He took a step toward me. His movements and words flowed so smoothly together. He was very charming and confident. He was nothing like Todd. No wonder I didn’t notice Todd in Virginia. Todd was quiet and sometimes clumsy. But he was sincere. He would lay down his life for me. He would even give me up if it meant I could be happy.
“I love Todd,” I finally said.
Kent laughed. “That’s sweet. Todd is a good boy. I’m sure he’s treated you very well out here, in the middle of nowhere. But a lady such as yourself deserves better in this life. You were meant for comfort and riches. Look at your clothes, your hair, your hands! You don’t even own a single piece of jewelry. You may love Todd but he has you living like a beggar. You were born for beautiful gowns, servants to wait on you, for your every desire to be fulfilled.” He stepped closer to me. “Things I can give you.”
I had to get out of here! I felt like I was going to suffocate.
“Enough of playing wife,” he continued as he walked closer to me. “Come with me. I can give you things that he can’t.”
He reached out and touched my cheek. Startled, I shrieked. His hesitation gave me the strength to move. I bolted for the doorway. His reflexes were quick, for he grabbed my arm.
“You can’t be serious,” he hissed. “You would give up what we had for Todd?”
“Yes. Let me go!”
“Perhaps I need to show you what you’re missing.” He put his free hand behind my neck and brought my mouth to his.
“What is going on here?”
Kent released me and I nearly fell to the floor. Looking up, I saw Todd, staring at us.
“Todd!” I ran to him but he backed away.
Todd shook his head, looking bewildered. “I can’t believe this. I mean, it was a possibility but...”
“No. No! It’s not what it looks like,” I insisted.
“Don’t lie to him, Ann,” Kent softly stated. “It will do you no good to deny it.”
Todd didn’t say anything. He simply turned and left the room.
“Todd!” I screamed and ran after him.
As I passed the doorway, my eyes fell on Mrs. Carson who had her hand to her cheek, as if she couldn’t believe her good fortune in overhearing a juicy piece of gossip.
I stopped when I saw her. I’m doomed. Once she blabs the whole thing to the town, everyone will believe I’m ready to leave Todd for Kent.
Todd was out the door before I looked away from her.
“I’ll come back for you. I’m sure you’ll come to your senses in time,” Kent said as he left the mercantile.
I broke into tears. Obviously, Todd hadn’t heard the whole conversation. He just walked in on us when Kent kissed me.
“I heard everything,” Mrs. Carson said.
I groaned. Her version would be sordid. Some people still believed Todd stole money at the bank.
Mrs. Coley opened the front door and walked in. She gasped. “Ann, what’s wrong?”
Relieved that she was back, I grabbed my coat. I raced out of the mercantile. But Todd was long gone.
Chapter Eighteen
Ann’s Point of View
The walk to Barbara’s mother’s house seemed to take forever and I didn’t notice the chill in the air this time. I was anxious to find Todd and explain everything to him, but would he even believe me? I knocked on the door.
Calvin opened it.
“Is your mother here?” I asked.
“Sure she is, Mrs. Brothers. Come in and I’ll get her.”
He ran off before I had time to enter the house. I softly shut the door behind me. Now that I was here, I began to relax. Barbara would know what to do. At least, she should have some idea of how I could make the situation better.
Barbara walked into the room, a dishtowel in her hands. She was wiping some dough off of her fingers. “What is it?”
“Kent came to the store and he wanted me to go with him but I kept telling him I was married but he wouldn’t listen to me no matter how many times I told him and then I tried to leave the backroom but he wouldn’t let me and he kissed me and Todd saw us and thought I wanted to kiss Kent but I didn’t and I tried to explain it to Todd but he wouldn’t listen and Mrs. Carson said she heard the whole thing but we all know how she interprets the truth and now she’ll blab it all over town and everyone, including Todd, will believe I wanted to kiss Kent and Todd went home without me and I’m sure it’s all over and I’ll have to go back to Virginia now and I don’t even want to be with Kent and...” I started crying. “It’s all a mess and I don’t know what to do.”
“Calm down. You’re speaking too fast. Come, sit down.”
I sobbed into my handkerchief as I obeyed her.
“I need to finish making a loaf of bread,” she said. “Can you wait for ten minutes?”
I nodded. “Yes, I can wait.”
“Good. Now try to breathe. You can explain everything to me on the way home.”
I sat in the chair and tried to slow my thoughts so they weren’t all jumbled together. I suddenly realized I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept the night before. I put my head in my hands and focused on slowing my breathing. The action was calming. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, Barbara was tapping me on the shoulder, asking me if I was awake. I stood up.
“Are you ready?” I asked.
“Yes. Calvin will be staying with my mother to help her around the house. Bruce and Molly, come along.”
I helped her take the blankets and tuck the kids in the carryall so they would be warm during the trip home. Molly was so tired she fell asleep. Bruce was content to play with a toy train his grandmother had given him. That left plenty of time for me to explain my morning in the store to Barbara. Snow was already beginning to fall and by the time we got halfway home, it was apparent that we were going to have a storm.
When she stopped in front of my house, I heard Todd chopping wood in the barn. I sighed. He was angry.
“I saved some food for you,” she said.
We got out of the carryall and she helped me bring some jars and boxes into the kitchen.
“I’ll leave you now,” she whispered. She put her hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“Thank you,” I quietly replied.
Once she left, I put the food away. I could still hear Todd chopping wood. He’d stay out there all day if I let him. What should I say? I didn’t think he’d accept anything I told him. I contemplated going up to my bedroom instead of seeing him, but I wanted to resolve the matter. If that was even possible...
I took a deep breath then headed outside. The snow was falling heavily now. I couldn’t even see Todd’s footprints in the snow. I pulled the hood of the coat over my head and braced myself for the blowing wind as it pressed against me. Thankfully, my gloves were thick so my hands stayed warm. I walked to the barn and pulled the door open.
Sure enough, Todd wasn’t wearing his coat or gloves. He was at least wearing a sweater this time, but that hardly made me feel any better. He had a lantern lit, and, even from across the barn, I could see that his eyes were red from crying.
I looked aside for a moment, ashamed that I was the cause of his grief. But I did nothing wrong! Strengthened by the reminder, I pressed forward until I was standing several feet in front of him.
He had his axe raised to chop another piece of wood but paused when he noticed me.
My heart pounded loudly in my ears. Now that I was here, I didn’t know what to say.
“Have you come to say good-bye?” he finally asked.
I blinked at his bitter tone.
He brought the axe down and sliced the wood in half.
I jumped. I wasn’t guilty, so why I was acting as if I was? I took a moment to regain my composure. “I’m not going anywhere. I want to be with you, Todd. What you saw at the store was a big misunderstanding.”
At first I thought he was laughing, but when he wiped his face with the sleeve of his sweater, I knew he was crying. �
�Even now you would lie to me?”
“I’m not lying. I do love you.”
“Enough! I can’t take it anymore!” he yelled. “I’m not blind. I know what I saw.”
“You didn’t see everything. I was trying to get away from him and he grabbed my arm. He forced himself upon me.”
“Then why didn’t Mrs. Carson try to stop him? She was listening to you when I walked into the store. She only said I needed to help you. Apparently, I needed to help you control yourself.”
“Mrs. Carson is a busybody. She only wanted to hear all the details so she could spread her vicious rumors.”
“If it was just her word, I wouldn’t believe anything she said. But I saw you kissing him.”
“You didn’t see enough!”
He dropped his axe and walked up to me until he was a few inches from me. I instinctively backed up a couple of steps.
“Look at me, Ann. I’m a wreck.”
I wanted to look away but couldn’t. The anguish in his eyes and his messy hair stung my heart. There was no denying the intensity of his pain.
“God help me, Ann.” His voice was so low I barely heard him. “You’re a part of me now. If you leave, a part of me will die.”
Tears sprung in my eyes. “I’m not leaving. I want to be here.”
“Then why did you kiss him?” He turned away from me and went back to his axe. He picked it up and put another piece of wood up to chop. “The person I am mad at, more than anyone else in this whole mess, is me. I knew from the beginning you didn’t love me the way you loved him. I knew it and I still married you. I never imagined he would come searching for you. As long as he stayed away, I thought you might learn to be content with me. I hoped you might even love me over time. You have no idea how happy I was last night. Then my parents showed up and I learned that Kent was coming for you. You knew he was coming but you didn’t tell me, and today you’re kissing him.”
He used all his strength to chop the wood. Again, I jumped. His shoulders slumped in defeat.
“I never should have brought you here. You should go back.” He turned his back to me and sat on the ground, his head in his hands.
I didn’t know what to say. He obviously didn’t believe me. He couldn’t accept that I loved him. He had made up his mind. I slowly turned around and walked out of the barn. I couldn’t hold back my tears as I made my way into the house and up the stairs. My feet dragged as I entered my bedroom. I couldn’t bring myself to look at the bed or the memories it would give me.
Instead, I looked out the window. The wind grew stronger. I could hear it whistling against house. My forehead felt cool against the glass. I shivered. Todd hadn’t started the fire in the box stove yet. The fire was roaring in the fireplace downstairs. I felt sick as I recalled the anguish in his eyes when he told me I was a part of him, for I felt the same way about him. How could he tell me to go back to Virginia? Why didn’t he believe me? Why did Kent have to leave Rebecca? It would have been better if he had stayed with her.
The knocking at the door downstairs interrupted my thoughts. I stiffened. What if it was Kent? I ran down the stairs and peered out the parlor window. I gasped in surprise and delight and raced to open the door.
“Mother, Father, what are you doing here?”
They thanked Mr. Albert who brought them on his sleigh and brought their luggage into the house. I hugged them, relieved to see them.
“We’re sorry we didn’t warn you of our impending arrival,” my mother spoke as I took her coat and hat. She kicked off her boots at the door. “When we heard that the Brothers were coming to get Agnes, we felt it best to come and be a support to you and Todd. Mr. Brothers was awfully mad. We didn’t want him to say something he’d regret later on.”
“I hate to disappoint you but they arrived last night. They took Agnes back late in the evening.”
My mother shook her head, clearly distraught by the news. “How did Todd take it?”
I sighed. “As well as could be expected. I suppose since he’s known his father would be upset when he left Virginia, it helped to soften the blow.”
She put her hand over her heart. “The poor boy. What a blessing it is that he has you to get him through this difficult time.”
If only she knew...
“Speaking of troubling news,” my father began with an unusually serious look on his face, “Kent is coming. Apparently, he decided that you’ll be his wife. This is not appropriate. He knows you are married. We came to talk him to his senses.”
I groaned. “I wish you had come sooner. He cornered me today at the mercantile in town.”
Their faces paled.
“I was by myself in the backroom putting eggs away and that’s when Kent showed up. He wouldn’t let me leave the room. I kept telling him I wasn’t going to go with him, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He insisted that I would be with him. As I was running out of the room, he grabbed me by the arm and kissed me. Todd walked in on us at that exact moment and now he thinks I want to leave with Kent.”
I didn’t realize I was crying until my mother handed me her handkerchief and hugged me. “Oh my poor dear. What you must be going through.”
“Do you love Todd?” my father asked.
“Yes. I have no intention of leaving him.”
“Does he know what happened?”
“I tried to explain it but he won’t listen to me. The town gossip was in the store and heard the whole thing and didn’t bother to stop Kent, so Todd figures I must be lying.”
“Hmm...” My father narrowed his eyes as he tried to think of a suitable solution. He brought out his pipe and lit it up. It was how he handled tough situations. “Where is Todd now?”
“He’s chopping wood in the barn.”
“Would he mind if I went out to see him?” my father asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“Good. I’d like to say hello to my son-in-law.”
After my father left the house, my mother took me by the arm and sat next to me on the couch in front of the fireplace. “My dear, you are very lucky to have Todd. You remember how your father and I weren’t too happy about your courtship with Kent.”
I nodded, curious at the hushed tone she used. There was no one else in the house, yet she spoke as if she were about to reveal a secret.
“Thank goodness Kent ended that courtship. We hardly knew anything about him. True, his parents are honorable people, and they were pressing him to marry an honorable lady, which you are sweetheart. I think a part of him may have genuinely cared for you. However, he does not act like a gentleman with certain women.”
By the term certain women, I knew she meant loose women. My eyes widened. I hadn’t expected this.
“Rebecca was such a woman,” she confided. “Their sudden courtship was arranged privately between her parents and his parents when they found out that they were being intimate with one another. Their parents insisted that they marry to avoid unwanted gossip. As it turned out, Rebecca got in the family way but miscarried. That’s when she stopped attending social functions. Kent ended their engagement, though their parents protested. It would be decent to do the right thing and marry her of course. He told his parents that he was going to find you. I suppose he figured that he was free to choose whoever he wanted as his wife since Rebecca was no longer expecting.”
“But he knew I married Todd.”
“Yes. Everyone knew, my dear. The night you eloped with Todd was a busy night for everyone. We searched for you. The Brothers were furious, but his mother was more understanding about it. I think she sympathizes with Todd, but she’s not in the position to do anything about it. His father has made up his mind about the situation. I think Todd may be more accepting of what you want, but some men don’t allow their wives to have a say in things that happen. Once Mr. Brothers decided to disown Todd, there was nothing she could do about it.”
“What did you and Father think?”
“He was upset. I was too. We had no idea
you would even consider a courtship, let alone a marriage, with Todd. We weren’t upset that you two married. We were delighted. But we missed out on the fun of our daughter getting married. It’s one of those proper things we raised you up to obey. Looking back, however, we realized all the social rules we taught you don’t matter. The important thing is that you and Todd are happy.”
“Todd treats me much better than Kent ever did. I didn’t marry him because I loved him. I married him to get away from Kent and Rebecca. But I got to know him in a way I never could back in Virginia. He’s a wonderful man. I love him now.” My thoughts drifted to another concern. “Mother, what do you think Father is talking to Todd about?”
“Why, your dowry of course. Mostly though, he will want to welcome Todd to the family.”
“But Todd doesn’t believe me when I tell him what happened between me and Kent. I tried talking to him, but he won’t listen. He even told me to go back to Virginia.” My lower lip trembled. The words still stung.
She rested her hand on my arm. “He’s afraid he’ll lose you. Give him time. When he sees that you aren’t leaving, he’ll understand.”
“What will I do when Mrs. Carson spreads lies about my wanting to kiss Kent? What am I to do then?”
“You wrote to me about Mrs. Carson and how she told everyone that he stole money from the bank. Don’t you think he’ll realize that she could just as easily spin lies concerning you?”
I hadn’t thought of that.
“Everything will work out, especially since you are innocent.”
I hoped she was right.
Chapter Nineteen
Todd’s Point of View
While Ann took care of changing the bed sheets and blankets in the guest bedroom, I got all the fires started. I couldn’t bring myself to go into the guest bedroom while she was in there. It was hard enough to go to her bedroom. I focused so hard on making the fire that I didn’t have to think about what almost happened in this room the night before. I couldn’t bear that memory at the moment. After I was done with the fires, I fed the horses. Mr. Statesman wanted to examine my barn, and I was glad for his company. I had admired him while I was growing up. I could understand why my father was friends with him.
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