Flint Hills Bride

He took a deep breath, letting the bite of the cold air clear his head. His voice was even when he began. “Emily, your parents sent you here because of some young man.” She let go of his arm and moved away from him, and he was sorry. “Tell me your side.”

“My side! Did they write to you? Tell me what they said!”

Jake kept his voice quiet. “I talked to Christian. He said the fella’s unemployed, reckless, wild—”

“What!”

“And in jail for tearing up a neighbor’s yard.”

She kept her face turned away from him, hiding even her profile behind the hood of her cloak. He waited patiently for her to speak.

“It was an accident,” she murmured. “It’s all a big misunderstanding.”

“He accidentally rode through their rose garden on horseback? He accidentally pulled up a fence? He—”

“Enough!”

Jake waited for her to decide what, if anything, she would tell him. It was a long ride to the ranch, and he had hoped she would confide in him. He couldn’t imagine why he had thought she would. What was he to her anyway? A childhood playmate? Something less than a brother? Certainly not what he wanted to be.

The team clopped along the road, creating a monotonous rhythm. A rabbit darted across their path and disappeared in the tall grass. The buggy creaked and rattled softly. Jake heard his back teeth grind together and made an effort to relax. After several minutes he gave up hope of hearing any more from Emily.

“I don’t believe it happened the way they say,” she said, startling him.

“What do you believe?”

He heard her take a deep breath. He didn’t dare look at her for fear she would read the pain on his face. He kept his eyes on the track and waited.

“Anson is a good man,” she began. “He isn’t reckless and wild. He just believes in having fun. Old people can’t understand that. He’s going to work in his father’s flour mill, but there isn’t any room for him yet.”

Jake cast her a skeptical glance, but she was turned away.

“The neighbor that accused him of tearing up his garden is a grouchy old man who doesn’t get along with anyone. Even Papa doesn’t like him.”

Jake resisted the urge to turn toward her, hoping she would continue, afraid she wouldn’t if she knew what he was feeling. He turned his gaze toward the sky. It was blue, he thought irrelevantly. Blue in December. It should be gray, damned gray.

When she had remained silent for several minutes he tried to prompt her into more details. “Your parents objected to Anson Berkeley before this incident.”

“They want to keep me a baby and would have objected to anyone. His parents have at least as much money as mine do. There’s no reason to treat him the way they do.”

Jake schooled his features and turned to watch her. He was rewarded a moment later when she glanced at him. He hoped she read the honest concern in his face; he read indecision in hers. “Emily,” he said softly, “I’m your friend. Tell me about him.”

She wrapped her arm around his and rested her head on his biceps, sighing deeply. “I know you’re my friend, Jake. In fact, you may be my only friend. Everyone else is ready to judge both Anson and me.”

“Not me,” he lied. “You’re both innocent till proven guilty.” He had to swallow hard before he could ask, “Are you in love with him?”

Her sigh sounded different this time. “Yes, I love him. And he loves me. We’ve promised to love each other forever.”

Jake didn’t want to think about the implications of that statement. His pulse quickened. From her touch? From anger?

Unmindful of his pain, she continued, “He’s so handsome, and exciting. I’ve never known anyone like him.”

Jake heard his back teeth crunch together again. He spoke to the team, urging them to increase their infuriating pace.

“He takes me places,” she went on, “that I’d never get to go if my parents had their way.”

“Places?” He hoped his voice didn’t sound as furious as he felt. Where the hell had this bastard taken his Emily?

“Clubs. Where there’s music and dancing and laughter.”

“And drinking? That’s illegal now. They voted in prohibition last year, Emily.”

She pulled away from him again. “You’re no different than the rest.”

“Well, maybe all of us are right!” He regretted it immediately.

They rode for miles without either of them saying a word. The sound of the plodding hooves and creaking buggy was broken only by the brief chirp of a robin too stupid to have flown south. Jake watched it fly off into the ridiculously blue sky.

Jake knew he should have just listened, but his own feelings kept getting in the way. He told himself that if Emily loved this man he couldn’t be all bad. Her happiness was what was important. His jealousy was jeopardizing their friendship, and they needed to stay friends if he was going to help her.

“I’m sorry,” he said finally. “You’re right I have no call to judge. If Anson Berkeley is the man you want, then I hope things work out for you.”

She murmured her thanks, but didn’t move back toward him. He wanted to wrap his arm around her and pull her against his side, but he knew she would resist.

After many minutes he cleared his throat. “Ma packed some lemonade if you’re thirsty.”

“I don’t want any.”

“Well, Ma’s not going to buy that She’s going to think I forgot to offer it to you.”

She turned and glared. “Tell her you ruined my appetite.”

At least she was looking at him. “I guess I can accept the blame there. But I did apologize.” He pulled the basket out from under the seat. “If you don’t want any, I’ll have to drink all the evidence. If it’s a choice between a bellyache and being in trouble with Ma, well…”

She hadn’t smiled, but she was having to work to hold it back. “You could just pour it on the ground.”

“You would let me do that? With lemonade? You are mad at me!”

She finally laughed, and he felt relief that was clearly more than the situation warranted. He handed her one of the small jars from its straw nest in the basket.

She took it and drank a little before screwing the lid back on and placing the jar between her feet. She didn’t seem quite as tense as she had earlier, and he hoped that meant she had forgiven him. Still, as he waited for her to talk to him again, he tried to think of something to say, something neutral that would prove he was her friend. Finally he accepted the silence, though he didn’t enjoy it. The ride to the ranch seemed to take longer than it ever had before.

Emily wished she hadn’t told Jake anything. He was as closed minded as the rest. For a moment she had thought she detected some jealousy in his reactions. But surely she had imagined it. He was just being stupid and brotherly like Arlen had and Christian, no doubt, would.

Go where we say! See who we say! Do as we say! She was sick of it. Anson had come at just the right time to rescue her from the boring life they all had planned for her.

And she would be with Anson again. There was no question about that. One way or another, they would be together.

She let her mind drift back to the first time they had met, reliving the excitement of his eyes on her, the adventure of being included in his close little group, the wonder at being singled out as his favorite, then his love. She tried to push away the apprehension that prickled the back of her mind.