Romance: Mail Order Bride "The Ideal Bride" Clean Christian Western Historical Romance (Western Mail Order Bride Short Shorties Series) (202 page)

Chapter Six

“Elizabeth?”

Her breaths were short and sharp as she turned in the sheets. She remembered the cold and Hillary running from the house with her coat on her back.

“I had to find her,” she muttered. “Couldn’t leave the twins behind.”

“I know. Charlie can’t help but tell the truth.”

“Such a sweet little boy,” she said. “And Sarah.”

But the twins started to fade from her mind as she remembered Hillary starting to fall over the edge of the cliff.

“I went after her,” Elizabeth said. “She was going to fall.”

“You stopped that,” the voice soothed. “Stay calm.”

A soft kiss made its way to the top of her head, and Elizabeth drifted toward the lips and felt a warm arm working its way around her shoulder. She curled into the tender touch and started to feel safe when the image of Hillary losing her footing consumed her mind.

“No!” she screamed, reaching for something that she could not see, and she crawled to the edge of the bed and saw the floor boards looming long and large when the hold behind the kind voice pushed her back into the pillows.

“Easy,” he soothed. “I have you. I’m not going away.”

Blinking hard and fast, Elizabeth registered Jacob’s stubbled visage. When had he come back? The last thing she could remember was the sight of him taking off in search of her replacement. Was she already in the other room?

“Jacob, I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“It’s the other way around, Elizabeth. But don’t try to talk right now.”

Obeying his order as he brought the blankets over her body, she settled back in the sheets and basked in the warmth. Had he built a fire? Elizabeth could smell the smoke and hear the branches crackling as another blanket made its way over her body. She peered up to see him looking down at her, and she tried to touch his face when he held her hand.

“You gave me quite a scare,” he whispered.

She managed a slight
sorry
as lightly kissed her cheek.

“I was falling,” she said. “How did I get back here?”

Jacob pushed a few locks of her hair behind her ears and started to kiss her skin again when he darted back and hung his head.

“I held your hand.”

The feel of his hand in that moment, so strong and warm, suggested that he could do anything that he set his mind to. But as her head started to clear, she remembered his fight and the moments when he had flown from her side.

“But you came back,” she said. “Why?”

Jacob tensed under her hold, and Elizabeth tightened her grasp as she stretched up to find his lips and stopped short of a kiss.

“I didn’t like leaving things the way we did,” he said. “You look so sad when you’re angry.”

“I wasn’t really angry,” she started. “Just worried about what was going to come next.”

“So much happened,” he said. “If Charlie is to be believed.”

Nodding her head as she thought of the moment that might have meant her death, Elizabeth shivered and started to fall away again when Jacob kissed her fingers.

“It’s not enough,” she said. “Am I really alive?”

“Feel my hand.”

He squeezed her palm and kissed the backs of her fingers as his head fell to her shoulder.

“Feel all of me. I’m here for you.”

Elizabeth found his eyes and did not release him from her hold as he looked away.

“Why did you go?” she asked.

“Thought you deserved better,” he said. “And as much as I hate to admit it, that guy can give you more than a plot of land that I have to slave over to keep him check.”

Elizabeth lifted up his chin and smiled at the feel of him so close.

“So did you save me for someone else?” she asked.

“I saved you because I didn’t want you to go over the cliffs. “And maybe I hoped for the chance to tell you that I loved you.”

She nodded and wanted to kiss his lips when Jacob turned his head away.

“Me, too,” she whispered. “I’ve loved you since I read your letter.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because you were honest with me,” he said. “Sorry if I wasn’t honest with you.”

Crawling closer to his chest, Elizabeth draped her arms around his body. She smiled into his shirt and thought of all those lonely nights in the orphanage and the wish that her father might rise from the grave to collect her. Gregory could have done that much and more.

But she pushed him away.

“Jacob?”

Peeling away from him, Elizabeth lightly kissed his cheeks and stared into his eyes.

“I told him to leave,” she said. “My place is with you.”

“And I up and left.”

“”But you came back.”

Resting her head against his shoulder, she felt his light breaths pouring into her ear. They stayed liked that for a long time, and when she caught a chill, he tightened his hold and buried his head in her hair.

“You know where I went,” he muttered.

“You obviously didn’t make it to town in back in so short a time,” she teased.

“Not that fast on my feet,” he said. Jacob trailed his lips down her face, and their kiss was soft and slow.

“That was worth the wait,” she said. “Where were you, Jacob?”

“I stopped off at the church,” he continued. “The place where we were meant to be married.”

“Don’t say it like it won’t happen,” she pleaded.

“Then maybe it worked,” he said.”

“What?” Elizabeth asked. Jacob pressed two fingers under her chin and let her look in his eyes. She found his smile tinged with tears and longed to take his sadness away with another kiss when Jacob backed away and hung his head.

“I prayed for a way to make it up to you,” he started. “I didn’t want you leave me.”

“Answered prayers,” she said. “I only want to stay with you.”

He held her closer, and she smoothed her hands down his back when she broke away from him with a gasp and tried to leave the bed.

“Elizabeth, what is it?” he asked.

“Hillary! Is she really alright?”

Jacob was barely able to form an answer when the girl appeared in the doorway looking no worse for the wear. Elizabeth smiled as soon as she saw her and extended her arms as Hillary shuffled her feet.

“Are
you
okay?” Hillary asked.

“Takes a lot more than a tumble to do me in,” she said. “You don’t have to look so sad.”

“I’m not,” Hillary said. So they would still fight. Maybe it was silly to think that she could have everything all at once, and she thought of curling deeper into the sheets when the girl rushed forward and hugged her close.

“I’m sorry, Lizzie,” she whimpered. “You didn’t have to do that for me.”

“Yes I did,” Elizabeth said as she patted her hair and smiled at Jacob over her head. He mouthed his gratitude and took them both into his arms as Elizabeth whispered the last strains of her lullaby.

“I my loved ones' watch am keeping,
All through the night
.”

It was a perfect moment. A family. A second chance. She wanted to dream about it with Jacob at her side when Charlie bounded into the room.

“How did you get so strong? Hillary looked like a goner. Was that something else that you learned at the restaurant?”

Sarah rolled her eyes as she brought her brother to the bed, and Elizabeth held her family as Jacob kissed her eyes.

“
I can make your house a home,” she promised.

“Of that I have no doubt, Elizabeth.

THE END

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