Lone Star Bride, page 10
He looked at Alexis then and his voice faltered. There was no backing down now, he decided, knowing that his plans for marriage to this woman were in danger of blowing up in his face. His teeth were gritted and his jaw ached from the pressure, but he continued. “I made love to her, Alexis. I made love to my brother’s intended. She was wearing his ring, and I betrayed Connor.”
Alexis felt quick tears fill her eyes. “You were a dirty rat, Jamie. I’m ashamed of you, and I don’t even know your brother or the girl.” She trembled beside him and he held her arm when she would have risen from the swing.
“Wait, Alexis. The worst is yet to come. When Loris told me almost two months later that she was going to have my child, I skipped town and accepted a job in Missouri. I left money with Connor for her, and rode away.”
Alexis sat on the edge of the swing now, perched as if she might run at any moment. “I can’t imagine you doing a thing like that,” she said sadly. “You must have been a different man then.”
“I was a spoiled kid, not a man at all,” he admitted. “I didn’t even think twice about leaving Loris, didn’t even consider what her parents would do.”
“And what did they do?”
“Kicked her out. It was January, and snowing the night she left home. She was on foot, carrying only a blanket and a few things in a valise. It was a miracle that she didn’t curl up by the side of the road and freeze to death. Anyway, Connor set off to find her the next day and before long, he was taking care of her, staying with her at an abandoned farm. He used the money I’d left and when he went into town he paid the back taxes on the place, and assumed ownership in her name. And then he married her.”
“Where is your child?” Alexis asked, her mind trying to imagine the small boy or girl who lived in Oklahoma. A child with Jamie’s blue eyes and black hair.
His grief vibrated in the words he spoke. “The baby died. They buried him in the orchard. It was almost too much for Loris to bear, especially when my mother got into the picture and tried to have Loris run out of town. She caused a lot of trouble for Connor, even had a plan to kill Loris.” He breathed deeply. “I can’t tell you how miserable she was and how much grief my brother suffered over the whole mess. And then my father was killed.” He bent his head and she thought she’d never seen a man so stricken by his own confession.
“What happened to Connor and Loris?”
“What I wished for, once my eyes were open. They’ve had two children. They’re living on the farm and things are going well for them. No thanks to me.”
“Your mother blamed the girl, didn’t she?” Alexis could just imagine the woman’s anguish when she saw her favored son making such a botch of things. Of course, it had to be someone else’s fault. And since Loris was handy, she was given the blame for the brothers’ estrangement.
“Yeah, she blamed Loris and if she’d had her way, Connor and I would be enemies now instead of brothers.”
“What do you want me to say, Jamie? Should I be angry with you over something that happened a long time ago? Should I call off our wedding because you behaved like a child instead of a man?” Because you aren’t the man I’d thought you were?
“I don’t know what I expect of you,” he said harshly. “I had to tell you, Alexis. I’ve changed, and I’m not saying that to persuade you into this marriage. I hurt a lot of people, a couple of them almost beyond measure.”
“Have they forgiven you?” She waited for his answer, knowing that much depended on it.
“Yeah. Much to my surprise. We parted on good terms. Loris wanted nothing more than for Connor and I to be friends, the way we were growing up together. It took a while, but now I can look at her and see her as a sister. You need to know that, so when the time comes that we see them, you won’t be thinking I have any feelings for her, other than as a member of my family, and Connor’s wife. I’ve put all the rotten things I did into a neat bundle and pushed them into the past, and I rarely think about those days.
“I just knew I couldn’t marry you without you being aware of what happened. I wanted you to understand that my behavior was that of a low-life rascal. I did wrong, and I’ve lived to regret it. I’ve cried a lot of tears over the trouble I caused. If you can accept me as I am, I’ll be forever grateful.” He bent to her, his mouth touching her forehead in a brief, tender caress, as if he feared she would rebuff him.
“I want to marry you, Alexis. More than anything in the world, I want you for my wife. But I need to know that you can forgive me and overlook my past. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m asking a lot of you. Maybe too much.”
She tipped her head back and found her own tears near the surface. That James could have hurt his brother so, not to mention the young woman he’d seduced and forsaken…it was almost too much to absorb, the pain of his actions too cruel to be those of the man who faced her now.
“I was right,” he said bitterly. “I’m asking too much of you. I’m not good enough for you, Alexis. You deserve a man with a decent past, not one who has caused pain and hard feelings in his family, the way I have.”
And for a moment she stared at him, at the dark hair and blue eyes that had so attracted her to him. As they had lured on a woman in his past. Was he right? Could he be the husband she yearned for? Or was she asking for trouble, jumping into this?
And then she shook herself mentally. She could not pretend to be judge and jury over his future. She could only accept him, forgive the young man he had been and be thankful that his life had changed.
She lifted her hands to his face, touching the skin of his temples and jaws, holding him firmly, persuading him to draw near. Her kiss was gentle, asking nothing of him, only giving him the sweetness of her mouth. And as if he’d been gifted with something most precious, he smiled down at her, his arms circling her as he lifted her to sit on his lap.
“I didn’t know I’d find someone like you, Alex. It’s like discovering gold at the end of the rainbow.” His fingers rose to her back where her braid hung almost to her waist. He slipped the ribbon from it and spent long moments untangling it from the imprisoning plait she’d formed early on in the day. “You have beautiful hair, sweetheart. I’ve a yen to see it loose tonight.”
Again the joy of knowing she could so easily please him struck her, and her voice was teasing as she spoke. “You know better, Jamie,” she said. “It’s not considered proper for you to take a woman’s hair down.”
“You’re not just any woman,” he told her, his breath warm in her ear. “You’re going to be my wife, and I have the right.”
“Not till we’re married,” she said, yet knowing she would not deny him this. “That’s when you learn all my secrets.”
“How many do you have?” he asked, his hands stilling, his breath deepening.
She hesitated and he grasped her shoulder and leaned her back, the better to see her face, aware that she teased him. “I’ll almost guarantee you have nothing to hide from me, Alexis. You’re too open and easy to read to be hiding any lovers in your past.” He smiled, a faint movement of his mouth as if his trust in her was implicit.
Then he sighed, a dramatic sound that made her smile. “All right, tell me. Is there anything important I need to know?”
She shook her head. “Probably not, given the confession you’ve made. I’ve kissed a couple of men and walked in the moonlight with three or four, but I’m a virgin, Jamie. No one has ever touched me but you.”
“I haven’t—”
“Yes, you have,” she said, denying his words. “You opened my shirt and vest and I let you. I’ve never done that with another man.”
He buried his face in her shoulder, turned his head and kissed her throat. “Damn, you had me worried there for a minute, sweetheart, with hinting about a lurid past.”
“Hardly. I can’t claim any experience, Jamie. I hope you won’t be disappointed in me. I’m a greenhorn at the whole game of loving.”
He laughed. “That’s about the nicest thing anyone’s ever told me,” he said. “A man likes to hear that from his bride. Didn’t you know that? It means no one else has ever had what you’re going to give me, and trust me, baby, no one else will ever have a chance at you. Not while I’m alive.” His fingers had completed their task and her hair hung loose, waves and curls freed from bondage.
“You’ll be alive for at least the next fifty years or so, Jamie. And after that I’ll be too old to care.”
“Ah, no. That’s where you’re wrong, sweetheart. We’ll never get too old to care. Love isn’t just for the youngsters, you know. Wait and see. One of these days I’ll remind you of this conversation and you’ll admit I’m right.”
She was silent, with no rebuttal to offer, only the hope that it would be as he had said. And in the moonlight, he cherished her, his hands buried in the wealth of gold he’d set loose, his mouth and hands assuring her of his love.
“I spoke to the preacher in town today,” James said. It was the next evening and they were sitting around the supper table, Ellen having put the bowls and platters in place. She sat down beside Hank and waited as he bowed his head and uttered a brief blessing.
The next words out of his mouth were directed at James. “What did you tell him?”
“I asked him to come out here next Saturday and tie the knot between Alexis and me. He agreed. He’ll be here around two o’clock.” He turned to look at Alexis. “Is that all right?”
She nodded. “I’ve got things all set up for three, and when I invited folks I told them to be here shortly after two, so as to give us time to gather out by the orchard. I thought we could get married there, beneath the trees.”
James gave her a look that brought color to her cheeks. “As long as you and I are there and the preacher shows up, that’s all that matters, sweetheart.”
“Now there,” said Ellen smartly, “is a man besotted by his bride.”
“And that’s the truth,” James agreed. He shot a glance at Hank, gaining his attention. “I’ll work at getting things in order before we leave. There shouldn’t be much for you to do with us being gone for just a couple of days. Just have Slim work with the horses. I don’t want them out of the habit of daily exercise. And Alexis won’t be here for…” he looked at her with a wide smile “…a couple of days and nights.”
“And I suppose you’re keeping your destination a secret, aren’t you?” Hank asked.
“You betcha,” James answered quickly. “I’m no dummy. I don’t want any shivaree going on. Being dragged off to who knows where in the middle of the night isn’t my idea of fun.”
“Well, I’m sure we can handle things for a few days without the pair of you,” Hank said. “Ellen and I will keep the home fires burning and I’ll play at being the boss.”
“Sometimes I wonder why Brace Caulfield sent me here,” James said. “You were doing a fine job, and I’d be between a rock and a hard place some days, even now, if you weren’t here.”
“I can see why he wanted you here, Jamie. You’re a born leader. You get along well with the men, and they respect you. I was unknown to the sheriff, and he felt better having someone in charge that he knew firsthand.”
“Well, Alexis,” Ellen said, bringing three pairs of eyes to rest on her. “What would you like me to do for the wedding. Besides cooking, I mean?”
“Probably that will be enough for you to tackle,” Alexis said. “Dad will no doubt roast a pig or put a steer in a fire pit, but you’ll have the rest of it to fix.”
“Maybe we’ll have both,” Hank said. “I only have one daughter, and she’s only gonna be married once, so we’ll go all out for it. How many folks you figure will be here?”
“Close to a hundred, I think. If the townspeople show up, plus our neighbors, it’ll be quite a bunch,” Alexis said.
“I’ll have the boys put together some sawhorses,” James said. “We can lay planks on them to make tables for the food.”
“The biggest job you’ve got is getting Alexis out of here without half the young men from town following you,” Hank said. “They’ll be hot to trot, ready to chase you down and trying to find out where you’re going.”
“They don’t have a chance,” James told him. “I have it all planned.”
As weddings went, it was a dandy, Alexis thought dreamily, looking out from her bedroom window as the wagons and buggies gathered in the side yard below. Friends and neighbors brought food, the ladies having notified Ellen of their contributions days earlier, and now they carried bowls and crocks into the ranch kitchen, their voices rising in conversation as they prepared the feast to come.
At the appointed time, Alexis walked down the staircase on her father’s arm, through the door and into the orchard, where Jamie awaited her. Chet and Ellen stood with him, prepared to witness the marriage. The minister stood behind a makeshift altar, its surface laden with flowers, and before him was the arch Woody had prepared. She stood in its shelter, finally facing the man she would wed, her father speaking the words that would give her into the hands of James Webster.
And then came the low, intense tones of the pastor who officiated. “Dearly beloved…” The familiar passages spoke to her heart, for the first time their meaning was rich and relevant to her. And when Jamie’s dark, strong voice spoke his vows into her hearing, she secreted them in her heart, knowing she would never forget these moments.
“…to love…to honor…and to obey.” The words came easily to her, even the edict that her will would no longer be her own, but that of the man she’d chosen to wed. In her heart of hearts was the knowledge that Jamie would not cast orders in her direction, that his main concern would be for her welfare, and that he would in all things place her first and foremost.
“You may kiss your bride,” the pastor intoned, and she was securely clasped in the arms of her husband, kissed circumspectly, but well. Behind them, the crowd of onlookers burst into laughter and applause as the newlyweds turned to face them. And then they were swamped by well-wishers, by those who had been friends for all the years of her life, those who wanted the best for her that life had to offer.
The best in this case was the person of James Webster, and happily she claimed him as her own. His hand grasping her arm spoke of possession, a word she had heretofore derided as unbecoming, threatening to a woman’s being. Now the thought of being possessed by this man was exactly what she had spent her life seeking.
Mrs. James Webster. She rolled the words silently on her tongue and acknowledged them to be most satisfactory.
The feast was sumptuous, the food varied and delicious, the neighboring ladies proud of their skills in the kitchen. Jamie fed her bites of ham and chicken, and in between times flirted with the little girls who gathered around them, their eyes wide with admiration for the tall man who had claimed Alexis. His knowledge of children was natural, it seemed. For she knew he had not had any younger brothers or sisters, only been a part of Brace Caulfield’s family and a close friend to their son, Stephen.
As the wedding cake was presented, she held the knife, Jamie’s own fingers pressing against hers, and the cake was cut, to the cheers and laughter of the crowd. Slices were passed out and the tall, three layered creation duly admired by all. Alexis barely tasted the light boiled icing, sharing her own generous piece with Jamie, feeding him with her fork and delighting in his happiness.
For his eyes were lit with a delight that pleased her, his mouth curved in a smile that brought happiness to her heart, and his hand was touching her, his fingers warm against her back, his palm curving to fit the flare of her hip.
“How will we leave?” she asked him quietly as they danced, the moon and stars now providing light for those who had moved their dancing into the yard.
With an amused smile, he bent to her. “I told you I had it figured out. Trust me.”
The barn was clean, the large center aisle swept and scrubbed for dancing, and dance they did. Twirled in the arms of most every neighbor, even the young boys who barely came to her shoulder, Alexis was the center of attention. And yet her own eyes were only on the man who was her husband. Leading her to the floor, he began the familiar steps of a waltz as the instruments played. Square dancing followed for several hours until the instruments began another slow melody seemingly made for lovers.
And finally it was the last dance and she was held in his arms, her gown flowing about her legs, their steps in harmony as if they had planned for just such a performance in front of the watching crowd. For it was as he’d said earlier.
“The first and the last dances are mine,” he’d informed her after the fiddle had been tuned up, and the piano carted out of the house for the occasion. Claimed by the local school-teacher, who gave lessons on the side to many of the young girls in town, it played a joyous background to the dancing that was a big part of such celebrations.
So it was that they made their escape without anyone being the wiser. James had hidden the buggy beyond the orchard, tied the mare to a tree and left them out of sight of the guests. Occupied with the dancing and the abundance of food, the barn and surrounding grassy spots were peopled by those who sat or danced or rested on quilts beneath the trees.
In the twilight, their disappearance went smoothly, James and Alexis going into the house, where Alexis changed into a new dress, bought especially for the occasion. It was not as full and lacy as her wedding dress, but was cut on narrower lines, made of silk organza, with an overskirt that made her look regal.
At least that was what James said when he caught sight of her standing before a long mirror in her bedroom. He’d rapped on the door, and then entered, catching her unaware. She turned to him, startled. And then smiled as his eyes gleamed with a desire he did not attempt to hide from her. “You’re beautiful,” he said. “You look like a princess in a fairy tale.”
“And you treat me like a lady.” She preened, twirling in a circle, her skirt flaring around her legs. “Am I honeymoon material?” she asked. And his answering grin, complete with uplifted eyebrow, answered her question, leaving no doubt as to his opinion of his bride.
