“Okay,” she replied. “I’m listening.”
He took another long breath to gear himself up to get it out. “I told you in my letters I was adopted by the blacksmith in this town, Frank Wilcox. He was blacksmith in this town for forty years. He took me off the street when I was four years old and raised me as his own. He apprenticed me in the forge, and when he died three years ago, I took over the forge. Now it’s mine.”
“You told me.”
“He had a daughter a year younger than me. Martha, her name was, and we grew up as brother and sister. She was the sweetest girl you could ever hope to meet, and I loved her more than anyone in this world, except maybe my father. Three years ago, she was found dead in a back alley in town with a blow to the head. No one knew what happened to her.”
“Didn’t the Sheriff investigate?”
“Will you just stop talking and listen?” he growled. “That young man you just saw send the Sheriff away was Wendell Fox. He’s the only son of Merrill Fox, who pretty much owns this town and most of the ranch land around here. He lives in a big house outside of town, and he owns the Sheriff, too. I just found out last week that Wendell killed Martha.”
Betsy gasped, and her hand flew to her mouth. “No!”
“That’s why the Sheriff didn’t investigate. Sheriff Max Rupert is Fox’s stooge. He doesn’t care about the law. The only law he cares about is whatever Merrill Fox tells him to do.”
“Is that why he picked a fight with you?”
“I just found out a week ago Wendell tried to attack Martha in that alley. He tried to assault her. She fought back, and he killed her trying to subdue her.”
“Did someone see them?”
“Sheriff Rupert saw them,” Jed replied. “One of those three told the wrong person, and the news spread all over town until it got back to me. I confronted Wendell about it, and…well, thinks sort of got out of control.”
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. He ended up challenging me to face him on Main Street. We’re supposed to meet tomorrow at sundown.”
“Meet him?” Betsy repeated. “You mean…like have a showdown with him.”
“Something like that,” Jed replied.
Betsy glanced out at the street. Jed planned to meet that man on this street tomorrow. They would have some kind of shoot-out, just like she read about in the papers.
This whole day turned out to be so much different than she ever expected. She wanted to get married. Then she almost got arrested. Now the man she planned to marry would get into a gun fight with someone she never laid eyes on before today.
“There’s more,” Jed murmured. “No one said so, but I think they killed Frank, too.”
“Frank?” Betsy asked. “Your father?”
He nodded. “He died a few weeks after Martha. I never thought about it before, but since I found out about Wendell, I put the pieces together. I think he must have learned something about who killed Martha, and they killed him to shut him up. Like I said, I can’t prove it, but that’s what I think.”
Betsy sat down on the bench at his side. What could she say to this man? “I’m really sorry” just didn’t cut it.
“I’m really sorry about all this,” he told her. “I should have told you the minute you got off the coach. I would have told you before you left Greenville, but I only found out a week ago. You had already left to come out here.”
“All right. I know now.”
He turned around to face her. “If you don’t want to go to the church, I understand. There’s no reason you should have to deal with this. I’ll give you the money to leave town. You can either go home, or you can go somewhere else in the Territory. You don’t want to stay here. Now that the Sheriff has seen you with me, he won’t leave you alone, either. He’ll do everything to make your life miserable, the same way he does everybody else in this town.”
Betsy thought it over. Did she really want to go through with this? Did she want to walk in on this disaster waiting to blow up in her face?
She read the truth in Jed’s words. If she stayed in this town, the Sheriff and Jed’s enemies would never leave her alone. If she went through with marrying Jed, they would continue harassing her. Even if Wendell killed Jed tomorrow at sundown, even if she broke it off with Jed right now, she would never know a minute’s peace in this town.
While she considered the pros and cons, the Sheriff stepped out of the Jail across the street. He squinted against the glaring sun and looked right at the couple sitting on the bench.
“No,” Betsy replied. “I don’t want to leave.”
“You should,” he said. “You should get out while you can. That would be the smart thing to do.”
“Whether it’s the smart thing to do, I won’t leave,” she told him. “I told you what my life was like in Greenville. My father drank all the time and beat my mother and my sisters and me. He wanted to marry me off to one of his friends in payment for his gambling debts. That’s why I made the decision to leave.”
“You told me all that. You wouldn’t have to go back to Greenville. You could go anywhere on the frontier. You could go to California. You could go to Texas. You could go anywhere. The world is your oyster. I would leave town if I had anywhere to go, but I don’t. My business is here. My whole life is here. I have to make my stand here, or I’m just another whipped dog running scared from every hired gun that shakes a stick at me.”
“Look at him over there,” she muttered. “Just look at him standing in front of the Jail like he owns the place. He’s looking right at us. He’s probably planning how to bother us again.”
“Don’t look at him,” Jed told her. “Don’t dignify him with your attention. He’s not worth it.”
She whipped around to confront him. “I’m not leaving, Jed. We’re going to the church. We’re getting married.”
He jumped out of his skin. “We are?”
“I came all the way out here to start a new life,” she replied. “I put all my hopes and dreams into this trip, and I’m not backing down on that just ‘cuz some tin-pot Sheriff wants to throw his weight around. Somebody’s got to stand up to these people, and no one’s going to do it but you.”
Jed looked away toward the Sheriff. “I guess you’re right.”
“These people have no right to stick their fingers in everybody else’s lives. They can’t start shoving people around on the street and covering up criminal investigations. Someone has to stop them. Since there’s no law in this town beyond the gun, you have to use that to get some justice.”
Jed gritted his teeth. “I was afraid you were gonna say something like that.”
She took hold of his shoulders and turned him around to face her. She stared deep into his eyes. “Listen to me, Jed. We’re going to the church. We’re getting married. Tomorrow, you’re gonna face this Wendell character and see what’s what. We’re not gonna run away from this. If they think they can scare us with their guns and their money and their power, they’re gonna find out they messed with the wrong lady.”
“And what if I lose?” he asked. “What if Wendell guns me down in the street tomorrow?”
“You have to confront Wendell,” she told him. “You can’t back down. If Wendell kills you tomorrow, I’ll report not only the Sheriff, but the Foxes, too. We’ll get justice for Martha’s death, one way or the other.”
A faint spark of hope flashed in his eyes. “Are you sure about this? Are you absolutely sure you want to sign up for this?”
“I’m sure.” She broke into a happy grin. For the first time since this whole situation blew up, she was happier than she could imagine. “I’m absolutely sure. If you’re sure, too, then let’s go. We’ve got a date at the church.”
His countenance cleared. He studied her face for a moment. Then he slapped both hands on his knees. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Chapter 3
Jed stood up, and Betsy copied him. They set off down the street one more time. He didn’t
offer her his arm, so she slipped her hand into his. His head whipped around, and he smiled at her. The tension between them started to fade.
He marched over to the church. He didn’t stop until he got to the door. “If it’s all right with you,” he told her, “you can wait in the vestry while I go talk to the minister. I’ll bring him around as soon as I tell him what’s going on.”
“I’ll leave the explanations to you,” she replied.
He broke into a bright grin. “I don’t know how I’ll explain it to him.”
That smile flooded her world with sunshine. She could believe everything was going to be okay when she saw that smile. His cheeks glowed, and his eyes twinkled. It turned him into a little boy. She would do whatever she could to make him smile like that.
He walked away, and she stepped into the vestry. Once she got inside, she didn’t know what to do with herself. She smoothed down her traveling suit, but she couldn’t make these clothes any better than they already were. She wore her nicest dress to travel here. If this wasn’t good enough to get married in, she couldn’t help that.
Jed took a lot longer than she expected before he came back. He walked through the front door. “The minister is ready for us.”
“Where is he?” she asked.
“He’s waiting for us in the church.” He took her by both hands. “Are you ready for this?”
She pressed his hands back. “I’m ready.”
For a moment, they looked into each other’s eyes. His eyes caught her in their magnetic power, but this time, their connection went so much deeper than ever before. She knew him better in just a few minutes than she could have learned in years of living with him.
He knew her, too. They already faced one dangerous situation, and they had another one to face before they were through. She trusted him. She could depend on him, and she would be there for him to depend on. They would get through this.
In that moment, the seal of their marriage imprinted on them both. They held each other by the hands. The promise passed between them to stand together against any hardship, and they never had to say a word.
Time stopped all over again. Nothing disturbed that moment. Betsy could have stood there in that bubble of peace and tranquility forever. Jed showed no sign of moving, either.
They probably would have stood there a lot longer if the minister hadn’t stuck his head through the vestry door. “Is everything under control?”
Jed whipped around. “Everything’s fine. We’re coming.”
He kept hold of Betsy’s hand and led her into the church. Two people Betsy never saw before sat in the front pews. On one side sat an elderly lady in a shabby faded dress and a threadbare sunbonnet. She turned around to look at the couple as they entered.
In the other pew sat a grey-haired man in a white shirt and a ribbon tie. He wore a garter around one sleeve and chewed an unlit cigarette. He didn’t look up. He stared straight in front of him.
Jed stopped in front of the altar and turned to face Betsy. Once more, his eyes locked with hers. Would it always be like this? Would he always be able to command her attention with a simple glance?
Many years from now, they would be able to renew their commitment to each other simply by looking into each other’s eyes. She would always remember her wedding day whenever she looked into his eyes. She saw his deepest spirit through those clear, bright windows.
He saw her the same way. He knew as much about her as any human being alive. She wanted him to know as much as there was to know. She never wanted to hide anything from him.
The minister opened his book and started the long droning ceremony. He enjoined the couple to consider the consequences of their actions and a lot of other righteous homilies. Betsy tuned him out and concentrated on Jed. Was he experiencing the same cosmic unity of forces coming together in this moment?
At last, the minister cleared his voice, and Betsy realized he was talking to her. “May I have your name, Miss?”
“Oh! I’m so sorry. It’s Elizabeth Annabelle Franklin.”
“Of course,” the minister muttered. “Do you, Jed Wilcox…”
“You can use my full name,” Jed interrupted. “It’s Jeremiah Jedediah Mason Wilcox.”
“Oh, I see,” the minister muttered.
Betsy blushed, and Jed’s eyes sparkled. They both almost burst out laughing, and Jed squeezed her hands tighter.
The minister went on. “Do you, Jeremiah Jedediah Mason Wilcox, take this woman as your lawfully wedded wife, to love, honor, and cherish, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”
Jed squared his shoulders. “I do.”
“And do you, Elizabeth Annabelle Franklin, take this man as your lawfully wedded husband, to love, honor, and obey, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”
“I do.”
Betsy’s heart pounded. Did she really just say those words? Was she really going to marry this man? One look at his face answered that question for her. Yes! She really was going to marry him. She would love, honor and…well, she would love him and honor him. She would give him the best she had. His problems would become her problems, and they wouldn’t quit until they overcame them.
Something hard and cold touched her hand. When she looked down, she saw a gold ring on her finger. When she glanced back up at Jed’s face, his lips twitched with emotion. The excited smile melted away, and an intense conflict took its place.
He took several shaky breaths, and his eyes shone with moisture. When the minister told him, “You may kiss the bride,” Jed shot him a quick glance as though he couldn’t believe it was real.
Betsy got his attention back on her by giving his hands a press. He faced her and braced himself for the inevitable. He didn’t seem in any particular hurry to kiss her. In the end, Betsy took control of the situation. She darted in a gave him a friendly peck on the lips before she retreated.
Jed’s eyes flew open in surprise, but the minister already turned away and the witnesses left. Betsy took Jed’s hand. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Of course,” Jed murmured. “Sorry.”
Betsy whirled around to face him. “There’s nothing to be sorry about.”
His cheeks burned, and he glanced back toward the altar. “Of course. Come on. I’ll take you to my house—I mean, our house.”
Outside the vestry, Betsy squinted against the intense light piercing her eyes. The dusty little town went about its business. It didn’t care if she got married, and the whole magical interlude inside the church already faded to a memory.
Jed tugged her hand, and they set off for the Hotel. He untied his horse from the hitching post, but they didn’t get into the seat. He led the animal back through the streets, around the saloons to a low, rambling building near the outskirts of town. Several corrals surrounded it. Betsy didn’t see any sign of a house.
“That’s the forge,” Jed told her. He tied his horse to the corral fence. “Follow me, and I’ll show you inside.”
She lifted her skirts following him past the anvil and piles of blackened metal. Behind the forge itself, a low door led into a plain hall. From there, Jed showed her into the nicest parlor she’d ever seen.
“That door there leads to the kitchen, and that over there is the formal front entrance.” He pointed to an arch across the room. “The main front door is on the other side of the building. It’s all backwards, but you’ll figure it out. Most of the forge business comes from town. That’s why my father built it this way. Otherwise, the formal company would have to ride through a bunch of horse manure to get to the front door and the forge business would have to go around the back just to drop off their horses.”
“I see,” Betsy replied.
“Anyway,” he went on, “you make yourself comfortable, and I’ll bring your trunk in from the wagon. If you go out into the hall
there, you’ll find the stairs going up to the bedrooms.”
He left her alone, and she took her first good look around. Someone put a lot of work into making this house a home, and when Betsy inspected the items on the china cabinet in the corner, she found out who.
Daguerreotypes of a man and woman on their wedding day sat next to more tiny images of them as a family with two young children. The boy sat on the woman’s lap, and the girl clung to her father. Jed had a happy life with his family before the whole thing fell apart. He must have been just as close to his adoptive mother as he was to his father and his sister.
The whole parlor showed a woman’s touch. A floral wool carpet covered the floor, and each stick of furniture showed the unmistakable signs of meticulous care and maintenance. A beautiful lacquered music box sat on the china cabinet, and delicate tea cups and saucers gleamed inside it behind the beveled glass door.
Betsy went out into the entrance hall. In here, away from the smoke and dirt of the forge, the Wilcox family lived a genteel existence of quality. Jed must be doing well for himself with the forge, but he had no one to share it with.
He told her as much in his letters, but it never really sunk in until right now. This house screamed for a family to live in it and bring it to life. Now, more than ever before, Betsy resolved to seize this opportunity and make it her own.
She never lived in a house this nice before. It called to some part of her soul to become a lady, to hold herself with dignity and measure her actions in every particular.
She climbed up the staircase with its polished bannister. At the top, she found a landing opening into four bedrooms. She inspected each one in order. Each contained a bed made up with clean fresh linens, white curtains around the windows, and wash stands ready for use. She could see no sign in any of them which might be Jed’s room.
She heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and she met Jed on the landing. He set her trunk down on the floor. “How do you like the place so far?”
“It’s very nice. Which room is yours?”
“I don’t sleep up here,” he replied, “at least, I haven’t slept up here since I’ve been on my own.”
The Blacksmith's Bride (Brides 0f Brimstone Book 1) Page 2