Author’s Note: This book begins right after Annabelle Larson and Ben Martin have already been forced into marriage. Details of that can be found at the end of The Perfect Wife, which is Book 3 in this series.
***
October1887
Omaha, Nebraska
“You can’t put this off forever,” Annabelle’s mother said. “You have to live with your husband.”
Annabelle knew this moment was coming. Ever since Ben Martin intervened when he shouldn’t have, her fate had been sealed. She’d been doomed. And nothing short of a miracle was going to save her.
That miracle, of course, was not going to come in the form of either her mother or father. As soon as both of them had verified that the marriage was legitimate, they were determined to take her to live with her husband. Granted, they had allowed her the grace of staying with them for a week, but the time had run out.
Annabelle’s mother stepped into Annabelle’s bedroom, sat beside her on the bed, and gave her a hug. “I know this isn’t what you wanted, but sometimes things happen that change the course of our lives.” She released her then clasped her daughter’s hands in hers. “Ben is a good young man. In some ways, he reminds me of your father.”
Annabelle grimaced. “Ben isn’t anything like my father. Ben stumbles all over himself when he talks, and he lets other people manipulate him.”
“He only stumbles on his words because he’s nervous around you. As for being manipulated…I agree that he’s been somewhat swayed by Mark in the past.”
Annabelle released her mother’s hands and laughed. “Somewhat swayed? He let Mark do whatever Mark wanted.” She would have accused Mark of being behind her ill-fated marriage had Kenneth not been involved. She glanced at the trunk and valise that the maid had packed that morning. This was really happening. If only… She turned a pleading look to her mother. “Can’t we ask for an annulment?”
“No, I’m afraid that option isn’t available.”
“All because Ben made up that ridiculous lie about me carrying his child?”
“Yes. I know it’s not fair, but some people believe the rumor. Only in nine months when there’s no child will people realize the truth.”
Ugh! That stupid Ben. Why did he have to come up with that particular lie? Why couldn’t it have been something else? He managed to ruin her reputation and marry her all within a single afternoon.
“Ben might not be the most graceful person when you’re around and he might let Mark take advantage of him, but he was trying to do the right thing,” her mother said. “That’s how he reminds me of your father. He was rescuing you.”
“I didn’t need rescuing. I had everything under control with those goons.”
“I know you did, but he didn’t. Ben’s not a bad person.”
Annabelle had never said he was a bad person. Yes, his motives had been good. If only she’d taken the time in the past to let him know she was fully capable of protecting herself.
“Are you ready?” Annabelle’s father asked as he poked his head into the doorway.
Annabelle shot her mother one last pleading look, but her mother shook her head. With a heavy sigh, Annabelle said, “I don’t have a choice. I have to go whether I want to or not.”
Her father winced. “People are talking enough already. The longer you’re here, the worse the gossip will get.”
“Your father’s right,” her mother insisted when Annabelle groaned. “Most people think you’re with child. The only thing that’s saving you from total ruin is your marriage to Ben.”
She glanced between her mother and father and realized they weren’t going to budge. They were going to make her do this whether she liked it or not. There was no point in fighting this anymore. She knew when the battle had been lost, and, unfortunately, there was no undoing the damage Ben had caused.
“Alright,” Annabelle said. “I’ll go.” She went to her dresser, picked up her hat, and plopped it down on her head. Then she grabbed her gloves and put them on, using more force than necessary. Once she was finished, she faced them. “I’m ready to spend the rest of my life in misery.”
“Don’t put it like that,” her father replied, the pain in his eyes letting her know he didn’t want to do this to her.
Relenting in her anger, she went over to her parents and hugged them. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be difficult.”
“We know you’re not,” her mother whispered. “You’re just upset that you no longer have a choice in what your future will be like.”
Annabelle blinked back her tears. Her mother was right. At the core of her anger was the frustration that she had lost any control of her future. Ben had set things in motion when he blurted out the lie that she was expecting his child, and Preacher Nelson had forced her to marry him because of it, even though she kept telling him that Ben had lied. Why was it that men were so quick to believe other men? Why couldn’t they accept a woman’s answer instead?
Annabelle went over to the valise. She took a deep breath and steadied her resolve. She had no choice. She had to do this. And because she had to do this, she would do it. Gripping the handle of the valise, she picked it up and turned to face her parents.
“I’m ready,” she said, her voice sounding more certain than she felt.
“I’ll go with you to Ben’s house,” her mother replied.
With a nod, Annabelle left the room with her mother. The butler offered her a sympathetic smile as he went into her room to get the trunk. The only people in Omaha who believed her were her family members and the servants. Everyone else blindly accepted what Ben had said. She’d been pretty much ostracized from society. Her father was right. Her reputation was ruined.
Even now as she headed for the carriage, the people passing by on the sidewalk refused to make eye contact with her. It wasn’t enough that Kenneth had hired outlaws to kidnap her so he could marry her after she’d ended their courtship. She also had to deal with being shunned by the proper men and women in Omaha. It was a shame Ben wasn’t here to see what he’d done to her.
She entered the carriage first, and her mother followed. The coachman shut the door. Annabelle released her breath, unaware she’d been holding it. She shouldn’t let the people get to her. So what if they shunned her? It was their loss. If they were so quick to believe a rumor, then she was better off without their approval. Or, at least, that’s what she kept telling herself. She swallowed the lump in her throat. It was far easier to act like they didn’t bother her than to feel it.
“Everything will be alright,” her mother said. “Just give it time.”
Her mother wasn’t the one put in this situation, so it was easy for her to say that. Annabelle had to fight the urge to sigh in despair. If she was the crying type, she would have been in tears. But she wasn’t the crying type.
She was doomed to this marriage, and there was nothing she could do to get out of it, short of running away. However, she wasn’t the type to run away from her problems, either. So she was stuck in a state of resigned despair.
The carriage moved forward. She looked out the small window and was surprised to see her father watching her, a concerned expression on his face. She offered a wave. This wasn’t his fault any more than it was her mother’s fault. It was all Ben’s fault. To a lesser extent, it was Preacher Nelson’s, too. If it hadn’t been for them, her life wouldn’t be ruined right now. It didn’t help that Preacher Nelson had told every single person he came across what had happened. That only made things worse.
Her mother put her arm around her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. “Once the gossip dies down, it won’t be so hard. I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but things could have been much worse. At least you aren’t really expecting a child, and those men Kenneth sent to get you didn’t hurt you. There are worse things that could have happened.”
“I know,” Annabelle replied.
And she couldn’t argue with her mother’s point. Things could have been much worse. She could have married Kenneth and been known as the wife of a murderer. If she had ended up marrying Kenneth, people would shun her forever. This thing with Ben was bad enough, but hopefully, given enough time, the gossip would die down and things would go back to normal. She sighed again, this time trying not to let her mother hear it.
***
As soon as Ben Martin saw Annabelle’s carriage pull up to his parsonage, he grabbed a handful of peppermints and shoved them into his mouth. He knew her parents had said they’d bring her by when things had settled down, but given how upset she’d been the day he married her, he thought it was going to take a year or two—or even forever—before that happened.
He put his hand over his stomach. Every time he was around Annabelle, he felt the strangest sensation. It was like when he was a child and he would spin around in circles as fast as he could. While it was exhilarating, it was also frightening. And sometimes, if he went long enough, it made him feel like he just might throw up.
He snuck a glance out the window and saw the coachman helping Annabelle’s mother out of the carriage. Then the coachman turned to Annabelle. A spark of excitement coursed through him the same way it always did whenever he saw her. She had the most beautiful dark hair of any woman he’d ever seen, and she was just as tall and slender as her mother. She managed to make every dress look like it had been designed specifically for her.
His favorite feature on her, however, was her smile. Whenever she smiled, it seemed as if the entire world was brighter. He didn’t think she’d ever direct one of her smiles at him—especially not after the way he’d ruined her life. He should probably just be glad she wasn’t crying or storming toward his home in an angry rampage.
He wiped his hands on his pants. It didn’t accomplish what he’d been hoping for. His palms were still damp. He grimaced. Great. Just what he needed. Clammy palms on top of a queasy stomach.
Since he couldn’t get out of letting Annabelle in, he opened the front door. Should he take the trunk the coachman was carrying? Should he run out to greet them or just wait at the door? Should he offer everyone some coffee when they got into the house? How long was Annabelle’s mother planning to stay? Obviously, Annabelle was going to stay here for good since they were bringing a trunk and valise with them.
His heartbeat picked up at the thought of Annabelle actually living with him. Then his stomach rolled. She wasn’t going to be happy here. Not with him. She hadn’t wanted to marry him. She’d wanted to marry Kenneth. He didn’t know much about Kenneth, except that people had said he was charming and sophisticated. Or, at least, that’s what they’d said until they discovered the truth about him. Regardless, he could never match the kind of charm and sophistication Kenneth had before everything turned into chaos.
Annabelle’s mother was the first to talk when they reached the door. “Good afternoon, Ben. How are you doing?”
Ben, having forgotten his mouth was full of peppermints, started to answer, and one of the half-melted pieces of peppermints flew out of his mouth and landed right on Annabelle’s dress—directly above her right breast. Face warmer than the hottest day in August, Ben hurried to dig his handkerchief from his pocket and held it out to her.
He caught the flicker of disgust on Annabelle’s face as she accepted it and wiped it off her dress. This was a terrible beginning to the rest of their lives. He hurried to chew the rest of the peppermints in his mouth as he waved for them to come into the parlor.
“We hope we didn’t come at a bad time,” Annabelle’s mother said as the coachman set the trunk on the floor.
“No,” Ben replied then cleared his throat. “This isn’t a bad time. That is to say, I don’t have anything pressing going on. I’m done preparing for Sunday’s sermon. Before that, I had to fix the window in the parlor, and before that, I put new shoes on my horse.” Realizing he was rambling, he stopped then said, “It’s a good time.”
After a moment, Annabelle’s mother smiled. “It sounds like you stay busy.”
He nodded. “There’s never a dull moment around here.”
“You can have this back,” Annabelle said as she held out the handkerchief to him, holding onto it as if it was a mouse.
Reminded of how he had greatly embarrassed himself, he accepted it with a quick thank you and stuffed it back into his pocket. Since everyone was staring at him, he asked, “Would you like to sit and have some coffee?”
“I think that would be nice,” Annabelle’s mother replied. “Thank you.” Then she led Annabelle over to the couch and sat next to her.
The coachman tipped his hat then left the house before Ben could ask him if he wanted any coffee.
Annabelle and her mother looked at Ben expectantly.
Oh right. The coffee. “I’ll be back in a moment,” Ben said then turned to shut the front door.
Unfortunately, he didn’t realize he was so close to the small table by the doorway. He bumped into it, and the plant Mrs. Gibson had given him teetered toward the edge of the table. He grabbed it before the pot shattered on the floor. Taking a deep breath, he set it back on the middle of the table.
He hurried to shut the door. Then, deciding not to look at Annabelle and her mother, he hurried out of the room. As soon as he entered the kitchen, he grabbed one peppermint and sucked on it while he made a pot of coffee. The reprieve from Annabelle and her mother was a temporary one, but he prayed it would be long enough for him to get his bearings so that he didn’t do anything else to humiliate himself in front of them.
He could manage just fine around anyone else. Why was it that whenever Annabelle was near, he turned into a clumsy idiot?
It’s because I’m in love with her. That’s why I become a complete fool every time she’s nearby.
Once he finished making the coffee, he took out a tray and put the cups on the tray. He didn’t dare fill the cups. All he needed was to hand one to Annabelle, slip, and spill hot coffee on her. It was bad enough he’d spit a piece of peppermint at her. He winced as he set the coffee pot in the center of the tray. He never should have reminded himself of that incident. Now, his hands were shaking.
With a quick prayer, he picked the tray up. He took a deep breath and released it.
Unfortunately, this didn’t help at all. If anything, his hands were shaking worse. He rolled his eyes. He supposed it couldn’t be helped. He could only hope he didn’t drop the tray.
Once he made sure he was done with the peppermint, he headed to the parlor.
“It is a sign of things to come,” Annabelle was telling her mother in a hushed tone. “Every time he’s around me, something bad happens.”
“You mustn’t look at things like that,” her mother said in a quiet voice. “Ben’s a good young man. He’s just nervous, that’s all. After some time, that will go away.”
“I don’t think so. I think he’s going to be spitting peppermints at me for the rest of my life.”
Ben winced. This wasn’t going well, and he didn’t know how it could get better. He definitely knew it could get worse, but he didn’t expect it to get better. He forced his feet to keep going forward and smiled, hoping they didn’t notice how red his face was.
“I’m sorry it took so long,” he began. “I had to make a new pot.”
“It wasn’t long at all,” Annabelle’s mother replied.
Thankfully, he managed to set the tray on the table without knocking anything over. Deciding not to risk pushing his luck, he motioned to the coffee pot. “I’m not sure how much you want, so help yourself.”
“Thank you.” Her mother poured coffee into everyone’s cups. “How much coffee would you like, Ben?”
“Give me half.”
He wasn’t about to take more than that in case coffee spilled out of his cup. His hands were still shaking. He glanced at Annabelle, who was taking one of the cups from her mother. He recalled the first time he saw Annabelle. He’d come over with his family to share a dinner with Mark’s family, and he’d thought she was pretty for a girl. Back then, he hadn’t thought much of girls, of course. In fact, he hadn’t had any use for them. They didn’t play any sports like the boys did. But he’d thought for a girl, she wasn’t so bad.
And today, she was even nicer to look at than she’d been back then. Time had been good to her. She’d matured in her beauty.
“Ben?”
Blinking, he turned his gaze to Annabelle’s mother. She held the cup out to him. “Is this enough coffee?”
Hoping she didn’t realize he’d been staring at her daughter, he nodded and took the cup. Since they were sitting on the couch, he opted to sit in the chair across from them.
“We brought everything over that will make Annabelle comfortable here,” her mother said after she took a sip of her coffee.
Ben glanced at the trunk in the middle of the room and then at the valise next to Annabelle’s feet. He was sure Annabelle was hoping she could take her things right on back to her parents’ home.
“Everything happened so fast,” Ben said, wondering if he could say something to ease things. “I know everyone’s still in shock.”
“It was a shock,” Annabelle’s mother agreed, “but it was noble of you to come to her rescue.”
He caught the way Annabelle tried to hide her eye roll. “I acted without thinking,” he told her mother.
“Which makes the gesture much more heroic,” Annabelle’s mother said. “You saw the outlaws with Annabelle and stepped in to save her. Her father and I are very pleased with you for that.”
Unsure of what else to say, he offered a ‘thank you’ and then took a drink of his coffee so he wouldn’t have to say anything else. It wouldn’t do any good to point out that Annabelle had had everything under control. He didn’t know it at the time, but Annabelle let him know she could have fought the men off herself. She hadn’t needed him to step in and claim that she couldn’t marry Kenneth because she was already pregnant.
“Anyway,” her mother continued, “her father and I would like to have you two over for dinner in a week. We thought it might be nice to have everyone together. Mark, Natalie, Tony, and Velma will be there. It’s nothing fancy. Just an informal dinner.”
Maybe that would be good. Having all of those people around might help make things easier between him and Annabelle, even if it was for just one evening. It was a shame her mother wasn’t going to stay here with them. If it wasn’t for her, he didn’t know what he and Annabelle would talk about.
“That sounds good to me,” Ben spoke up.
Annabelle’s mother looked expectantly at her.
“I didn’t realize I had a choice in the matter,” Annabelle replied then sipped her coffee.
“Of course, you have a choice,” her mother said. “You don’t have to go to the dinner if you don’t feel up to it.”
Annabelle shot her mother a pointed look that there were plenty of other things—more important things—she didn’t have a choice in. And she was right. She was married to Ben, and she was going to live in the same house with him. He had the urge to apologize to her for ruining her life, but he’d already done that all the way back to her residence after Preacher Nelson had married them.
“Dinner in a week will be fine,” Annabelle mumbled then sipped more coffee.
“I’m sure Ben’s parents would like to have you and Ben over for dinner soon, too,” her mother told her.
Ben shifted in his chair. His parents had come out here as soon as they heard the rumor running through town. Actually, it was a lot more like a scandal than a rumor. He was a preacher, and people thought he’d stolen Annabelle’s innocence. His parents had come out here to talk to him, and while they seemed to believe him, he couldn’t be sure if they really did.
The entire week had been awful. He’d hidden from everyone. He hadn’t even gone to church last Sunday. He’d had Mark go to the pulpit for him and tell everyone he was sick. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do this weekend. He couldn’t hide from the world forever. This Sunday he’d have to stand up and give a sermon in front of his congregation. How could he expect them to listen to him after what happened? Surely, they would replace him with someone far more deserving of the pastorate. He didn’t know if his reputation could ever recover from something this serious.
“I’m sure Annabelle will be more than happy to have dinner with your family,” Annabelle’s mother said, breaking him out of his thoughts.
Annabelle set her cup down in her lap and, though she didn’t seem enthusiastic about it, nodded.
He wondered if the scandal was as bad for her as it was for him. The only difference might be that people would assume he took advantage of her. She was a young and pretty woman who was innocent to the ways of the world. And he came in and…and…
He couldn’t even finish the thought. Just how was he going to face anyone outside of his or her family ever again?
“Well,” Annabelle’s mother began as she set her cup on the tray, “I should probably go home. I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about.”
Ben bolted up in panic, and in doing so, he spilled coffee on the floor.
“Do you really have to go now?” Annabelle asked, sounding as alarmed as he felt.
Annabelle’s mother gave them both an uneasy smile. “I’m afraid so. I need to work on the ledger before tomorrow morning when your father and I are due at the bank.”
“But…but…” Annabelle stammered.
Her mother put her hand on Annabelle’s shoulder. “Everything will be fine. You two will make a good match. The best thing I can do is get out of your way so you can talk.”
Talk? Did her mother honestly believe Ben could form a coherent sentence if he had to speak directly to Annabelle?
“You’re welcome here any time,” Ben told her mother. “The same is true for the rest of your family.”
“I appreciate that, Ben.” Her mother walked to the door, and Annabelle followed her.
He was sure Annabelle was trying to get her mother to take her back home, and he wasn’t sure if he hoped her mother would let her return with her or if he hoped her mother would insist she stay. He wanted to be with Annabelle. Really, he did. But he was also terrified of being alone with her.
Annabelle and her mother talked in hushed tones at the front door. At one point, they both glanced over at Ben. Face warm, Ben looked away from them. After a moment, the front door shut, and he dared another glance over. Annabelle was still in the house. Her mother had left.
He breathed a sigh of relief. She was still here. And then his heartbeat picked up in panic. She was still here! Now that she was officially his wife, what was he supposed to do with her?