Love Me Again (17 page)

Ian’s eyes narrowed.  “James said you and Cord are courting. Why has he not married you?”

She shut her eyes until her temper was under control. The questions were causing a tremendous headache. She
didn’t understand what he hoped to gain asking about something that did not concern him. “Cord just recently found out about his son, Daniel. We are going to be married today. We are leaving for Raleigh the moment he arrives. I have answered your questions and even divulged more than I wanted too, especially to a complete stranger. Now will you please leave?”

When Abby moved toward the door, intending to open it for them, Ian barricaded her way. “You have proven nothing, lass. Ellie had a small birthmark shaped like a crescent moon on her right thigh. Do you have the same mark?”

Abby paled. This could not be happening. It had to be a coincidence. She could not answer. She stood there looking as if she would faint at any moment. Ian wrapped his strong, powerful hand around both her wrists to restrain her.   

When she realized his intent, Abby panicked and began to kick and scream. “Let me go! Don’t you dare touch me!”

Taylor was off the sofa in an instant charging toward Ian. “Get your filthy hands off her! She is Abigail Henley! She is not your daughter!” James wrapped his arms around Taylor’s shoulders restraining him. No matter how much Taylor struggled, James would not release him.

“Let’s not make this any more difficult than we have too, lass. Raise your gown and let me see if you have the same mark.”

Abby tried to jerk free, but Ian was much too strong. Her futile attempts only caused her panic to grow stronger. She cried as she struggled to get out of Ian’s grasp, “Please let me go. You can’t come into my home and treat me this way!”

Her protests ignored, he lifted her gown to her waist. She could hear Uncle Taylor shouting for Ian to release her, but nothing could sway him. Then the room became deathly quiet and Abby knew they were looking at her birthmark. The same mark described by Ian. Abby gasped in shock when Ian licked his finger and rubbed the dark spot as if he thought it may be fake. He removed his finger only to see the mark was still there. He stared at if for a few seconds as if it would disappear and no longer be there.

He released his hold on her. Furious after being handled so roughly, she pummeled his chest with her tiny fists. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight until all the fight left her.

James released Taylor and he plopped down on the sofa his face revealing his shock. Abby started sobbing and blurted through her tears, “This proves nothing! Birthmarks are very common! I am not Ellie!”

Dismay still showing on his face, Taylor stated calmly. “She is right. Just because she has the same birthmark does not mean she is your daughter. You want her to be your daughter so you are not thinking rationally.” Taylor rubbed his hands over his face. “I know it must be devastating not knowing what happened to your daughter, but there is no way my niece is her. Nothing you say will convince me otherwise.”

A gentle touch to her arm brought her out of the black cloud surrounding her. She looked into dark blue eyes sparkling from excitement. “You are Ellie. I felt the connection the first time I met you. I knew you were my sister. Not because of the color of your hair or the blue of your eyes. Yes, hair as dark and rich as ours is rare, but still proves nothing. Your actions, your movements, you are a McDonald. Ask father, I never felt it with the others. I never accepted them as my sister.”

Abby sniffed loudly as she began to wiggle to get out of Ian’s embrace. With obvious reluctance he released her. Reaching into his pocket, he brought out a handkerchief. She wiped away her tears and asked through her snubs, “What others, James. What do you mean?”

“Young ladies have been showing up on our doorstep claiming to be Ellie for many years, women with russet hair and blue eyes only after money. Do you have any idea how devastated mother and daddy are to find out later they are not Ellie? When I told father I thought you were Ellie, he would not listen. I had to demand he come and see for himself. He thought you were a hoax like the rest.” 

Abby let out a deep breath. “I am not convinced. In fact nothing you say could convince me I am your daughter. You know yourself it could all be coincidental.”

Ian replied adamantly, “Pack your things we are going to Tarboro to see the man you call father. Now you have to prove to me you are not Ellie.”

Abby looked at Ian as if he were crazy. Her blue eyes wide, she exclaimed, “I have a child. I am not going anywhere with you. I answered your questions, now leave. Besides, I am getting married today.”

“I have to have peace, lass. I will not rest until I talk with Jacob Henley. You say he would never kidnap a child, or ask for a ransom. I insist on hearing him swear to God you are Abigail Henley.” She knew Ian
didn’t believe Jacob Henley was her father. The man had already decided she was his daughter. The hair and eyes, so much like his, the birthmark, nothing could sway him now.

“I will bring you back tomorrow and then you can be married. You can come on your own accord or tied and gagged. Either way you are going.”

Abby clenched her fists and screamed in rage. “I will not go!”

Loud laughter vibrated in the room. “See daddy, I told you she is a McDonald. She looks just like you when she is angry.” James took Abby by the hand, and touched his fingers to her face. “Please, Abby. Don’t you want to know for sure yourself? You must have doubts. Talk to Jacob. Ask him if you are Ellie. What will it hurt?”

Pity for Ian and James coursed through her. They had been through so much pain and turmoil. She faced Ian and asked, “If I do this, will you leave me alone? If my father looks you in the eye and tells you I am his daughter, Abigail Henley, will you stop this nonsense?”

Ian put his hand over his heart and replied calmly, “I will never darken your door again.” 

Jumping to his feet, hands on his hips, Taylor snapped, “Abby, you can’t leave with this man. He is mad. Can’t you see it in his eyes?”

Abby crossed the room, stopped mere inches from her uncle, and took his hand. “It is not madness you see in his eyes, it is grief. I have no other choice, Uncle Taylor. I know for a fact Mr. McDonald is wrong. Neither of my parents would do what he has suggested. They would never do something as heinous as kidnapping. We will talk to my father and by the time we return tomorrow he will know I am Abigail Henley.” After she did what he asked, she hoped the man could go on with his life. If she had to prove to him she was not his daughter, then so be it.

Abby faced Ian and squared her shoulders. “I hope you are prepared for more grief, Mr. McDonald. You are not going to like what my father tells you.”   

“There is one more thing, lass.” Abby cringed worried what that one more thing could be. “You have to convince Cord Sutton you left Taylor’s home on your own accord. If he suspects for one moment what transpired here today, he will not hesitate to come after us. You must convince him you were called to Tarboro for something important. I do not want
bloodshed over this, his or mine.”

The man spoke the truth; Cord would come after her. The last thing she wanted was for someone to get hurt. All three men watched as she moved to the desk and sat down. Taking pen and paper in hand, she chewed her bottom lip trying to think of the perfect words. What in the world would she say to Cord to keep him from coming after her? 

Chapter Twelve

Watching out the window of the train, Abby thought she was going to be sick as they left Durham. It was hard to fathom that an hour ago she was to marry Cord, and now here she was with a total stranger who believed he was her father. Just when everything seemed to be going her way, Ian McDonald showed up on her doorstep to ruin her happiness. She turned and stared at him holding Daniel.

Daniel, the traitor, giggled and cooed as Ian bounced him on his knee. Maybe Daniel would spit his breakfast all over the big lout. James kept asking if he could hold him, but the annoying man would not relinquish his hold on her son. Not until Daniel became tired and fussy did Ian hand him over to James.

“He’s so big, takes after his grandfather.”

Teeth clenched in anger, Abby snapped, “He takes after his father. Cord may not be as big as you, but he is a large man.” 

With pride in his eyes, Ian stated, “I can’t wait for your mother, Grace, to see him.”

Almost at her wits end, Abby hissed, “She won’t be seeing him. Daniel is not your grandson and I’m not Ellie!”

Undaunted, Ian replied, “Tell me about your childhood. Was it pleasant?”

The man was incorrigible. The last thing Abby wanted to do was talk to Ian. He had caused so much turmoil and doubt in her mind. She had to tamp down the urge to tell him she hated him for disrupting her life.

With a loud sigh, Abby thought about her parents. “Yes, my life has been pleasant. I have had to work hard on the farm, but idle hands are the devil’s workshop. My parents were madly in love and that loved poured over to us. Even though we barely got by, we had each other. Nick, my brother
, is a great man. He has always protected me. I worry what he will do when you ask my father if I am his daughter.  I don’t think you’ll get a very warm welcome from Nick.”

“Don’t you worry how Jacob will react?”

Abby stiffened her shoulders. She didn’t want to speak too harshly about her father. “No, he is slow to anger. The only time I have seen him angry is when he found out about Cord and me. He said horrid things to me. It was the first time he laid a hand on me in anger.” She touched the palm of her hand to her cheek. “He slapped me. But it was what I deserved. He was so disappointed with my behavior. I was promised to our neighbor Andrew Matthews and I ruined everything my father planned by having a child without benefit of marriage.”

Abby could tell it infuriated Ian to no end that Jacob had slapped her. His demeanor changed quickly. “You were taken advantage of, lass. Cord Sutton has seduced many a woman. The man is a skirt chaser. You were just one of a string of women he has bedded.”

The memory of catching Cord in bed with the whore surfaced, and Abby felt the color leave her face. What if he was still a skirt chaser? 

“I am also responsible. I wasn’t too good at saying no.” Abby wondered just how many women there had been before her. Could she be wrong and the only reason Cord asked her to marry him was because of Daniel? Maybe he did not really love her.

Obviously, Ian didn’t want to discuss Cord because he changed the subject. “Has there ever been a time in your life you felt you didn’t belong?”

Grief replaced her anger when she remembered her father stating, “She is no daughter of mine.” Surely, he
didn’t mean it literally. He was just upset because she had shamed him.   

“What is it, lass? Are you remembering something?”

She tried to smile but it did not reach her eyes. “No, there is nothing. Everything was perfect until my mother died and my father was devastated. I seemed to be the one that caused his anger. Maybe I reminded him of mother.”

“Do you look like Martha did?” By his confident expression, he knew the answer before he asked the question.

“No, I look nothing like either of my parents. My mother said I got my auburn hair and blue eyes from her grandmother.” When he got that I told you so smirk on his face, Abby pointed her finger at him. “But I have the same mannerisms as my mother possessed.” But then Abby remembered Taylor saying he knew of no grandmother with russet hair and blue eyes. More doubts. 

****

The front door of the home she grew up in squeaked loudly when Abby opened it and peered inside. Her first thought was someone needed to take time to oil it.

Jacob and Nick had not yet come in from the fields. A layer of dust covered the furniture and dirty clothes littered the floor. The table and dish pan were full of dirty dishes. Abby had the urge to clean. Anytime she was upset about something, work helped to ease those worries.  

A look of distaste on his face, Ian huffed, “I bet it never looked this way when you lived here.”

“No, it
didn’t.” Thinking this is what her father deserved for threatening to take her baby, Abby smiled. Then she thought of Nick and felt guilty because he had no one to cook for him. Spring planting was the busiest time of the growing season, getting the seeds in the ground. They probably would not come home until dark. Abby rolled up her sleeves, grabbed her old apron off the counter and began to pump water into the dish pan.

“What are you doing, lass?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? This place looks like a pig sty. I’m going to clean.” Abby knew she would need something to occupy her time while she waited for her father and Nick to get home. Thoughts of the questions Ian was going to ask Jacob caused her nothing but misery. Her biggest worry was Nick.

“What do you need me to do, Abby?” His eyes wandered around the room as if he had no idea how to clean. 

Her eyes fixed on James. Under other circumstances they could be great friends. He was so sweet and compassionate, nothing like his father. “Will you sweep the floor?” James grabbed the broom and went to work.

Ian laid Daniel on the bed in the only clean room he could find. Abby entered to find him tucking pillows around the sleeping child to keep him from falling off the bed. It worried her because he was already attached to Daniel and considered him his grandchild. With a look of devotion on his face, Ian gently touched his chunky cheek.

As if he sensed her presence, Ian asked, “I guess this was your room?” He glanced around the room and Abby knew what he was thinking. The room was not up to his standards. He gave it the same look of distaste he gave the dirty kitchen and living room. 

The only furniture, a bed and bureau made the room look stark. Not one of the personal items she left behind was visible. She imagined her father removing everything so there would be no reminders of the pain and humiliation she caused him. “Yes, it was my room.” In her mind she saw it as it was before she left. Neat and clean with a colorful quilt she had made herself draped over the bed. During spring and summer she had kept flowers in a beautiful vase that had been her mother’s. Not one thing of hers remained.

Abby saw the pain in Ian’s eyes as he turned and looked at her. “If you had not been taken from us, you would have had every luxury imaginable. A beautiful home, pretty dresses, love, anything your heart desired. We would have spoiled you rotten. So much was taken from us, lass. We did not get to see your first steps, hear your first word.” Sorrow poured from his voice. “Console you when you cried.”

A tear slipped down Abby’s cheek. “I’m not, Ellie. I feel sympathy for you, Ian, but I’m
not the baby girl that was taken from you.” Unable to withstand the pain she saw in his eyes, Abby strode out of the room. His comments were tearing her up inside.

    Ten minutes later Ian returned to the kitchen, picked up a dish cloth, and began dusting furniture. He looked so big and clumsy holding the cloth. If she was not in such a lousy mood, she would have found the scene hilarious. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad sort after all. In no time the front room was sparkling clean. Abby heard Daniel crying but before she could go to him, Ian disappeared into her old bedroom. 

Curious, Abby slowly opened her father’s bedroom door. Never allowing her to clean his room, it was the first time she had been inside since her mother’s death. Abby gathered the dirty clothes that littered the floor and bed. She wished she had time to wash their clothes before they returned but that would take hours. 

When her mother was still living, Abby would often come in here and play. The room was much nicer and bigger than her and Nick’s bedrooms. Walking through her past, Abby remembered her mother, deathly sick on the brink of death, lying in the lone bed in the room. She watched her mother shrivel and die before her eyes. The day her mother died was her most tragic memory because they had shared a powerful bond. She had been so vibrant and full of life, and then in weeks she was only a shell of herself. Life gave no promises. 

Under the bed she could see the trunk she remembered as a child. Her mother always told her to never open the trunk. It held private papers that were not for the eyes of children. She felt like a thief as she slowly walked toward the trunk. She heaved and pulled until she finally tugged the heavy box of old faded wood to the center of the room.

Crouched on the floor, she wondere
d if she should look through it. Something told her she should. She put her hand on top and thought how she was intruding into her father’s privacy. Before she changed her mind, she popped the latch and gripped the lid. The lid squeaked loudly in the quiet of the room. Her heart pounded in her chest as she peered inside.

A stack of yellowed papers sat on the very top. She fumbled through them only to find the deed for their land and some old letters to her mother from Uncle Taylor. Another stack revealed several old documents, one of them Nick’s birth certificate, and her parents’ marriage certificate. Not finding her birth certificate along with Nick’s, she became uneasy. Gently laying each item to the side after she examined it, she finally made it to the bottom of the trunk. Caref
ully wrapped in yellowed newspaper, Abby uncovered a tiny pink dress with intricate embroidery. She held the dress and admired the quality of the embroidery. With shaky hands, Abby wondered why she had never seen the dress before. Never having the opportunity for anything as frivolous and time consuming as embroidery, she knew her mother didn’t stitch the beautiful designs. There was a knotted ball in her stomach. For a moment she stayed just as she was, sitting on the hard wood floor, eyes fastened on the tiny dress.

****

“What do you mean she is not here? She knew I was coming. We were going to get married today.” Cord had a sick feeling. Did she have second thoughts and desert him? Everything was going so perfect. What could have happened to cause her to leave? Then there was Taylor and Judith’s strange behavior. Every time he asked Judith a question she would not meet his eyes. A purple bruise on Taylor’s left cheek caused even more suspicions.

“What happened to your cheek?”

“I ran into the wall.” Sweat droplets popped out on his brow.

“It looks more like someone put a fist in your face.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Why would someone hit me?” With shaky hands, Taylor pulled Abby’s letter from his pocket. “Abby left you a letter explaining everything.” Snatching the letter away from Taylor, Cord plopped down on the sofa and opened the letter.

My dearest Cord,

I hope you are not too angry with me. I could not in good conscious marry you without first speaking to my father. I hope I can convince him to forgive me. Daniel and I will return tomorrow and we can be married then. I hope you understand and give me this time to spend with father and Nick.

Love, Abby

Furious eyes stared at Taylor. “You let her leave by herself?”

“Of course not, she had an escort.” As if insulted by the questions, Taylor placed his hands on his hips.

“Who went with her?”

In a calm voice, Taylor replied, “Nick went with her. In fact it was his idea. He arrived early this morning and wanted her to make amends with Jacob before she married you.”

Relieved, Cord folded the letter and put it in his pocket. At least Nick was with her. Why would she leave and not tell him. Nothing made sense. Impulsive did not describe Abby. She always thought things through. He had a feeling there was more to her leaving than speaking with her father. He would have to wait until tomorrow to find out why she suddenly packed Daniel up and carted him off to Tarboro. Something was going on, but he feared he would not find any answers from Taylor and Judith. They were both being tight lipped.

****

“Lass, I’ve tried everything and Daniel won’t stop crying. I think you have what he is wanting.” Abby heard Ian, but she was unable to answer. The pink dress with embroidery held her attention.

Slowly, Ian walked toward her causing the old, plank boards to creak under his heavy weight. “James!”

When James entered Jacob’s bedroom, Ian handed him Daniel. “Take him outside and see if you can keep him pacified.” 

James scooped Daniel into his arms. He looked at Abby sitting on the floor as if in a trance.  Concern in his voice, he asked, “What happened, Daddy?”

“I’ll explain later.” With a jerk of his hand, he motioned James from the room. “Leave us alone for a few moments.” 

With the agility of a young man, Ian dropped down on the floor beside Abby. He eased the tiny dress from Abby’s lap, and held it making it look even smaller in his huge hands. Silence lasted for several seconds before he spoke.