Bride of Second Chances Page 5

  “Anything else?” Jeremy pressed.

  Clearing his throat, he straightened his vest and nodded. “Alright. Yes, there is. I’m her brother. That means I’m the one who has to see to her welfare. That being the case, I can make decisions on her behalf, even important ones.”

  “I won’t marry her to Micah.”

  “You’re not the only preacher around.”

  “I think you’ll be hard pressed to find a preacher who’s willing to force a woman into a marriage she doesn’t want.”

  “Force is such a harsh word.”

  “Then what would you call it?”

  After a moment of staring at the ceiling, her brother said, “Convince. Yes, I’d convince the preacher it’s best for her.”

  Jeremy narrowed his eyes at her brother. “Convince? Exactly what do you mean by that?”

  Jane watched as her brother gave a slight shrug as he made a big show of checking the button on his shirt sleeve. She didn’t like this. It seemed to her that her brother was planning something horrible. She stormed up to him. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I can’t believe you would even strike such a bargain with Micah. I’m your sister, and this is how you treat me?”

  Will glanced at Jeremy before he took her by the elbow and pulled her to the corner of the room. In a whisper, he said, “Tell him to go home. We shouldn’t be having this discussion in front of him.”

  “There is no discussion, Will, because I’m not marrying Micah.” Pointing her finger at him, she hissed, “You better get that through your thick skull before I come after you with a rolling pin.”

  Jeremy strode over to them. “I’ve had enough. Will, you want to see her married so she can be fulfilled, correct?”

  Her brother glanced at her uncertainly before he turned his attention back to Jeremy. “Ah…yes. I don’t think a woman is complete without a man.”

  “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Jane shot back.

  “If you were to use that kind of reasoning,” Jeremy began, “you’d conclude that a man isn’t complete without a woman either. In marriage, the two are united as one, after all.” He looked at Jane. “Do you want to be married?”

  “Of course, I do,” she admitted.

  “Ah ha!” Her brother pointed his finger at her and smiled in triumph. “There you go. See, Preacher? She does want to get married.”

  “Not to Micah!” she snapped.

  “Micah. Some other man.” He shrugged. “What’s the difference?”

  Now it was Jeremy who took her by the elbow and led her to another corner of the room. “Would you consider marrying me?”

  Jane stared at Jeremy for a moment and thought she’d never heard anything more absurd. “You’re Rebecca’s husband.”

  “I was Rebecca’s husband,” he softly reminded her.

  She noted the regret in his tone and all the fight departed from her. “I can’t marry you. Even if Rebecca’s no longer with us, I can’t take her place.”

  “I’m not asking you to take her place. Anyone can see your brother made up his mind. You will end up marrying Micah because your brother will probably tell the preacher you were caught in a compromising situation with him. I believe that is the type of convincing he’ll do.”

  Gasping, she put her hand to her chest and glared at her scheming brother who had a wary look on his face as he watched them. If she was smart, she’d get the rolling pin right now. Before she could head to the kitchen, Jeremy’s quiet voice stopped her.

  “I don’t like what I’m seeing here, Jane. Rebecca was insistent you move out to the parsonage, and now I can see why. There’s only one way I can prevent your brother from going through with his plan and that is to marry you.”

  Jane bit her lower lip and tried to decide the best course of action. Her plan had been to go to Omaha when Edith got settled in and look for a husband. But by the way her brother was determined to marry her off to Micah, it was unlikely she’d make it to Omaha. She considered Jeremy’s offer. She knew it for what it was: a marriage in name only. Jeremy’s heart was reserved for Rebecca and always would be.

  She glanced at her brother and knew she was trapped. From the looks of it, her brother might even haul her off to a preacher tonight. She’d never felt so betrayed by anyone in her entire life, but she realized it all came down to money. Her brother would do anything to get it, and that included selling her.

  With a sigh, she nodded in Jeremy’s direction. “I’m sorry you had to step into this mess, but I’d much rather be with someone I can trust to do right by me than to be stuck with people who won’t. I accept your offer, and I’ll honor the love you have for my sister.”

  So much for the dream she’d once entertained of having a man come into her life and whisk her off her feet. But even if this arrangement didn’t lend itself toward something of a romantic nature, at least it would get her brother and Micah to leave her alone for good. She’d rather commit herself to a convent than spend the rest of her life with Micah.

  Jeremy stepped forward and her brother frowned. “I got good news for you, Will. You no longer have to fret over the fate of your sister. I’ll be marrying her tonight.”

  Her brother’s jaw dropped. “You can’t marry her.”

  “Sure, I can. I asked. She said yes. The only thing that’s missing is a man to marry us, but we’ll resolve that soon enough. Jane, I’ll wait here while you get your things.”

  While her brother stammered on about how he’d already promised her to Micah, she stormed out of the parlor to get her belongings, realizing as she did so that what Susie kept telling her was right. She really didn’t have a pot to piss in. Because her brother saw fit to squander her inheritance, all she had were her clothes, her grooming supplies, and a few tokens from her childhood. And worse yet, all of it fit in her carpet bag. Refusing to give it any more thought, she headed back to the parlor, passing the kitchen as she went.

  Susie ran out into the hallway and stopped her. “You’re leaving now?”

  “Yes.” Jane tried to pass her, but Susie blocked her. “What do you want?”

  “Well, I didn’t think you’d be marrying Micah tonight.”

  “I’m not marrying Micah. I’m marrying Jeremy.”

  Susie’s eyes grew wide. “Why would Jeremy want to do such a strange thing? He still loves Rebecca.”

  “I don’t believe the reason is any of your business. Please move out of my way so I can get out of this horrible house.”

  Jane thought for sure Susie would argue with her since she opened her mouth to speak and had a critical expression on her face, but Jeremy came into the hallway and cleared his throat. Susie glanced between Jeremy and Jane. Satisfied, Jane passed her, glad that she wouldn’t have to live under the same roof with her any more.

  “He’ll never love you the way he loved Rebecca,” Susie muttered under her breath.

  Jane paused and turned to face her. Gripping the handle of her carpet bag, she got within inches of Susie and whispered, “You better hope Will doesn’t sell you or the children next because that quadcycle idea of his is going to put you all out on the street.”

  She knew it was spiteful to say such a thing. Surely, her brother would treat his wife and children better than he treated her, but she couldn’t deny the small sense of triumph she experienced in watching Susie’s worried gaze.

  As she went to the closet by the front door to gather her coat and hat, she caught sight of her bewildered brother who sat in his chair, getting ready to smoke his cigar. She contemplated ignoring him but decided she better speak her mind before her conscience got the best of her and she thought better of it.

  She marched over to him. “If you so much as look in my direction, I’ll slap you.” Before he could reply, she spun on her heel and headed out of the house with Jeremy.

  Chapter Six

  After the marriage certificate was signed, Jeremy walked with Jane to his home. He experienced a slight twinge of guilt as he passed by the
tree where he’d etched his and Rebecca’s names. It was just shy over a year since he married her. He fought the urge to go over to the tree and trace their names, as had become his habit. It didn’t seem right to do such a thing with Jane. Instead, he carried her carpet bag and walked by the tree as if it wasn’t there. Glancing in her direction, he asked, “Will you be alright?”

  Jane shrugged. “I’ll be fine. I never knew my brother had it in him to sink so low, but I’ll be fine.”

  “Was it always that bad with him since your parents died?”

  “No. Things were pretty good for the first couple of months. I think he made some poor financial decisions that made him do things he wouldn’t otherwise do.”

  “That’s still no excuse for trying to marry you to someone you didn’t want to be with.”

  “I’m not excusing that. Every time I think about it, I want to go back over there and slap him. I almost did, you know. The only thing that held me back was that you were there. It’s hard to get violent when a man of God is in the room.”

  Despite the grim situation, he smiled. “You do realize that I’m only human, don’t you?”

  “To be honest, it’s hard to see you as being capable of making mistakes. You’ve been perfect every time I’ve seen you.”

  “I’m not perfect.”

  “I’ll have to take your word for it.”

  At that, he laughed. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously. I can’t think of a single incident where you’ve been anything but perfect. It must come naturally since you’re a preacher.”

  “I suppose since we’re married, you’ll learn that even preachers have their human moments. Rebecca figured that out early on.”

  “If she did, she never told me about it. To her, you could do no wrong.” She gave him a pointed look that had a hint of amusement in it. “You make the rest of us look bad.”

  He shook his head but grinned. “Like I said, you’ll discover soon enough how human I can be.”

  They continued up the path that led to the parsonage, and he opened the door to let her inside. Some things from his time with Rebecca remained in his home. The curtains, the rug she’d made, the embroidery she’d done of animals, the quilt she’d made and set on the couch by the fireplace… All of it spoke of her, and it had given him comfort more often than not because it reminded him that she’d been there, sharing her life with him.

  He pushed back the memories of the first day he’d brought Rebecca home and turned to Jane. “You’ve been here before, so you know where things are.”

  “Yes. I’ll take my things to my room.”

  Remembering he still held her carpet bag, he handed it to her and watched as she went down the hall to her new room—the room that was supposed to be for his and Rebecca’s children. Once again, he thought of the tree and the day he anticipated showing it to their children and grandchildren.

  With a heavy sigh, he glanced around the kitchen and parlor, seeing it the way he did when he brought Rebecca home and she started talking about all the things she wanted to do to decorate it. He had no idea that marrying someone else could bring back the memories with such force.

  Swallowing the lump in his throat, he focused on Jane as she returned. “You unpacked your things already?” he asked, surprised.

  “I didn’t have much,” she replied as she went over to the closet and hung up her coat and hat. “You know, if my brother had any sense at all, he would have waited until after supper to announce his horrible plan.” She headed for the kitchen and lit the kerosene lamp. “I’ll get us both something to eat soon.”

  “Don’t worry about making anything fancy.” Not like he had anything fancy on the shelves to make anyway, but he felt no need to have her think he required a big meal. As she rummaged through the shelves, he shifted from one foot to the other. “Do you mind if I go for a walk? I won’t be longer than a half hour.”

  She glanced at him and shook her head. “I don’t mind. I expect that living with you will be like living with my brother, only you won’t betray me.”

  Saying good-bye, he quietly left the house, thinking it was probably not the best way to start off another marriage, but neither he nor Jane were under the impression that this was like other marriages. She said it herself. Living with him was like living with her brother. And Rebecca had wanted to take Jane away from the situation she was in. If anything, he was fulfilling Rebecca’s final wish, and he thought she might be happy to see that Jane didn’t have to end up with Micah.

  As he walked to the cemetery, he passed the tree and this time, he went to it and traced the names. Funny how such a thing could be a comfort, but he reasoned that it’d become a habit and habits were, in and of themselves, a source of comfort to the one who did them. After he performed his ritual at the tree, he went to the cemetery and found Rebecca’s grave marker which had flowers gently laid near it. He stood there for a moment to inspect the area and pulled out a few weeds before he determined that everything was in order.

  “I know I don’t make it a habit of coming here in the evenings, but something of a family emergency happened,” he began.

  He tucked his hands into the pockets of his pants and thought over how to best explain it. If Rebecca were still alive, the marriage would never have occurred, and it seemed to him that this wasn’t an ideal situation for Jane. She should have been able to marry a man who loved her.

  “Your brother was going to force Jane into a marriage she didn’t want. He wanted her to marry Micah of all people. You know what he’s like. Anyway, I tried to talk Will out of his nonsense, but it was apparent he was going to lie to a preacher about her moral conduct in order to get her married off. I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t take her to my house unless I married her.” He took a deep breath and shrugged. “This doesn’t change anything, Rebecca. I still love you and always will.”

  Even as he said the words, he wondered if she was unhappy with him. Logically, he understood their marriage ended when she died, but it still didn’t seem right that he had another wife.

  “And that’s another thing. It’s not like Jane and I have the kind of marriage we did. She’s staying in the second bedroom, so you see, it’s not the same thing as when we married.”

  No. When he married Rebecca, he wouldn’t have left her alone in the parsonage while she made him something to eat. He rubbed his eyes. What a rough year it’d been, and the worst part was, it wasn’t over. It was only September. Who knew what else would happen before the year was up?

  “I better go back. It wasn’t fair of me to leave her at the parsonage when she hasn’t settled in yet. I don’t think I’m doing anything right anymore. I wish you were still here. Without you, nothing makes sense.”

  Tired, he told her he loved her and headed back for the house. When he got home, he saw that Jane had finished making supper and was setting the table. He took his hat and coat off and hung them up in the closet before he entered the kitchen.

  She looked over at him as she put the silverware on the small table. “Did you have a good walk?”

  He nodded. “I went to visit Rebecca’s grave. Maybe it’s silly, but I thought I should explain everything to her.” Clearing his throat, he added, “I’m sorry I left you.”

  “You asked if I was fine if you went for a walk, and I said yes. There’s nothing to be sorry for. I’m just sorry you had to get dragged into the mess between me and my brother.”

  “That’s not your fault.” He glanced at the table. “Do you need any help?”

  “No. This is easy. I am hoping I can get another roast and cake made for you before the week is up. That’s what you were supposed to eat over at—” she shrugged—“where I used to live.”

  “There’s no need to go to all that effort. I’m a simple man.”

  “A steak and potato man, huh?” she guessed with a smile as she gathered the soup and set it in the middle of the table.

  “Actually, yes. I do like steak and potatoes.”
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  “I’ll make some for you next time I go to the butcher.”

  “Oh, that reminds me.” He took a jar from the shelf and showed it to her. “I used to put money in here for Rebecca to spend. Since she died, I stopped doing it, but now that you’re here, I’ll put it in again. That way, any time you need something, you can get it.”

  “Thank you, Jeremy.”

  Noting the appreciation in her voice, he glanced her way before he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket so he could put some money into the jar. “Don’t tell me your brother didn’t give you money.”

  She collected the plate full of sandwiches and placed it next to the soup. “I had to go through Susie to get anything, and you know how well she and I got along.”

  “If I’d known just how bad it was, I would have taken you out of there sooner.”

  “The plan was for me to move to Omaha once Edith got settled in. By the way my brother was talking, I knew that wasn’t going to happen.”

  After he put the lid back on the jar and placed it on the shelf, he tucked his wallet into his pocket and turned to her. “Even if this marriage wasn’t something either of us planned, it’s nice to have you here. I always thought of you as a friend.”

  “The same is true for me.” She motioned to his chair. “It may not be the meal I had hoped to give you tonight, but it’ll work.”

  “A meal in good company is better than one with unsavory people, no matter what is on the menu.”

  “I won’t argue with you on that.” She sat down and unfolded her napkin which she placed in her lap. Giving him an amused look, she said, “I don’t think it’s possible to eat all the way over there.”

  “No, it’s not.” As strange as it was to sit at this table with someone other than Rebecca, he sat across from her and got ready to eat.

  ***

  The next day after Jane made breakfast, she decided to go visit Edith. Before she left her new home, she stopped by the informal parlor where Jeremy was working on his sermon. She admired the fact that he pressed on with his sermons despite the bad day he’d had last Sunday.