Beloved Counterfeit (23 page)

Beyond the hair that had yet to be tamed, she looked like someone else. From the wide sleeves to the waistline that would soon be tucked to fit her, the dress was the height of elegance.

Ruby sighed. She looked like quality. In all her imaginings of what the Lord had done to her heart, she’d sometimes wondered what she would look like on the outside if that were to show through.

Now she knew.

Viola stepped away and gave her an appraising look. “What do you think?”

“It’s. . .it’s. . .” Ruby stopped trying to speak and turned to hug her friend.

“It is, isn’t it?” Viola adjusted the ribbons at the shoulders then turned Ruby around to face the mirror once again. “I think just a nip and a tuck and this will fit you beautifully. It won’t take but a short while to have this dress ready to wear.” She looked down at Ruby’s feet. “Show me what you usually wear to parties and such.”

Heat began to flood Ruby’s cheeks as she looked away. “I’ve not been to a party,” she mumbled. “So my boots are all I have.”

Viola came to stand behind her once more. “Honey,” she said, “don’t cry. Isabelle has the most beautiful kid slippers, and I know she will be happy to pass them on to you.”

“What? No.” She shook her head to emphasize the point. “I couldn’t possibly.”

“Now that she’s in her second confinement, she can no longer wear them, and my feet wouldn’t squeeze into them. Emilie’s either.” Viola began the process of unfastening the back of the dress. “One welcomes babies, but the changes they bring to their mamas are not always expected or pleasant.” She paused to help Ruby step out of the dress then swept it away. “But then, you know that.”

Ruby’s throat caught. Indeed, she’d been the beneficiary of a number of Opal’s things after the twins’ birth. “Yes,” she said based on that alone, “I do know that.”

“You’re still tiny though. Gives me hope that if I ever have a baby of my own, perhaps I will have some chance of keeping my figure.” She paused to look down then back at Ruby. “Such as it is,” she added with a shrug.

Viola flipped the dress inside out and finished her measuring and pinning while Ruby stood quietly, unsure of what to do next. To remove all these ridiculous layers would require help that Viola could not give until she finished whatever calculations she was making.

Finally, the midwife looked up from her work. “Oh, mercy, I’ve left you standing there. You’ve an hour or so before it’s time to start preparing for the ceremony, so why don’t you just relax?”

“
Relax
?” A foreign word with a concept she’d yet to decipher. “But I’ve got work to do,” she protested.

“Not today, you don’t. Nor tomorrow.” She gestured to the rarely used chair. “For two days, you are a lady of leisure courtesy of me, Mrs. Carter, and the Gayarre sisters. Oh, and there’s something else in the bag for you.” Viola grinned. “A gift from your intended.”

“My intended?” Ruby frowned. “I didn’t give him anything. Is that something couples do before exchanging vows?”

“Ruby, I warrant you’ll be gift enough to that man.”

“Gift? Me?” Understanding dawned, and Ruby felt a blush climbing her cheeks. Odd how the thought of her wedding night made her feel so squishy inside. She certainly knew what was expected. And likely nothing new had been invented in the short time since she’d given up her old life.

Still, something about the thought of Micah Tate as her husband had begun to cause a strange sensation to snake down her spine and coil in her belly. At least since this morning.

Her toes curled as she thought of how he’d gently helped her don her soaked stockings. Of how he knelt before her in the surf and pledged to care for her and the girls as long as he lived.

That had certainly been a new promise. None who came before him had ever made that vow. Perhaps that was the source of this emotion she couldn’t quite name.

“Ruby.” Viola pointed to the bag. “Just look inside. The lad who delivered it said I’m to be sure you read the inscription.”

She reached into the bag and pulled out an exquisite leather-bound book. Instantly she recognized the title, though the copy was not the one she’d loaned Micah. This one looked never to have been read.

“Open it and see what he wrote,” Viola urged. “And no, I didn’t read it, though the temptation was strong.”

Ruby held the volume to her chest as she walked toward the window. She found the horizon and scanned it, then opened the book to the first page.

In masculine but neat handwriting were these words:

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

—Proverbs 31:10–12

Beneath the verse, Micah had written,
To my Ruby, in whom I safely trust.

He’d signed and dated the note, and she ran her fingers over the
M
and then the
T
. Before nightfall, she, too, would sign her name as Tate. Ruby Tate.

Again she traced the letters. “Safely trust,” she whispered as she turned her attention to the horizon once more.

Emilie Gayarre burst into the room, and Ruby tore her attention from the water’s edge.

“I’m here to help. Mrs. Carter’s taken over the kitchen. Isabelle brought Joey, and the girls are having a wonderful time with—” She looked from Viola to Ruby then back to Viola. “I didn’t get to see her in the dress.”

“It looks beautiful on her, but it needs a little work,” Viola said as she lifted the dress to show Emilie her marks. “Just a few tucks at the waist, and it should work just fine.”

The fabric swished as Viola climbed onto the bed where Ruby had never once slept and settled the dress in her lap. She looked at the mantel clock and smiled. “A wedding. How wonderful.” Her fingers started to shake, and she dropped the needle.

Emilie retrieved it while Ruby perched on the chair then adjusted her layers of underthings to find something close to a comfortable spot. Strange objects poked her and pulled at her, making Ruby wonder how ladies of quality managed to accomplish anything at all.

A hasty exit seemed the best response.

“I should go and help Mrs. Carter,” Ruby said as she rose and tugged at the strings attaching her to the aggravating bustle. “I’m sure the boarders have more than sent her into fits by now. Some of them can be quit difficult to please.”

“No,” Viola said as she stabbed the needle into the dress then swiped at her eyes. “Please stay. I consider you a friend, Ruby, and there are no secrets between friends.”

The statement stung as Ruby returned to the chair, lugging her wedding gift and a bellyful of guilt at the secrets piled up in her heart. She’d never reveal those to anyone, except perhaps to her husband if he were to allow it. Which he’d made plain he wouldn’t.

Yet she smiled and nodded as if she agreed.

“I’ve not asked, Vi, but I’ll ask you now.” Emilie knelt before Viola, taking both of the midwife’s hands in hers. “What happened?”

Viola took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Quite simply, nothing.” She paused to take a shuddering breath. “And I mean that in all seriousness. Remember when we first arrived on the island? I took one look at Dan Hill and knew he was the man for me. Some months later, he told me he’d felt the same.”

“Of course,” Emilie said as she turned to Ruby. “The three of us arrived together—Isabelle, Vi, and me—and there was some trouble with the ship that left Isabelle injured. Without Dr. Hill and Vi as his nurse, my sister might have died.”

“Oh my,” Ruby said.

“Dan showed me I had an aptitude for medicine that I didn’t know was there,” Viola said. “In all honesty, I only took on the challenge because I was smitten. Had he been some old codger with ear whiskers, I might still be unaware of my calling.”

Viola fell silent then picked up the needle and went back to her work.

Emilie rose and walked to the door to close it. “I’ve an idea what this is about,” she said, “and I fear I’m the cause.”

“You?” Viola looked up sharply. “How so?”

“I encouraged Papa to make the match between you and Andre. I had no idea of my brother’s penchant for angry outbursts. My only explanation is that he must have hid them from me just as Papa did.”

“Oh, Em, no.”

Emilie held up her hand to silence Viola. “I’m of a mind to clear my heart of this, Vi, so let me do it. I thought helping you escape Andre before the wedding was the answer. I figured finding you on the steps of the cathedral was the Lord’s way of showing me He wanted you with us aboard the
Jude
. I never expected Andre to follow.” She looked over at Ruby. “He was my brother.”

Ruby nodded.

“Vi, do you think the shooting was what kept Dr. Hill from making good on his plans to marry you?” When Vi remained silent, Emilie shrugged. “I know time has passed, but I can’t think of any other impediment.” Her eyes widened. “Oh, you don’t think he had a wife somewhere else or maybe some deep hidden secret that finally caught up with him, do you?”

The needle continued its motion even as Viola shook her head. “I don’t know what to think, Em. I suppose I could use the key and see if he left any clues at the clinic.” She glanced over at Ruby. “But that’s something to be done another day. Today we’re celebrating, aren’t we, Ruby?”

She tried to nod but found moving impossible. The story she’d heard troubled her. If someone as nice as Dr. Hill had a deep hidden secret that caused him to disappear, leaving the woman he loved, how much more so would the things she hid affect Micah should they come to light?

“Ruby?” This from Emilie, who looked at her with concern. “Something wrong?”

“Perhaps the new-bride jitters?” Viola offered. “She’s thinking about tonight, I’ll bet.”

“Tonight?” Ruby flushed yet again. “I, well, that is. . .”

“Leave her alone, Vi,” Emilie said. “You’re embarrassing her.”

“All right, then.” Viola returned her attention to the gown, proceeding to add a few more tucks at the waist.

“Have you any hairpins, Ruby?” Emilie asked.

“Only the ones I use to keep my bonnet on.”

“Then we’ll improvise.” Emilie reached up and let her own dark curls loose, pin by pin, until she had a stack of hairpins. Hastily she fashioned a braid and used three of the pins from the pile to fix it in place atop her head. “Now,” she said. “Let’s get to work making you the prettiest bride Fairweather Key has seen since my sister walked down the aisle.”

Ruby bowed her head to allow Emilie to begin combing out her tangles. As she sat thus bowed, she took advantage of the position to offer up a prayer of thanks for the women the Lord had dropped into her life. And for the man who would officially and forever take away the fictitious name O’Shea as well as remove all vestiges of her former life as an O’Connor.

Her prayers were interrupted by a tap on the door. “I’ll handle this,” Viola said as she set the silk aside and opened the door just enough to peer out.

“You can’t come in here, Micah Tate,” Ruby heard the midwife say. “She’s not decent, and you’re not supposed to see her before she steps inside the church.”

Micah. Ruby’s heart slammed against her chest.
He knows.
She swallowed hard and lifted her head, oblivious to Emilie’s protest.

“Emilie,” she said, “I’ve a clean dress in the wardrobe. Might you hand it to me?”

“Ruby, no,” Viola called from the door.

“Listen to her,” Emilie said. “Make him wait.”

Chapter 28

“Ruby,” Viola warned from her spot at the door, “you absolutely cannot walk through this door. It’s just. . .wrong.” She looked to Emilie, who nodded.

“Ruby,” Micah called. “Please.”

His voice held a note of pleading that went beyond the words he spoke. Pleading did not indicate anger, did it? Nor did it mean he’d found her out. No, something else had Micah Tate riled up, and she’d rather know about it sooner than later.

“All right, Micah,” she said, her decision made. “Just give me a minute.” She motioned to Emilie then pointed to the bustle’s knotted ties. “Help me get this thing off so the dress will close.”

With fingers far more used to the underpinnings of the silly underthings, Emilie made short work of the tangled ribbons. As the cage-like contraption fell to the ground, Ruby squared her shoulders and yanked the dress shut, then started fumbling with the buttons.

“Here, let me,” Emilie said.

A glance at the mirror while Emilie worked on the buttons told Ruby she looked half done, what with the topmost portion of her hair piled up in a fancy style and the rest curling in spirals down her back. The effect was that of a woman who couldn’t seem to make up her mind whether to go to the ball or mop the ballroom floor.

“It’s bad luck,” Viola hissed as she closed the door and leaned against it.

“Do we believe in luck, or is that God’s department?” This, shockingly, from Emilie, who came to stand by the midwife. “Perhaps we should let Ruby decide.”

A look passed between the two, and slowly Viola opened the door just enough to stick her head out. “You’ve got nerve coming here like this, Micah,” she said. “If anyone were to—”

“They won’t,” came the gruff response. “I’ve got men stationed on all sides, with Josiah waiting on the stairs. No one’s coming in or out until I give the word.”

“Does Caleb know about this?” Emilie called. “I’m not sure he’d approve of using the militia to facilitate a romantic interlude.”

“Emilie,” he said evenly, “seeing as how Caleb’s recently become a married man, I’m going to guess he’d do just about anything to ‘facilitate a romantic interlude.’ Seems to me you’ve forgotten the lengths he went to just to—”

“All right,” Emilie said, “that’s enough. Just don’t think Vi and I are going far. We’ll be right outside this door.”

“And for the record, I’ll be filing an official report later this afternoon that will term this a field operation for the purpose of gathering information,” Micah added. Ruby could hear the chuckle even through the door. “That’s the way Caleb said I should handle it.”

The pair of women slid outside, and for a moment, Ruby stood alone in her chamber. Then the door opened, and Micah Tate’s silhouette filled the door frame. He moved forward, and a slice of sunlight caught his face.