The Cripple’s Bride_Family of Love Series_A Western Romance Story Read online

  “She was lookin’ for you, Ma. We were just bringing her to ya.”

  “I told them I would buy them something to snack on if they would bring me to you,” Rachel said. She opened her small handbag and handed two coins to each of them. “Go buy yourself something while I talk to your ma. Okay? There you go, good children. Go on.” She scooted them off. To her surprise, Esther said nothing to her children as they skittered off to disappear into the store.

  She straightened to see Esther was staring at her.

  “You are a beautiful woman,” Esther said in a low voice.

  Rachel blushed. She couldn’t return the compliment and didn’t want to lie so she said, “Why thank you. How nice of you to say.”

  “You know where Daryl is, don’t you?”

  Rachel froze in place, her eyes fixed on Esther’s. “Yes. I know where he is.”

  “I want to see him. I’ve been so worried about him. When he didn’t send for me and the kids, I… I just didn’t know what to do. I got the money together, sold a lot of things, and came looking for him. Is he all right?”

  “He was in an accident,” Rachel felt obliged to tell the woman where her husband was. She’d noticed the ring on Esther’s finger. Daryl didn’t have one on his. “He was very hurt at that time. But the doctor said he’s on his way to recovery even though he’s been in a lot of pain during this phase.”

  “I sure would like to see him. I know he’ll be relieved to see we’re okay.”

  “He…” Rachel had been about to say Daryl hadn’t mentioned her or the children. But she stopped. She didn’t want to hurt the woman further. From the look of her, it didn’t seem Daryl took very good care of her or their children. Disappointment slid through her. It was followed by a sorrow unlike any she’d ever felt. “He will be all right. I’ll take you to him. Do you have a wagon?”

  Esther shook her head. “We hitched a ride with some people going through Wickenburg.”

  Rachel thought of Daryl’s wagon in the barn. That’s why they didn’t have a wagon to get to Wickenburg. He had it. She fought to keep control of her emotions. “I can get a wagon. You bring the children to the Horse N Saddle saloon…”

  “You want me to bring my children into a saloon?” Esther said quietly.

  “No, just outside of it. I am going to borrow my brother’s wagon. I’ll take you back to my house and you can see your husband.”

  Rachel didn’t notice the satisfied look Esther gave her when she turned and hurried down the street to the Horse N Saddle to get Sam’s wagon.

  The children were quiet all the way to her house. They said nothing more than a response to her greeting. Rachel could tell their mother had said something to them before they came to the Horse N Saddle. Johnny wouldn’t look her in the eye. In fact, he kept his head down, taking a bite of his shiny apple every few minutes and chewing methodically.

  “Are you all right, Johnny?” Rachel asked, lifting Bethany into the back of the wagon. He glanced at her. She noticed there were tears in his eyes, even though he only looked at her for a second.

  “He’ll be fine,” Esther called out from the bench in the front. Rachel wondered why she hadn’t come to the back to help her children get in the wagon. She looked sympathetically from Johnny’s tousled hair and sad face to Bethany’s wide, innocent eyes and protruding lower lip.

  Something was wrong.

  Rachel went around the wagon and picked up the reins as she climbed up into the seat. She clucked the horses into motion and sat for a moment before looking down at Esther.

  “How long have you been with Daryl, might I ask?”

  Esther didn’t look at her when she responded. “About five… fifteen, yes, fifteen years.”

  “That’s quite a while. I didn’t think he was old enough to be married that long. You must have been very young.”

  Esther laughed nervously. “Yes. Yes, we were.” She said nothing more.

  Rachel wanted her to talk some more, but couldn’t think of anything to ask. She was filled with questions. Why were the children acting so suspiciously when they were so open before? Why was their mother unable to look Rachel in the eye?

  Rachel had a good sense for when she was being deceived. She was now anxious to see what Daryl’s reaction would be when he saw the woman and children. Were they really his? Neither child looked anything like Daryl. She simply couldn’t believe he was the kind of man that would leave his wife and children in the shape these people were in at present. She was sure she saw faint bruises on Esther’s wrists when her dress sleeve lifted up, exposing them. Esther was quick to jerk the sleeves back down, looking around nervously when she did so.

  Memories of Daryl in the past two weeks ran through her mind. Even in his weakened condition, he just didn’t seem like the kind of man who would hurt a woman. Nothing more than breaking their hearts. The bruises on Esther’s wrists had to have come from being grabbed and probably slung across the room. Or she was defending herself from being hit.

  Rachel couldn’t even imagine Daryl doing such a thing.

  Since it appeared Esther did not want to talk, Rachel said nothing more to her or the children all the way to her house. When the cottage appeared through the trees, she pointed. “There it is. That’s my home.”

  “How beautiful,” Esther said breathlessly.

  The children poked their heads through the opening of the covered wagon to get their own look. Johnny whistled.

  “It’s a lot nicer than our house!” he exclaimed.

  “Johnny!” Esther blushed furiously. Rachel pretended she hadn’t heard the self-deprecating remark.

  “Thank you, I think it’s beautiful too.” Rachel smiled. She pulled the wagon up next to the front porch. “Johnny, you and Bethany come through the front here. I’ll lower you to the ground from here.”

  Esther jumped down from the bench seat and was headed to the door before Rachel had both children on the ground. She hurried after the woman, wanting to go in the house before her. It was her house, after all.

  She passed Esther just as the woman was about to reach out for the handle of the door. “Please,” she said. “Allow me.”

  She opened the door, hoping beyond hope that the entire Samuels family was awake.

  As soon as the door opened, she caught the distinct smell of eggs and ham, bacon and coffee. She breathed it in and smiled in satisfaction. This woman was about to meet her in-laws. Rachel wanted to see how they would treat her.

  She stepped back and let Esther and the children pass her by. Esther stopped just inside the door, making the children dodge her so they wouldn’t run into her.

  “Hello, Esther,” Rebecca said, coming toward the woman with her arms out. She hugged her. “I didn’t know Daryl was here. I’m sorry. I would have told you.”

  “It’s all right. God has led me here. Where is he?”

  “The doctor is checking him out right now,” Charles said. “There’s breakfast in the kitchen. Please help yourself if you’re hungry.”

  The children immediately started whining to their mother, begging her to let them go and get something to eat. She shooed them away, a look of irritation crossing her face. At that moment, Rachel looked at Allan, who was standing by the window. He was watching Esther with a look of disgust on his face. She immediately wanted to talk to him. It seemed like he was sensing something no one else did. Except her.

  “I will get something in a little bit, if that’s all right,” Esther said. “I’d really like to see Daryl.”

  Charles looked at her through narrow eyes. “When the doctor is done examining him, I’m sure it will be fine to go in and see him.”

  “I have waited a long time,” Esther said, her voice gradually lifting in pitch. Rachel and Charles shared a look of surprise, while Rebecca just stared at Esther sympathetically. “I think I should be able to see him right away. I shouldn’t have to wait anymore. I’ve been so worried. So worried.”

  “I know you’ve been worried, Esther
,” Rebecca wrapped her arms around the small woman. “But the exam is important. And it won’t be much longer. He’s doing very well. He was talking this morning and everything.”

  “He was?” Both Esther and Rachel asked the question at the same time.

  Rebecca looked from one to the other with a smile. “Yes, he was.”

  “Did he ask about me?” Esther looked eager. Rebecca moved her eyes from Esther to Rachel. Her smile weakened.

  “No, I’m sorry, he… he asked for Rachel. But she’s been caring for him. He’s used to her being here.”

  Rachel didn’t want Rebecca making excuses for why Daryl had asked for her. He’d asked for her because he loved her. And she loved him. Esther was hiding something. She was going to find out what it was. And, God willing, Daryl would be hers.

  “Well… well, that’s okay. I… I think I… I guess I should get something to eat. I’m not myself. I’m grumpy when I’m hungry. And its been… well, I am hungry.”

  Rachel stepped around her to hold the door of the kitchen open. “Your little ones are scarfing it down. Please, eat as much as you like. You’re welcome to a drink, too. The icebox is there, below that cabinet.”

  Esther looked up at her. “Thank you, Rachel.”

  Rachel nodded. The door closed slowly and she returned to the living room.

  “What an odd woman,” Charles said, keeping his voice low.

  “Shush, Charles, she might hear you,” Rebecca whispered. He looked at her.

  “That’s why I said it so low. I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”

  His wife gave him a look. He shrugged. “It’s the truth. She’s odd.”

  “I think she is, too,” Allan said, joining the small group.

  “See?” Charles lifted a hand in his son’s direction. “The smartest one of our children agrees with me.”

  Allan looked at his mother with a serious expression. “I told you, Ma. I didn’t like her. She wasn’t nice in the saloon. I thought she was drunk for a bit, but then I thought differently.”

  “Why?”

  “She didn’t smell like any kind of liquor I’ve ever smelled.”

  “What did she smell like?”

  Allan thought for a moment. “She smelled like berries. Like rotten berries.”

  Rachel curled up her nose. “That was the faint smell I keep getting all the way back here. You are right, Allan. Spoiled berries. Spoiled jam.”

  “Or wine,” Charles supplied. “She’s been drinking wine.”

  “Oh dear,” Rebecca said. “What have we done? Maybe Daryl was trying to get away from her by leaving Louisville and we’ve brought her here right to his door? Oh dear.”

  Rachel’s eyes moved from Allan to his mother and his father. “Oh no,” she murmured. She kept her eyes on Rebecca. “Did you know anything about her before now? Did he ever mention her in his letters?”

  “Daryl’s not one for much correspondence.”

  “She told me they’ve been together for fifteen years,” Rachel said.

  “No, they haven’t,” Charles said. “That’s a lie. They would have to have met since he bought that land out there back nine years ago. Before that he was livin’ on our property with us, in a separate cottage just down from the main house. We’ve never seen her before and if she’d been with him that long, we’d know it.”

  “She must not have been thinking this through,” Rachel said. “This is so easily proven false. Why would she lie to me?”

  “Hoping you wouldn’t question probably,” Allan said. “And that you’d give up on him, thinking he had done her and the children wrong.”

  “Are the babies his?” Rachel asked suddenly. Rebecca raised her eyebrows.

  “Daryl has no children. He has no wife. He is a single man and has been all of his life.”

  Rachel’s heart jumped in her chest. She was delighted to her very core. “Then where did this woman come from?”

  “I think that’s a question Daryl will have to answer himself,” Charles said. “As soon as he is able. Right now, he shouldn’t be burdened with anything. Let’s just see what the doctor says.”

  “In the meantime, we must keep her out of his room,” Rachel said, leaning toward them. “He can’t have any more stress and this woman can’t be trusted.”

  Charles and Allan nodded. Rebecca looked at the door to the kitchen sympathetically. “It’s so sad. All she wants is to be loved. It looks like a man broke her spirit already. Poor woman.”

  “That woman is trying to prey on your brother,” Charles said. “It would be good if you remember that.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  HAVING IT ALL

  HAVING IT ALL

  It proved to be more difficult than they expected keeping Esther out of Daryl’s room once the doctor came out. She immediately wanted to go in, without even asking the doctor how he was doing. Allan and his father stood in front of the doorway, pretending to be so absorbed in what Dr. Campbell was telling Rachel that they didn’t even see that she was trying to get around them to go in the room. At one point, Allan leaned back against the doorjamb and blocked the knob altogether.

  He tried not to grin when Esther made a sound of frustration and took a step back, resigning herself to listening to the doctor and waiting.

  “How is he, George?” Rachel asked, standing to be the first one the doctor spoke to. “Please tell me he’s going to be okay.”

  “You weren’t here this morning when I got here,” the doctor said. “He was doing much better when I arrived. He was asking for you.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “He seems to be doing much better. Your salve, Rachel,” the doctor shook his head. “I’d like to buy some from you. I think everyone should be able to use it. It’s quite miraculous.”

  “I think so, too.” Rachel giggled. “It’s like magic.”

  “Uh oh,” Allan said. “She’s practicing witchcraft. Look out.”

  The adults around him chuckled. He noticed Esther did not crack a smile.

  “He’s had a lot of rest, but he still needs a bit more. His leg isn’t hurting him as much. His heart rate is calm and strong. He’s going to live.”

  “Did you tell him what was lodged in his back?” Rachel asked quietly. She didn’t want Esther to know about it. She didn’t know if the woman heard the question, but the look on her face didn’t change, so she must not have cared either way. Her eyes were focused on the door to where Daryl was.

  The doctor shook his head. “He wants to hear it from you. All I told him was that it wasn’t going to kill him and that he was recovering remarkably well. It’s been less than 24 hours and he looks like he wants to go hunting this weekend.”

  “He’s strong,” Rebecca said proudly. “He always has been. He can bounce back from anything.”

  “Please, may I go in to see him?” Esther said.

  The doctor turned to look at her. “I’m sorry; I don’t know who you are.”

  “I am Esther. His… his…”

  Rachel waited for her to finish what she was saying.

  “I think it would be better if Rachel went in first. He’s been waiting hours to talk to her. But only one at a time. So you can go in after she is finished talking to him.”

  Allan stood up and moved so that he was standing directly in front of Esther, allowing Rachel enough room to open the door and enter. He leaned over to pull the door closed and turned to stand in front of it, narrowing his eyes at Esther. Her lower lip quivered and curled.

  He shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest.

  The rest of the adults walked into the living room and sat down, all except the doctor. “Duty calls, my friends. I’m glad to see he’s finally going to reunite with his family. He told me he’s been worried about you, but didn’t want you to be worried about him. He wanted to be on his feet when he talked to you again.”

  “I wasn’t worried about him until I saw Esther,” Rebecca said. “Then I started to think about his letter and t
hat he was going to come to Wickenburg so long ago and we didn’t see him or hear from him again…” She was starting to get worked up when Charles reached over and grasped her by the shoulder.

  “He’s all right, Becky. He’s going to live and he’s going to keep his limbs. It’s going to be all right.”

  “I worry, Charles. You know how I worry.”

  “That’s precisely why he didn’t tell you to begin with. You would have been here invading Rachel’s personal space, trying to take care of him when it isn’t you he wants taking care of him.”

  Rebecca nodded. “You’re right, Charles. Of course, you’re right.”

  “We’ll get to see him when it’s our turn. You’ll feel better then.”

  Rachel stopped on the inside of the door and looked at Daryl. He looked so handsome and so helpless at the same time. He moved his eyes slowly to see that she was standing there.

  “Rachel!” he sounded weak but better. “It’s so good to see you! I hear you have been running all over creation helping me today.”

  “Have I?” She came over to sit in the chair next to the bed. She couldn’t resist giving him a smile, leaning forward and touching his scruffy cheek. “I can’t help it. I like helping you.”

  He smiled at her. “I’m blessed to have met you. You saved my life. I couldn’t have asked for better.”

  “Daryl… how do you… how do you really feel about me?”

  He blinked at her, becoming serious. “How do I feel about you?”

  “Yes. Do you… do you think you could ever love me?”

  He licked his lips and shifted on the bed uncomfortably.

  “I’m sorry if I’m being too forward. There’s just… well, I feel something for you I haven’t felt for anyone else before. No man has ever made me think about him constantly and want to please him and do things for him. I’ve always been a one-woman show. That’s me. The bartender’s sister. But now… with you here… I think I’ve changed. I’ve realized I want more.”

  Daryl didn’t say anything. He listened to her, looking at her face with a soft look of love she was sure she could see plainly.