She noticed the little girl was stirring anxiously and stopped to see what the matter was. Feeling someone’s gaze on her, she looked up. A man was staring at her from across the street. His gaze sent a cold chill up her spine.
She suddenly felt in distress, wondering who this person was and why he was looking at her in that fashion. She was sure she had never seen his face before.
His gaze seemed to bore into her, looking into her soul, as if he was trying to learn all her inner secrets. Her stress intensified when he started walking in her direction. Turing around, she tried to hurry away from him in order to avoid any possible contact.
Surprisingly, no one else seemed to have noticed the interaction between them, as people kept on with their own business. Taking a sharp left turn, Angelica thought she had managed to lose him, only to be brought up short by a hand at her elbow.
“Please, sir! I beg you, do not harm the baby!” she pleaded. She thought her might wish to rob her, and her biggest fear was for the child in her care.
“No, miss, please! I mean you no harm!” the man appeared nervous. “Miss Hurst? Miss Angelica Hurst?” Angela took a step backwards. “It has taken me weeks to find you!”
“No, no…” she moved away from the man. “You have me mistaken for someone else. Now, please, I must be on my way!” Angela swiftly walked away from the staring man, intent on waiting for her husband until he completed his business, as she had no wish to be further accosted.
When they finally got home, Angela allowed herself to think about what had happened. She realized she had made a mistake, and that the man seemed to genuinely know her. He could have told her who she was, where she came from, and where to find her family.
Then she thought of her new life, her husband, and her new identity. ‘I know who I am! I am Perdita St. Clare, married to Zacharias St. Clare who loves me, with a new daughter whom I adore. We are a happy family under God’s protection. Why would I take a chance on ruining what I have?’
“Is everything alright?” Zacharias entered the room and found her brooding. “You have been flushed ever since returning home. I am worried, my sweet wife. Is there anything wrong? How can I help you?” His sweet words reassured her of her decision not to pursue the matter any further. She had all she needed right here, under this roof.
Several days later, their maid entered the parlor in a flurry.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, I know you did not wish to be disturbed…”
“It’s perfectly alright, Eveline. What is the matter?” She lifted her gaze from her embroidery.
“There is a carriage waiting in front of the house, and they are asking for you. What should I tell them?” She sounded as confused as Angelica felt.
“Well, I am the lady of the house, but do visitors not normally ask for the man of the house?” Angelica dropped her embroidery and looked at the window.
The carriage looked new, and was larger than those she had seen in the city, which led her to believe that these were important visitors.
“Well, they are here, so I might as well see what their business is. I reckon Zacharias still hasn’t returned home?”
“No, ma’am. He said to expect him later this evening.”
“Fine. Let me see what this is about.”
Angelica exited the house and approached the carriage with care. She must have been heard because the carriage door suddenly opened and a man stepped out. He approached her eagerly.
Mindful of her experience a few days before, she froze, although she tried to keep her voice steady when she spoke. “Welcome, what can we do for you?” She did not wish to make it known her husband would only be home much later.
The man who approached her seemed to examine her carefully. When he finally faced her, his face split into a wide grin. His right hand was lifted as if to cup her cheek, but he seemed to think better of it.
“Angelica?” his voice shook.
That name again. Angelica. Who was Angelica? “Angelica? Don’t you recognize me?” he pleaded, “It’s me, your father.”
The ground seemed to tremble beneath her feet. Her father? How was it possible? She shook her head.
“I beg your pardon, sir, but you have me mistaken for someone else.” If she truly was his daughter, would she not remember him? Would the memories not come flooding back upon seeing his face?
She felt nothing. She felt sorry for this man who might have lost his child and who was desperate to come looking wherever there was a possibility of finding her, but she could not picture him as being her father.
“No, it’s you, Angelica! My sweet child! I have finally found you!” Tears started rolling down his eyes, and it broke Angelica’s heart to see an old man act this way in front of a stranger.
“Dear sir,” she placed her hand gently on his shoulder, “it pains me to tell you that I am not your Angelica, but I do hope with all my heart that you find her soon.”
The carriage door swung open suddenly and another figure emerged. It was a woman, about the same age as the man, but with a youthful air about her. Her bonnet framed her face, while her dress was of the latest fashion. Her movements were graceful as she approached them.
“Angelica!” her voice was richly melodic. The sound was the trigger she needed, and everything came rushing back.
“Momma! Papa!” She remembered the sweet faces of her loving parents, her life, and fell into their warm embrace, hugging them as if she would never let them go. “Please, come in! I have so much to tell you!”
“We thought we had lost you forever, sweet child.” Her father kissed her on the forehead. “After the accident, Johnson rushed to find help when he saw you had been hurt, but when he returned with a doctor, you were gone! You can’t possibly imagine how worried we were and how scared we would never see your sweet face again.”
“We sent Johnson off to try and find out what happened to you. You could not have disappeared into thin air! We just hoped some ruffians didn’t find you unconscious and take you away with them! Thank Heavens that was not the case. He finally heard there was an accident victim at the hospital who had lost her memory, and that led him to stumble upon you in the street the other day. I can imagine how frightened you must have been!”
Angelica nodded. “He accosted me in the street, I was afraid he meant harm to me and the baby.”
“The baby?” her mother inquired. “You have a baby?” Her parents seemed confused.
“My dear mother and father, so many things have happened during the time of my absence. But, please, allow me to start from the beginning. After the accident, I found myself at the hospital, where, to my utter shock and horror, I found out that I had lost my memory. I had no recollection of who I was or how I got to be there, but fortunately, I fell under the guardianship of a most kind and benevolent Christian woman, Nurse Mary, who helped me when I needed it the most. It was solely because of her that I found shelter and subsequently, a new home here.”
“Is this your house?” her father inquired, incredulously.
“In a way, yes. It belongs to Zacharias St. Clare, my husband.”
“Your husband!” Her father was astonished. “You have gotten married?”
“I have. And Zacharias is the most wonderful man you could meet. In fact, he is due to return any minute now, and I am so joyful that he finally has the opportunity to meet my parents.”
“I don’t know what to make of this.” We came to take you back home with us, where you belong, and instead, we find you married?”
Angelica felt like the news of her wedding was breaking her parents’ hearts, something she had not intended.
“I am happy here. I wish to stay.” She did not want to cause them any further pain, but Zacharias was her husband. “You don’t understand. Zacharias was there for me when I thought that I had no one in the world I could rely on.”
“But, you have us!” her father urged. “We want you back! We need you back! We are not ready to give you up to someone else yet!”
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Her father’s words brought tears to her eyes.
“I love you, Papa. You know that. I shall always be your little girl, but to this man, to Zacharias, I must be, no, I want to be, a loving wife. Please understand that,” her voice trembled at the last.
Angelica’s mother smiled. She knew exactly how her daughter felt. After all, was it not what every daughter feels when she is married?
“Listen to her,” her mother’s voice soothed her father’s wounded soul. “We must let God be in control, just like Angelica did when this tragedy happened to her. And look at what we have before us now: a beautiful, grown up woman, with a family of her own. She is not rejecting us, don’t you see? She has grown up, just like God Almighty intended. And we should be grateful that she is this happy.”
Zachariah arrived home at that point, and was at a loss when he saw his wife with the two strangers. He did not know what to do or how to react.
“Mother, father,” Angelica stood up and approached Zacharias. “This is my husband, Zacharias.”
Clumsily, Zacharias took off his hat and mumbled a good day to both of them.
“Perdita, does that mean…” he was cut off mid-sentence.
“I know my real name now!” Her smile lit up her face. “It is Angelica Hurst.”
Zacharias smiled back and placed his arm around her waist lovingly.
“It is even more beautiful than Perdita. It’s perfect.”
He turned to his new parents-in-law. “ Mr. and Mrs. Hurst, the good Lord has brought you to my house today, in accordance with His will, where you were reunited once again with the daughter you thought lost. This way, He has magnified what is truly great indeed, for these are His works and His ways. We know the truth now, and as His good book says, it has finally set not only Angelica, but you free as well. Won’t you please bless this house with your presence for several days, so that we may celebrate the birth of our savior together, as a family?”
Angelica had completely forgotten: it was Christmas in just a few days, and the gift she had received was the most wonderful she could ever have imagined.
God works in mysterious ways, yes. He blesses us not for us, but for others, because it is through us and our reverence that he blesses others, too.
Angelica’s thoughts, when she looked at her family, were that they formed a perfect Christmas image: her entire family was all together again, happy and blessed. Her mother was holding her baby daughter in her hands, while her father and Zacharias were busy decorating the Christmas tree. Yes, we may feel we are in a cold, dark place, forgotten, but then one day, God whispers in your ear, speaking of his love and peace amidst the depths of despair and depression
THE END
Return to the TOC for Bonus Content for Bonus Content
Josephine
CHAPTER ONE
The sun was blazing hotter and longer than it had on any other day. It was as if it had joined the revolution of bringing Belle Fields to its final end. No matter how hard Josephine Rose Walker pushed herself to the extremities, there always seemed to be another boulder rolling straight in front of her dusty, narrow path. She prayed every day and night—in the vegetable garden and in the chicken coop, on the back of her faithful steed heading into town, in the middle of the tobacco fields underneath her mother’s checkered bonnet, a bonnet she cherished since the day her mother went to be with her Savior.
All Josephine desired was a brief moment to take a breath without the weight and burden of the past few months hanging over her head like the black thunderclouds of her home state of Virginia. Struggle was nothing new to the young tobacco farmer of Louisa County. She had gotten used to the immigrant miners who were expressing their manly desires. It was not accepted or supported for a woman to stand up against it.
The only support the 22-year-old, green-eyed, raven-haired, modestly attractive woman ever received was from her older and faithfully loving brother, Theodore Willis Walker, or T.W. as she so affectionately called him since words could be understood from her rosy, pink lips. Side by side, the Walker siblings learned how to make their farm survive through experience and standing up against the older and conniving generations who set out to take the land for their own greedy gain.
“JoJo!” T.W.’s voice traveled over the dark-green tobacco and through the dry, breezeless air. Slowly, Josephine raised her head and lifted up to her knees, searching for her 6-foot-3-inch brother’s thick, heavy frame. He called after her once more, “JoJo, over here.”
Her eyes landed on his hand waving the familiar black Stetson he had worn since they were both teenagers. “Yo-wee!” Josephine hollered back their signal of acknowledgment and rose to her feet. She turned to her left, wiping the sweat from her brow. “Hannah, I’m heading to the house for a moment. You and Nellie finish up this row, then come and have a sit down on the porch.”
The Negro worker responded to her boss, “Yes Ma’am, Ms. Josephine. We almost finished here, so we be along shortly.”
The Walker siblings were one of the only farms in the county who had turned their farm into a place of employment for any Negro slaves who desired to be treated with respect as an independent worker being paid for their services the same way the white man would be paid. They had even given the option to the female Negro slaves to work in the fields for a higher wage than what they would have received working in the house.
This was one major reason why the Walkers were being zeroed in on by the surrounding farmers and the immigrant miners. They did not care for the fact that the workers they considered property were being valued as practically equals, let alone the opportunities they were being given to advance themselves in the line of society. But most of all, the men detested the fact that a 22-year-old girl was leaving her mark on the tobacco industry. They threw every punch they could her way.
The one thing that T.W and Josephine’s parents instilled in their children before they had passed on was that God had created men and women in His image, and they should love one another as God had loved them. Every Sunday evening, Otto Walker would pull out his faded, worn and torn leather-bound Bible and make sure his son and daughter knew the true definition of love found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians in the first 13 verses of the 13th chapter. So that is how the siblings vowed to live once they had been left to care for their family farm.
Josephine was strong. There was no doubt about that. But just how much more she could carry on her shoulders became the burden she was thinking about the most. Now, as her brother stood in front of her, she took a deep breath as her eyes landed on the letter he was holding in his calloused hand.
“I’m sorry, JoJo. I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but, honestly, I don’t feel we have any other options, especially if we are want to keep this farm and the livelihood it provides for not only ourselves but also for all the other workers who would never be able to live as they do here.”
Josephine closed her wet eyes and lowered her head, admitting to herself that everything her brother had said was true and that it was her sacrifice that was necessary to keep her beloved Bella Fields alive and productive.
“He’s a generous man, Jo. He’s giving us more than enough to keep this farm running. We’ve been praying for God to provide for our needs,” T.W.’s voice lowered to a sorrowful whisper as he reached for his sister and pulled her into his chest. “I’m just sorry that it’s taking your leaving to make this all happen. I love you, JoJo. I just can’t imagine living this life without you.”
T.W.’s tears began to soak into his cotton shirt.
CHAPTER TWO
Josephine clung to her carpetbag as she watched her faded trunk be loaded onto the stagecoach. With all that was running through her head, the one most pressing worry covering them all was what exactly this journey would bring. She was thankful that T.W. had left when he did. There was no way she would have been able to say goodbye to him. They both promised to write and send wires if anything happened to either of them. But they bot
h knew that this was the change that their momma had told stories about when she left her own family to become the wife of Otto Liam Walker.
Tucked into the pocket of her green-and-white striped traveling coat was the letter she received from Warren Howard Cooper, a cattle rancher and preacher who promised to provide for Belle Fields in return for her hand in marriage. He wanted them to build a beautiful life serving his local community through trade and sharing the message to any and all who would listen of Jesus Christ.
She didn’t mind being a preacher’s wife. In fact, as the days inched closer to when she would actually meet this gentle man of God and discover who they were to become under the union of their heavenly Father, she was warming up to the idea. But the letter that rested in her other pocket, the letter that was waiting for her at the station, the letter from a man she wished she had never met, slowly clouded those happy memories. How he knew she was leaving, Josephine didn’t know.
“Miss, are you ready to hop on board?” The stagecoach driver held his rough, rugged hand out, snapping her from the distracting and anxious daydream that consumed her worrisome mind.
“Oh, excuse me. Yes, thank you.” She slipped her own gloved hand into his waiting one and readied herself to step up into the coach. She would be accompanied by a young couple on holiday, a bowler-capped banker relocating to a new post and a solicitor heading West to deliver papers of legality that were obviously confidential.
“I can tie up your bag here on the boot so you’ll have more room inside, Miss.” He began reaching for the handles, but Josephine’s quick reflexes pulled it closer to her, forcing out a polite smile.
Regency Romance: Fallen Duchess (A Historical Victorian Murder Mystery Love Regency Romance) Page 41