Bluebonnet Bride

  “The one she takes with her everywhere.”

  She nodded. “I did not mention the other dolls that are inside to her because I did not want her to lose them. Let’s go take a look.”

  Holding hands, they tiptoed into the bedroom. Hannah lay in the big bed with the doll clutched in her arms. Elli tugged on the doll, but the little girl muttered and held it more tightly. “We may wake her getting it away.”

  “Let me try.” Nathan sat on the edge of the bed. He slipped his hand into Hannah’s, and she clutched it, releasing one arm from the doll. “Now try.”

  Elli eased the doll from the other arm and grabbed her teddy bear. “This can take its place so she does not wake up.”

  “We’ll be quick.” He slipped his hand away. Hannah stirred, but her eyes didn’t open. He took Elli’s hand, and they tiptoed out.

  Carrying the doll, Elli stepped to the light in the living room. She pulled the top off the doll to reveal another doll, then another and another. When she finally got to the last doll, she opened it and something else fell into her hand.

  When she unrolled the paper that fell out, she immediately recognized her father’s handwriting.

  NINE

  Nathan stared at the paper in her hand. “What is it?”

  Elli never lifted her gaze from the document. She unrolled the paper and began to read it. “It’s a deed to Laine’s property. I do not understand this.” She waved it in the air. “According to this, Laine transferred his property to Papa. Wait, there is something else here.” She studied it. “It is a note from my maid.”

  She looked up, her eyes wide. “Listen, I will translate. ‘Elli, guard this deed. Laine will do anything to get it back. Your father won this in a card game. He wanted to see you taken care of so your father told him he would get it back when he married you. Without that marriage, he has nothing. He killed your father. Do not trust him and find an ally.’ ”

  He absorbed her father’s words. “So you own everything. Your estate and his too.” She didn’t need to be married now. She’d come here out of desperation. What if she changed her mind now that she was wealthy?

  “Everything is yours to do with as you wish. You can even go back to Finland if that’s what you want.”

  The light in her eyes faded. “Is that what you want?”

  He opened his mouth to tell her he wanted nothing more than for them to be a family, but a sound came from the kitchen. “Did you hear that?”

  “Yes,” she whispered. She tucked the papers into her pocket. “Someone is in the kitchen.”

  He seized the fireplace poker. “Grab Hannah and run for the neighbors.” Leaving her in the parlor, he moved into the hall and back toward the kitchen door.

  Nothing moved in the darkness of the room. Moonlight struck the table, and he banged his knee against the big stove, hulking in the shadows. A flurry of movement came to his left, and he swung with the poker over his head. Something crashed into his head from behind, and he dropped to the floor with his vision clouding and his limbs weak. He struggled to stay awake, but the fog rolled in.

  He was going to pass out. A big boot kicked away the poker, then the man tied his hands behind him. Nathan tried to resist, but he couldn’t make his arms obey. The pain in his head was overwhelming.

  Hannah, Elli. He had to regain his clarity of thought and protect them.

  He blinked and shook his head to clear it. His vision began to come back, and he made out the outline of the man he’d chased at the lake.

  There was another figure behind him. A woman? She moved and the moonlight flooded her face. Abby Becker, their next-door neighbor.

  He struggled into a sitting position. “Miss Becker, why would you be part of this?”

  She looked at the floor and didn’t answer. The man with her moved to block Nathan’s view of her. “Leave her out of this. She’s just doing what she’s told.”

  His sister. It was clear she was here reluctantly. She liked Elli and Hannah. Maybe he could appeal to her for help.

  “Watch him.” Her brother stomped toward the door to the parlor.

  Nathan prayed Elli had obeyed his order and had taken Hannah out of the house. But if she’d gone next door, there would be no help there. If she found the house empty, would she come back here or go on down the street?

  He stared up at Abby. “What does your brother want?”

  “The doll, of course.” She shifted from one foot to the other. “Just give it to Roy, and he’ll leave.”

  “How did he even know about the doll?”

  “He saw Elli give it to Hannah. When he came to visit me, he saw Hannah with it.”

  He made a calculated guess that Roy didn’t know about the papers. “Why would he want a child’s doll?”

  She clasped her hands together and glanced at the doorway. Her brother’s voice echoed from the parlor as he roared for Elli to show herself. “A man in Finland says it’s an antique, worth a fortune in his home country.”

  Nathan flexed the rope at his wrists and felt them give. “Another man was looking for it. And turned up dead. Did Roy kill him?”

  She bit her lip and nodded. “It was an accident. My brother and the foreign fellow were quarreling over Mr. Nyland’s failure to find the doll the night you arrived. Roy said it was self-defense. They won’t put him in jail. What would become of me if they did? They wouldn’t . . .”

  “Nyland was strangled. That doesn’t sound like self-defense.”

  She took a step toward him. “Roy has a temper. It gets away with him. But he takes good care of me. And when this is over, he’ll get good money for the doll. He’s promised me . . .”

  “And what about Nyland’s boss? What makes Roy think he’ll be paid for the doll once he figures out Roy killed his man?” The bonds on his wrists loosened a bit more.

  In the other room, Roy was slamming things around. It sounded as though he upended the sofa in his search for Elli. His footsteps went toward the bedrooms. Nathan prayed Elli and Hannah weren’t there. If Elli had run for help, maybe the police were on their way too.

  He gave a final twist of his wrist, and the rope loosened enough to slip one hand free. Abby didn’t have a weapon, so he just had to convince her not to warn her brother. “You’ll be implicated with him, Abby. Or does he plan to kill us all so we won’t tell?”

  “Roy wouldn’t do that.” But her voice lacked conviction.

  His chest squeezed. “He’s planning to kill us, isn’t he? Even a little girl. How can you do what he says? It’s not too late. You can help me overpower him.”

  “He’ll hang.” Tears began to roll down her cheeks. “Father would put me on the streets if I helped convict Roy.” She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

  Nathan sprang to his feet. She dropped her hands. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth. He rushed to cover her mouth with his hand before she could scream.

  “Think first,” he urged. “You’re an accomplice to murder if you help him anymore. You can save Hannah and Elli by your silence. Can I take my hand away?”

  Her eyes stared into his, then she nodded. He removed his hand. “Go home. I’m going to stop your brother.”

  Hannah was a dead weight in Elli’s arms as she stood in the small shed. The strong odor of oil and dust made her nose tickle, and she suppressed a sneeze. She still reeled from seeing her friend standing in the kitchen with the man who had tried to kill her.

  What could she use as a weapon? She eased Hannah onto an old rolled-up rug along one wall, then turned to examine the items in the gardening shed. The clippers looked long and dangerous, but would she have the strength to thrust them into a man? The hoe might work. She picked it up and tested the end. Too dull. Then she spied the shovel. The heavy flat end would serve her well.

  She knelt by the sleeping child. “Keep her safe and sleeping, Lord.” She put the doll back in Hannah’s arms. Maybe that would bring comfort. She disliked leaving her alone, but she had a sense Nathan was in trouble. W
hen she dashed through the yard, she’d seen Abby’s head and the man just beyond. There’d been no sign of her husband.

  She carried the shovel out of the shed and closed the door behind her. The wet grass damped the hem of her robe. When she reached the back of the house, she stood on tiptoe and looked in the window. The kitchen was empty. Where had they all gone? Her pulse fluttered, and she touched the doorknob. It moved under her fingers, and the door opened. She stood on the threshold and listened. Nothing.

  It almost felt as though an invisible wall prevented her from entering. Was it fear or a premonition from God? She held her breath and tried to will her senses to pick up something in the still of the night. Then a burst of violent noise exploded on the other side of the wall. Did it come from her bedroom? She leaped into the kitchen and raced through the door to the hall. A man cursed in the far bedroom. It sounded as though the room was being torn apart.

  Holding the shovel aloft, she sped down the hall and stood in the open doorway. Two figures rolled over and over, first one on top, then the other. She recognized Nathan’s thick brown head of hair and the slim form of her attacker at the lake. They were bound so tightly together she couldn’t bring the shovel down on the man’s head.

  Then the man rolled on top of Nathan. He pinned him down and began to choke him. Lifting the shovel high overhead, she brought it down with all her might on the attacker’s head. He stiffened, then slumped onto Nathan’s chest without a word.

  Gasping, Nathan rolled him off onto the floor, then staggered to his feet. “For a minute, I thought you were going to let him strangle me.” He trussed the man up with rope.

  “I’d never struck anyone with a shovel before.”

  He embraced her, and she heard his heart pounding erratically under her ear. She dropped the shovel, then wrapped both arms around his waist.

  “Where’s Hannah?” he murmured into her hair.

  “In the garden shed. She’s asleep.” She told him about seeing Abby’s head through the window. “I knew I couldn’t go there for help. Where is she?”

  “I talked her into going home. She was afraid of her brother.”

  Elli lifted her head and stared at the inert man on the floor. “That awful man is her brother?”

  Nathan nodded. “Roy Becker. Nyland hired him to get the doll. They had a falling out, and he killed Nyland, thinking to take the doll and sell it to Nyland’s employer.”

  “Laine?” She shuddered as she realized she’d been right. He had sent someone after her.

  His big hand smoothed her hair. “Probably. Abby didn’t know who was behind it all, but that makes sense. He’s the only one who would have known you had it.”

  She stared at Roy. “The police will find out.”

  “I’ll go get Hannah. This guy is out cold. Keep an eye on him. I’ll call for Officer Turley when I’m sure Hannah’s all right.”

  She nodded and stepped back. He’d barely gotten out the door when Becker groaned and rolled to his back. His eyes fluttered open before he lurched to a sitting position with his hands still tied behind his back.

  “What’d you hit me with?” he muttered. He tried and failed to get to his feet.

  “Who sent you after the doll? Do you know?”

  He smirked. “Let me go, and I’ll tell you.”

  She backed away and grabbed the shovel. “I don’t think so. It’s over. You can tell your tale to the police.”

  His smirk faded into a frown, and he slumped back. It was only when Nathan returned with Hannah in his arms that she was able to put down the shovel and let go of her fear. Her husband would make sure she was safe.

  TEN

  On Friday afternoon, the Marshalls’ car had picked them up for dinner at the Driskill Hotel in celebration of Lily and Andrew’s anniversary. Though the mood was gay as they sat around the linen-clad table lit with candles, Elli felt a sense of despondency as she watched Andrew and Lily together. They were so obviously made for each other. Would Nathan ever look at her with an expression like Andrew’s?

  Six tense days had passed since the police had hauled off Roy Becker, and the police told her Laine had been picked up in New York too. Seeing her enemy come to justice should have dispelled her low feelings, but it did not. She’d waited every day for Nathan to give some sign of his feelings. And he’d made no move to take their relationship to a truly married status. The more she saw of his care and steadfast shouldering of responsibility, the more she loved him, yet he’d said nothing.

  She managed to smile and talk through the dinner, but when the party broke up, she was more than ready to gather her wrap and depart. Tonight she would find out whether there was a future here or not. If Nathan couldn’t love her, she had money now. She didn’t have to stay where she was an unloved bride, but the thought of leaving Hannah and him was like a knot in her chest.

  The rest of the group departed, Belle taking Hannah along with her, and Nathan seemed to be taking his time. He had a smile on his face as he took her hand, tentative but exuberant. “We aren’t going home, Elli. We are staying here at the Driskill tonight.”

  “I . . . I don’t have any clothes, Nathan.”

  “Yes, you do. Lily bought a few things for you. They’re in our room.” He held out his hand. “Shall we go explore it? I’ve heard it’s a very fine hotel.”

  She took his hand. Dozens of questions clamored for utterance behind her lips, but she didn’t want to ask them in front of other people. She let him lead her to the elevator and up to the third floor. Her feet sank into the thick carpeting as they walked the length of the hall to the last room on the left.

  “Here we are.” He inserted the key in the door and opened it. For the first time, his smile faltered. “I’d like this to be our honeymoon, Elli. That is, if you’re still willing. You can choose differently now that you’re wealthy. If you have changed your mind, I won’t try to hold you to a promise you made when you thought you had no other options.”

  She considered his words for a minute. Liking was not the same as loving. His expression was grave as he watched her. She could quickly reassure him, but she wanted him to ask her not to go. She wanted him to sweep her into his arms and tell her he couldn’t live without her. Maybe he didn’t feel that way though.

  He shifted from one foot to the other. “I can’t read your expression.”

  “I don’t know what to think, Nathan. First you tell me you’ve arranged a honeymoon, and in the next moment, you tell me I can just leave.”

  He blinked, and his mouth sagged. “That’s not what I said. Even though I love you, I want you to do what’s best for you.”

  It took a moment for his words to register. “What did you say?”

  He frowned. “Which part?”

  She stepped closer and put her hand on his chest. “The part about loving me.”

  His expression cleared. “I love you, Elli. You’re perfect. Giving, considerate of others, wonderful with Hannah. Any man would be honored to have you as a wife.”

  Her elation ebbed. It all sounded so tame, still rather like a business arrangement. Her eyes burned, and she dropped her hand and took a step back. “I see.”

  He caught her arm when she turned to go. “I said that all wrong. I’m not good with words. I dropped out of school when I was fourteen to support Jane, but the little bit of poetry I read came to mind the day I first laid eyes on you. I’ve wanted to tell you, but I thought you might laugh.”

  She turned back to face him. “I would never laugh at you, Nathan.”

  His eyes were dark pools in the dim hall, too much in shadow to really read his expression. He smiled and began to quote it.

  “She walks in beauty, like the night

  Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

  And all that’s best of dark and bright

  Meet in her aspect and her eyes.”

  “Lord Byron,” she said. “I know his works well.”

  “The first moment I saw you, it was all I could do to hid
e my shock. You are so beautiful, you know.” He cupped her face in his hands. “I couldn’t believe the good Lord would send me someone like you. It didn’t take me long to know I would thank him every day of my life. Love is too small a word to describe how I feel about you, Elli. I don’t ever want you to go. Come inside the room tonight and be my true bride.”

  She could hardly breathe as she drank in his words. The words wouldn’t come past the lump in her throat, so all she could do was nod. He lifted her in his arms and carried her across the threshold, just like she’d always dreamed.

  She began to giggle as he kicked the door shut with his boot, then lost his balance. “You’ll kill us both.” She took in the vase of bluebonnets on the table by the bed and gave his neck an extra squeeze.

  He reeled back and they fell onto the bed in a heap. “It’s the only way I’d want to die. Life without you wouldn’t be worth living.”

  His lips met hers, and she knew she’d finally found her center, her heart. Any trials they faced wouldn’t be insurmountable as long as they had each other.

  READING GROUP GUIDE

  1. Given the circumstances, what other options did Elli have other than to flee the country and marry a stranger? What would you have done?

  2. How did the townspeople’s warm welcome at her wedding affect Elli? Is there anyone new to your church or neighborhood that you could welcome and befriend?

  3. Why do you think Elli was able to trust Nathan fairly quickly despite her history?

  4. Do you understand why Abby felt she had no choice but to help Roy?

  5. How did Elli’s and Nathan’s faith impact their decision to enter into an arranged marriage and how they dealt with the challenges they immediately faced?

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