Mail-Order Husband: The Millionaire's Debt (3 page)

When Micah made it
back to the farm, Daphne was waiting on the porch.  Her eyes were red and puffy,
and tears were still brimming in her eyes.  She sat quietly in a rocking
chair, barely looking up as the horse pulled to a stop in front of her. 
Micah climbed down from his horse and the six guns on his waist made a clacking
sound as he hit the ground.  His face looked grave as he walked toward the
porch to meet Daphne.  He had been working for the last mile of his ride
to wipe the smile off of his face.  He had finally succeeded when he had
rounded the bend into the final stretch to home.

“Well?” Daphne’s
voice had a bite of anger in it.

“Well what?”

“Did you get the
deed back?”

“I don’t have it.”

“I KNEW IT!” she
shouted.  “Those people at the bank don’t do anything they don’t want
to.  Why did I let myself believe you could change things?”  Micah
looked sad.  “I’m sorry.  I’m just angry.  Not even about the
farm, I’ve been expecting that for a while and resigned myself to it. 
It’s my candlesticks.  I hoped to give those to my kids one day,” her
countenance softened and tears welled up in her eyes again, “but, I’ll probably
never have kids anyway.”  She stood up, tears still rolling down her
cheeks and looked into Micah’s caring eyes, “I guess I better collect my
belongings and get out of here.  I am sorry you wasted your time coming out
to Colorado.  I wish I had something I could give you for your trouble,
but, well, you know my situation.”

She turned to walk
into the house.  Micah caught hold of her wrist and pulled her into his
arms.  She looked up at his face while his large hand gently wiped the
tears from her eyes.  “I didn’t come here for a farm, or money, or
candlesticks.  I came here for a wife; I told you that.”  He leaned
down to kiss her soft lips which were ready to accept his.  They stood,
suspended in time, enjoying each other’s embrace.  For the first time in
years, Daphne’s heart felt light and her stress melted away.  She wanted
this to last forever, but she felt the pressing deadline to get off the
property. 

When the kiss
ended, Micah looked at Daphne, seeing a new woman.  Her face had
completely changed.  She looked younger…no, happy.  “Daphne, I have
to tell you something about…”  He was cut off by the beat of hooves coming
down the road.  Daphne was seized with fear again.  The two bankers,
Mr. Albertson and Mr. Gantry, were riding at full speed down the lane.

“Oh no,” Daphne
exclaimed, “I’ve never seen Mr. Albertson out here before!”

Micah reached down
and took her hand, intertwining his fingers in hers.  She squeezed his
hand and looked up at him.  He gave her hand a little squeeze back and a
faint smile crossed his face.  Her fear subsided.  She had nothing to
fear, her strong man was here…she felt safe.

When the men
arrived in front of the house they both jumped down from their horses and ran
over to the front porch.  Daphne noticed something different about Mr.
Gantry; he was acting strangely…scared.  She looked at Micah
quizzically.  What had happened at the bank? 

“Hello Ms. Haynes,”
Mr. Gantry spoke in a voice that was familiar to Daphne, but the meanness was
gone from it.

“Hello Mr. Gantry,”
she said almost as a question.  “How can I help you this evening?  I
am working on getting out of the house.  I will be gone by sundown, I
promise.”

“That won’t be
necessary, Ms. Haynes.”  Mr. Albertson stepped forward stretching his hand
out to shake hers.  “It appears the bank has made a mistake and you will
no longer need to vacate the premises today, or ever I suppose.”  He
motioned for Mr. Gantry to come forward.  Mr. Gantry rushed to the man’s
side reaching into his breast pocket to pull out the deed to the farm. 
“Here is the deed to the land, Ms. Haynes.  I trust you will find it is
all in order.”

Daphne looked at
the paper in disbelief as she took it from Mr. Gantry’s outstretched
hand.  She handed it to Micah who had a broad smile on his face.  He
nodded, “Everything appears to be in order gentlemen, but I am confused. 
You were prepared to take this property at sundown when you suddenly realized
the
bank
made a mistake?  Aren’t you two the bank in this
scenario?  Didn’t you two make a mistake?” 

Daphne had never
heard anyone talk to the bankers this way before.  They had the whole town
under their thumb with overpriced mortgages and scare tactics.  Micah had
nothing to fear from these men, however.  He owed them nothing and they
were threatening someone he loved.  Daphne was impressed and glad he was
there.

“Well, yes
sir.”  Mr. Albertson looked uncomfortable as he made this admission.

“Why didn’t you say
that then? 
We
made a mistake.”

“I am sorry. 
Ms. Haynes, we made a mistake in foreclosing on you early.  Will you
forgive us?”

“I suppose
so.  I am glad to have my farm back.”

“Thank you, Ms.
Haynes,” Mr. Albertson said.

“Yes, thank you,”
Mr. Gantry added.  “We best
be
on our way I
suppose.”

The two men turned to
leave when Micah stopped them.  “Was there anything else gentlemen?” 
They knew he was referring to the candlesticks and stopped dead in their
tracks.  Mr. Gantry was hoping he may have forgotten about them, because
he was unable to get them back.

“Well, you see, I
was unable to get the candlesticks.”

“Hmmm.
 
Unacceptable.
  You see I said I wanted the candlesticks
back, and I didn’t want to see you here without them.  Yet, here you are,
and no candlesticks.”

Mr. Gantry was
squirming; racking his brain for an answer that may get him out of
trouble.  “I’m sorry sir.  I tried my hardest, and I didn’t want to
miss the deadline you had set.  You said you wanted us here in an hour.”

“With the
candlesticks,” Micah interrupted.  “What should we do about this,
Daph
?”

“I think we ought
to let them off the hook.  I already have all that I need.”  She
leaned into him and gave him a kiss.  “I’ll be happy without the
candlesticks.”

“You boys are
lucky.  I am not nearly as forgiving about these sorts of things as Ms.
Haynes is.  As far as I am concerned, you folks stole those from her when
you sold ‘
em
; and that is what I told the marshal
this afternoon when I talked to him about the board’s actions.  He
promised to look into it right away.  You boys are fortunate you were only
following orders.  Looks as if all you’re going to lose is your jobs.”

His last words fell
like a hammer on the men’s ears.  “You have no authority to make such a
decision,” Mr. Gantry said indignantly.  “Just because you have two
million dollars in the bank doesn’t mean you control the place.”

“You’re
right,
Mr. Gantry, but I think this does.”  He removed
his hat and pulled a document from the band and handed it to Mr. Gantry. 
“You see Lonny, when I left you this afternoon I bought the bank.  It is
now the newest member of The Dawkins Company, a company which I own.”

Daphne was trying
to take all of this in.  She knew Micah had some money; after all he was
coming to pay off her farm; but two million dollars, plus enough left over to
buy a bank?  How much did he have, and why had he come to help her
out.  Certainly he could have had his pick of women back in Texas; he
didn’t need a poor widow in Colorado.  She snapped the paper out of Mr.
Gantry’s hand and looked it over.  As she scanned the document her eye
caught the signature line, “Jonathan Dawkins” clear as day.  Her jaw
nearly hit the ground.

She was about to
speak, but Micah spoke first.  “That’s what I was trying to tell you
earlier.”

“Johnny?”  He
nodded.  “How is it possible…how did you…what happened to you?”

“Well, I
sprouted.  I was only sixteen last
time
I saw you
and a lot has changed since then…obviously.  I grew the beard before I
came out here because I didn’t want you to recognize me and feel like I was
taking pity on you.”

“I don’t think I
would have recognized you anyway.  You look so different.”

“After you left
town I went to Texas with Ma and Pa to try our hand at ranching, but they died
only about a year after we got there.  The place was too much for me to
handle on my own and I was getting ready to lose it.  The man that owned
the bank that held our mortgage was a very kind man and offered me the
opportunity of a lifetime: I could work for him twenty hours a week as payment
for the ranch, and he would teach me the bank business.

While I was working
there our money shipments were robbed by highwaymen a couple of times, which
got me thinking that there had to be a safer way to move the money.  I
designed a new armored stagecoach that would keep the people, and the money,
safe.  When I showed it to the old man, who had become like a father to
me, he started working on the first one immediately, and formed The Dawkins
Company.  He gave half of the company to me and let me run it.  We
were running money all over the state, and things were going extremely well,
when the old man died.

When he passed he
didn’t have an heir, and because we were so close he left me the bank and his
portion of the company.  I started to expand the company by buying more
ranches and banks, and before too long the company had grown very large, but I
was very lonely.  I went back home to Pennsylvania to see if I could put
down roots there, but it never felt right.  While I was there, however, I
went to visit your Ma.  She told me about your situation, and that Hank
had turned into a dead beat, so I sent one of my men to check it out.  The
news he brought back, troubled me but because Hank was not abusive, and you
were still married, I kept my distance. 

I moved back to
Texas to continue growing the company.  I started to buy small newspapers
around the state, and things continued to get better for the company, but worse
for my love life.  All the women I met only wanted to marry me for my
money.  I was overjoyed when my people brought me a small ad that had been
sent to one of my newspapers.  It was you, and you were looking for a
husband.  I knew I had to try to disguise myself if I would have any
chance at winning your heart; you were always stubborn about taking
charity.  I never stopped thinking about you and through all the years; I
wanted you to be my wife.  Will you marry me?”

“Of course I will,
although, I don’t know what I think about you keeping tabs on me all these
years.”  She smiled and kissed him deeply.  “Where did the name Micah
come from?”

“Middle
name.
 
I use it sometimes when I am trying to go unrecognized in Texas.  You like
it?”

“No.”  She
laughed and fell into his lips again.  “And I don’t like this beard
either.”

Mr. Gantry cleared
his throat to try to get their attention so they could leave.  “Are we
done here sir?”

“Yeah, we’re
done.  You boys should probably leave town now that you don’t have
jobs.  I will be happy to write reference letters for
ya
’,
but if I hear even a whisper of you treating poor folks badly, I will find you
and I won’t be so lenient next time.” Without another word the two men got on
their horses and rode away.

Daphne and Johnny
wed a couple of weeks later and went on a proper honeymoon, something she never
got the first time around.  Daphne could not help feeling like the
luckiest person in the world.  A month earlier she had been on the verge
of bankruptcy, and was now married to the richest man she had ever known and
she loved him more than life itself, to boot.  Thanks to a steady diet, she
had put on some weight and looked more like her old self every day—slightly
older of course.

Johnny had actually
purchased all of the land surrounding their property, and populated it with huge
crops of corn, beans, and dozens of other things.  He had also purchased
cattle, sheep, horses, chickens, and goats.  He employed nearly all the
town which had fallen into a depression because of the way the bank had been
treating the people, and it was coming back nicely.

Every day, when he
came home from work, Johnny would hitch up the buckboard and take Daphne on a
ride around the property.  He had begun construction on a new home for the
two of them, and it was nearing completion.  One day when he arrived at
home he said, “
Daph
, let’s go for a ride to look at
the house.  They started the trim today and I want to see how it
looks.”  He had had the trim shipped in from Europe and had not seen it
yet in person.

The night was
beautiful and Daphne was enjoying the ride with her husband.  She slipped
her arm into his and laid her head on his shoulder.  “I love you,” she
whispered.  They rode on in silence each enjoying the company of the other
until they got to the new house.  He stepped down and came around to help
her to the ground.  They held hands as they walked to the front door.

“Close your eyes,”
he said.

“Why?  I have
seen the inside before.”

“Just do it for me,
please?”

She closed her
eyes.  He swept her off her feet, and carried her through the doorway. 
Setting her down he said, “Ok, open them!”

When Daphne opened
her eyes she looked up at the ceiling to see the new crown molding.  “It
is beautiful, Johnny.”

“Look, they
finished the fireplace today.”

Daphne excitedly
looked over to the fireplace.  Tears sprang into her eyes as she ran
across the room. “How did you…”  She reached out and grabbed her
grandmother’s candlesticks from the mantle and clutched them to her
bosom.  It had been ten years since she had seen them, but she recognized
them instantly.

“I bought them from
the people that the bank sold them to.”

“You’re the reason
Mr. Gantry couldn’t get them back?”

A smile was forming
on his lips.  “Yes ma’am.”

She ran across the
room and jumped into his arms.  “Has our bed been delivered yet?”

“I think so, why?”

She smiled a huge
smile.  He smiled back, and carried her to their new bedroom.