The Law and Miss Mary (22 page)

Mary accepted the captain’s hand down from the chaise, though it cost her a few lost heartbeats to do so. She moved a few steps away from him toward the top of a knoll and looked around while she gathered her frayed emotions. Trees of different varieties were scattered here and there over its surface and on the grassy fields at the bottom of its slope. She could hear the whisper of the river flowing by on the other side. “What is this place? And why have you brought me here?”

“More questions?” The captain smiled.

Mary looked away, lest she lose her train of thought. “Yes. And I believe you promised me answers, Captain Benton.”

“So I did.” He stepped toward her.

She backed up a step. “You can start by telling me where the
Journey’s End
has taken the orphans.” She gaped at him, struck by a sudden frightening thought. “Did—did they kidnap them?
Oh, my!
Whatever—”

“The children have not been kidnapped, Miss Randolph. I assure you, everything is perfectly legal. I am an officer of the law, after all. Or at least, I was. I believe I have been let go from my job.”

“Let go! But—but—” She bit off the rude question. Made an effort to control her shock.

“But…why?”

Heat climbed into her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Captain. That is your personal business. I have no right to pry.”

“Oh, but you do, Miss Randolph.” He stepped closer. “You are the reason I lost my position.”

“
I
am?” Understanding dawned. “The orphans.”

The captain nodded. “The orphans, too. Certainly. But it was you personally who turned the mayor against me.” His eyes held hers.

“I don’t understand. What—”

“Levinia became jealous of you.”

“
Jealous!
Of
me?
” Incredulity swept through her. “Whatever for?”

“Because you changed my dream.”

She stared at him, bewildered. At a loss for how to respond. It was just as well. The look in his eyes had robbed her of the ability to speak. He looked away. Waved his hand through the air.

“This spot where we are standing is the place where I intended to build my showplace house.”

“Your
showplace
house?”

He nodded. His face taut, his eyes shadowed. “My father was a drunk. Whatever money he earned, which was little enough, he spent on drink. There was seldom food in the house—and never enough of it. We lived in shanties and sheds with holes in the roofs and walls and with broken windowpanes.”

He stared out into the distance, a faraway look in his eyes, and she knew he was seeing those hovels.

“I had a little brother…Danny.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, hunched his shoulders. “He was a great kid—always smiling and laughing. Except when he was too hungry or sick.” He stopped, took a deep breath.

He
was
a great kid. His brother had died. Her heart ached for him.

“Ma was sick, too. I tried to take care of them as best I knew how, but there wasn’t anything to do for them. No food to give them the strength to get better.” He glanced her way. “I stole some whenever I could find a way.” He looked into the distance again. “There were no dry blankets to put on their bed that had not been wet through from the rain. So I prayed. I asked God to give us food to eat and a house with no holes in the roof so Danny and Ma would get well. That didn’t happen, so I snuck out and went to a church and asked for help. Some ladies came. But my pa sent them away. Ma and Danny…died. Danny was four years old. I was seven.”

He turned and looked at her. “I promised them before they died that I would be somebody someday. That I would be so rich and important nobody would ever sneer at me again. That’s why I wanted a showplace house. Right here on this knoll where everyone would see and admire it.”

He shrugged. “I ran away from my pa and I worked at everything I could find to do. I saved my money and invested it to make that dream come true. And Levinia Stewart was part of that dream, too. I was going to have a showplace house and a show-off wife. The mayor’s daughter—my guarantee into St. Louis society.”

Pain stabbed deep in her heart. She looked down and held herself quiet, waiting for him to finish.

“And then I met you.”

The words were soft, deep, husky. She heard him walk to her. Stop inches away from her. She looked up.

“You ruined my dream, Mary Randolph. I looked into those beautiful brown eyes of yours and everything I thought I wanted simply crumbled away. God used you, Mary. He used you to show me what true beauty is. That is why Levinia is jealous. You know what I want now?”

She couldn’t be hearing him right. It wasn’t possible he found her more beautiful than Levinia.

She could not breathe—or speak. He placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward the river. There was a new dock jutting out into the water.

“I want this land used to fulfill your dream. It’s perfect for that. There’s a dock for the
Journey’s End.
And fields to grow vegetable gardens and graze animals on. And plenty of room left over for the kids to run and play.”

Something white fluttered at the corner of her eye. She turned. He was holding a piece of folded paper out to her. “It’s yours, Mary. All legal and settled. I had the deed recorded this morning. And then I went to get the children and bring them to you. That’s when the mayor told me he would see to it that I never held a public position again.”

Tears streamed from her eyes. It was selfish of her. So selfish. But, oh, how she wished it wasn’t all for the orphans. Oh, how she wished—

“Don’t cry, Mary.” He took hold of her upper arms, pulled her close. “There’s one thing more I want.”

The deep, hushed words flowed over her. She clutched the paper in her hand and made herself look up at him.

“If you agree, I would like to build a house here on the knoll. A home for you and me.” He tipped his head down. His blue eyes dark and filled with tiny flames. “I love you, Mary Randolph. I’ve loved you since I first looked into your beautiful brown eyes. Will you marry me?”

The impossible had happened. Samuel Benton loved her. Mary nodded. Forced her soft answer from her constricted throat. “I will marry you with joy, Samuel Benton. I love you. Now and forever.”

“Ah, Mary. My beautiful, beautiful Mary. My love.” His arms slipped around her, tightened, his head lowered.

Her breath caught, hung suspended.

His mouth touched hers and her lips opened to the warmth like flower petals open to the sun. She went on tiptoe and slid her arms around his neck, answering his love.

A whistle blew.

On the river below the knoll, the orphans’ boat steamed around a bend and nosed its way to the dock that was its
Journey’s End.

Epilogue

M
ary took her father’s offered arm and stepped to the doorway of the
Journey’s End
dining room. Everyone assembled there turned and looked at her.

“She looks like a
princess!
”

Katy’s voice, filled with awe, floated to her. Her eyes teared up.

“Uh-uh, she looks like a flower.”

That was Ben. Her lips twitched in memory.

“No, she looks like a
bride.
”

And that was Callie. Sensible, wonderful Callie.

Mary swept her gaze to the children grouped together with Miss Withers, Ivy and Edda on the left at the front of the room and smiled. Eighteen children beamed back at her. She glanced to the right, and there was Mrs. Lucas standing beside James and Rebecca—his bride of two days. And her sister Sarah holding her new baby boy, while Sarah’s husband, Clayton, held their little girl, Nora. And her aunt Laina and uncle Thad, and her cousins William and Emma and Anne. And her mother—

“Ready, Mary?”

And Pastor Thornton. And Sam, who stood waiting for her with that soft look of love in his eyes that was for her alone. She swallowed back a rush of tears and nodded. “Yes, Father, I am ready.”

She smiled and walked toward her love.

Sam stood in the doorway of the main salon of the
Right Choice
and looked down at his bride. His heart thudded. Every time he saw Mary his love grew stronger. And to see her holding her baby nephew did queer things to his stomach. Mary looked up and their gazes met, held.

“All right, you two, stop looking like James and Rebecca!” Sarah laughed and reached for her new son. “Go kiss your husband, Mary, before he bursts or something.”

“An excellent idea.” Mary laughed and ran to him. He gave her a kiss with a promise attached, which she returned with an equal amount of fervor.

“Did I hear our names mentioned? Move over. Make way for my bride.” James laughed, nudged Sam and Mary aside and started into the room with Rebecca beside him.

Mary nudged James right back. “You and Rebecca have been married a whole two days longer than we have. I am the bride here.”

“Are not.”

“Am, too.”

“Children!” Elizabeth Randolph laughed and looked at her husband, Justin. “I despair of our children ever stopping their competitions!”

Justin laughed and lifted little Nora into his arms. “Pray God, you may be right, Elizabeth. Life would be dull without them. Though I do not know where their competitive spirits come from.”

“Well, certainly not from me, dearheart!” Laina crinkled her nose at her brother, then smiled at her husband. “Tell them I am very mild of manner, Thad.”

Thad grinned and dropped a kiss on the top her head. “And have the good Lord strike me dead?”

All the Randolphs hooted—Laina among them.

The whistle sounded. The paddle wheels churned up water as the
Right Choice—
the new luxury liner of the M and M steamer line—started downriver. Mary and Sam stood alone on the deck and waved to the children and her family on the shore. Their farewell was returned with enthusiasm.

The boat steamed around the bend on the way to St. Louis to pick up passengers for its maiden trip to New Orleans, and the children, running along the riverbank shouting and waving, were lost to sight.

A whole month alone together before they returned. Mary sighed with contentment, leaned back against Sam’s broad chest and placed her hands over his hard-callused ones that joined the protective circle of his arms around her.

He bent down and placed his mouth by her ear. “Happy, Mrs. Benton?”

She glanced over her shoulder at him and smiled. “Very happy.” Her smile widened into a cheeky grin. “Mother and Sarah both think you are devastatingly handsome!”

He raised his knee and knocked the back of hers. It buckled, and she pressed more closely against him. His arms tightened. She smiled up at him. “And Father thinks you are very intelligent and…um…intuitive about finances.”

He gave her a mock scowl. “You should have told me your father was the owner of the M and M line.”

She laughed, twisted around inside the circle of his arms, slid hers up around his neck and gave him a saucy look. “And have you marry me for my money?”

He grinned, that slow, breath-stealing grin that made her heart do all the foolish things a sensible heart would never do, and lowered his lips to hover over hers. “There would be no danger of that, Mrs. Benton. Not once I saw your beautiful, honey-flecked brown eyes.”

Dear Reader,

It has been pure pleasure for me to write this story. I confess, I fell in love with Mary and Sam who had distorted self-images because of the careless, hurtful words of others. It was a joy to open their eyes to the truth.

I have learned it is inevitable that bits and pieces of my life will sneak in when I write a story—and that happened in
The Law and Miss Mary.
Sam is driven by the events of his youth to obtain worldly success. My father was driven to achieve the same goal. I learned from observing his life how important it is that we watch our words when we speak to others—especially children. And, as I have three older, beautiful, intelligent and very talented sisters, I know from experience how Mary can feel “lesser than” her older sister, Sarah. I also know, from experience, how freeing…how liberating…how utterly wonderful it is to learn that God loves us just as we are.

When we truly understand that God really is no “respecter of persons”—that He judges us not upon our outward appearance or worldly success, but looks upon our hearts through His eyes of love—it casts off the shackles of self-doubt and inferiority and frees us to trust Him. And when we trust in Him, we are free to become all we can be, for in God “all things are possible.” That is a truth Mary’s cousin Emma Allen learns as she travels west in the wagon train captained by Zachary Thatcher.

I pray that each reader of this book may come to know, in an ever deeper and more meaningful way, the wonderful, warm and secure love of God.

I do enjoy hearing from my readers. If you would care to share your thoughts about this story with me, I may be contacted at [email protected] or www.dorothyjclark.com.

Until next time,

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Mary believed herself to be “plain” though others found her attractive. What formed Mary’s opinion?
   
2. Sam is driven to be “somebody”—what drives him?
   
3. Mary did not believe herself favored by God. Why?
   Do you know others who feel as Mary did?
   
4. What brings Mary to the realization that she is beautiful to God?
   
5. How does God work in Sam’s life to bring him to the knowledge of His love for him?
   
6. What is the ultimate truth Sam learns?
   
7. Mary sets out to care for the orphans—do you believe God used her acts to bless her? Can you think of a Bible verse that proves your opinion?
   
8. What is the ultimate lesson Mary learns?
   
9. The pastor’s message of God being no respecter of persons was received in different ways by different people. How did Mary receive it? The mayor and
   Levinia? Sam? Can you think of a Bible verse that illustrates this?
   
10. What illustrates Sam’s spiritual growth?
    
11. What illustrates Mary’s spiritual growth?
    
12. Mrs. Lucas played an important role in the story.
    Do you approve or disapprove of her actions?
    
13. How do the orphans open Mary’s heart to the truth of God’s love for her?
    
14. What opened Sam’s eyes to what is truly beautiful?
    
15. What opened Mary’s heart to be able to accept Sam’s love?