Anna: Bride of Alabama (American Mail-Order Bride 22) (9 page)

“We were just talking.”

“And then what?”

She opened her mouth to answer but shut it. What was happening? Why was he so angry? Had she done something wrong? “Why are you doing this?”

He turned to Ronald, who was for some reason, smiling. “I could snap your neck.”

“Go ahead. You have nearly a hundred witnesses. They’ll hang you by the end of the week.” He looked in her direction. “Don’t worry. Someone will be sure to console your new friend.”

Gabriel released his hold on him but it was only so he could hit him. Ronald’s head flew back and hit the wall with a dull thud before he slid to the floor.

Anna gasped, shocked. “Why did you do that?”

He didn’t answer. He grabbed her arm and pulled her through the house, out the front door and yelled for his carriage.

“What is going on?” When he didn’t say anything, instead, searching the street of carriages, she jerked on her arm and pulled away. “Gabriel!”

He turned on her, his face contorted into an angry mask. “You’re just like her.”

“Like who?”

He started pacing down the street before coming back. “I knew I made the right decision by not marrying you. You’re just another pretty face with a mouth full of lies and deceit.”

His words cut like ice, her heart hurting with each barbed comment. He didn’t stop insulting her, his voice lowering to the point each word sounded as if it were dripping with hatred.

She turned on her heel and started down the road, weaving through carriages and buggies and told herself she wouldn’t cry. It didn’t matter her night was ruined or the hem of her new dress was being dragged through dirt and whatever else lay in the road. Gabriel had hurt her with nothing more than a few hate filled words.

She’d walked a good distance from Winter Place when she heard a carriage. Moving to the side of the road, she slowed down so it could pass but it stopped instead.

“Get in.”

She didn’t bother looking. She’d know that voice anywhere. She quickened her steps.

He followed her for another block before he stopped, jumped to the ground and picked up her.

“Let me go.”

“As you wish.” He dropped her into the seat on the carriage and climbed in behind her, grabbing the reins with one hand and holding her so she wouldn’t move with the other.

When they were moving again, she jerked away and scooted as far away from him as she could.

Chapter Ten

She tried three times to speak but when she opened her mouth, all she wanted to do is cry.

The carriage seemed to hit every rut in the road, causing it to bump and jump every few seconds. Gabriel had set the horse to running and he hadn’t slowed him down yet. They’d be lucky if they didn’t end up on the side of the road with the carriage on top of them. She’d be sore come morning that's for sure, but at the moment she found little reason to care. All she wanted to do was get home, lock herself inside her room and not come out again.

They turned off the main road onto the lane leading to the house. It was quiet. Even natures creatures seemed to sense their mood. Thankfully the moon peeked from behind a few clouds enough to see the road. Gabriel hadn’t bothered lighting the lanterns.

He pulled on the horses reins when they neared the pond, the animal coming to a complete stop. He set the foot break, then leaned back and turned to her. She wasn’t ready for this conversation. She climbed out of the carriage and headed up the road before he could say a word.

“Wait,” he yelled. She heard his feet hit the ground. “Don’t walk away from me.”

“Leave me alone, Gabriel.”

“I refuse to go through this again.”

“Through what?” She turned to face him.

“The humiliation of you flirting with that man right under my nose for everyone to see.” He invaded her personal space. “I’ll not let you bring shame to the Montgomery name.”

“Me? You did a pretty good job of that on your own.” She turned and started walking again. When he said her name and she heard the sound of his footsteps falling heavy on the road, she ran, jumping into the grass, the trees and their spindly drapes of moss hiding her in the darkness.

He caught her near the bench, grabbing her arm and turning her around to face him.

“Why would you do that? Why him? Of all the people there, why him?”

“I don’t understand what you’re so upset about, Gabriel.” Her voice caught, her eyes burning with tears. “What have I done to make you so angry at me?”

His free hand cupped the side of her neck and he pulled her close, his head lowering to rest his forehead against her own. “You’re driving me crazy. I can’t do this anymore.”

“Do what?”

He wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged her even closer, his breath warm against her face. “Not have you.”

His mouth covered hers in a hard crush of lips. He forced his tongue inside, took his time tasting her, lingering for long minutes before she pulled away.

“Don’t.” His jaw clenched as she put her hands on his chest and pushed, creating distance between their bodies. “You don’t get to act the way you have tonight then kiss me as if you care.”

“You’d rather I be him?”

“Him who?”

“Ronald Douglas.”

Now she remembered where she’d heard the name. Julia had told it to her. Ronald Douglas was the man her mother ran away with. “I’m not her. I’m not anything like her.”

He snorted. “You sure as hell act like her.”

Anna slapped his face before she even realized what she’d done. He stared at her, stunned, but never moved.

“I don’t want to hear another word from you, Gabriel.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “Stay away from me.”

* * * *

He wasn’t normally a drinking man but tonight, he’d pretend he was.

Gabriel filled his glass again, downed it in one swallow and stared into the cold fireplace.

The room was dark, the only light was what the moon provided as it filtered in through the open double doors. He realized the longer he sat there how thin the walls were. She’d been crying for over an hour.

He’d done a lot of stupid things in his life but this had to rank somewhere in the top three. He wasn’t sure what the most idiotic part of the ordeal was. The fact he’d hit Ronald Douglas for doing no more than talking to Anna? Or for treating her as if she had no more morals than Evelyn did?

Something scraped the floor in the next room. He stared at the hidden door wondering if he should barge in and apologize to her or just wait until morning. The noise grew louder and he stood, wobbled a bit and crossed the room to the wall where the panel was. When something hit it and it moved, the scraping noise stopped.

She’d blocked the door. So much for apologizing tonight.

It was just as well. He’d probably make a mess of it anyway.

He returned to his chair, poured another drink and sipped it while the entire night played on repeat inside his head. He’d thought when they left the house that tonight would be one neither of them would forget but this wasn’t what he had in mind.

If things had gone the way they should have, they’d be sitting outside watching the stars and planning a wedding. Instead, she’d cried until she shut him out and he’d drank himself into a stumbling mess.

Gabriel finished off the bottle and was blissfully numb by the time he realized he could get into her room from the balcony. He stood, staggered and managed to get to the doors without falling.

It took longer than it should have to make it to her door and all he could manage when he got there was to fall to his knees and peek in through the curtains. She was sitting on the bed, her knees drawn into her chest. She looked miserable and it was his fault.

He sat down and leaned against the doors and laid one hand against the glass. He didn’t have the heart to upset her more. Maybe he’d just wait until morning.

* * * *

He was still there in his fancy suit. Anna let the curtain drop, shutting out the sight of Gabriel on the balcony. He was laying against the door. If she were a spiteful person she’d open it and take great satisfaction in watching him fall on his face. Instead, she turned and left the room, using the front stairs so she wouldn’t run into anyone.

She left the house and headed for the pond. She needed time to think without the interference of anyone. She had to make up her own mind and not let anyway sway her decisions.

 As bad as things seemed when the factory burned down, this situation was worse.  She should have told Gabriel no when he asked her to be Julia’s governess. If she had, she’d probably be married by now, maybe even expecting a child of her own.

She sat on the bench when she reached the pond. The day was dreary, the sky full of gray clouds that matched her mood. The wild things that lived in the pond were quiet again. Nothing moved beneath the water to disturb the surface and the insects that were usually present were absent as well. It reminded her of the house that first day she arrived. How she could see the life that was there but it was dull and muted, as if all the joy had been sucked from the rooms.

That had changed since she’d been there. Laughter filled the air and Ruth told her she’d never seen Julia or Gabriel so happy. It was because of her, she’d said. She was the reason the light had returned to Laurel Haven.

That light was once again dim and Anna’s broken heart still hurt. The cruel things Gabriel said had pierce like a dagger and the wound was still raw. She wasn’t sure how she’d get over it, especially if he thought she were as untrustworthy as Evelyn.

She sat at the pond most of the day, only returning to the house when her grumbling stomach demanded it.

There was a somber stillness hanging over every room. Ruth smiled at her as she entered the kitchen but it was forced. Her eyes held a sadness that Anna knew matched her own.

“Are you hungry?”

“Yes. But I don’t want anything.”

“How about some broth. You can drink and trick your head into thinking you’ve had nothing.”

Anna accepted with a nod and watched her prepare the soup from a stock pot on the stove.

She glanced over her shoulder as she worked. “Have you seen him?”

She inhaled a deep breath and released it. “He was leaning against my balcony doors this morning.”

“Drunk as a skunk is what he was.” She rolled her eyes and looked toward the heavens. “He rarely drinks, only when company comes calling, but he took to the bottle last night and didn’t stop until it was empty.” She dished up a bit of the heated broth into a mug. “He’ll be regretting that decision, I’ll tell ya. Franklin is trying to get him cleaned up.” She sat down across from her. “I know its none of my business and tell me if I’m over stepping, but what in the world happened last night?”

Anna clasped the mug between her hands, the heat warming the parts of her she couldn’t seem to warm up. “Ronald Douglas.”

“Oh Lord.” She slapped a palm to the table. “What did he do? Did he start a scene when he saw Gabriel?”

“Not exactly.” She told Ruth the story, leaving out the hateful things Gabriel had said to her. “Francesca introduced us—“

“Oh, I just bet she did. Let me guess, Gabriele was no where to be seen? That conniving woman is pure evil. She’ll get what’s coming to her, just you wait and see.”

Anna didn’t doubt it. She wished she’d be here to see it.

She took a sip of her broth, then another, before thanking Ruth for it. “I’m going to take this to my room. Thanks for the talk.”

“Anytime, Anna.”

She took the back stairs, tip-toeing past Gabriel’s room. Thankfully his door was closed. She wasn’t ready to talk to him yet. She needed time to rebuild that hard exterior she’d formed while living in Lawrence. Looks as if she needed it here too.

Chapter Eleven

He was dying. There was no other excuse for it. Every part of him hurt, his head was pounding as if something were standing behind him with a hammer banging away and his mouth was so dry it hurt.

The light coming in the window wasn’t helping either. It hurt his eyes and rolling over only made his stomach do the same. He’d messed up his clothing at some point and the smell was one he’d never be able to forget.

“Well, look whose alive.”

“What time is it?”

“Don’t you mean what day?”

Gabriel lifted his head and forced one eye open. Franklin was setting the washing tub by the fireplace, his blurry image moving too quick to follow.

He groaned and dozed back off but woke when the sound of water reached his ears. A steady stream of people carried buckets in, dumping it in the tub before he heard the door shut. Someone was still there, Franklin if he had to guess.

Rolling to his back, he groaned. “What day is it?”

“Sunday.”

He squinted at the ceiling. That wasn’t right. “You mean Saturday?”

“No, its Sunday. You were so drunk Friday night, it carried over into Saturday and slept most of the day away.”

Drunk? The memories came back slowly and he felt sick by the time he recalled it all. “Damn.” He tried to sit up and it took three tries before he was able to sit on the side of the bed and not feel as if the contents of his stomach weren’t going to come up.

“Come on, your bath is ready. You’ll feel better once you’re cleaned up.”

It had been a long time since anyone helped him bathe and as much as he hated needing the help now, he would have never made it into that tub without Franklins assistance.

The water was hot and soothed his tired muscles. He leaned his head back on the tub and sighed. “Is she still here?”

“Is who still here?”

He opened on eye. “You know who.”

Franklin picked his discarded cloths up and tucked them under one arm and crossed to the door. “She was last time I saw her, which was this morning at breakfast. If I were you, I’d clean myself up best I could and fix the mess I made.”

Gabriel glanced at the secret panel door on the wall. Was she in there? Would she talk to him if she were?

He bathed as quickly as his pounding head would allow and managed to get out and dress without ending up on his face. Leaving his room, he debated on knocking on her door but ended up taking the stairs to the kitchen instead. Ruth was there as always and she gave him a disapproving look before going back to what she was doing. “How’s your heat?”

“Pounding like a drum.”

“Good. That’ll teach ya to take to the bottle when something doesn’t go your way.” She wiped her hands on a towel and turned to face him. “Can you eat?”

“Probably not.”

“Sit down anyway. I’ll fix you up something for that headache.”

He did as instructed, wincing as he moved too fast. “Where’s Julia?”

“With Anna.”

“She’s still here?”

“Why wouldn’t she be?”

“Don’t pretend to not know.”

“That you’re a stubborn, pig-headed, fool?”

“I know, I know. There’s no excuse for all the terrible things I said to her.”

She turned, her brows lowered as she stared at him. “What do you mean all the terrible things you said to her?”

“I thought you said you knew.”

“I know what happened but she didn’t mention you saying anything I’d have to hurt you for.”

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I’ll not repeat any of it. It shouldn’t have been said to begin with. I’m not sure how I’ll ever make this right. The fact she’s still here gives me hope, though.”

“Who’s here?” Julia asked as she walked into the room.

“Hey love.”

She raised an eyebrow as she looked at him. “You look terrible.”

“I feel even worse.”

She huffed out a breath and crossed her arms over her chest. “I know what you did.”

“Go ahead, let me hear it.”

She was good at lecturing. She’d heard her mother do it enough times she could make you feel like an unruly child. He let her rant, he deserved it after all, and when she was finished, she looked thoroughly spent. Tears were filling her eyes and she looked as heart broken as Anna had the night before.

“Don’t cry. I’ll make it right, I promise.”

She shook her head and sniffled. “You can’t. Not now.”

“Why? Did she say something?”

“No. She’s gone.”

He straightened in his seat. “Gone? Where? When did she leave?”

Julia looked at Ruth, a silent communication going on between them before Ruth sighed and turned away.

“Where is she, Julia?”

“Nathaniel came and got her. They left hours ago.”

“Nathaniel Grant?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

She shrugged her shoulders, then wiped her eyes. “He showed up, asked for her, and she left with him. She didn’t say if she’d be back but they were both smiling when they left. After what you did she’s probably already married him.”

Gabriel didn’t wait to hear any more. He pushed through the back door and took off across the yard to the stable at a run.

It took longer to saddle Cyrus than he liked. His fingers didn’t seem to want to work. His head was pounding, his heart racing and all he could think about was what was Anna doing with Nathaniel?

His brain refused to dismiss the first horrible thought that popped in to it. It would be just like the Grants to pull something.

He finally got the saddle on tight enough it wouldn’t fall off with him on it and stuck his foot into the stirrup. He wasted no time getting Cyrus moving and by the time they reached the road in front of the house, he was at a full run.

The sky was dark, storm clouds lingering overhead and the somber feel in the air didn’t help. He was anxious to see her, to stop whatever the Grants had planned. He just hoped he wasn’t too late.

The rain started falling when he reached the outskirts of town and he was soaked by the time he made it to Winter Place. He jumped from the horse, tying the reins to a bush near the road and pushed his wet hair out of his eyes as he took the walkway up to the house.

He knocked four times before anyone answered. It was Nathaniel. He stepped back, looked him over from head to toe then laughed. “Good Lord, man, what are you doing?”

“Where’s Anna?”

“Why do you want to know?”

He bit his cheek, counted to ten, and said, “Tell her I’m here. Now.”

Nathaniel smiled but there wasn’t any humor in the action. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have guests.”

He shut the door in his face. Gabriel raised his fist and banged on the door until it opened again. “I want to see Anna. Now.”

“Go away or I’ll have you removed from my property.”

“I’m not going anywhere without Anna.” He leaned toward the door and yelled her name. When Nathaniel tried to shut it again, he stuck his foot inside.

Nathaniel called out to someone named Clinton and three men came around the corner. Gabriel braced himself. That headache was about to get brutal.

They hit him with enough force to knock him from the porch. He swung at one of them, connected and was paid back in triplet.

It wasn’t much of a fight. Three on one is hardly fair and had he been in top form, he may have been able to hold his own longer than a few minutes. When they got the best of him, he yelled Anna’s name until the breath was knocked out of him.

* * * *

The rain helped drown out some of Francesca’s voice but not nearly enough. Anna covered a yawn behind her tea cup and tried to look interested.

When Nathaniel Grant had showed up at Laurel Haven with a supper invite from his grandmother, Mabel, she’d wanted to refuse in the worse way. She knew without asking Francesca would be in attendance but with the somber mood at home, she thought it may be a good idea to get out of the house.

Francesca stopped talking and tilted her head. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what, dear?”

“It sounded like someone yelling.”

“Oh, its probably Nathaniel and his friends. You know how they are when they’re playing cards.”

“You’re probably right.”

Francesca went back to her story and Anna looked toward the window. The rain was more interesting than the latest suitor her host had. She’d heard about them all, even Gabriel, if she were to believe that.

She stopped talking again and huffed out a breath. “I must be going daft. I heard it again.” She stood and went to the window and looked out, then gasped. “My goodness.”

Mabel got up and joined her. Her exclamation drew Anna.

When she looked out and saw four men fighting, she watched in fascination until she realized it wasn’t as it seemed. Three of the men were giving the fourth a good pounding. He was tossed back and forth, his voice hoarse as he yelled and when he was turned, she could see his face. “Oh my goodness!”

She ran for the door and out into the rain as he yelled her name. When he hit the ground, her heart was in her throat. “Gabriel.”

He lay on the walkway, rain drenching his battered body. He rolled, spit out blood, and crawled to his knees.

 The men started toward him again before she screamed at them to leave him alone.

She reached his side as the three men turned and walked away. Dropping to her knees in front of him, she grabbed his face with both hands and lifted his head. Blood was pouring from his nose and his eye was red and looked like it was swelling. “Gabriel? What are you doing here?”

“Anna.” He laid his palm against her hand. “I’m so sorry, Anna. I’m so sorry. Don’t marry him.”

“Don’t marry who?”

“Nathaniel.”

She blinked.

He looked up at her, one eye nearly closed. “I love you, Anna. I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you sitting on that train. I know I have a terrible way of showing it, but I don’t want to spend another day without you knowing how much I care about you. How happy you make me. Hate me all you want but don’t marry him. Anybody but him.”

“I could never hate you, Gabriel.”

“And Nathaniel? Are you still going to marry him?”

“Why on earth would I?”

He licked his lip. It was swelling too. “Isn’t that why you’re here?”

“No, Mabel Grant is from my hometown. She wanted to reminisce and invited me to supper. Nathaniel just offered my a ride over here.”

“Then you’re not marrying him?”

“No.”

He smiled, and blew out a breath before laying his forehead against hers. “Is it too late for us?”

“I don’t know. There were a lot of hurtful things said between us.”

“I know and I promise you, if you’ll have me, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”

He placed a soft kiss to her mouth, lingering long enough to cause her heart to pound in her chest. “I want babies,” she said. “Lots of them. I don’t want Julia to grow up and have no one when we’re gone.”

“Does that mean you’ll marry me?”

She smiled. “Yes, Gabriel. I’ll marry you.”