Letter Perfect
Page 35
“I promised Anna Marie on her deathbed that I’d see to it Laney married well, and I meant every word of my vow. Laney’s my daughter, my only child. Every last dollar I have scraped together is going to make sure she gets everything she needs so she will find a wealthy man who can provide for her every whim. You can’t fault me for being a good father.”
Stunned by his revelation, Josh stared at the man he’d always thought was his father. Shaking his head in disbelief, he said, “I love Laney. I’d gladly make any sacrifice to be sure she had anything she ever needed. There was never any reason for you to resort to dishonesty.”
“That’s not true! You just sided with Ruth against me. That takes half of the money from the railroad away from your sister. Half! Do you realize how much that land is worth?”
“Alan Caldwell’s life?” Farnsworth asked smoothly.
“Oh, you’re not going to pin that on me.” His father—or was it his uncle?—held up his hands. “No one can prove I did a thing to that old coot.”
The Folsom sheriff produced the cigarette case and the doctor’s report. “This case and the remaining cigarettes contain arsenic.”
Dad planted his hand on the table. “Josh could have done that. He had as much to gain as I did.”
“But Josh never rolled cigarettes for Alan. You did, Daddy,” Laney said.
“Yeah, and Alan took sick during the time Josh was gone on the trail,” Hilda shouted. “Nobody else ever set foot in the house.”
The judge said, “If Joshua, Jr. wasn’t present, then that leaves either McCain, Sr., the housekeeper, or the daughter, Elaine, as the suspects. Do any of the men present have a pouch of tobacco and papers?”
Dad’s attorney objected to the whole proceeding.
Dad promptly told him to shut up and leave.
Hilda was given the tobacco and a cigarette paper. She made a sour face as she took a big pinch of tobacco and placed it on the paper. After patting it across the length and most of the breadth of paper with the pad of her forefinger, she rolled it up. “Sorta like makin’ bitty little cinnamon sticky buns or a jelly roll,” she declared.
The judge accepted her effort and set it to one side. “Miss McCain, you’re next.”
“No!” Dad shook his head emphatically. “My daughter’s not going to touch tobacco. It’s beneath her. I won’t allow it.”
The judge looked at Hilda’s cigarette. “Mr. McCain, clearly the housekeeper didn’t know how to fashion a cigarette. Though entertaining, her technique left much to be desired. The result was inconsistent with the cigarettes given as evidence. That means the only suspects are you and your daughter.”
Dad glowered at the judge. “Don’t you dare even suggest my little girl would ever do such a thing. She’s special. She’s beautiful, and she’s going to have a wonderful life. I promised her mother, and I’ve done everything I could to fulfill that vow.
“That old man was supposed to drink himself to death, but he got religion and stopped drinking. My plan was still working, but he got that letter from his wife about their having a daughter. I shut him up and burned that letter. No one was supposed to ever know. Then she came.” Dad pointed at Ruth.
“Daddy,” Laney said in a small, tight voice, “all of those accidents—”
“I never meant to hurt you, sugar. I thought it was Ruth in the stable. I didn’t know you had matching skirts. You know I’d never hurt you. Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for you. There’s a bank account for you. With half of the money from the railroad deal, I was going to make you a wealthy young woman who’d attract just the right man.”
“How could you, Daddy? How could you?” Laney burst into tears, and Josh wrapped his arms around her.
The judge peered over the bench. “Mr. Joshua McCain, Sr., you were asked to plead in the cases of embezzlement and murder. Am I to take your admissions here as guilty pleas?”
“Laney, sugar …” McCain shoved past his attorney and tried to reach his daughter.
Laney cringed and burrowed closer. Josh tightened his hold on her.
“This is all your fault!” McCain shouted at Ruth. “You weren’t supposed to come. You ruined it all!” He drew a small pistol from his pocket.
Josh stepped forward and shoved his sister behind him so Ruth and Laney would be shielded. “No!”
“Drop it!” the bailiff ordered.
Dad cocked the tiny pistol.
Bang!
Dad’s face twisted into an obscene smile, then he fell. Josh kicked the pistol from his hand and knelt at his side. The bailiff rushed over, the tip of his gun still smoking.
“Monument.” McCain struggled for another breath. “Life insurance.”
Josh took hold of the only father he’d ever known. For all the pain and regret of the past, Josh didn’t want to see him die without making peace with God. “There’s still time, Dad. Give your heart to the Lord.”
The dying man gave a strange laugh. “Don’t … need God.”
Laney sobbed and clung to Ruth. Josh glanced up only long enough to see the utter despair on his sister’s face. “Please. God will forgive you if you ask Him to.”
“No.” The sneer on McCain’s face changed to desperation. “Insurance … money for … Laney. Papers … in my desk.”
“She’ll be taken care of,” Josh promised.
McCain gave the barest of nods and closed his eyes as one last shallow breath gurgled out of him.
Other than Laney’s weeping, the trip home was utterly silent. Once they reached the Broken P, Ruth tucked Laney into bed and stayed with her until she fell into an exhausted sleep. Coming down the stairs, she saw Josh in the parlor and joined him there.
“Josh?”
He turned around. “Ruth, I’m sorry for all he did.”
“You have no reason to apologize. He was wicked. I hold him responsible for his choices—you didn’t have anything to do with them.”
“But I should have seen past the faade and realized something was terribly wrong.”
She shook her head. “Josh, I didn’t sense anything was amiss. Your father was so charming, he had us all fooled. His love for Laney wasn’t wrong—it just led him to start compromising his values until he no longer had any values whatsoever.”
Josh turned to face the mantel. Gripping it, he bowed his head. “Dad did love Laney. He had to know by drawing that pistol on you, he’d be shot. He loved her so much, he was willing to die just to make sure she got more money.”
Ruth slipped up beside him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I have no doubt that he also loved you, Josh. You wouldn’t have grown up to be the wonderful man you are if you hadn’t had a good example to follow. When he made a deathbed promise to your mother, he let the grief twist him. It turned a man into a monster. Even then, his last act—misbegotten as it was—was to provide more for Laney.”
“What he did …” Josh shook his head. “There’s no excuse.”
“No, there isn’t.” Ruth let out a sigh. “But we have the Lord to give us comfort and consolation in our grief. He didn’t. Satan took that foothold and used every opportunity for evil.”
Josh turned and cupped her shoulders. “Ruth, after the attempts on your life and learning how your father died, I’ll understand if you don’t want to marry me.”
“Well, I don’t understand at all.” She poked him in the chest. “You already told me you love me. You’re not getting off that easy. I’m going to marry you if I have to hire every cowboy in California to truss you up and drag you to the altar.”
Four days later, Ruth nearly paced a path in the parlor carpet. Josh lounged against the open doorway and grinned as he listened to her hiccup loudly. “Sweetheart?”
She jumped and wheeled around to face him. Hic. “What?”
Josh approached her slowly. Her shoulders convulsed again with another hiccup. “What are you nervous about?”
“Who says I’m hic nervous? Laney’s done everything on her lists.”
&
nbsp; Josh nodded. “She could have been a general in an army. Between her organization, Hilda and Mrs. O’Sullivan’s help, and the new parson itching to perform his first wedding, it’s amazing we weren’t already hitched two days ago.”
Ruth tried to smile, but another hiccup wracked her.
Josh drew her into his arms and whispered into her mussed-up curls, “Ruthie, you can stop being nervous. Nothing’s going to stop me from marrying you. I’m going to be waiting at the altar at noon tomorrow. You could show up covered in mud and mess up every line in the vows, and I’d still claim you as mine.”
“Knowing me, hic that’s exactly what’ll happen. Mrs. Cambridge at the hic Lawrence School for Refined hic Young Ladies used to say it would be a hic miracle to see me stay clean for more than five minutes.”
Josh pulled back and looked at her for a moment. “Just how many schools did you get sent home from?”
She laughed and hiccupped at the same time, resulting in a strange croaking sound. “More hic than you want to know about. I’ll probably always be a mess.”
He gave her a quick but sound kiss. “Then I’ll love you all the more.”
“What if hic I—” “Shhh.” Rubbing her stiff shoulders, he soothed, “Remember how you told Laney her reading didn’t have to be letter perfect for the two of you to still enjoy a story?” As Ruth hesitantly nodded, he went on, “You don’t have to be letter perfect for me to love you, either. Don’t you understand that I’d rather have your imagination and compassion in our home than a prim and proper woman with ice in her veins?”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” He smiled as he realized she’d stopped hiccupping.
The next day, Josh did as he’d promised. Standing at the altar, he faced his bride as the new “Wedding March” was played on the piano. Galen escorted Ruth down the aisle. Somewhere in transit from home to the church, she’d managed to step on her skirts and part of the hem sagged. Her veil hung the slightest bit askew— most likely because her hairpins had slipped. When she placed her hand in his, Josh spotted a smudge on her glove.
Leaning close, he said with all his heart, “You’ve never looked more beautiful.”
Ruth’s smile could have lit a cathedral.
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