by Terri Grace
Juliana’s face broke into a smile and she nodded. “Of course, of course. We’re glad that you’ve come to take us home, Michael. Shall we leave?”
Harriet blushed when gray eyes observed her, as if reading her mind. She had seen a number of good-looking men back in Boston, but Michael Parson was in a league of his own. He was tall, muscular and had a generous smile. She wondered why he was staring at her, then she thought it was probably because of her crippled leg.
Michael was blown away. Harriet was so beautiful that for a moment he forgot all about Beatrice. Then he returned to reality and with a heart filled with silent regret, led the way out to the buggy he and Parker owned.
Juliana and Parker seemed made for each other, and the moment they set eyes on each other it was as though time stood still. Even Harriet sensed it and she sighed inwardly, wondering if she would ever meet a man who would fall in love with her and look at her the way Parker was looking at Juliana. His look was so tender that Harriet felt her emotions being stirred up.
Michael begged his leave, and when he had gone, Parker led the two women to his two-bedroom house made of timber. “There’s so much timber out here in Nebraska that we stopped using sod to build,” he explained. “I’m so happy that you have come, Juliana. Reverend Thomas said he would be able to wed us tomorrow – that is if you are all right with the idea.”
“We talked about it, Parker, and I’m here now.” She smiled sweetly at him. “How is the cow doing? Michael told us you were helping a cow deliver and there were some complications.”
“Yes, but the Lord is good. Bess and her little one are doing fine. When you’ve rested I will take both of you around the farm.”
It was during dinner that night that Harriet found out about Michael Parson’s fiancée.
“I’m worried about my friend,” Parker told the two ladies. “He is supposed to be getting married in about three weeks’ time but he looks miserable. I don’t know if Beatrice Fox is the right woman for him.”
Harriet didn’t know what to think of Parker’s announcement. She’d immediately been attracted to Michael, even though she knew that a handsome man like him would never spare her a glance. She hoped Beatrice Fox was a nice woman, for Michael’s sake. Parker spoke well of him and Harriet could tell that they were more brothers than friends.
“Mickey and I came out here as gold prospectors. We were young and quite the idealists, dreaming of gold practically growing on trees. Well, we soon came down to earth with a bump, but rather than return defeated to New Jersey, where we came from, we decided to try our hands at farming and ranching. I’m the rancher; Michael is the farmer. He grows wheat, soya beans and corn. This is just the fourth year and though things have been tough, it has been our best year yet.”
“How big is your land?” Harriet asked.
“Fifty acres each. We were originally allocated one hundred and sixty, but because we couldn’t develop it, we chose to hand it back to the Government. This is a wonderful place, and in years to come it will be a place where many people will want to raise their families.”
Juliana made a beautiful bride in the gown she and Harriet had sewed, and Harriet had to keep wiping the tears away as she saw how radiant her friend looked. Parker looked very handsome in his black trousers and white starched shirt.
All in all, it was a beautiful wedding but all Harriet wanted to do was leave and go home. Michael had a striking-looking woman attached to his side and, without being told, Harriet knew it was his fiancée. They were well suited, even though she felt as though Michael was forcing himself to be attentive to Beatrice.
Harriet was further puzzled when, in the next few days, Michael seemed to spend more time at Parker’s ranch than on his own farm. And each time he came, he sought her out. At first it all seemed friendly, but then Beatrice Fox decided to visit the ranch.
“I saw you at Parker’s wedding. Why did you come to Kearney?” Beatrice was smiling sweetly and Harriet smiled back.
“Julie and I want to start our own shop making wedding gowns and gowns for other special occasions. We couldn’t do that if I’d had to remain in Boston.”
“Oh!” Beatrice seemed slightly taken aback. “Did you make Juliana’s wedding dress?”
Harriet nodded. “We worked on it together. Did you like it?”
“So much!” Beatrice sighed dramatically and Harriet frowned at Julie, who was rolling her eyes. “My own wedding is in three weeks’ time but I’m worried,” Beatrice continued in a small voice. “Michael loves me very much but sometimes I feel as though his interest is being diverted from me. He’s the only man I will ever love.” She placed a hand on her chest and gave a small sob. “It would completely devastate me if he didn’t go through with the wedding. My life would end then.”
“Oh, I am sorry.” Harriet was quick to offer her sympathies, while Juliana merely wriggled her nose. “I’m sure Michael loves you very much. You’re a very beautiful and sweet lady, and the two of you will be so happy together.”
“Thank you!” Beatrice cried, taking both of Harriet’s hands. “Do you know what would make me so happy now? If you could agree to make my wedding dress. You seem to be very good at it. I will pay you a good sum. Really, I want to look beautiful for Michael so he will only love me and think about me.”
“We would be happy to do it.”
“That woman is a pain,” said Julie. “She pretends to be so sweet but I tell you, Harriet, that woman is vain and spiteful. She came here to spy on you, and it was making me sick to see how she was trying to fool you.”
“Beatrice is a beautiful woman and I don’t understand why she should be spying on me.”
“You are so blind, my dear girl. Michael has his eyes on you and I am sure Beatrice has noticed that her fiancé’s attention is diverted. She must have heard that he spends a lot of time here, and so came to see what was going on.”
“Really, Juliana. You imagine the strangest of things.”
“Mark my words. Why you allowed yourself to be cornered into making that woman’s gown is beyond me.”
“We are in business, remember? Who knows? If we make a beautiful gown for Beatrice, I’m sure we shall land some more orders.”
“You’re right,” Juliana admitted reluctantly.
Working on Beatrice’s wedding gown was the hardest thing Harriet had ever done. They were of the same size and Juliana kept insisting that she try the dress on whenever they made any progress on it.
“You’ll be a very beautiful bride one day, Harriet. It’s as if this dress is made for you.”
“Beatrice really has good taste,” Harriet murmured. “She went with all the suggestions that I made.”
Juliana shook her head. Her friend was clueless when it came to a woman filled with jealousy and insecurity. That Beatrice was threatened by Harriet was obvious to everyone except Harriet herself. Even Parker had commented on it. One day her friend would understand.
“If you ask me, you came up with this design based on what is in your heart, and Beatrice wants to show you up, Harriet.”
Harriet frowned. “How can you say that? Beatrice has no reason to want to show me up as you say. You must be mistaken.”
“Ah, well….” Juliana sighed. “Let’s finish this dress. The sooner it is done the sooner we can get one or two more orders.”
Harriet found herself getting more and more depressed as Beatrice and Michael’s wedding approached. He had not stopped coming to the house and seeking her out, and she began to avoid him, because spending time with him filled her with so much pain. She finally admitted to herself that she had fallen in love with the man, but spent many hours chiding herself for what she termed as encroaching on another woman’s man.
Juliana looked on, noting the silent tears and sorrow on her friend’s face with each passing day. Finally, she had had enough. “Harriet, I really feel for you. The sorrow you have is equal to what I have seen in Michael’s eyes.”
“Oh, Julie.” Harriet
bowed her head, careful not to get any tears on the dress. “It hurts so bad, but I feel terrible for feeling this way about Michael. In a few days’ time he is set to marry the woman he loves.”
“One thing I know is that Michael has very strong feelings for you, and it is also killing him. But he is a man of integrity and so will suppress all his happiness and marry Beatrice as he is obliged to.” Juliana shook her head. “Take heart, trust in the Lord and release your aching heart to Him for healing. It will all be well.”
“I really pray so. It’s killing me to know that I’ll have to attend the wedding and smile through it all, when deep down my heart is in shreds. I’m really a bad person.”
“You are not. I know Michael loves you too.”
Harriet turned an incredulous face to her.
“Don’t look at me like! You can see it in the way he treats you; the way he wants to be with you all the time when he comes over.”
“You are such a romantic, Juliana. I know you mean well, but a man like Michael would never consider me in any other terms except as an acquaintance.”
Juliana said nothing.
“You have ruined my dress!” Beatrice screamed shrilly and Harriet winced. Gone was the sweet and calm woman of before. She had come in that afternoon with two people, who she introduced as her mother and aunt, and as soon as she saw the dress she began weeping.
Juliana rolled her eyes, looking at Harriet as if to tell her, “I told you so.” A few of the neighbors who had attended Juliana’s wedding and had seen the gown she wore were quite impressed and had sought the two ladies out. When they found them working on Beatrice’s gown, they had all exclaimed how beautiful and exquisite it was. Word soon spread about the gown and some of the women in church had also come to see the dress. They were very vocal in their appreciation.
Beatrice turned on Harriet. “My dress is ruined! You are a mean person. You are just jealous of me and want to ruin my wedding, all because you can’t get a man of your own.”
Harriet was so shocked at the attack that she just stared, open-mouthed. Beatrice grabbed the dress, and when she would have ripped it into shreds, Juliana snatched it out of her hands and ran to her bedroom, where she locked it up. When she returned, she found Harriet shedding silent tears as Beatrice went on and on about her ruining her life.
“You need to leave right now,” Juliana ordered in a no-nonsense voice. “I believe you have overstayed your welcome.”
“Don’t expect me to pay you even a single penny,” Beatrice screamed as she left, followed by her two relatives. “And I will make sure everyone in Kearney knows just how terrible your work is.”
As soon as they left, Harriet broke down. “What have I done? I have ruined someone’s life.”
“Hush! The dress is beautiful. I think Beatrice just doesn’t have the money to pay us and so came up with that stupid excuse.”
Michael hurried over to Parker and Juliana’s house. He had just received good news and wanted to share it with his friends – especially since his heart was now singing. It was as though he had been released from a cage. Beatrice was gone from his life, forever, and even though she had left in an awful way, it gave him the freedom to seek out Harriet.
Harriet wanted to hide when Michael strode into the house. They had just finished washing the dinner dishes and were getting ready to lock up for the night.
“I’m glad you have not yet gone to bed,” he announced. “I came over as soon as I got some free time.” He looked at the two women. “Hopefully it’s not too late to apologize for my ex-fiancée’s ill treatment of you..”
“Ex-fiancée?” Juliana looked at him curiously. Michael seemed so happy – not like one whose engagement had just ended. “What do you mean?”
“The wedding is off, and I’m sorry that Beatrice came here and threw a tantrum. She did the same thing in town. I met her mother, who seemed genuinely sorry for it all.”
Harriet broke down. “It’s my fault for ruining Beatrice’s dress,” she sobbed. Michael was close to her and pulled her into his arms.
“Hush, my love. You are not responsible for something that should have happened many months ago. I guess I got caught up in all the euphoria of the wedding, and when Beatrice seemed to respond to my advances, I got carried away. I had been thinking of calling off our engagement even before you came to Kearney, Harriet, because I wasn’t sure that I loved Beatrice as I should.” He sighed. “When we first started courting, I thought she was a virtuous Christian woman, but after announcing our engagement I began to notice things about my fiancée that made me rethink my decision to marry her.”
“I’m so sorry.” Harriet rested her cheek against his chest.
“No need to be. You see, Harriet, when I first saw you at the station I was praying that you wouldn’t be Juliana, Parker’s fiancée, because that would have created a problem.” He smiled at his friend, who shook his head in amusement. “I fell in love with you.”
It was too much for Harriet and she pulled away from him. “That can’t be right,” she said, sniffing. “You cannot say you love me when just this morning you were still engaged to another woman. Beatrice must be hurting so much.”
Michael chuckled softly. “Believe me, I’m the one who should be hurting, because I got dumped. Apparently, my fiancée decided that a poor farmer was not what she wanted after all, so her aunt is going to whisk her away to California, where she will be introduced to high-profile suitors. That is her class, not the wife of a poor struggling farmer like me. Her tantrums were to evoke sympathy in people so she wouldn’t look like the bad person.”
“Oh, Michael,” Harriet felt bad for him.
“I’m not sad, if that’s what you’re worried about. If anything, I feel quite relieved.” He smiled down at her. “Now, if only the woman I truly love would say yes to me.”
Harriet shook her head. “I don’t want my heart broken when you meet another worthier woman than me, Michael. I’m sorry.” She fled from the room, leaving an astonished Michael looking helplessly at Juliana, who urged him to return home and said she would talk to her friend.
“What if he leaves me for a better woman?”
“There is no better woman for Michael than you, Harriet,” Reverend Thomas told her. “He’s a wonderful man who made a mistake, but has now come to his senses.” Juliana and the reverend’s wife nodded in agreement. “He caused me some anxiety when he wanted to marry a girl who claims to be a Christian, yes, but has never joined the fellowship of the church. He told me he really loves you because he has watched you since you came, and has seen inner beauty and calmness, which are the qualities he should have been looking for in the first place.”
“It’s true, Harriet,” Juliana put in. “Michael confides in Parker a lot and one thing I can tell you is that he is really scared that you will refuse him. Parker says he has never seen his friend in so much despair and anguish, not even during their prospecting days when things went so wrong.”
“We will walk with you all the way,” Reverend Thomas said. “You are not alone.”
Three days later, Harriet accepted Michael’s proposal and she was astonished when he scooped her up into his arms, declaring that the sun was shining for him once again.
They were wed two days later, and the beautiful gown that Beatrice Fox had rejected made Harriet look so stunning that Juliana was lost for words. With tears in her eyes, she adjusted the veil and held her friend at arm’s length.
“I told you that you would be a stunning bride someday, Harriet. And this gown was really designed from your heart.”
“Thank you.”
:)
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Terri Grace is a multiple #1 Amazon bestselling author, who writes wonderful clean Western Historical Romance.
Every story is a journey of the heart.
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