An Inconvenient Marriage

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For all its compactness, the little chapel was as dignified and classic as its occupant.

They turned and started toward the pergola to give Missus Adams her privacy while keeping an eye out for Emma, who was likely curled up somewhere, reading her book. And Absalom. As much as the man annoyed Samuel, he’d rather have him where he could watch him.

“I think Grandmother is serious about going to Memphis, if she can scrape together the money for a steamer ticket.”

The concern, the pain in those big hazel eyes, could have melted Samuel’s heart once. Before Veronica, before his mistakes, before he’d known the power of guilt—and that he didn’t deserve a second chance at love. Didn’t deserve more than a marriage of convenience, a loveless union, a wedding sham.

But even though this marriage was based on necessity rather than love, he now had the responsibility of Clarissa’s family. He mentally reviewed his financial state, including the modest inheritance from his parents. “I’ll be glad to cover the cost of her ticket.”

Clarissa’s eyes turned cloudy, like a thunderstorm on the river. She hesitated, glancing toward the sanctuary and the feisty woman sitting there, holding her cane like a spear at her side.

She faced Samuel again, fear in her countenance. “Must we help her leave me? She’s all I have.”

He might have thought he understood, since Emma was his only living relative. But Clarissa’s pained silence told him her story may have been more complex than his. Perhaps he understood less than he thought. “What happened to the rest of your family?”

Clarissa gazed into the sky, the waning sun setting fire to the gold flecks in her eyes. “When I was twelve, yellow fever hit the town just after we arrived in the spring. My father came down with it first, then Mother.”

Her voice dropped, and he leaned toward her to catch every nuance. “Then she went away to heaven.”

Her sigh came from someplace deep within, a slight duskiness now shadowing the tender, fair skin under her eyes. Samuel shifted a fraction closer to hear her low voice. “And then what?”