Faith of the Heart (26 page)

             
“How is everything around here? Do we have a guest?”
He motioned to the unfamiliar horse in the corral.

             
“That reporter from back east is here. Remember
,
he’s doing an article on railroad inventions that impact the cattle business.”

             
“I remember. What bad timing. I’m so hungry I could eat a ho
rse
. Besides, Claire needs a rest before we go back to town tomorrow.”

             
He looked over at Claire
,
who was turning her stiff neck from side to side
,
trying to work out kinks from the long ride.

             
“I guess it can’t be helped
,
”
he said with a frown.

             
Claire noticed their concern and waved them off, not wanting to be a bother.
“Tom, I’ll be alright. A good meal and a warm fire will restore me.
After
a good night’s sleep I’ll be back to my old
self. Let’s go meet your guest.”

             
“Claire, you may already know him. Mr
.
Cal
M
oore from Baltimore. He sure got a start when I mentioned your name. I thought he was going to pass out on me.” Linus looked at her expectantly.

             
She shook her head. “No, I don’t believe so. I’ve never been
to Baltimore. I’m from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It must be some
kind of mistake.”
             

             
Tom reached for the barn door and held it open for Claire.
She stepped inside and the two men followed. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the light in the room
,
and as they
did she could just see
the slim gray-eyed man bracing his hands on the desk.
She gasped, her heart pounding. She feared it would jump right out of her chest. She reached out, looking for something to hold, and felt the warm touch of Tom’s hands as the world faded to black.

             
She awoke laying on the horsehair sofa with a cool cloth on
her forehead
, Maxwell
’s
anxious
face
hovering over her
s
.

             
“Claire, sweetheart, you passed out. Honey, are you ill?”

She struggled to sit up
, pushing the wool blanket off her chest
,
swinging
her legs
to the floor.
She tried to stand, but they buckled beneath her and she was forced back onto the couch.

             
“Sweetie, lie still. You’re so pale
,
it’s as if you’ve seen a
g
host
.
”
Maxwell fussed over her, pulling her back down
, coveri
n
g her with the blanket.

             
Frantically she looked around the room
, searching for Caleb, wondering what he was doing
here
when she had thought he was dead, dead, dead.

             
“I did see a ghost. Him.” She pointed to Cal
standing awkwardly behind Tom
and he
nodded
,
almost as pale as Claire.

             
Tom shot a glance between the two. “What the
heck
is going on?” he
asked suspiciously.
Linus turned to the stove and pretended to get
very busy tending the stew.

             
“Sheriff Maxwell,
my given name is
, was,
Caleb Da
v
idson and I am Claire’s
fiancé
.”

             
Tom stared at him in disbelief. Then he turned to
Claire
,
his blue eyes flashing. “Claire, is this true?
Is this the man you told me about?
”
“
Well, y
es, but
¼
”

Maxwell shook his head in
confusion and anger
. “I don’t believe it.
You said he was dead.
You are
my
fiancée
.”

             
“Yes but
¼
I told you I
thought
he was dead.
His body
never turned up
,
obviously, but a lot of the boys’ bodies were never recovered. Oh my.” Feeling faint again Claire fanned herself with her hands. 

             
Cal jumped in. “Claire is, rather was, my
fiancé
e
before the war and I’m hoping she’ll still agree to be my wife. I was
¼
gone
¼
for a very long time
,
but seeing her again makes me realize I still love her.
” He turned and addressed his former love, staring deeply into her eyes. “
Claire
¼
I want to marry you. I want you to be my wife just like we planned all those years ago.”

             
Claire looked
first
into the blazing blue eyes of Tom and
then
the hopeful
gray eyes of Cal and shuddered. Her mind raced with unanswered questions
, wondering how Caleb was here, how he had gotten so pale and thin, how he had found her
.
Wondering whether she
really
was meant for a life with Caleb or a life with Tom.
She was so confused.

             
Tom began pacing the floor. “I still don’t believe it.”
He turned to the easterner. “Moore or Davidson or whatever the he
ck
you say your name is,
what makes you think Claire still cares for you and would marry you
?
” He waited as Cal squirmed under his piercing gaze. “Well
?”

             
Cal
glared back
and reached into the collar of his shirt. He
unclasped
the
gold half
-
heart necklace and placed it on the table.

             
“Claire gave this to me the day I went off to war. We pledged our undying love. She wears the matching one. Or at least she used to. We both swore we’d wear the necklaces until we were reunited.”

             
Tom turned to Claire. “Well?’’ he
asked her, his voice deadly quiet, the grim set to his mouth unnerving her
. Claire
suck
ed
in her breath
and
r
eached into her own collar and pulled out her chain. She laid it next to Cal’s and the pieces of the heart
meshed together, a perfect fit
.
Claire watched Maxwell’s face grow red with fury and she scrambled to explain herself to him.

             
“Tom, I can explain
¼
I thought he was dead. I waited so
long for him and he never returned
¼
I nearly took it off the other day. The day after you proposed but I didn’t want to lose it and…” 

             
“Save it
, Claire
. I’ve heard enough.”

             
Tom stomped off to
a far
room
and slammed the door so hard the entire house shook. Linus set the pot of stew on the table and silently let himself out of the house. Cal and Claire didn’t seem to notice.

             
Cal
got up and
limped
to the stove where a kettle of water was boiling.
He rummaged in a cupboard and produced a tin of tea
leaves and a
couple of
ceramic mugs.
Moments later he
brought the steaming cups to the sofa where Claire sat with the blanket tucked protectively around her.
Wordlessly
,
she accepted
a
mug and wrapped both hands around it
,
seemingly trying to gather its warmth.

             
Claire
couldn’t keep her eyes
off Cal
as he pulled up a wooden chair to sit near her. He waited for an invitation to sit next to her on the sofa, to take her into his arms and finally hold her after so many years, but she said nothing.

             
He took a sip of tea and wrestled with his thoughts. The
shock of seeing her here in this place had shaken him to the core. He could feel his heart pound and his hands tremble.
He didn’t know how to explain to her why he hadn’t come back, why he had lied and deserted and left her to fend for herself. He thought of lying, saying his head wound had given him amnesia, but Claire deserved the truth.

             
She was a sweet, timid girl
;
s
he’d get used to the idea of hi
m
being alive. They’d go back to Baltimore
, settle in, and he could support her with his job at the paper
. She could stay in his rooms until they could buy a small house.
They wouldn’t be able to tell his parents they’d married, but they had always dreamed of being together, since they were kids, and now they were.

             
Cal tried to break the silence.
“I remember how much you enjoy a cup of tea. It’s not the quality we have back home
,
but it will do for now. When we get back to Baltimore I’ll show you the best grocery in town. It stocks teas shipped
directly
from England. You’ll love shopping there.”

Claire said nothing
so
Cal tried again.
“When I was in town I saw a store called
Weikert-
Secord’s Mercantile.
That can’t possibly be your place can it? I mean
,
a
girl can’t manage a business like that
.
You’re just a school teacher.
” Cal stopped, watching Claire’s face change from indifference to annoyance. He was a little annoyed himself.

             
“
What are you doing out in this
g
odforsaken place anyway? You belong back
E
ast.”

             
Claire’s eyes narrowed. She was gripping the mug so tightly
her knuckles were white. She let out a long breath through her
mouth
, resolv
ing
not to say anything yet
. She was still woozy from
fainting and his conversation was like a buzzing bee in her ears.

Had he
really just plotted out their life?  She didn’t want to
do any of the things he said—live in Baltimore, shop, teach school. She wanted to run her store, and she wanted to tell him that she was fully capable of doing so. But instead she kept listening
,
staring silently ahead.

             
Cal continued to ramble nervously, and as he did, Claire became more annoyed.
It was as if their past belonged to someone else and he was just telling a tale. With a start
,
Claire
realized that she was no longer in love with the Caleb she’d
been engaged to
.
The memories she had would always be with her
,
but the feelings of love,
the
bonds
they had,
were gone. Her annoyance dissipated and compassion replaced it.

             
He
talked late into the night, describing to Claire
his
past four years, telling her how he was wounded, why he deserted, the friend he had found in Cassie and why he couldn’t go back to Gettysburg. He pleaded with her to go back to Baltimore with him, marry him, marry Calvin Moore, and start a new life at his side.

             
Finally
, he
ran out of words. Claire looked up to the clock on
the mantle
, startled to see that it
was nearly 3:00
A.M.
She had yet to
speak
;
Cal’s overwhelming need to
expunge his past
had kept her quiet and
attentive
.