Glorious Angel (16 page)

“That’s a hell of a predicament,” Bradford remarked, shaking his head. “Can’t you make some kind of announcement, setting the matter straight?”

“No matter what I said, there would still be talk. You know that.”

“Well,” Bradford said with a mischievous gleam in his eyes, “I could take Angela to the city with me tomorrow when I leave. One passionate kiss in a public place for everyone to see, that ought to turn the gossip in a different direction. But that wouldn’t be good for my reputation. You see, Father, I’m engaged. And Candise Taylor will make as good a wife as any.”

“But do you love her?”

“No. I’ve looked for love long enough with no luck. I can’t go on looking forever. And if I ever do fall in love, I suppose I could always make the woman my mistress.” He refrained from saying, “Like father, like son.”

“I don’t like it, Bradford.”

Bradford raised a brow. “What? That I would take a mistress, or that I’m marrying Candise Taylor?”

“I had hoped you would marry for love,” Jacob replied sadly. “I didn’t, and I always regretted it.”

Bradford felt the anger of the past churning once again. “Then why did you marry Mother?” he asked bitterly.

“At my father’s insistence,” Jacob answered, his voice heavy with remembrance. “He was a
man who enjoyed manipulating others’ lives, especially mine. At the time, I had no involvements, so I gave in. But you must know your mother’s and my marriage was not an ideal one. It is for that very reason that I have never insisted you marry.”

“And now that I have decided to marry, my choice being one I thought would please you, you’re not really happy about it, are you?”

“If you were happy about it, then so would I be. But you’ve already admitted you don’t love Candise Taylor.”

Bradford sighed. “Other than Crystal, there was one other girl I loved and could have been happy with, but she disappeared from my life without a trace. I’ve given up hope of ever finding her, though I’m still trying.” He rose and began pacing. “But I can’t wait forever.”

“For God’s sake, Bradford, you’re only thirty!”

“Yes, but should I continue to wait to find the right girl, when chances are I may never find her? And Candise is a lovely woman. She’s quiet, shy—we should get along quite well. And who knows, I may grow to love her.”

Just then there was a knock at the door and at Jacob’s answer, Robert Lonsdale came into the room in an agitated state. He didn’t pay any attention to Bradford, who quickly brought a hand up so it half covered his face. Robert directed his attention to Jacob.

“I thought you would like to know, sir, that she
refused me.” Robert paced the room as he spoke.

“What are you talking about, my boy?” Jacob asked, though the answer was obvious.

“Angela! She turned me down. She said she doesn’t love me, that she loves another. I don’t mean to be disrespectful, sir, but it’s you, isn’t it? She’s in love with you, because you’ve been so kind to her.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Robert,” Jacob replied in a patient voice. “Angela is like a daughter to me.”

“Who else could it be but you?”

“Someone she met at school, most likely.”

“Well, no matter who Angela thinks she is in love with, I’m not givin’ up!”

“It would be best if you did, Robert, if Angela isn’t inclined toward you.”

“You’ll forgive me, sir, but I can’t give up so easily,” Robert said emphatically. “I want no other woman but Angela!”

“Does she know how upset you are about this?” Jacob asked with concern.

“Of course not! I couldn’t tell her.”

“Where is Angela now?”

“I left her at Susie Fletcher’s house. Susie invited us to stay over for the night. I was too upset to stay, but Angela accepted. She’ll be back sometime tomorrow afternoon, I imagine. But I tell you now, sir, that I’m going to marry Angela. And I don’t want to hear any more arguments from you, Zachary. We may be the best of friends, but—”

Robert stopped short when Bradford finally turned to face him. At first, Robert’s face lit up with pleasure, but then he scowled darkly and stalked from the room without another word. Bradford smiled, for it seemed his old friend was dealing with pride, rather than genuine dislike.

“I don’t think he hates you, Bradford, or ever did. Robert, like all of your old friends, just couldn’t understand why you joined the Union to fight against them. The war broke many ties—personal ones as well as those of our country. The personal losses may not be reconciled, but the country is better off for it. I think Robert was more embarrassed just now than anything else.”

“I hope you’re right, Father,” Bradford said with a halfhearted smile. “But it looks like our little plan is off now. I’m leaving in the morning, so I won’t get a chance to meet Angela again, or take her with me to the city.”

“Could you stay longer?” Jacob remarked with a hopeful look.

“You have enough strife in this house as it is. I won’t add to it. I’m going to Texas, and looking forward to it. You know our old ranch went to ruin during the war, but it shouldn’t take too long to put it back in order. It should be ready in time for my bride. I’ve left Jim McLaughlin in charge of Maitland business up North, but I’ll still make the decisions if you’re not up to it.”

“Well, if that’s what you want, then what can I say? And yes, I want you to continue handling
things. I don’t want you to get out of touch with the business, for it will all be yours soon enough. I still wish you would stay here a little longer—just a few days, maybe.”

Bradford stood up slowly and clasped his father’s hand. “I would love to stay with you, honestly, but it’s best if I don’t face Zachary at all. And I definitely don’t want to see Crystal. Where are they, anyway?”

“Zachary took Crystal to the city on a shopping spree. That woman dearly loves to spend my money. They probably won’t be back until this evening.”

“I guess I’m lucky I didn’t run into them there this morning. I will come and have dinner with you tonight, Father, and we can talk more this afternoon. But other than that, I’ll stay in my room. I’m sorry it has to be this way.”

Twenty-three

Bradford said good-bye to his father, who tried once again to talk him into staying. But there was nothing that could induce him to stay longer at Golden Oaks, for then a confrontation with Zachary would be inevitable. Frankly, Bradford wasn’t quite sure how he would react if they came face to face. It was best not to find out.

The summer morning was beautiful, the sky bright blue. Bradford strode to the stables.

“I’s all ready to go, Master Brad,” Zeke said, standing beside the carriage.

“I have decided to ride one of the stallions into the city, Zeke,” Bradford replied buoyantly. “You can follow me in with the carriage.”

“Yessuh.”

It felt good to be riding the back of a horse once again. That, and his father’s improved health, put
Bradford in good spirits. As he set out down the long road, Zeke following slowly, Bradford put Golden Oaks and its occupants behind him and began to think of Texas.

A few miles later, Bradford slowed when he saw the single rider approaching him at a fast pace. The rider was still a long way off. He couldn’t quite tell if it was a boy or a girl astride the gray mare because the rider wore long trousers and a white ruffled shirt with billowing sleeves. But soon he saw that the hair was that of a woman, long curls flying wildly in the wind, with the morning sun lighting the brown hair to a rusty red.

With hair like that, Bradford decided, the rider must be a young girl. But as the distance shortened and he could make out the shapely curves, he realized that she was a grown woman. But what on earth was she doing dressed like a man?

She closed the distance between them quickly, and suddenly his face lit up with joy and disbelief. As she rode past him, she looked over at him, then pulled her horse to an abrupt halt, almost throwing herself from the saddle. She turned to look at him over her shoulder and he could see that she was just as stunned as he was. But then suddenly, unbelievably, she dug her heels into her horse and took off.

Bradford gave chase, catching up to her in moments. He grabbed hold of her reins and brought both their mounts to a halt.

“It
is
you!” Bradford cried. “Why didn’t you stop?”

Without waiting for an answer, Bradford jumped down from his horse and pulled her off the gray mare and into his arms. He held her against him, saying nothing more, molding her body to his, remembering the feel of her, remembering the countless nights he’d dreamed of her. He had begun to believe she’d never really existed. But she did, and she was here.

After several moments, he asked quietly, “Did Jim McLaughlin bring you here?”

“W—who?” she stammered.

He did not sense her fear. “My lawyer. I told him that when you were found, he was to bring you to me directly, no matter where I was. It certainly took long enough to find you, Angel.”

Angela realized quickly that he didn’t know why she was here or who she was. Relief made her almost dizzy. But why was he so happy to see her? He had failed to show up that summer to meet her.

“Why did you bother looking for me? You made it clear you had had your fling and wanted nothing more to do with me,” Angela said bitterly.

“What are you talking about?” Bradford was shocked. “You disappeared.”

“I did no such thing. I waited for you for a
week after school let out for summer. But you never came.”

He grabbed her to him again, holding her tightly.

“Christ, Angel, we’ve made one hell of a mess of things. I thought you had run away. When the flowers I sent you were returned, I came back to South Hadley to see what was wrong. I went to your school, but there was no record of Angela Smith.”

“I—”

Oh, God, what could she say?
Of course there was no record of Angela Smith. Angela Smith doesn’t exist
.

“What is it, Angel? Tell me what happened to make us waste so much time apart.”

Zeke approached and halted the carriage beside them before Angela could think of anything to say.

“Missy Angela, what you doin’ dressed like that? What happened to that pretty red dress you was wearin’ yesterday?”

Angela stepped back warily as Bradford looked from her to Zeke, then very slowly, back to her. Understanding registered on his face and his eyes grew lighter and lighter until they seemed to burn straight through her.

Angela panicked. She turned to Zeke quickly, trying to think of something to stop Bradford’s growing anger.

“Someone took a pair of scissors to my dress last night while I was sleeping, Zeke. It was probably one of the Fletchers’ servants, but I didn’t want to stay there any longer to find out. And Susie’s dresses were too small, so her brother Joel let me use his clothes. But don’t say anything about this, Zeke. Jacob would only get upset and—”

“All right, Angela Sherrington!” Bradford’s voice cut through her chatter. “You wait here, Zeke. And
you!
” He dug his fingers into her arm. “
You
come with me!”

Bradford pulled her behind him into the woods beside the road, leaving Zeke staring after them, with consternation showing plainly on his face. When they were well out of sight and hearing, Bradford stopped and jerked her around to face him.

“Why?” Bradford raged. His eyes flamed. “Why the hell did you follow me into Maudie’s that day and then not tell me who you were?”

“You—you didn’t recognize me. You thought I—”

“To hell with what I thought!” he stormed wildly. “What was I supposed to think? You knew who I was all along, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you let me pay for you, make love to you, and take your blessed virginity? Why?”

“Bradford, you’re hurting me.” Angela tried to pull away from him, but he only held her tighter, making her cry out in pain.

“I’ve spent thousands of dollars searching for you, when all the time you were safe in your school. You were there all along, weren’t you? No wonder there were no records of an Angela Smith. Why did you lie to me? Why the hell couldn’t you tell me who you were?”

“Bradford, stop it! You couldn’t possibly understand!” Angela cried, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Then tell me!” he demanded furiously. “You knew I wanted you. I would have given you anything you wanted, but I can see now that my father beat me to it.” He pushed her away from him in disgust. “That’s it, isn’t it? You had your fun with father and son, didn’t you?”

“It wasn’t like that at all!” Angela answered brokenly.

“Damn you, I want the truth! You let me make love to you and I have to know why!”

“I—I can’t tell you.”

“You will tell me! Are you a whore? How many other men have there been since me?”

“No one—oh, God, there has been no one else!” She was sobbing now.

“Then why me?”

“You—you hate me now, Bradford, so I can’t tell you why. I just can’t!”

She twisted free and ran, then stumbled
through the trees until she reached the road. Sobbing uncontrollably now, she mounted her horse and rode off in the direction of Golden Oaks. Dear God, he hated her now, just as she had always feared.