ROMANCE: His Reluctant Heart (Historical Western Victorian Romance) (Historical Mail Order Bride Romance Fantasy Short Stories)

by Jane Prescott

  “All forgotten.” He promised.

  Emma crossed her legs and bobbed her foot as she talked. “I’m going to school, as you might guess, and it’s not cheap. I’d like to move out on my own, rent a place. But the scholarships and loans I’ve taken aren’t quite enough.”

  “Oh, I know all about loans.” Matt groaned. “I’ll be paying off med school for a long time.”

  “Yep. So I’m studying at Central Michigan. There’s an extension a few towns over; it’s a long drive, not very fun. Anyway, I’m don’t laugh.”

  “Laugh?” He was confused. “I promise wouldn’t do that.”

  “Well… I’m studying business. I’d like to open a bakery.”

  “Cool!”

  “Seriously?”

  He nodded. “Seriously. My great-grandfather was a baker. He served in WWII, Europe. They sent him to school after and he opened a pie shop with a partner back in Raleigh.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  “Nope. We’ve got recipes in the family still. I bet my Mom could dig them up, if you ever want to see them.”

  She looked behind them, up and over her shoulder at the ferris wheel. “Hey, you want to go up there? Look at the stars with me?”

  Damn it. Why did we sit here? His mood plummeted instantly. Everything had been going so well. He wanted nothing more than to get in the seat next to her and share in that experience. At the same time, his gut was turning somersaults. “You know… why don’t you go for a spin first, and I’ll go next? I need to use the bathroom real quick.”

  “You sure? I can wait.”

  “Yeah. I’m going to sit this one out. Next for sure.”

  She looked a little disappointed, but gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Meet you back here.”

  Burying his hands deep in his jeans pockets, Matt stared at the ground as he walked away. He didn’t need the bathroom, but he did want to work up some courage before putting himself in that precarious little machine. He didn’t like to even think of it, to be honest. Worst of all, he didn’t like the idea that he might suffer a panic attack with her right there to witness it. That would be humiliating.

  He was about to circle back to the ferris wheel when he looked up and was horrified to see he was face-to-face with the Reverend Frank Butler.

  The man was standing next to his wife and had his own hands shoved into his pockets. “Where’s my daughter? You just went and left her alone?”

  “Excuse me, sir, I was just heading back from the bathroom.” He explained. “She’s off that way.”

  “Heck of a thing, to leave her on her own.” The man repeated, but his wife hushed him.

  “Don’t worry about a thing, Matt. You go ahead and meet Emma, have fun. We’re just here to take a stroll and we’ll stay out of your hair. I promise.” She added firmly, causing the Reverend to shut his mouth before saying anything further.

  Matt turned on his heel after excusing himself to leave and was nearly back to the wheel when he heard screams. The ferris wheel was stopped, as normally happens during the ride, but near the top, one of the compartments had broken loose from one side of the wheel. It was still attached by the other side, but was tilting crazily, forcing its lone passenger to hold on tight to stay in her seat.

  It was, as he feared, Emma.

  He sprinted to the man who was running the machine. The ferris wheel operator was on a walkie talkie, explaining the situation to someone else on the other end. “I don’t know what happened! I don’t dare run the machine, it could snap off part-way through the descent.”

  “They gotta climb down.” The voice from the other side explained. “That thing won’t hold too long.”

  The man looked up. “I don’t know if she can do that. I’m not going up there. Hey!” He yelled.

  His shout was ignored as Matt ran over to a stairway. It led to a second stairway that would leading up one of the legs supporting the ferris wheel.

  He took the stairs two at a time, ignoring everything but what was in his immediate view. He had no intention of looking down; for the moment, he knew he was operating purely on adrenaline and that might dissipate like a puff of smoke at the first sight of how far up he was. Better to just keep moving as fast as possible.

  He soon reached the center of the wheel, the center point from which the spokes radiated out to connect with the rounded wheel. There was a platform here, nothing too remarkable. The next step would be to somehow climb up one of the steel radials towards Emma.

  Had she been at the exact summit of the wheel, it would have been much more challenging to reach her. The climb had no grips. As it was, he needed to climb into the central spoke of the wheel and climb up that way. There were a series of regularly spaced squares with metal x's within them that made a rather imperfect ladder that could be climbed with caution. Still determined not to look down, Matt threaded his way into the center and began the ascent.

  He was vaguely aware that most of the fairgrounds had gathered at the base of the wheel to watch him climb. In the distance, he could hear sirens. From where he was standing it was actually easy to see emergency vehicles from a long ways off approaching in the dusk.

  The x-shaped beams were harder to climb than he’d expected. He had about four of the squares to climb, and he found himself struggling to make the first. The angle wasn’t great and each of the spokes he touched was smooth and slippery. He had to keep three of his four limbs touching at nearly all times, which made movement slow.

  “Help me! God, help me, someone!” Emma shouted. He could see the back of her head and she wasn’t aware he was there.

  “Emma!”

  “Matt?” She turned and he could see she was crying. He focused on her face as he kept moving forward, ignoring the ground that was waiting below to take him into the sinking blackness of death.

  “I’m coming. Stay cool, hon.”

  “I will. Oh my God, please hurry!”

  He kept moving, one square defeated. By the time he’d beaten a second square, he could see the lights of the emergency vehicles were turning into the fairground. They didn’t have to fight crowds, as most of the people were still gathered around to see what would happen. But there wasn’t a cherry-picker among the flashing lights. There was nothing more that could help than what he was already doing.

  Matt was negotiating the third square when his sneaker slipped. Abandoning his grip, he threw both arms around a beam as both of his feet disconnected from the beam. Fortunately, his body was leaning against the center of the x, and his wrapped arms kept him firmly on the square.

  “Almost there, Emma! Stay calm, okay? Try not to move too much.”

  “Okay. I cut my head. I’m so scared.” She was weeping quietly, holding on tightly to the side of the swaying lift.

  “I’ll get you all stitched up when we get on the ground. I need you to stay still and calm until I get to you.”

  He beat the third square and found he was on the fourth when he made the big mistake. He looked down.

  Matt felt overcome with terror. The excitement of the moment had kept him fueled. The reality of his potential fall made it impossible to move.

  Still, some part of his brain rebelled against the impulse to crawl back down the way he’d come. This girl was depending on him to reach her. Together they’d get through it.

  He found the end of the fourth square, climbing up as far as he could. He could see he was right about the angle. Had the seat been at a different angle, she might not have been able to get out and step onto the girders. From where he was standing, he had a reasonable expectation that with a little help from him, she could get out.

  “Emma? I’m here babe.”

  “Thank God. What do I do?”

  “I need you to unbuckle the belt.”

  “Are you sure? I won’t fall?”

  He held out both hands, leaning against the structure from the waist down only. It was a dangerous position to put himself into, but he had little other choice. “You’re going to
take my hands and step onto this metal beam, Emma.”

  “Oh no. Oh no, I can’t do that.”

  “Emma!” He was straining to reach out.

  “What?”

  “Emma, I’m terrified of heights. If I’m doing this, trust me. You can do it. It’s perfectly safe or I wouldn’t be up here.”

  She looked doubtful. “You’re scared of heights?”

  “Yeah. Didn’t think it was something to say on a first date, but hey. Now you know. Also,” Matt was afraid his feet would slip. If they did, he might not be able to save himself as he did before. He felt the wind picking up, whipping back his hair in the darkness. “I guess I should tell you that what I’m doing right now is a little tiring. I need you to reach out right now, please.”

  “Okay. Okay, I’m going to trust you.” Her voice didn’t sound that certain, but she did as he suggested.

  Emma was wearing black leather boots under a long skirt, not particularly practical for the climb down. He could see the sneakers were a mistake as well. Once she was safely next to him propped against the metal beams, he looked down.

  The ground felt so far away, but unimportant. He shouted down.

  “Look out! We’re kicking off our shoes!”

  “Why?” Emma asked, shivering beside him.

  “Feet and toes will have better grip. Kick off the boots if you can.”

  “They’re zipped up.”

  After kicking his own shoes off and working off the socks, he reached down with one hand as she raised each foot towards him. Together they managed to get her feet bare. They were cold against the slippery metal, but he immediately knew it was the right choice.

  They started down gradually. When they were much of the way down, two firefighters joined them to help them with a more secure climb. The spectators were cleared away by the police.

  As they continued down, a horrible metal screech rose rose above. The chair she’d been sitting in was straining at its last bent metal point of connection with the wheel.

  The four reached the center point of the wheel, stepped out onto the platform. The wheel was turned back on and slowly rotated to let passengers off. Before they could get the first few people unloaded, her seat finally snapped off and fell into the grass below, well clear of any people.

  When they reached the ground, paramedics were on hand to check her head wound before Matt could do so. A cheer went up from the townspeople who were being kept a good distance from the sight.

  Two people were allowed into the little circle of police, firemen, and paramedics; Emma’s parents.

  While Emma embraced her crying mother, Reverend Frank Butler put an arm around Matt’s shoulders and extended a free hand. “Thank you, young man.” He quietly said, a few tears of his own running down his cheeks. “You gave us back our daughter. I can never thank you enough.”

  Matt had nothing he could say in response to this, so he took the offered hand and shook it.

  ---

  Doctor Matt Conway stretched out happily in the summer sun on the beach, watching the pines gently sway beside Lake Michigan. He spotted a fish jumping far out in the water, breaking the surface and landing with a splash. Far beyond that fish were the woods of Wisconsin and even more the flat, green farmlands of the upper Midwest. He felt at home.

  “Matt!” Frank called from behind him. “More hot dogs and hamburgers are ready!”

  “Your dad’s a pretty good cook.” Matt rolled over on his beach blanket to whisper in Emma’s ear. He rubbed his stomach. “But if I eat one more hot dog I’m going to explode.”

  “That could be pretty gross.” She solemnly agreed. “Dad! Stop cooking, please. We can’t eat any more.”

  “Oh, fine. More for your mother and me, I guess.” The man replied readily enough with a chuckle. He cracked open a beer and sat at the table to talk with his spouse.

  Matt tapped Emma’s stomach gently. “Want to walk with me?”

  “Sure.” They got up and after telling her parents they would be back in a minute, the two held hands and started down the shoreline.

  “It’s a beautiful day.” She shielded her eyes from the sun and looked out at the water. The tourists were starting to fill in the empty places along the rocky shore, spreading out wherever they could find enough sand to make themselves comfortable. Work at the clinic would necessarily pick up, and the morning coffee runs would have to be skipped. Tourists weren’t as likely to adhere to the informal breakfast arrangement Doc Baker had worked out with the locals.

  Matt smiled to himself thinking of that word. “Local.” A few months on, he was starting to think like one.

  “I think today’s the day.” He told her. She squealed with glee in response, running in front of him and jumping up and down while holding his hands.

  “Yes! I knew it! I woke up this morning and just knew you were going to be ready. I don’t know why, I just did!”

  “Emma.” He replied calmly.

  She stopped jumping right away. “Too much?”

  “Yeah. I’m going to need a second on this one.”

  “Got it.”

  They walked a safe distance from everyone until they were at the final spit of where the beach met the water. Any further and they’d be in the woods alongside the lake. That was private property anyway, so they stopped.

  “Okay. How do you want to do this?”

  He thought carefully. Finally, he heard himself say as if from far away, “It’s probably best to just do it all at once.”

  “Should I go with you?”

  “Yeah. That’d be best.”

  The two waded into the lake. He’d gone in wading plenty of times. Always up to the hem of his swimming shorts, never any further. They kept walking until they’d reached that point.

  “Fear number three.” She reminded him.

  “Yep. Beat two already. Crowds, heights.”

  “And who was with you each time?”

  “You were, sweetie pie.”

  She smiled at him. He leaned over and their lips met for a long, sweet kiss.

  “You bet your cute little butt. Okay.” She looked behind them at the distant lake. “Enough stalling.”

  “I like the stalling.”

  “Shut up.” She grinned. “On my count.”

  He closed his eyes, holding onto one of her hands. They spread their arms out and prepared to fall backwards into the water.

  “Got it.”

  “Ready? One. Two. Three!”

  THE END

  Sinful Desires

  Chapter 1 All Aboard

  “At least we’re not in the bottom of the damn ship, in the steerage, Eileen,” Wallace says, trying to calm his wife down. “The conditions down there are inhumane.”

  “I wonder, now, if we should have done this, Wallace? Will our child survive?” she answered, a frown of worry etched on her brow.

  “He’s a tough mite, Eileen, don’t worry so for him. This is the only way we can make something of our lives. We couldn’t have stayed in Ireland, not for love nor money. You saw the starvation the disease, no food, no prospects. No, Eileen, this is what I want for us, this is our future.”

  He was right, of course, what did Ireland have to offer them now, other than starvation. They had agreed that as soon as the baby was twelve months old, they’d get a boat to Liverpool in England. This is where everyone else was heading, if they had the money. Wallace had sold his small newspaper inherited from his father, though it broke his heart to do so, but he was determined to get his family to safety They considered staying in England, but the British did not show any kindness to the Irish. Many in Ireland believed that disease brought the potato blight, but the English the famine. America would be their destination, there they would be accepted and they would find work.

  Having booked passage on a liner, that would take them over the ocean, they were headed on to a new life. With the money he had earned in the sale of his business, they had managed a reasonable cabin in second class, in the sta
teroom. It would also mean that they wouldn’t have to queue at immigration when they arrived, their medical would be done on board the ship. This was a blessing, and a luxury that only money could buy. They have more room than most, and an extra meal a day, compared to the poor souls cramped in the steerage class. It hadn’t left them with much though, and they had no idea as to the cost of things, such as accommodation, would be. They still had here jewelry that had been inherited. They would sell this, as a last resort. For now though, the journey had only just begun, and there were long weeks ahead of them, before they would reach the promised land.