by Lena Hart
Except this storm didn’t include wind or lightning, but it shook her world just the same.
She sat on the hard bench of the small jail cell, the stale odor of urine reminding her of the chaos that still surrounded her. She had been charged with two crimes but couldn’t decide which of the two were the most ludicrous—the fact that she was being held responsible for her husband’s actions or because it was against the state’s law to be married to him.
She couldn’t fault James for doing what he did. It had quite possibly saved her life. But if she could redo that moment in the veteran home, she would. Watching Will’s death had been heartbreaking. Watching the aftermath, the expression on James’s face after, had been devastating.
Madeline didn’t want to be the cause of anyone’s death, though she understood James had done it to protect her. But now he would have to live with that decision and she hadn’t even had a chance to speak to him before they’d brought her down to the cells.
Now, she was trapped in the eye of the tornado with no way out.
Madeline clasped her hands together, her fingers grazing the empty wrist holster that was still tied around her wrist. She stared down at the brown leather material that had spurred these horrific turn of events.
Madeline quickly unbuckled the holster and ripped it away from her wrist. She threw it across the dirty cell just as something scurried across her feet. She jerked her legs back and caught only a glimpse of the rat’s tail before it disappeared into a crack in the wall.
Dear God, why is this happening?
Her eyes burned as frustration and anger began to settle in her. To be sitting here because her husband had saved her life felt incredibly wrong. To be here because she was married to him was the real injustice.
The jangle of keys slid into the door. She jumped to her feet and rushed towards the bars, hoping the Sherriff had recognized the error of his decision and had come to free her. Her heart sank when she realized a hand-cuffed James was being led inside.
“Jimmy!”
“Maddie.”
He pulled away from the guard, but was jerked back and given a swift punch in the gut. James grunted and doubled over. Something in her twisted with outrage.
“Leave him be, damn you!”
The guard snapped his hard gaze toward her. “Mind your tongue, missy.” He opened the cell beside hers and shoved James inside. “I better not get any trouble from you two.”
Madeline rushed to the other side of her cell. The only things that separated them now were a few iron bars. She took what solace she could from that. She waited until the guard left them alone before she called out to him.
“Are you all right, Jimmy?”
Madeline reached her hand between the opening of two bars. James took her hand, leaned close and just that small contact was enough to give her renewed hope. They would get through this—they had already survived much worst.
He leaned his head against the bars. “I’m so sorry, Ladybug.”
She shook her head. “For what? You did nothing wrong. We did nothing wrong.”
He blew out a weary breath. “I know. But it doesn’t change the fact that we are both in here because of what I did.” He fell silent for a moment before he said quietly, “I should have never taken you to the veteran home. I should have never put you in danger like that.”
Madeline gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry for what happened to your friend, Jimmy, but you saved my life. You took a life for me. Your friend’s life. I regret that you had to make that choice, but I don’t regret being alive.”
James shut his eye. “Will was a good man. You would have liked him, Maddie. But after the war…after we were released from that prison camp, it was like his mind just snapped and there was nothing I could do to fix it.”
“It wasn’t your responsibility to fix him, Jimmy. Don’t put that burden on yourself.”
He opened his eye and stared at her. “Yet, I didn’t think twice about taking his life, Maddie. I just reacted. I didn’t even think about it.”
Tears burned in the back of Madeline’s eyes. She hated the pain she felt radiating from him, and hated the situation that kept her from being able to hold him.
“You saved my life, Jimmy,” she said again. “Had I been faced with the same decision, I wouldn’t have done any different. I love you and would do anything in my power to protect you too. I would always choose you.”
“You have two choices, Jim. You can either leave Nebraska or get an annulment.”
James narrowed his eyes at Clay. “That’s not much of a choice.”
“It’s not, I know. But they will drop all charges under those conditions. Except, Jim, you will be banned from returning to Dunesville if Madeline decides to stay there.”
In the next cell, Madeline visibly tensed. James hated the position they were being forced into. They had barely had a chance to enjoy their marriage, or even spend a proper wedding night together. Hell, the ink on their marriage certificate wasn’t even dry yet. Now, he was expected to just walk away from the woman he loved?
James regarded Clay evenly. “I’m not leaving my wife.”
“And we can’t leave Nebraska,” Madeline said. “Dunesville is already down one teacher. I need to stay and help. I have a commitment there I have to fulfill.”
James glanced over at her, hating that they were still separated by the damn cell bars, yet grateful that she was close. Clay had made it down to the prison as soon as he had heard of their arrest, but from what it sounded like, the charges were likely to be upheld.
Unless they turned their backs on the people of Dunesville.
James couldn’t imagine doing that and he wouldn’t expect Madeline to either. It was clear this voting season wouldn’t be made easy for the colored men of this town and they could use all the support they could get. But in order for Madeline to see her mission through, they would have to end their marriage.
That, James wouldn’t do.
“There has to be another way, Clay. We have to fight this.”
“I’m willing to do that, Jim, but you have to know what you’re getting yourself into. I’m waiting to hear if a bail has been set. If one has, it could also come with stipulations that could still keep you two separated from each other. And if we do take this to trial, it could take weeks, maybe even months, to fight.”
James gritted his teeth in frustration. “Maddie’s my wife and I intend to spend my life with her. Why is that anyone’s business?”
Clay shrugged. “It isn’t, but unfortunately it’s the law.”
A heavy sense of failure and dread began to settle in James’ gut. He looked over at Madeline and recognized the same loss of hope in her eyes. She had said she would always choose him, but did he want to force her to make that decision?
Her work at the school was important to her, which made it important to him. He didn’t want to force her to choose between him and her mission, but neither did he want to be apart from her until that mission was complete.
“I love my wife, Clay,” he said, still holding her gaze. “And I want to be with her.”
Tears filled Madeline’s eyes, but she smiled despite the fact that whatever they decided, heartbreak was inevitable.
“There may be another way,” Clay began. “Though, it may be a stretch.”
James’s brows pulled together and he turned his gaze to his lawyer. “What are you thinking?”
Clay rubbed this chin. “Tell me more about your great-grandmother…”
Chapter Eleven
“Okay, they’ve agreed on a settlement.”
James stared at Clay through the cell bars, suspicious. “Does it include me and Maddie still being together?”
“Yes. You can remain married, and in Dunesville if you’d like. You just have to sign an affidavit acknowledging that you’re a colored man.”
James head jerked in surprise. “What? That’s ludicrous. Surely, you see that.”
“I do, but
we can spend the next few months fighting this in court or we can get this done and over with. And have you and your wife out of this jail.”
James turned to Madeline. If it would free them from this hell and keep them together, he would do it.
“Okay.”
Clay blinked in surprise. “Okay?”
“Yes, I’ll do it.”
“Are you absolutely certain about this?” Clay hesitated before he handed him the document. “You do understand what you’re giving up, right?”
“I know,” James said. He would be giving up his rights to move freely and without prejudice in a country that placed the value and worthiness of a man based on the color of his skin. “But it doesn’t matter what anyone considers me. In the end, I know what I’m gaining.”
James signed the papers and by that afternoon, he and Madeline were freed and on their way back to Dunesville.
By late afternoon, they rode into the small community and, to his astonishment, a small crowd had gathered to welcome them back.
He was also surprised by the questions and praise that came from all directions.
“It’s nice what you did for Miss Madeline…”
“Is it true, what they say, Mr. Jim? Are you a colored man?”
“I don’t think I’d ever see the day a white man claim he’s a colored man when he’s not…”
James didn’t know whether to laugh or groan at the barrage of claims and questions.
“It wasn’t a lie,” he said instead, as he assisted Madeline down from the wagon. “My great-grandmother was half-African and half-Native American. She was born of the Oneida tribe in the Iroquois nation. Unfortunately, a lot of that culture is foreign to me, since many of the customs were lost or diluted in my family over the years.”
“Why didn’t you mentioned any of this before?” Reverend Linc asked.
James shrugged. “It’s not something I intended to hide from, but it isn’t a heritage I intend to exploit either.” It was just a part of who he was.
Yet, in exposing that part of himself, he now opened himself to being judged and treated as less than. James hated being gawked at, but instead of curiosity or weariness, the crowd of black and brown faces regarded him with admiration and wonder. In all his twenty-eight years, James had never felt more self-aware of his heritage than he did now.
And he never felt more accepted for it.
He smiled to the small crowd. “Thank you all for the warm welcome, but Maddie and I had a trying few days and would like to get some rest.” He took her hand and started toward the direction of the red cabins.
“How does it feel to be a colored man?” someone asked as they moved through the small crowd.
James thought about the past two nights in the uncomfortable cell, the uncertainty that had surrounded their future, and the mental and emotional upheaval they had been put through.
“It’s damn exhausting.”
A big barrel of a man let out a shout of laughter, and then thumped him on the shoulder as he passed. James couldn’t stop the smile that curved his lips.
“You goddamn right it is!”
Madeline sat on the edge of her bed, not realizing just how weary she was until they were finally alone. But beyond the fatigue that weighed her down on the mattress was the whirl of emotion that still spiraled wildly inside her.
The uncertainty of the past two days had left her tense and more afraid than she had ever been in her life. She had only just gotten James back, had barely gotten to enjoy the simple pleasure of having him as her husband, and just like that he had almost been taken away from her.
“I know you must be exhausted, love,” James said by the door then placed his hat on his head. “I’ll let you rest and I’ll find something for us to eat.”
She shook her head, a slow panic building in her when she realized he intended to leave. But she was unable to find the words to tell him she wasn’t ready to let him go. Not yet.
He frowned over at her. “Maddie, you have to eat something.”
She swallowed hard as she stared at him, the words she wanted so desperately to say lodged in her throat by a powerful emotion she couldn’t place.
He came toward her, his expression softening. “It’s all right, Maddie. Once you’ve had some rest, you’ll feel—”
Moving with a speed she didn’t know she had, Madeline flew off the bed and threw her arms around him. His strong arms wrapped instinctively around her. She held him tight as if it were the first and last time, because if life had taught her anything, it was that nothing was certain and moments like this were sacred.
“I don’t need rest, Jimmy,” she murmured against the crook of his neck. “And I don’t need food. I need you.”
Madeline lifted her head and his lips came crashing over hers. They moved in a frenzy, jerking at each other’s clothing, their movements awkward as she couldn’t seem to tear her lips away from his long enough to get her gown off. Eventually, her dress fell at her feet and she stood before him in her undergarments.
James’ gaze ran down the length of her as his fingers flew down the column of buttons on his shirt. At the blatant desire on his face, her nipples hardened and pushed against the thin material of her shift. Eager to see and feel all of him, Madeline began undoing the buckle of his trousers. He jerked the shirt from his wide shoulders, letting it fall from his body, and it was soon followed by his pants.
Madeline glanced down at his torso and froze. The scars that slashed across his skin were jarring. She reached out and lightly traced her fingers against the more pronounced of his battle marks. It ran across his chest and down his side.
James stood motionless under her touch, and Madeline glanced up at him to find him watching her intently. She couldn’t read what was in his gaze and that realization served as a painful reminder of all the damage and pain they still kept hidden away from each other.
Suddenly, Madeline wanted no more barriers between them. Reaching down at the hem of her shift, she peeled the garment over her head and stood naked before him. James closed the gap between them and pulled her into his arms. Her breasts pushed against the hard expanse of his chest, sending a surge of desire coursing through her.
He captured her lips in another deep, consuming kiss and Madeline clutched at his shoulder as he moved them down on the bed. He came over her and settled himself between her thighs. His hard shaft pushed between her soft folds and she released a small sigh at the delicious sensation.
“You’re truly the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen,” James murmured as he trailed his lips along her neck.
A shiver passed through her and her eyes fluttered open. Madeline stared at him, then reached up to pull away his eye patch. He jerked his head back.
“Don’t, Maddie.” He was rigid above her. “It’s not—”
“Shh, it’s okay.” She cupped his face and pulled him down for a slow, tender kiss. “I don’t want any more barriers between us, Jimmy.”
She placed another lingering kiss on his lips, then reached for the patch again. He shut his eye but didn’t stop her. She peeled away the black leather covering and stared at his mutilated flesh. Tears sprang unexpectedly in her eyes—not from pity, but from the jolting realization of just how fortunate she was. The man she loved had returned home to her, whole and complete. He may carry the vicious marks of a long, brutal war on his face, but in his core, her Jimmy was still very much the man he had always been—noble, kind, and unbelievably grounded.
Madeline blinked away her tears and pressed her lips just above his brow, and then his cheek. “I love you, Jimmy.” She looped her arms around him and lifted her legs high against his hips. “You’re by far the loveliest man I know.”
He stared down at her and she smiled up at him. There was an emotion in his eye that she was all too familiar with. It was the kind of feeling that was too heavy, too forceful, to express with mere words.
Instead, they let the bonds of the flesh cement their love for each other.
James entered her with a tenderness that made her cry out from the incredible pleasure. He captured her moans and gasps in his mouth as he thrust rhythmically above her. She clung to him as her body clenched fiercely around him. With every deep stroke, he drove away the last of her remaining shadows and replaced them with his warm touch, his heady scent, and his intoxicating taste—until finally, they both came apart in a burst of explosive pleasure.
In the aftermath, she nestled against his side as his hand gently ran down her lower back. They lay silently in each other’s arms for a while, but Madeline could sense the thoughts running in his mind.
She brushed her fingers absently along his chest. “What are you thinking about?”
He took her hand and laced their fingers together. “That if I had my way, I would take us far from this intolerant place, to a place where we can just…be.”
“Like what your great-grandfather did when he whisked your great-grandmother away to Canada?”
“I’ve told you that story, huh?”
There was feigned bemusement in his voice and Madeline chuckled. “Just a handful of times.”
And she didn’t mind hearing about it a dozen more times. She could never tire hearing the romantic and daring tale of how a brave Siaragowaeh had saved a wounded English soldier from certain death during America’s rebellion against the British and had ultimately fallen in love. Their fascinating story read like something from a dime novel. The risks James’ great-grandmother had taken by caring for a fallen soldier proved what kind of courage and selflessness such a woman had possessed. And luckily those same traits had been passed down to her children and her children’s children.
Madeline would have never believed such a love capable of surviving back in those early times, but the hard, warm frame she rested against was evidence of how two souls from completely different worlds could defy those odds. Out of nothing more than their love, James’ great-grandparents had created a life for themselves and raised a family deep in the moorlands of Canada. Such a life sounded like the kind of peaceful bliss Madeline’s old self would have been willing to leave everything behind for.