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Gracious, what had she done? No, he hadn’t offered to court her, but she’d assumed… Lord above, first item on her agenda would be to teach her new husband some manners. Truth be told, courting did seem a bit ridiculous at this point. They’d shared so much already. She loved him, and she was ready to be with him. So ready.
Pa would never agree. Unless…
“Garth,” she said, her voice shaking. “Let me speak to my mother and father. You stay out here. Please.”
Before he could argue, she rushed into the house where her parents were sitting in the front room.
“Ruth, you look…dazed, dear,” her mother said, smiling. “Must have been some nice walk with the young doctor.”
Land sakes. The doctor. Well, she’d just set them straight. That’s all there was to it.
“No, Ma. Doc Potter and I will no longer be seeing each other.”
“Oh?” Her mother’s eyebrows arched. “Why not?”
“Because—” She gulped, and her tummy did a somersault. “Because I’m going to marry Garth Mackenzie, that’s why. He’s outside, and we must marry tonight.”
That got Pa’s attention. “Tonight? Are you out of your mind, daughter?”
“No, Pa. It must be tonight.” She cleared her throat, summoned her courage. “You see, he and I have had…intimate relations.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie. Though she and Garth had not engaged in the act itself, they had been intimate on more than one occasion.
Her mother stood, fire flashing in her blue eyes. “I raised you better than this, Ruth Ellen Blackburn.”
“I want to marry him, Ma. I love him.” That was no lie. No lie at all.
Pa stood, his violet eyes glaring. “Did he force himself on you?”
“No! Goodness no.” Again, no lie. “I went with him willingly. I swear it.”
Pa inhaled sharply and let it out in a slow stream. He reached for his service book on the mantel. “Bring him in, then.”
“Charles,” Ma said, touching his arm, “you can’t mean you’re in favor of this.”
“I’m in favor of nothing, Molly, but the deed is done. Ruth’s choice was made then. I’ll not have my grandchild born out of wedlock.”
Chapter Ten
Ruth canceled the last week of school. First she’d let her students out early that fateful day last week. Then she’d canceled today’s classes because she’d been caring for Mary Alice all night. Now, after leaving a note on the schoolhouse that there would again be no more school due to Miss Blackburn’s marriage to Mr. Garth Mackenzie, she sat next to her husband on his hard buckboard, bumping along to his home.
Their home.
“I’ll bring you to your pa’s tomorrow after breakfast,” Garth said. “You can get your things packed up then.”
She nodded. She hadn’t taken anything with her. The ceremony had been mercifully brief, and though her father had shaken Garth’s hand, his face had betrayed his anguish.
“Is there anything you need?” he asked.
“Need? What do you mean?”
“For tonight.”
“Oh. Yes, I guess. I don’t have anything to sleep in.”
He chuckled gruffly. “You won’t need anything to sleep in.”
Her neck warmed and she fingered her collar. “I don’t have much. Just my clothes, a few things in my hope chest. My books, of course. And Miranda.”
