by Lynn Donovan
Seth

Book 2

© Lynn Donovan 2020
Cover Copyright © 2020 Virginia McKevitt
All rights reserved
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
Table of Contents
Dedication
About the Series
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Personal Note From the Author
About the Author
Appreciation
Newsletter and a Free Gift for You
Please Review
Introduction
A Redemptive Romance
Seth Featherstone and Purity Coffey have been married five years. More like friends than lovers, the spark is fading and neither knows why.
When an act of honor puts Seth at death’s door, Purity’s love for him is revitalized. Realizing how fragile life can be, Seth’s love for his wife is renewed as well. So much so, that he can’t put her through the hardships that will come with his injuries from a gunshot wound in the back. He asks her for a divorce.
Will Purity be able to convince Seth their love can conquer all? Will Seth adjust to his new limitations and accept Purity back into his life? As a son of Honor, Seth has few choices other than to do the right thing, but does he know what that is?
Dedication
To Shannan Whetstone.
About the Series
Sons of Honor Series
Adam
Seth
Jonah
Jacob
Reuben
Benjamin
Prologue
Lantern, Texas - January 1882
“Have you seen Seth?” Adam Featherstone grabbed Jacob, the younger of his twin brothers’, arm in the churchyard. The air was cool and crisp, very pleasant for January in central Texas.
“No.” Jacob pulled his arm out of Adam’s vise-grip grasp. “He’ll be here, don’t worry.”
“I’m glad you know that” —Adam looked past his brother— “’cause I don’t!”
Jacob shook his head. “Look, I know Seth’s got a lot to deal with… with Purity and— but he’ll be here.”
Adam sighed and shook his head as he walked away and entered the church. Mercy and her girls were getting ready at the Coffey Livery home and would be arriving in a beautiful carriage all decorated with winter roses and evergreen boughs. He was ordered to remain inside the church, lest he curse the wedding by seeing his bride before she walked down the aisle. But he needed to find his second brother.
Seth had promised to be at Adam’s side at the wedding. But with the shooting and finding out his wife, Purity, was expanding for the first time in their nearly six years of marriage, things had gotten uncertain. Seth’s attitude since the shooting had been pretty uncertain also. Some days he was up with a positive attitude and others he was down, talking like he thought he was too much of a burden to Purity and the family.
Honor, their mother, had coached everyone that it would be a difficult road for Seth and to be patient with him. He was a hero to the town and his family. He had thwarted a bank robbery last Founder’s Day. A gang of bushwackers had come into town on that second of July and waited until nearly everyone had left the downtown area to go up the hill where a prominent founder of Lantern lived. Harrison Lantern, the town pastor and nearly everyone’s uncle.
Lantern’s sheriffs, Patience and Caleb Cantwell, had made Seth an honorary deputy for life, even though he was not expected to patrol the streets of Lantern with them. The town held Seth up in high honor for his heroics that day, and prayed he would fully recover from the gunshot wound to his back.
Adam remembered the day all too well. His mother, the town’s only doctor, had removed the bullet right away. It was only a matter of time to find out if the bullet had injured Seth’s spine. Purity waited by his side day and night until he woke from the surgery. She gave him the news that they were finally going to have a child and he had everything to live for. Adam had gone to the clinic with Mercy and her girls to give Seth more good news that he had asked Mercy to be his bride. Adam had asked Seth right then to be at his side for this wedding.
Seth had spoken to Adam about the shooting. Besides being physically hurt from the bullet, he had suffered emotional trauma as well. He didn’t feel like a hero. The bushwackers got away and were never found. He felt like he had been an idiot to just walk in on three armed men who were trying to dynamite the bank’s safe while two others were keeping watch around the side of the building.
Seth had noticed the open bank door and wandered in like a fool, without having his gun at the ready. The two who were outside shot him in his back. The three leapt over his body to get out of the bank before the dynamite blew. But the safe didn’t break open and the sound of the gunshot and then the dynamite explosion had alerted Sheriff Caleb. So all five of them leapt onto their horses and took off out of town.
Seth heard every word spoken as Caleb showed up and then Patience. His mother and her nurse sopped up his blood and put him on a stretcher. His Poppa Monty and Patience carried him to the clinic and his mother put a cheesecloth over his nose and told him to breathe deeply.
Next thing he knew it was morning. Purity sat beside him and told him he had lived through the surgery and they were waiting for him to wake up. His mother held his hand and asked him to move his toes, then told him it was alright. The bullet had been very close to his spine and it might take time for him to heal. There was every possibility he would heal fully, it was a matter of time, his determination, and God’s will.
That was when Purity told him she was with child. His heart pounded with joy and fear. He had to get out of that bed. He had to walk again. For Purity’s sake and his child. Then Adam told him he wanted Seth to be with him in his wedding. All good news and reasons to heal. Good reasons to walk again. But he hadn’t.
Adam paced the aisle of the church. He returned to the porch and looked across the churchyard. “Come on, Seth. You promised me.” He growled behind gritted teeth.
“Son.” Honor walked up to Adam. “You better get up to the front. Mercy’s on her way.”
Adam nodded. Sadness filled his chest with an ache. He really wanted Seth at his side when he married Mercy. He strode to the front and took his place. People from Lantern filled the pews. He smiled at them as they made eye contact. Uncle Harrison kissed his wife on the cheek, while she sat at the piano playing softly to fill the void of time. He came alongside Adam and nodded with a smile. Adam nodded in return.
He turned to look at the door where Mercy’s girls would come through first, then Mercy with Luke, her brother, walking her down the aisle. Their father had died in the War, as did his own dad, but Adam liked to think they both were watching from heaven and grinning from ear to ear.
Adam swallowed. The older of his twin brothers, Jonah, escorted Honor to her place on the right. Poppa Monty and Adam’s other brothers walked behind them and sat on the front row. Adam smiled at them. A shiver went down his spine. Not that he was nervous, but he was excited and anxious. He’d waited twenty years for this moment. Since he was twelve, he’d dreamed of marrying Mercy Coffey.
A loud thump at the door drew Adam’s attention. He looked toward the entrance and saw a low shadow fall across the floor. “Seth!” Adam smiled. “You’re here.”
Seth rolled his chair into the chu
rch with Purity behind him. The two of them walked down the aisle and Purity sat behind Honor in the second row, while Seth continued shoving the wheels to make his way up to Adam. He turned the chair around and faced the congregation. “I told you I’d make it.”
A tear glistened Adam’s eye. “I’m so glad you did.”
Chapter One
Founder’s Day - July 2, 1881
Purity Featherstone woke before Seth and padded to the kitchen to get coffee brewing and make her husband a light breakfast. Charlie, their terrier, trotted at her side. It was Saturday and for the first time since Lantern, Texas was founded, the Founder’s Day Celebration would be held today, instead of Sunday, and there would be a parade, too. The Fourth of July celebration would take place today, also, along with the Founder’s Day Dinner at Uncle Harrison Lantern’s home on the hill.
It had taken Cousin Faith’s husband, Cyrus Burke, Mayor running ten years now, five weeks and twelve City meetings to convince the set-in-stone mentality of the elders to let Cyrus change everything to Saturday. The women of Lantern were glad in the end because preparing side dishes and desserts the morning before church was an exhausting ordeal. Saturday made much better sense, once it was accepted. Traditions were sacred in Lantern and Purity was surprised Cousin Cyrus was able to convince anybody in Lantern to change this one.
Purity sighed. Seth would prefer a hefty breakfast, but with all the preparation work she had ahead of her this morning, she needed to get him fed and out of her kitchen. Five years ago, when they were first married, she would have fried him a slab of ham and several slices of bacon, four eggs, and gravy over fresh made biscuits, along with jam and fresh churned butter, plus fried potatoes. Just because she delighted in making him happy. Over time his joy had faded and he seemed less and less happy just because she took the time to cook for him.
In fact, he seemed less and less pleased with her. He wasn’t cruel or hateful toward her, like her sister, Mercy’s husband, Langston, had been. No, Seth still loved her, she knew it in her heart. It was just that they had grown apart. Since they didn’t seem to be able to have children, he stayed busy in his tanner shop and she had taken on projects with the Women’s Guild at church and sewing bees. She had helped the former mayor, Cyrus’s wife, Faith, organize a community library, and had somehow become the wedding planner for Great Aunt Gloria at the church. As the pastor’s wife, she was expected to be involved in anything related to church activities, but she was only one person and getting long in the tooth, to boot.
Purity loved her husband, dearly. If something were to happen to Seth, it would break her heart into pieces. Unlike poor Mercy, who was rather relieved when Langston met his untimely death by a horse trampling him in the livery stall. Purity just didn’t plan her day anymore around Seth and what he might want from her. She wondered if a child would have made things different. Charlie was like a child to them, but a dog doesn’t really replace a living, breathing son or daughter.
Seth yawned as he dragged his bare feet into the kitchen. Purity smiled at him and poured him a cup of coffee, then handed him a plate of toast. “There’s jam, if you want it. I’m heading into the root cellar now. I could pick up a jar.”
“No.” He said flatly. “This is fine.”
She shrugged and went down the stairs to the tiny storage room. There were carrots and raisins down there. She thought she’d make a vanilla chess pie and shredded carrot salad for the Founder’s Day dish. She scooped some clotted cream and put it in a mason jar, several eggs, a measuring of flour and some lard in another jar. She put all these in her apron and lifted the ends to hold it while she climbed the stairs.
Nausea suddenly hit her and she paused before entering the kitchen. She swallowed hard and let the sensation pass. When she made her way to the cupboard, she realized Seth had eaten and left his empty coffee cup in the washtub, but he was nowhere to be seen. With a sigh, she emptied her apron and began making the pie crust. A wave a dizziness made her pull a chair over and she sat while she whipped the eggs and oil into a mayonnaise for the salad and set it aside.
She blew a heavy sigh but kept working. She needed to get this pie baking and the salad put together. It could rest in the root cellar to keep cool. Now was not the time to be coming down with something. She had too much to do.
There were people, like Great Aunt Gloria, who were depending on her to help organize today’s festivities. Every wagon in Lantern had been borrowed for the parade and decorated. Mercy and Luke’s horse livery was all rented out along with their nicest open buggies. Boys ten and younger were assigned street sweepers to keep Main Street’s cobblestones as clean as possible of horse patties. Every table she could locate near Uncle Harrison and Aunt Gloria’s home was promised for today’s meal, either as serving tables or eating tables. And she had borrowed and washed out empty barrels from the saloon to hold spring water, lemonade, and sweet tea.
Everything was set, all there was to do now was cook the food and take it to the Lantern Homestead. Then she’d watch the parade and join everybody back at Uncle Harrison’s.
Where had Seth gone off to? She looked outside their home. The horse carriage door was open. He must have taken his horse, Buckles, and gone into town.
She pursed her mouth. A sensation of longing rose in her heart. She wished he had kissed her goodbye. Oh well, surely she’d see him at the parade, or at least at Uncle Harrison’s.
Chapter Two
Seth watched Purity disappear down the stairs to the root cellar. He scarfed down the toast she had made and drank the coffee. Putting his plate and cup in the washtub, he went back down the hall to finished getting dressed. His stomach growled. He didn’t want to bother Purity. He knew she’d be really busy today, getting ready for the Founder’s Day Dinner. But maybe Gladys’s Diner would be open despite the celebratory things happening downtown.
He slipped out of the house and tacked his horse. “Come on, boy, let’s see if we can get fed downtown.”
A sign in Gladys’s window stated she was open for breakfast only. Gladys Farmington lived upstairs above the diner and it was easy for her to open and close. Her daughter, Theodora, waited tables for her when she wasn’t in school, and probably would be Seth’s sister-in-law before long. Jonah had had his eye on her for some time now. Even though the two were like oil and water, they seemed inseparable. Jonah always managed to be odd-man-out, even with his gal.
Seth went in.
“Morning, Seth. Big day, huh?” Gladys called from the kitchen window. She walked toward him with a cup of coffee. “Theodora is in the parade and not helping out here this morning. Can I get you anything to eat?”
“Yes, please. Purity’s busy getting things ready for the dinner. I don’t want to bother her.”
“Sure.” Gladys smiled. “What’ll you have?”
“Your Chuckwagon Special and this coffee will do me fine… please.”
“Chuckwagon Special. You got it. I’ll be right back.” Gladys wrote down his order and took it to her cook in the back. Joe Williams nodded his head toward Seth from the kitchen window and went to work. Bacon sizzled and popped, other noises indicated the food was cooking while Seth sipped his coffee and waited. Activities outside the diner window occupied Seth’s mind as people prepared for the ten o’clock parade.
Sheriff Patience strolled by, noticed Seth in the diner, and came in. “Seth. Got a minute?”
“Sure, Sheriff, what you need?”
She sat across from him and nodded affirmative to Gladys’s offer of coffee. “These kinds of events generally bring people into town that we don’t know and I’m concerned…”
Gladys brought Patience a cup and set it in front of her. Patience acknowledged Gladys with a nod and smile, then continued talking. “…that we may have some bushwackers and the like. They always seem to show up when things like this are going on. They think a one-horse town such as ours is vulnerable to their schemes. Know what I mean?”
Seth nodded and sipped his
coffee. “Sure. I guess. What do you want me to do?”
“I’d like your help with crowd control. Would you mind just walking the street with Caleb and me, making sure things are all right, and staying behind in town with Caleb when everybody goes to Dad’s for the dinner? That’s when our businesses downtown are the most vulnerable to vandalism or mischief, and one man may not be enough to keep a good eye out for trouble.”
“Oh.” He considered her request. He wouldn’t be able to go to the Founders’ Day Dinner with Purity or the rest of the family. Hmm. Did he really want to go be in the mix of all the crowded hoopla at Uncle Harrison’s? Maybe staying back with Caleb would be a nice and quiet way to spend his afternoon. Purity wouldn’t miss him. She’d be busy with serving people and cleaning up. Probably, none of his family would miss him… or even realize he wasn’t there.
“Sure, happy to help. Do I get a star?”
Patience chuckled. “Sure.” She pulled the one off her vest and handed it to him.
Gladys brought three plates of food. “Here you go.” She turned to Patience. “Sheriff, is there anything we can cook up for you?”
Patience smiled. “No, Gladys, but thank you.” She swigged down the coffee and tossed a coin on the table. Gladys shook her head. “No, ma’am. It’s on the house.”
“Appreciate it.” Patience handed her the cup with a quick smile. “Consider that your gratuity.”
Gladys chuckled. “All right, Sheriff. You be careful out there today.”
“Sure thing.” Patience touched the brim of her hat and turned to sashay toward the door. “Just find Caleb or me when you get done.”
Seth nodded and tucked into his breakfast. Purity rode by in their buggy, headed up the hill to the Lantern Homestead. His eyes followed her until she turned. He reckoned she decided to go on up and help Aunt Gloria instead of cooking everything in their home and then taking it up. He sighed. He would not see her this afternoon at the community dinner. Maybe helping with crowd control would give him something interesting to talk about when they settled in for the night. Lord knew they needed something different to spark a conversation.