“Don’t cry,” she said softly. “Whatever it is, we’ll work it out. If we need to leave, then we will – but I would like to know why. What happened, Mandy?”
Mandy shook her head.
“I’ve been thinking that it was a mistake for some time,” she said. “You must have noticed how Ernest and I never seem to get along. I can’t imagine being married to someone who – well, you must realize that I compare him to…to Colin. And I cannot marry a man who – I can’t even explain it to you, dear, without becoming upset. Suffice to say that I overheard his mother speaking to him yesterday and telling him that I was not the woman he should be marrying.” She wouldn’t meet Crystal’s eyes. “And he apparently agreed with her. I’m sure that he’ll ask us to leave any day now – so we might as well go ahead and go, without facing the humiliation of being asked to leave.”
“Mandy, Mandy.” Crystal gripped her sister’s arm comfortingly. “Ernest has proven to be a very kind and thoughtful man, even though you two haven’t gotten off on the best footing. He wouldn’t just throw us out, I’m sure of it. Whatever the problem is, we can sit down and talk about it. Perhaps you may not believe me – I can see from your expression that you don’t – but I trust him. I do. He deserves a chance to explain himself, at the very least.”
Mandy’s eyes were filled with tears. Crystal threw her arms around her and hugged her close.
“Just wait,” she whispered. “We’ll talk it out and everything will be all right – you’ll see.”
She let Mandy go and glanced toward where Lina had been playing, out of habit to check on the girl. But Lina wasn’t there.
Immediately, Crystal felt a chill in her heart.
Once more, she gripped Mandy’s arm, but this time it was to get her attention rather than to give comfort.
“Mandy, do you see where Lina went to?”
Mandy glanced around. Again, the worry appeared in her eyes, though this time it was for someone else.
“No,” she said slowly. “No, I don’t see her…”
It was snowing harder again. Crystal rushed out to where she and Lina had been playing, but any tracks were already obscured.
“Lina!”
The cry echoed around the empty yard and out into the fields beyond.
There was no reply.
“Mandy, will you tell Daphne…”
But Mandy had already rushed inside. Crystal stood uncertainly for a moment, and then rushed toward the barn. Her heart was beating so swiftly that she thought she might faint; she dreaded telling Ernest that his daughter was missing, but to put it off would only make things worse.
“Ernest!”
He was mucking out the horse’s stalls, though it hardly looked as though it needed to be done. His head flew up and he looked at her with concern.
“What is it, Crystal?”
She gulped.
“Ernest, Lina and I were playing outside, and it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes that I was looking away, but she took off somewhere – and I don’t know – she’s not answering my calls. I can’t find her …”
Ernest’s lips thinned as he pressed them together.
“Show me where she was,” he said.
It was growing dark already, the afternoon getting on toward nighttime, as she led him back to the yard where they had been playing together. He searched, too, but wasn’t able to find any tracks.
He glanced up at the sky.
“It’ll be dark in half an hour. Getting colder, too.”
“Ernest, it’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have looked away…”
“Crystal, please…”
She was crying, and he took her gently in his arms and held her for the briefest of moments, as though he couldn’t help himself. Then he set her aside firmly and gripped her arms, looking deeply into her eyes.
“Go inside, please,” he said. “There’s no sense in you catching cold. I’ll find her.”
“But I could help you search…”
“Crystal, please go inside. I don’t want to have to worry about you, too.”
His gaze was honest and true. He meant every word.
She swallowed her tears and nodded. As she walked back to the front porch, still numb with fear, she saw him head out into the gathering dusk, calling desperately for his daughter.
Chapter 11
That next half hour was easily the worst of Ernest Flinn’s life.
Losing his wife had been a horrible tragedy. But his daughter, as frightening as it had been, as narrow a miss as she’d had, had made it through – he always had someone else to live for.
Now, she was gone, and he didn’t know where she was – or if he could find her.
She wouldn’t respond to him, and he knew it, but he couldn’t stop himself from calling out all the same. His voice echoed over the empty, snow-covered meadows and fields that made up his ranch. Apart from his own voice, his own ragged breath, there wasn’t a single sound to be heard. The snow had swallowed up everything, even Lina.
Where he looked for her, he wasn’t even aware. Just – everywhere. Everywhere she could have been, and a few places that she could not have possibly gotten to. He shouted himself hoarse and raw and saw the terrible darkness closing in.
He was making another round of the outbuildings when he saw something small and dark in the snow; the little wooden fox that he had just finished carving that very morning. Beside it, rumples in the snow that could possibly be the remnants of small footprints. He broke into a run, pelting forward and around the corner of the shed.
“Lina!”
And there she was, a small, huddled mass, completely soaked to the skin, rocking back and forth in the snow with her head against the back of the shed. He flew over to her and swept her up in his arms, holding her close, feeling a few tears escape him.
She gave a deep, shuddering breath, and threw her arms around his neck. Her skin was very cold.
He didn’t remember making it back to the house. All he knew was that somehow, he was suddenly there, and there was much commotion and hubbub going on around him as Daphne and both Chambers sisters heated water and rushed for blankets and asked how on earth this had happened, and what on earth she had been thinking, and was he certain that she was all right –
He pulled his head back and looked into her eyes. She looked back at him with clarity, if not with alertness.
“She’s all right,” he mumbled. “We need to get her warm and to bed.”
The bedrooms were far too cold. Crystal stirred up the fire in the sitting room until it was blazing hot, and they made a little nest for Lina there right in front of it, with all the blankets in the house wrapped under and over her. She looked as bundled as a little mummy, lying there with the flames reflected in her half-closed eyes. Daphne brought hot broth and tea and toast, pulled the girl into her lap, and fed her spoonful by spoonful. Watching them, Ernest realized that it had been just as frightening for his mother as it had been for him.
Crystal approached him, shame-faced, while Mandy watched from a few feet away.
“I’m so sorry…”
“Crystal, it wasn’t your fault.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve worked so hard to care for her and to show her that she is loved…it wasn’t your fault at all. Please – we’ll talk in the morning.”
She nodded. “I’m just glad that she’s all right,” she whispered, and turned away. With their arms about each other, the Chambers climbed the stairs to their bedrooms.
Having eaten a little, and with her skin once again warm and rosy, Lina drifted off to sleep, exhausted from her misadventure. Daphne sat holding her for a long time, until she too grew drowsy, head drooping forward.
Ernest took Lina from her arms and laid her on the blankets before the fire.
“Go on to bed, Ma. I’ll stay here with her.”
“Are you sure…”
“Yes.” He smiled at his mother, feeling a spark of love light his heart. She had always done her b
est for him and for Lina both. “You can fuss over her more in the morning, when she wakes up.”
“All right.” His mother squeezed his shoulder and left the room. He listened to her tread on the stairs and watched the fire.
Hours went by, and he kept his mind carefully blank, afraid to dwell too much on what could have happened if he hadn’t found her in time. Lina was so small for her age, so frail, so prone to sickness after her early childhood illnesses – he could have lost her, too.
And she was the last person he had left.
Eventually, as the night passed and the morning approached, he glanced at her and saw that her eyes were open and fixed on his face.
“Aha, you’re awake, little mouse… you’ve been awake for a while, haven’t you?” She blinked at him. He knew this was an affirmation. “And how are you feeling?” She glanced upward at the ceiling; she was fine, he took it, but worried about punishment for running away. He put a hand on her forehead, no fever.
“That was what they would call a very close shave,” he murmured. “I don’t suppose you’d care to tell me what led you to do such a foolish thing?”
Her eyes drifted down and fixed on him. Her lips moved convulsively, but he had long since stopped expecting any sound to come from them.
“Don’t let Crystal leave,” she said.
Ernest caught his breath, scarcely able to believe the evidence of his ears. She was speaking. His little girl was talking to him, and she’d hardly said more than a syllable at a time in three years. He felt his eyes well up with tears but tried to control himself; she evidently had something important to say, and if he got carried away with her speech, she might simply shut down again without saying it.
He put a hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. “What makes you say that?”
“I heard them – talking – Mandy said they should go. But you won’t let them – will you? Please, Pa.”
It was the please, Pa that was his undoing. He couldn’t control his feelings any longer; he pulled his daughter up and into his arms, holding her tightly.
“I’ll do my best,” he whispered, fighting tears.
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Chapter 12
Crystal didn’t get much sleep that night. She didn’t reckon that anyone did, of course – like her, the rest of them were probably sitting up, trying not to think of what might have been, and praying in gratitude to the God who had granted mercy to the little girl downstairs.
When the morning came, she arose just as if she had slept the night away, and dashed water over her eyes, trying to wake herself up. She stood for a long moment looking into the mirror; not for the first time, it struck her how closely she resembled Mandy. If not for a few differences, they could have exchanged places.
How strange it was, she thought, that a few small alterations could so greatly alter the outcome of events.
If she had been the one to apply as a Mail Order Bride …
She wondered what the future held, and what hope of happiness was left for herself and for her sister. At the very least, she consoled herself, Lina was safe and sound. And that was the most important thing.
That came before any other consideration.
She opened the door and let out a squeak of surprise. A few feet away stood Ernest Flinn. From the look of it, he hadn’t got much sleep either. Still, she marveled at how handsome he was, even with dark circles of exhaustion under his warm brown eyes.
“Oh, good,” he said, looking relieved. “I was about to knock on your door and make you wake up whether you wanted to or not.”
She blinked at him in surprise. “You were waiting for me?”
“Yes. I’ve been waiting for you.” He swallowed. “I feel sometimes as though I’ve been waiting for you for a very long time.”
“Ernest, I – ”
“First,” he said, lifting a hand to stop her from speaking, “I need to tell you that I’ve already spoken to Mandy. She told me about what she said yesterday, and I know that that’s why Lina tried to run away.”
“What? That’s why…?”
“Yes. She doesn’t want you to leave, Crystal.”
Crystal shook her head. “I’m sorry, Ernest, but this is all a lot to take in – I don’t think you can know for certain that Lina ran away because of what Mandy said.”
“I can, actually,” he told her frankly. “I know it because Lina told me herself.”
Crystal’s eyes widened, and she gaped at him. “She…”
“…spoke, yes. Told me all about it. I have a feeling that by the time you come downstairs, she’ll be ready to tell you, too.”
“Ernest…”
He grinned. She had never seen a man look so happy before.
“I know,” he said softly.
She rushed forward and hugged him, unable to stop herself. The thought of Lina not only being safe and sound, but actually speaking again, filled her heart with joy. In that moment, she began to understand the depth of the affection and love that she felt toward the poor little girl, who had lost so much in her life – and she knew, no matter what Mandy said, no matter what Ernest told her, she wouldn’t be able to just leave and never see her again.
She couldn’t.
She let him go, but found that his arms were still around her, and he was pulling her even closer.
“Ernest…?”
“Mandy and I talked about something else, too,” he said softly, and kissed her. “She said – and I agreed – that we really aren’t suited for each other – but that you and I – on the other hand – most certainly are.” Each short phrase was punctuated with another gentle kiss, and Crystal felt herself melting into his arms.
“Ernest…”
He drew back a little and grinned at her again. “You can’t say anything other than my name this morning, eh?”
“I just – I don’t understand.”
“All right. I’ll try to make it clearer for you.” His gaze caught hers and held her fast. “I love you, Crystal Chambers, and I want to marry you. Mandy and I have reached an understanding, and I’m free to ask you to be my wife. It’s up to you, of course – you don’t owe me anything. Whether you say yes or no, you can be certain that I’ll love you until I die – and just remember, if you say no, you’re going to make a small girl very, very upset.”
She laughed; she couldn’t help herself. “Why, Ernest Flinn, that’s – that’s – blackmail.”
“I know it,” he said smugly. “I never claimed to be above such things. I’m honest, but I can be a little tricky.”
Crystal pulled him close again.
“Well, when you put it like that,” she murmured. “I suppose I’d better say yes, hadn’t I? Someone’s got to save you from yourself.”
Outside, the snow continued to fall, but there was a light behind it now. Spring, she knew, wasn’t far off; it was on its way at last.
And she would celebrate it with her brand-new family… She looked up at Ernest and smiled. “By the way, dearest Ernest, I love you, too.”
The End
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Thank you for reading Her Sister’s Wedding!
COMING SOON: Mandy’s Continuing Story in: The Second Sister’s Love! While you’re waiting, are you wondering what to read next? Why not read The Pretend Mail Order Bride? Here’s a peek for you:
Listening to the snores coming from the parlor downstairs, Hayley tiptoed into her room, fearing the squeak of the floorboards. Though Roger seldom woke from his drunken stupors until the following morning, there were times when he’d awaken much earlier.
If he did, Hayley would no doubt be beaten yet again.
I have to escape—this is my only chance. Another may not come for weeks, or even months.
Moving quickly, her ears fastened on the snores from below, she packed clothes, a few books, some mementos, and made certain she took every bit of jewelry her mother had left her.
“He’s not going to
use any of it to pay for his drinking,” she muttered. “He’s already gone through the family fortune.”
She also made certain she packed every letter she’d received from her grandmother in Wyoming. She didn’t dare leave them behind for Roger to use in tracking her down. Once she made her escape from him and his abuse, she planned to be lost in the vast expanse called Wild West.
On the bed sat her handbag. In it, she had the last bit of money left to her when her parents died. And the train ticket to Miles Gulch, Wyoming. While Roger had left the house to gamble with his friends, Hayley had taken the opportunity to empty the last bit of money from the tin can in the kitchen and the money from the bank and buy the ticket.
“Now he’ll drink away only what he earns,” she commented with a slight smile, her voice pitched low so it wouldn’t carry. He’ll also be so angry that if I am anywhere in this town, he’ll track me down and kill me.
Her heart was racing now that she had packed, for if Roger came upstairs right then he’d instantly know what she was planning, Hayley glanced around for whatever she didn’t want to leave behind. Not seeing a anything, Hayley glanced at the clock. The time had come.
Carrying the heavy satchel, she crept slowly down the stairs, again listening for the sounds that Roger might be awake. The snores continued, unabated. As Hayley passed the parlor, she lowered her satchel to the floor and peered in.
Roger sat, his head thrown back, in his great chair near the fire on the hearth. The light from the blaze illuminated his once handsome profile. Hayley remembered the day she met him.
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