“Friend,” Leah quickly interjected. She turned to Thad’s son. “No one can ever replace your mother.”
“How would you know?” Teddy muttered.
Leah settled herself carefully on the bench and folded her hands in her lap. “I know because my own mother died just a month ago. No one can ever take her place in my heart.”
The boy glared at her slantwise, but said nothing. When they pulled up in front of the Smoke River Community Church, he bolted off the bench, stumbled over Leah’s legs and dropped to the ground.
“I ain’t goin’ into the church,” he announced.
Thad wound the reins around the iron brake handle with short, jerky motions. “Nothing you say or do is gonna stop what I’m set on doing, son. We need help on the farm and you need a…well, a mother.”
The boy’s face went stony. “I don’t neither.”
Leah laid her hand on Thad’s arm. “Don’t force him,” she said quietly. “It will only make it worse.”
“Yeah, guess you’re right.” He helped her down from the wagon, folded her hand over his forearm and started up the steps of the small whitewashed church.
“You comin’?” he called to Teddy.
“No. I’m not gonna ever speak to her. She’ll never be my momma. Never!”
Thad stopped in front of his son. “Nevertheless, Teddy, this lady is going to be my wife.”
“I hate her!” the boy screamed.
“But,” Thad said quietly, “I don’t. I like her. I think she will be good for both of us.”
Leah looked up sharply at the big man at her side. He liked her? A thousand doubts vanished at his words. But his son…
She tightened her fingers on Thad’s forearm. First things first. First she must be a good wife to this man. Later, perhaps, she would learn how to be a mother to his son.
The congregation had not yet arrived for the Sunday service, but Reverend Pollock took one look at them and frowned. “There won’t be enough time for a wedding before my flock arrives for church this morning.”
Thad’s return stare could scorch. “There’s plenty of time. Unless you want us living in sin, Reverend, I suggest you marry us right quick.” His voice was like cold steel.
“Ah.” A shaky smile lit the minister’s shiny face. “I believe you might be correct, Thad.”
He led them to the altar and lifted his Bible. But he did not open it. Instead, he gave Leah a long, penetrating look.
“Are you a Christian?”
“I am. My father was a minister, like you, only it was in China and he was a Presbyterian.”
Reverend Pollock blinked and studied her face. “China,” he echoed. “Of course.” He frowned again. “Well, then, shall we begin?”
Chapter Four
Leah had never seen a prettier church. The Protestant mission churches in China were drab structures of weathered gray wood or stone, and she gazed in admiration at the lovely interior before her. Four tall windows punctuated the white-painted walls, two on each side. Sunshine poured through the glass into the sanctuary, spilling warm golden light over the wood floor. She smelled furniture polish and something lightly lemon-scented.
Two large bouquets of red camellias banked the altar. Flowers? In November? Mother would say that was a lucky omen.
The minister disappeared through a small doorway, then returned a moment later draped in his black clerical robe. A smiling young woman followed him to the altar.
“This is Mrs. Halliday,” Reverend Pollock announced. “Mrs. Halliday grows lavender on her farm. She will serve as your witness.”
Leah stole a glance at the slim, dark-haired woman, relieved to find her smiling. She moved forward and lifted Leah’s hands into hers.
“Welcome. You must be Thad’s bride. From San Francisco, n’est ce pas?”
“I come from China, Mrs. Hal—”
“Oh, please call me Jeanne.”
“My name is Leah Cam—”
“Leah MacAllister,” Thad interjected firmly.
Jeanne laughed. “Mrs. MacAllister, then. Your wedding garments are very beautiful,” she whispered.
“They were my mother’s,” Leah murmured. “I brought them from China.”
The minister cleared his throat. “We’d better get on with it, folks. The church is beginning to fill up for the morning service.” He waited a half second, cleared his throat once more and opened his Bible.
“Dearly beloved…”
Leah sensed people entering the sanctuary and seating themselves on the pews behind them. She also heard their gasps of surprise and the sudden silence that followed.
The ceremony passed in a blur. “Do you, Thaddeus MacAllister, take this woman…?”
Thad’s low “I do” rumbled close to her ear, and she realized he had bent his head down to her level to speak his vows.
“And do you, Leah Cameron, take this man…?”
While the minister waited for Leah’s response, a woman’s shrill voice cut through the quiet. “God save us, she’s a Celestial!”
Jeanne Halliday reached out and quietly touched Leah’s arm. Reverend Pollock looked up from his Bible with a frown and repeated the question. “Do you, Leah, take Thaddeus for your lawful wedded husband?”
“I—” Her throat clogged. “I do,” Leah choked out.
Reverend Pollock cleared his own throat. “I now pronounce you husband and wife.” In finishing, he raised his voice to cover the whispers from the congregation behind them. “May God bless you both and keep you safe in the shelter of His love. You may kiss the bride,” he added in a lower tone.
Leah waited in an agony of nerves for Thad to touch her. Instead, he suddenly dug in his vest pocket and produced a wide gold band. “Forgot the ring,” he murmured. He slid it onto her finger. “This was my grandmother MacAllister’s.”
Then he placed his hands on Leah’s shoulders and turned her to face him. She could feel his fingers tremble.
He drew her toward him, and for some reason tears flooded into her eyes. She wasn’t frightened. Or unhappy. She was moved by something deep inside that she could not explain. She blinked hard and then Thad’s mouth settled gently over hers, his lips warm and firm. It lasted but an instant, but Leah’s breath knotted beneath her breastbone. She opened her eyes and smiled into his face.
He looked surprised, but she was too giddy to wonder at it. Jeanne Halliday hugged her, and Reverend Pollock shook Thad’s hand, then Leah’s, then Thad’s again, and turned them around to face the swelling congregation.
It was over. Thad’s still-shaking hand held hers just tight enough to keep her feet anchored to the earth. If she skipped down the aisle, as she felt like doing, she would float away.
Together they started toward the church door, and only then did Leah become aware of the heavy, disapproving silence that greeted them. She kept her head up and tried to smile at the sea of stony faces. Not one person would meet her eyes.
A shard of disquiet knifed into her belly. They disliked her, but why? Because she was Chinese? Because Thad’s son, Teddy, sat outside on the church steps, sulking in obvious displeasure? Because some other woman had wanted to be Thad MacAllister’s