Unlawfully Wedded Bride (Love Inspired Historical)

by Noelle Marchand

  He curbed his surprise. “Judge Hendricks? You don’t say?”

  “Sure enough.” Sheriff Hawkins gave a twist of a smile. “He didn’t seem all too happy, if you ask me, so if I was you I’d get over there real quick. He’s like a rattlesnake—the longer you wait the madder he gets.”

  Nathan smiled though he didn’t find the analogy amusing. Thanking the sheriff, he waved at Deputy Stone and stepped from the dim jail into the brightness of the early afternoon sun. Pulling the brim of his Stetson low over his face, he allowed his eyes to adjust then paused beside the dark form of his horse. Nathan felt his fondness grow for the dark beauty. She’d done exactly what he’d needed her to do during the fire, practically without his help. Delilah gave out a huff as if to express her annoyance.

  He grinned at her and gave her nose a pat before he moved past her. “Just give me a minute more, girl.”

  The sound of horses’ hooves near the front of the house piqued Kate’s curiosity enough to set the soapy dishes into the sink. She dried her hands on her apron as she walked to the front door. Opening it, she was surprised to see a fancy black buggy and two beautiful matched horses waiting in front of the house.

  She stepped cautiously around the buggy to find a tall older gentleman surveying the barn’s destruction incredulously. It took her a moment to believe what she was seeing. When she did, her heart filled with dread even as her lungs let out a happy gasp. “Judge Hendricks!”

  The dark-haired man who had been her father’s closest friend stepped forward with a concerned smile and pulled her into a warm embrace. “Kathleen Grace O’Brien. I just arrived in town and heard what happened. I had to see for myself that you were all right.”

  She shook her head in amusement. “My, news travels fast in Peppin.”

  “You just have to have the right sources,” he said then stepped back to survey her. “I heard no news of the children. Were they injured?”

  “No, they were still at school when it happened.”

  “You must be exhausted. Perhaps we should sit down.”

  “Come inside. I have a lot to tell you.” Kate led the way inside and sat in the rocking chair while the judge settled near her on the settee.

  He removed his hat and met her gaze. “First of all, I want to assure you that I will see this matter through to the full extent of the law.”

  “Without partiality, of course,” she teased as she removed her apron.

  “Of course,” he agreed then shook his head. “I admit I’ve learned about the fire and your abduction from the sheriff but I’m still unclear on the details. I heard your abductor was the friend of a new man you hired.”

  She folded the apron and sat it in her lap. “I doubt the two men involved would call each other friend and Nathan isn’t really a hired hand at all.”

  “Who is he then?”

  She bit her lip. “I’m afraid he’s my husband.”

  “Your husband!” Judge Hendricks stared at her until he surmised she was serious then asked, “Since when?”

  “We met a few days after you left.”

  “Mr. Potters couldn’t approve a marriage license.”

  “He didn’t.” She laughed. “Actually, neither did I.”

  He shook his head in confusion. “Perhaps you’d better explain.”

  I’d rather not, she thought. Then she looked into the judge’s brown eyes and suddenly couldn’t hold the story in. “I hardly understand it myself. It seems Ellie, Sean and Ms. Lettie decided I needed a husband so they found one for me. I didn’t find out they had married me to him until the poor man showed up at my door with our marriage license in hand.”

  “That does not make sense. How did he get a marriage license if you didn’t know about it?”

  “Well, I knew a little about it,” she admitted. “They told me they wanted to marry me off by proxy. I signed the silly affidavit in a moment of weakness but I never intended to send it.”

  He sat back and stared at her with a thoughtful look on his face. “So he’s been living here since then?”

  “Yes. Well, not exactly. He’s lives out at the MacGregor cabin with a runaway boy we took in,” she said. “Runaway?”

  She sent him a warning glance. “That’s a whole other story.”

  He nodded.

  She set the apron in the chair beside her, then stood to pace. “We’ve been waiting for you this entire time. You see, we decided that the only sensible thing was to get the marriage annulled. Or rather, I decided and he agreed.”

  Judge Hendricks looked at her thoughtfully. “How do you feel about that now?”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” She turned away, wringing her hands. “I’ve just been so afraid.”

  “You’ve been afraid of what? Are you afraid of him?” he asked, no doubt desperately trying to keep up with the turns in the conversation.

  “No! I was afraid I’d fall in love with him.”

  When she couldn’t bear the silence between them any longer she turned to face the judge. He caught her hand and gently guided her back into the rocking chair. His voice was kind as he asked, “And have you, Kate? Have you fallen in love with this man?”

  She buried her face in her hands.

  His voice held tender amusement. “You have. You love him, don’t you?”

  She met his gaze and said with an air of desperation, “I’m afraid so. It took me a long time to admit it because of the mistakes I made with Andrew, but now I know. Nathan is God’s will for me.”

  He laughed. “Then why are you so distraught?”

  “I’m just not entirely sure I can trust God’s will. I think a part of me is afraid that I’ll end up…” She couldn’t finish her statement.

  “You’re afraid you’ll end up like your parents,” the judge said knowingly. “Kate, it would be a wonderful thing if you did.”

  She stared at him in confused shock.

  He smiled compassionately. “You’ve been focusing on your parents’ deaths so much that you’re allowing it to eclipse the way they had lived their lives. They were never afraid to love those around them or to act out that love. They were so intent on living each moment that their enthusiasm and joy for life infected those around them. Do you remember that, Kate?”

  She nodded as tears filled her eyes.

  “Think about how they lived. Let that be their legacy. Let that be what you carry with you, not the pain and sadness of their deaths.” He took her hand and leaned forward earnestly. “They’d want you to move on, Kate. They’d want you to trust that they ultimately ended up right where they were supposed to be. They wouldn’t want you to miss today for fear of tomorrow.”

  “You’re right,” she breathed, as she accepted the handkerchief he gave her. “I know you’re right.”

  “Good.” He smiled then shook his head in awe. “I must say, if this young man helped bring you to a place where you can move past that tragedy, then he is worth keeping around.”

  She gave him a watery smile then allowed him to pull her into a hug.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Nathan leaned back in the courthouse’s waiting room chair, bouncing his worn Stetson on his knee. He was more than willing to try his luck at charming the old snake the sheriff mentioned if he ever showed up. Nathan had been waiting for the judge for nearly an hour. Thirty minutes more and he just might have to give up this stakeout altogether.

  When Nathan had arrived at the courthouse he’d been informed that Judge Hendricks had lit out of town only minutes earlier leaving no information regarding his return. For all Nathan knew, the judge could have set out on another one of his prolonged journeys. While he waited, he’d been able to get reacquainted with his old friend Mr. Potters. The man had offered his skilled assistance but Nathan had been more inclined to wait for the judge. At least, he had at the time.

  He pulled the crisply folded letter from his pocket and reread his father’s letter for the second time since he’d been at the courthouse. The offer was still there. He’
d decided he was going to take it. He didn’t have any other option. Now that the judge was back, all it would take was Kate’s signature on a piece of paper to divorce him from her life forever.

  He’d tried to have faith but it was time to face reality. Kate’s decision had been made long ago. Despite his attempt to woo her, she’d given him no real indication that she felt anything more for him than friendship. She had declared him exactly that after the fire. “You are a good, honest Christian man and a very trustworthy friend,” she’d said.

  His jaw tightened. He would only be fooling himself by continuing to hope there could be anything more between them than what already existed. He swallowed against the sudden lump in his throat and carefully placed the letter back in his pocket. He bowed his head. I tried, Lord. I really did. Now I’m giving it up to You. Do whatever You like with me.

  Suddenly a tall, dark-haired man breezed through the small courthouse’s door. The man’s boots rang confidently across the wooden floor as he strode toward the office door directly across from Nathan. Nathan grasped his Stetson and stood quickly to his feet, earning the appraising eye of the gentleman before him. “Sir, are you the judge?”

  “That’s what I’ve been told. Who are you?”

  “Nathan Rutledge.”

  The man’s eyes narrowed which couldn’t be a good sign. “Nathan, you say? Well, come on in. There’s no use jawing out here in the hallway. Does this have to do with that new criminal sitting in the town jail?”

  Nathan followed him in but couldn’t bring himself to sit down. “Not particularly.”

  The man set his hat on a wooden rack and settled into his chair before bothering to ask, “Well, what else would you like to discuss?”

  He set his shoulders and met Judge Hendricks’s gaze directly. “I need an annulment, sir.”

  “You need one?” he asked, then read a paper on his desk before placing it into a drawer. “Why is that?”

  Nathan finally took a seat. “The young woman I married doesn’t want to stay that way. It was all a misunderstanding. She never really wanted to marry me. She doesn’t want to try to make the marriage work, which is completely understandable. I probably would have made the same choice if I were in her shoes…probably.”

  Judge Hendricks still didn’t look up. “Who is the young woman?”

  “Kate Rut—” He caught himself. “Kate O’Brien, sir.”

  The judge shuffled through his papers and read over another. “I see.”

  Nathan frowned at the man’s obvious disinterest. “Listen, I’d like to get this done as soon as possible. Is there some paperwork we need to fill out?”

  Finally, Judge Hendricks looked up and met his gaze. “No.”

  “What do you mean ‘no’? There is no paperwork?”

  The judge tossed his papers aside. “I mean, no. I will not give you the annulment.”

  Nathan shook his head. “I don’t think you understand. The marriage was never consummated. It was a mistake from the start. Kate never agreed to marry me. Her siblings devised a scheme to marry the two of us by proxy with the help of Ms. Lettie. It all happened without Kate’s knowledge. This marriage probably isn’t even legal.”

  The judge nodded in agreement. “It might not be at that.”

  Relief filtered through Nathan. “Then you’ll give us an annulment.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  Nathan sat back and stared at the man. “You can’t be serious.”

  The judge tilted his head as he surveyed Nathan. “Tell me, do you want to make this a problem? Because we can make this a problem.”

  They glared at each other for a long tension-filled moment. Nathan dropped his gaze then leaned back into his chair. He tried to appear calm but his thoughts were racing. The judge’s expression turned contemplative for a moment, then he tossed his pen back onto the desk. “All right, Rutledge, I’ll give you one last chance to persuade me.”

  Taking a deep breath, he straightened. He began to speak then thought better of it. What is the use anyway? He met the judge’s gaze. “Nothing I say will change your mind so let’s not play games.”

  Judge Hendricks gave a slow nod. “All right then, no more games. Agreed?”

  “Agreed.”

  The judge leaned forward then waited for Nathan to do the same before he spoke. “I want you to understand that I’m not worried about what’s best for you. I couldn’t care less. Kate’s father was my best friend. We served in the war together, came out alive, took this fledgling town and made something of it. If her parents had died but a few months earlier, I would have been her legal guardian.

  “Marrying you would be the best thing for her and those children. So the answer is no, Nathan. I will not authorize the annulment.” Judge Hendricks leaned back and crossed his arms.

  Nathan tapped his Stetson on his leg. “You’re sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Then I reckon there’s nothing I can do about it.” Nathan stood, then placing his Stetson on his head, he moved toward the door.

  “Nathan.”

  He turned toward the judge who gave him a wry look of amusement. “I expect you’ll be making a visit to Reverend Sparks first thing.”

  Nathan grinned, realizing he hadn’t fooled the man for a second. “Yes, sir, your judgeship,” he said. Tipping his hat, he walked out the door.

  Kate smiled as Doc snapped closed his black leather bag on the kitchen table and pronounced her healthy enough, considering the circumstances she’d been subjected to. She shot a glance toward where Ms. Lettie sat across the table. “I told you I was perfectly fine.”

  Doc frowned. “That is not entirely true, Kate. You are still dehydrated so you will need to drink plenty of fluids. I also want you to rest and give yourself time to recover.”

  “I understand your concern,” she began, “but the barn—”

  “The barn will wait until you are physically able to deal with it. Is that understood?”

  Kate bristled at his tone. “Perfectly, Doctor.”

  Ms. Lettie sighed and exchanged a glance with her husband. “Now, Kate. Don’t be upset. You have to take care of yourself. If you don’t, you won’t be able to take care of your family.”

  “I know that,” she said. “There is just so much to catch up on. Now I have to decide how to move forward with the barn. Then I have to figure out something to tell the bank about all of this. We’ve just now caught up on the mortgage. I don’t know how we’ll get the money to rebuild.”

  Ms. Lettie caught her hand in hers. “Let us help you.”

  Kate glanced from Ms. Lettie to Doc. “How?”

  “Leave that to me. In the meantime, Luke has some calls to make, but I would be more than happy to stay with you and prepare dinner.”

  “Then who will prepare yours?”

  “We’ll eat here.”

  “I don’t know what we have in the pantry.”

  Doc smiled and with an uncustomary drawl proclaimed, “Well, now. It seems a certain woman we are all familiar with just happened to bring a few things in our buggy.”

  Kate laughed. “Then stay. You’ve worn out my resistance.”

  “That sounds like my constant state of mind,” Doc said with a smile just for Ms. Lettie.

  Kate watched in amusement as Ms. Lettie blushed then she teased, “Maybe you should attend to Ms. Lettie, Doc. She looks a little flushed. What medicine would you give her for that?”

  Ms. Lettie frowned at her in exasperation and affection. “You are an impertinent young woman.”

  “Yes, I’ve been told that before,” she said, then smiled at Doc. “I’m still waiting for your answer.”

  Doc met her smile with his own. “You’ve forgotten I don’t want her to recover.” She laughed.

  “Love can be both the affliction and the remedy.” Doc met her gaze seriously. “You don’t look surprised. Maybe you were already aware of that.”

  Kate held Doc’s gaze though she felt her cheeks grow warm as s
he realized what he was implying.

  “I wish she was,” Ms. Lettie sighed then glanced at Kate. “My lands, I think she is. Don’t worry, dear, it really is a wonderful affliction.”

  Nathan spent the afternoon at a workstation he’d created near the paddocks, that consisted of nothing more than an old table and a few borrowed tools. He figured he may as well try to do something productive while he waited for a chance to speak with Kate.

  The day was beginning to try his patience. When he’d arrived home from town, he’d found Doc leaving and Ms. Lettie settling in for the day. There had been no chance for him to find a private moment with Kate.

  The longer he waited, the longer he had to wonder about how things would end up. His initial relief at the judge giving him what amounted to a second chance had faded with the realization that he had to give Kate a choice. He wasn’t going to go along with everyone else in her life by trying to decide her future for her. If she wanted him to stay, then he would be thrilled to do so. If not, he was resolved to leave and let her live her own life.

  He’d managed to replace a few essential things the fire had taken and was just starting to build a new feeding trough for the horses when the children arrived home from school. They tied their horses to the paddock gate then rushed toward Nathan. Lawson made it to him first. “Nathan, the news is all over town. The judge is back.”

  Nathan didn’t glance up from the groove he was trying to carve into the wood. “I know.”

  Ellie gasped. “You do?”

  He glanced up to meet her panicked gaze. Sean placed a calming hand on Ellie’s shoulder. “What are you going to do, Nathan?”

  “The only thing I can do. I’m going to talk to Kate.”

  “You mean you haven’t already?” Lawson asked.

  Nathan smiled at the urgency in Lawson’s voice that reflected his own. “She’s been busy.”

  “She’s not too busy for this,” Ellie said. “I’ll go get her.”

  Nathan caught her sleeve before she could get far. “Hold on, you three. This is something Kate and I have to figure out for ourselves. I’ll talk to her when the time is right.”