Redemption
Jake McPhersonNEEDED A BRIDE…He was a Civil War veteran, wounded in body and soul. And when his wife died unexpectedly, he retreated from life, craving only solitude and his happy memories. But his young son needed a mother's love and guidance–even if Jake wanted no woman himself. So who better to choose than the town's spinster schoolmarm?Alicia MerriweatherWANTED SO MUCH TO LOVE… She had come to warn Jake his son was running wild. But she stayed because beneath his gruff exterior she saw Jake's pain and loneliness. Having borne the brunt of ridicule all her life, tall, plain Alicia understood both all too well. But could Jake ever learn to share his home and his heart?
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“Get your damn foot out of my door.”
This time it was a subdued roar, delivered from a twisted face of anger. “Do I have to call the sheriff to toss you out on your fanny?” He looked her up and down. “Though unless my eyes deceive me, it might take two husky men to do the job.”
Alicia felt the flush climb her cheeks. It was an insult, delivered honestly—but an insult, nevertheless. And as the town’s schoolteacher, she had until this moment been accorded the courtesy due to her position. She gritted her teeth. That her weight was, and always had been, a problem was neither here nor there. But this blatant intention to offend her had touched a sore spot, one she guarded closely.
“Two husky men?” Her brow jerked upward. “More like three,” she answered crisply, “unless the blacksmith is one of them.”
Acclaim for Carolyn Davidson’s recent titles
The Marriage Agreement
“Davidson uses her considerable skills
to fashion a plausible, first-class
marriage-of-convenience romance.”
—Romantic Times BOOKclub
Colorado Courtship
“Davidson deftly mixes courtship
and a marriage of conveniece with the intrigue
of gold hunting, robbery and murder.”
—Romantic Times BOOKclub
Texas Gold
“Davidson delivers a story
fraught with sexual tension.”
—Romantic Times BOOKclub
A Marriage by Chance
“This deftly written novel about
loss and recovery is a skillful handling
of the traditional Western, with the
added elements of family conflict
and a moving love story.”
—Romantic Times BOOKclub
The Tender Stranger
“Davidson wonderfully captures gentleness
in the midst of heart-wrenching challenges,
portraying the extraordinary possibilities
that exist within ordinary marital love.”
—Publishers Weekly
Also by Carolyn Davidson
†Big Sky Rancher
Texas Lawman
One Starry Christmas
“Stormwalker’s Woman”
The Marriage Agreement
††Colorado Courtship
Texas Gold
Tempting a Texan
The Texan
A Marriage by Chance
†A Convenient Wife
The Seduction of Shay Devereaux
Maggie’s Beau
One Christmas Wish
“Wish Upon a Star”
*Tanner Stakes His Claim
*The Bachelor Tax
The Midwife
The Tender Stranger
The Wedding Promise
Runaway
The Forever Man
Loving Katherine
Gerrity’s Bride
This story is dedicated to all those
wonderful readers who took time to write me after they’d read The Wedding Promise. And to those who asked why I hadn’t given Jake, a strong secondary character, a book of his own. I agreed with them, and found myself thinking often of Jake and wondering what had happened to him. This is it, ladies. Jake’s story, which in my humble opinion is the best story I’ve ever written.
My dedication would not be complete
without mentioning my manager, the wonderful Mr. Ed, who is my other half, my inspiration and my love.
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
Green Rapids, Kansas—Summer 1877
THE GRAVE GAPED, an obscene rectangle wherein lay a simple coffin. Lorena McPherson, wife of Jacob, mother of Jason, lay beneath the scattering of flowers the mourning family and townsfolk had dropped into the grave.
Whether to relieve the stark presence of death, or to send a final assurance of love to Lorena, the effect was the same. But since the flowers would soon be covered by six feet of dirt, they failed to offer any comfort to the man who watched.
Jake McPherson sat in his rolling chair, his only form of transportation since he had lost parts of both legs, courtesy of the war. A familiar figure in Green Rapids, Kansas, he was pitied beyond measure today. Beside him, his son, a boy of six—who would grow up motherless from this day forward—stood dry-eyed, with shoulders straight. The boy’s gaze was focused intently on the open grave.
Across the grave site, Jake’s brother, Cord McPherson and his wife and children watched, Rachel shedding tears but standing erect and strong beside her husband.
The sun shone brightly, and Jake thought with macabre humor that it should have, at the very least, been raining the proverbial cats and dogs. But the heavens had not even had the decency to lend their tears to the event.
He’d shared almost nine wonderful years with his Rena, had discovered a life worth living with her at his side. Now it was all for naught. Life would never be the same.
Two men picked up shovels and began the slow, methodical rhythm that would fill the grave, leaving it mounded and barren of grass. Rachel carried a basket of flowers to strew over the surface once the men were finished, an attempt to conceal the scars of a fresh grave site.
Jake hoped it would bring Rachel comfort, this final act of love for her dearest friend. He would not deny her any solace she might gain, but knew that nothing could ease the stark despair that gripped him. He was alone, again. It seemed he’d been a solitary man for most of his life.
Until Lorena…
CHAPTER ONE
Spring—1880
NO VISITORS. NO PEDDLERS. No Admittance.
