Lone Pine Bride (The Brides of Lone Pine #1)(52)
Was Rachel with them because she was bound to be staying here until he came to claim her? He had better go and have a look. He started to walk towards the church, paused and all but ran back to the wagon. Shaking the reins he took off as fast as the horses could go.
He was a coward. He was a cad. He was plain nasty. There was a woman staying here who he was abandoning and how must she feel? She had come all the way from Boston to be with him and he wouldn’t even see her. He pulled the reins, the horses came to a halt and he buried his head in his hands.
Rachel was a nice lady. He knew that from her letters. He had fallen in love with her and she with him. She was his bride to be and he owed it to her to marry her. He had to marry her because no gentleman abandoned the person he had brought thousands of miles to be with him.
But if he did everything that he had got used to over the last couple of days would disappear and how did you marry one woman when you were in....? He caught the thought at birth and shook the reins to start back to the church, his chest constricted and not far from tears. “Hello, Seth.” Linda walked out of the building. “How are you? Is your farm alright? How is Hannah?”
“I came for her trunks,” Seth replied, not moving from where he sat holding the reins. If he stayed there he could just take off at top speed and forget consequences.
“Good. She’ll need them. When are you both coming to get married?”
“Soon. We’ve been busy helping people.”
“Well, no hurry, but be discreet. Everything is under control. We’ve been fortunate that there has been hardly any damage in Lower Pine. I think it’s because the villagers have wooden houses. Does anybody need mattresses? We have a few and some bed clothing.”
“Wilfred and Monica’s house was flattened,” Seth said.
“Then come in and get what you need. We have a huge supply from things people have donated. Do they need clothing? They must do if the house is flattened.”
“They need everything,” Seth said and couldn’t believe it as he jumped to the ground. He all but ran into the church and carried out mattresses one at a time. Three single, one double, and there were pillows, pillowcases, sheets and blankets.
“Can you make frames for the bed?” Linda asked.
“Yes. We’ll do that.”
“Take what clothes you think you need and anything else that is required. Take toys for the children also and while you’re choosing what you need I’ll get you some food.”
“Thank you.”
She was so kind, he thought when she gave him bread, cakes, meat and sweets. She had toys for the children, which included jigsaw puzzles, a doll for Lucille and a dolls house with furniture. There were balls for all of them in varying sizes and toy soldiers for the boys plus some board games.
“We have animals,” she said. “Would you like some kittens and puppies? They desperately need homes.”
He took five puppies and five kittens which Linda put in a big box with holes in it. What Wilfred and Monica would say, he could not imagine, but he wouldn’t show the children until he spoke to their parents first. If they didn’t want them he would take them home without the young people seeing them. Linda was relieved, he knew, and it was the least he could do in view of their kindness.
He packed the wagon as quickly as he could, not at all sure why Rachel wasn’t around or why Linda hadn’t said anything about her. Probably because they knew that he and Hannah had been helping with things and maybe she was involved here. He spoke briefly to a couple of people in the church, leapt onto the front of the wagon and pulled off at speed. As he did so he suddenly felt tears trickling down his cheeks.
“I’m sorry, Lord. I’m so sorry.” His voice was jerky as he spoke out loud. “But I don’t know what to do. Does it go in my favour that I came back? If I hadn’t I wouldn’t have all this stuff and couldn’t have taken the animals which is helping Linda.
“But I’m still being a coward and I don’t know how to stop being one or how to face up to things. I don’t want to hurt anyone but I’m so confused. Please forgive me and work it out because I can’t. Please bless the people who have been affected by all this and comfort those who have been bereaved. Please help us to be able to help as many people as we can.”
He wiped his eyes impatiently, stopped talking and looked around him while he travelled. There were signs of earthquake damage nearly everywhere though not houses because there weren’t many once he got out of the village. If only all the other places, which included Independence, Lone Pine and Middle Pine, had not used adobe. They knew that was not a good material for an earthquake area. He knew it, which was why he built his house with wood.
But he had not expected an earthquake and had told Rachel in one of his letters that they didn’t have such things. What a naive and stupid thing to say when there had been earthquakes in California a few times over the years. And the first thing to greet Rachel was an earthquake. Apart from anything else, he was not the kind of man for her because he was unreliable, a liar and had treated her badly. He was not the kind of man for anyone.
But he would marry her because he had brought her here for that. He would come in a few days when he finished helping the people near him, which could include the people in Independence. For some reason Linda said there was no hurry so he needn’t hurry, and Hannah didn’t seem keen to rush to her betrothed. He looked back at the things he had in the wagon and began to speak out loud again.