Lone Star Romance Collection

by Cathy Marie Hake

  “I’m trying to tell you—“ Lee tried again.

  “You have to marry him.”

  “I don’t.”

  “I am trying to say something here!” Lee yelled out over their voices. Once they were silent, he continued, “Now that I have your attention, I would like to tell Patience something.”

  He turned to her and looked into her eyes. “Patience, what I’ve been trying to tell you is that I …”

  “What’s going on in here?” a new voice interrupted Lee.

  Everyone turned to see that Bernard Touchet had walked into the office, and he didn’t look happy.

  Lee’s shoulders drooped. Why was this so difficult? He just wanted to tell her he loved her!

  “It’s none of your business! Now, please leave!” Patience’s mother told the Frenchman coldly.

  Lee, Patience, and Caleb were all shocked at her frosty tone. She sounded almost hostile!

  Mr. Touchet’s face turned an angry red. “It is so my business! Why is Patience locked behind bars? And why is she covered with blood?”

  The preacher tried to soothe the strange situation. “Uh, Mr. Touchet, sir, we are having a private conversation here. I’m sure that we can talk to you later.”

  Mr. Touchet ignored the preacher, his eyes staying steadily on Prudence. “You know that I have a right to know.”

  If steam could come out of Prudence’s ears, Lee was sure that it would be doing it at that very moment. “You gave up that right a long time ago. Now, leave!”

  Patience jumped up from the cot and walked to the cell door. “What does that mean, Mama? How do you know Mr. Touchet?” Patience asked in a strangely frightened voice.

  Lee’s protective instincts rose up within him, and he quickly went to stand behind Patience. “Could you please let us out and then we can continue this conversation after Patience has been checked out with the doctor?”

  Caleb shook his head. “But we don’t have the key!”

  Lee sighed and wondered what else could possibly go wrong.

  “Should you tell her or shall I?” Bernard Touchet asked Prudence. Apparently they were in their own little world over there. They hadn’t stopped glaring at each other once!

  “Tell me what?”

  “No one is telling her anything!” Prudence told him.

  “That I’m your …”

  “Goodness! What’s all the hoola-ba-hoo? Did someone have a party and forget to invite me?”

  Lee groaned inwardly and decided that it could get worse.

  Susannah sashayed into the room and came up to the jail cell. “Oh my stars! What are you two doing in there? And, Patience! You’re bleeding! What happened to you? Is everyone going to just stand there, or are you going to let them out?” she demanded to the room at large.

  “We don’t have the key,” the preacher started to explain.

  “I was shot, Susannah!” Patience told her friend.

  “Lee shot you?”

  “No, I did not….” He stopped and threw up his hands and stalked away from the cell door. “Forget it, just forget it!”

  He turned back to them. “Can somebody go and find Billy? He’s got an extra key.”

  “Reverend, can you please just marry them before the rest of the town finds out?” Prudence cried out desperately.

  “Marry? Are you and Lee getting married?” Susannah asked.

  “No!” Patience answered emphatically. “But they are trying to make him marry me!”

  “They are not making me do anything. I …”

  “But this is wonderful!” Susannah cooed.

  Patience just shook her head in confusion. “Why is it wonderful?”

  “Could somebody please go and get Billy?”

  “I’m right here!” Billy announced from the doorway.

  Lee let out a breath of relief. “Please tell me you brought the key to the cell door.”

  “Don’t let them out before you pronounce them man and wife!” Prudence demanded.

  The preacher shook his head. “But, Mrs. Primrose, I can’t do that until they say their vows and …”

  “And I’m not going to say them!” Patience announced.

  “Billy, open this door now!”

  Billy fumbled in his pocket for the keys; and when he brought them out, they were immediately snatched out of his hands.

  “They are not coming out until they are married!” Prudence declared, holding the keys in the air, where they were promptly snatched from her own hands.

  “If she doesn’t want to marry, she doesn’t have to!” Bernard Touchet declared, now holding the keys in his hand. He stepped closer to the lock.

  Prudence threw herself in front of it. “I will not let you do this! You don’t belong here!”

  “I do belong here, Prudence. Now, move!”

  “Excuse me!” Susannah’s Southern voice broke into the chaos. “I know it’s none of my business, but I’m awfully curious. Why do you think you belong here, Mr. Touchet? Are you wanting Patience for yourself?”

  Mr. Touchet sputtered, “Of course not! Do not be so ridiculous!”

  Lee knew that this was not the time to go into this, but he’d been wondering the same thing about the Frenchman. He walked back to the cell door and looked right into the eyes of Touchet. “Then why don’t you tell us why you’re here.”

  Bernard Touchet looked at Prudence. “Tell them,” he ordered her.

  “No,” was her answer.

  His mouth tightened grimly, and he looked at Lee, then past him to Patience.

  For some reason, Lee reached out and put his arm around Patience, sensing she would need his comfort.

  And he was right.

  “I’m your father, mon cher.”

  Chapter 18

  Lee was the one who took Patience to the doctor’s office after Mr. Touchet finally let them out. Patience hadn’t said a word since her father had shared his secret with everyone, and Lee was worried about her.

  She had gone so still and pale, only looking at her mother in question. But Prudence wouldn’t make eye contact with her. Silently, Lee had taken her arm and led her out of the jail and out of the building.

  Now Lee was pacing around in Doc’s outer room because Doc insisted that he couldn’t come in while he examined her.

  Lee looked despairingly at the closed door and wondered what was happening. Was Patience all right? What would this revelation mean to their future? Would it make a difference?

  Not that it mattered to him. He loved Patience no matter whether she was born legitimately or not. But he could not predict what Patience would do. She’d been so adamant about not getting married before, he feared this would just give her another excuse to refuse.

  What would he do without her?

  Lord, please help us find a way through all this mess! And please let Patience realize I’m telling her the truth when I tell her that I love her….

  “You can come in now,” Doc said as he peered around the door, interrupting Lee’s prayer.

  Quickly, Lee followed Doc into the room and found Patience sitting on the examination table, robed in a large brown dress. It obviously belonged to Doc’s wife, but Lee was happy to see her out of the bloody nightgown.

  He walked up to her and reached for her hands, which lay folded in her lap. “Patience, darlin’? Are you all right?”

  He was relieved when she looked at him tiredly and gave him a half smile. “I’m okay.” She looked down at their entwined hands; and when she raised her gaze back to his, she had tears in her eyes. “Lee, what am I going to do?”

  Lee threw Doc a glance, and the doctor mumbled something about having to check on his wife and then left the room.

  Then Lee did what he’d been wanting to do ever since Patience had walked into his office last night. He put his arms around her and held her.

  She began to cry. The sound of it tore his heart right in two.

  She didn’t mean to cry. But the moment that Lee put his arms around her, she co
uldn’t help herself. Never in her whole life had anyone offered to hold her when she was hurting. And now this man, the man whom she loved with all her heart, was offering her the very thing she’d needed so many times in her life.

  Tenderness and compassion.

  When her tears began to subside, he handed her his hanky to wipe her eyes.

  “How can I ever forgive my mama?” she said in a ravaged voice.

  He gently took the hanky from her trembling hands and began to wipe the places that she had missed. “Why don’t you hear her side of things before you start worryin’ about that?”

  “But she lied to me, Lee. All these years she’s let me believe that my father was dead! And now I find out that not only was my father alive—Mama was never married to him!”

  “Patience …”

  “No!” she said firmly, pushing away from him. Her tears were gone, and anger had taken its place. “Do you know how judgmental she has been toward me all my life? She’s never been considerate or kind to me. She’s never taken me in her arms like you just did and offered me comfort. All she’s ever done is rule my life!”

  “Patience, I want you to calm down and listen to me,” he ordered as he took her shoulders in his hands. She obeyed mainly because she was stunned that he’d used such a harsh tone with her. “I didn’t mean to yell at you, but I need you to listen to me.”

  Just hearing his voice calmed her down. With him, she felt safe, as if she could lean on him and he’d take her problems on his capable shoulders. She nodded her head to him.

  He took a breath and began to speak. “I think it’s important to talk to your mother, and I’ll tell you why. Just think how she felt when she found out she was with child and unmarried. And why didn’t Touchet do the honorable thing and marry her? It seems like the blame should not fall only on your mother’s shoulders.”

  She opened her mouth to speak, but he stopped her. “No, wait. You said your mother was always strict with you and judgmental. Don’t you think that she was just trying, in her own way, to make sure that you didn’t make her mistakes? Yes, she went about it the wrong way. But in her mind, I’d imagine she did the best that she knew how.”

  Patience bit her lip and thought about what Lee was saying. “I know there is some truth in what you are saying, but … I just don’t know….”

  “I know that it won’t be easy. Forgiving and forgetting will take time. But I know that God will help you if you’ll just trust in Him.” He took her hands into his once again. “I’ll be here, too.”

  Patience looked into his eyes, afraid to read anything into that statement. “You will?” she asked faintly.

  “Yes, I will, if you’ll let me. Patience, I want you to marry me.”

  She felt as if she couldn’t breathe. “You do?”

  He smiled tenderly. “Yes, I do.”

  Patience wanted to believe that he wanted to marry her, but she told herself that it couldn’t be true. Someone like Lee Cutler wouldn’t want to marry someone like her. “You’re just afraid of a scandal, Lee. You don’t really want to marry me.”

  He actually laughed! “Oh Patience, how can you even think that I would marry you for that reason? I’m not afraid of a scandal.” He stepped back and tugged at her arms until she had scooted off the table and was standing in front of him. He let go of one of her hands and gently cupped her face in his palm.

  “I love you, Patience. That’s the reason I want to marry you.”

  Patience searched his eyes and face, looking for some sign that he wasn’t telling the truth. But for the first time, she saw the love shining through his eyes and smile. “Oh my goodness! You’re telling the truth,” she said faintly.

  He nodded. “I’m telling the truth. Now, you tell me the truth. Do you love me?”

  Patience wondered if the man was blind or just crazy! “Of course I love you!” she cried. And with a jubilant laugh, she launched herself into his arms.

  He caught her and hugged her tightly to him. “Ah darlin’, you’ve made me a happy man,” he told her, then bent his head to kiss her.

  After a moment, he looked up and asked her, “Does this mean you’ll marry me?”

  She nodded. “Yes! Oh yes, I’ll marry you!” This time it was she who kissed him!

  Lee felt like a thirsty man who had finally reached the river. He returned her kiss, telling her without words the feelings that were swirling around in his heart.

  His lips left hers, and he planted little kisses on her cheeks, moving up to her eyes and then back down to her nose. That made her giggle.

  He leaned back and smiled at her. “Liked that, did you?”

  She sighed happily. “I can’t believe this is happening. I keep wondering if it’s all a dream and I’ll wake up.”

  Lee stopped smiling. “Patience Primrose, I don’t ever want you to talk like that again. You are such a beautiful and special person, it is I who feels lucky to have you!”

  Her eyes teared up again. “Thank you for that, Lee.”

  He shook his head. “I’m going to make you a promise right here and now. I promise that I will do everything in my power to make sure that you never feel unworthy or unloved again. When you’re feeling down, I’ll be there. When you need someone to talk to, I’ll be there.

  “But you need to remember this, too. God will be there for both of us. If we pray together and always keep Him first in our lives, Patience, our lives will be so good together.”

  “I know,” she told him in a shaky voice. “He’s already done so much for me. He’s given me two good friends and let me have that job when I really needed something for myself. But most of all, He’s answered my prayer. I prayed that you’d be the one He chose for me, and He granted it!”

  To Lee, it seemed like a good time for another kiss; and he was just about to touch her lips with his own, when the door to the doctor’s office opened.

  “Whoa there, boy! You haven’t said your ‘I do’s’ yet!” Caleb told them with a teasing glint in his eye as he came into the room.

  Caleb wasn’t the only one who entered. In walked Prudence and Mr. Touchet, also.

  Protectively, Lee put his arm around Patience. He could feel her shaking, and he tightened his hold to reassure her.

  “Patience, I’d like to talk to you …,” Mr. Touchet began.

  “No!” Prudence interrupted. She stepped past him to get closer to Patience. “I want to tell her what I should have told her a long time ago.”

  She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them. Her face was set with determination. “Twenty-two years ago, I got involved with Bernard. We courted for a short time, and I thought I loved him. He started pressuring me into having … relations … with him without the benefit of marriage. It was wrong and very much a sin; but I went along with it, thinking he would marry me.”

  Tears started filling her eyes, but she blinked them back and continued, “I became pregnant and I told him about it, hoping that we could hurry up and marry and nobody would find out. Well … he said he couldn’t marry me because his family would never accept me. Instead he married someone else.

  “My parents were horrified, and they did the first thing they thought of, and that was to send me off to Aunt Ida’s house here in Springton. When I got here, it was Ida who thought up the idea of me being a widow. I went along with it and tried so hard to mold myself into a better person.”

  “You became a strict, religious-minded woman who wouldn’t bend even for her own daughter,” Patience spoke out, her voice scratchy from crying.

  Prudence threw up her hands. “Don’t you understand I didn’t want you to end up like me? I did what I thought was best.”

  Patience stepped out from Lee’s embrace and walked closer to her mother. “Couldn’t you have just shown me a little attention? Couldn’t you have loved me?” she cried out, pointing to her chest.

  Prudence put a hand over her mouth as a sob rose out of her throat. “Oh Patience. I do … love you. Please … please for
give me. Please …” She broke down completely and covered her face with both of her hands.

  Huge tears rolled down Patience’s cheeks. “Oh Mama …” She wept and threw her arms around her mother. “I do. I do forgive you. I just never … knew. I never knew … you loved me.”

  Lee looked at the preacher, and they shared an understanding glance. Caleb had apparently known about all this, because he didn’t look surprised. Lee sure wished he’d known so he could have been prepared to say something to Patience to comfort her.

  When they’d cried all their tears, the women separated, wiping their tear-stained faces.

  Lee stepped forward and placed a hand on Patience’s back. “Are you all right, darlin’?” he asked.

  She nodded. “I’m okay.”

  He wasn’t convinced, but they could talk about it later. He looked around the room and noticed that, although the preacher was still with them, Mr. Touchet had slipped out of the room.

  “He said that Patience needed to deal with one parent at a time. She can go and talk to him when she’s ready,” Brother Caleb told him.

  Lee turned to Patience. “I think that is a good idea, don’t you?”

  She nodded wearily. “Yes, I’m a little overwhelmed; and I need time to think about it all.”

  He grimaced. “Well, this is probably not the best of circumstances to announce this, but Patience has agreed to marry me.”

  Prudence opened her mouth to say something, but Lee stopped her. “But not today!” he told her emphatically. “Patience should have a big wedding with a pretty dress and the whole works. She deserves it. But she also needs time to deal with her father being alive and the issues between you and she.”

  Prudence simply closed her mouth and nodded.

  “In the meantime,” the preacher spoke up, “why don’t all of you come over to the house? Rachel always cooks so much for the children, there’s always plenty left. She’ll want to hear the news of your engagement.”

  Lee threw Patience a questioning glance, and she nodded her head. He smoothed his hand up and down her back in a comforting gesture as they followed the preacher out of the office.