by Terri Grace
Scorned and Widowed Mother of Twins Dares to Believe in Love Once Again
Romance Short Story
Terri Grace
Contents
1. A Personal Word from Terri
2. Scorned and Widowed Mother of Twins Dares to Believe in Love Once Again
Also by Terri Grace
Thank You for Reading
Chapter 1
A Personal Word from Terri
Thank you so much for picking up one of my books. Without you, the reader, not one of these stories would ever come alive. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing! Also, make sure you sign up for new releases and pick up a copy of my free short story collection if you have not already done so. It would be great to keep in touch.
Much love,
Terri Grace (Author)
Thank you for choosing a PureRead Romance. As a way to thank you we would also like to give you a beautiful short story collection by Terri Grace.
Cry Of The Heart Short Story Collection
Chapter 2
Scorned and Widowed Mother of Twins Dares to Believe in Love Once Again
Nat and Nat, or more like nut and nut, Victoria thought as she ran after her boisterous five-year-old twins, Natalie and Nathaniel. Anyone seeing the twenty-six-year-old with her two children could be forgiven for thinking that she was their nanny and not their mother. She looked barely out of childhood herself.
“Nat, come back here,” she said laughingly, knowing they were just teasing her. For five-year-olds, the two children were very obedient, but cheeky nonetheless. They loved coming to New York Central Park during spring, and she always made sure that she allowed them to have plenty of fresh air.
Victoria loved her children, in spite of the tough life they had made her pass through. She never once regretted having her twins and being a single mother – one who was often mocked by people when they discovered that she wasn’t a widow, but a divorcee, even though it was not by her choice.
Finally catching up with her children, she held them close and they cuddled together – all of them seated on the short grass that had just been trimmed that morning. It was getting late and she had to get them home before they fell asleep.
“Did you have a lovely time?”
Two dark, sleepy heads nodded.
Hailing a chaise, she soon bundled them inside.
As she watched them sleeping side by side, Victoria was taken back in time. Samuel should be here with her, watching as their lovely children slept. Then she smiled sadly. That would never happen, for he had mercilessly thrown her out of his house, all because she had questioned his relationship with his friend’s wife. He had turned on her and called her an adulterous woman who was no longer interested him, and even rejected the children she was carrying.
She had returned to New York from whence she had come as a mail-order bride. Her pastor had warned her about the dangers of getting married to a man who was not a Christian, but she had been too much in love with Samuel Granger from Oakland, California to heed her pastor’s advice. Though she had never met the man before she went out to him, she had believed him when he told her that, though he was not a Christian, he had been baptized as a child and her love would see him make a commitment to the church.
“It is not about being committed to the church, Victoria,” Reverend Emmanuel Sikes had told her. “Salvation is not religion or going to church; it’s all about having a personal relationship with the Savior of the world. I’m afraid you are getting yourself into a lot of heartache and pain.”
And she really had, knowing almost from the beginning that she had made a big mistake. Her marriage lasted exactly three months, after which time she found out that the man who had promised to love and cherish her was having an affair with his friend’s wife. As she was pondering what to do, she found out that she was expecting, and when she decided to tell her husband, in the hope of him returning home, he threw her out.
She returned to New York and fell at her pastor’s feet, begging his forgiveness for not having listened to his wise counsel.
A few weeks later, the certificate of divorce had come in the mail, signifying the end of her brief marriage.
Sylvester Black stepped out of the carriage and his mother and two sisters came running down the steps, screaming for all they were worth. It was good to be home, and he was glad to have been discharged from his duties as an army captain attached to the embassy in London, England. For seven years he’d not seen his family, only communicating with them through letters.
His sisters, who were twins and identical save for their hair color, were no longer the small teenage girls he had left behind. They were now fully grown and both married. He saw two tall men standing and looking on in amusement, and guessed them to be his brothers-in-law.
“Sylvester, you’re very thin,” were his mother’s first words. Tears rolled down her plump cheeks. “We thought we would never see you again, especially when we received the news that you’d contracted cholera and typhoid.”
“Mama.” He hugged her, then his sisters. “The Lord has been my help and by His mercies I’m alive and back home again.”
“When will you be returning to work?” Nicole, his youngest sister, asked, a frown on her brow.
“Never. I’ve served my term and got my full discharge. So I’m home to stay.”
“I’m so happy!” Margaret burst into tears and he pulled her close. She always cried when she was happy.
“Madge, if you continue crying, your husband will come down the stairs and cuff me, thinking I’ve made his beloved sad.”
“Ian knows that I’ve missed you.” Madge sniffed and turning to look at one of the tall men, who waved at her.
Sylvester was happy to see that his sisters had made good matches, and when he finally detached himself from the females of his family, he approached the two men with outstretched hands. “If we don’t hug, those women will believe that I’ve not accepted you into the family and we shall receive the nagging of our lives,” he said.
The two men laughed, hugging him in turns.
Sylvester turned to his mother and sisters. “See, I love my brothers-in-law already.”
Victoria stared at the small envelope in her hands, recognizing the handwriting as belonging to Mr. Roger Patterson, her husband’s attorney. The last letter had come to her almost five years ago, and it had been a larger envelope containing the certificate of divorce, which she had been advised to sign and had done so without any argument.
She had also written to Samuel, informing him of the birth of the twins, and had never heard back from him.
She checked on the twins, who were playing quietly in the small corridor that led from the mercantile store and to their simple living quarters behind. It was mid-afternoon and since the summer sun was very hot, she didn’t expect any customers soon, so she had time to open the envelope and read it. Its contents had her staring for a full five minutes, not believing her eyes.
* * *
Dear Miss Victoria Miller,
This is to notify you of the sad demise of Samuel Granger of Oakland, California. This is only a polite notification of his death since we are informing everyone who knew him. Since Samuel was legally married to Hellen Granger, nee White and begot two legitimate sons with her, neither you nor your children stand to inherit anything, since their parentage was suspect and we expect that you have married again. Therefore, kindly refrain yourself from making any claims on the late Samuel Grange
r’s estate.
Yours faithfully,
Roger Patterson, Esq.
* * *
What made her weep wasn’t the fact that she and her children had been disinherited; it was the unfairness of the twins never getting to know their father. Even though Samuel had put her away, she had remained virtuous because she believed that, for as long as her husband was still living, she could never marry another. Apparently, Samuel had married immediately and gone on to sire two sons.
With tears coursing down her cheeks, Victoria stood at the doorway watching her children as they played together, oblivious of what was going on around them. Her friends at church said she had the happiest children they knew, which was a testimony to their good upbringing.
It was Nathaniel who noticed her first. He held out his broken toy. “Mama, look. The train is broken.”
“Yes, my love, it is broken.” She stooped and hugged him, even though he protested. His sister Natalie threw herself at their mother, hugging her knees. For a moment Victoria forgot all the pain that Samuel had caused her. She would forgive him – had in fact forgiven him from the moment her twins were placed in her arms. They were the best gift he had ever given her and for that alone, she wished him no ill.
It was time to put it all behind her and bring up her children as best as she could.
Sylvester didn’t know how to respond to his mother’s revelations.
“Your cousin died and, let me tell you, Sylvester, that boy lived a really troubled life in spite of all his wealth.”
Sylvester hadn’t seen his cousin for many years, and doubted that Samuel had ever cared about anything apart from himself and his comforts. Being the only son among four sisters had made his mother pamper him and, even as an adult of thirty-three, Sylvester still remembered how much he’d disliked playing with his mean cousin. Now the man was dead and they would never get the chance to reconcile the family again.
“What’s worse,” Jemimah Black went on, “he married a sweet girl from New York and made her life a living hell. Poor girl was divorced almost as soon as she was married. Her name was Victoria Miller. A few of the old servants were wondering if the girl and her children would be brought back from New York. That’s how I came to know about her.
“What happened to the girl?”
“She was divorced after being married for only three months. According to Emelda, she was pregnant with another man’s child at the time of her marriage to her son.”
“Really? Was that true?”
“Of course not.” Jemimah snorted. “I asked the servants and they all said the girl was a virtuous Christian girl who had kept herself pure for her marriage bed, but your cousin had a mistress whom he would not leave, and so he had to find an excuse to tarnish the poor girl’s name. Victoria bore twins – a boy and a girl.”
“Why was my cousin so wicked?”
Jemimah shrugged. “Why are people wicked, my son? We will never know, but he’s dead now and Emelda informed me that Samuel’s Will made no provision for Victoria and her children.”
“The Lord will take care of them,” Sylvester said, soon dismissing his cousin’s issues. He had his own matters to deal with, the first being that it was time for him to find a wife and settle down. His mother told him that there were hardly any Christian girls who were unattached in Sacramento, and if he really wanted to marry, he would probably have to find himself a mail-order bride.
“You are now a free woman, and can get married again if you so wish, Victoria. With the death of your husband, you’re no longer under his authority, so to speak. But—” the middle aged man held up a warning finger – “only if the man you find is a born-again believer.”
“Reverend Emmanuel, with all the pain I went through with Samuel Granger, I think he cured me of my childish dreams and fantasies. My children are my world now, and I’m not sure that I want to go through the pain of a terrible marriage ever again, so….” She shook her head. “Marriage is out of the question for me.”
“Child, don’t let one terrible experience make you shut your heart to love that comes from God. Out there somewhere is a man who will truly appreciate your worth and make you realize that not all marriages are as terrible as your first one was.”
Victoria was not convinced but she was in no mood to argue with the cleric. She had only felt it polite to inform him about Samuel’s death. Besides, who would want to take on a woman with two children? She loved her children so deeply that she couldn’t bear the thought of anyone rejecting them again. Perhaps it was because she’d been brought up by foster-parents, after her own passed away very early in her lives, that she desired to have children of her own to love and cherish. Her foster-parents had been good to her, but she always felt as though she never belonged, and when she turned eighteen she’d left home because she felt that they no longer had any room for her.
To be married again was not something she ever thought about, even though she had seen a few happy couples in church – her pastor and his wife, Alicia, being one of them.
“Mama?”
“Yes, my love?” Victoria turned to her son, who was scratching his stomach, having just woken up from his afternoon nap. “Where’s your sister?”
“Nattie is still sleeping.” Nathaniel looked at her with solemn gray eyes that reminded her so much of Samuel. His son would grow up to look so much like him, and she was once again filled with regrets about what might have been.
“Mama, Sandy and Walter and Victor have their papas.”
Victoria listened wide-eyed as her son rattled on the names of his friends who had fathers. Then came the question she had been dreading. She had expected that when the twins got to their teens they would begin asking about their parentage, but apparently Nathaniel John Granger had his own ideas about timing.
“Mama, why don’t we have a papa? Where is our papa, me and Natalie?”
She was trying to teach her children proper grammar and usually corrected them, but not this time. Her son wasn’t laughing and he wanted an answer. Natalie could be convinced to forget all about what she had asked, but not Nathaniel. He would hound her until she got tired and gave him the information he sought. Her son was stubborn like that! Maybe it was time to introduce death to the children, but how would she do it without confusing them?
“Mama, where’s our papa?” Nathaniel insisted, moving to stand right in front of his mother, which was his habit when he felt that he was being ignored.
Victoria sighed and crouched so that she was at eye-level with him.
“When Natalie wakes up, I’ll tell you all about your papa, all right? Now go and wash up and then come and take your afternoon snack.”
“Yes, Mama.”
Victoria listened as Nathaniel went into the bedroom they all shared. She heard him waking his sister up, and had to smile. “Nattie, wake up. Mama wants to tell us where our papa is. Wake up, sleepy head.”
Natalie murmured something to the effect of being left alone but her brother was having none of it, and a few minutes later her children returned to the store and headed for the small table at which she had set out milk and cookies for them. They wanted answers, or at least Nathaniel did, and Victoria prayed for wisdom and strength.
“You papa lived in a land far, far away,” she started.
“Will you take us to see him?” Nathaniel demanded, forgetting about his snack.
“Do you remember Mrs. Marigold?”
The twins nodded.
“Do you remember when she went to sleep and didn’t wake up?”
“She died,” Nathaniel blurted out, turning to explain the details to his sister, who nodded in understanding. “Sandy told me that his mama told him that Mrs. Marigold died.”
“Yes, Mrs. Marigold died.” Victoria sighed. She was doubtful whether she would have known about something like death at five years old. Children were growing up so fast, and her own were just too intelligent for her own comfort. “Well, your papa also slept and never woke up.”
Nathaniel looked at her, his face scrunched up as if he was thinking deeply, then he turned to his sister. “Nattie, our papa is in heaven with Jesus,” he said and Victoria sighed. The Sunday School teachers always told children that anyone who died had gone to be with Jesus in heaven. Maybe they should rethink their answers to the little ones, who were becoming more intelligent with each passing generation.
“Mama, did you cry? Mrs. Marigold’s sister cried very much. Did you cry for Papa? Where you sad?”
Now how does one answer such a question? Of course she had cried, but not for the reasons her son thought.
“Yes, I was sad and I cried.”
Natalie made a sound of distress as her milk spilled onto her frock. Nathaniel, ever the chivalrous little man, turned to help her, assuring her that Mama would wash the frock and it would be clean again. Victoria was glad for the respite, which was brief.
“Mama, will you find us a new papa? Smith and Melissa got a new papa. That’s what they told me.”
Victoria groaned inwardly again.
Nathaniel didn’t stop pestering his mother about finding him and his sister a new father and in desperation she turned to Alicia, their pastor’s wife, for counsel.
“Mrs. Alicia, Nathan won’t give me any peace. From the moment he wakes up he begins nagging me. If I tell him I’m not strong enough to do something like lift the aisle shelf so he can find his toys, he tells me that if he had a papa, he would ask him. The other day Natalie had a bad dream and woke up crying, and the boy didn’t even bat an eyelid before saying that if they had a papa, he would chase the bad dreams away. He’s only a small boy; how does he know and expect so much?”