Nephew's Wife, The

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The Nephew’s Wife

by

Barbara Kaylor

© Copyright 2012 by Barbara Kaylor

All Rights Reserved

Cover Art Design by Lance Rowe

[email protected]

This book is dedicated

to the memory of my mother

who taught me to love Jesus and

encouraged me to follow my dreams

Prologue

“Great news, Whitney! Ellen called off the wedding! I won’t have to stand her up at the altar after all!”

“You didn’t tell her about us, did you?”

“I didn’t have to. She changed her mind on her own, said she didn’t want to go through with it. She started jabbering about how God was telling her that I wasn’t the right man for her. She wants to marry a Christian.  My inheritance and the life I could give her didn’t matter anymore.”

“She’s crazy!”

“I’m just glad Ellen broke up with me instead of the other way around.  I’ll come off looking like the victim instead of a scumbag, which will keep me in good graces with the family. Mother will be so sympathetic, she’ll hand me my inheritance on a platter.”

“Did you act all broken-hearted when Ellen gave you the news?”

“Are you kidding?  I acted like it was the end of the world then tore out of her apartment like the building was on fire. Now no one will ever know I didn’t plan to go through with the wedding.  They’ll blame Miss Goody-Two-Shoes, Ellen Todd, for dumping me at the altar, not the other way around.  I can’t believe our luck.”

“I never understood why you hooked up with Ellen anyway.  She’s nothing like you.  Talk about opposites!  She’s so prudish and plain Jane.”

“Hey, I needed a wife to get my inheritance and she fit the bill—until you came along.”

“What about the letter you wrote to your mother, telling her you couldn’t go through with the wedding?”

“I’ll just throw it away when I get home.  Mother will never know I was going to dump Ellen at the altar.  Mother would have been mortified. She hates scenes, and the one at the wedding would have been hard to live down.  Thanks to Ellen, I don’t have to worry about that now.  Mother wasn’t crazy about Ellen anyway so she’ll get over this fast.  She can just blame it all on Ellen.”

“How soon can we get married?”

“Sooner than planned. Since Ellen broke up with me instead of the other way around, I won’t have to pretend there’s no one else.  Mother will encourage me to move on and find someone to marry. She’ll see you as the one who mended her son’s broken heart!  I’m telling you Whitney, things are really looking up for us. I’ll be at your place in fifteen minutes.  We can celebrate! NOOOOO! AAAAHHHHHH!”

SCRREEECHHH! BOOOMMM!!!!

“Paul! Paul! Paul, are you there? Paul, answer me.  What happened?  What was that noise? Paul, what’s going on?”

Chapter 1

Nine years later.

“Miss Todd, wait. I have something for you.”  Reverend Nelson called to Ellen as she hurried to the back door of the funeral home.

“What is it?” Ellen spun around, her patience thin.  She didn’t want any surprises.   Her life had gone from misery to fiasco since Paul’s tragic accident, and she was anxious to put the whole ordeal behind her.  Outside, a swarm of reporters from all over the globe waited to pounce on her, hoping to get her reaction to Paul’s death.  Ellen was ducking out a back service door to avoid them.  A delay would cost her time and the chance to sneak away.

Reading Ellen’s impatient expression, the reverend said, “I’m sorry. I realize you want to leave quickly, but Paul’s mother wanted me to give this to you after Paul’s death.”  He handed Ellen a business envelope.  “She never discussed the contents with me, and I never inquired about them, but whatever’s in the letter caused her great sorrow.  She was crying when she gave it to me on her death-bed.”

Ellen reluctantly took the envelope and crammed it in her purse. “Thank you.”  She turned toward the door then, realizing her rudeness, turned back. The reverend was still there, watching her with a somber look.  “Thank you for everything, Reverend Nelson.  The service for Paul was very nice, considering everything.”

The reverend gave her a sympathetic nod.  “You’ve been very devoted, Ellen.  Paul would have been touched by your loyalty and amazing love.  You did more for him than his own family outside his mother.”

Ellen cringed at his praise.  She didn’t deserve it.  Guilt and shame had kept her by Paul’s bedside, not love or loyalty.  If she hadn’t ripped his heart out the night before their wedding, he never would have stormed out of her apartment in a rage.  His running the stop sign and getting hit by the dump truck was all her fault. 

“I need to go.” Ellen put her hand on the doorknob.

“Ellen.” The reverend stopped her again.  “If I can help you with anything, let me know.”

“Thank you, Reverend Nelson, but I’m fine.”  Ellen’s smile was weak.  She opened the door and poked her head out.  It was still drizzling, but the back parking lot was quiet and empty.  The reporters hadn’t made it to the back yet.  Ellen pulled the hood of her coat over her head and started quickly across the wide pavement.  She didn’t slow her steps or glance back until she reached her street, five blocks away.  No one had followed Ellen, which would have been comforting had it not been for the crowd in front of her apartment complex.

Mr. Howard’s going to kill me,
she thought.  Her landlord had already warned her about the reporters and curiosity seekers she was attracting.  Ellen darted down a side alley then took the narrow service drive behind the row of buildings on her street.  Keeping her head down, she made her way toward the back entrance of her apartment house.  The drizzle had turned into a full-fledged downpour.  Ellen picked up speed, dodging flooded potholes along the way.  Her feet were getting soaked.  She was only a house away when the heel of her pump hit a crack in the pavement and snapped off, sending Ellen careening onto the wet road.   Her knees and palms took the brunt of the fall. 

Ellen bit down on the pain and frustration.  A scream would have only brought attention, and she’d had enough of that.  Slowly, she picked herself up and recovered the heel of her shoe then limped through a gate, across the yard, and up the steps to the back door of her residence.

“What happened to you?”  Daniel Howard met her in the hallway.  Ellen was soggy and dirty. 

“It hasn’t been a good day.” She held up her broken shoe.

He frowned.  “I hate to make it worse, but—”

“You want me to leave,” Ellen finished his sentence when he hesitated. 

              Slumping, he replied, “The other tenants and neighbors are complaining about the crowd gathering out front every day.  The reporters bother them.  People keep snapping pictures as they drive by.  They’re hanging all over the sidewalks, blocking the street. This neighborhood has always been quiet.  I’m sorry, Ellen.  You’ve been a good tenant.  I hate to do this on top of Paul’s death, but I really need you to find someplace else to live.”

“I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused, Mr. Howard.  I’ll try to be out by week’s end.”

“Thanks,” he said.  “I’m truly sorry for this Ellen.  How was the service?”

“Sad.” 

“Maybe you’ll finally have some closure.”

“Yeah.”  Ellen nodded then turned toward the stairs.  She wanted to get to her room before the tears came.  There would never be closure.  She needed Paul’s forgiveness for ruining his life, and she’d never get that.  Without it, she couldn’t forgive herself.  If she couldn’t forgive herself, she couldn’t accept God’s forgiveness.  It was a vicious circle with no end.  She felt as doomed as Paul had been following his accident.

Inside her apartment, Ellen changed into a warm up suit and fixed a cup of tea.  She peeked out the closed drapes and groaned.  The crowd had thickened despite the rainy day.  Word of Paul’s funeral had reached the public.  Sadness swept over Ellen like a storm- driven wave.   An ocean of tears gushed down her cheeks. 

If only she could take back the night she broke up with Paul.  Would life have been so bad if she had married him?  Had she really felt God moving her to wait for the right man?  Ellen was beside herself with confusion.  Every day for the past nine years, she’d asked the same questions.

To make matters worse, she’d inadvertently thrown herself into the limelight.  If only she’d not agreed to help Robin Davenport with her special report on long-term patients.  
If only, if only.
  Her life was full of
if onlys.
   If only her father had not died in that military exercise when she ten.  If only her mother had not gotten cancer and died when Ellen was fifteen.  If only her grandmother had not had the stroke when she was seventeen.  If only she’d not accepted the job at Paul’s law firm when she had finished night school.

Ellen’s phone rang, jerking her from her pity-party.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Ellen.”  It was Ida Kline, Ellen’s former supervisor at the care center.  “How was Paul’s service?”

Unlike Mr. Howard, Ida had known Paul.  She’d make time to visit him around her many administrative duties. 

“Sad.  His mother had planned the service before she died.  Only family members were allowed to attend.  Reverend Nelson talked them into letting me come.”

“They were a strange bunch.”

“Well, I’ll never have to see them again.”  Ellen suddenly remembered the letter from Paul’s mother.  She told Ida about it.

“Umm. A message from the grave. What did she have to say?”  Ida asked, sarcastically.  Vivian Kendall had not endeared herself to any of the staff at the care facility.  She was a cold-hearted, bitter woman who had never accepted her son’s condition.  Ellen stayed out of her way since it was clear to Ellen that Vivian blamed her for her son’s accident.  Ellen figured Paul must have called his mother immediately following the break-up and told her everything. 

At first, Ellen tried to comfort the distraught woman, but Vivian wouldn’t have any of it.  Their relationship had never been a close one, but it became strange after Paul was sent to the long-term care center.  Vivian avoided Ellen at all costs.  Ellen thought the two would have leaned on each other, but Vivian turned to drinking and pills instead.  Whenever Ellen tried to intervene, Vivian gave her the cold shoulder and lambasted her for getting involved with her son.

“Stay away from me!” Vivian had lashed out one day when Ellen had approached her.  “I don’t want you in Paul’s room when I’m here! You don’t even need to be here, hovering over my son every day.  Go away and live your life somewhere else.”

Everyone on the floor had heard Vivian’s outburst.  From that day on, Vivian’s attitude grew more vile and critical.  When she passed away, the staff at the center was actually relieved.  After that, no one from Paul’s family visited.  Only Ellen remained vigilant. She’d even taken a job at the center in order to spend as much time with Paul as possible.  As soon as Paul passed away, Ellen quit her job for two reasons even though she liked her work.  The memories were too painful, and the press attention had gotten out of hand. Out of sympathy for Ellen, Ida had waived the two weeks’ notice.

“I didn’t read the letter,” Ellen admitted to Ida.  “To tell you the truth, I’m scared to.”  Ellen figured Vivian had just wanted to get in one last dig or, worse, tell her she knew about the break-up and what it had it done to her son.  Ellen didn’t need any more guilt heaped on her.

“She can’t hurt you now, Ellen.  Throw the letter out if it bothers you that much.  Paul’s passed away.  You need to move on, make a life for yourself.”

“That’s going to be hard, considering my other problem.”

“You mean all the media attention? That will die down soon. ”

“Oh yeah?  How many calls have you received today from reporters?”

Ida hesitated before answering. “Too many to count, but you’re doing the right thing, staying under the radar as they say in Hollywood.  One day everyone will lose interest in the
suffering fiancée.”
  Ida used an overly dramatic voice when referencing the label given to Ellen.

Ellen hated the description
suffering fiancée
.  She had Robin Davenport to thank for it.  That was the title Robin had given the article that started the worldwide infatuation with Ellen. 

“How I wish, Ida. It’s actually worsened since Paul’s death.  Mr. Howard wants me to move.”

“You can stay with me until you find a place.”  Ida’s offer didn’t surprise Ellen.  Ida was a Christian who extended a helping hand whenever she could.

“Thanks. I may have to take you up on it.”

“Are you still looking for a job?”  Ida changed the subject abruptly.  Ellen realized the supervisor had more important things to do than chit chat on the phone with a former employee.