His Redeeming Bride

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  “Mr. Craftsman,” Harry began, looking pleased with himself, “I have a temporary order from the judge for you to relinquish custody of Emily.”

  His hold tightened on Emily as she shook her head in protest. “No.”

  Harry held the document out to him. “Read it for yourself.”

  “Neil?” His mother turned her eyes to him. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m not going!” Emily screamed. “My mother doesn’t love me. She’ll send me away!”

  Cassie pressed her hand to her chest. “My goodness, Emily. Is that what Mr. Craftsman told you?”

  “No. I heard you.” Emily looked at Neil, an anxious look on her face. “Don’t let them take me, Pa!”

  Cassie shook her head, her eyes wide. “I don’t know why she thinks that,” she told the lawyer. “I would never send her away. I love her.”

  Deputy Owen Russell stepped past John, Cassie and Harry. He glanced at Emily and Luke before directing his attention to Neil. Taking a deep breath, he sadly stated, “I’m afraid Mr. Martin does have a court order for you to relinquish guardianship of Emily until the hearing on Monday.”

  “On what grounds?” Neil pressed, his heart hammering in his chest.

  “There was a fight in the bar. Apparently, you attacked Dan Adair, and Judge Richards isn’t sure Emily’s safe with you.”

  Anger heated Neil’s face. “He attacked me.”

  “Unfortunately, all the witnesses claim you attacked him. Well, there was the woman who said you didn’t, but it’s her word against three other men.”

  “Even the bartender?”

  The deputy nodded. “If you don’t let Mrs. McCarthy take her daughter, then I’m ordered to arrest you until Monday when you’re due to appear in court for the hearing.”

  Emily’s screaming and his mother’s sobbing distracted Neil. He willed his mind to clear above the noise so he could make sense of the man’s words. “What?” he finally managed to squeak. He blinked as he struggled to focus on the deputy. In the back of his mind, he was aware that Sarah ran out of the house with the preacher and Mrs. Donner close behind her. “I don’t understand,” he told the deputy.

  Sarah caught up to him and took Luke. He couldn’t take his eyes off the man in front of him whose expression told him that he didn’t want to do this.

  The deputy closed his eyes for a moment. “I’m sorry, Mr. Craftsman. I don’t agree with what’s going on, but I have to carry out the judge’s orders.”

  Cassie walked over to him and reached for Emily, and Neil jerked back.

  John pressed through the deputy and Cassie and grabbed Neil’s arm. “I recommend you let go of the child,” John told him, his tone calm but his words cold.

  Neil snarled at him. “Back off, McCarthy! You think you can do whatever you want because you have money?” He wrapped his other arm around Emily. “Emily’s my daughter, whether you like it or not. You have no right to come into a man’s family and tear it apart.”

  He smirked at him. “The judge disagrees with you.”

  “No!” Neil felt the tears but refused to stop them from falling down his face. If Sarah and Luke weren’t standing nearby, he would have run off with Emily and hide her, but he had his wife and son to think about so he had to stay there. His arms shook as he clung to his daughter. “No!”

  “Neil, what happened?” Sarah asked.

  Her anxious voice broke him from John’s intense stare. He blinked so he could get a clear view of her through his tears.

  Harry Martin turned to her. “I found your husband holding a prostitute at the saloon. When Mr. Adair advised him against his improper conduct, Neil attacked him.”

  Reverend Amos nodded. “It’s just like I told you, Sarah. A man who has a tainted past will never change.”

  Sarah looked at the preacher, back to the lawyer and finally to Neil. “Neil?”

  Neil gulped the lump in his throat. “Mr. Martin and Dan set me up. Dan never wanted to buy my cattle. He wanted revenge. They planted Eliza there and told her to play her part, but nothing happened. She said hello but that was it. Then one of Dan’s men pushed her into my arms and the next thing I know, Martin showed up and Dan came after me. They’re lying so John and Cassie can get Emily. Mr. Silverman won’t represent me in court if people believe that story.” He shot a look at the preacher and Mrs. Donner. “Word travels fast.”

  “Unfortunately for you, it does,” Mrs. Donner snapped. “You have defiled my son’s wife, but you will not defile his son.”

  Deputy Russell interrupted before John could grab Emily. “Mr. McCarthy, let me handle this.” When John stepped away, the deputy took the paper from Harry and presented it to Neil. “Which one is it? Will you consent to hand Emily over or will you go to jail?”

  “And take a moment to consider your wife and son,” John said.

  “You mean Jim’s son!” Beatrice added.

  The meaning of the deputy’s words finally sank into him, and Neil understood the implications of what both options meant. His mind quickly worked through the dilemma. If he had to represent himself in court, then he needed to gather people who could vouch for him. Mr. Silverman mentioned gathering anyone who could impress upon the judge the fact that Cassie didn’t want to be a mother to Emily, and there was one person who knew the truth. Someone who was impartial. Someone who would make the ideal witness. Mary Larson. The only way he was going to get a chance to talk to Mary was if he was out of jail.

  A temporary sacrifice if I can win the case. If he went to jail, he wouldn’t even have a chance to get Emily back. “Em, honey,” he whispered, his voice choking as he worked through the words he would tell the girl, his girl. “I have to do what they say.”

  “No! Take me home!” she protested.

  Emily’s words pierced his heart. Despite Emily’s screams and struggles, he pried her arms from his neck, unable to stop his tears as they continued to fall down his face. “Don’t you see what your selfishness is doing to her?” he bitterly asked Cassie.

  Emily kicked and clawed at Cassie. John took the girl and held her arms and legs in place. Emily let out another high-pitched wail.

  Gwen covered her face and turned her back on the scene while Sarah continued to glance from one person to the other, also crying.

  “We’ll see you in court on Monday.” Harry tipped his hat to Neil and the others before he joined John and Cassie as they carried a shrieking Emily down the sidewalk.

  “Shameful.” Beatrice shook her head. “Absolutely shameful. Jim never would have done anything that would have resulted in this shameful event.”

  “It is shameful, ma’am,” Deputy Russell replied. “A girl shouldn’t be dragged from the only home she’s ever known.” He turned to Neil and handed him the paper. “I apologize, Mr. Craftsman. I hope you find a way to get her back.”

  Neil watched the man as he left the group. The deputy’s words were well-intended but did nothing to ease the ache in Neil’s heart. He brought his hand to the back of his neck which was sore from where Emily had clung to him. Oh Emily, forgive me. He took a deep breath to steady his emotions so he wasn’t crying anymore. Forgive me.

  Reverend Amos interrupted the silence. “Sarah, you can see that judgment is a part of this. No man gets by with wrong living. Don’t allow yourself and your children to suffer as that little girl is.”

  “Get out of here,” Neil snapped, anger replacing his sorrow.

  “We’ll be glad to, as soon as Sarah consents to go with us.”

  “No. No! She’s my wife and no one can undo that. Now get out of here before I make you!”

  Beatrice gasped. “Oh, he is a monster!”

  “Shut your mouth,” Neil ordered. “I’m sick of listening to you spout off about how I’m unfit to raise your grandson. You’re an intolerable woman! A person would have to be a saint to put up with your bellyaching.”

  “If you’re looking for people to say you’re fit to raise a child, you won’t get us to agree,” the
preacher said. “Come on, Sarah.”

  The preacher motioned to the sidewalk.

  Neil waited for her to say no, to tell this miserable old coot that her place was by Neil’s side as she had done in the past.

  But she didn’t.

  “Sarah?” Neil asked as an icy grip clenched his heart.

  She paused in mid-turn, her profile making it hard for him to determine what she might be thinking. When she spoke, her voice was so low that he could barely make out her words. “I can’t stay.”

  “What?” He made a move to take her arm so she would have to face him but the preacher stopped him.

  “She made her choice,” the man reprimanded him.

  Neil watched her leave with Reverend Amos and a satisfied looking Mrs. Donner. He wanted to run after her and cling to her, but his feet froze to the ground. What just happened? I woke up this morning with Sarah, Emily, and Luke safe at home. And now they’re gone?

  His mother came to him and hugged him, but too much had happened in the past hour and he failed to know what to do to get himself from under the mess that had suddenly become his life. He stood there, his body going numb. Only one thought kept running through his mind: What just happened?

  ***

  That night, Neil banged on the front door of Willow Mills’ residence. Sarah clamped her hands over her ears and begged Beatrice and Willow to make him go away. She rocked back and forth on the bed, unable to take it anymore. Neil had been begging to talk to her for the last three hours and it left her in a turmoil of heartache as she struggled with what to do.

  Beatrice opened the front door. Sarah stayed in the guest bedroom, but she could hear them since the front door was right by her room.

  “Mr. Craftsman, you can’t keep on like this,” Beatrice said. “Sarah doesn’t want to see you.”

  “I need to talk to her. You didn’t give me a chance to talk to her,” he argued.

  Sarah squeezed her eyes shut, feeling as if she couldn’t breathe but knowing she had to in order to sustain the life growing inside of her. She became painfully aware of the baby she and Neil created each time the baby jabbed her. Just that morning, she and Neil had been laughing and sharing the joys of impending parenthood. But all at once, everything had been ripped apart and the pain in her chest grew stronger with each plea Neil gave for Beatrice to let him into the house.

  “I love her,” Neil continued after Beatrice denied him entrance. “I would never betray her.”

  “It’s too bad that you had witnesses.”

  “They’re lying.”

  “I don’t care to have this conversation with you...again. Now get out of here or I’ll send for the sheriff to take you away.”

  Sarah gasped back another sob and hummed a tune to block out the rest of the conversation. What should I do? What should I do?

  In the corner of the room, Luke watched her. He picked up one of his blocks and brought it to her, a smile on his face, as if he hoped to cheer her up. Seeing him only served to bring another round of fresh tears to her eyes. She knew Luke wasn’t Neil’s son, but she couldn’t help but see Neil whenever the boy smiled.

  Beatrice entered the room. “There. I finally got him to leave. The neighbors complained to the police and they took him away.”

  “Is he in jail?” Sarah couldn’t stand the thought of him being in prison.

  “No. Unfortunately.” Beatrice knelt by Luke and smiled at him. “Hi, Luke. You are a handsome little boy, aren’t you? You look a lot like your mother.” The woman turned to Sarah. “As much as I love my son, it is good that Luke inherited your looks.”

  Sarah nearly fell off the bed, for that was the first kind word she ever spoke to her. “I...Uh...Thank you.”

  Beatrice sighed. “I suppose I haven’t been a very gracious mother-in-law, have I?”

  Unable to answer the question, Sarah let her hands fall into her lap and took a good look at Jim’s mother, as if seeing her for the first time.

  “If there is one thing Mr. Craftsman taught me, it’s that I should have treated you better.” The woman sat next to Sarah on the bed and took one of Sarah’s hands in hers. “I am sorry. I didn’t realize how I seemed until recently. Sarah, you must understand that I want what’s best for you and Luke. I don’t want to see Mr. Craftsman hurt you by sleeping with other women and drinking. You are the only family I have left now that my husband and Jim are dead. I have no other legacy except for Luke.”

  Forcing her heartache aside, she focused on Jim’s mother. “Mrs. Donner-”

  “Beatrice.” She smiled as Luke climbed on her lap and showed her the block. “I would like to be a friend, instead of a mother-in-law. I know I haven’t been a good one. Is there any chance that we might work through our differences and become friends?”

  “I must admit that I’m a little overwhelmed.”

  “I understand. I have no right to ask for what I don’t deserve.”

  “I meant that it’s sudden but I would welcome the chance to be friends.”

  The woman’s body relaxed and her smile grew wider.

  Willow walked into the room. “Mr. Craftsman left town. He won’t be coming back tonight. The sheriff confirmed it. Now you can get some peace and quiet, Sarah.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Mills.”

  The old woman nodded and departed.

  Returning Beatrice’s smile, Sarah said, “Thank you for calling him Luke.”

  Beatrice laughed. “I have to admit, I’ve grown fond of the name you gave him. He sure has changed since I last saw him.”

  Deciding to let the past go, Sarah updated the woman on what Luke accomplished in the past few months.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Neil’s heart hung heavy in his chest, and he spent the night lying awake on the couch in the parlor. He couldn’t bring himself to go upstairs where he spent his nights with Sarah and where Emily and Luke slept in their bedrooms. He couldn’t even bring himself to go to the kitchen where they spent their time eating and talking, often laughing. But there was no laughter now. In fact, the absence of laughter made the silence all the more deafening.

  The morning came and he dragged his feet up the stairs, each step echoing of a loneliness he didn’t want to acknowledge. Ignoring the children’s bedrooms, he lumbered into the room he and Sarah shared, quelling the memories of how they expressed their love for each other in their bed. Instead, he opened the wardrobe and sighed at the sight of the pretty yellow, purple, and green dresses she had made. She even made a pink one to wear during her pregnancy. Though she kept her gray and brown dresses, she rarely wore them anymore.

  He touched the soft fabric of the green dress, recalling the first day he saw her in it. They married later that day. The unwanted memory brought the emotions he had been carefully suppressing. He smelled the fragrance of the lavender soap she liked to use, and for a moment, he closed his eyes, imagining that she was standing in front of him, telling him that she didn’t believe what everyone else was saying, that she knew he wouldn’t betray her. The comfort departed under the weight of the truth. She didn’t trust him, and she took Luke and their unborn child with her. And Cassie took Emily.

  Emptiness plagued the house so much he couldn’t stand it. He quickly dressed in another suit, shaved and combed his hair, determined to focus on what he needed to do, and that was get Emily back. He couldn’t force Sarah back, and he wasn’t sure if she’d let see him see Luke or their child, but he knew that Emily didn’t want to be with Cassie and that Cassie didn’t really want her daughter. If nothing else, he had to protect that precious girl.

  Straightening his tie, he took a deep breath and cleared his mind. Feeling ready, he placed his hat on his head and headed for town. He took the buggy, more out of desperate hope than belief that Sarah would change her mind and come home. He had to try to talk to her. Maybe a good night’s sleep would clear her thinking. Maybe she would listen to him instead of what others were probably telling her.

  When he arrived in town
, he rode by Willow Mills’ house but no one was there when he knocked on the door. He decided he would come back after he saw the judge. He parked the buggy in front of the courthouse and worked things out with the clerk to get an appointment with one of the judges that afternoon. After that, he went to the bank to withdraw enough money to buy Sarah’s necklace back. He had planned to add it to Dan Adair’s payment to pay the lawyer, but since Jack Silverman did, in fact, refuse to see him when he tried to explain the situation after he departed from Willow Mills’ place the previous day, he had no reason to withhold the money.

  The bell rang over his head as he opened the door of the mercantile. Ralph was nowhere in sight so he waited by the front counter. Peering through the glass display case, he saw Sarah’s necklace. Just the sight of it made him want to weep. It was a long shot that she might want to listen to him, but he couldn’t let her sacrifice her parents’ only gift to her.

  “I don’t want a toy. I want to go home to Pa,” a girl said.

  Neil turned his attention to the back of the store. He thought he was the only customer in the place. Rows of shelves hid his view of who she was with, but he’d recognize Emily’s voice anywhere. His heart raced with excitement at the thought of seeing his daughter. He took a step forward when he heard Cassie.

  “Come on, Emily,” she pleaded. “Pick something to play with. You can pick all the toys if you want. John has a lot of money and can afford anything you want.”

  “I want Pa!”

  Cassie gave a loud sigh. “I explained that to you. Mr. Craftsman isn’t your pa.”

  “Yes, he is!”

  “No, he’s not. Now, I’m your mother. You would do well to want to be with me.”

  “Why? So you can send me away as soon as John gets his money?”

  “Emily, you’ll be going to a very prestigious all-girl school. You’ll have opportunities that you’ll never have here.”

  “But I want Pa.”

  “But you should want me. I’m your mother.”