Lee shrugged. “She’s in charge of food around here, and she’s your mother. I hope you can find a way to obey her and not cause problems that would make her want to fix Hamm for dinner.” He needed the boys to know that he fully supported Jasmine in whatever she did. She was their new mother, and she was going to be a part of their lives forever.
Both boys sat back, realizing they were going to have to behave, because they would get no help from their father.
The day went much smoother than the previous day. Neither of them tried to play any jokes on Jasmine, and she thought they’d gotten enough. She wouldn’t do anything like that again as long as the boys didn’t give her cause to.
She made sure everyone bathed that night so they could go to church the following morning. She would see her mother and aunt for the last time before they headed back to Seattle.
*****
Jasmine was nervous as she rode with Lee and the twins to church the following morning. Her family would be joining them for lunch at the restaurant before they left town that afternoon, and she was both excited to be going to church with her new family, and nervous that people would think she wasn’t good enough to be with Lee and his boys.
On the way there, she talked to them about what she expected from their behavior. “During church you will sit still and pay attention to the pastor, right?” She emphasized the last word, making it clear that she expected their agreement.
They both nodded, each of them still nervous about what she’d done the previous day.
“And you will both be on your best behavior before and after church? I don’t want to hear about you playing practical jokes on anyone in the congregation. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Ma,” they chorused together, knowing she meant business.
Jasmine turned back around in her seat and smiled at her husband. “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”
It took everything Lee had inside him not to laugh. His sweet little bride was an absolute hellion, and he couldn’t imagine anyone else who would be able to parent his boys half as well.
Once they were at church, she took her spot in the front pew. “We always sit at the back,” Lee protested. “I always have to drag at least one boy out of church by his ear.” He was certain Jasmine wasn't thinking about his boys' behavior when she chose the front pew.
Jasmine smiled sweetly. “Not this morning.” She turned and saw Daisy heading toward her with Dinah in her arms. She held out her arms for the baby. “She’s getting so big!” As soon as the baby was placed in her arms, Jasmine snuggled Dinah to her.
Daisy grinned at her younger sister. “How’s it going with the terrible twosome?”
Jasmine grinned. “Let’s just say they decided to start a prank war with me.” She knew her sister would understand immediately how crazy the boys had been for that.
Daisy giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. “Are they still standing?” She looked around for the boys and finally spotted them at the back of the church. “They look all right to me…”
Jasmine laughed. “I don’t think they’ll be trying that again anytime soon.”
Mary shook her head. “You girls have gotten awfully close in the last few months. Maybe we should send Hyacinth out here. Something has to draw that girl out of her shell.”
Daisy wrinkled her nose at her mother. “Hyacinth isn’t shy, though, Mama.”
“No, she’s not, but I swear she doesn’t know what’s going on around her. It’s gotten even worse since Jasmine left. She keeps walking into walls.”
Jasmine giggled, because she could see her sister doing that with no problem. “That’s just how Hyacinth is, Mama.” Hyacinth had always been that way.
Mary ignored Jasmine. “Where are those sweet new grandsons of mine?”
Jasmine nodded toward the back of the church. “We’re all sitting together. You’ll see them as soon as the service starts.” She started to ask her mother if she would help her with them but decided against it. If she could handle them at home, she could handle them at church.
Mary smiled as she watched the boys. “They are going to love their cousins.”
Jasmine and Daisy exchanged a look. Now that she was married, the boys were perfect, because Mary was now their grandmother.
After service that morning, Jasmine was surrounded by the ladies of the church, all of them wanting to welcome her to the congregation or wish her luck with the boys. She got a great deal of compliments on their behavior that morning, because they’d sat still at the front of the church, for once, acting as if they were actually listening to what the preacher had to say.
Finally, she looked over at Lee and he walked toward her, offering his arm as they left the church. “The boys were good this morning,” he said with surprise in his tone.
“Of course, they were.” Jasmine had no doubt that she’d be able to get the boys to behave quickly, and she’d been right. She understood the twins in a way no other woman ever would.
As they approached the wagon, Lee slipped his arm around her waist and leaned down to nuzzle her neck. “Maybe we should send the boys home with your sister after lunch,” he whispered. “It’s Mrs. Banks’s day off.”
Jasmine grinned up at him, loving that idea. There was never enough time for her to be alone with her new husband. No wonder people said starting a marriage when one or both of you already had children was harder.
Lee helped her up into the wagon, kissing her hand as he backed away. Jasmine tried to warn him just as he bumped into a petite woman with blond hair that she’d never seen before. “Excuse me,” he said as he turned around with a laugh stuck in his throat.
As he looked into the face of the woman he’d almost knocked over, he felt the blood drain from his face. “Gloria?” It couldn’t be. She was dead. She had been for seven years.
“Hello, Lee.”
Chapter Six
Jasmine stared down at the woman who was apparently her husband’s…wife. What on earth was going on? That woman was supposed to have been dead and buried years before. What was she doing there?
She wasn’t ready to hear any explanations. She felt her perfect world crashing down around her. Jumping down from the wagon without help, she walked to where the boys were sitting on the wagon bed. “Come on boys. We’ll walk to the restaurant.” She didn’t wait for Lee to say anything, because he seemed to have been rendered speechless. She took the boys by their hands and marched them down the street to the restaurant where she was meeting her family. She wasn't going to stand around and watch while Lee talked to his wife.
*****
Lee stared into the face of a ghost. If Gloria hadn't died seven years before where had she been all this time? He was vaguely aware of Jasmine gathering the boys and going on to the restaurant, and he made a mental note to thank her for getting them away from the situation. She always seemed to know the right thing to do.
"Lee? I've missed you." Gloria smiled up at him as if it had only been a week since they'd seen one another. She looked much the same as she had the last time he'd seen her over seven years before.
He stared at her in disbelief. "You missed me? How about our boys? Did you miss them? They're seven now, and they've believed their entire lives that their mother was dead." How could she stand in front of him acting as if everything was right with the world when she'd abandoned them? How could any mother abandon their three month old sons? What was wrong with her that she wasn't ashamed?
Gloria had the grace to look embarrassed. "Well, as you can see, I'm very much alive." She smiled at him sweetly, reaching out to touch his arm.
He jerked away from her. "I'm a married man." As he said the words his heart fell. Was he really a married woman? He'd married Jasmine, but didn't that really make him a bigamist? Was that even legal in Montana?
"Yes, you are. You're married to me." She shook her head. "Who was that red-headed whore you were just with?"
"The woman I thought was my wife!" he yelled. He too
k deep breaths trying to calm his temper. This woman abandoned his family and now she was back and had the audacity to call his new wife a whore? Jasmine loved the boys in a way Gloria had never dreamed of loving anyone but herself.
Gloria backed up a step, and Lee was struck by how very different this woman was from Jasmine. If he'd ever yelled at Jasmine, she'd have taken a step toward him, not away, and gone toe to toe with him until he backed down. "Well, I guess you were mistaken," she said in a small voice. "Why would you marry someone else?"
Lee took a deep gulping breath, doing his best to control his temper. He'd thought this woman was normal? She wasn't. He'd learned that real women have passion and feelings. It wasn't until that moment that he realized he loved Jasmine with everything inside him. How could he not? "I married Jasmine because I love her. She's a good mother for our boys." She was the mother Gloria never could have been. He had a sudden absurd urge to kneel at the feet of this woman and thank her for leaving. She'd made all their lives so much better when she'd abandoned them.
"I'm the boys' mother, not some random floozy who steals other women's husbands." Gloria shook her head as if she couldn't believe he would talk about Jasmine as if she were a good person.
"Where have you been, Gloria?" he asked, his voice filled with sadness. She didn't even realize that she was in the wrong. It was as if she thought she'd done the right thing by running off no matter what kind of bind he was left in.
"I don't know what you mean!" Gloria backed away another step, obviously afraid of the look on his face.
"You left my house seven years ago and never came back. Where have you been all this time?" Lee couldn't believe she thought she could just come back and act as if nothing had happened. "You left in the middle of the night without saying goodbye to me or the boys, and you expect me to just welcome you back with open arms?"
Gloria sighed. "I caught a train back East. My grandmother stills lives in New York, and she was happy to welcome me home."
"I see. Why did you leave?" He tried to keep the hurt out of his voice as he asked the question. He didn't want her back, but he had to know what had happened all those years ago. How could he have left her two tiny infant sons? Now, sure, any woman would leave them now, but then? They had done nothing to deserve her behavior.
She shrugged. "I didn't like being a mother. I didn't much like being a wife either. I think I was too young for the responsibilities that came with parenthood." She looked down at her hands as if she were embarrassed about what happened. "I wandered out into the storm hoping I'd die."
"But you didn't. Did you know they found a young blond woman whose face had been so badly mutilated they assumed it was you after that storm let up?" Lee had never encountered such a selfish creature in his life. How on earth had he once that he loved her?
She nodded. "I did know that. I knew that's why you weren't looking for me." She took a deep breath. "I hid in a barn until the next morning, and I told the farmer that found me that my husband hit me. He gave me the money to travel to my grandmother, which I then sent back to him when I got there." She sighed. "I know it was dishonest, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
Lee shook his head slowly. "No, I can't. I can't ever forgive you for abandoning me and my boys." He said a quick prayer for patience. "Why did you come back here? Did you really think I'd welcome you with open arms?" That was the real question at this point. What did she want from him? And how long before she left them all alone again?
Gloria shook her head. "No, I met a man back east, you see. He knows all about you and the boys, and he paid for a lawyer to draw up divorce papers. I have them back at the hotel."
Lee breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, that's a good idea. I'll sign the papers." And then he could marry Jasmine again. How was he ever going to explain to his spitfire of a wife that he wasn't really married to her?
"I...well after seeing you, and seeing the boys, I've realized that I still love you. I don't want to marry Alfred." Her eyes were wide as she stared at him beseechingly. "I want to stay here with you and the boys."
Lee shook his head. "There's no way. Just bring me the papers to sign, and you can be on your way. I'm married to someone else now. She's a good woman, and she loves the boys more than I ever thought a step-mother could." He was surprised by just how little desire he had to even talk to her. He did not want this woman back in his life.
"But she's their step-mother. I'm their real mother. She could never love them like I do."
Lee was so angry, he was no longer able to use any diplomacy at all. "You don't love them! When you love someone, you stay with them and work out your problems." He shook his head. "Jasmine took one look at those boys and knew they needed to be hers. You took one look at them and wanted to get away. She's a real mother to them." He knew he was being harsh, but he didn't regret the words one bit. He just wanted her to go away so he could get on with his life. He'd finally found the woman who had completed him, and he wasn't giving her up for anything.
Gloria sighed, obviously annoyed by what he's said. "I'll make you a deal, Lee. Let me have a week to get to know you and my boys again. If you still want me to go at the end of the week, I'll give you the papers to sign, and I'll go home to Vermont. I deserve a week, though."
Lee shook his head. "You deserve nothing from me." He turned on his heel and walked away, heading toward his wife and sons at the restaurant. He walked instead of driving, because he knew he needed to cool off before he could face his sweet Jasmine. She was going to skin him alive.
*****
When Jasmine arrived at the restaurant, she didn’t say a word to her mother or aunt, but instead, walked straight into Daisy’s arms and cried. “It appears I’m not married after all.” She pulled her handkerchief from her bag. “The boys and I will need to live with you for a while.” She wiped her eyes as she waited for Daisy to agree, not that it mattered if she did or not. She and the boys were moving in with her.
Daisy’s eyes widened and she stared at her sister and then at the twin boys who were looking at her in confusion. “You can’t just take Lee’s boys from him. You don’t have the right.”
Jasmine’s eyes grew fierce. “I’d just like to see someone try to stop me. They’re mine now.” She didn't care if her louse of a husband was married to that little snob; she was going to keep her boys. They'd have to pry them out of her cold dead arms.
She walked to the table her family was surrounding and sat down, putting the boys together across the table from her. She refused to talk about what had happened as they ate, and it was halfway through the meal before Lee came into the restaurant and sat in the empty chair beside her, catching her hand in his. “Jasmine, you have to understand.” He kept his voice to a whisper, and since they were on one end of the table, the others couldn't hear them. She seemed angry, and he hadn't even tried to talk to her yet. He was almost afraid of what this little hellion would do to him.
She pulled her hand away from him. “It’s Miss Sullivan to you, and I have absolutely nothing to say.” How could a married man have married her? What had she done wrong to make God think she should be punished this way? She wanted to throw her water in his face, but she didn't want to embarrass her mother that way, so she sat and acted like the lady her mother had tried so hard to raise her to be.
“Jasmine, they found a body the next week, I swear. The face was torn up by wild animals. I believed it was her. I didn’t know I was still married.” He had to get her to believe him. He'd never loved Gloria the way he loved Jasmine, and she had to listen to him. "I even had to go and identify the body." He would never forget the day he'd stood over a woman he thought was his wife and shuddered, wondering what he could have possibly done to make her think death was better than staying with him and their boys.
Jasmine turned to him, the anger flashing in her brown eyes. “Really? And she didn’t know where you were until today? Didn't you live in the same house when you were married to the little heife
r?” Jasmine bit her lip, realizing she'd just called another woman a cow. Her mother would not approve of that language. She needed to either clean up what she was saying, or make sure her mother didn't hear her. At all.
He sighed. “She said she left planning to freeze to death in the storm. She was unhappy, and she had to get away. She came back today with divorce papers for me to sign.” He could think of nothing he wanted more than divorce papers, except a real marriage to Jasmine.
Jasmine sighed with relief. “Well that’s a good start. Did you sign them?” If he had, they could head over the preacher’s house that afternoon, and be married for real this time. She wouldn't complain at all, and would probably even be able to forgive him in a year or two if they could marry right away. She didn't even care if she was wearing an old dress and didn't have jasmine for her bouquet. As long as they could be married immediately.
“She doesn’t want a divorce anymore. She said she saw me today and realized she still loved me, so she decided to come home to me. She wants to meet the boys.” He closed his eyes waiting for her temper to flare. They both knew she wasn't going to put up with that.
Jasmine shook her head. “No. She can’t have you, and she can’t have my boys. She can go right back to wherever she’s been for the past seven years.” Jasmine couldn't lose the boys. She was angry at him, so she could think about ways her life would be better without him, but the boys? They'd done nothing wrong, and she wasn't about to lose them. She'd never loved anyone from the moment she saw then the way she had those boys as she'd watched them slide a snake into old man Seaver's pocket.
He kept talking, but she pretended not to hear him. “She wants to get to know her sons, and I think we should let her. The sooner she realizes they aren’t the angels they appeared to be this morning, the sooner she’ll leave me alone and we can be married for real.” He wanted her to agree to his plan. Even though they were no longer married, she felt as if they were still on the same team.
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