Falling in Love With Her Husband (25 page)

over my head and braced myself for the blowing wind as it

pressed against me. Thankfully, my gloves were thick so

my hands stayed warm. I walked to the barn and pulled the

door open.

Sure enough, Todd wasn"t wearing his coat or

gloves. He was at least wearing a sweater this time, but

that hardly made me feel any better. He had a lantern lit,

and, even from across the barn, I could see that his eyes

were red from crying.

I looked aside for a moment, ashamed that I was the

cause of his grief. But I did nothing wrong! Strengthened by

the reminder, I pressed forward until I was standing several

feet in front of him.

He had his axe raised to chop another piece of wood

but paused when he noticed me.

My heart pounded loudly in my ears. Now that I was

here, I didn"t know what to say.

“Have you come to say good-bye?” he final y asked.

I blinked at his bitter tone.

174

Falling In Love With Her Husband

He brought the axe down and sliced the wood in half.

I jumped. I wasn"t guilty, so why I was acting as if I

was? I took a moment to regain my composure. “I"m not

going anywhere. I want to be with you, Todd. What you

saw at the store was a big misunderstanding.”

At first I thought he was laughing, but when he wiped

his face with the sleeve of his sweater, I knew he was

crying. “Even now you would lie to me?”

“I"m not lying. I do love you.”

“Enough! I can"t take it anymore!” he yelled. “I"m not

blind. I know what I saw.”

“You didn"t see everything. I was trying to get away

from him and he grabbed my arm. He forced himself upon

me.”

“Then why didn"t Mrs. Carson try to stop him? She

was listening to you when I walked into the store. She only

said I needed to help you. Apparently, I needed to help you

control yourself.”

“Mrs. Carson is a busybody. She only wanted to

hear all the details so she could spread her vicious rumors.”

“If it was just her word, I wouldn"t believe anything

she said. But I saw you kissing him.”

“You didn"t see enough!”

He dropped his axe and walked up to me until he

was a few inches from me. I instinctively backed up a

couple of steps.

“Look at me, Ann. I"m a wreck.”

I wanted to look away but couldn"t. The anguish in

his eyes and his messy hair stung my heart. There was no

denying the intensity of his pain.

“God help me, Ann.” His voice was so low I barely

heard him. “You"re a part of me now. If you leave, a part of

me will die.”

Tears sprung in my eyes. “I"m not leaving. I want to

be here.”

175

Falling In Love With Her Husband

“Then why did you kiss him?” He turned away from

me and went back to his axe. He picked it up and put

another piece of wood up to chop. “The person I am mad

at, more than anyone else in this whole mess, is me. I knew

from the beginning you didn"t love me the way you loved

him. I knew and I still married you. I never imagined he

would come searching for you. As long as he stayed away,

I thought you might learn to be content with me. I hoped

you might even love me over time. You have no idea how

happy I was last night. Then my parents showed up and I

learned that Kent was coming for you. You knew he was

coming but you didn"t tell me, and today you"re kissing him.”

He used all his strength to chop the wood. Again, I

jumped. His shoulders slumped in defeat.

“I never should have brought you here. You should

go back.” He turned his back to me and sat on the ground,

his head in his hands.

I didn"t know what to say. He obviously didn"t

believe me. He couldn"t accept that I loved him. He had

made up his mind. I slowly turned around and walked out of

the barn. I couldn"t hold back my tears as I made my way

into the house and up the stairs. My feet dragged as I

entered my bedroom. I couldn"t bring myself to look at the

bed or the memories it would give me.

Instead, I looked out the window. The wind grew

stronger. I could hear it whistling against house. My

forehead felt cool against the glass. I shivered. Todd hadn"t

started the fire in the box stove yet. The fire was roaring in

the fireplace downstairs. I felt sick as I recalled the anguish

in his eyes when he told me I was a part of him, for I felt the

same way about him. How could he tell me to go back to

Virginia? Why didn"t he believe me? Why did Kent have to

leave Rebecca? It would have been better if he had stayed

with her.

“Lord, if You don"t intervene, I wil be forced to return

to Virginia,” I prayed.

176

Falling In Love With Her Husband

The knocking at the door downstairs interrupted my

thoughts. I stiffened. What if it was Kent? I ran down the

stairs and peered out the parlor window. I gasped in

surprise and delight and raced to open the door.

“Mother, Father, what are you doing here?”

They thanked Mr. Albert who brought them on his

sleigh and brought their luggage into the house. I hugged

them, relieved to see them.

“We"re sorry we didn"t warn you of our impending

arrival,” my mother spoke as I took her coat and hat. She

kicked off her boots at the door. “When we heard that the

Brothers were coming to get Agnes, we felt it best to come

and be a support to you and Todd. Mr. Brothers was awfully

mad. We didn"t want him to say something he"d regret later

on.”

“I hate to disappoint you but they arrived last night.

They took Agnes back late in the evening.”

My mother shook her head, clearly distraught by the

news. “How did Todd take it?”

I sighed. “As well as could be expected. I suppose

since he"s known his father would be upset when he left

Virginia, it helped to soften the blow.”

She put her hand over her heart. “The poor boy.

What a blessing it is that he has you to get him through this

difficult time.”

If only she knew...

“Speaking of troubling news,” my father began with

an unusually serious look on his face, “Kent is coming.

Apparently, he decided that you"l be his wife. This is not

appropriate. He knows you are married. We came to talk

him to his senses.”

I groaned. “I wish you had come sooner. He

cornered me today at the mercantile in town.”

Their faces paled.

“I was by myself in the backroom putting eggs away

and that"s when Kent showed up. He wouldn"t let me leave

177

Falling In Love With Her Husband

the room. I kept telling him I wasn"t going to go with him, but

he wouldn"t listen to me. He insisted that I would be with

him. As I was running out of the room, he grabbed me by

the arm and kissed me. Todd walked in on us at that exact

moment and now he thinks I want to leave with Kent.”

I didn"t realize I was crying until my mother handed

me her handkerchief and hugged me. “Oh my poor dear.

What you must be going through.”

“Do you love Todd?” my father asked.

“Yes. I have no intention of leaving him.”

“Does he know what happened?”

“I tried to explain it but he won"t listen to me. The

town gossip was in the store and heard the whole thing and

didn"t bother to stop Kent, so Todd figures I must be lying.”

“Hmm...” My father narrowed his eyes as he tried to

think of a suitable solution. He brought out his pipe and lit it

up. It was how he handled tough situations. “Where is Todd

now?”

“He"s chopping wood in the barn.”

“Would he mind if I went out to see him?” my father

asked.

“I don"t think so.”

“Good. I"d like to say hel o to my son-in-law.”

After my father left the house, my mother took me by

the arm and sat next to me on the couch in front of the

fireplace. “My dear, you are very lucky to have Todd. You

remember how your father and I weren"t too happy about

your courtship with Kent.”

I nodded, curious at the hushed tone she used.

There was no one else in the house, yet she spoke as if she

were about to reveal a secret.

“Thank goodness Kent ended that courtship. We

hardly knew anything about him. True, his parents are

honorable people, and they were pressing him to marry an

honorable lady, which you are sweetheart. I think a part of

178

Falling In Love With Her Husband

him may have genuinely cared for you. However, he does

not act like a gentleman with certain women.”

By the term
certain women
, I knew she meant
loose

women
. My eyes widened. I hadn"t expected this.

“Rebecca was such a woman,” she confided. “Their

sudden courtship was arranged privately between her

parents and his parents when they found out that they were

being intimate with one another. Their parents insisted that

they marry as soon as they graduated from school to avoid

unwanted gossip. As it turned out, Rebecca got in the

family way but miscarried two months after they announced

their engagement. That"s when she stopped attending

social functions. Kent ended their engagement, though their

parents protested. It would be decent to do the right thing

and marry her of course. He told his parents that he was

going to find you. I suppose he figured that he was free to

choose whoever he wanted as his wife since Rebecca was

no longer expecting.”

“But he knew I married Todd.”

“Yes. Everyone knew, my dear. The night you

eloped with Todd was a busy night for everyone. We

searched for you. The Brothers were furious, but his mother

was more understanding about it. I think she sympathizes

with Todd, but she"s not in the position to do anything about

it. His father has made up his mind about the situation. I

think Todd may be more accepting of what you want, but

some men don"t allow their wives to have a say in things

that happen. Once Mr. Brothers decided to disown Todd,

there was nothing she could do about it.”

“What did you and Father think?”

“He was upset. I was too. We had no idea you

would even consider a courtship, let alone a marriage, with

Todd. We weren"t upset that you two married. We were

delighted. But we missed out on the fun of our daughter

getting married. It"s one of those proper things we raised

you up to obey. Looking back, however, we realized all the

179

Falling In Love With Her Husband

social rules we taught you don"t matter. The important thing

is that you and Todd are happy.”

“Todd treats me much better than Kent ever did. I

didn"t marry him because I loved him. I married him to get

away from Kent and Rebecca. But I got to know him in a

way I never could back in Virginia. He"s a wonderful man. I

love him now.” My thoughts drifted to another concern.

“Mother, what do you think Father is talking to Todd about?”

“Why, your dowry of course. Mostly though, he will

want to welcome Todd to the family.”

“But Todd doesn"t believe me when I tell him what

happened between me and Kent. I tried talking to him, but

he won"t listen. He even told me to go back to Virginia.” My

lower lip trembled. The words still stung.

She rested her hand on my arm. “He"s afraid he"l

lose you. Give him time. When he sees that you aren"t

leaving, he"ll understand.”

“What wil I do when Mrs. Carson spreads lies about

my wanting to kiss Kent? What am I to do then?”

“You wrote to me about Mrs. Carson and how she

told everyone that he stole money from the bank. Don"t you

think he"l realize that she could just as easily spin lies

concerning you?”

I hadn"t thought of that.

“Everything will work out, especially since you are

innocent.”

I hoped she was right.

180

Falling In Love With Her Husband

Todd’s Point of View

While Ann took care of changing the bed sheets and

blankets in the guest bedroom, I got all the fires started. I

couldn"t bring myself to go into the guest bedroom while she

was in there. It was hard enough to go to her bedroom. I