A Most Inconvenient Marriage by Regina Jennings Read Free Book Online Page A

he’d wondered who would be surprised by his appearance, but still the words made the hair on his arms stand on end.
    “My family might think that, but they’ll be plumb excited to hear they were wrong.”
    “The gall!” Her lean body shook as she marched closer. Her eyes narrowed into blue crescents. “You dare toy with a grieving family? You’ll immediately be exposed as a charlatan. I knew Jeremiah for only a few weeks, but it’s clear that you are not him.”
    Jeremiah’s gratitude for her assistance vanished. “I don’t need a stranger to tell me who I am.”
    “I’m not a stranger, just ask Ma. Everyone knows me, even Laurel.”
    His heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t heard her name spoken since he’d lost Alan.
    “Laurel.” Was it irreverent that he breathed the word like a prayer? Every dawn brought the question of whether he’d live to see nightfall. Every evening ended with the question if he’dlive to see his love again. “You’ve seen Laurel?” But he stopped himself. He’d wasted enough time on this woman who stood with her hands on her hips, her nostrils flared like a horse’s smelling fire.
    “Thanks for your help,” he said, “but my family’s waiting.”
    With a mighty huff, she marched off the road, gathered her skirts, and hopped the fence. Petticoats flashed—fancier petticoats than any he’d ever seen, not that he’d spent much time noticing such things. It wasn’t until she’d climbed halfway up the bluff that he realized his mouth was hanging open. She would beat him to the house if he didn’t get to moving.
    He spurred the nag for a last short jaunt and tried to forget her. He was home. Of all the devastation he had seen, of all the waste of human life, limb, and property, Jeremiah had feared the worst for his own estate. Stories of bushwhackers razing homesteads and ambushing innocents had reached him. But now, as he rode through the gates of his farm, an indescribable weight was removed. Besides some unwelcome saplings, normal wear on the barn, and an irate woman trudging up the back hill, everything looked as he’d left it.
    Jeremiah eased himself to the ground, pulled out his crutch, and hopped his way up the porch. While he knew he’d get a warm welcome from his mother, he dreaded seeing his sister. How many letters had he begun, only to crumple the paper and toss it into the fire? He was sorry she was sick, sorry she couldn’t carry on like other young ladies her age, but he was still convinced she had no business getting married.
    But maybe Alan had beat him home. For all he knew Alan and Rachel might be happily married already.
    He heard footsteps approaching the door and then nothing. Was Rachel looking out her window, wondering whose old horse stood at the post? Was his mother trying to sneak to the parlorso she could catch sight of their visitor? He banged on the door again. “Ma, open the door. It’s me—Jeremiah.”
    A scream pierced the air. The door shook as she fumbled with the lock and cursed the key, the knob, and anything else that stood between her and her only son.
    With the light at her back, Jeremiah couldn’t see her face, but from her swift launch into his arms, he assumed that the years had been kinder to his mother than to him.
    “Jeremiah! Jeremiah! It’s a miracle.” Tears rolled, making her face a wet mess. “You’re alive. Praise God!” She kissed him on both cheeks, patted him, hugged him, and kissed him again.
    He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her, pleased to have caused happiness for once. Pleased to have a promising beginning.
    “I thought I’d never make it back alive,” he said.
    “Well, I’m not letting you leave again.” Her arms tightened around him. “I won’t let you out of my sight.”
    Jeremiah almost laughed. “I suspect Laurel will have other plans. How is she?”
    His mother’s smile faltered. She wiped her face and stepped back. Hesitated. “Laurel is well. She will be surprised to