The Mail Order Bride's Deception (15 page)

Chapter Fifteen

It was May when the stranger came.  Al had just finished tending to his garden when he saw the man ride up to his property on a horse.  From the looks of it, he was well-to-do, what with his fancy suit and all.  The dust from town had gotten on his pants and shoes, but the man didn’t seem to notice.

Al set down his hoe and hurried to meet him.  “Are you lost?” he called out as he wiped his hands on his handkerchief.

The man scanned him up and down then smiled as if he was amused by something no one else saw but him.  “That depends.  Does Hazel McPherson live here?”

The man’s gaze went to the cabin, and Al couldn’t be sure, but he thought the man snickered.  Shifting a bit, he tucked the handkerchief back into his back pocket.  “She goes by Hazel Grover now.”

The man looked back at him and his eyebrows rose.  “Then I’m not lost.” He got off the steed and handed Al the reins.  “I’m Hazel’s cousin.  My name is James McPherson.”

Al’s eyebrows furrowed.  Her cousin?  But he had a different accent from Hazel.  “Where do you live?”

“Atlanta, Georgia.”

Yes, that was where Hazel was from, but he didn’t sound anything like her.  “All your life?”

He chuckled and nodded.  “Yes.  I gather she didn’t tell you about me.”

“No,” he slowly said as he tied the horse’s reins to a post.  “She didn’t.”

“A shame.  We were close, you know.  We played together as children.  I thought she would have at least mentioned me, even in a passing conversation.”

“She doesn’t like to talk about her life in Atlanta.”

“Oh, well, there you have it.” He chuckled again and patted him on the back.  “She’s a rather secretive devil, isn’t she?  You know, she didn’t even tell us she was coming up here to be a mail-order bride.  Her ailing father found your ad in the fireplace.  I suppose she thought it burned up.”

Al considered James’ words.  So she not only didn’t want to tell him about Atlanta, but she also hadn’t told anyo
ne in Atlanta about him.  Why?

Al turned to face James and forced a smile.  “I should tell her that you’re here.” He hesitated then added, “Maybe you should stay
out here.  I want to make sure the house is ready.”

Since James cordially agreed, Al went to the cabin and softly opened the door.  His gaze went to Hazel as she was stirring the stew.

She looked over at him and smiled.  “Lunch will be ready soon.”

“It smells good.” He glanced back at James who gave him a
slight wave.

“Gilbert’s taking a nap, and the stew will be good for a while o
n its own.  Would you like to go to the bedroom and have a little fun?” she offered, her tone playful.

“Right now’s not a good time.” He stepped into the cabin and motioned for her to come over to hi
m, leaving the door only open a crack so James wouldn’t see them.

“What is it?” she asked as she came over to him.

“Do you know him?”

“Why?  Who is he?”

He gestured for her to look outside, and she leaned toward him to get a good view of him.  “He says he knows you.”

She started to speak but then coughed and hurried over to the pitcher on the worktable.  She coughed again and pointed to her throat.  “Water,” she managed to say before she coughed again and poured water into the cup.  She took a big gulp of it but couldn’t seem to stop coughing.

“Should I invite him in?”

She shook her head and drank more water.

“When you stop coughing, do you want to come out and see him?”

She nodded but coughed again.

“Alright.  I’ll let him know you’ll be out to say hello.” He went over the threshold and closed the door.  “She’ll come out here,” he called out as he headed for James.  “The house isn’t fit for company at the moment.”

“Or maybe she doesn’t want to see me,” James replied, a contrite smile on his face.  “I’m afraid we didn’t leave on pleasant terms.”

That explained why she didn’t rush right out to welcome her cousin, and he was sure it had something to do with the reason she never talked about her life in Atlanta.  But it was still strange that she didn’t sound like him.  They should have sounded alike since they were from the same area.

Pushing aside the question in his mind, he turned when he heard the cabin door open.  Hazel came outside, wearing a hat and covering her nose and mouth with a cloth.  She was still coughing.  Keeping her head low, she walked over to them.

“Oh dear, is she sick?” James asked Al.

“No, but
she did come upon a coughing fit.”

“Hazel, it’s certainly a pleasure to see you doing so well.”

She glanced up and waved at him before she coughed and lowered her head again.

Since Hazel didn’t
say she didn’t recognize him, Al assumed that James really was her cousin.  Otherwise, she would have told him this man was lying.  But she didn’t want to spend any time with him.  That much was obvious.  And that meant James was only pleasant on the surface.

“Maybe this isn’t a good time,” Al finally told James.

“Understandable,” James said.  “I came unannounced.  I did send a letter, of course.  Did you receive it?”

“No.  Nothing came in the post office for us.” That much was true.  Al made it a point to check the mail every time he was in town.

“What a pity.  Now I feel especially bad for catching you both by surprise.  May I come by at a more convenient time?”

Al glanced at Hazel who hesitated but then nodded.  “Sure.  Um…tomorrow at noon?” He studied her to see if that worked for her and she offered another nod.  “Yes, that will work.”

“Tomorrow at noon.” James tipped his hat.  “I look forward to it.  Nice to see you again, dear cousin.”

She waved again and muttered a good-bye before launching into another coughing fit.

Al frowned as he watched James leave.  He turned his gaze back to Hazel who was making a hasty retreat back to the cabin.  Something was wrong.

With a sigh, he went to the cabin and opened the door in time to see
her pouring stew into two bowls.  She wasn’t coughing anymore.  That was suspicious, wasn’t it?

She glanced up at him and offered what he thought was an uncertain smile.  “Are you still hungry?”

“Yes,” he replied, though at this point he didn’t have much of an appetite, even if his stomach was telling him it was time to eat.  “Hazel,” he began as he shut the door and walked over to the table, “should I be wary of James?”

She picked up the bowls and took them to the table.  “Oh, um…I didn’t expect to see him.  If I’d been able to
talk, I would have welcomed him inside.” She cleared her throat and let out an uneasy chuckle.  “I feel so embarrassed.  All that coughing, you know?  It wasn’t very ladylike.”

He debated different things he could say but finally settled for, “Well, he’ll be back tomorrow.”

She hurried to grab the spoons and cups.  “Yes.  I’ll get to talk to him then.” After she sat at the table, she looked up at him.  “Are you going to eat?”

With a nod, he pulled out his chair and sat across from her.  He watched her as she dipped the spoon into her stew.  If he was right, her hand was trembling as she lifted the spoon to her mouth.  He placed his hands on his thighs and leaned forward.  “Hazel, what aren’t you telling me?”

She paused and slowly chewed the contents of the stew before swallowing.  A long moment passed between them before she finally spoke and when she did, he knew she was lying.  “Nothing.  There’s nothing I’m not telling you.” She gestured to his bowl.  “Eat up before it gets cold.”

Realizing he wasn’t going to get her to talk, he decided to go ahead and eat
.  Maybe she’d tell him later.  He needed to give her a chance.  And if she wouldn’t, then he’d have to talk to James tomorrow to find out what was going on.

***

Sadie had to tell Al the truth.  As much as she didn’t want to, she knew she had to.  Because if she didn’t, then Hazel’s cousin would.  Yes, she’d gotten away with covering most of her face and pretending to cough, but that ploy would only work once.  She couldn’t do it again.

After she put Gilbert down for the night, she went out to the barn where Al was checking on the animals.  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  She could do this.  She
had
to do this.  If she didn’t and James exposed her, it’d be much worse.  She stood a better chance of gaining Al’s sympathy if she came to him first and pleaded her case.

She opened her eyes and stepped further into the barn.  Since he hadn’t heard her enter, she cleared her throat to get his attention.

He turned from the horse’s stall and smiled at her.  “Hi there, Hazel.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat.  He didn’t make it a habit of calling her by name, something that made it a lot easier
for her to live here.  Strengthening her resolve, she pressed forward.  “I need to talk to you.”

“Alright.  Give me a moment to feed the horses?”

She nodded and watched as he put hay into the trough between the two stalls.  When he was done, he set the rake aside and walked over to her.

“You want to talk in the cabin?” he asked.

“No.  Gilbert’s asleep and I don’t want to wake him.” In case Al yelled at her.  She clasped her trembling hands.  “I was thinking outside would be best.”

“That’s fine.” He followed her out of the barn.  “Is this about James?”

“Yes,” she slowly began.  “But it’s probably not what you think it is.” It couldn’t be.  There was no way he suspected she was another woman.

“I gathered that the two of you aren’t friends.”

“No, no we aren’t.  In fact,” she took a deep breath, “I hadn’t met him before today.”

H
is eyebrows furrowed.  “You hadn’t?”

Her grip on her hands tightened.  “No.  I…I’m not Hazel McPherson.  I’m Sadie Miller.”

His tender gaze quickly changed to a guarded one so she looked away from him.  She couldn’t bear to make eye contact with him, knowing full well the news came as a very unpleasant surprise.

“Please hear me out before you start yelling at me,” she requested.

She waited for him to respond but he didn’t.  And that left her with no other option but to continue.  Well, she’d come this far.  There was no turning back now.

“
Hazel McPherson died in Omaha, Nebraska.  She was on her way here but had stopped at a restaurant.  That’s where I found her.  She was sick.  She had a fever and was coughing up blood.” Blinking back her tears, she forced herself to continue.  “I asked for a doctor, and a couple of men helped me take her to one.  The doctor said there was nothing that could save her.  He said she had pneumonia.  Anyway, I got a chance to talk to her and she told me to come here to marry you in her place.  She couldn’t marry you, you see.  She died within two hours of me finding her.”

After a minute of silence, he let out a sigh.  “I see.  And you were afraid that if you told me she died, I wouldn’t want to marry you instead?”

She licked her lips.  “No.  I didn’t tell you because I was afraid that if you knew the truth about me, you wouldn’t want to marry me.”

“The truth about you
?”

Noting the tension in his voice, she debated the best way to tell him.  Did she hint at it?  Or did she come right out and say it?  Either way, he was bound to be upset.  “I don’t know what Hazel’s past was like.  She d
idn’t tell me anything about it.  But she knew what I had been through.  She saw firsthand how life was for me.” Even now, it shamed Sadie to know that Hazel had witnessed Jefferson’s treatment of her.  She released her breath.  “Hazel told me to marry you so that I could get a new start.  She wanted things to be better for me.” In a lower voice, she managed, “I was a prostitute at Madame Eleanor’s Brothel.” She dared a peek in his direction.

His jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide.  He moved his mouth a couple
of times but no sound came out until he cleared his throat.  “If James hadn’t shown up, were you ever going to tell me?”

Blinking back more tears, she turned her gaze away from him.  “Why would I tell you something like that?”

“Because it’s the truth.”

“Maybe, but it’s not a pleasant one.”

“I had a right to know.”

“And if you knew, would you have married me?”

He didn’t answer her, and when she dared another look in his direction, she saw the truth on his face.  He wouldn’t have.  Having been a gentleman who saved himself for his wife, the idea of being with a whore would have been too much for him.

Gripping her skirt so she wouldn’t show him how much the realization hurt her, she said, “Then it was in my best interest to keep silent, wasn’t it?  Because if you hadn’t married me, I would have had nowhere to go but back to the brothel in
Omaha.”

He winced.  Well, whether he wanted to hear it or not, that was all she could do.  She had no skills, no means of supporting herself, no one to go to.  She had nothing.  And now that she h
ad finally come to a place she could call home with a husband and child she loved with all her heart, she didn’t even know if she could keep her fairytale life.  Not when she saw firsthand how much her past disgusted him.