Reverend, she’s here, isn’t we? She agrees. Just say we’re married and—”
“Mattie?” the reverend asked. “Do you agree to this marriage?”
Jared gave her arm a little shake. “Say yes.”
Reverend Harris and his wife exchanged another look, then leaned a little closer to Mattie.
“Well…” Mattie gulped.
Mrs. Harris smiled gently at her. “Are you not sure, Mattie?”
“Of course, she’s sure,” Jared insisted. “Answer him, Mattie. Let’s get this thing over with.”
Reverend Harris smiled kindly. “Perhaps I can say a few words here that will help.”
“Just say we’re married!”
The reverend went on as if Jared’s words weren’t echoing off the church ceiling.
“Mattie,” Reverend Harris said, “I admit I wasn’t in favor of your marriage to Del Ingram. But look how well that turned out. I’m sure this marriage will be just as wonderful as your last.”
Mattie gasped and went white.
Jared winced. He slapped his palm over his eyes, then dared to look at Mattie.
Her cold, sharp gaze impaled him. Her breath came heavier, causing her shoulders to rise and fall.
“Mattie,” Jared said. “We talked about this. We agreed—”
He turned back to the reverend, his jaw set. “Hurry up. Say we’re married. Say it.”
“But she hasn’t answered. I can’t pronounce you two married unless—”
“Damn right you can,” Jared told him. “Just get on with it before—”
“But—”
“Do it!”
“No!” Mattie shouted.
Mrs. Harris gasped. The reverend’s eyes widened.
“No. That’s my answer.” She looked up at Jared. “No, I won’t marry you.”
“Now look here, Mattie, you know—”
“No!” Mattie wrestled away from him. “I won’t marry you! Not now, not ever! No!”
She spun away from him and ran out of the church, slamming the door behind her.
Halfway across the churchyard, Mattie heard Jared calling her name. She didn’t stop until she heard his footsteps behind her. She turned to find him towering over her.
“Listen to me, Mattie, we’re going back into that church and we’re—”
“No!”
“You can’t raise this baby by yourself!”
“Yes, I can!” She looked up into his face and saw that Jared was as angry as she.
“Listen to me—”
“No, you listen to me,” she told him. “I have a home and a business. I have friends to help me. I’m perfectly capable of raising this baby myself. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying. You don’t know what you’re up against.”
Mattie reined in her temper. “This doesn’t concern you. Everyone thinks this baby is Del’s and that suits me fine.”
“It doesn’t suit me at all!”
“I don’t care if it does or not,” Mattie told him. “You have no say in the matter. This baby is mine to take care of. Mine. Not yours.”
A flash of pain came over Jared’s face. Mattie looked away and softened her voice. “From now on, you are to stay away from me. That’s my final word.”
A minute dragged by, and Jared didn’t speak. She knew it would be hard on him to accept her decision, but it was for the best.
Finally, she lifted her gaze to his face. His features burned with an intensity she’d never seen before.
“Like hell I will.” He ground out the words in a low voice.
Mattie nearly buckled under the weight of his pronouncement. She forced her chin up a notch. “I insist you respect my wishes,” she said.
“I don’t give a damn about your wishes,” he told her. “That baby is mine and I don’t care who knows it.”
A deep, sickening fear rushed through her. “You can’t mean that. You can’t poison this baby’s future by telling everyone the truth.”
“I’m going to have a say in everything that goes on with you and this baby. Get used to it.”
Jared gave her a curt nod and walked away.
Chapter Five
The lantern light flickered as the night breeze blew through the open window, sending shadows dancing across the kitchen. Elbow deep in the washtub, doing the dishes, Mattie hardly noticed.
The restaurant was quiet now, closed for the evening. Mrs. Nance had gone home some time ago. She’d offered to stay, of course, and help Mattie finish up the day’s dishes, but Mattie had told her no. She was lucky to still have Mrs. Nance working for her; she wouldn’t impose any more than necessary.
Mattie didn’t mind the solitude of the kitchen, but she sorely missed Billy Weaver. Billy had been her dishwasher…before.
With a jerk of her chin, Mattie sent unkind thoughts in the direction of Jared McQuaid. If not for him, she’d have been at the restaurant all day and could have done these dishes a little at a time, rather than standing here all night, doing them now, to ready the kitchen for tomorrow’s business.
Instead, he’d taken her home to rest. Then hauled her to the church to marry him. Mattie shuddered at the thought. Good gracious, what had she been thinking, agreeing to the marriage? Luckily, she’d come to her senses in time.
She scrubbed the next plate in the tepid water, dipped it in the rinse tub and stacked it with the others. Maybe she should march to the jail and insist Jared come over and wash these dishes himself. Yes, that would serve him right.
For an instant the vision of Jared standing at her washtub bloomed in her mind. Sleeves rolled up, dark hair spread over flexing forearms, legs braced wide apart. So big, so strong. Unlike Mattie, he no doubt could work for hours and not even breathe hard.
Of course, Jared McQuaid didn’t have another person riding around inside of him.
Mattie smiled to herself. The baby. Growing within her right now, this very moment. What did it look like?
