Love Inspired Historical March 2014 Bundle: Winning Over the Wrangler\Wolf Creek Homecoming\A Bride for the Baron\The Guardian's Promise (40 page)

Taking the handkerchief Gabe offered, Libby wiped her eyes and waved them back to their chairs. “Sit please,” she urged. “There's more.”

* * *

Rachel dressed for church, her stomach filling with butterflies at the thought of meeting Gabe's mother for the first time. Facing a woman who had conversed with the child whose existence was proof of your disreputable past was not only nerve-racking, it filled Rachel with renewed shame.

She regarded herself in the mirror, her gaze fixed on the woman who stared back from its silvery depths. She wore a pale lavender dress with a white piqué V-shaped insert trimmed with purple piping. White cuffs and collar similarly trimmed finished the simple tailored dress that she felt befitted her station in town. She looked every bit the country doctor and nothing at all like the woman Libby Granville no doubt thought she was.

How her life had changed since she'd gone to Simon's wagon and discovered her past lying bleeding inside! Until then, her days had been uncomplicated and fulfilling, though perhaps a bit uneventful. She'd seldom shared time with a man and often wondered if anyone would ever come along to town to capture her interest. When the sheriff arrived, she'd gotten her hopes up, but it hadn't taken long for them to realize that there was not one spark of excitement when they were together.

Unlike the way the air fairly crackled when she was with Gabe.

He had only to enter a room and her lonely heart refused to listen to the sensible warnings of her head. She could not fault his behavior. He was everything a woman dreamed of in a man. Attentive. Caring. Helpful. Danny loved him with every fiber of his being, which should have been a consolation but in actuality frightened her for her son.

Gabe said he wasn't going anywhere, but what if his business venture failed and he had to go somewhere else to make a living? What if he found no one in town to love and went to another city to find a bride? What if that wife didn't care for Danny, or was jealous of their relationship? What if this unknown woman refused to live in the same town as the scarlet woman who would be a constant reminder of his past? Gabe might have to move, and Danny...

She shook her head in despair. It was an impossible situation, and she had no idea what to do about it. She'd asked God for His guidance, but He had given her no visible sign of what to do.

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

The words from the sixth chapter of Matthew echoed in her head, derailing the troubling turn of her thoughts. She paused in the act of stabbing the filigreed hatpin through her hat and into her upswept hair, thinking about the real meaning of the familiar passage. It was one she often quoted—sometimes almost flippantly—when day-to-day concerns seemed to be piling up to insurmountable heights.

There
was
no reason to worry about the future, since no one had a guarantee of what the next moment might bring, as Caleb had found out when what should have been the joyous occasion of his daughter's birth was mitigated by his wife's death.

Rachel told herself that she believed the Lord was with her no matter what, but she wondered if her life reflected that belief. Strong-willed and fond of being in control, she found it hard to surrender her will to Him, often trying to solve problems herself without waiting to see what He had in mind.

It all came down to whether or not she believed that God was working His plan in her life, taking her down the road He wanted despite the times she wandered off track or willfully chose to walk away from Him, determined to do it her way. Did she believe He was all-powerful, able to make adjustments to counteract her wrong moves?

If she didn't, she should.

She closed her eyes, a prayer of sorrow and supplication for a greater understanding and a stronger faith filling her mind. When she was finished, she had accepted that no amount of worry would change His plan. The best way to deal with the evils of life was one day at a time.

* * *

As soon as Rachel stepped through the doorway of the church, Gabe took her by the elbow. “I need to talk to you.”

The weariness she saw in his eyes spoke of a sleepless night and suggested he'd learned something about his mother's leaving he hadn't known before, something he was having trouble coming to terms with even twelve hours later.

“Danny, will you please help Pops get settled?” she asked, not wanting little ears to hear whatever it was Gabe needed to tell her. When they'd gone, she looked around at the stream of arrivals.

“It's getting pretty crowded in here,” she whispered, looking around at the knots of people mingling around them. “And since you're so sure you'll be the top bidder for my box lunch, we can talk while we eat.”

Seeing his surprise, she realized that his thoughts were centered on something completely different. “Don't tell me you forgot one of the biggest events of the year?”

“It's been a peculiar couple of days,” he murmured, “and last night was...very enlightening to say the least, but it did fill in a lot of blanks for both me and Caleb.”

“What is it?” she asked sotto voce, intrigued in spite of herself.

Gabe lowered his voice. “Libby didn't have the affair—Lucas did.”

* * *

With her mind still reeling from Gabe's pronouncement, Rachel passed down the aisle and took her seat in the pew next to her father. She'd been there no more than a moment when a soft hum rippled through the gathering, and heads began to turn toward the back of the room.

Despite her reluctance to meet her, Rachel felt a surge of sympathy for Libby Granville. Perhaps more than anyone else, Rachel understood what Libby must be suffering. She recalled her own experience—the thudding heart, trembling hands and nausea that had churned inside her, the same nausea that was no doubt roiling inside Gabe's mother as she made her way toward the pew where her family was seated.

The service passed by in a haze and was over before Rachel knew it. There was a mass exodus as everyone hurried to fetch their boxes or baskets before heading to Jacksons' Grove. Rachel saw to it that Danny and Edward and his chair were settled in the preacher's wagon before driving to the house and collecting her own basket.

There was plenty of time for catching up with friends and neighbors and lots of lemonade and fruit punch to drink during the time it took for everyone to arrive. The air was filled with the shouts and laughter of happy children and the hum of dozens of conversations. At day's end, everyone would go home filled with good food and new memories.

The auction might be a way to pair up the single people, but the boxes made up by the married women fetched good prices, too, since good-natured bidding often broke out between a husband and his brothers or brothers-in-law.

The older women kept the children entertained and provided food for them and those too old to be interested in the bidding, while the adults drifted away to share their meals. The afternoon would be whiled away with games of horseshoes, baseball and tag, while others meandered to the creek or found a quiet spot beneath the shade of a tree and indulged in a nap.

Rachel and Danny were wandering through the crowd, speaking to people she knew while he chatted with his friends. She saw him give a handful of wildflowers to eleven-year-old Bethany Carpenter, Ellie's daughter. He always went out of his way to show her some kindness. She saw a smiling Sheriff Garrett talking to Ellie, and a strained-looking Meg Thomerson, the baby in her arms and little Seth clinging to her skirts. Elton stood next to her, looking surly and already three sheets to the wind. Rachel said a quick prayer that he would not lose control again.

She glanced over to her father's vantage point beneath a large oak from which he had chosen to observe the festivities. It was close enough to the action of the bidding to observe what was happening but far enough away to be out of the throng.

He was smiling with pleasure; problems did not seem to be the insurmountable obstacles for him they did for Rachel.

She was about to turn back to check on Danny when she saw Libby Granville approach Edward's wheelchair. As Rachel watched, Libby smiled at Edward and extended both hands in greeting. Their mutual pleasure was evident, and the faint sounds of their laughter drifted across the meadow, along with the buzz of friendly chatter, squealing children and birdsong.

Rachel watched as Gabe and two strangers joined the pair. The siblings made an attractive trio. Blythe was dressed in a pretty summer frock of rose-hued organdy. With his dark blond hair and golden eyes, Win was as handsome as Gabe, but in an entirely different way. Elegant and self-possessed, he was the epitome of Boston fashion in a pale gray pinstripe suit.

Gabe said something and Rachel saw her father give a shrug and a vague wave. Gabe turned to scan the throng and spied her in the midst of the crowd. His serious expression transformed into the amazing smile that never failed to cause her heart to flutter. Despite the scar that grew fainter every day, he was a gorgeous man and would still be handsome when he was her father's age.

Day by day she was learning that there was more to him than a pretty face and inborn charm. She'd noticed many of them all those years ago, but when he left her, she'd thought he only pretended to have those qualities she'd fallen in love with.

He was kind and generous and blessed with patience and a dry sense of humor that popped up when she least expected it. He truly liked interacting with people, especially women. He paid close attention to their opinions, which she believed was the reason the new line of ladies' clothing he'd added to his inventory was so successful. He'd been blessed beyond most. It just wasn't fair.

“What isn't fair?”

The sound of his voice pulled her from her daydreams. She must have been deep in thought if she hadn't seen him coming. As he stood there smiling down at her as if neither had a care in the world, she suddenly felt nothing like a successful physician who dealt in life and death, and more like a gauche miss just out of the schoolroom. But then, she'd always felt that way around Gabe.

“It's nothing.”

“You didn't look as if it were nothing. You looked...dismayed.”

“Can you blame me with everything that's going on?” she asked, hoping to switch the conversation from one unacceptable topic to another.

“Hey!” He chucked her beneath the chin. “It's not that bad. We all had a very revealing talk last night, and Caleb and I know exactly what happened. My mother said she didn't have an affair.”

“And you believe her?”

“I do. So does Caleb. I'll tell you all about it later. Right now, why don't you come and meet her. I took all the blame for what happened between us, and she was more than happy to let me.”

“You talked to her about us?” Rachel cried in a scandalized whisper.

“I told you I would, and you know it had to be said. There was no way around it.”

She turned her face away. “I imagine she thinks I am some sort of hussy who—”

“She most certainly does not. Now stop trying to see the bad in this and look at the good.”

“What good?” she asked, turning to face him again.

Before he could answer, Danny raced up and grabbed Gabe around the waist. “Dad, can Ben and Caleb go fishing with us when we go?”

“Certainly,” Gabe said, “but it will be later, after we all have our picnic.”

“Okay,” he said, already off and running toward his friends.

Gabe's face wore a smile of complete satisfaction. “There went the good.”

He meant it. He didn't see Danny as a burden or something to be ashamed of. He was truly thrilled about being a father, thrilled to be Danny's father. That much
was
good. In fact, it was wonderful.

He held out his elbow for her to take. “Ready?”

“I suppose we might as well get this over with,” she said crossly, tucking her hand into the crook of his arm.

He laughed at her distinct lack of enthusiasm and gave her hand a pat. “That's the spirit!”

The laughter drew attention to them, though it seemed that they'd attracted a gaggle of gawkers just by standing there.

“Excuse me for not being too keen on the idea, but it's more than a bit humiliating.”

“Don't I know it? Don't forget that it's an experience I was subjected to when I had to face your father. Thankfully he didn't shoot me, and I promise that my mother won't attack you, either.”

Rachel glowered at him.

“She isn't going away any time soon, sweetheart,” he said, smiling that easy smile. “Come on. We'll face the music together.”

She was hardly aware of their progress across the green field with its patches of yellow and purple wildflowers. She was too rattled by his casual use of the endearment.
Sweetheart.

If only I were his sweetheart.

Where had that come from? she thought irritably. It was one thing to vow to be kinder and more forgiving. She could even love him, as long as he didn't suspect how she felt. That would be disastrous, something she had to remind herself of several times a day.

Everyone in the group surrounding her father was laughing, but they turned as one as Rachel and Gabe drew nearer. Expressions ranged from pleasant inquiry to guardedness to thoughtful. Emotions that fit the circumstance, depending on one's perspective, Rachel thought. To her surprise, it was her father who spoke up instead of Gabe.

“Rachel, this is Libby Granville, Gabe's mother—which I'm sure you know,” he added with a cheerful grin. “Libby, this is my daughter, Rachel, Danny's mother.”

Rachel offered her hand and Libby took it in a light grasp. “I'm so pleased to meet you, Rachel. Gabe has told me a lot about you, and you've certainly done a fine job with Danny.”

Rachel wondered if her face blanched at the woman's directness. Clearly Libby Granville was not one to beat around the bush. Having that frankness focused on her, she found, was a bit disconcerting.