The Widow's Touch (A Whimsical Select Romance Novella) (8 page)

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You were hurting enough, Jonathon.  I believe
d by my telling you that your father still refused you after I challenged his decision would have only hurt you more.”

“
I wouldn’t have treated you so dastardly after my father’s death had I known.”

“It’s the past, Jonathon.  I harbor no ill will toward
s you, truly.”

“
Nor I against you,” he said.  Jonathon crooked his head to the side and smiled.  “Now that we have put this matter aside, we shall let the community see our friendship as well, and pray they, too, see the goodness inside you.”

“It’s time to go,” Jack called
through the crack of the door.  “The procession is about to begin.”

Exhaling
loudly, she lowered her veil and slid her hands into her black lace gloves. “All right, I’m ready.”

Eloda
, Jack, and Jonathon walked behind her husband’s coffin as it was carried in the transparent, horse-drawn funeral carriage to the Timmons Family Cemetery.  A large crowd followed behind them for the mile march, and many who were in attendance had barely known him.  Eloda supposed more showed up to scrutinize her actions than in paying their respects, as Jonathon and Jack had earlier described.

They reached the cemetery and it
had taken twelve gentlemen to lift her husband from the carriage to his burial ground.  At one point they nearly dropped him and the spectators gasped.

Aside
from the wind that rustled the dresses of the women, silence reigned in the cemetery when Reverend Tilden walked to the casket that sat near the open grave. 

His eulogy was surprisingly brief.  And more to her
astonishment lacked a single insult or accusation in her direction.  She suspected Jonathon had a hand in keeping him in check, which she was thankful.

A nudge to her rib remind
ed her that she needed to show some sign of grief.  Eloda looked at Jack and rolled her eyes in response, but used the handkerchief in her hand and dabbed at invisible tears.  She surmised it wasn’t enough when Jonathon elbowed her from the other side, hard.

As the final
prayer left the minister’s lips, Eloda fell to her knees and laid her body over the top of Peter’s coffin.  Loudly, she moaned, “Peter!  Oh, Peter!” she called out at his casket and caressed her hands affectionately over the smooth curves of his ornately crafted casket.

Eloda heard Jonathon tell a gentleman next to him, “She has been inconsolable since she’s been incarcerated. 
It was then and there she realized that Timmons, her dear loving husband, was truly gone from her life forever.  Rather sad, it is,” he said, woefully.

She wailed again, loud.

“The poor, dear widow,” the man painfully exclaimed.  “I had no idea!”

“Yes, even I could no longer turn my back against her.  She crie
s day and night and prays to God that he will somehow return to her.”

S
he heard the man that Jonathon addressed relay the information to the man next to him, and the next fellow after that, and it wasn’t long before she heard the multitude of people humming with saddened, exaggerated stories of her grief.

Eloda wailed out again
, and one by one, people approached and offered their respects and laid their hands comfortingly on her.  She accomplished her task.  With one last agonizing howl, Eloda fell over in a shammed, dead faint. 

Only seconds passed that the aroma of spice neared and she felt Jack lift her into his
broad, muscular arms.  She overheard a man offer his buckboard carriage wagon to him, and Jack placed her in the seat next to himself.

“Go on and get,” the older gentleman’s voice said.  “Take care of the poor, dear widow.  I’ll fetch the carriage later.”

“The shows over,” she heard Jack chuckle after they rode a short distance.

“How did I do?” she asked
, excitedly, and raised her head from its previously slumped position.

“I think it worked,” he smiled.  “Even the preacher’s wife sh
owed her concern for you.”

“And what of the jurymen?” she asked
.  “Did they take notice too?”

Jack shrugged and looked hesitant
. “They appeared mighty somber and didn’t look overly affected.”

“Well,”
she sighed, “We’ll know for sure in a couple days when the trial begins.  As rumors have caused their hatred for me to begin with, perhaps enough people will find me in better favor and it’ll work in reverse.”

“
Are you ready for the trial?” he asked.

“I believe so.  Jonathon has given his very best on it.  He’s filed
, argued, and disputed each pretrial motion with vigor.  If he can convince the jury that Peter died of natural causes, all should be well.”

Jack slowed the horses until they
completely stopped.  He turned around and looked at her and worry shadowed over his eyes.  “No, are
you
ready for it, Eloda?”

Eloda nodded. “I believe I am.  I just want to have it over with,
Jack” she said woefully. “Even if it comes to them finding me guilty, I just want to put this behind me.”

She supposed she sounded convincing enough when Jack
turned around and steered the horses forward again.  But she wasn’t truthful.  She was deathly afraid for the trial to begin.  Scared of being found guilty and hanged, and afraid that if she was, Jack would forever believe she was a cold blooded murderess.  The latter left her more in a state of sadness than the former.

             
“She is testifying for the prosecution,” Jack informed her.  “Jonathon is busy at court trying to preclude her testimony, but he wanted me to let you know what was happening.”

“Why would she do that?” Eloda asked, shocked.  “I stopped my husband
from raping her and faced a trial for my effort.  I could have been hanged for what I did for her.”

“The prosecution has
called her in and convinced her otherwise,” he bit out and squeezed the bars tightly in his fist.  “They said that they are reconsidering Mister Shultz’s case and it’s their intention to arrest her as a co-conspirator for his death.”

“And if she
changes her testimony about the events of my third husband’s death, they’ll give her amnesty?” Eloda knew that was the prosecution’s underhanded purpose.  The previous three days of trial had gone by uneventful and somewhat hopeful for her, but now all of that had changed.  She shook her head and paced her cell like a caged tiger.   “If she testifies to their lies, it’s all over, Jack,” she muttered, and her voice was full of raw emotion and her body trembled.

Jack unlocked her cell and stepped inside. 
He pulled her into her arms, and despite the effort she made in remaining calm, she fell apart.  Tears flowed down her cheeks, streamed over the crook of his neck, and dampened the tips of his ebony hair and shirt.  She quivered like a frightened child and clung to him, overwhelmed by her sentiments of bleakness and betrayal.  He clasped his hands on either side of her face and drew her lips to his and kissed Eloda hard and long.  Comforting words were whispered onto her lips, and since they came from him, she believed his earnest pleads of preserving hope.  Her pain and fear slowly decreased with each kiss and caress he placed upon her.

He gently pushed her back and stared into her eyes.  There was such purity within his gaze that Eloda felt that any fragment of a blackened soul within her had been whitened and renewed
.

“I’ll never allow them to hang you,” he
promised.  “This isn’t justice; this is a mockery of what I have always upheld as sacred.  I’ll not see you taken by it,” he asserted, and she felt every muscle tense within his body.

“This town will do as they will, Jack.  You’re only one man.  A good one at that, but you’ll not be able to stop them.”  Eloda stroked his cheek
.  She gathered all the strength she could muster and smiled.

They turned when the door opened and Jonathon entered. 
The brutal and disgraceful mob that formed higher numbers as each day passed, shouted their harsh remarks toward Eloda upon him opening the door.  Eloda wondered how much longer it’d be before their hurtful words escalated into violence. 

Jonathon’s d
ark hair was laid unruly on his head and his eyes were shaded as if he hadn’t slept in days.  He removed his coat and his gray suit beneath was disheveled upon his person.

“You look terrible,” Eloda said.  “You
must go home and get some rest, Jonathon.”  Eloda had seen him look that way before, right before he was committed to the state hospital.  The enormity of the trial weighted too heavily on his shoulders and she couldn’t help but worry what impact it may have on the outcome for them both.

“No time for that,”
he said, and Jonathon waved her off with a shaky hand. He walked toward her and handed her a piece of paper.  “This is Ellen’s new statement about the events that happened the night Shultz died.”

“
Other than her account of how I killed him, it’s all lies,” she said after she perused the letter.  “What I testified to eight years ago was exactly what happened.  I walked in on them and he was beating and raping her.  I saw no alternative but to kill him, so I reached for the fire poker and stabbed him.”

Jonathon nodded his head
and the sincerity on his face relayed that he believed her. 

“They have her against the wall, Eloda,”
Jonathon said.  “She married last year and has recently given birth to a child.”

“I know,” Eloda softly whispered.  “I’m sure she is scared.  With the gallows looming
and ready in the courtyard, I am certain she will not deny them any request.”

“What if I go and talk to her,” Jack
offered to Jonathon.  “Do you think it may help?”

“I doubt it,” he said and shook his head.  He turned to Eloda.  “She wanted me to tell you that she is forever in your debt for
saving her that night, but she must stay loyal to her family, and that is by staying alive. She begged for your understanding and forgiveness.”

“Please, let her know I understand.  Tell her I hold no resentment
toward her.  I don’t want her burdened by guilt if they should hang me.  It’s not her fault.”

“We are getting her the hell out of here tonight,” Jack exclaimed to Jonathon.  “We’ll say she escaped.”

“I considered that as well, Jack.”
Jonathon frowned.  “They’re ready for that.  Frank has been shooting his mouth about something going on between the two of you, so they have men watching this place in the event you go soft and let her go.  She steps one foot out of here without just reason, you’ll give them a justified reason to kill her.”

“
And what of the trial?” she asked.  “Do you think it will conclude tomorrow?”

“I don’t suspect Ellen’s testimony will take long.  Not much I can do in her cross examination other than to counter with her previous statement
from your original trial.  After that, we will do our closing statements and it’ll probably go to the jury by evening.”

“And if they choose to hang me?”

“I’ll be honest; this town will not wait for an appeal.”  He closed his eyes.  “I’m sorry, Eloda.”

Eloda gasped and her hand
inadvertently went to her neck.  “Will they hang me tomorrow?” she asked frightened.  Jack embraced her from behind and drew Eloda against him.

“It all depends on the town and their reaction to the verdict,
” he said, and he brushed an unsteady hand through his hair.  “I think we can all agree that in light of Ellen’s testimony, they will not be in favor of an acquittal.”

Eloda breathed in deep and blew out her apprehensions.  She stepped away from Jack and smoothed her hand over her hair.  She faced them both
, and after a few breaths to calm her nerves, she forced a smile.  “Then, I must get my affairs in order.”

“Eloda,” Jack began, but
she raised her hand and stopped his protest.

“As I stated before, I’ll not go out struggling.  You must allow me to do what I need to at this time
, Jack.  I want peace of mind at the end.”

Jack fisted his hands at his sides and she knew
his anger stemmed from his helplessness.  He moved toward his desk, defeated.  Sitting in his chair, he hid his face in his palms for several moments until he rose from his seat and slammed his fists atop his desk.  With great anguish, he cursed the profession he regarded with respect and honor his entire life.    

“I’ll help you with whatever you
need arranged,” he said, quietly.  He looked at her and she saw deep determination that glistened in his eyes before he added, “But I will find a way to get you safely out of here.”

“I will also
try to think of a way we can accomplish that,” Jonathon said as he made his way to the door.  He looked at Jack and Eloda and sighed heavily.  “But don’t put too much stake in thinking it’s going to happen.  It’s an undertaking that will be near to impossible to achieve.”  He looked at Eloda and attempted a consolatory smile but failed miserably.  He opened his mouth but words didn’t form, so Jonathon lowered his head, tipped his hat, and left.