Prudence tossed again.
“Will you stay still!” Kate whispered.
“Sorry.”
Prudence shared the bed with Kate. There was ample room for the two of them, and even if she could sleep, she’d still be bothered by Kate’s tossing and turning.
“I be up all night with this here strange bed. I ain’t never slept on anything like it before,” Kate whispered.
Prudence hadn’t thought about the bed, its size, or the firmness of the mattress. It was firmer than most she’d slept on before, but if Urias could sleep on the ground with no worries, perhaps a firm mattress was more to his liking. Personally, she enjoyed a medium state of firmness. Not too soft and not too hard. “It’s better than the ground.”
“Aye, that it is.” There was a moment of silence, then Kate started chatting on about the house and the strangers in it. “And Urias is so at home with these people.”
“Yes, he seems quite content. Those children really love him.”
“Aye. Babes they are. Every one of them. But they love Urias and treat him like a big brother.”
“Yes.” Prudence had often wondered what it would be like to have an older brother. “Kate, did you like having an older brother?”
“Ain’t never thought about it. I suppose it be so. Urias was always there, looking out for me.” Kate rolled on her side and faced Prudence. “Pru, how long do you think you’ll be Urias’s bond servant? Can a man do that to his legal wife?”
Urias spent most of the evening making the loft habitable, eventually building a bed out of fresh hay and covering it with some canvas, then a sheet. Perhaps he should ask his grandparents if he could sleep on their sofa by the woodstove. Winter hadn’t settled in yet, and already the wind howled through the barn.
Who was he kidding? It wasn’t his bed or the place he was sleeping that kept him awake, but rather the possible scenarios of how to deal with Prudence. Should he take her to Creelsboro, where she could find a job and they could find an attorney to annul their marriage? Or should he have her work off some of her father’s debt? Not as a servant but … but what? Urias couldn’t afford to pay her and have a portion of her salary go toward the debt—which, his conscience reminded him, he’d told Hiram Greene was a gift. That was before I knew what it would cost me. He didn’t have an income of his own, and without Bullet, it would be awhile longer before he could begin breeding horses as a profitable business.
Urias glanced down at the pair of horses he had bred, of which Bullet was their product. They were a fine pair. The wild stallion didn’t care to be penned in. He seldom stayed still in the stall. Most of the time, Urias kept him out in the corral, but he wanted the stallion to get used to being in the barn before winter. The mare was expecting once again, but it would be a couple years before he could ride that horse. He glanced to the right, where a yearling stood. Its lines were similar to Bullet’s but not quite as powerful. She would be a good breeder like her mother.
Closing his eyes, he tried to go to sleep. He continued to ignore the nagging feeling that wanted to bring up the anger he felt toward Hiram Greene and Prudence and how they’d tricked him into paying their debts. He knew it was wrong to be angry, that he needed to forgive, but neither had asked for forgiveness.
Prudence apologized for her father, he mused, then shook off the memory. He would not be fooled by the beauty of Prudence Greene, by the gentle way she spoke, or her so-called love for his sister. She was like her father, he reminded himself over and over again.
Morning came early, along with the body aches from lack of sleep. Urias stretched and milked the cow.
“Morning, son.” His father walked in. “Good to have your helping hands around here. Now, tell me about these hogs.”
Urias went into a detailed description of his and Prudence’s trip with the hogs and about their stay with Mrs. Campbell.
“You’ve had quite the adventure. Did you really need to swim the hogs across the river?”
“Only to save money. By that point Mr. Greene had passed along his demand for a dowry payment.”
His father leaned against the stall’s planks. “Seems to me if Prudence was aware of her father’s debt, she wouldn’t have put herself out and traveled with you.”
“That’s what doesn’t make sense. I’ve asked her to come speak with me this morning. I have a mind to absolve her from the debt, but the matter of our marriage is still an issue.”
“Son, I’m not going to presume to know what the answer is on this one. Seems to me a man really is married if he marries a woman, even if he marries her in name only. It also seems to me that the good Lord doesn’t take to marriage as being a conveyance. If you vowed to God to marry this woman, you are married.”
“It wasn’t a real wedding—just some rushed-together service in her father’s office.”
“I see. And doesn’t the Bible speak about obeying the laws of the land?”
“But …” Urias’s shoulders slumped under the pressure.
His father came up beside him and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I understand your not wanting to take her as your wife. But if you gave your word, you might just have to live with it.”
Urias swallowed hard. He had fully intended to make Prudence his wife when he said his vows. He didn’t even think or know about an annulment until Prudence mentioned it. He’d given his word. Like it or not, Prudence was his wife.
“Pray on the matter, son. This afternoon, let’s go fell some trees for your house.”
If he worked quickly, Urias knew he could get the foundation done before the frost set in for the winter. “Yes, I imagine we won’t be able to build until spring.”
“Depends on the winter. But we’ll do what we can before the weather turns bitter.”
He finished milking the cow and handed the bucket to his father. “I’m going to spend some time with the Lord before I speak with Prudence.”
Mac squeezed his shoulder. “I know you’ll do the right thing.”
But do I want to do the right thing? Urias wondered. Is it right for a man to be bound to another person who doesn’t really love him? Who used him?
Falling on his knees, he pleaded with the Lord for some understanding of what to do. After an hour, he heard Prudence call, “Urias? Where are you?”
He got up and went to the edge of the loft. “Up here.”
“Should I come up?” she asked.
He glanced back at his hay bed. Apart from that, there was nothing to sit down on. “I’ll be right down.”
He climbed down and prayed once again. As he walked toward her, he could see her fear. “I want to apologize for insisting that you become my bond servant. I was angry, and I took it out on you.”
Prudence nibbled her lower lip and looked down at her feet, giving a slight nod.
“I am not going to require you to pay back your father’s debt.”
She looked up at him with her big brown eyes. Urias swallowed. “I’ve decided to honor our marriage and keep you as my wife.”
Her eyes widened. “All right,” she stammered.
Chapter 16
Prudence didn’t know what to say to Urias when he said he intended to honor their marriage. Now, three months later, she still didn’t understand what that meant. She worked night and day helping out with the children, the house, and even working with Urias on his new house. The exterior walls were up, but they hadn’t been able to do any work on it for the past six weeks. The winter winds made it too cold.
But what did it mean to be husband and wife when you were nothing more than strangers? They still hadn’t spent any time alone with one another, and she still stayed with Kate. Kate, on the other hand, was no longer afraid. She felt comfortable with the MacKenneths. It was a blessing to see her free. But Kate’s freedom only magnified Prudence’s entrapment. The marriage had been to help Kate, but still they had no real life together. She loved Urias and how he treated others, but he constantly avoided her.
Today thin
gs would be different. Today she would confront him and suggest they annul the marriage. She couldn’t live like this. Even life in her parents’ home was not like the loneliness she felt living in Urias’s home.
Prudence marched up to Urias’s house. She had seen him leave to take advantage of the break in the weather. “Urias?” she called.
“In the back room,” he answered.
It wasn’t that he was unfriendly, but they never had time alone. They did not behave as married people. “Urias, there’s something we should talk about.”
“Sure.” He brushed the sawdust off his handmade leather pants.
Her stomach flipped at the sight of him.
“What would you like to talk about?”
“Us.”
His face reddened. “What about us?”
“Urias, I can’t go on like this. I feel I don’t belong here. I feel I don’t belong anywhere.”
“I see.”
“No, I don’t believe you do.”
Urias looked down at what he’d been working on. Prudence followed his line of vision. A bed.
“Prudence, I know I’m not much of a husband, but I can’t escape how we got married. I was forced to marry you.”
“I’m fully aware.”
He closed the distance between them. “No, you don’t understand. I promised I’d take care of you, but I can’t get past the manipulation. Did you or did you not work with your father to have me pay off his debts?”
“What?” She stepped back from him. “Is that what this has been all about? You think I knew of my father’s gambling debts? You think I set you up to pay him off? Are you forgetting something?”
“Your helping me with the hogs. I know,” he finished her thoughts.
“Exactly. Why would I do that if I were working with my father?”
“For the dowry,” he said in blunt response.
Dowry. She’d forgotten her father’s additional request. “I see. Well, in that case, I wish for you to make me your bond servant again so I can pay off my father’s debt, and once that’s paid off, I’ll be free to leave.”
“Is that what you want?”
No, she wanted to scream. She wanted her husband, a real marriage. She wanted to be able to love Urias and feel the comfort of his embrace once again.
“Prudence, I don’t want you to owe me anything.” He looked back at the bed frame he was working on. “You’re free to leave. I will not hold you here.”
“What about our marriage?” she asked.
“Do what you would like on the matter. I’ll sign any papers you would have me sign.” He brushed past her. “Excuse me.” He left her standing there alone in the room. On the floor was the headboard for a bed. A bed for two.
Prudence’s words still burned in his ears. He went out to the back woods. There was nothing like chopping down a tree to work off your anger. He’d been making their bed. How could he have been so foolish? Of course, she didn’t want to be married to him—not for real.
With each passing day, he’d watched her. He’d watched the way she played with the children and helped around the house. He had to admit he’d been keeping her at a distance, unsure of what to do and how to go about it. He thought if he put together their bedroom, he’d have an opportunity to explain that he really did want to make this a real marriage, not in name only, as it had been for the past four months.
Now she was going. She didn’t really care for him, did she?
For the past month, his father and mother had been giving him lectures on how he treated Prudence unfairly. They were right. He’d been treating her more like a visitor to his home—a temporary visitor who had overstayed her welcome. But Prudence hadn’t overstayed, had she? He’d told her what to do and when to do it since they’d first met.
Life had been different on the trail, where they talked as equals, working together to take the hogs to the Cumberland Gap. When it had been just the two of them. If they had stayed on the trail for a day or two longer, he would have made her his wife in all the ways that a husband and wife become one. But that hadn’t happened. Instead, they came upon her parents, tied and gagged. He’d met with Sawyer Bishop and paid off Hiram Greene’s debt. He thought back on the conversation with Bishop that caused Urias to start wondering about Prudence’s true intentions. Had he misjudged her?
Urias planted the ax in the tree and walked back to the cabin. “Prudence?” he called out.
He ran into the house, but she was gone.
He ran to the large farmhouse. “Mom, have you seen Prudence?”
“No. She left awhile ago, looking for you.”
“She found me. If you see her again, would you tell her that I’m looking for her?”
“Yes. Is everything all right?”
“No, but it will be.”
Urias ran out to the barn. His mare was missing. “Where did she go?” He mounted the stallion and tracked her heading to Creelsboro. Before long, he caught up to her, riding the mare without a thought in the world.
“Prudence,” he called.
She turned around. “Urias?”
“Stop,” he ordered. “Please.” He softened his tone.
She halted the horse.
“Prudence, I don’t want you to leave.”
“Why?” Tears began to fall from her already red and swollen eyes.
Urias’s gut tightened. “Because I want our marriage to work.”
“Why?”
Urias closed his eyes. Why did he want their marriage to work? “Because I want us to get back to the trail. I want us to try to be the people we were on the trail.”
“I haven’t changed.”
Urias looked down at the reins in his hands, then looked up at her. “Prudence, Sawyer Bishop told me that your father had tried to pay him off once before.”
“Oh?”
“He said your father offered to give you to Sawyer as his mistress to pay off the debt.”
“He did what?” Prudence’s face reddened with anger. “So this is why you believed I was in on some scheme with my father?”
“Yes, I’m ashamed to say. Can you forgive me?”
“Forgive you? I want to—”
“I’m sorry, Prudence.”
“The more I learn of his business dealings, the more ashamed I am of my father. He tried to sell me?”
“That’s what Sawyer said, although I don’t know that his word is any more trustworthy than your father’s.” Urias dismounted and reached up to Prudence, encouraging her to come down from the saddle. “Let’s sit down over here.” He pointed to a browned grassy hill.
Prudence started to cry all over again. He held her in his arms, taking in the sweet fragrance that was her unique scent. He’d missed that. After a few moments, he lifted her face and pushed back a few strands of hair. “Can we start over?”
“Why would you want to?” she sniffled.
Urias smiled. There was hope. “Because I’d like to get to know my wife, the real woman, not the image I’ve concocted in my mind based on what others have said and done.”
A slight smile edged up the corners of her mouth. “I’d like that.”
Unable to let the moment slip through his hands, he pulled her close and kissed her. As with their first kiss, their passions ignited. Urias pulled back first. “Honey, I … I mean, we can’t.”
She knitted her eyebrows, and a delicate wrinkle formed in the center of her forehead.
“What I’m trying to say—and doing a miserable job of it—is that if we are to be man and wife, I don’t want it to be because of our marriage at your parents’ house. I want us to be married in my church, with God’s blessing.”
A smile lit up her face. “I’d like that, too.”
“So would I. But first, let’s wait a bit and make certain this is what we both want.”
“Urias? Can I be perfectly honest with you?”
His heart thundered in his chest. “Yes.”
“I’ve been in love with you sinc
e we were on the trail.”
“Really?” Urias beamed.
“Yes. It must be those green eyes.”
Urias wiggled his eyebrows. “Mom always said my wife would fall in love with them. When you’re a teen with my coloring, you’re made fun of—a lot.”
“I think you’re rather handsome.” Prudence blushed.
Urias leaned forward. Prudence blocked his lips with her fingers. Why she was stopping the kiss made no real sense, even to her, except that they both had said they wanted to wait and have a real wedding.
Urias leaned back. “You’re right. We’ll need to take this slowly.”
“Urias, if we’re to be husband and wife, am I to strictly follow your orders, or do I have a say in matters?”
Urias chuckled, then picked up a small twig. “I want to hear your opinions. I valued your advice and insight on the trail. I just couldn’t get past my anger.”
“You had a right to be angry. But wouldn’t it have been wiser to speak with me about it?”
“Perhaps. But under the circumstances, I doubt I would have trusted your word any more than that of any other stranger,” he said.
“Ouch.”
“I’m sorry, but we need to be honest. I don’t want there to be any further secrets between us.”
“Agreed.” Prudence sat back, balancing herself on her elbows. She looked up at the sky. “Do you think winter will end soon?”
“I hope so. I want to get our house done.”
“Will Kate be moving in with us?” Prudence could feel the heat rise on her cheeks.
“I’ll have to speak with my parents. If they’re agreeable to let her keep my old room, then I don’t see why she would need to stay with us. At least not at first. I’m torn, Prudence. I want Katherine to feel like the place is hers but …”
“Will she ever feel that way about any place?”
“Exactly. She and I have talked some. She’s still pretty angry with God, but she’s coming around. I can’t say that I blame her for feeling bitter, considering some of the things she’s gone through.”
“I know. She said that it’s hard to believe in a loving and compassionate God when she’s seen so little evidence of that in her own life. Part of what attracted me to you in the beginning, Urias, was watching you live out your faith. However, I was beginning to question your faith in the past couple of months.”
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