The Alaska Brides Collection Part 48

That would never happen.

Then there was the situation with Meredith. The poor girl blamed herself for Tucker's mess, and nothing he could say would a.s.suage her guilt.

Never had anything come between them, but the situation with Elizabeth could if not handled properly. He must convince Meredith that she had done nothing wrong, that he bore her no ill will.

But how?

It was a fine mess. Fiona's absence called to his heart while Elizabeth's claims challenged his honor. In a perfect world, the Lord would answer his prayers by telling him to fetch back the one he loved and send the other packing.

G.o.d would never instruct anyone to do wrong. Tucker knew better than to consider it.

Still, he tried to cogitate a way around the conundrum. How long Tucker sat in the cave, he had no idea, but when he rose, the cold had stiffened his joints and numbed his legs. Stomping the feeling back into them felt good on more than one level, so he continued it even after it was no longer necessary.

"What in the world are you doing?" Braden called to him from the ridge. "You look like you're doing some kind of crazy dance."

"Come down and try it," Tucker responded. "It's quite therapeutic, actually."

"Is it, now?" He crossed the distance between them to shake Tucker's hand. "I'm a plainspoken man, Tucker," he said, "so I'm going to ask you straight out what's going on here."

"Just stomping around, Braden," he responded.

"No, I mean what's going on with my sister and that city woman over at Ian's place?" He paused. "Amy and I met up with her and Wily a few miles downriver yesterday. I found it odd that a woman would travel all the way from Texas with her pa and not even announce herself with a letter before she arrived."

"Now that you mention it," Tucker said, "that does seem a bit peculiar, doesn't it?"

Tucker's hopes soared. Could he have found a loophole?

"'Course Amy saw it different. She figured it was just a woman's way of surprising her beau. I'm here to ask if you're that woman's beau."

"Her beau?" He thought on it a minute. "I was once. I asked her pa for her hand in marriage."

"And?"

"And he said yes. So did she."

Braden c.o.c.ked his head to the side. "Are you saying you were dallying with my sister while you had a woman waiting for you back in Texas?"

Before Tucker could respond, Braden hauled off and hit him. Tucker saw stars and then felt the earth spin. Ian stood over him, demanding he stand up again.

"Stop it right now, you two." Ian pushed Braden out of the way and hauled Tucker to his feet. "Fighting is not going to help the situation."

Tucker swiped at his nose, and his hand came away b.l.o.o.d.y. "I'd stand here and take punches from now until forever if it would bring back Fiona and fix the mess I've made."

"You leave my sister out of this," Braden said.

"I love your sister," Tucker responded. "But Elizabeth is pressing her suit, and I'm not going to break my word."

Ian looked like he wanted to throw his own punch. "I want to hear how this happened, Tucker. How did you lead my sister into believing you were free when you knew you weren't?"

"I didn't know," he said. "I thought we'd agreed that Elizabeth no longer wanted any part of me. Her pa told me she would never bear the Smith name. Said it belonged to a family with no honor."

He practically spat the words then gave the brothers a look that dared them to comment. When neither responded, he continued.

"I never spoke to Elizabeth directly. I dealt only with her pa, although she stood there and heard every word and never spoke. Under the circ.u.mstances, it was the right thing to do, what with Elizabeth being a woman and the flighty sort."

Ian nodded, but Braden barely blinked.

"When Merry and I left Texas, I understood that we did so with no enc.u.mbrances except for the ones our father bore. As you both know, I took those on. The Smith name is now clear and free of any hint of dishonor. My intent is to keep it that way."

"So what you're saying," Braden said, "is that you and this woman's da agreed there would be no wedding; only now she's come up here to present herself as your bride?"

"That's the way I see it," Tucker said. "I'm not rightly sure there's another explanation, although it does seem a bit odd that her pa's in Goose Chase, waiting for us."

Ian nodded and rubbed his chin the way he did when he was thinking hard on something. "I reckon we can take the woman at her word. Or..."

"Or?" Braden asked.

"Or we can do ourselves a bit of investigating." He gave Tucker a direct look. "What say we all make a trip to Goose Chase together?"

"What do you have in mind?" Tucker asked.

"Just a friendly meeting with your future father-in-law." Ian shrugged. "I have to wonder if he's figuring you've hit it big up here. If so, he might be wanting to change his mind about the value of the Smith name."

Tucker looked at Braden then back at Ian. "I did use my uncle's money to pay off Pa's debts. I reckon Elizabeth's pa might have heard tell I'd done that and figured I'd sent gold money instead of an inheritance."

"Well, did you tell anyone it was an inheritance?" Braden asked.

"I don't remember," Tucker said. "Probably not. I didn't make much of an explanation to anyone." He squared his shoulders. "Much as I appreciate your offer of help, I'm going to handle this myself."

The Rafferty brothers seemed to be sizing him up. Ian nodded first; then Braden slapped him on the back. "You're a good man, Tucker," he said. "I know you'll do the right thing."

There it was again. The right thing. How sick he was of doing the right thing.

And he hadn't even come to the hardest part yet.

That came the next day when Tucker reached Goose Chase and walked past the boardinghouse and Doc Killbone's office to step into the lobby of the hotel. He saw Elizabeth's pa from across the room and, for one long minute, tried to decide whether to announce himself or run.

But running was for cowards, and Tucker Smith was no coward. Walking like his boots were making their way through quicksand, Tucker pushed across the Deever House Hotel lobby to stand in front of his father's former business partner.

"Well, now," Cal Bentley said as he rose with difficulty, "I'd know Tucker Smith anywhere." His rheumy gaze studied Tucker a moment. He smiled. "You're doing well up here in the frozen North, I've heard. Quite well, indeed."

"Is that why you're here?" he countered.

The older man looked stunned. Then the mask returned. "I'm here because my daughter has decided she can't live without you, Tucker Smith. I'm here to press her case and insist you live up to your promise to marry her."

"Insist?" It was Tucker's turn to do the studying. "Did you antic.i.p.ate I might reconsider the promise I made?" He took a half step toward the older man. "Were you concerned I might not do the honorable thing, Mr. Bentley?"

"Eh...no...of course not, son." He fingered the tip of his mustache. "It's just that sending the girl up here without an escort would not have been proper, you see. As her father, it is my duty to see to her welfare until she is safely handed off to her husband." He leaned away from Tucker. "I hope you don't mind, but I found myself with a bit of free time yesterday and wandered up toward the church. I've arranged for the reverend to speak the vows tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning?" As soon as the words were out, Tucker knew he'd shouted them. "Tomorrow morning?" he repeated in a softer voice. "Why so soon?"

Mr. Bentley looked away. "Time is of the essence in these matters. A man can't run his business from all these thousands of miles away, can he?"

"How is the business, Mr. Bentley? Prosperous as ever?"

"Never mind," Elizabeth's father said. "I do just fine. Now what say you and I celebrate the impending nuptials with a juicy caribou steak?"

Food of any kind would have turned his gut, but especially so when Tucker contemplated how he'd be sitting across the table from his father's former business partner, the man who had called in his father's loans and laughed when the elder Smith defaulted and ran.

"Thank you," Tucker said, "but I must decline. Until tomorrow morning," he said as he made his exit. He reached the back of the hotel before he doubled up and lost what little he still had in his stomach.

Chapter 12.

Please stop crying," Fiona said, "or I will never be able to quit."

She looked away from the view of the river out her parlor window to peer at her sisters-in-law through the fog of her tears. Meredith sat on the sofa with her knees beneath her and a feather pillow cradled around her midsection while Amy perched on the edge of a chair.

"Honestly, it's not like I'm falling off the end of the earth. It's just the medical college."

Meredith began to wail again. "But if I'd just kept my matchmaking to myself, you would be here with Tucker and-"

"And Tucker," Amy interjected, "would be marrying for love instead of obligation."

Fiona watched Amy dab at the corners of her eyes with her handkerchief. "Do you really think that's what he's doing, Amy?"

Amy nodded. "Braden thinks so, too."

"Ian's certain of it." Meredith blew her nose most indelicately, then rose to walk to the window. "I'm just so furious at myself, Fiona." She rested her hand on Fiona's shoulder. "Will you ever forgive me? I only meant to..." She dissolved into tears.

Fiona gathered Meredith into her arms and patted her back. "Please, dear, don't do this."

A knock at the door silenced Meredith's tears. Amy walked over to open it then stepped back to reveal Tucker.

"Might I have a moment of Fiona's time?"

Meredith whirled about and blew her nose again. "What do you want to say to her, Tucker?"

"Now, now," he replied. "There are things she must hear from me before she goes away." He looked beyond Meredith to Fiona. When their gazes met, she felt the collision down to her toes. "You don't have to leave, Fiona. Please reconsider."

Amy squared her shoulders. "Remember, honor is for the Lord to bestow and not for man to decide upon." With that, she took Meredith by the elbow and ushered her out.

Tucker watched the ladies go, seemingly confused at Amy's statement. When he looked at Fiona, she forced herself to avert her gaze.

"Leave the door open, Tucker," Meredith called. "It wouldn't do to compromise Fiona's reputation when she won't be here to defend herself come next month."

"We are just downstairs," Amy added. "And I wager her brothers are nearby. Remember what I said about honor."

All was quiet. Fiona could hear her own breathing. Tucker's, too, she imagined. Then he cleared his throat, and his feet made a shuffling sound on the wooden floor.

"Fiona, look at me." He paused. "Please."

When she complied, her heart sank. Rather than a man whose heart seemed broken, Tucker looked like a fellow about to be wed. He'd had a haircut and a fresh shave, and he wore the dress shirt Meredith had just finished sewing for him last week.

He'd gone to this trouble for Elizabeth, no doubt. Fiona sighed. Oh, how the ugly monster of jealousy was hard to tame.

No matter, for she'd be too busy at the medical college to think about it.

Or him.

"Fiona, you'll never know how hard it was for me to come here today." He caught a ragged breath. "This was supposed to be my wedding day."

"Was?" She wrapped her voice around the single word and breathed easier when she'd spoken it aloud.

Tucker inched closer then seemed to think better of it and returned to his post by the door frame. "I've been given some time. An answer to prayer, actually."

Her stomach did a flip-flop, and she dabbed at the corners of her eyes. "Oh?"

"The reverend was called away unexpectedly."

"I see." She turned her back on him and steadied herself with a death grip on the windowsill. Outside, the usual activity of the wharf carried on as if it were a normal day in Goose Chase.

"No, Fiona. You don't see."

From the sound of his voice, she could tell he was closer. Her fingers gripped their wooden lifeline that much harder.

"I've...that is, we've been given a chance."

She turned toward the sound of his voice and found him nearer than she expected. Backing up as far as she could, Fiona pressed her spine against the sharp angle of the windowsill.

"Yes, I suppose so," she managed to say. "A chance to do the right thing."

Tucker winced at her words, a certain sign he'd come to tell her all the reasons why the two of them were meant to part company.

Fiona searched her mind for something to say that would make him leave. A statement that would cause Tucker Smith to turn and run.

Or maybe to dig in his heels and stay.

She wanted neither. And both.

Then he did the last thing she expected. He didn't run. He didn't dig in his heels.