Brides of Iowa (42 page)

Tessa reached over and squeezed Pearl’s hand. “Please let us do this for you.”

“Do what?”

All three women turned. Hubert climbed the back porch steps.

“Oh Hubert, these ladies want to have a sewing bee for me tomorrow at the church. They’re going to—”

“All Pearl’s clothes got burned up in the fire.”

“We’re going to sew some dresses, skirts, nighties, and under—” Tessa clapped her hand over her mouth and her cheeks glowed bright pink.

Hannah flapped her hands. “She needs everything, so the ladies are going to make a day of it and sew her a new wardrobe.”

Pearl blinked back tears as she watched the reaction on Hubert’s face. The smile that creased his face pulled his mustache into a crescent.

“That’s a fine idea, ladies, and so gracious of you.” Hubert crossed the porch and pulled one of the wicker chairs over next to Pearl’s rocker. “I’d be happy to supply the yard goods.”

Pearl started to protest, but he turned his soft gray eyes on her. The twinkle she saw there was more than she could resist.

“Please?” He wiggled his eyebrows.

She ducked her head so he wouldn’t see her blush. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you!” Her attempt to sound exasperated failed miserably. Hubert’s grin tingled her toes.

The wicker chair squeaked as Hubert lowered himself into it. “I spoke with Doc a few minutes ago, and he tells me you’re doing fine. So why don’t you and Tessa come over to the mercantile and pick out whatever you want.”

Doing fine.
Reality gnawed at her. She had no place to go, and she couldn’t stay with the Vogels forever. If the doctor felt she was well enough to walk to the mercantile, she was well enough to find some place to stay. She couldn’t impose on Tessa and her little family. They had no extra room. She supposed the hotel was her only option, albeit an expensive one. Her savings was small and wouldn’t pay for a hotel room for very long without a means of income.

“Pearl?”

She snapped her attention back to the conversation. “You all are so generous. How is a body to say thank you?”

Hubert picked up her hand and drew it to his lips, placing a chaste kiss on her fingers. “Then I’ll be expecting you and Tessa this afternoon.”

Pearl’s heart fluttered, and she tucked the moment away in her memory to enjoy later.

Hubert cleared his throat. “I have something else I’d like to discuss with you, but I must beg the indulgence of these lovely ladies.” He sent Tessa and Hannah an apologetic look. In unison, the pair rose and excused themselves, knowing smiles on both their faces.

As soon as they were alone on the porch, Hubert’s expression turned serious. “I’ve done plenty of talking in the past few days, telling you those things I felt God prompting me to share with you.” He ran his thumb up and down the underside of her fingers and fidgeted in his chair, causing a symphony of squeaks from the wicker.

She lifted her free hand and touched one side of Hubert’s peppery beard. She knew this man as well as anyone could know another person, and everything about him stirred her. She held her breath as she waited for him to say what was on his mind. Surely he must be able to hear her pounding heart.

“The past several weeks have been sorely painful for me. When you broke our engagement, I didn’t understand. I was so sure that you loved me.” A wince flickered over his features. “I now know that Everett had something to do with your decision, and that he has since asked your forgiveness.”

Pearl lowered her eyes for a moment. The events of the past week had changed everything, including the way she viewed Hubert and Everett’s relationship. Did it even matter why she broke the engagement? Yes, Hubert had been completely honest with her. It was time for her to reciprocate. She owed him that much.

“Hubert, first of all, I want to say that my reasons for ending the engagement have changed. But I still think I should explain.”

He gave a slight nod but didn’t interrupt.

“When Everett came to see me at the boardinghouse several weeks ago, he told me that reconciliation between the two of you would be impossible if we married. I couldn’t do that to you. I couldn’t come between you and Everett knowing how important your son is to you.” Her throat tightened, and she swallowed several times trying to keep the tears at bay. “But the morning of the fire he came and apologized and told me he was wrong. He wanted your happiness and he said if marrying me made you happy, then he’d give his blessing.”

Hubert’s fingers squeezed hers, and she couldn’t stop a tear from meandering down her cheek. Hubert gently wiped it away.

He pulled in a slow, measured breath. “When I was searching for you through the smoke, I was afraid I’d lost you forever. All I wanted was one more opportunity to tell you that I love you, and I don’t want to live a single day without you. I never want us to be separated again this side of heaven.” Still holding her hand, he slipped from the chair to one knee in front of her. “Will you, once more, agree to be my bride?”

Unchecked tears filled her eyes and overflowed. Oh, how she loved this man.

Pearl clung to Hubert’s hand as they sat at Everett’s bedside telling him of their renewed plans to marry. The sight of the young man’s bandages made her cringe, especially since he’d suffered the burns rescuing her and Hubert. There were no words to thank him for what he’d done.

“And so, son…” Hubert paused to glance at her, and the look he gave her made her catch her breath. He returned his gaze to Everett. “We’ve decided to postpone the wedding until you are able to be there with us. It’s what we both want.”

A shadow of a smile touched Everett’s face, and he lifted his left hand toward his father who clasped it. “I’m pleased…that you’re going to be happy.” He looked at Pearl with genuine contrition in his eyes. “I hope you can forgive me.”

She caught a glimpse of Hubert in Everett’s features. He was part of the man she loved. “Of course, Everett. I’m praying for your recovery.”

He frowned a bit, and she thought perhaps he was in pain. “The boardinghouse?”

Hubert shook his head. “It’s a total loss. Pearl and I talked a little while ago. Since I moved into my house last year, the living quarters above the mercantile are empty. Pearl is going to stay there for a few weeks until the wedding.”

Everett nodded his affirmation and a blush warmed Pearl’s face. She dipped her head…
. until the wedding.
Her pulse picked up speed, and she silently chided herself.
Mercy sakes, folks are going to think we’re behaving like a couple of moonstruck youngsters.

“Hubert, I think we should let Everett rest now.” They rose and told Everett they’d return to visit with him later.

Once they stepped back out onto the back porch, Hubert tucked Pearl’s arm in his and tugged her toward the steps. “Let’s go for a walk.”

She hesitated. “Shouldn’t we ask Doc first?”

“Why? He’s not invited.” Hubert’s mustache twitched with amusement.

She flapped her hand at him and made a clucking sound with her tongue. “Hubert! You’re incorrigible.”

The smile that stretched across his face made the years fall away. He caught her hand as they strolled through the doctor’s backyard, past the edge of town, across an expanse of meadow, toward a grove of willow trees that lined the meandering creek.

“Let’s sit for a while.” Hubert steered her to the creek bank. “I don’t want you to get tired out.”

A sweet memory tickled Pearl’s mind. “Should I have brought a picnic? The last time we came to this place, we had a picnic.” But it wasn’t the picnic that made the recollection so sweet.

With his hand supporting her elbow, Hubert helped her sit on a thick bed of grass. He bent to pluck some of the daisies and cornflowers scattered along the creek’s edge, adding a few sprigs of purple clover. He handed her the flowers and sat beside her, reaching out to touch the side of her face. She sighed and pressed her cheek into the warmth of his hand.

“My Pearl.” His tender eyes searched her face. “God is so good to give me another chance to be the kind of husband He wants me to be.” His steady gaze fixed on her eyes and a tremble danced through her. “In a few weeks, as soon as Everett is better, we’ll take our vows before our friends and neighbors at the church. But I wanted to give you and God a holy promise today, that I pledge my whole heart to our marriage. I offer my covenant to you that, with God’s help, I’ll seek His wisdom and leading for us, and I will love you with everything within me until my last breath.”

With that pronouncement, he inclined his head toward hers and placed the gentlest of kisses on her lips.

N
ervous?”

Pearl glanced at her groom and caught the wink he sent her. “Mercy sakes, no. Why should I be nervous?”

Hubert chuckled. “Most brides are.”

She couldn’t seem to stop smiling, and her eyes locked on to his. “But we aren’t like most brides and grooms, are we?”

Hubert appeared to contemplate her question. “I don’t suppose we are. We have a few extra years and some strands of silver hair, but that doesn’t change how much we love each other.”

“Nor does it change the way God has blessed us.”

Pastor Witherspoon would call for the wedding to start in a matter of minutes, but Pearl wanted to capture this moment and etch it into her memory where nothing and no one could steal it. Their friends milled around, lingering after the Sunday morning service to witness the nuptials. Happy anticipation of the celebration to follow buzzed through the congregation, but Pearl blocked out everything but Hubert.

She leaned close to his ear. “I’m so grateful God gave us another chance.”

Hubert’s smile stole her breath. “I’m grateful you said yes.”

“All right now, folks.” Pastor Witherspoon beckoned to the congregation. “Let’s take our places. Hubert, you and Pearl stand right here.”

Pearl smoothed the bodice of the soft blue brocade dress the ladies had helped her sew for her wedding. Tessa handed her a bouquet of black-eyed Susans and purple coneflowers and stepped over to stand on Pearl’s left side. Everett, bandages still binding one hand and arm and swathing one side of his face and neck, stood to the right of Hubert.

The pastor cleared his throat. “We almost didn’t get to see this wedding happen. If it hadn’t been for Everett here and the way God used him, Hubert and Pearl might not have been here for this day. So we first want to lift our praise and thanks to God for allowing this union to take place.”

Hubert squeezed her hand, and she caught a glimpse of Everett from the corner of her eye. He was smiling.

Pastor Witherspoon continued. “So friends, we are gathered here in the presence of God and this company to witness the joining of this man and this woman in holy matrimony.”

The words of the traditional vows as the pastor spoke them and Hubert echoed them fell sweetly on Pearl’s heart. When it came time for her to repeat her promise to love, honor, cherish, and obey, the precious vows spilled from her lips without any prompting.

Hubert took her left hand and slid a gold band onto her fourth finger. The pastor was speaking, but Pearl’s senses were fixed on the gift God had given her, the man standing before her, holding her hand. Their love, forged and strengthened by God, had been tried, refined, and revealed by fire and had emerged as pure gold.

“You may kiss your bride now, Hubert.” The pastor’s words broke through her consciousness.

Her groom cupped her face gently in his hands. Pearl’s eyes closed, a prayer of gratitude forming in her heart as a benediction on their first kiss as husband and wife.

Scars of
M
ERCY

To Suze:
Thanks for being there when I needed you.

E
verett Behr shot a scowl of self-loathing at his reflection in the hand mirror. If it weren’t for having to shave, he might well refuse to own a mirror. With cautious, deliberate strokes, he drew the razor around the scars along his jawline on the right side of his face. He’d hoped a thick crop of whiskers would hide the scars. He couldn’t abide the stares, however sympathetic. They only served to remind him that the price of his arrogance would be forever branded across his face. Much to his frustration, his beard grew in patches, refusing to sprout in the scarred areas he most wanted to hide. The fragments of whiskers popping out in an irregular, crazy quilt pattern surrounded the scars instead of covering them, as if framing the ugliness for display.

He wiped the last of the shaving soap from his face just as the bell on the little church at the end of the street began calling the people of Willow Creek to worship. Everett didn’t hurry. Attending church services meant doing so on his terms. Accepting his scars was one thing, and he wanted to know more about the God who’d allowed them. He just didn’t relish mingling with people before or after the service.

He turned the mirror glass-side down on the washstand and released an involuntary huff. With practiced fingers, he tied his cravat and combed his hair—grateful he could perform those duties by feel rather than by sight.