The store was empty, which was strange for this time of the day. Usually there were people milling around, making their purchases for the week. He was grateful though, that there was no one there to see him.

  He saw Mrs. Parker stocking one of the shelves in the back. He walked up to her, knocking on the desk behind her. “Mrs. Parker?” he called to her.

  She turned around and smiled when she saw it was him. “Pastor! It’s wonderful to see you.” She put the box in her hand down on the counter, as she stood in front of it. “What can I get for you?”

  “I’m not here to get anything,” he said. “I just wanted to let you know, I thought about what you said, and I agree. It is time for me to take a wife.”

  She clasped her hands together and let out a laugh. “Oh, I’m so glad! You won’t regret it. I can probably help you with some meetings,” she said, as she started to list a few women that should catch his interest.

  He put his hand up to stop her. “While I appreciate your advice, I have already contacted my brother for help.”

  “Your brother in Philadelphia?” she questioned.

  “Yes. He is the one that helped me secure a bride for Jeremiah.”

  “Esther! Oh, my lord. I always forget that she was a proxy bride, not an angel dropped from the sky.” She smiled broadly. Everyone in the town loved Esther. She was such a wonderful addition to their lives. She had turned the Price family around. The children terrorized the town after their mother died and people would hide when they saw them coming. You could definitely say they were little terrors. But once Esther become part of their family, they started to change for the better.

  “I don’t want it getting out that I’m getting married until I’m able to introduce her to the congregation.”

  “I understand,” she nodded. “If your brother could find Jeremiah his Esther, then I am sure that he will be able to find you the right person.”

  Eli could only smile in agreement.

  Eli waited on the platform for the stagecoach to arrive. He had arrived too early, so he had been pacing back and forth on the platform. He checked his watch. Ten minutes before the stage was due to arrive. He looked at his watch again and the time hadn’t changed. He rocked back and forth on his heels, looked at the sky, looked back towards the town and then checked his watch again. He was sure that time had slowed down. One last look and he heard the sound of the whistle announcing the coach’s arrival.

  Eli took a deep breath and wiped his hands on his coat. The weather hadn’t turned warm yet, but he was feeling warm under the woolen coat. His nerves were growing. In his mind he had a vision of how it was going to be to finally meet her. He would be overcome by her beauty. She’d be beautiful, but not too beautiful. Shy, but not too demure.

  Everything about her would be everything he was looking for. God had always been good to him, and he knew that Jacob would only send him a woman that would complement him as a pastor. She would be everything he needed in a wife.

  He looked around to see a few people staring at him. Even though he didn’t want people to know, word had spread that he was now a married man. It helped with the women that were forward with their affections. He didn’t have to come up with a story now or avoid those individuals.

  He knew that they were anxiously awaiting to see what his new bride would look like. He knew he was too. He saw the coach appear in the distance. He could feel his palms sweating in anticipation of their first meeting. Would it be love at first sight? He had hoped so.

  He wanted them to have an instant connection. He thought it would make the transition easier if they shared some sort of attraction. He wasn’t trying to be superficial; he wanted to care about her mind and soul. But he was a man; of course, he was hoping that her physical appearance would be enticing to him.

  The stagecoach driver pulled the stage right in front of him and stopped. Then the driver turned to throw the luggage from the top of the coach to the ground before scrambling down himself. Eli let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

  The driver opened the door and a woman appeared. She was exactly as Eli had pictured his wife would look. The woman had long wavy black hair and brown eyes. Her lavender dress was plain, and her face was clean and bright. She was a little shorter than he would have liked, but he knew that was only a minor detail. She looked docile. He was happy, knowing that she was exactly as he wanted.

  He approached the woman who looked at him with wide eyes. “Hello, I hope your trip was a good one,” he said with a smile.

  She returned the smile, though there was a bit of confusion running through her features. “Yes, it was a bit of a struggle getting from the train to here. But it’s nothing I wasn’t used to.”

  There was something in her tone of voice that made him question what her meaning was, but he chose to ignore it. “Well, I’ve set you up with a room in the hotel for now; I don’t have a place for you to stay yet. But I’m hopeful I can find something soon for the both of us.”

  The woman arched her eyebrow up. “I think you may have me mistaken for someone else,” she said, as she looked past him towards the mercantile.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “I’m here to visit my brother,” she said with a smile. “I usually make the trip this time every year.”

  “You aren’t Autumn?” he asked. It was the only piece of information he knew about his future wife.

  The woman shook her head. “No; my name is Katheryn. I’m sure you mean the other woman I was in the coach with.” She tilted her head, motioning behind her. “If you’ll excuse me,” she said, as she walked past him.

  Eli looked back at the coach and he was taken aback by the vision in front of him.

  The greenest eyes he had ever seen looked back him. They were attached to a woman with fiery red hair. He had never seen hair that bright; it was blinding, almost like staring at the sun. She was the perfect height. He could imagine holding her with her head tucked under his chin. She had beautiful skin with rosy cheeks and full lips the color of a ripe peach.

  He felt his stomach clench with desire. She took his breath away. He had never felt like that when looking at anyone, especially a woman he didn’t know. He tried to shake the feeling away, but he couldn’t.

  She looked around the platform as if searching for someone. Since there were no other people emerging from the stagecoach, Eli decided that he had nothing to lose, as he had already embarrassed himself enough. He approached the woman, asking “Are you Autumn?”

  “Yes, I am.” The woman was much younger than he imagined. He wasn’t old at 33, but this woman didn’t look much older than some of the school girls that were running through town.

  He cleared his throat. “I’m Elijah Barnes, Jacob’s brother.”

  She stared at him for what seemed like a long minute, until recognition appeared on her face. She put her hand on her mouth and gasped. “Oh, you look like a younger version of him!” she exclaimed. “You must get that a lot,” she added, trying to regain her composure.

  “Yes, when we were together in Philadelphia. But here, I can be my own person,” he said. “Welcome to Sulphur Springs, Autumn.” He reached his hand out to her. She looked at his outstretched hand and then back at him. “I’m not going to bite,” he said, trying to ease the tension that had appeared between them.

  After a few seconds, she placed her hand in his. His fingers curled around hers and he rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. He heard her intake of breath and her green eyes flew up to meet his. Yes, he was definitely attracted to his new wife.

  He gave one more swipe before releasing her hand. “Let me get your luggage,” he said, as he went to the few pieces of luggage that were tossed to the ground. “Which one is yours?” he asked. She pointed to the small suitcase to the side. He thought it was rather small for someone to bring, but he didn’t question it. He grabbed the suitcase and returned to hold her hand. They walked in comfortable silence towards the hotel. When she saw where they were going, she stopped, pulling him back to stand next to her.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, a frown appearing on her forehead.

  “I’m going to take you to the hotel, where you are going to stay until we can make other arrangements,” he said quickly. He didn’t want to stay too long on the street, as he didn’t want to call attention to them. He was sure that her hair was going to draw attention. Someone that looked like her didn’t appear in the town that often.

  “Why am I going to stay at the hotel? Shouldn’t I be staying with you?” she asked.

  “Well, I don’t really have a place for you to stay…,” he started to say.

  She abruptly let go of his hand. “You have no place for me to stay? I came all the way out here and you don’t have a place for me to stay?” she repeated. She closed her eyes and crossed her arms, before slowly opening them again. It was as if she expected him to disappear and was disappointed that he was still there. “How can this be possible? You had all this time to make arrangements, and yet you have no problem sending me to stay somewhere else.” She took her finger and pointed in his chest, tapping it with every word. “Somewhere. That. Is. Not. With. You.”

  He could see the fire building in her eyes, the intensity matching the hair on her head. As she started to let out a harsh breath, he wondered if he had gotten more than he could handle. He wondered if this was a test from God. He had been tested before, and he had always prevailed. He was confident in his endurance. But there was something about the way that she was looking at him that made him think that she could be the very end of him.

  Chapter 6

  Autumn was annoyed. The train ride had been longer than she had expected. It wasn’t the days that had bothered her; it was the time that she was enclosed in the cramped space. A day felt like a hundred on that train, so she already felt she had been travelling forever.

  Getting on the stagecoach for the last leg to Sulphur Springs wasn’t much better. The ride was rough, tossing her and the woman she was traveling with around the coach like they were dolls. It didn’t help her any that a feeling of apprehension started boiling up inside her the closer she got to her destination.

  It wasn’t that she regretted her decision; she had been telling herself during the trip that it had been the right thing to do. There was nothing for her in Philadelphia; she needed to get away and start a new life. The anxiety she felt was regarding her new husband.

  She had tried to envision him in her head, but each time, only a shadow of a man had appeared. She had wished she had seen him before, so at least she could see what he was like before she had agreed to it. She had asked Pastor Barnes if he had any photos that he could show her; he told her that unfortunately, any photos they had had been lost over the years. He promised her that they looked rather similar – they were brothers after all. Autumn didn’t like to make her mystery man look like Pastor Barnes, so she kept her thoughts to the shadow figure.

  But now that Eli was in front of her, he wasn’t exactly as she pictured him in her mind. While true, he looked like a younger version of Pastor Barnes, Jacob there were some stark differences. It was as if someone had taken the best parts of Jacob and accentuated them to create Eli. He was much more attractive than she had allowed herself to imagine.

  When she got off the coach, he was the first person she saw. She watched as he approached the other woman first. Disappointment filled her, as she thought he wasn’t her husband. Looking around the platform, hoping to see another man waiting, she noticed that the town’s residents were most peculiar. They would glance her way and then quickly break away to avoid eye contact. She even saw a small child point to her and say something to his mother. The woman shushed him and pulled the child down the street by the arm.

  She had hoped that moving would allow her to be accepted, but it appeared nothing had changed. Her red hair was already drawing attention. Although her location had changed, it appeared that behaviors were the same nationwide.

  She overheard a bit of their conversation and her ears perked up when she heard him address the woman by her name. She tried to keep herself contained, as the brunette walked past him, leaving him only to stare at her. And now they were standing in front of the hotel that was going to be her new home.

  Feelings of abandonment were already creeping up and she had only just arrived. “You are going to dump me here?” she questioned.

  “No; I just think that you would be more comfortable here in the hotel. I really have no place for you to stay,” he said, trying to appease her in some way. She could tell her husband was uncomfortable being around her.

  Autumn was tired of being passed around as if no one wanted her. She lost her parents, had to live with Mrs. Henderson for a bit, then her Aunt and Uncle who certainly didn’t want her there apart from being a cook and washerwoman. Then she lived at the church for a bit. It was the first time she had peace in as long as she could remember.

  She had prepared herself for her new life with a man she had never met. She was not about to spend weeks in a place that wasn’t permanent, away from her husband, only to have to move again later and become accustomed to someplace new. She was just tired, and the anger started to bubble inside her.

  “I was expecting to move in with you today. I don’t want to be away from you, I don’t think it would be good for our marriage,” she said, with all the sincerity she could muster.

  “I’m sorry; I promise that we will start looking for a place for us both to live. This will only be a temporary arrangement. I know this isn’t what you thought it was going to be. I just hope that you will be able to endure for the moment.”

  She looked at his face. He seemed to be restraining from what he really wanted to say. She wanted him to say what he really felt. She wanted him to shout at her, the way that she was shouting at him. It would make her feel less uneasy.

  She started to look around. The passersby were staring at them arguing in the street. She didn’t like the way they were looking at her; she didn’t like it at all. This move was supposed to be for the good. It was supposed to be like she was starting over. She was promised that.

  Had God betrayed her? What happened to all that stuff Pastor Barnes told her? Where was the path God was supposed to guide her on? She was told God only gave a person what they were prepared for? If that were true, then God had thoroughly misappropriated what she was prepared for.

  “This was a mistake,” she said, as she turned away from him.

  “What do you mean?” she heard him ask behind her.

  “This is not what I thought it was going to be. And it’s obvious that I’m not what you were looking for either. Maybe we should just say our piece and say goodbye. I can go back to Philadelphia, and we can forget this ever happened.”

  She could hear Eli behind her, catch his breath. She wondered what he was thinking. There was a part of her that hoped that he didn’t feel this way; she wanted him to want her in a way that she hadn’t felt wanted in a long time. For the past two years, she had been jostled around by a family that only wanted her for what they could get from her. She needed someone to want to have her around. She had wanted him to want that from her.

  She heard him sigh, as he turned her around to face him. His face looked tired and his eyes looked sad. “We are married. You can’t just leave.”

  “This is not what I was promised though. I should be allowed to change my mind,” she countered.

  “You can’t change your mind,” he said, coming closer to her so that he could whisper to her. “I’m a Pastor in this town. We were married in the house of God. There is no way we can break our vows.”

  “I don’t want to just be some secret. I came here to start a life with someone and I refuse to be kept in the shadows,” she said, finally exhaling the breath she had been holding. She felt lighter, searching his eyes for understanding.

  He grabbed her hand and held it in his. “Whatever you are thinking about in that pretty little head of yours, it’s not what you think. I promise that I am not putting you in a hotel because I am trying to hide you. It’s honestly because I wasn’t prepared for your arrival.”

  She looked up in his eyes, hoping that she could believe him. She nodded and followed him towards the hotel.

  She knew then that she couldn’t go back. There was this strong pull between them that she couldn’t explain. She didn’t know if he had felt it too, but she knew that she had to stay there to see where it would go. She would have to make sure to keep her temper in check, before it burnt them both.

  She was stuck. She had been in town for nearly a week and had only seen her husband twice. She ventured out once, but quickly retreated back to the hotel once she realized that people were staring and pointing at her again.

  The one time that Eli did visit she was so upset from her trip out of the hotel that she lashed out at him, throwing the blankets and pillows from the bed at him. She wanted to spend time with her husband, but he appeared determine to stay away from her. He gave her an excuse of being busy around the church and with the wedding season fast approaching, meeting with prospective brides and grooms.

  Autumn decided that it was time to face the situation head on. That is what her father instilled in her. If there was a situation you didn’t like, go meet it before it gets the best of you. He applied that to business and life. If only her poppa was there for her to talk to. He would have wisdom enough to help her through the situation. But then, if her poppa, momma and sister were still alive she wouldn’t be in the situation she was in.

  Determined not to be noticed, she braided her hair into two braids that she pinned on top of her head. She then took a scarf, one of the few remaining possessions from her life in Philadelphia and wrapped it around her hair. There. No one would be able to see her fiery locks. They would just assume she was a maid or a worker at the hotel.

  She headed down to the lobby. Mr. Spencer sat behind the desk reading the newspaper. She cleared her throat.