The Wedding Kiss Read online

  Her lips still felt the touch of his, her face still tingled, her shoulders and arms still longed for his hands to restake their territory, but reality had slapped her hard as she stood in the yard, breathless from his kisses, longing for more than she’d ever dreamed she would want.

  Confusion swirled around her as if she’d been caught in the torrent of White River after a storm. This storm had begun in her heart. After falling in love with the man who had shown such strength and dedication toward his wife, Keara now doubted him as much as she doubted herself.

  When had he first felt the desire to caress her? The first time he’d even spoken of his attraction to her appearance had been the day of their wedding. It was the day his sisters had decked her out with all their artistic talents, tightened her corset to near death, and wrapped her hair in a design she’d never before or since had visited on her head.

  He’d spoken to her today as if he saw her as a sparkling crystal, but she knew better. Before too many more days passed, he would realize his mistake. He had been attracted to appearance. Pa had warned her when she was a young teen that men could be dazzled by the sleight of hand a woman could wield to attract them, and when it was too late and the wedding vows had been spoken, they realized the truth.

  Something caught Keara’s eye as she turned a curve in the road. She glanced back toward the house and saw a flash like a mirror from the top of the bluff over White River. She pulled Elijah to a stop and watched for another flash, for movement, but she saw nothing more. It was probably a piece of glass reflecting in the sunlight…maybe even another crystal. This area was filled with them.

  She tapped Elijah’s haunches with the reins and he stepped forward again, plodding along as if he, too, detested the dust that kicked up from his hooves.

  Elam left Britte and Rolfe playing in the orchard and carried Cash in for a nappy change. His baby’s gleeful squeals as Elam tickled his chin drew Susanna down the stairs. Keara had wrapped her arm to hold it tightly against her body so she couldn’t move it and further injure the shoulder, but had first dressed her in another of Gloria’s dresses, this one pale yellow with green piping.

  Braced for a scolding from his sister-in-law, Elam was surprised when she stepped across the kitchen and placed a hand on his shoulder. He recognized the scent—the same lilac and rose perfume Gloria had often worn and that his sisters so loved. The gift they’d given to Keara for her wedding had been lavished on Susanna. But he loved Keara’s spicy aroma.

  “If I could, I’d offer to care for him while you went riding after your wife.”

  “She’s making a trip to Eureka Springs to pick up a mattress.”

  “I hope she’s also purchasing the material I asked her to buy for new dresses.”

  “She might. With Keara, I never know.”

  Susanna held out a handful of photos. “I’ve been looking at these and grieving, as I know you’ve done.”

  He recognized the Kodak photographs, taken in Eureka Springs only three months before Gloria’s death. Her face was alight with joy as she and Elam snuggled Britte and Rolfe close, her belly huge with Cash.

  “Someday I’ll be able to smile again when I look at these,” he told Susanna.

  “But not yet.”

  He shook his head.

  “I heard you laughing with Keara earlier. What happened?”

  “I just enjoy her spirit, her humor.”

  “I knew she was furious with me for pawing through her clothing, but I felt another emotion underlying that anger. Any idea what it was?”

  “I wish I knew.” He took a final look at the photographs then slid them aside and held Cash close. The squirming baby comforted him. His activity was the essence of vitality and life. “I’ve told her in every way I know how this week that I think she’s pretty.”

  “What else have you told her?”

  “That she’s good with children and patients and horses. I admire her. She’s nothing like Gloria, and yet she’s so good for the children, for me, for everyone around her.”

  Susanna sighed, as if she, too, was dumbfounded. “I know she cares for you, Elam. A woman can see these things. She’s endured much taunting and belittling in the past, and it may take time to win her over.” Susanna pressed her lips together then sighed. “I don’t wish to betray her trust, but I hope you understand what I told you earlier. She is worth the additional effort it may take you to draw her out of her past and into a fulfilling future.”

  Before he could reply, the cowbell rang on the front porch, and they turned to see Jael and Kellen, Pen, Delmar, and Brute, with yet other neighbors straggling from the barn lot where they had left their wagons and horses.

  The meeting was about to begin. He only wished Keara were here to take part in their discussion.

  Twenty-Four

  The streets of Eureka Springs were congested with electric streetcars, horses, carriages, and tallyhos that carried visitors from spring to spring inside the city in search of cures. Keara had seen too many of those visitors cured of their diseases to doubt the claims that brought sufferers here.

  She had never taken part in the huge numbers of social activities available for the people that arrived and departed on any of the six train stops during each day. She kept to herself and her own business when she came to town, though it was impossible not to encounter visitors when shopping.

  Her first stop was at Welch Hardware and Furniture on Spring Street, where a muscular man in a fine white uniform loaded the box springs and mattress into the wagon. Elam had already paid for the shipment. When the man went back inside, Keara couldn’t help stepping to the back of the wagon to admire the material of the mattress, the softness of it, the strength of the box springs.

  It was the finest bed she’d ever seen, full-sized, much larger than those the children slept in. She was touched that Elam would give her such a valuable gift.

  She closed her eyes and relived today’s kisses, the feel of his lips on her skin, the touch of his hands, and his tender voice. How she longed to settle for that, to accept what he offered and be happy.

  Why did she suddenly feel the need for more? She loved him. He found her beautiful. She looked nothing like Gloria, but she had been told more than once this week that she was attractive. Even if she couldn’t see it for herself, couldn’t she just accept it?

  And yet, what happened when beauty faded? What happened when she came in from the garden, covered in dirt, hair tumbling askew, smelling of manure? She wanted to be loved as much then as at any other time.

  A tallyho clattered and squeaked past, filled with finely dressed men and women, pulled by pristine white horses. People of fashion and distinction came to this town to flaunt their wealth and power and to purchase health. How they must look down their noses at people like her—a hillbilly.

  She untied Elijah and climbed into the plain, wooden wagon that suddenly looked out of place here amongst the fine carriages and electric streetcars of the city. Elijah pulled his load up the hill to the mercantile two blocks away and stopped when Keara pulled on the reins. The streets were steep here on East Mountain amongst so many finely structured wood, brick, and stone buildings. She silently thanked God for Elam’s act of mercy toward her. How horrible to have been forced to make a living here in this crowded city.

  Though Keara thought she recognized the palomino mare and frilled surrey in front of the store, she hitched her horse to the post and went inside.

  She hadn’t planned to stop here, and she wouldn’t have if not for Susanna. The children didn’t need new clothes and there were plenty of dry goods of every sort at the ranch. But Susanna had begged Keara more than once to purchase cloth for sewing. It would take time before Susanna could easily travel, and she would need to keep her hands busy while she waited or she would go crazy, most likely dragging the rest of the family with her.

  The patterns, bolts of cloth, and sewing supplies were on the far side of the huge store, and Keara headed in that direction. When she
reached them, she stopped, appalled. There were so many choices, so many colors, patterns, laces, and frills. How on earth was she to decide—

  “Hello, Keara.”

  She recognized the feminine voice behind her, and realized she’d been right about the horse and surrey outside. She turned to greet Raylene Harper, whose light brown hair was caught in a bun low at the back of her head, topped by a grass-green bonnet that matched her lace-trimmed dress.

  To Keara’s surprise, the younger woman’s light green eyes held wary friendliness.

  “What on earth are y’all doing out there on the ranch? We haven’t seen hide nor hair of you all week,” Raylene said.

  “Just settling in.”

  “Well, you never came to the Springs much anyway, but it wouldn’t hurt you to get out more, now that you’ve got a little freedom. Buying material for a new dress?”

  “Uh, yes, I was just looking at all the colors.” Raylene’s sudden friendliness made Keara uncomfortable. “I haven’t seen much of you for the past few months.” At one time, when the Harpers lived downriver from the McBride place, Keara and Raylene had visited every few weeks, trading news, sharing an extra catch of fish or garden vegetables. Theirs had never reached the level of closeness Keara shared with Gloria, but Raylene was young and impressionable. Keara had never felt comfortable confiding in her.

  When the Harpers moved closer to town, Raylene made friends with newcomers to Eureka Springs, which seemed to have taken all her time. Plus, Keara’s friendship with Elam had apparently come between the two women.

  Raylene picked up a bolt of dark red satin and held it up to Keara’s face, eyes narrowed. “I’ve learned a few things about fashion this past year. This color looks good on you, but it’s too dark.” She replaced the bolt and picked up a bright yellow.

  “Cynthia Lindstrom does have a certain flair for dressing,” Keara said. “I suppose—”

  “Pffft.” Raylene scowled. “That woman has a flair for lying and back-stabbing, and I was blind to it for too long. That’s what happens when a country girl tries to make friends with new people from the East. She becomes bewitched.”

  Keara couldn’t suppress her surprise at the younger woman’s words. “You and Cynthia are no longer friends?”

  Raylene shook her head. “I wish I’d seen her for what she was months ago, before I confided…a few too many things to her, before I let her influence me in ways unbecoming to a lady. This yellow is pretty with your hair and eyes, but it’ll show dirt too easily.” She replaced the bolt and picked up another. “I made a fool of myself, tagging around after that woman like a puppy, laughing at her cruel jokes, even when they were aimed at me or my friends. This blue and purple print is perfect.”

  Keara examined the material. Raylene had, after all, learned a few things about back-East style from her brief friendship with Cynthia. “I saw you sitting beside her at the wedding.”

  “That was the final day of our friendship.” Raylene set the bolt of cloth on the cutting table. She turned back to Keara and crossed her arms. “If you heard…” She looked down at the floor then across the aisle at the bolts of material. “There were…ugly rumors that…” She sighed.

  “My sisters-in-law made me wear a tight corset to show everyone in the church that I wasn’t in the family way,” Keara said.

  Raylene closed her eyes and her face reddened. “I promise you I wouldn’t’ve ever started a rumor like that.” She opened her eyes and met Keara’s gaze. “I mean, I had a crush on Elam and all, and I made a couple of unbecoming remarks about your poor father—which I’m sorry about now—but I wouldn’t do such a cruel thing as accuse you of…anyway, Cynthia got by with saying a lot of ugly things about a lot of people by implying I was the one telling her all these things, when I wasn’t. All I told her was that I wished Elam would give me a second look, but he probably wouldn’t because I was too young and because…well…you were around him all the time.”

  Something felt set free inside Keara. “So I have Cynthia, and not you, to blame for being forced to wear that awful corset all day?”

  Raylene nodded. “I just kept hoping you wouldn’t hear the rumor. She’s an ugly person with a pretty face and surface charm—that’s what my mama says—which helps her get away with a lot of meanness. She’s still mad at her brother for dragging the family out here from back East last fall.”

  “Carl?”

  “Yes, their father was injured and couldn’t work, and Carl supported the family. He told them that in order to do that, he would have to move here. I have no idea what he does all day. He never goes to an office. He works for the government, but all I’ve ever seen him do is socialize with tourists and entertain dignitaries.”

  “So he doesn’t talk about his work?”

  Raylene stopped, startled, and touched her fingers to her lips, as if she thought she’d said too much. “Not that I’d know anything.”

  And that meant she did. And Keara knew she could get the information out of her young friend. Raylene had a tender heart, and it had become obvious over the years that the girl had a talent for spilling every thought from her lips the minute it entered her head.

  The front of the great room was filled with ten of Elam’s closest neighbors and family members, all of them seeming to chatter at once, when Jael pointed and waved toward the top of the stairs.

  Elam turned to see Susanna standing there, her left arm still bound tightly against her waist, her black hair shining and loose over her shoulders. Penelope and one of the other women gasped.

  “I’m not Gloria.” Susanna’s voice, which was slightly huskier than her sister’s, carried well across the long great room as she started down the stairs. “You’re not seeing a ghost. I’m most likely the reason you’re all here, and Elam tells me I can trust you with my life.” She glanced at Elam.

  He saw the courage it had taken her to reveal herself like this, and he nodded with approval. “This is Dr. Susanna Luther,” he told those who didn’t know. “She’s Gloria’s youngest sister. She was shot in the shoulder by the man we brought you here to talk about, and she has an interesting story to tell.”

  “You’re the reason Timothy Skerit was arrested?” Penelope asked, sounding doubtful.

  “I’m the reason you all are aware of Timothy’s arrest,” Susanna said. “Former US Marshal Driscoll Frey brought Timothy to the Jensen home because the boy needed medical attention, and it was a good excuse to surprise the family and try to find any evidence that I had been here. Keara and Jael and Elam nursed me back to health and remained silent about me at my insistence.”

  “I think we should tell them everything,” Elam said. “From the beginning.”

  Susanna was nodding just as someone knocked on the door. Elam reached for his hunting rifle, and he saw that several others reached for their weapons as well.

  He went to the door and opened it a crack to find a stranger standing there. The man was young, stringy-haired, with wet clothes. He had a steady gaze.

  “I just crossed the river,” the man said. “David sent me. Wanted me to tell you Timothy’s still alive, but that you’ve had a spy watching you from atop the bank across the river.” He pointed to the north, where the river had carved out a tall cliff.

  “Frey?”

  The man nodded. “That little trick of yours? With the shoes? Made it easier to track. Fella circled all the way back around from Seligman. Just before I left, he and his poor prisoner were swimming their horses across river about half a mile east of here.”

  “Sounds as if they’re headed for the McBride place,” Elam said. “Go back and tell David to go even farther east and cross and keep watch on the road. Then find Timothy’s father.”

  “Oh, Thomas Skerit’s riding with David, along with four others. We’ve got us a good crew.”

  Elam smiled and nodded. “Need supplies before you return?”

  “We’re good.” The man nodded and walked away.

  Elam returned to his meeting. />
  Raylene had stacked three bolts of cloth for Keara to decide on and had gathered patterns, lace, and other sewing supplies to go with them. And Keara had gone along with it, more and more convinced that Raylene was telling the truth about the broken friendship with Cynthia. Raylene may have loose lips, but she had never been a liar.

  “I hear there’s a handsome man from Clifty who’s sweet on you,” Keara told Raylene after the young woman had stacked a bolt of apple-red and yellow print on the growing stack.

  Raylene’s green eyes danced with a bit of mischief. “Has he been talking?”

  “Timothy Skerit, right?”

  Raylene grinned and nodded. “You’ve seen him? Isn’t he handsome?”

  “Timothy’s been shot.”

  All light died from Raylene’s eyes. “What? When?”

  “His little brother accidentally shot him when they were hunting. The marshal who arrested him brought him to our house yesterday for me to treat him.”

  The pretty green eyes darkened with dread. “No! Why? Timothy never did—”

  “Timothy’s innocent, but the marshal isn’t.” Keara felt bad for being so blunt, but she needed to get information from Raylene, and she needed it as quickly as she could get it.

  “I’m sorry, Raylene, but we’re trying to find Timothy before anything worse can happen to him.” She didn’t share exactly who “we” meant. “Is there any information you can give me that might help?”

  Raylene paced the length of the row of material, jerked off her bonnet, and fanned her face with it. “I can’t believe this is happening. Timothy told me a few things, but he swore me to secrecy.”

  “Why was that?”

  “Because he was warned that if he told the sheriff what he overheard, bad things would happen to…” She broke off and fanned her bonnet harder. “Oh, Keara, this is madness!”