The Unexpected Bride. Debra Ullrick

himself to feel nothing, Haydon slipped his arms under her knees and back and hoisted her up. She didn’t budge but hung as limp as Abby’s rag doll. She looked helpless, alone and frail. He tucked her closer into his chest. Her vulnerability and the feel of her feminine frame and soft hair draping over his arm touched something deep inside him. Something he never wanted to feel again rose in him. He shoveled away the unwelcome feelings and buried them deep in an unmarked grave.

      “Oh, Haydon, that poor girl. Wait until I see Jesse. I am going to give that boy a piece of my mind. What was he thinking?”

      That’s what Haydon had been trying to figure out, too.

      “Take her up to Leah’s room and lay her on the extra bed. I’ll get a cool cloth and some water.” His mother scampered into the kitchen.

      On his way up the steps, he noticed the stains of tears on her cheeks. Protective feelings flooded through him like a massive gulley wash, but he refused to let them take possession. No! I don’t want to feel anything. However, when he lowered her onto the bed, rather than walking away, he gazed down at her, wondering what would become of her once they sorted the whole muddled issue out.

      The stairs creaked. He shook out of the thoughts and strode toward the door. He took the water basin from his mother.

      Thinking was dangerous. He held the bowl while his mother dipped a cloth into it and laid it on Rainee’s forehead.

      The young woman stirred and slowly opened her eyes.

      Haydon’s breath hitched at the sight of those beautiful fawn-colored eyes—eyes he had avoided the whole way home. Eyes a man could get lost in if he wasn’t careful.

      Dread and confusion emanated from her.

      He hated seeing her like that. His arms ached to wrap her in them and comfort her. To tell her everything would be okay. That he would take care of her and protect her.

      What was he thinking?

      Fear slugged into him like a fist. He jerked his gaze away and quickly set the basin on the nightstand, sloshing a small amount of water over the side. Without bothering to wipe it up, he spun on his heel and called over his shoulder, “If you need me for anything else, just holler.” Haydon skipped steps as he barreled down them. Out the front door and into the fresh air he flew. He refused to give heed to the feelings Rainee aroused in him. Feelings that scared him to death. From now on, the farther he stayed away from her, the better.

      Rainee sat up. She would love nothing more than to bury herself with the yellow patchwork quilt underneath her, but that would solve nothing. All her well-laid plans were falling apart around her. She had no money and no place to go. And no future husband.

      “Rainee?”

      Her vision trailed toward Katherine, who smelled of baked bread and wood smoke.

      “I am truly sorry, Mrs. Bowen. I am not normally one given to fainting spells. But this news has come as quite a shock to me. I am at a loss as to what to do next. All I know is, I cannot go back. I simply cannot.”

      “It’s Katherine, and please don’t apologize for fainting. I certainly understand. I’d probably faint too under the same circumstances.” Katherine sat on the bed next to her and took her hand. “I am more sorry than words can say for what my son did. I want you to know you’re welcome to stay here as long as you wish.”

      Once again, questions chased other questions through Rainee’s mind. Should she stay? Should she go? Should she take Katherine up on her offer until she had time to figure out what to do? The way she saw it, she really had no other choice.

      She searched the woman’s eyes, seeking something. Reassurance perhaps? That all would be well? What she saw was a kind woman offering her compassion and a place to stay. Her chest heaved, expelling some of the tension in her body. “Are you sure you do not mind?”

      “I’m positive. Now, why don’t I have Haydon bring up your things? I’m sure you’d like to clean up before dinner. I’ll heat some water so you can take a bath.”

      “No, no. Please, do not trouble yourself on my account,” Rainee said even though a bath sounded heavenly. She did not want to give this woman any reason to send her back. And while she would not take advantage of Katherine’s kind offer and hospitality for long, she was grateful for the time to come up with another plan.

      If only her mother’s words of wisdom would rise up in her, but they would not because Rainee had never encountered anything like this while her mother was still alive. How could either of them ever have envisioned this? The next-closest thing she had to a mother now was Jenetta. The older woman would know what to do. But she was not here. She was back home in Little Rock with her husband and three children.

      Something Jenetta had said popped into her mind. “You hang on to that other Christian gentleman’s letter in case thangs don’t work out.” The other letter. Stems of hope sprouted through the darkness. She did have another option. Thank You, Lord.

      Having received many responses to her advertisement, she had kept the two most promising letters. One she had responded to, the other, well, his letter was tucked securely in her trunk. Although it saddened her that things did not work out with Haydon, she would write the other man straightaway.

      “It’s no trouble at all.” Katherine’s voice snapped her out of her musings. “I’ll start heating the water now. As soon as Haydon gets your things up here, you can come down and take a bath.” She smiled, stood and turned to leave the room. At the door, she stopped. With her hand still on the knob, she looked back at Rainee. “I really am sorry for what my son did. And I meant what I said about you staying here as long as you like.” Katherine’s smile seemed to hold a secret. But just what kind of secret Rainee did not know.

      “Would you please take Rainee’s things up to Leah’s room?” Haydon’s mother pointed to the trunk he had placed on the porch when they had arrived. “She’ll be staying with us.”

      His eyebrows slammed against the brim of his hat. “What do you mean she’s staying with us? For how long?” He could no more hold back the panic from his voice than he could hold back a raging river.

      “For as long as she likes.”

      Haydon recognized that smile. His mother was up to something. Just what, he wasn’t sure. But something.

      He leaned over and grabbed the handles of Rainee’s trunk and hoisted it up. His mother opened the door and motioned him by. “Just what I need,” he spoke under his breath as he walked past her.

      “She just might be.”

      Haydon swung around so fast the trunk dropped from his hands and thudded onto his foot. He jerked his foot up, put it down, jerked it up again and put it down, all the while holding back the words he wanted to fling out in anger. Without looking at his mother, he snatched the trunk up again and tromped his way up the stairs.

      “Haydon.” The sternness in his mother’s voice stopped him.

      Halfway up the stairs, he balanced the trunk on his knee and turned his head toward his mother.

      She shook her finger at him. “You be nice to my guest, and don’t you dare make her feel uncomfortable.”

      Make her uncomfortable!

      “Yes, ma’am,” he said as he turned and trudged up the stairs. This whole stupid mess stuck inside him like an infected splinter.

      At Leah’s bedroom door, he stopped and called, “Rainee.” He made every effort possible to keep the irritation from his voice, when what he really wanted to do was take her and her trunk into town and drop her off at Mrs. Swedberg’s boardinghouse. But the older widow woman never had any available rooms. Besides, even if she did, his mother had already made it clear Rainee was her guest now, and that was that.

      “Come in,” she said in that sweet Southern drawl of hers that drove clean through every part of him.

      “I’m