“They’re fine.” The words sounded strangled. This was going to be much more difficult than he’d imagined.
“Have you already gone and enlisted. Do they want you right away? Is that the problem?”
“Dinah,” he said firmly, putting an end to her babbling. “It’s not going to work. I could never make you happy.”
She frowned, her brows coming together in confusion. “Don’t be silly, you already make me happy.”
“No.” He needed to make her understand. “You need someone who can love you like you deserve to be loved.”
“And you can’t?” she choked on the words.
He shook his head hating the pain he saw in her eyes. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her, even though he knew that would be inevitable.
She pulled her hand back from his. “Is it still Anna holding you back, or the mystery girl, Miss Parks?”
He ran his hand through his hair. Anna. If it were still Anna it would be so much easier. She’d understand that. Everyone did. They pitied him, even as they urged him to move on. But it wasn’t Anna. Finally he felt free of her. It was Emily, but how could he tell this to her? It would be better if she thought it was the ghost of his first love she couldn’t compete with, instead of a woman he’d just met. He swallowed hard and looked at the ground. He couldn’t meet her eye. She read the answer on his face even as he tried to keep it from her.
“The mystery girl, I see.” She turned from him and studied a shepherdess statuette on the shelf
“It really has nothing to do with her,” Sam said, although he didn’t think he sounded at all convincing.
She spun around to face him, tears in her eyes. “Doesn’t it?”
He took a deep breath. There was no going back now.
“You deserve better. You deserve someone who can love you whole heartedly.”
Dinah blinked back her tears and held her chin up proudly. “You’re right. I do.” Her voice was firm and surprisingly in control. “Thank you, Sam, for being honest in your deficiencies in that regard. I suppose I ought to go inform my mother. You can see yourself out?”
He bowed respectfully to her and didn’t try to say anything else. Everything that could be said had been, and anything else would make things more difficult.
His heart was heavy as he left the house, knowing that he had hurt her. He mounted Echo and headed toward home. He had one more unpleasant task to accomplish today. He had to enlist in the army, but that could wait until he had eaten something.
Was he a weakling or a coward since he didn’t relish the idea of going off to war? George and some of the others seemed so excited at the prospect it made him wonder if there were something wrong with him. Shouldn’t a man want to fight for his family and country? That is exactly why he would sign up, because ultimately it did come down to fighting for his family and country.
For Emily.
His face relaxed into a smile as he thought of her. His future wife.
Was he crazy to marry her? He barely knew her, and her story and background were almost impossible to believe, but he did believe her, and he had not felt like this about someone since Anna. He couldn’t let her slip away. Though, he sighed, he supposed she would. She would go to her own time, and he would go to die in battle. That was still hard to believe. He couldn’t imagine himself not existing a short time from now. But he thought she was wrong. He would survive, and he also thought she’d still be here when he got back. Some part of him refused to believe that she would actually be able to return to her own time, assuming she had come from another time at all.
Despite all evidence to the contrary, he couldn’t picture anything but a happily-ever-after for them, living at Bonne Terra.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Emily
Emily sat on the porch, waiting for Sam to come back. She twisted her fingers around in her lap. If she could lose herself in a book, it would help the time go faster, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t think of anything except that Tobias had told her Wilkins got away and Sam went after him.
“Why didn’t you go with Sam?” she had asked, picturing the bigger man pulverizing her beloved.
“He told me to stay and watch over you,” Tobias answered, and she detected a bit of resentment, as if he’d rather be with Sam instead of guarding her.
Even now he sat on the porch steps, idly whittling, while constantly scanning the area for danger.
Little Dolly came out on to the porch carrying a tray nearly as big as she was. “Would you like lemonade, miss?” Emily hurried to take the pitcher and glass from the child. She placed it on a small table and poured a glass of lemonade and handed it to Dolly.
Dolly’s eyes grew wide, and she took a step back. “No, miss, that’s for you!”
“Have it,” Emily insisted, holding the glass out to the child.
Dolly’s serious face broke into a grin, and she glanced around to be sure no one was about who would chastise her and took the glass.
“Thank you, miss.”
“How are you this morning?” Emily studied the little face. There did seem to be a bruise on her cheek, but it wasn’t as bad as she had feared.
“Fine, miss. My face don’t hurt hardly at all anymore. Is the bad man really gone?”
“He is,” Emily assured her and tried not to think about the fact that they didn’t know where he had gone, and they didn’t know if he’d be back. There was no reason for little Dolly to worry more than she had to. “You were very brave yesterday.”
“I was plum scared.” Dolly clutched the lemonade glass in both hands.
Emily leaned toward the girl in the threadbare dress. “I’ll tell you a secret, so was I.”
The girl turned her big dark eyes, open wide with wonder, to Emily. “I didn’t think white folks ever got scared.”
“All the time,” she assured her. “All the time. How’s the lemonade?”
Dolly took a tentative sip and then her smile grew wide and she took another, longer drink. Finally, she licked her lips and smiled up at her. “It’s like maybe what heaven tastes like, don’t you think?”
She had never thought about what heaven tasted like, though she had described certain flavors of ice cream as heavenly from time to time, but she supposed that tart and sweet and cold and refreshing was nearly a perfect drink. Why shouldn’t heaven be like that?
The distinctive sound of clip clopping hoof beats came down the street. Tobias stood, putting aside his whittling, but keeping his little knife in his hand. She rushed to the edge of the porch and strained to see down the drive, hoping this was Sam coming back, but the person who came into view was George.
“Hello.” He swept his hat off in a grand gesture as he came to a stop before the house. “Go fetch your master, little one,” he instructed Dolly and then turned back to Emily. “You look ravishing this morning, Miss Parks.”
“Thank you.” She knew he was flattering her; she couldn’t possibly look ravishing. Not after what happened last night. She was operating on way too little sleep, and no make up. “And Sam isn’t here.” She put a restraining hand on Dolly who’d looked up at her with questioning eyes, not quite sure how to follow the directive she’d been given.
“Not here? But he knew we were going to go into town to enlist today.”
“I know.” She hated the fact that Sam was going to enlist, especially since she knew how it would end. “But he had some business he had to take care of first.”
“He had to catch the bad man first,” Dolly piped up, and Emily was unable to repress a smile. Small children were the same regardless of the century they grew up in.
“What bad man? What’s been going on here?” George looked back and forth between Dolly and Emily, as if trying to decide who was likely to give him a better answer. Finally, he settled on Emily, one eyebrow quirked in query.
“Come on up and have a glass of lemonade,” Emily said and turned to Dolly. “Go get a glass for Mr. Phelps, please.” Dolly scampered off, and Georg
e dismounted.
“You didn’t go with Sam?” George handed the reins to Tobias.
“No, sir. He told me to stay here with Miss Parks. In case.” He led the horse to the stable.
“In case of what?” George directed his question to Emily. “What’s going on, Miss Parks?”
Emily wasn’t sure how much Sam wanted to tell George, for that matter, she wasn’t sure how much she wanted George to know about what happened yesterday, but clearly she had to tell him something.
“It’s Wilkins, the overseer,”
George nodded impatiently. “I know who he is.” In a couple of long strides, he was beside her on the porch.
Of course he did. She was the newcomer here.
“He…” There was nothing for it but to say it. “He’s been stealing from Sam, and he attacked me yesterday and Sam fired him and was going to bring him to the law this morning, but he escaped. He went to try to find him.”
George looked properly horrified by this news. He took her hands in his. “My dear Miss Parks, were you injured?”
“I’m fine.” She gently tried to take her hands back from him, but he had rather a firm grip and she didn’t want to be rude.
“I’m so glad.” He gazed into her eyes with a sincerity that was touching. “I always knew that man couldn’t be trusted. Do you think I should go try to find him, to help Sam?”
She really didn’t know. Had Sam caught up with Wilkins and if he did, where were they? Did he need help, or was everything under control? If George went to help him, where would he even go, where was Sam? What she wouldn’t give to simply be able to text him right now and find out what was going on.
Dolly came back with the glass and poured the lemonade. She held it out for George and he had no option but to let go of Emily’s hands so he could take the glass. At the same time, the sound of hoof beats came to them on the spring breeze.
“That must be him now.” Relief flooded through her that he had made it back safely. How would she ever manage when he went off to war? Of course, she wouldn’t be here, she’d be back home. It all seemed impossible.
Sam came into view, whole and alive, and she couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face at the sight of him.
“In love with him, are you?” George’s mouth turned up at the edges into a crooked smile, even while his eyes looked sad.
She nodded.
George sighed. “Story of my life. In my next life, I’m picking an ugly best friend.”
All she could do was smile at that. In truth, she understood the feeling. People were always falling in love with her friends, especially Dayna. Not that it mattered because Dayna had been devoted to Johnson for years, but that didn’t stop every guy they met from being infatuated with her.
Sam gave Emily a searching look, as if to see how she was holding up. She smiled reassuringly at him, and he grinned back, melting her heart before turning to his friend. “I had to take care of some things this morning. I hope I didn’t keep you waiting long.”
“I was early.” George put the glass down and stuck his hands in his pockets “Miss Parks said you had a bit of trouble with Wilkins.”
Sam shot Emily a look that seemed to ask ‘how much did you tell him?’
“I told him he attacked me.”
Sam nodded. “He attacked her, threatened her, tried to blackmail her. Stole from me as well. I can’t have that here.”
“Of course not.” George leaned against the porch railing. “Did you find him?
Sam shook his head. “No sign of him, but I spoke with the sheriff, and he’ll keep an eye out. If he’s spotted, he’ll be arrested.”
Emily’s heart sank. She didn’t want to have to worry about Wilkins appearing out of the woodwork, there was enough to worry about.
“What are you doing about an overseer?” George took his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms.
“I put Marcus in charge,” Sam said.
“I wonder what your father will think of all this.”
“I plan to write to him today.” He gave Emily a significant glance.
She was rather amazed that already she could interpret his looks. He’d broken it off with Dinah, and they were now free to get married. That letter would not only include information about Wilkins and Marcus, but tell his parents about his engagement to Emily. How would they react? Did they particularly like Dinah? That aspect of things hadn’t occurred to her before. How many people’s lives were they messing up as they worried about making themselves happy? And was it worth it? But she looked at Sam and her heart overflowed with happiness, so she tended to think it was.
“Are you ready to go?” George asked, moving away from the railing and looking like he was prepared to spring into action.
Sam broke his gaze with Emily and looked at George as if he couldn’t remember why he was there.
Emily wasn’t ready for him to do that, but it wasn’t up to her.
“Not yet. I need to clean up and eat something and Moses has to hitch up the buggy.” He took a step toward the front door.
George rolled his eyes. “Oh, I forgot you wanted to make this a regular outing.”
“It will not interfere with our plans. We’ll simply escort Miss Parks and Beck to Mrs. Barnes’ dressmakers before we meet up with Yuengling.”
Sam turned to little Dolly, “Go fetch Beck.” The child darted off, and he took hold of Emily’s hand. “Are you ready?”
“As soon as you are.” Was he talking about getting married or buying dresses? It didn’t matter; she was ready for either. “What dresses will I need?”
“I would think an everyday dress, a visiting dress and a ballgown, which would double as your wedding dress, would be sufficient for now.”
“Wedding dress?” George’s voice cracked on the word wedding.
Sam did not let go of Emily’s hand but squeezed it a little harder as he turned to his friend. “Yes, I spoke to Dinah, and we’ve ended our understanding. Emily and I plan to be married before we go off to war.”
George looked at them blankly as if the words didn’t make any sense to him.
“But you just met her,” he sputtered.
“Sometimes that’s how life works,” Sam said with a small shrug. “I haven’t been this happy since Anna.”
“If that’s the case, then I’m all for it.” He smiled and bowed to Emily. “Welcome to the family, so to speak.”
She grinned back at him. “Thank you.”
Sam went inside to freshen up and get some nourishment, and fifteen minutes later they were ready to go. Beck joined them, and Moses brought the two-passenger buggy out from the stable. Sam helped Emily and Beck into it and then handed the reins to Beck. “You’ve driven this before, right?”
“Yes, sir,” she answered.
He mounted his own stallion, and soon their small party was on their way into town.
Emily rather wished she were riding side by side with Sam instead of Beck in the little buggy, but at the same time, the trip fascinated her. She’d been on this road going into town the other day but had been too dazed to pay much attention. In her time it was lined with subdivisions and shopping malls. Now it was fields and orchards and woods with an occasional house set far back from the road. She would almost believe she was really in a different place entirely, except that every now and then she recognized something. That house there was a big doctor’s office now. The church on the corner was now an Italian restaurant, or would be, rather. Tenses were hard to keep track of.
They turned onto Main Street. A street she knew as filled with cute shops and cars parked up and down both sides of the street. Now there was a large courthouse at the end of the street, wooden sidewalks, and shops like milliners, feed and seed and dry goods. It was a far cry from modern coffee houses and drug stores.
Beck stopped the buggy in front of a shop with a painted sign proclaiming it Mrs. Barnes Dressmaker, and Sam dismounted and helped the girls down. He addressed Beck. “I trust
you know what she needs and will make sure it is ordered. Have them bill everything to me.”
“Yes, sir.” Beck nodded in agreement.
Sam grasped Emily’s hand. “We’ll be down the road at the grange building. We’ll meet you out by the carriage. You will be safe here. Even if Wilkins is in town, he wouldn’t approach you with other people around.” That was a bit reassuring anyway. Sam mounted again and he and George headed down the street to sign up for their fate and she went into the dressmaker’s to be properly dressed for hers.
They were greeted by a plump little woman, her hair tucked primly under a cap which incongruously had pins sticking through the edge. It reminded Emily of her father’s favorite fishing hat and the fishing flies he would stick to it until needed.
“Who have we here, Beck? Where is Miss Elizabeth?” the little seamstress asked.
“Miss Elizabeth is with her parents in Frederick,” Beck answered, keeping her eyes on the ground with a deference that Emily imagined must be hard to keep up. “This is Miss Emily Parks. She’s going to marry Mister Sam and needs two day dresses, a Sunday dress, and a ball gown, as soon as possible.”
Emily realized Beck added a dress to the order, but Sam had said to make sure she got what she needed, and in reality, only four dresses didn’t seem nearly enough to get through life, not if that was what you were supposed to wear every day.
“I thought I heard Mister Sam was marrying that Johnson girl, the one with the curls.”
“Yes, ma’am, he was going to, but things changed,” Beck answered. “Do you think you can make Miss Parks some dresses, right quick?”
“I’m certain I can.” She crooked her finger, signaling Emily. “Come around back, and we’ll get your measurements.” Beck came too and helped her out of the brown dress, the petticoats, the hoops and even the corset. Emily felt almost naked standing in front of Mrs. Barnes in nothing but her chemise and bloomers.
With a deftness that belied her plumpness, Mrs. Barnes wrapped the tape measure around Emily’s hips, her waist and finally her bust hmmming and muttering to herself the whole time.
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