His Brother's Child
Pat Ballard
Chapter 1
Faith Carr came dully awake. She was disoriented, lost somewhere in
that space between sleep and consciousness. Slowly, she realized she was
being gently shaken.
“We’re here.” A man’s
deep voice was quietly intruding her slumber-fogged mind.
Suddenly Faith was wide
awake and alert, remembering that “here” was in the car with a stranger
she now called husband, headed for his home in a state she had never been
to.
Through sleep-squinted
eyes, Faith took in the large brick house lit by the headlights of the
stopped car. She looked questioningly at the man beside her, who had
brought her back to the present —where she’d rather not be.
“We’re here,” he repeated. “We’re home.” He
stepped aside for her to get out of the car, holding the door open for
her.
Faith followed the tall stranger up the walk,
dreading entering a house she knew nothing of, with a man she’d only met a
few days earlier.
He entered the house
first and flipped on a light switch just inside the door, lighting up the
room before them.
Plush tan carpet covered the floor from wall
to wall. The gold-colored drapes flowing from the windows accentuated the
carpet and the rich, dark brown leather sofa and loveseat. A large
matching recliner with an oversized ottoman filled one corner. An antique
table with a lamp stood beside the recliner. She knew without being told
that this was where the man beside her spent a lot of time reading.
An arrangement of fresh
roses posed gracefully on the antique piano. Everything, including the
off-white walls, was done with utmost perfection, and as Faith took in its
beauty, admiration glowed on her face. When her glance came back to the
man beside her, she realized he was watching her.
“It’s beautiful,” she
said.
“I’m glad you like it.
Here’s your room.” He led her across the living room to a door that opened
into a large bedroom that looked inviting and cozy. The same tan carpet
covered the floor, but the curtains and matching bedspread were a soft
country blue. The bedroom furniture was solid oak and looked brand new.
Surely he hadn’t gone out and bought furniture for her? One corner of the
room had been turned into a cozy reading nook, similar to the one in the
living room. Under different circumstances, Faith would have loved this
room.
“You have your own
bathroom over there.” He pointed to a door to her right. “I’ll go get your
luggage.” And he was gone, leaving Faith standing in the middle of the
room.
She looked around slowly
and wondered what she was doing here. Sudden panic made her long to run
from the house. She closed her eyes and clenched her fists. She would go
through with this. Now that she had started, she must go through with it.
“Faith? Are you okay?”
The man stood in the doorway, loaded with bundles of her luggage, looking
anxiously at her.
“Yes. I’m fine,” she
assured him, as she tried to regain her composure.
He placed her suitcases
on the floor. “I think you’ll be able to find all the closet space you’ll
need,” he said, before going after the rest of her bags.
When he’d finished unloading her belongings,
he started to leave the room, then turned back. “If you need anything
during the night, even if it’s just to talk, I’m down the hall, on the
left. Just call me.” He smiled, trying to reassure her.
Faith watched him softly close the door. She
took the door lock and turned it ever so slowly, trying not to make any
noise. She didn’t know the man stood on the other side of the door, or
that he smiled faintly when he heard the soft grating of the lock.
Feeling too insecure to take a shower, she
crawled between the clean sheets on the big, soft bed and curled into the
fetal position. What had she done? Why had she allowed this man, this
Edward Brenner, to persuade her to marry him? Just because she was
pregnant with his brother’s child didn’t obligate Edward to give the child
a name. Why had she allowed her life to get so totally out of her control?
Why? Why? Why?
It was almost ten o’clock when Faith woke up the next morning. She
showered and dressed, then set about unpacking and putting her things
away. Without realizing it, she was enjoying storing her clothes in the
luxurious surroundings.
While she worked, she thought of the man she
was now married to. Where was he? No sound came from the other part of the
house. Maybe he was still asleep. She dreaded going through the door that
separated them, but knew she must. She couldn’t hide out in this room
until the baby was born.
She took one last look in the mirror. Her
thick auburn hair was combed and shining. She had put on just enough
eye-shadow to enhance her large brown eyes. She had stopped trying to
conceal the spattering of freckles across her nose a long time ago. They
were as much a part of her as her auburn hair and brown eyes, and she had
accepted that. The only thing she couldn’t seem to accept about herself
was her weight.
She knew she had come by it honestly. As her
parents always used to tell her, “You just take after your aunts and
grandmother. You might as well be happy with it. You’ll just make yourself
sick if you keep dieting like you’re doing.” But now the dieting didn’t
even seem to help. She had reached a certain size, and seemed to stay
there. She couldn’t lose a pound even when she starved herself. And now,
her doctor had told her absolutely no dieting while she was pregnant. Of
course he admonished her to eat healthily, but no dieting to lose weight.
She slipped into a kelly-green dress that fit
loosely. She wasn’t showing yet, as she was just a little over two months
pregnant, but she felt the dress made her look slimmer.
Finally, not able to find any reason to stay in the room longer, Faith
opened the door. She fully expected to see Edward staring back at her, but
the living room was vacant. She moved on through the hall into the
kitchen, glancing around, openly admiring the beautiful furnishings.
Finally, her eyes spotted a note on the table. It must be for her, she
reasoned, as she picked it up and read:
I’ve gone to work. Will see you around six
o’clock.
Just look around and make yourself at home.
Edward.
Make myself at home, Faith mused. I don’t even know where I am and I’m
supposed to make myself at home.
I don’t know where I am! All at once, she felt frightened and lost. She
reached quickly for the radio on the kitchen counter and clicked it on.
After what seemed like an eternity, the disc jockey finally said, “And
that, my friends, is what’s happening in Jackson, Mississippi, on this
beautiful spring morning.”
Jackson, Mississippi? Well, that was one place she hadn’t been yet. At
least she’d have a new city to explore.
Faith became aware of the doorbell ringing. Cautiously, she opened the
door to find a middle-aged woman smiling expectantly at her.
“Mrs. Brenner?” the woman asked.
Faith was about to deny the name when she realized that she was the person
being addressed. “Yes,” she acknowledged.
“I’m Beth Cass. I clean the house for Mr. Brenner once a week. Did he tell
you I would be here?”
“No, I’m afraid he didn’t mention it. But do come in, and do what you
usually do. Don’t let me get in your way.”
Beth Cass came through the door and stopped to look more closely at Faith.
“My, my, you are pretty. Where’d Mr. B find you? I knew he’d find a good
woman to marry, though. He wasn’t never wild like that spoiled brother of
his. Poor kid, he’s gone now. Was bad, wasn’t it?”
Faith hoped the other woman couldn’t see the emotions flooding through
her. But she didn’t have to answer, as the woman continued.
“Oh, sure, I’ve worked for the Brenners for years. Mr. B’s parents used to
live here in Jackson, but they bought a big house over in Vicksburg. Yes
ma'am, Mr. B and his brother grew up right here in Jackson. I don’t see
how two brothers could be so different. They’ve been like that all the
time, though. Seems like all that money just made young Frank go wild. Had
anything and everything he wanted. The Brenners are just filthy rich, but
I guess you already know that since you married one of them.” The woman
chuckled to herself, and started dusting the furniture. Little did she
know she had told Faith more in two minutes than she had learned from
Edward Brenner in the past five whirlwind days since she had met him.
She wanted to ask the woman more questions, but decided against it. She
couldn’t let this old family acquaintance know just how little she knew
about the man she’d married.
“Can I help you?” Faith asked instead, not really knowing what she was
going to do to pass the day.
“Oh, my goodness, no! You just go and amuse yourself. It won’t take me
long to do this at all.” And she waved Faith off.
“Well, I think I’ll walk outside and get a little exercise,” Faith
mumbled, as much to herself as to the other woman.
“Yes, that’s a good idea. You know there’s fifty acres that lies back
behind this house. Choice property, too. The city’s been trying to buy it
from Mr. B for several years. They want to build a shopping mall in this
area. But Mr. B won’t sell. He says it’d be a shame to chop down those
beautiful pecan trees out back. And they’d tear down that old barn. Nope,
he ain’t gonna sell for a while.”
The cool spring breeze caressed Faith’s face as she stepped out the door.
She turned her face toward the breeze and breathed in the fragrance of a
bloom she couldn’t identify. The scent was heavenly. The happy call of a
mockingbird greeted her from one of the many tall, old oak trees
surrounding the house. She was amazed at the beautiful lawn and flower
gardens that were all around her. Someone spent a lot of time keeping this
place looking like a page from Better Homes & Gardens magazine.
She made her way around to the back of the house. The oak trees gave way
to the stand of pecan trees Beth had spoken of. Faith picked up a few
pecans that were still on the ground from the year before and ate them as
she slowly walked through the trees, enjoying the tranquility that
surrounded her.
Without intentionally doing so, she found herself standing in front of the
huge old barn. It didn’t look as if it had been used in quite some time,
but it still smelled of hay and the animals that had once been there.
Finding an old clump of hay, Faith sat down and looked back at the house.
What a wonderful life could be lived here if real love were combined with
these surroundings. A child could spend a delightful childhood here.
Faith became acutely, painfully aware of how important true love was to
her. A love like her mother and father had shared. Complete togetherness.
Everything one of them did, the other one shared, or at least supported.
That’s why Faith had always been glad they had died together in that plane
crash five years ago. She was also glad they didn’t know what a mess she’d
made of her own life, and how she had come to allow a total stranger to
help her make it through the mess.
Faith’s thoughts went back to the day Edward Brenner had shown up at her
doorstep. She had just finished a crying binge when the doorbell rang.
When she opened the door, she was expecting anything except the man who
stood before her. His eyes were so blue and vibrant that Faith had felt
her heart skip a beat when she looked into them. His face, though
clean-shaven, still showed the dark shadow of a heavy beard under the
skin, and his hair was coal black, with just a slight tendency to wave.
And he was big! He was at least six feet and two or three inches tall, and
probably weighed two hundred and thirty or forty pounds. He wasn’t
handsome in the classic sense, but an overpowering aura of masculinity
exuded from him.
“Yes?” she’d asked, wondering what this stranger wanted.
“May I come in?” The voice was strong and confident, with authority
sounding in each word.
“I’m not in the habit of asking strangers into my house.” Faith couldn’t
believe he’d even asked the question.
“Are you Faith Carr?” His voice had interrupted her impatient thoughts.
“Yes. I’m Faith Carr, but how do you know my name?”
“I must come in and talk with you.” And without waiting for her to
consent, he’d pushed past her and walked into her living room.
Faith had been about to
insist that he leave when he’d turned that intense gaze on her and asked,
“Do you know Frank Brenner?”
Too astonished to speak, Faith had sat down in the nearest chair and
allowed the intruder to continue his speech.
“I’m Edward Brenner. I’m Frank’s brother. A few weeks ago, Frank came to
me after one of his weekend binges, bragging about what he’d done to some
woman. He was laughing about how he’d gotten her pregnant. He finally told
me her name after several days of coaxing. When I asked what he planned to
do about the situation, he just laughed like a madman, and walked out on
me. I didn’t mention the subject to him again until last week. He shouted
at me that he didn’t plan to ‘do’ anything about the situation and he
never wanted to hear about it again, and then he stormed from the house.
About two hours later, I received a phone call that he had been in a car
wreck and was dead.” Emotion broke the man’s strong voice, but after a
brief pause, he continued. “Are you the woman he was referring to?”
“Yes.” Faith had almost choked on the admission.
After much persuasion, Edward had finally convinced Faith it would be
better for her, and especially for the baby, if she would marry him and
give the baby the family name. He had assured her the marriage would be in
name only, and as soon as the baby was born they would get a divorce. But
he was determined to see that his brother’s child carried the Brenner
name, and was well cared for all of its life.
So here she was. In a strange town, married to a stranger who five days
ago she didn’t even know existed. Could this really be happening to her?
A clap of thunder startled Faith out of her reverie. She had been so
involved with her reminiscing she hadn’t noticed the dark cloud looming
threateningly close. She could see the sheet of rain coming and barely had
time to run for shelter inside the barn before it hit.
The scent of old hay and animals from long ago pleasantly surrounded
Faith, engulfing her with a feeling of tranquility. She inhaled deeply and
looked around her in the dim light.
She was in the middle breezeway that ran through the barn. There were
cribs on each side where corn was once stored, and further down the
breezeway were stalls where animals had been kept at night. Overhead was
the hayloft, which looked like it hadn’t been used for many years.
The wind picked up and
sheets of rain started blowing in on Faith. She grabbed the handle of one
of the crib doors and opened it to step into the dimly lit room, nervously
looking around to make sure there were no mice or snakes in the area with
her. She heard a faint scuffling in a far corner, but made herself believe
it was just the wind blowing through the cracks, rustling an old corn
shuck. A flash of lightning illuminated the room long enough for her to
confirm there was nothing close enough to cause any alarm.
Faith didn’t like storms. She hoped this was just a quick spring storm
that would blow over and be gone shortly. The disc jockey hadn’t mentioned
any weather warnings this morning on the radio, so surely the rain would
stop soon.
The rain pounding on the barn’s tin roof had a calming effect on Faith’s
tangled nerves. Even though she was afraid of storms, she could feel a
little of the tension she’d carried for the past two months start to drain
from her. Maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad set-up after all. Edward
seemed like such a decent man. As Beth had said, he was so different from
his brother. In another life, under different circumstances, she could
probably really fall for a man like Edward Brenner.
Whoa! Where had that thought come from?
Feeling suddenly restless, Faith
opened the crib door slightly to see if the rain had slacked off any.
Seeing that it had, she was about to step out of the crib when she thought
she heard a voice. Quickly pulling the crib door closed, she listened
intently. Faintly, in another part of the barn, she could hear what
sounded like two men talking. Had they come inside to escape the rain,
too? Were they dangerous? Faith’s trembling hands held the door closed for
fear it would squeak open and expose her hiding place.
As the rain slacked off and Faith could hear better, she could distinctly
make out two male voices. They seemed to be enthusiastically discussing
business. Finally one of them said, “Okay, we’ll meet back here when the
next load comes in.” Faith could tell by the diminishing voices that they
were walking away.
Relieved that they were gone, she stepped out into the main entryway of
the barn. Nobody was in sight, so they must have gone in the opposite
direction. Faith smiled up at the old hayloft. Soon it would be full of
hay again. Surely that’s what the man meant when he’d talked about the
next load coming in.
Back at the house, Faith was reaching for the door to go inside when it
opened before her. “Oh, there you are,” Beth exclaimed. “I was worried
about you out in this rain, but you’re dry. How’d you do that?”
“I took shelter in the barn,” Faith explained.
“You didn’t see old man
Fulton’s ghost, did you?” Beth chuckled.
“What do you mean?” Faith
felt uneasy, remembering the voices she’d heard.
“Oh, it’s nonsense, I’m
sure,” Beth hastened to explain. “There’s a story going around that the
old barn is haunted. Several people have reported seeing an eerie light
out there sometimes at night. Old man Fulton died out there in the barn
when he owned this property. Speculation had it that he might have been
murdered, but no one was ever arrested for murder. But you know how people
love to get stories like that started. Anyway, I’m finished here. I’ll see
you next time. I am so glad Edward has found a wife. You be good to him
now, he’s a fine man.” And with a wave, she was gone.
Faith thought briefly about what Beth had said about the old barn being
haunted. She didn’t believe in ghosts, but she had sure heard voices
earlier, and she hadn’t seen anyone. An uneasy feeling tugged at her, but
she shrugged it off. She would just keep checking and see if that load of
hay came in. If it did, she’d know that her voices were real. If no hay
showed up—well, she’d only worry about that if it didn’t happen.
Faith finished setting the table for dinner at five-thirty. She’d found
her way around the kitchen enough to prepare a roast with potatoes,
carrots, bell peppers and onions. She had also cooked some green beans and
made a salad. Glancing over the table one final time, she concluded that
everything looked good.
“Well, it looks like I made pretty good timing, after all,” a strange
voice interrupted her thoughts.
Startled, Faith whirled to confront the man who had spoken, and
immediately disliked him. His eyes were too knowing. His mouth was too
childish, and his general look was too smug.
He raked a hand through his blond hair as his smug smile became a little
wider. “Well? You got me planted in your memory?”
Trying not to show the fear she felt, Faith asked, “Who are you? And what
do you want?”
“What he wants is to stick his nose into other people’s business where he
isn’t wanted,” Edward answered from beside Faith. She hadn’t heard him
come up behind her, but she was weak with relief that he was there.
“Lee, apparently you’ve heard that I’m married. News travels fast. Meet my
wife, Faith. Faith, this is my cousin, Lee Silverhill. Now, Lee, I don’t
know how you got in here without Faith knowing you were here, but in the
future, you’d better knock before entering my house. You could get shot by
sneaking up on someone when they aren’t expecting you. Faith chilled at
the authority in Edward’s voice, and she could tell the other man
respected it also, even though he tried to pass it off flippantly.
“Yes, Cousin Edward. Just as you say. But your lovely wife needs to keep
her doors locked.” There was a noted slur in his voice, and Faith glanced
anxiously at Edward, who, it seemed, preferred to ignore and forget the
whole incident.
“Well, since you’re here, and since it looks like Faith has prepared more
than enough food for two people, you might as well join us for dinner.”
Faith couldn’t believe
Edward was inviting this insolent intruder to join them.
While they ate, Lee did most of the talking, directing most of his
conversation to Faith. Although she tried to ignore him, he acted like he
didn’t notice, and tried to hold her gaze for long periods of time. She
felt too uncomfortable to enjoy the meal she’d prepared and was relieved
when he finally made his move to leave.
Just before he reached the door, Lee turned back into the room and, after
appraising Faith again, looked at Edward and said, “This thing might work
out. You may be able to swing it if you work hard enough, but let me give
you just a bit of advice. If you’re going to play marriage and make it
convincing, you’d better stop acting like you’re afraid of each other.
Why, Edward, you didn’t even kiss your new bride hello when you came home
from work. That’s kind of unusual for a newly married couple, don’t you
think? And you practically acted like strangers the entire meal.” And with
a knowing laugh and a click of the closing door, he was gone.
Faith gasped. “Edward, he knows something! How? Oh, he frightens me!”
“Yes, he must know something. He was part of the bad company my brother
was tangled up with. Frank must have told him what happened with you, and
Lee must have put it all together and come up with what he thinks is the
truth.”
“Will he tell anyone?”
“No, I’m sure he won’t. He plans to have too much fun tormenting us.
Especially you. As long as he’s the only one who knows, he can hold it
over our heads and enjoy himself greatly.”
Faith instinctively knew that for some reason Lee Silverhill was her
enemy. She was going to have a lot of trouble out of him. And she dreaded
it, because he frightened her more than anyone she had ever known.
“But he’s right,” Edward added. “If we’re going to make people think we’re
happily married, we’ve got to act like a married couple. You’re going to
have to stop acting so shy around me. You know, you wouldn’t have married
me if you were that afraid of me. I know this is going to be hard on you.
Especially being pregnant. But like we decided, this is the best thing for
you and the baby.”
Faith looked into the eyes of the man she’d married to give her baby the
security it needed. He’d made a great sacrifice in his life and plans to
give his own flesh and blood that same security. He was willing to change
everything that was “normal” in his life so another life would have a
better chance in this world. She also knew he’d rather die himself than
have his parents know their favorite son had been such a scoundrel.
“Wouldn’t it be easier for you just to tell your parents the truth? You
must have plans of your own. Plans that will be spoiled if you have a
wife. Your brother is dead. It can’t hurt him now, if the truth comes
out.”
“That’s right. It can’t hurt Frank. But it can hurt the people who love
him. His parents. There’s nothing that’s that important to me. When you
meet them, you’ll understand why I feel this way. They’re wonderful,
loving human beings, and they don’t deserve the hurt they’d feel if they
found out Frank seduced you on a drunken dare, then left you pregnant to
have and raise his child alone.”
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