by Merry Farmer
“Yes, ma’am.” Hubert grinned like a fool.
“What?” Melinda snapped. “No! That’s…that’s unacceptable. Bebe! Stay here!”
“Go,” Bonnie told them in a low voice, making scooting gestures. “I’ll deal with her.”
“Thank you,” Bebe whispered, then promptly fled the church, Hubert right behind her. Bonnie thought she saw him take her hand just before the door shut.
“She’s my sister,” Melinda barked, marching down the aisle to stand toe-to-toe with Bonnie. “You can’t go telling her what do to like that.”
“Well, in just over twenty-four hours, you’ll all be my daughters,” Bonnie fired back, in no mood to be trifled with. “So you’d all better learn to mind your mama.”
Melinda shrieked in offense. She whipped around and stomped to Vivian’s pew. “Did you hear the way she spoke to me?”
Vivian just groaned. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Fortunately, Vivian wasn’t sick. And Melinda did nothing. She slunk back to her flower arranging, unable to do anything but send bitter scowls to Bonnie’s girls as they laughed at her. Bonnie, in turn, sent them scolding looks. They were making matters worse. No one wanted to be in this situation. There was enough enmity in the room to sink a small ship. Della started making rude gestures with her cat-tails when George came out of his office to check on the progress of the decorations. Bonnie didn’t even know where she had gotten the plants. They didn’t grow in the high desert.
She was on her way across the room to snatch them all out of Della’s hands and stomp on them when the church door opened again.
“What now?” she barked, losing all patience.
It was just her luck that Lucy came skipping through the door, dragging a glum and restless Rupert behind her.
“Lucy. How nice of you to join us.” George rushed off of the chancel and headed to where Bonnie stood scowling at the new arrivals. “Rupert, it’s good to see you.”
George tried to shake Rupert’s hand, but he didn’t seem to be in any better mood than Bonnie. “George,” he mumbled, keeping his hands to himself.
The four of them stumbled into an awkward stand-off. Lucy was nearly beside herself with nervous energy, her smile too wide as she glanced from Rupert to Bonnie. It was all Bonnie could do not to roll her eyes. Her friend meant well, but obviously she’d put Rupert up to seeing her. George bristled with nerves, as if he wanted to leap in and do something to make everything better as well.
Bonnie met Rupert’s eyes. At least the two of them understood each other, even if no one else understood them. All the apology she needed was vivid in his eyes. All the love she wished she could give him was equally apparent in her own.
And there wasn’t a damn thing either of them could do about it.
The jolt of a shrill train whistle punctured the silence.
“I really need to go.” Rupert nodded to her, then turned to leave.
“Wait!” Lucy and George shouted at the same time. They were so loud that the girls all stopped their decorating work to look at them, and even Vivian sat bolt-upright in her pew.
“That’s the only train to Everland today,” Rupert told Lucy as if they’d been having a discussion about that fact for a while. “If I miss it, I can’t go home until tomorrow. And I need to go home.”
He glanced to Bonnie. She nodded subtly. She understood his need to flee, to go back to his life, to get over the mess she’d created by being unable to let him go in her heart. She didn’t blame him for running one bit.
“But you haven’t said goodbye to Bonnie,” Lucy argued. “At least not properly.”
“We’ve said all the goodbyes we need to,” Bonnie told her.
“But…” Lucy wrung her hands, unable to think of another argument fast enough.
George jumped in to help. “You’ll never catch the train if the whistle is already blowing.”
“Yes!” Lucy latched on to his reasoning. “I doubt the train is just arriving now, which means the whistle is blowing because it’s ready to leave.”
“She’s right.” Pearl dodged through the pews to join them. “Hubert was in here earlier delivering some daisies that came in on the train. So the whistle must mean it’s heading out.”
“Shoot. It’s early then.” Rupert nodded to George, then Lucy and Pearl, then sent Bonnie a long, regret-filled look before turning to leave.
“You can’t just let him walk out,” Lucy fretted.
“I can and I will.” Bonnie walked away, heading back to the table where Honoria had stopped arranging flowers.
Lucy, George, and Pearl continued to stand, mouths agape, in the center of the aisle. Honoria sent Bonnie a stern look as she returned to the table and picked up her ribbon and scissors, no idea what to do with them.
“You could have said goodbye to him and wished him well at the very least,” Honoria said. “After all he went through to come here and see you.”
Everyone else’s scolding felt like just that, scolding. Honoria’s admonition hit Bonnie more like the well-meaning advice it was likely intended to be. If anyone knew about going through a lot of trouble for love, it was Honoria.
Bonnie threw down her ribbon and scissors. “Oh, all right.” She pivoted on the balls of her feet and marched around the edge of the pews to the back door, sending George, Lucy, and Pearl a look warning them not to get too excited as she went.
“Rupert!” she called as she exited the church and hurried up the path to where he had just turned onto the road.
Rupert stopped and waited for her. His scowl had deepened and his hands were in his pockets. “I did, in fact, miss the train.” He nodded to where the train was slowly snaking its way past the small meadow on the other side of the church.
“I’m sorry.” She stopped a few yards away from him. Behind her, she was aware of several faces appearing in the church’s windows on the other side of the stained-glass. “This is not how I intended any of this to turn out.”
“Me neither.”
She crossed her arms, wishing she could think of something to make it all better. The longer the silence stretched between them, the more hopeless she felt about things. It was like her heart was slowly melting in the desert sun.
“You know why I have to do this now.” It wasn’t a question, but her brow rose as if it was.
Rupert nodded. “I admire you, Bonnie. It takes a special woman to put aside her own concerns to fight for others the way you do. I’m not sure I could do the same.”
“You could,” she assured him. “If you cared about someone the way I care about my girls, if you knew the kind of life they have and the kind of life they could have…” She took a breath. “You’re a good person too. You’d make the sacrifice.”
A sad smile filled his eyes. He stepped forward and took her hand, then said in a hoarse voice, “I just did.”
He hesitated for a moment only, then squeezed her hand harder, stepped closer. He leaned toward her, his lips brushing hers for a heartbeat before he closed his eyes and kissed her. It was a soft kiss, but it pierced Bonnie to her soul. Tears stung at her eyes, pouring bitterness into her broken heart. She wanted to pull Rupert into her arms, kiss him harder. She wanted to collapse against him and beg him to never leave her.
She couldn’t.
When Rupert swayed back, breaking her kiss, he whispered, “Goodbye, Bonnie.”
She had to swallow several times, blinking futilely to hold back her tears. “Goodbye, Rupert. You know I love you.”
Rupert nodded, taking another step back. Their hands were still joined, but it was at arm’s length. “I love you too,” he echoed, then dropped her hand and walked away.
Lucy and Pearl gasped in unison as they watched Rupert and Bonnie kiss. Pearl clutched a hand to her heart, her own tears beginning to flow.
“They love each other so much,” she sniffled.
“They do,” George agreed, watching from one window down, Domenica standing shoulder-to-shoulder wit
h him.
“So why is he walking away?” Della lamented.
“He can’t.” Lucy pushed away from the window, huffing in hopeless misery. “He just can’t. Those two were meant to be together.”
“Well, she certainly wasn’t meant for my father,” Vivian surprised them all by declaring from her pew.
It was such a shock to have the Bonneville sisters in agreement with everyone else that no one knew what to say for a moment.
Of all people, Melinda was the first to speak. She crossed her arms and sniffed. “You all aren’t seriously going to let this wedding happen, are you?”
Lucy glanced to Pearl. Pearl turned to Domenica. Domenica looked straight at George. “Well? Are we, padre?”
George stepped away from the window, his expression utterly serious. “No, we’re not.” The girls left their decorations to shuffle closer to him. Even Vivian got up from her pew to join them. “And I think I might just know how we can stop it.”
Chapter 14
The morning of the wedding dawned bright and crisp as a fresh-picked apple. From her bedroom, Bonnie could hear the call of migrating birds, the faint bustle of the town waking up and getting down to business. There was even a train whistle in the distance.
None of it helped her open her eyes and face what she had to face. In fact, the plaintive train whistle brought her to the edge of tears. Rupert would get on that train and head back to Everland. He was probably waiting at the station now, suitcase in hand, head lowered in defeat. She hated to think what she’d done to him, how she’d killed his spirit, but at their parting the day before she’d seen in his eyes what she knew in her heart—he understood why both of them had to do the things they had to do.
Although in the light of day, with her wedding to Rex mere hours away, it didn’t seem like such a done deal. Rex could bankrupt her. He could steal the Place right out from under her. He could send her girls back into the sort of lives they had worked so earnestly to get out of. Or could he? After all, he could turn them out on the street, but he couldn’t turn their hearts away from the earnest desire to make a better life for themselves. What if—
Her trembling thought was cut short as her bedroom door banged open and Pearl rushed into her room. “Bonnie! Bonnie, you have to come quick!”
Bonnie started to lift herself groggily from her bed, peeling back her blankets, Pearl all but pounced on her, yanking her out from the covers and to her feet. Bonnie almost spilled to the floor with the force of Pearl’s tugging. “What? What is it?”
“It’s Rev. Pickering.” Pearl couldn’t keep still. Her eyes were wide with terror and her cheeks flushed.
“George?” As fast as she could, Bonnie shook the last of her lethargy away. “What’s wrong?”
Pearl wrung her hands and bit her lip. She was never this upset about anyone or anything. It was almost comical. “He went out to Paradise Ranch before dawn this morning. Mrs. Corva Haskell started to have her baby, and we all know it’s much too soon.”
Bonnie gasped as she pulled clean clothes from her wardrobe. It had been a surprise when Corva announced she was pregnant again so soon after giving birth to her and Franklin’s son, Howard Franklin Haskell, but everyone had been overjoyed. A quick count in Bonnie’s head told her there was no way a baby born so early as this one was trying to be born could survive.
“Does he need help?” she asked as Pearl helped her get dress.
“It’s not that,” Pearl went on, still in a tizzy. “While he was out there, one of the horses kicked him.”
“What?” Bonnie twisted to face Pearl, who had just finished with the buttons at the back of her dress. “Is he all right?”
“I don’t know,” Pearl squeaked. “One of Howard’s ranch hands rode in to fetch you. He said Rev. Pickering is pretty bad off, but he was asking for you.”
“For me?” Of all the people George could want by his side when he was in trouble, she would never have considered herself at the top of the list. They’d been through so much together, though, and in spite of the strain between them now, she considered him one of her closest friends. “I need to get out there.”
She darted out of the room, Pearl hot on her heels.
“Howard’s man said he could take you, if you don’t mind riding in the saddle with him.”
“Not at all,” Bonnie answered. She’d ridden in less comfortable circumstances before.
Luke Chance was waiting in the foyer at the bottom of the stairs. He was once one of the Place’s most frequent and beloved visitors—beloved mostly because he just wanted to spend time with the girls, fully clothed. He twirled his hat in his hands now, looking awkward and uncertain.
“Are you ready, Miss Bonnie?” he asked, not quite able to meet her eyes.
George’s situation must have been dire indeed if Luke couldn’t even make eye-contact with her. “I’m ready.” She grabbed her cloak from the hook by the door and rushed outside.
Luke’s horse was saddled and ready to go right out in front of the Place. He climbed on, then helped Bonnie up in front of him. She’d gone from half-asleep, lazy, and miserable to on high alert and anxious to get going so fast she hadn’t had time to think about things. Now, with the train pulling into the station at the other end of Main Street, her heart sank all over again. Rupert would be gone within a matter of minutes. She spared one glance down the street toward the station, but was unable to tell if he was on the platform.
A moment later, Luke had wheeled his horse around and began to gallop as fast as he could with her slung across his lap. Bonnie pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders and hunkered down for the ride out to Paradise Ranch. At a sedate pace, it took just under an hour to get there. Galloping, Luke was able to make the journey in half that time. Bonnie was still sore and impatient by the time they passed under the archway with “Paradise Ranch” worked in iron and on to Howard’s section of the property.
Luke pulled his horse to a stop on the central lawn between the cluster of houses and buildings that made up the heart of Paradise Ranch. Howard’s house loomed largest—aside from the barn. A few lights were on in the windows downstairs. Across the yard nearer to the paddock, several of Howard’s ranch hands were already at work. They glanced up with idle curiosity as Luke helped Bonnie to the ground.
“He’s, uh, in there.”
Luke pointed to a small cabin somewhat separate from the other buildings. It was known as the “Hen House” and had been built by Howard as a place where newly married ranch hands could live with their mail-order brides until their permanent house was constructed. A ribbon of smoke rose from the chimney and light could be seen in the windows.
“Thank you.” Bonnie gave Luke a quick nod and hurried toward the Hen House’s front door.
She stopped cold a few yards away when she heard banging from the other side of the door.
“What is the meaning of this?” Rupert’s muffled voice shouted. “You can’t just drag me out here, I’ll miss my train. Bonnie isn’t even here!”
“Oh, no.” Bonnie took a step backwards, all of her fear transforming into anger so fast she thought she might burst. “Oh, no, you didn’t!”
A second later, Rupert’s face appeared in the window beside the front door. “Bonnie?” Her name was barely audible through the glass.
Bonnie whipped around, turning a sharp glare on Luke Chance. How had he gotten involved in this? She wasn’t at all surprised to find George and Lucy Faraday sneaking out of their hiding place around the side of the Hen House.
“You didn’t!” Bonnie shouted at them. “I was afraid you were hurt or worse!” she shouted at George in particular.
“Now, Bonnie, we’re doing this for your own good.” George approached her with his hands raised. “We can’t let you walk away from something that you not only want, but that is good for you and right in the eyes of the Lord.”
“You keep the Lord out of this!” She marched up to him, finger pointed, eyes blazing. “This is a low-down
trick, and I won’t stand for it.”
“But the two of you are in love,” Lucy argued. “And Rex is a giant horse’s ass who will go back on whatever foolish deal the two of you struck, no matter what promises he made.”
Bonnie’s retort died on her lips. Lucy had a point. But it wasn’t enough to forgive this dirty trick. “I need to get back to town.” She whipped around and marched toward Luke’s horse.
“No you don’t.” George rushed up behind her and scooped her off her feet.
Bonnie shrieked. “Put me down! Put me down right now!”
She kicked and flailed, but George was a lot stronger than he looked. He clamped his arms around her like a vise and marched her up to the door of the Hen House. Lucy and Luke had run ahead, and a few of the other ranch hands had left what they were doing to join them.
On the other side of the window, Rupert shouted, “What are you doing with her? Put her down!”
His muffled protest did nothing, though, and in the end might have hurt his one chance of foiling whatever plan Bonnie’s friends had hatched. Lucy quickly unlocked the door, but Rupert wasn’t close enough to make a break for it. He reached the door just as George did. George thrust Bonnie into Rupert’s arms. Rupert caught her as best he could, the two of them stumbling back. Before Bonnie could struggle out of his arms and get her feet on the ground, the front door slammed shut, and the lock clicked with an ominous finality.
“How dare you?” Bonnie shouted. She threw herself at the door, trying the handle, then banging on it when it didn’t budge. “Let us out of here this second.”
“You can’t hold two people prisoner against their will,” Rupert yelled as he moved to the window.
Bonnie jumped away from the door to his side, gripping the windowsill. “We can pry it open and climb out the window.”
Rupert shook his head. “They’ve nailed all the windows shut from the outside.”
“What?” Bonnie’s voice rose an octave. She turned and banged on the window a few times, hesitating only when the image of shattered glass and her hands a bloody mess came to her mind. “Let us out!”