Twice Blessed (27 page)

Tears overflowed her eyes, but she did not wipe them away. She went to him and drew him down to sit beside her on the floor. He put his arm around her, but kept looking over her head to make sure no one was coming up the stairs to hear what he was telling her. She put her hand over his left one and felt his fingers quiver.

With anger, she realized when he added, “If I'd not tried to save that damned factory, I might have been able to save them.”

“You don't know that. They must have thought they were safe if they stayed in their house.”

He nodded. “Almost a dozen people died on that block alone. For a few minutes, I wasn't sure if we would escape the inferno.” His gaze turned inward. “I'm no longer afraid of hell, because I have been there.”

She touched his leg, where the ropy scars remained as conspicuous reminders of his near death, but there were other unhealed wounds that festered within him where no one could see. “Why didn't you tell me? You could have trusted me with this.”

“I know I can trust you, sweetheart, but I didn't want to encumber you with this.”

“You are my husband. Your responsibilities are mine now.”

A swift smile crossed his lips. “You need to hear the rest before you accept that obligation so quickly. You may change your mind when you know the truth of why I'm not surprised to have that warrant finally chase me down.”

Her eyes widened. “You didn't tell Lewis that the warrant is mistaken because it isn't!”

“Now you understand.”

“But, Noah, you're her uncle. Her parents had been killed. Why shouldn't she live with you?”

“Because of the Gilson family.” He leaned his head against the top of hers as he said, “I hope you never have to deal with anyone like them, sweetheart. They are little better than thieves. If anyone has an idea and mentions it in their hearing, they steal it and put it on the market before the fool who spoke of it can guess what is happening.”

“But Martha was a Gilson.”

“There's truth to the adage that every rule has an exception. She met Danny when she came to the factory to apologize for her brother stealing Danny's idea for a new line of furniture. Danny had been in his cups at a social gathering and had failed to notice Laird Gilson was there.”

Emma sat straighter and stared at him. “Laird? Is he some sort of Scottish peer?”

He laughed without humor. “He only fancies himself to be because his parents gave him that ludicrous name in an effort to inveigle themselves into favor with some British investor before Gilson was born. The whole family—except for Martha—has no scruples when it comes to making a profit to add more wealth to their ever expanding house along the shore of Lake Michigan.”

“I know the type of people you mean.” How she wished she could be as honest with him about her own past!
That
burden remained her own.

“I'm sorry to hear that.”

She was surprised how easy it was to smile when she replied, “Me, too.”

He drew his arm from around her and curved his hands around her face. His kiss was deep and tender and a promise that all they should be sharing on their wedding night was not lost. She leaned into the kiss, wanting it to last forever so they could remain in this rapture, think only of this perfect moment.

“No, Noah,” she whispered when he lifted his mouth from hers. “Just kiss me. Kiss me and kiss me until we're transported away from this muddle.”

“You have to know the whole truth, sweetheart.”

She opened her eyes to see his so close to hers. They were dim with a despair she had never seen on his face. She wanted to plead with him to be angry again. She could understand rage at being falsely accused. She could not comprehend this quiet acceptance that the time for the hardest battle was still ahead of them.

“Tell me, Noah.” She dampened her lips as she whispered, “Tell me everything.”

He rested his head on her lap, but where he could still see down the stairs. “I should have told you right from the beginning, but I was afraid you'd walk out of my life if you knew the truth.”

“So you got me to marry you so I never can walk away from you.” She ran her finger along his cheek, which was rough with whiskers. “An excellent plan, save for the fact that I'll always stand with you, no matter what.” She tapped his lips. “Unless you don't want me to be standing.”

He did not smile at her jest. Instead he stared up at the ceiling as he said, “I never thought Laird Gilson would have any interest in any child. He prefers to spend time with women of ill fame rather than with a lady who might be greedy enough to become his wife. Then he realized Belinda would inherit a share of the furniture factory we were already rebuilding.”

“So he petitioned the court to have custody of Belinda?”

“Yes. From somewhere, he produced a woman he introduced to the court as his fiancée. I suspect she was one of his women of the night whom he'd gotten cleaned up to look like a lady.”

She sighed. “A man who was about to be married would be believed by a judge to offer a better home for a child than a single man.”

“Exactly the impression Gilson wanted to put into the judge's mind.”

“Why didn't you find a fiancèe of your own?”

“I guess I'm too blasted honest. I had hoped honesty would weigh in my favor, especially when Gilson's habits were introduced as evidence.”

“But?”

“I didn't take into consideration that the judge would have more sympathy for the family who had lost a daughter than one who had lost a son. He ruled Belinda should go to the Gilsons, as if she could replace Martha.”

Emma gasped, “That's absurd!”

“I agree. That's why I left orders on how to complete the factory with my other brother, Ron. I turned my share of the business over to him and, taking Belinda, left Chicago. So the warrant is not wrong. I
did
kidnap her, but it was to save her from Gilson and his family. The one thing I didn't think to do was change my name before Belinda was old enough to know her last name was Sawyer.”

“You would have been found anyhow if this Gilson family wanted to find you.” She shivered at the thought.
She
had changed her name to protect herself, and so far it had. When she told Noah the truth of her own secret, would he listen as she was to his?

“True, and they've found me. The success of the factory has enabled us to live wherever we wished, because Ron and I arranged for funds to be available around the country.”

“Are you saying you own the factory that makes all the furniture you have downstairs?”

“Yes. I guess you should know, Mrs. Sawyer, that your husband comes from a very financially successful family.” His lips tilted for a fleeting moment, then vanished. “It was time for Belinda to have a real home where she could spend time with other children and go to school. I thought Haven would be the perfect place.” He sat and curved his hand along her cheek again. “Thank you for listening, Emma. It's time someone else knew the truth. It's a heavy burden to carry for all these years.”

“Especially carrying it alone.”

He shook his head. “Gladys knows the truth. She worked for me at my furniture factory in Chicago before the fire. She has been faithfully traveling with us for the past five years until we settled here, where I thought no one would look for us. I wish I knew who had seen through my guise as a fairly incompetent farmer.”

“If someone in Haven had been suspicious, they … Oh, my!”

“What is it?”

“Mr. Atherton!”

“What?”

“You met him at the barn raising. He'd been around Haven for a week or so then, and he was always asking questions about people in town.”

“Including me?”

She barely could draw in a breath as she whispered, “He was from Chicago. He said he was a friend of the Smiths, but I never saw him with them.”

He stood and slammed his fist against the door. “Probably a Pinkerton man.”

“But who had alerted him to come here to search for you after all this time?”

“Emma?” came a soft voice from the other side of the door before Noah could answer the unanswerable.

Standing, Emma opened the door wider to see Belinda standing on the other side. The little girl cuddled up against Emma and murmured, “Sean said you were going to tell us a story. How much longer are you going to be talking with Papa?”

She fought not to wince as she heard Belinda's innocent question.

“I don't know how much longer I can stay awake,” Belinda continued.

“Belinda …” She put her hand on Noah's arm. “I did tell Sean I'd tell them a story if they came upstairs and got ready for bed.”

“Go ahead. We aren't going to solve this tonight.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he pulled off his dress collar. Tossing it atop the warrant on his dresser, he said, “I think I'll start gathering my thoughts so I can see if Jennings is interested in helping sort this out.”

Emma hesitated, then said, “Belinda, go and get in bed. I'll be right there.”

“Promise?”

“Yes.” She gave the little girl a slight shove and smiled when Belinda skipped along the hall. Turning back to Noah, she said, “I thought you wanted someone with more skill with the law than a man who gave it up to become a farmer.”

“Right now, I need all the allies I can round up.”

She put her arms around him. “You have me.”

“You don't know how much that means now, sweetheart,” he whispered.

Looking up at him, she knew she should be honest with him now, when he was sure to understand. She wished she did know how it was to have even one person who believed in her profession of innocence. She needed to share her own tale with him and have him believe she had not played any part in Miles's crimes.

“Now
I
am a married man,” he continued, “and the judge has to take into consideration the fact that I have a wife who will help me raise Belinda. After the excellent job you've done with Sean in such a short time, no one will doubt you would be a good mother to her.”

“I hope the judge recognizes that.”

Her hopes shriveled into despair when he replied, “If he does not, there are dozens of folks in Haven who will gladly testify how much you've done for this community and to any aspect of your character.”

She somehow continued to smile. What Noah had said was true … as far as it went. She must be honest with him. The time had come to trust someone with the story of what had happened in Kansas. She must trust this man she had trusted with her heart.

“Noah, I need to tell you about—”

His mouth claimed hers, silencing her. Although she wanted to give herself to the pleasure and to him, she turned her head away enough to say, “I need to tell you—”

“Just tell me that you love me, sweetheart. That is all I want to hear now.”

“Noah—”

This time when his lips captured hers, he did not let her escape. Nor did she wish to. She wanted this ecstasy, even if it was only for this one night. She would make him listen to her in the morning. For tonight, all she wanted was this.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Noah had never thought he would be so grateful everyone around Haven was busy with planting. The street, as the sun rose to shine into the Ohio, was empty except for him and Lewis Parker, who was walking silently beside him.

He knew this moment of quiet would soon be gone. Coming back to the village before dawn, because he and Emma had wanted to protect the children from the bombardment of questions that was sure to hit them as soon as they were seen, he had tried to persuade Emma not to open the store today. He reminded her Belinda and Sean were still waiting for their bedtime story, and that spending the day with the children might be for the best.

“I need to be in the store today,” she had replied as she brushed her hair. “If I don't, the rumors will become even more outrageous. Maybe I can put the brakes to a few.”

He had put his hands on her shoulders and drawn her back against him. In the looking glass, he could see his face bore lines of sleeplessness and anxiety … as Emma's did. He had not planned to sleep much last night with his new wife in his bed. She had not said anything, but he knew her fear for him and Belinda had tainted her happiness last night. As well as his. Each time she tried to turn the discussion to anything serious, he had silenced her with kisses until she surrendered to their desire once more.

“I'm a lucky man,” he whispered. He kissed her nape as she lifted her hair off it to twist it into a chignon.

“Lucky?” Her hair fell back over his fingers, then flowed along his arm as turned to face him. “Noah, usually I enjoy a good joke, but not
today!
”

“I wasn't joking.” As his hands cupped her face, he smiled. “I'm lucky you didn't walk out on me last night.”

“I love you. I wouldn't leave someone I love to handle this calamity alone.”

He frowned when she looked hastily away. He recognized her expression. He had seen it far too often during the night, and it had been on her face when he had asked her to marry him. Yes, he recognized the expression, but he had no idea why she was wearing it now, other than something was unsettling her. Not just Gilson, but something she did not want to share with him.

His thumbs under her chin tipped her face back toward his. “And that is why I'm lucky, sweetheart.”

She had flung her arms around him and thrilled him with her kisses. He might have changed his mind about getting to the telegraph office as soon as it opened and made love to her again in her bed if she had not drawn away. In her eyes, he had seen the craving that plagued him, but she had known, as he did, that they might have a very short time to prevent Gilson from taking the next step in his abominable scheme.

Looking back along the street, Noah saw someone climbing the steps to the store's porch. Reverend Faulkner, if he was not mistaken. He sighed. Maybe the minister would be able to offer Emma some hope.