, Grady. Everything is ready.” Hubert counted out the money from Grady’s hanky while the boy lo
aded the packaged items into the handcart.

  All smiles, Grady waved good-bye to Hubert and turned the cart toward the boardinghouse. Hubert waved back, the pain in his heart so sharp he thought it might draw blood.

  How he wished he could deliver those goods into Pearl’s hands himself, but he had a terrible feeling she would close the door in his face. She’d never given him a reason for breaking their engagement, and when she’d told him not to come back, he’d abided by her wishes. For the hundredth time, he questioned his judgment.

  If her decision not to marry him had anything to do with Silas Cain, why was he standing by allowing it to happen? What kind of man was he that he’d let the woman he loved walk away without fighting for her? No, he couldn’t go on like this any longer. Somehow he had to make her listen. He must think of a way to catch her alone so he could talk to her without Cain’s interference. In the meantime, he intended to grab hold of God’s throne and beg Him for favor.

  Chapter 11

  Hubert poured two cups of coffee and carried them to the table, setting one in front of Everett before returning to his own chair. Neither of them had done justice to their supper plates. Hubert’s appetite had abandoned him a few weeks ago, but Everett pushed his food around on his plate, ate little, and spoke even less.

  “Is everything all right, son?”

  Everett jerked his head up. “I beg your pardon?”

  Hubert studied his son a moment. The air of pomposity that usually accompanied Everett’s tone and manner was noticeably absent, but a frown of contemplation had carved creases in his brow for the past two days.

  “Care to talk about it?” Hubert sipped his coffee.

  Everett pushed his plate away and leaned back in his chair. “Father, why didn’t you tell me Tillie worked in the hotel dining room?”

  Hubert gave a shrug. “I don’t know…why? Is it important?”

  “Important!” Everett nearly spewed the word. “She’s a waitress, a servant. Do you realize how foolish I felt?” He leaned forward and jabbed his finger into the air in Hubert’s direction. “Father, she stood there in her apron waiting to take our order, telling me what a good time she had at the picnic.”