Before the Dawn (Truly Yours Digital Editions) (4 page)

He lifted his head and raised his brows.

She continued. “We’ve done you a grave disservice. As a family, we have coddled you, catered to you, and cloistered you. That was an error on our part. We’ve allowed you to become so self-centered as to be harmful to yourself. For that I apologize, and believe me, we will rectify this situation.”

He gripped the arms of the chair, and his back straightened. Every muscle in his face tensed as he bit back a hot protest. If they’d dragged him in here just to chastise him, then he was leaving. He braced his hands on the arms of the chair to rise.

“Sit still. I’m not finished.” His mother’s dagger-like tone froze him. “No longer will you shut yourself away in the study like a coward. I have always enjoyed that room and see no reason why I should be deprived of its use so you can flee from your problems. You will sleep in your bedroom from now on. You will also eat your meals with us in the dining room. I know it makes you uncomfortable, but if you can’t feel safe learning and making mistakes here with the people who love you, you’ll never go out that front door again.”

David flinched at her tone. He had no desire to go out the front door. He only desired to be left alone. Cotton dryness spread through his mouth, and his arm ached anew.

Mother continued, and his stomach clenched. “You will learn to dress yourself properly, to care for your personal hygiene, and to be responsible for yourself. You will learn to face your life as it is now and show some courage. We will procure whatever outside help we need to assist you. Rest assured, we will not leave you alone in this.”

The words David forced out through tight lips tasted like ashes. “You ask too much.”

“You are still a very valued member of this family, and the problem has been we’ve not asked enough of you,” Mother shot back, her words peppering him like buckshot. “We are all agreed on this. Buckford will spend the morning cleaning the study so we may have use of it again. You will stay here and keep Karen company for the time being. Her guest should arrive before too long.”

His face heated, and his teeth ground together. Karen was here? And she’d heard every word of his humiliation at the hands of his family. He swallowed hard and fumed at the high-handed way his family insisted upon running his life. Further proof of his helplessness.

His father and brother stalked out, their footsteps receding and the front door slamming. Mother pressed her hand on his shoulder as she passed. He refused to acknowledge her, and with a sigh, her touch dropped away. Her light footsteps crossed the parlor and receded. Then he was alone with Karen.

“I thought you’d left,” he said, keeping his voice expressionless.

“Your mother invited me to stay as her guest. I accepted.” Her voice cut through him.

He closed his eyes against a wave of love for her, but he forced himself to harden his heart against it. Though he longed for the comfort and assurance of her arms, to hear her say once again that his blindness didn’t matter, he refused to give in to the need. Whatever declarations she might make now would only make her leaving that much more difficult. “You’re expecting a guest? It seems a bit soon to be entertaining, having just broken off our engagement.”

She was quiet for a moment then spoke slowly, as if measuring her words. “If you will recall, I am not responsible for our broken engagement.” Her voice turned away from him.

His nails indented his palms. How he wished he could see her, to look into her eyes once more, to ascertain if she was hurting or if she was relieved the wedding had been cancelled.

A teacup rattled in a saucer. “David, I wish you’d reconsider your decision.”

“No. There will be no reconsidering. Who are you ex-pecting?” He could’ve bitten his tongue for asking.

“Actually, I had need of a lawyer. Sam took a message to town early this morning and brought back word that Mr. Fuller would see me today.”

“A lawyer? What for?”

“I don’t think it would be prudent to discuss this subject with you before speaking to my lawyer.”

The knocker banged on the front door. Deliberate, slow footsteps—Buckford’s—crossed the foyer. The door swung open.

“I have an appointment with Miss Worth, Buckford. Something about filing a lawsuit?” Fuller’s voice boomed, as big and rotund as he.

“This way, sir.”

A gust of chilly air swirled into the room.

“Hello, David. Ah, Karen, my dear.”

David staggered to his feet. “What’s this about a lawsuit?” He turned back toward Karen. “Who’s getting sued?”

“Why,
you
, David. I’m suing you for breach of promise for breaking our engagement.” Her voice hitched, then steadied. “If you will excuse me, I have things to discuss with my lawyer in private.” Her gardenia perfume wafted toward him, contrasted by the steel in her voice.

David stood rooted to the spot as their footsteps faded down the hall. Suing him? Breach of promise? The hammer and anvil in his head pounded out a beat in time with his heart, and weakness crept over him. He groped behind himself to find the chair once more and sank into it.

She wasn’t serious, was she?

FOUR

Karen bit her lip and led Mr. Fuller to the dining room. David’s vulnerability made her want to give in, to assure him she didn’t mean it, that it was all a hoax. He must’ve felt as if everyone had turned their backs on him, but what else could she do? David’s parents thought it would shake him up, and they knew him well. She would go along with it for a while, and they had assured her she could back down any time.

Karen seated herself at the dining room table and poured Mr. Fuller a cup of coffee. She’d always liked him from her days as a clerk in the land office. Those halcyon days when she had been new in town and on the cusp of falling in love with the handsomest man she’d ever met.

“A terrible thing.” The lawyer bent his round frame and hung over the chair for a moment before he dropped onto the needlepoint seat covering with a sigh. “I wish there was something I could do for him.” He opened his case, took out a thick law book, paper and pencil, and tapped the pages into a neat pile. His fussing continued until the papers and the pencil were perfectly aligned and squared up before him. “Let me make sure I have this clear.” He rubbed his side-whiskers and consulted her note. “David has called off the engagement and you’d like to sue him for breach of promise?”

“Actually, I don’t really want to sue him. I just want to get him to change his mind, but I have to look like I am suing him.”

“This isn’t a joke, right?” He regarded her soberly, his small eyes boring into hers. For all his jocularity and bonhomie, Josiah Fuller had a reputation as a shrewd lawyer. “From the moment I file the lawsuit, it will become public record. David will be served with papers and the waiting period will begin. He will have thirty days to reach a settlement out of court or the case will go on the docket to be heard.”

“If he hasn’t changed his mind within thirty days, I will have failed anyway. I’ll withdraw the lawsuit.”

“So you don’t intend to take this to court?”

“No. I just want him to think I will. I’m trying to snap him out of this malaise and get him to realize we belong together. I love him too much to walk away from him, especially now.” She ran the tip of her finger over her lower lip. “Mrs. Mackenzie said if I love David then I should fight for him and let nothing, not even David, deter me. I intend to do just that.”

Warmth flooded Mr. Fuller’s eyes, and his cheeks jiggled as he laughed. “I don’t think David knows what a gem he has in you, Karen.” His whiskers twitched as he cleared his throat and squared up the already square papers before him. He poised the pencil over the pages. “I haven’t handled a breach-of-promise suit before, so I bent the ear of a colleague of mine who has experience in these matters.” He paused to write a line in precise all-uppercase letters, then withdrew another sheaf of papers from his bag. “This is a copy of his latest breach-of-promise lawsuit, which should give us a framework to pattern our document after. Let’s go through this step by step and see what we have.”

For the next hour, Karen answered his questions. He consulted his casebook and papers frequently, pausing to think between questions, probing methodically through her courtship and engagement, filling out page after page with her answers.

At last he sat back and laced his fingers over his vest. “My dear, you have the most compelling case I’ve heard. Much better than any in here.” He nodded toward the casebook. “If David doesn’t change his mind, you would be sure to win in court. Perhaps you can explain to me why you wouldn’t go through with the lawsuit when you’re sure of winning?”

“It’s wrong for one Christian to take another to court.”

“It’s wrong for a young man to promise to marry a girl and then yank all that away, leaving her with nothing.” Fuller closed the papers into a file folder and shut the book. “As for one Christian suing another. . .if they didn’t, I would be out of business. You’d be surprised at how many ‘Christians’ I have for clients.”

“Just because a behavior is prevalent doesn’t make it right.” One of Aunt Hattie’s maxims came out before Karen knew it. What would she tell her aunt about the wedding? A sigh forced itself past the lump in her throat.

“He’s done you a grievous wrong, and you deserve something besides his broken promises. The court will take into account his accident and his blindness, but they’ll also take into account that he’s a member of one of the wealthiest families in Colorado. He promised you that you would be a part of that family, and now he’s withdrawn that promise. No one would blame you for suing.”

Karen shook her head. “That wouldn’t be right. This isn’t about the money. It never has been. I’d marry David if he didn’t have a penny. The lawsuit is just to jar him, to make him realize he’s hurting other people—besides himself—with his actions.”

Josiah stood and patted her shoulder. “I’ll be back this afternoon with the papers. Until then, it would probably be best if you didn’t discuss anything with David.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem.”

❧

David stayed in the parlor until he heard Fuller leave.

Suing him. He never would’ve believed it of his gentle Karen. It just proved he was right to call off the wedding. If she could turn on him so quickly, how long would it have taken her to despise him after they said their vows?

Sinking lower into the chair, he tried to block out Mother’s voice demanding he show some courage, face his life, and stop moping for how it used to be. He’d never considered himself a particularly brave man, but neither did he consider himself a coward. Until now. He’d add it to his list of shortcomings.

He pushed himself upright and probed his way out to the staircase. Holding the banister, he kicked his toe out to measure the steps. Why hadn’t he ever counted them before?

Turning to the left at the top, he brushed the wall, inching forward. His parents’ door first, then the guestroom Karen used, Sam’s door, turn to the right at the end of the hall, straight ahead five steps, his own bedroom door. Relief that he’d made it this far alone trickled through him.

He opened the door and stepped in. Freshness, as if the window had been left open recently, greeted him. The bed sat before him and a little to the left. His hand glided over the smooth comforter. Though no longer able to see the rich dark blue, it surprised him that he could enjoy the texture of the fabric so much. His hand wrapped around the newel post at the foot of the bed, feeling the ridges of the carved walnut, smelling the lemony, beeswax aroma of the polish Sally Ann used.

The light scent made him aware of his own smell. With a wry twist of his lips he turned to find the dresser. With tentative fingers, he searched the drawers, feeling the fabrics, trying to identify what shirt he held. At last his fingers brushed pin-tucked linen. His favorite white shirt. Laying it across the foot of the bed, he turned to select a pair of pants and some socks. Blue, brown, black? He slammed the drawer shut.

Removing his rumpled shirt, he groped his way to the washstand. To his surprise he found the water in the pitcher warmed. Buckford must have known about the family meeting and put his money on Mother to have her way. A wry smile twisted his lips once again.

Through all his ablutions, his mind mulled the pending lawsuit. He’d underestimated Karen’s resolve. But, then again, she had underestimated his.

He managed to cut himself at least twice, but he did get shaved and dressed. Now for some coffee and pain medicine.

He made it to the bottom of the stairs again without mishap. His legs shook, reminding him of all the time he’d spent bedridden over the past month. A yeasty, warm fragrance came from the back of the house, drawing him down the hall to the kitchen. He pressed his hand against the swinging door and eased it aside.

“Mr. Mackenzie.”

“Mrs. Morgan.” David acknowledged the woman who had cooked for the family for several years. “Could I have some coffee, please?” He concentrated so hard on remembering the layout of the kitchen that he made it halfway across the room before he realized he had closed his eyes. A rueful chuckle rose to his throat. He found a chair and sat down at the table.

“I must say, sir, you are looking much better. You’ve taken your sling off. Is your arm healing, then?” She set the coffee down in front of him.