Golden Chances

by Rebecca Hagan Lee

  “My home is where my family is,” Tempy said.

  “Your family will be here.”

  “Except you,” Tempy said. “You won’t be here.”

  “I have to go,” Faith explained. “You know that. I signed a contract. I have a legal obligation. I must abide by the terms of the contract, just as you honored your agreement with Aunt Prudence.”

  “I was sixteen. I was forced to submit to my father’s will. But Faith, this is different. I don’t believe Reese would fight you. I don’t think he would really try to keep you from seeing your baby. He won’t enforce the terms of the contract.” Temperance walked to her daughter and put her arms around her.

  “What if he does?” Faith asked. “What will happen to Aunt Virt and the others if he does? I can’t risk the house in Richmond. It’s their home.”

  “Oh, Faith, my brave, darling Faith! We can hire a lawyer to break the contract.”

  “And drag Reese’s good name through the mud? And mine as well? No, Mother.” Faith closed the trunk, then sat on top of it. “I love Reese. I love him enough to abide by his conditions. To give him whatever he wants.” She looked Temperance in the eye. “Reese Jordan wants his child. And he wants me out of his life.”

  “I think you’re wrong, Faith.”

  “Not this time,” Faith said sadly. “If he’d ever mentioned wanting me to stay before the baby was born, I’d stay. But now… It’s too late. He never once mentioned love. He never suggested…”

  * * *

  Reese paced the confines of the nursery, his tiny little girl cradled against his shoulder. Her mother was leaving in the morning and he couldn’t bring himself to ask her to stay. He’d had every opportunity. He’d followed her around like a puppy dog for the last six weeks, hoping for a chance. And he missed it. He’d missed lots of them, he reminded himself. He’d had the past year to rip up the contract and ask Faith to stay with him.

  So why hadn’t he?

  “Because I’m afraid,” he whispered in his daughter’s ear. “I’m afraid she doesn’t love me.” He’d never dreamed he would turn out to be such a coward. He’d never been afraid to risk anything before, but he realized he’d never risked his heart.

  “What if all she feels for me is desire?” He gently patted the infant’s back, burping her as the wet nurse had instructed him.

  He didn’t think he could survive Faith’s rejection, but then again, how could he stand to lose her?

  “I thought you’d make the difference.” He confided to the sleeping baby. “I thought I was so clever. I thought she’d beg me to let her stay once she found out about you. And then when she didn’t, I was sure everything would be fine once you got here. Faith would take one look at you and refuse to leave without you. Then I’d have had her. I could waive the contract and the marriage papers and forbid her to take you. And she’d stay. We would be a family—me, you, Joy, and your mother. I’d have everything I ever wanted,” Reese explained. “Without having to say the words. Without having to risk anything. It was such a clever plan. And I was such a fool. I should have known better.” He sat down in the large rocking chair and began to rock. “Your mother is a fine and honorable woman. And she’s determined to honor that damned contract whether I want her to or not.” He kissed the top of the baby’s head. She smelled faintly of lavender, like her mother. “That’s why I’m hiding out in the nursery with you,”

  Reese continued talking to his infant daughter. “I know she’ll come to see you before she leaves. She loves you very much. And when she comes to see you, I’ll be able to talk to her. I’ll be able to give her the ring I meant to give her for her birthday. And I’ll be able to tell her something very important…I have to explain how I feel. It won’t be easy, but I hope she’ll understand how much…” His voice broke. He tried again. “I hope…” The words choked him.

  Reese cuddled the baby closer, hiding his face against her tiny body, afraid she’d be frightened by the sight of his tears.

  * * *

  Faith found them asleep in the rocking chair. As she eased the baby out of Reese’s arms, she noticed the dampness on Reese’s cheeks. He had obviously comforted his daughter, soothed away her tears, by rocking her to sleep. Faith smiled at the thought. He would be a good father. His daughter would never lack for love.

  Faith tiptoed to the cradle, half-hoping Reese would awaken.

  There was so much she wanted to say, so much she wanted to tell him. But she couldn’t. She wanted to stay. She wanted him to ask her to stay. She wanted to beg him to let her stay. And love him, even if he couldn’t pretend. Even if he couldn’t return her love. She kissed the top of her daughter’s head as she tucked her into the cradle.

  “I love you so much,” she whispered. “I love you both so much, but I can’t stay. I can’t ask him to marry me. He doesn’t love me. There was someone else. Someone named Gwendolyn, a long time ago. She hurt him badly, and now, he won’t allow himself to love anyone else. He’s afraid to trust.” Faith gently swung the wooden cradle back and forth. “Your daddy is afraid to love me. But he loves you very much. As much as I do. So you promise me you’ll take good care of him. Grow up and be happy. I wish I could be with you. I hope you’ll forgive me one day. And I hope…” Tears clogged her throat, making her words inaudible. “One day you’ll read this and understand how much I love you, how much I love your daddy.” She slipped the envelope into the cradle next to her daughter’s tiny fist.

  Written in Faith’s clear, precise handwriting on the outside of the envelope was one word. A name.

  Hope.

  Faith kissed her daughter one last time, then on impulse lightly brushed Reese’s ebony hair with her lips.

  She hurried out of the nursery, down the stairs, out the front door, and into the buggy. Tempy and Kevin would drive her to the railway station. She’d decided not to wait for David. She would be in Richmond when he got there, ready to learn the terms of the divorce.

  The mail train to Omaha left the station at nine. And when it pulled out, Faith planned to be on it.

  * * *

  Reese discovered the note when he woke sometime after midnight. He felt no qualms about ripping it open and reading the contents.

  She was gone. Reese sank back down into the rocking chair. He’d missed his golden opportunity. She’d come to the nursery, then left without waking him.

  For the first time in his adult life, Reese couldn’t think what to do. Reese Jordan, the master strategist, the man with a proven plan for obtaining his goals, was lost. And all because Faith had left him.

  Reese got up from the rocker and began to pace the confines of the nursery. He couldn’t believe his stupidity. He’d worked so hard to win her, then pushed her away. He’d pushed her away when what he wanted most of all was to have Faith share the rest of his life. Reese had to get her back. He had to think of something—some way, some plan—to keep her.

  He crumpled Faith’s note in his fist, then tossed it into the fire. Hope wouldn’t need the letter. She’d grow up knowing exactly how her mother felt. He hurried out of the nursery and went racing down the hall.

  * * *

  “Get up!” Reese stood next to David’s bed. He reached down to shake his cousin’s shoulder once again.

  “What time is it?” David struggled out from under the covers.

  “Never mind that. Get dressed and get the buggy. I’m going to get Grandfather.”

  David sat up on the side of the bed, reaching for his trousers. “Where are we going?” He pulled his pants into place.

  “She’s gone,” Reese told him. “But I’m going to bring her back. We’re going to the telegraph office in Cheyenne.”

  “Now?” David glanced at the clock.

  “Can you think of a better time?” Reese countered. “She’s already got a head start. Hurry!” Reese slammed the bedroom door, the sound of his booted feet echoing through the hall as his shout ripped through the silent house. “And David, don’t forget to br
ing the baby—and the nurse!”

  * * *

  “I don’t want to go to Wichmond,” Joy protested irritably, shifting on the hard bench seat. “I want to go back. I don’t want to leave Brutus. Or, Sam. Or, Weese,” she repeated for what seemed like the thousandth time.

  “Neither, do I, angel, but we have to,” Faith explained, her voice tight.

  “Well, I don’t like it,” Joy said.

  “It’s just for a visit,” Tempy promised. “If you don’t like it once we get there, you can come back with Uncle Kevin and me.”

  “Truly?” Joy’s face brightened.

  “Of course,” Kevin assured her.

  “Will Faith come, too?” Joy asked.

  “I hope so,” Temperance said simply. “She can live with us if she likes, but it would be better if she lived with Reese and the baby,” She stared at Faith, daring her daughter to contradict her.

  The train whistle sounded.

  “How much longer until we get there?” Temperance asked her husband. “I need to walk around.”

  “You shouldn’t have come,” Faith said. “This traveling can’t be comfortable for you.”

  “You weren’t going to leave me behind,” Tempy replied. “Besides, I know you didn’t really want to face your Aunt Virtuous alone.” She smiled at Faith. “We always handle her better when we stick together. And I’ll bet she turned three shades of red when she got my last letter.”

  “Or green with envy,” Kevin teased. “Because you’ve managed to snag a handsome husband.”

  Tempy laughed, then shifted in her seat. “A well-to-do husband. My sister, Virtuous, isn’t impressed by handsome men.”

  “Unlike some women I know.” Kevin winked at Faith.

  “She’s only impressed with wealthy ones.” Tempy continued.

  “Then you ladies are lucky we…I…fit the bill. Virt should be most impressed.” Kevin glanced back at Faith to gauge her reaction to his gaffe.

  She pretended not to notice. Just as she pretended this was simply a trip home from an extended vacation.

  Kevin was worried about her. If only she’d cry. If only that fool son-in-law of his would come to his senses. Kevin reached out and grasped Temperance’s hand.

  She glanced up at him. “How much longer?”

  “We should be stopping for breakfast in just a few minutes.”

  Kevin snapped his pocket watch closed just as the train roared into the Pine Bluffs Station.

  “Come on, Faith.” Joy tugged at Faith’s hand.

  “I think I’ll stay here,” Faith said.

  “You’ll do nothing of the kind,” Temperance protested. “You’re going to eat breakfast with the rest of us.”

  “I don’t…”

  “You heard your mother,” Kevin chided. “Get going.”

  Faith pushed herself up from the bench and allowed Joy to lead her into the aisle and down the steps of the train.

  A young man stood on the platform shouting. “Telegram for Faith Jordan. Telegram for Mrs. Reese Jordan.”

  It took Faith a moment to realize he was shouting her name. Her married name. “Here!” she called, waving a hand.

  “That’s us!” Joy cried, gleefully jumping up and down. She held up the coin Faith handed her.

  The messenger took the money from Joy, but was careful to hand the envelope only to Faith.

  She ripped it open and read the message, clasping it to her breast, laughing and crying at the same time.

  “What does it say?” Kevin demanded.

  Faith held it out to him. It was simple and to the point. Typically Reese.

  STAY WHERE YOU ARE. STOP. I LOVE YOU. STOP. HAVE COME TO MY SENSES. STOP. I NEED YOU. STOP. YOUR DAUGHTER, HOPE, NEEDS YOU. STOP. AM BRINGING DAVID, GRANDFATHER, AND THE PREACHER. STOP. YOU PICK THE CHURCH. STOP. ACCORDING TO OUR CONTRACT, YOU STILL OWE ME A SON. STOP. WILL YOU MARRY ME SO WE CAN BEGIN NEGOTIATIONS ON THE TERMS? STOP. LOVE, REESE. STOP. P.S. DID I MENTION THAT I LOVE YOU?

  Epilogue

  Faith stayed at the Pine Bluffs Station. She was pacing the length of the platform as the train from Cheyenne rolled to a stop. She hurried forward.

  Reese was the first person off the train. He held out his arms as soon as his boots hit the solid floor beneath him.

  Faith rushed into his embrace. Joy grasped him around the knee.

  “I love you!” he whispered into her hair. “I love you. I love you.” Reese pulled her into his arms, smothering her face with kisses, before his warm mouth located her lips. “Let’s get married. Now. Today.”

  “Oh, Reese.” Faith was overwhelmed by the rush of emotions she felt for this man. “I thought David was going back to start the divorce proceedings. I thought you wanted to be rid of me. You never…”

  He kissed her again to stop the flow of words. “I was afraid,” he admitted. “Afraid you wanted to leave me. I was trying to find the courage to tell you how much…” He pulled her tighter into his arms. “Promise me you’ll never leave me again. Stay with me. With us.” Reese looked around for the first time. Kevin and Tempy stood watching them. David and Duncan were exiting the train. David held Hope against his chest. Reese reached for his baby daughter, taking her from David, handing her to Faith. “We love you. We need you. We missed you. Say you’ll marry me again.”

  “I will.” Faith cuddled Hope close and smiled up at Reese.

  “Today?” He was hopeful.

  “Oh, Reese.” Tears formed in Faith’s eyes. “I can’t. Not like this.”

  “What?” Reese took a step backward, staring at Faith as if he’d never seen her before.

  Faith stood on tiptoe, tilted her face up for another kiss.

  “I love you, Reese, more than anything on earth, but I don’t want another haphazard, spur-of-the moment ceremony. I deserve more than that this time. You deserve more.” She smiled at him, then kissed him again to show him how much she did love him. “Thank you for bringing a preacher. But we won’t be needing him today.”

  Reese’s stomach seemed to sink. He understood, all too well, what she wanted. He cleared his throat. “I suppose you want a big wedding.”

  “Uh huh.” She kissed the scar on the underside of his chin.

  “With lots of guests.”

  “Uh huh.” Faith stood on tiptoe, straining to reach his lips.

  Reese bent over slightly to accommodate her. The baby wiggled in her arms. “And I suppose you want me to wait at the altar while Kevin escorts you down the aisle?” There wasn’t an ounce of enthusiasm in his voice.

  “Something like that,” Faith agreed.

  “All right.” Reese sighed, heavily. “But there is one thing you must do for me.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Tell me again how much you love me,” he ordered.

  “My darling Reese, I love you,” Faith told him. “I’ll love you until the day I die.”

  “That’s all I wanted to know.” He reached down for Joy, then opened his arms for Faith and Hope. He couldn’t stop smiling. His fondest dream had come true.

  They were a family.

  * * *

  The wedding took place two weeks later at the Roman Catholic Church in Cheyenne. The priest who had married Temperance and Kevin officiated.

  Reese smiled at the memory. It was the town’s most colorful and unusual wedding ceremony to date.

  David Alexander, Reese’s best man, had stood alone at the altar.

  Mary and Sarah were two of Faith’s attendants. They had worn beautiful gowns, which incorporated the Alexander’s red and green Highland plaid and traditional Cherokee wedding garb.

  Typically, Joy had stubbornly refused to wear any color except pink.

  Temperance was dressed in a velvet gown of brilliant emerald green, and though her gown was artfully sewn, it failed to hide her pregnant state. Kevin sat beside Temperance with their eight-week-old granddaughter on his lap.

  Faith’s aunt, Virtuous Hamilton Jessup, and the two other members of
the Richmond Ladies Sewing Circle had put up quite an argument against a having a public ceremony. Virtuous pitched a fit at the train depot.

  Reese understood how she felt. He’d put up quite an argument himself. But there was no dissension in the family ranks during the ceremony. And Reese was grateful that the very proper Richmond ladies did not allow their shock to mar the proceedings. And they had to be shocked. Because…

  Faith wore burgundy silk. And because he marched down the aisle at her side. Her hand was firmly locked inside his elbow as she matched him stride for stride until she was practically running down the aisle.

  Reese remembered the snickers of several guests as they hurried down the aisle and a comment about Faith being afraid he wouldn’t show up at the church. But he didn’t let those comments bother him. He knew better and so did the members of his family.

  Reese smiled as he recalled the look on Faith’s face as she recited her vows. Tears had rolled down her cheeks as he removed the thin gold band she wore on her left hand and replaced it with a wider, heavier band. And he would never forget Hannah Colson’s expression when Joy carefully delivered the first wedding band back to its rightful owner.

  Tears had sparkled in his eyes when the ceremony ended and Faith asked the good father to read a message to the guests. Reese would never forget the words. They were embedded in his heart.

  “This is my public proclamation of love for my husband, Reese Alexander Jordan. I am honored to share my husband’s Cherokee-Scots-English heritage. I am proud to stand beside the man I love and prouder still to bear his children.” It was signed Faith Elizabeth Collins Jordan and duly witnessed and dated by the best man.

  Agnes Everett and Hannah Colson had surreptitiously fanned the faint Virtuous Jessup when Reese Jordan made his own proclamation.

  He produced a thick sheaf of white documents from inside his suit pocket. David solemnly handed him a candle from the altar.

  “This contract is declared null and void,” Reese had proclaimed, setting fire to the corners of the papers. And once the papers had blackened to crisp ash, he dropped the ashes onto a tray and offered them to his bride. “I love you, Faith,” he whispered. “I’d like to renegotiate a contract favorable to both parties.” He bent down and kissed his wife.