Chapter Thirteen
“What?” Madelaine was so stunned at what Luke had just said she could hardly speak.
Luke was seemingly still mulling it over, most likely regretting his astonishing outburst, because he had taken off his Stetson and now absentmindedly scratched his thick dark-brown curls.
Then, she saw him slowly nod. He fixed his Stetson back on top of his head and straightened his broad shoulders.
Madelaine noticed how tall and strong he looked in that moment, but her pressing question needed an answer. “Luke!”
“Yes. Yes,” he announced, his face emotionless. “We should get married.”
She was so stunned she didn’t even know what to say, gaping at him like an imbecile. Despite the undeniable similarities, Luke’s proposal felt very different from the one Phineas had confronted her with weeks earlier.
“It will ensure your safety,” Luke explained, finally. “First and foremost, I want to protect the children,” he added. “And just so there’s no misunderstanding, it will be a marriage of convenience. Nothing more.” He nodded, putting emphasis on the last sentence.
“But…” Madelaine tried to make sense of his change of heart after he had yelled at her only minutes ago, calling her out on her deception. “How…?”
“I am still very angry,” he declared, raising his chin and looking down his nose at her, which made her shrink back a little.
He had every right to be. “Truthfully, I am extremely disappointed. I don’t like being lied to, Madelaine, and I can’t promise you that I will forgive you for what you’ve done.
Unlike your God, I don’t believe in forgiveness. ”
That stung. He continued with authority, not an ounce of emotion in his voice, “All I expect is your honesty. So, if you accept my proposal, it will be purely on paper, nothing else. But it should give the three of you the security you need to move forward with whatever plan you have to solve the issues at your parents’ ranch. ”
Hearing all he was saying, there was something else lingering in the air.
Something unspoken. Madelaine was unsure of what it meant—she couldn’t put her finger on it, but at least it didn’t make her uncomfortable.
Most noticeably, it was nothing like her previous reaction to Phineas’ proposal, which had made her nauseous on the spot.
This one hadn’t.
Luke raised a single eyebrow, which prompted her to nod.
His face appeared just as shocked as she was. Had she just agreed to marry him?
Luke sighed. Was this a happy sigh? Did he regret her answer? What did it mean?
“Well, then,” he said coolly. “I’ll call the priest over first thing tomorrow morning. We’ll get married before noon. Have a good night.”
Madelaine was still too stunned to react, and before she knew what was happening, Luke turned on his heel, and the door fell shut behind him.
***
Madelaine had never anticipated her wedding being like this.
Before her parents passed away, she had always imagined it like some kind of fairytale, as most young girls did, where her father would walk her down the aisle in a beautiful dress all the way to the altar.
She’d always fantasized about a fancy satin dress, as blue as the sky, with lots of embroidered flowers on the long, wide skirt.
There were flowers in her hair, and in her mind, the church pews as well as the altar were all decorated in draped flower garlands and bouquets.
She’d always thought of her future wedding day as a celebration—of her love for her future husband as well as her love for God.
None of this happened.
Her father was no longer there to walk her anywhere, and since it was winter, there were no flowers around.
In fact, there were no decorations of any kind and no walking down any aisle, period.
She didn’t wear a satin dress, either. Instead, she wore a dress Evelyn considered her very best, since the one Madelaine had been wearing when she came here was too drab for the occasion.
Fitting for the weather, it was made of wool in a light dove gray, which enhanced her green eyes.
Since Evelyn had come into her room earlier to help her get ready for the wedding ceremony, she hadn’t said much, and Madelaine knew that this was mainly because of her deception.
Although Madelaine had no idea how much of her confession Luke had divulged to her and Caleb, Evelyn seemed to know that she had lied to all of them, and that made this whole scenario extremely uncomfortable. Frankly, Madelaine was deeply ashamed.
Evelyn was busy braiding her long black hair, pinning it up in some artful creation. When Evelyn finished one braid, Madelaine grabbed her hand. “Evelyn? I need to talk to you.”
Her friend looked at her with an indistinguishable expression on her face. “I already know,” she said quietly. “Luke told me everything.”
Madelaine’s heart sank. How was she supposed to come back from this?
“I am so very, very sorry, Evelyn,” she said with pleading eyes.
“I should have never betrayed you like this. You are the one person who least deserves this kind of treatment and…” Madelaine paused when she saw Evelyn shake her head.
Devastated, she was sure that she had lost Evelyn’s friendship forever.
But then Evelyn put her hand over Madelaine’s and squeezed it gently.
“I am not saying that it was all right to lie, but I do understand what drove you to it. I can’t honestly stand here and pretend that I would have handled the situation differently if I had been in your shoes,” Evelyn said quietly.
“Will you forgive me?” Madelaine asked in a whisper.
“I already have,” she said. “I was mostly concerned for the children’s well-being.
I didn’t know what your intentions were, or even if they truly were your siblings…
” Now it was Evelyn who lowered her head, seemingly ashamed.
“I misjudged you completely, and that was very small-minded of me. I am a Christian woman with good morals, and this is not something I should do. I am sure God is thoroughly disappointed in my behavior. So, please accept my apology for treating you so wrongly.”
Madelaine stared at her with wide eyes. “But you didn’t! And if you are worried about disappointing God, what am I supposed to say? I lied to the kindest people!”
Evelyn vehemently shook her head. “Truthfully, I admire you for your strength to go through with it, to be honest. I know your heart and your deep love for the Lord, and I know for a fact that you didn’t do this out of malicious intent.
I am certain He knows this, too. If anything, God would be proud of you, I think, for protecting the little ones the way you did. ”
“I don’t think I have ever met a true angel on Earth until I met you, Evelyn. I really mean that most sincerely,” Madelaine said, got up from her chair, and pulled her friend into a tight hug. “I felt so very guilty this whole time. I never thought you would ever be able to forgive me.”
Evelyn returned the hug, and both women stood there, sharing a short, silent moment. Madelaine could physically feel how the tension left her body. A huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
“God works in such mysterious ways,” she said. “Doesn’t He, Evy?”
“He brought you straight to me, and I am grateful for your friendship, Maddie.” When Evelyn stepped back, the two of them smiled at each other, and the ice was finally broken.
“Can I ask you something?” Madelaine asked because there was something else that was weighing heavily on her mind.
“Anything.”
“Uhm… I don’t know how to say this… You and I are both Christian, and we are both very strong in our faith. But what about Luke? I mean, does he not believe in God?”
Evelyn nodded with a sad smile. “Deep in his heart, Luke is a Christian man. He is just a little… lost, right now.” Evelyn cleared her throat.
“I don’t know how much he has told you, but he is not the brute he has shown himself to be.
He is a great man, with good values, and a very strong heart, but he’s just… angry and confused, right now.”
“Because of his wife and children?”
Evelyn nodded with a solemn face. “The day they died, something inside of him died, too. It was as if the light in his eyes had been extinguished. He was in limbo, drinking, self-hatred, and self-blame. He started to blame the Lord for taking them away from him. Isabelle was a very devout Christian woman herself, and he didn’t understand why God would punish her—and their children—like that. ”
Madelaine’s heart went out to him. “God didn’t do this. People did.”
“Exactly, but he doesn’t see it that way. In his eyes, God didn’t protect the ones most faithful to Him.”
Madelaine’s chest cracked wide open. She could relate all too well to all the doubt and resentment. Although she never wavered in her beliefs because she sought solace in the Lord, there had been times when she’d questioned things herself. “I understand.”
“The sad thing is, he not only blamed himself and God,” she continued.
“He also directed his anger at other people. His father-in-law, Timothy, was the only survivor of the attack, but Luke blamed him for not saving his family, too. Isabelle was Timothy’s only daughter, and he loved her more than anything.
After her death, he was so very heartbroken himself Luke’s accusations became all too much, and he couldn’t take it anymore. So, he left the ranch.”
“Timothy? Is this Timothy Richards?” Madelaine asked, hopeful. Evelyn nodded, looking at her friend with a curious expression. “He was my father’s childhood friend, and I had hoped to find him, to speak to him about helping me get my parents’ ranch back, but I guess that is no longer an option.”
“Maybe I can write to him and ask him, if you’d like?” Evelyn suggested.
“Write to him? What do you mean?”
“I still write to Timothy, sometimes. Isabelle was my best friend, and I loved her father. He is such a nice man. And he always replies.”