“You give me no opportunity to defend myself?”
“Now!” Father’s raised voice reverberated off the walls of the oversized dining room.
Daniel stalked to the kitchen door and smacked it before snarling over his shoulder. “You will never prove it.” Retreating through the kitchen, he barked an insult at Aunt Lou before slamming the back door of the cook shack.
Isabelle’s father sighed as he slumped into the chair next to Isabelle and wrapped his arm around her. “Why? Why didn’t you tell us?”
She stared at the log wall. Her cheeks were on fire. “I was so ashamed. I never should have lied to you and mother. That night…”
“You don’t have to tell—”
“I do. That night wasn’t the first time I’d lied to you. I met Daniel alone for a picnic along the lake once, and the week before the May ball we had lunch at the Diller. I’m sorry. I knew better.”
“You did, and it disappoints me to hear you deceived us.”
Isabelle’s head dropped. “It was my fault Daniel misread my behavior.”
Father turned his chair so he was facing Isabelle and leaned forward. He took her chin in his hands and met her eyes. “You are not to blame for what Daniel did.”
Isabelle sniffed. Her eyes burned, but she didn’t look away from the face of the man who’d defended her all her life. She thought she’d lost his protection, his love. That she would never deserve it again after what had happened.
“It doesn’t matter how many times you met him unescorted or where. Daniel led us to believe he cared for you and would protect you—not violate you.”
Tears gathered on Isabelle’s collar at Father’s words.
“We never suspected you needed protection from him. When I think about all the times he came to the house to talk to us about your health afterwards. I feel like such a fool.”
“You couldn’t have known.”
“Maybe not, but I should have asked you to explain what happened that night. I should have known better and trusted you. I think perhaps, in some way, I didn’t want to hear the truth. I felt it would be too painful. Daniel appeared so genuine in his concern.” His eyes narrowed, and a vein throbbed on his forehead. “That lying, scheming… And all along, he was the cause of your suffering.”
Isabelle tipped forward and laid her head on Father’s chest. “Daniel betrayed all of us.”
“How it must have hurt you when I insisted you marry him. Can you forgive me?”
Miss Sophie’s words about forgiveness slipped into Isabelle’s thoughts. “Of course.”
Chapter 18
The barn door opened and footsteps crunched on the frozen ground.
“Hold up.” Preach struck the light in his lantern and rounded the corner.
His eyes like flapjacks, Daniel reared back. He held a length of looped rope, a dirty bandana peeked from his front pocket.
The man had more in mind than Preach had given him credit for. Since Daniel had galloped past the bunkhouse window and down the road hours ago, Preach had stood watch to ensure the man didn’t return.
If it hadn’t been for a nicker out in the woods south of the bunkhouse, Preach might have finally gone to bed and missed Daniel as he stumbled, on foot, back to the barn. Preach pointed to the rope. “You’re planning to kidnap her?” Preach hadn’t figured on any more than Daniel returning with his tail between his legs and begging Isabelle to give him another chance. He was the lowest sort of scoundrel there was.
“No.” Shuffling backward, Daniel put his arms akimbo.
“Where’s your horse?”
“I don’t answer to you.”
Preach lifted the lantern and Daniel shied like he’d been hit. “I imagine after Isabelle talked to her father, you were asked to leave. So leave.”
“We’d have been fine if it wasn’t for you.”
“If you think forcing yourself on a woman is fine. You got another think coming. Get out of here before I give you what you deserve.”
Preach raised a fist and Daniel dropped the rope before he turned and scrambled toward the trees.
“Don’t you come back!” Preach yelled at the retreating shadow.
The following night, moonlight shone through the east window of Stony Creek Chapel, illuminating a sliver of the heavy oak pulpit Preach used on Sundays. His gaze trailed the limbs of the tree of life carved on its face.
A lot of good he’d done at the camp today. Joe had ordered the men back to work. Preach and Ernie had taken Will with them. Not because they expected the boy to cut, but because it was better than leaving him to his thoughts back at the bunkhouse.
Will had moaned and cried for nearly half the day, his grief an oozing, open wound. Listening to him, Preach’s mood had grown so heavy it was as if his axe weighed three times what it should have. He’d finally snapped at Will and told him to buck up. Will’s brows had shot up his forehead, and he’d swiped a trail of snot down his sleeve before stumbling toward a downed log. Muttering something under his breath about Preach being a sorry excuse for a pastor, Ernie had gripped Will’s shoulder and told him he could cry all week if he wanted to.
It wasn’t like Preach didn’t hurt for Will. Preach hurt something terrible. He just didn’t know what to do about it. Maybe he was a sorry excuse for a pastor. The people of Stony Creek deserved better, someone who knew what they were doing. He’d perform the funeral as he’d promised, even though Will might be having second thoughts. After that, Preach would talk to the elders about finding someone else to lead their flock.
It would also solve the problem of Isabelle. He could no longer ignore his feelings toward her. Although, he’d made such a bumble of their relationship, she might never consider becoming his wife.
Light steps scuffed on the wooden stairs leading to the double doors of the church before the key scraped in the lock. Whoever it was didn’t need a key, Preach had left the doors open like he had planned. A woman wearing a cloak with a large hood slipped in and scurried down the aisle.
Preach had arrived two hours before, not only to pray, but also to wait and see if what he anticipated might happen took place. There was no need for anyone else to be at the church, it was close to midnight.
The woman rounded the altar and dipped her head. He heard the soft scraping of coins. The silver plate used for the offering was kept on a shelf under the pulpit. Often, Preach neglected to count the money and turn it over to Harrison Barlow, the church treasurer—another one of Preach’s failings. And now this woman was stealing it.
As the woman straightened and retreated from the altar, her face was revealed by the slip of moonlight from the window. Josephine? Preach had figured a woman might be Snoop’s motivation for thieving, but he’d not expected it to be this woman. He waited until she was halfway down the aisle before speaking. “Funny time to be changing the flower arrangement.”
She gasped, swiveled, and clutched her chest. Several wrinkled dollar bills peaked out between her gloved fingers. “Preach! You’ve scared me half to death. What are you doing sitting here in the dark?” She secreted the bills within her cloak, and then tossed her head. The dark gray hood fell around her shoulders.
No one would deny the woman was handsome. “I came to pray. Horace passed yesterday.”
He was also there to figure out what Snoop was up to, but he wasn’t going to mention that. He’d followed Snoop to town after he had snuck out of the bunkhouse when the men settled into their second night of drinking.
“I heard.” She took three steps to the pew Preach occupied and sat beside him before reaching for his arm. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
The heat of her fingers penetrated through the leather of her gloves and into the wool of his sleeve. No more than six months ago, the company of a beautiful woman and a bottle of The Belt Buckle’s finest would have helped Preach forget the pain of losing Horace, too. Lord, I need to rely on You. You promised to bear my grief and carry my sorrows.
Preach turned toward Jose
phine, and her quick breaths pelted his face. “We need to go somewhere and talk.”
Her grip tightened as she whispered. “We can talk right here.”
Sitting next to Josephine, the heat of her leg pressed against his, felt like a betrayal to Isabelle. Preach twisted his arm to be released from Josephine’s grip and took her elbow. “Let’s go see your mother.”
“My mother? Whatever for?”
“I’ll admit she’s not my favorite person, either, but she deserves to hear what you’ve been up to”—and who she’d been up to it with—“like helping yourself to the tithes and offerings of the church folk in the middle of the night. Surely there would have been a better opportunity in daylight to do your thieving.” Preach stood and pulled Josephine with him.
“Let me go. You’re squeezing too hard.”
Preach dropped her elbow, and Josephine smoothed the front of her cape before lifting her chin. “My mother will not appreciate the interruption to her sleep. You can bring whatever accusations you have against me to her tomorrow.”
After you’ve hightailed it out of here with Snoop. “It’s more of a conviction than an accusation. I saw you take the money.”
“You can’t prove that.”
Preach could if he reached into her cloak to find the bills.
As though she heard his thought, Josephine bent her arms at the elbows and placed her hands on her slender hips. When he didn’t come any closer, she raised an eyebrow.
Was she amused or disappointed?
“Like I said, we can discuss your accusation with my mother tomorrow.” Josephine turned, the arc of her hem brushing across his shins, and stalked down the aisle and through the entry before pushing through the double doors.
Snoop must be waiting outside. Preach shadowed Josephine to the front step. The wagon Preach had found stored in the woods behind the church on his hike from Miss Sophie’s last Sunday was parked across the lawn beside the windowless stone shed built when the original church was erected. The shed contained the odd bits needed seasonally by the congregation that were too bulky to store in the church.
So that’s where they’d been storing the loot.
Josephine had hitched up her skirts and was running across the grass. Preach gave chase. As they reached the wagon, the door of the shed opened. A lantern’s glow revealed Snoop carrying a stack of five red woolen blankets.
Of course. The missing blankets from the supply box.
Snoop’s lip turned up in its customary sneer as he observed Josephine and Preach. “Why am I not surprised? Where’d you find him, Josephine?”
Josephine rounded the wagon and stood next to Snoop. “He said he was praying. Although for a moment, I would have said he was tempted to do more than pray on that pew.”
Snoop guffawed.
With any luck, Snoop wouldn’t see the red scooting up Preach’s ears. “What are you doing with those blankets?”
“Like everything else in this wagon, we’re hoping they’ll give Josephine and me a new start.”
“A new start at what?” Preach peered over the edge of the wagon box. It held two barrels, Lou’s missing raisins, and a couple of saddles. Along one of the box sides were several stacks of planed planks a nearby sawmill would probably never know were missing. Next to the planks was Miss Sophie’s husband’s pine tool chest. No surprise there.
Snoop tucked the blankets under the bench at the front before slinging his arm across Josephine’s shoulders. She leaned into him, tucking her chin against his chest. “A new start at a life together. I’m tired of working the woods, the long hours, the back-breaking labor, and, thanks to you, no chance to get ahead.”
If all the accusations were true, Josephine had made some poor choices, but Preach didn’t wish Snoop on any woman. He’d have to keep Snoop talking until he figured out how to prevent the couple from leaving. “I’m not the reason Joe didn’t choose you as foreman. He said there was something sneaky about you.” Preach jerked his chin toward the stolen goods. “It looks like he wasn’t far off the mark.”
“You think so, Preach?”
Josephine snickered in a mean-spirited tone that didn’t suit her looks. Maybe they were meant for each other.
“What if I told you this wagon here was only a portion of our stake? We’ve been planning this for some time.” Snoop leaned in and kissed Josephine, his lips smacking noisily on hers as she circled his waist with her arms.
Preach looked away. “What do you mean only a portion? Who else have you been stealing from?”
“Let’s just say I’ve been paid well for some of my superior stacks of logs.”
The rat. It was worse than Preach had figured.
“My woman here lends a certain amount of credibility to my presentation as a timber business owner.
That’s why Alvin had seen someone attempting to measure Pollitt’s log piles. Snoop and Josephine must have sent a scaler out to measure Thorebourne’s piles so they could get a prepayment. “Alvin mentioned he saw someone scaling one of our piles a few weeks ago.”
“That was almost our undoing. The man was lost.” Snoop snorted and Josephine covered her mouth. “You know city folk. We’d sent him up to camp four. I don’t know how he ended up at Pollitt’s.”
“Alvin sent the fellow on to Thorebourne’s, but now I’m wishing he hadn’t.” By the time Mr. Thorebourne discovered their treachery, Snoop and Josephine would be long gone. If only Preach had asked Mr. Thorebourne about the scaling the day he’d eaten lunch at their home. Thorebourne’s loss would be a hard one to bear. “Are you all right with that, Josephine, you two swindling your own family?”
“That’s what made her plan so perfect.”
“Josephine’s plan?” Preach’s gaze snuck to the woman’s face. She bore no hint of shame.
“Yup.” As Snoop squeezed Josephine’s shoulders, a belligerent smile spread across her face. “The woman has a brilliant mind.”
Snoop was clearly in love. No one had ever accused Josephine of being brilliant. “How’d you do it?”
“Josephine wasn’t a stranger to the buyers. Her dad’s taken her on business trips since she was a young girl.” Snoop pulled at the lapels of his worn mackinaw. “When we weren’t workin’ in the summer, I cleaned up and became Mr. Jasper Rice, the new son-in-law, sent to make their acquaintance before fall cutting commenced and to ensure good relations continued between the Valley Mill and the Thorebourne Timber Company.”
Perhaps Snoop and Josephine were well suited. The two of them were both scoundrels. “Why didn’t you just make it legitimate and get married? You would’ve saved yourself and others a lot of trouble.”
Snoop’s expression hardened. “I got plans. Like I said, I’m done with the lumber business. We’re heading to the coast. We’ve got a tidy sum to invest in a marine salts company.”
“You want to cash in on sea salt?”
“Where you been, Preach? They’ve figured a way to mine sea water for gold using electricity. Not much longer and Josephine, and I will be sitting pretty.”
If Snoop thought sea water would make him rich, Preach should have sold him shares in a moose taming company.
Josephine stepped forward and planted her feet. “My father wouldn’t allow us to get married.”
“Now, sweetie, Preach doesn’t need to know all our business.”
Ignoring Snoop, Josephine continued. “For some reason, my mother pegged you as the heir of the company. Ever since you were saved, it’s been nothing but ‘what a fine sermon Preach gave today,” or ‘that man’s got a real head for management.’ She went on and on. With all her talk, she has convinced my father you’re the man he needs in the family.”
Josephine’s story went a long way to explaining Snoop’s anger toward Preach, but Preach didn’t feel any pity for him. “You never meant any of it, did you? All the chasing me around. I was just a cover for what you and Snoop were up to.” Preach hadn’t appreciated Josephine’s attention, but it smarted to find out
she’d only been acting a part.
“You don’t know the half of it. I couldn’t cook a meal to save myself or anyone else for that matter.”
“But I’ve tasted your cooking.”
“You thought you did. No one’s ever actually seen me cooking because I don’t. Attracting you through your stomach was my mother’s idea, and all the food I plied you with was her doing. My mother thought she was doing a fine job, too, until Isabelle came to town. Seeing you around that girl, my mother started to suspect you and I weren’t as close as I’d led her to believe. We could have taken the town for more if that girl hadn’t shown up.”
“Is that why you sent the telegram to Isabelle’s father?”
“I needed to do something drastic to convince my mother you were still a son-in-law prospect and allay her suspicions regarding Snoop. How was I to know Isabelle wasn’t just playing coy and she actually didn’t want to marry Daniel?” Josephine’s snort of derision jerked on Preach’s nerves.
Isabelle didn’t deserve the mess Josephine had thrown her into. When Preach contemplated what Daniel might have put Isabelle through if he’d kidnapped her and forced her to marry him, Preach wanted to throttle Josephine. “You’ve caused that girl a lot of trouble.”
“She’s caused me more. When you lost your head over her, Snoop and I had to move up our departure. It’s cost us money.”
Josephine was exaggerating. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Tipping her head back, she laughed, course laughter that grated on the ears. “Then you’re the only one who doesn’t. Perley’s been taking bets the two of you will be married by Christmas. I would have wagered myself”—leaning toward Preach, Josephine spat out the words—“but I won’t be around to collect.”
This was a Josephine he’d never met.
“I still don’t understand why you care so much about Isabelle,” Josephine said. “What does she have that I don’t?”
A kind heart, a generous spirit, not even a harsh word for those who had caused her so much grief. Qualities Preach admired on the inside of a woman—not on the outside. The thought filled his heart with an unfamiliar peace. “It doesn’t matter.”
Rocky Mountain Redemption Page 17