Samuel's Secret (Mail-Order Brides of Resurrection 1) Read online

  MAIL-ORDER BRIDES OF RESURRECTION

  Seven Brides for Seven Lawmen

  Samuel’s

  Secret

  Faith Parsons

  Seven Brides for Seven Lawmen: Samuel’s Secret, by Faith Parsons

  Copyright 2015 - First electronic publication, November 2015

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distribute via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the author's permission.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely incidental.

  A MAN WITH A HAUNTING SECRET

  Deputy Samuel Cruz escaped his troubled youth and turned his life around—no more drinking, no more gambling. He’s dedicated his life to upholding the law in Resurrection, Kansas: the town that gave him a chance to start fresh.

  The last thing he wants is to remember who he used to be.

  A WOMAN WITH A SENSE OF JUSTICE

  Mabel Hawthorne is a firm believer in second chances—that’s why she decided to become a mail-order bride. Marrying Samuel saves her from slaving away in a garment factory back East, now that her own parents are gone. She’s proud to be marrying a man who’s so dedicated to upholding the law and keeping others safe.

  But if there’s anything that sticks in her craw, it’s injustice—and out on the western frontier, the concept of justice is a little more flexible than Mabel’s used to.

  AN ABUSED BOY ON THE RUN

  When Samuel’s profligate past catches up with him, Mabel wants nothing more than to help him put things to rights.

  But this time, the law’s not on their side. As they fight to save a precocious boy from his abusive uncle, can Mabel keep Samuel on the straight-and-narrow?

  Seven Brides for Seven Lawmen: Samuel’s Secret is a clean, inspirational mail order bride romance. While this book is part of a series, it can definitely be read as a standalone book.

  In Faith Parson’s heartwarming clean romance stories, courageous men and their mail-order brides join together to make a new life on the Western frontier.

  MAIL-ORDER BRIDES OF SALVATION

  Book 1 - Winning the Deputy's Heart

  Book 2 - Winning the Rancher's Heart

  Book 3 - Winning the Doctor’s Heart

  Book 4 - Winning the Bounty Hunter’s Heart

  Book 5 - Winning the Blacksmith’s Heart

  Book 6 - Winning Homesteader’s Heart (coming in January 2016)

  MAIL-ORDER BRIDES OF RESURRECTION

  Seven Brides for Seven Lawmen

  Book 1 - Samuel’s Secret

  Book 2 - Ethan’s Duty (coming in January 2016)

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  Chapter 1

  Mabel Hawthorn leaned back in her seat and stared at the sparkle of dust motes in the sunbeams illuminating the train car’s interior. The next stop would be hers—and once she disembarked, her fate would be in the hands of her husband to be, Deputy Samuel Cruz.

  In his letters, he’d seemed to be the perfect man: thoughtful, down-to-earth, good-natured. How would he measure up in real life?

  Not that she had a lot of other choices if he disappointed her.

  She resisted the urge to twirl a carefully-arranged ringlet of hair around her fingers as she thought. She wanted him to find her attractive, not a rumpled mess.

  The train whistled, so loud Mabel reflexively clapped her hands to her ears. The rush of landscape through the window began to slow, and if she pressed her head against the glass, she could just barely make out the edge of town. She took out her handkerchief and dabbed at the sweat which had sprouted from her brow as her stomach clenched. Dress rumpled, eyes with shadows beneath them from trouble sleeping on hard seats, she feared she looked like a total disaster.

  With slow clicks and clacks, the train came to a stop. For a brief moment, her nerves got the better of her and she was tempted to stay in her seat. Be strong, Mabel.

  She made her way to the train’s door and saw several people waiting at the small platform that served as the train station. Her eyes quickly landed on the only man wearing a badge. Samuel. His brown dungarees were clean but somewhat worn, as were his heavily-embroidered boots and his Stetson. The white shirt looked new, though, and freshly-pressed. He’d wanted to look nice for her, too.

  Tall and lean, he was, with brown hair and dark eyes that looked gentle and kind. He smiled at her. Her heart stopped. In that fleeting instant, she believed she could be happy with this man. “Mabel?” he asked as he approached her.

  She nodded. “Is that you, Samuel?”

  His smile broadened. As rumpled and exhausted as she must look, he still seemed to approve. He reached out and took her hand, helping her down the stairs. With a glance over his shoulder he said to one of the young men who served as porters, “Gather her things and bring them to my house, will you, Johnny?”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll have them over there straight away, Deputy Cruz.” The boy ran off to gather her things.

  Mabel looked up at the tall, handsome man who placed her hand in the crook of his arm.

  “Let’s take a walk through the town, and I’ll show you where everything is, then get you settled.” Mabel thought she’d never get tired of listening to that deep, rich voice of his.

  The largest building in the town loomed ahead. Mabel asked, “Is that the mercantile?”

  “Sure is, that’s where we’ll get our dry goods and other staples, but I’ve got a vegetable garden out back. Just planted carrots, turnips and potatoes for winter. And I have a few chickens, for eggs.” Samuel looked down at her, beaming. “You’re even prettier than your picture.”

  She blushed so hard, she was sure she looked like a beet. “You’re taller than I expected.”

  Did she really just say that? His compliment had caught her off-balance. Compared to her sisters, Mabel considered herself rather plain. And as the youngest of five girls, her complete lack of dowry discouraged most of the suitors who might have otherwise found her acceptable.

  “I m-m-mean…it’s a little disorienting to finally be here after imagining it for so many months. I’ll do my best to be a good wife.”

  With a slight laugh he said, “I’m mighty glad to hear that. No doubt we’ll get used to each other soon enough. I promise you I’ll do my best for us to have a happy life together.”

  Mabel ducked her head, shyly. “Thank you, Samuel.”

  He pointed to the small, wooden building to their right. “That’s the saloon. I don’t frequent that establishment except to break up the occasional fist fight. Resurrection’s a pretty tame town in that respect. Not like Dodge.”

  “So, people are all pretty nice here?” she asked.

  “No one’s perfect, but most of us try to be neighborly.” He sighed. “We do have a few rowdies. Most of the trouble comes from people stopping in on their way to someplace else, though. I get called in to help bring tempers down more often than I’d like.”

  She peered up at him and shielded her eyes from the noonday sun. “So that’s mostly what you do as a deputy, keep the pea
ce?”

  “Yep, I’m the one they call to get things settled down before anyone gets hurt.”

  Relief washed through Mabel. “Being a deputy, I was afraid you’d live a very dangerous life.”

  “Not me.” He said with a wide smile. “This town isn’t that rough.”

  A dark haired young woman came to the saloon doors and pushed them open. When she caught sight of Samuel, she tried to turn and go back inside.

  Samuel stopped and said, “How are things going, Jean?”

  Her eyes looked only at the ground and her foot kicked at the dirt. “Fine, sir.”

  Mabel guessed from the young woman’s garish green dress and red hair ribbons that she must be a prostitute. But beneath that heavy layer of rouge and powder, she thought the girl must be young. Maybe not even of age. And she certainly didn’t act the way Mabel would have thought a woman of the evening might behave. She didn’t have the seductive air or the world-weary lines in her face that Mabel would have expected, either.

  In fact, this girl reminded Mabel a lot of herself.

  Mabel knew that she had been lucky to find Samuel, lucky that her parents had been able to afford to feed her until she’d found a husband. Maybe the saloon girl hadn’t chosen this life for herself—there weren’t a lot of options out West for a girl with no family to watch out for her. Maybe she wasn’t any different that Mabel, except for having suffered greater misfortune.

  Maybe she could be saved.

  Mabel waited for Samuel to introduce her. He didn’t. So she took matters into her own hands. “I’m Samuel’s betrothed, Mabel Hawthorn. What’s your name?”

  “Jean,” the young woman replied with obvious reluctance, after glancing at Samuel. As if she had to ask permission to speak to Mabel.

  Samuel patted Mabel’s hand, still tucked into the crook of his arm. “We should be g—”

  Mabel ignored the hint. “Will I see you at church, Jean?”

  “I don’t attend.” Jean’s eyes went back to looking only at the ground.

  Mabel looked at Samuel and pulled away from him, walked over to Jean. “You should, there’s always room in the Lord’s house for everyone. Please think about it. I’ll come by on Sunday morning and you can walk with us to the service.”

  Jean’s eyes darted to Samuel’s. “Would that be okay with you, Deputy?”

  Samuel nodded, looking bemused. “Of course. Dress appropriately.”

  A smile lit up the young woman’s pale face. “I will, thank you.”

  Mabel turned back to Samuel, and he caught her hand and tucked it back into the crook of his arm.

  “See you, Sunday morning, Jean. It was lovely to meet you,” Mabel said as Samuel led her down the dirt street.

  After they got a safe distance away, Samuel asked in a low voice, “You do realize she’s a prostitute, don’t you?”

  “I do,” she said and pointed to the next small building on the left. “Is that the post office?”

  “It is,” he said. “But don’t go changing the subject on me. Inviting the saloon girls to church—that’s going to reflect on your reputation. Some won’t like it.”

  “She was so young, Samuel. Younger than me. If I hadn’t found you…if my family had been a little bit poorer…well, I hope that someone else would invite me to church if I were in her position. How else is she going to find her way back to God?”

  “If it means respectable women won’t have anything to do with you, will trying to save Jean be worth it?”

  “Doesn’t the Bible say everyone who sincerely repents will be forgiven?”

  Samuel smiled. “I do believe it does.”

  Mabel had to ask. “Do you think less of me for having invited a saloon girl to church?”

  “I think more of you for living by your principles, even when it might make things harder for you to make friends in your new home.”

  “Even if it means people might think less of you, for allowing it?”

  “Right is right, it doesn’t matter what people think of you for doing it.”

  A man with a badge marched around the corner, dragging a young boy who fought in vain to free himself from the deputy’s grip. Samuel had just been telling her how little trouble there was here. What could that boy have possibly done to earn such treatment from the law?

  “Hey!” Samuel hollered. “What’d he do, Robert? Knock over the candy store?”

  Robert let the boy go and pointed at Samuel. “That’s the man you’re looking for, son.

  The boy, shorter than Mabel and a touch too thin for his height, stomped up to Samuel and Mabel. His clothes were disheveled and stained. A greenish-purple splotch colored the side of his neck, and where his wrists emerged from his shirtsleeves, more bruises. She was about to speak sharply to Robert when she realized they were too old to have been caused by the other deputy. Someone else had been beating the child.

  “You remember me?” the boy asked Samuel.

  “Can’t say I do, son.” Samuel smiled at the boy.

  “My name is Mikey Stevens,” the boy said. “You kilt my pa over a poker game. I’m here to avenge him.”

  Chapter 2

  Mabel’s mouth fell open, and she couldn’t seem to close it. Surely Samuel would explain to the boy that he was mistaken. Samuel had just been telling her how he only visited the saloon to keep others from getting hurt. He’d never shoot another man over a game of cards.

  Would he? The look of shock and guilt on his face suggested that the boy was telling the truth.

  So did the fact that Samuel said nothing to defend himself against the accusation.

  Mabel’s knees went weak. What other secrets might he be hiding from her?

  “That was five years ago,” Samuel said solemnly.

  “Ma died of consumption last week. Now I have to go live with my uncle. He’s meaner than the devil. But before I do, I had to keep my promise.”

  “What promise is that?”

  “To challenge you to a duel.”

  Samuel stooped to one knee. “I apologize to you, son. I didn’t want to kill your father. He was drunk. He drew on me. I had no choice.”

  “Well, I got no choice either.” The boy glared at Samuel. “I challenge you to a duel.”

  “Dueling is against the law. I couldn’t accept your challenge even if I wanted to. Especially not a duel with a kid.”

  “I’m doing a man’s work, avenging my kin. And my uncle don’t hesitate to make me do a man’s job at the factory. I reckon that makes me a man.”

  “Maybe I can help you.”

  “I swore to Ma that I’d shoot you dead, and that’s what I’m going to do, Deputy Cruz.”

  Samuel’s eyebrows shot up. “With what, boy?”

  The boy pulled out a small pistol. “Borrowed this from my uncle. But I was raised right and I know it ain’t right to shoot a man when he ain’t ready. So name the time and the place. If you ain’t yeller.”

  He turned to walk away.

  Mabel stepped forward quickly. “Where are you staying, Mikey?”

  The boy stopped and turned back. “What do you care?”

  “Are you traveling with your uncle?”

  “Hell no, woman.”

  It was all Mabel could do to keep her expression firm, the words sounded so shockingly funny coming from a boy his age.

  “Watch your language around the lady, son. Would your mother be proud to hear you curse?”

  The boy blushed, looked down at the ground. “Sorry, ma’am.”

  “If you’re not traveling with your uncle,” Mabel persisted, “do you have relatives in town?”

  “I’m thirteen, plenty old enough to take care of myself. Don’t worry about me, Missus Deputy, worry about the man you're standing behind.”

  Samuel looked like he’d been punched in the gut. Mabel resolved to ask him what’d happened later, in private. Whatever had happened between her husband-to-be and the boy’s father, he clearly felt awful about it.

  A loud whistle
filled the air as a warm breeze made its way down the dirt covered street, kicking up the dust. Samuel, Robert, and Mabel looked up to see a tall man with dark hair riding a Palomino towards the boy. The man gave a shout, “That you, Mikey?”

  The boy cringed and looked around wildly, like an animal hoping to escape a trap.

  “You know that man?” Samuel asked.

  The boy nodded. It seemed he might be about to run just as the man shouted, “Grab him, he’s bound to run!”

  Mabel placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Mikey, what’s going on?”

  “Please don’t make me go with him.” the boy pleaded as he looked straight into Mabel’s eyes.

  She gave him a nod, but didn’t say a word. The boy had shown no fear when challenging Samuel to a duel, even though it was clear he was overmatched. How bad was this uncle, if Mikey was terrified of him?

  The man on the palomino dismounted and approached them. “Hello, I’m Howard Stevens, the boy’s uncle. He stole my gun and some money and ran off.”

  Samuel extended his hand and shook the man’s hand. “I’m Deputy Cruz. Seems your nephew here has an issue with me.”

  “I know who you are, Deputy. You’re the man who shot my brother three years ago.” He raised both hands up, as if to ward off protest. “I hold no ill will, the man was a gambling moron with a horrible temper. My bet is he drew on you first.”

  “He did.”

  “Forgive my manners, ma’am.” Howard tipped his hat to Mabel, but she disliked the way his eyes roamed over her body as he did so.

  Apparently Samuel objected to Howard’s ogling as well. He stepped forward, in front of Mabel and the boy. “What’s your business with your nephew?”

  “I apologize for troubling you, Deputy. Mikey’s unruly and headstrong, just like his father was. I sent him to work in a factory, to earn his keep.”