An Uninvited Bride on his Doorstep by Ava Winters
Chapter Thirty
Winona almost felt like a fairy tale princess from a storybook, rescued from a dragon, or a troll, or an evil king by a knight with a silvery sword, a bright chest plate, and a tall, white stallion with wild eyes and hooves like thunder. It was foolish, of course. In books like that, the adventure was all that mattered.
A lovely princess was spirited away, and a strong and handsome prince came along to rescue her. It was all the stuff of legends, and it was all very beautiful and sweet. In stories like those, there was only a line or two about how frightened the princess was, hoping against hope for a happy ending. The story was always about the quest to rescue her, the gallantry of the hero and the reward of the maiden’s love.
None of those stories ever talked about how terrifying it was to be in the hands of a monster. None of those stories ever talked about what it meant for the princess to be completely helpless.
None of those stories ever talked about how the fear of the moment could be so strong that the desire for all of it to end, even with death, was something that the princess actually entertained.
Her “fairy tale” troll was dead. Winona would never have to fear Jude Koch again. She no longer faced the prospect of marrying the monster. Her knight vanquished him not with a silver sword but with an 1860 Remington New Army Model forty-four caliber revolver. Winona knew that because it was the “evil king’s” gun, and Sterling Koch bragged about it while they held her captive. The evil king was deposed now, and he’d probably spend the rest of his life in prison. She couldn’t imagine him living another twenty-five years, at least not when he had to live those years there, away from his creature comforts and his power.
In the storybooks, the adventure always ended when the evil villain was vanquished. Then, there was usually a kiss and that was that. Another sentence or two summarized the happy ending … and they lived happily ever after. Her tormentors were dead or vanquished, but happily ever after wasn’t as simple as it was in the storybooks. Winona couldn’t remember a fairy tale where the princess’s parents sided with the troll and the evil king. Maybe those stories existed, but she didn’t know about them at all. Her parents had, though. Winona’s parents had done that, and it hurt deeply. They’d changed course thanks to her hero, but a simple sentence about living happily ever after wasn’t going to salve the wounds of their betrayal.
But what would?
Winona wanted those wounds to heal. Logan had lived his life filled with shame about his father. In many ways, his family and their legacy had been restored to him during this whole princess-rescuing adventure. On the other hand, Winona’s family legacy was revealed to be a legacy of shame and her parents weren’t restored to her but torn away.
She wanted desperately for a different outcome, something sweeter on the way to her very own happily ever after, but what could make that happen? The thoughts filled her as she sat on her porch and watched as her parents’ wagon slowly grew larger and more distinct as it approached her home.
Logan and his brothers were away from the house for the day inspecting the stables and corrals to ensure they were prepared for the winter storms that were only a few weeks away.
Winona felt this would be an excellent opportunity for her to have a private conversation with her parents where they could be free to speak their minds without worrying about what Logan might hear.
As their wagon approached, she wished she had reconsidered and asked her parents to come when Logan could be there to support her. She felt in her heart that her parents had changed and were no longer the wealth-obsessed fools they seemed to be before, but that didn’t necessarily mean they were ready to atone for their past mistakes or that Winona was ready to hear it. Well, they were nearly here now. There was no point in running anymore.
When the wagon arrived, Winona stood. She smiled and waved to her father and stepmother as they alighted from the wagon. She took a deep breath and willed herself to remain cheerful and not show her anxiety at the discussion she knew was coming.
Heath tethered their wagon to the post in the courtyard. Then he and Audrey approached the house. Audrey smiled and embraced Winona. “It’s so good to see you, Winona,” she said.
Winona returned the embrace awkwardly, still unused to this kind of affection from her stepmother. “It’s good to see you too,” she said. “Won’t you come inside? There’s a kettle on the fire if you’d like tea.”
“I’d love some tea,” Heath replied. “Thank you.”
A few minutes later, they sat in front of the fire in the parlor, each savoring a cup of tea with a bit of honey and lemon. Winona recalled that the lemon was a tip Audrey showed her years ago, something she’d learned from her travels in Europe, she’d said. At the time, Winona had merely thought her pretentious. Now she wondered if maybe Audrey had, in her own way, tried to connect with Winona and Winona was simply too hurt by the loss of her mother and put off by Audrey’s airs to notice the attempt.
Well, after today, she would no longer have to wonder. She set her tea down and said, “Dad, Mom,” it sounded so strange to call Audrey by that name, “I know you came here to talk to me in private and I’m fairly certain I know what about. I don’t know how to begin this conversation without being awkward, so I think we should just get on with it and hope for the best. It might be hard, but at least it will be done.”
Heath smiled at her, and there was pride in his voice when he said, “You’ve grown up to be such a wise and strong woman, Winona. I’m very proud of you.”
In spite of her anxiety, Winona smiled at her father’s praise. “Thank you.”
Audrey took a deep breath. “I might as well go first. I believe I have the most to apologize for. In fact, I’ll start there.”
She took another breath and met Winona’s eyes. “Winona, I am so sorry for the way I’ve acted toward you all of these years. I’ve made you feel that you’re inadequate and worthless, that the only thing that mattered about you or anyone else was how much money you had and how highly thought of you were among high society. I ridiculed every dream you ever had because none of those dreams involved accumulating wealth or influence. I never should have done that and I’m so sorry.”
She hesitated a moment and continued. “The worst thing I ever did was try to force you to marry Jude Koch. The man was a monster, and his father was even worse. I knew they were bad people and I still tried to force you to marry Jude. Oh, I never thought that they were so vicious and monstrous as to kidnap and threaten you the way you did, but I knew they cared only for themselves and their own wealth and power.” She laughed bitterly. “I even admired that.” She looked back at Winona. “But I never should have forced that on you. I’m so very sorry.”
She waited for Winona to respond. Winona couldn’t for several moments. Her head was reeling. She was hearing exactly what she wanted to hear but it wasn’t enough. It only left her with more questions.
“Why?” she finally asked. “Why was wealth and power so important to you? Why did it matter if I didn’t want to be wealthy above all else?”
Audrey smiled softly. “I’ve never told you about my life growing up, have I?”
“No,” Winona said. She realized she actually knew almost nothing about Audrey prior to her stepmother’s marriage to her father.
“Well, you know when I met your father, I had some money left me by my first husband.”
“No,” Winona said. “I didn’t know you were married before you met my father.”
“Oh,” Audrey said. “I guess I never told you that, either. Well, I was, briefly, to a much older gentleman with a modest fortune. His fortune dwindled throughout the course of our marriage, as he was past retirement and lived off his estate without enriching it. I tried, of course, to manage things as best I could but the world is not ready, it seems, for a woman to command wealth and influence the way a man does. That’s part of the reason I was so keen for you to marry into wealth. Anyway, he died and left me the remainder of his fortune. It was modest, but enough to keep me in comfort until I met your father. Before my first marriage, I was very poor.”
Winona’s eyes widened in surprise. “You were?”
“I was,” Audrey confirmed. “And when I say poor, I mean poor. We lived in a tar paper shack just outside of a little town called Belcher. There were nine of us living in a space about the size of your parlor. There was no fireplace and no stove. No floor or foundation either, just packed dirt. In the winter, we’d have to sleep huddled together in the middle of the room, relying on each other for warmth. For clothing, my mother would cut holes in flour sacks. When we got bigger, she’d have to stitch two sacks together.”
Winona listened to her stepmother in shock. She couldn’t imagine her fancy stepmother living in such squalor. The image would almost have been comical if it weren’t so heartbreaking.
“My parents both worked from sunup to sundown every day but Sunday to provide for us. Even then, we barely had enough for food and sometimes not enough even for that. When we couldn’t afford food, my mother would take us kids to the soup kitchen so we could get a ration of beans. Half the time, that was all we had to eat.
“The worst part was Sunday, because on Sunday my parents would insist on taking us to church so we could give thanks to God for his many blessings.” There was the faintest trace of bitterness in Audrey’s voice as she relayed this news. “Every Sunday I would beg to stay home and every Sunday my parents would drag us to service in our canvas sacks, barefoot, and sit us right up front so all of the wealthy children in their pressed suits, cotton dresses, and polished leather shoes could stare at us.
“I hated going to church. I hated looking around and seeing all those other people live easy, comfortable lives, knowing that the rest of my life would almost certainly be spent in destitution, like my parents.
“As I got older, I resolved to never allow any child of mine to live like this. I made it my mission to find a way out of that house. When I was old enough to work, I took a position at a boarding house. My parents were only too grateful to have one less mouth to feed. I saved a portion of my wages until I had enough to buy a halfway decent dress.
“Once I could afford to look more presentable, I took a position with the local bank as a teller. After that, my fortunes slowly improved. I never approached anything resembling wealth, but I could at least provide a roof over my head, decent food, and a change of clothes.
“It was never enough, though. I would constantly see the wealthy patrons and patronesses of the bank and feel the same shame and envy I felt as a child wearing my canvas sacks surrounded by a sea of cotton dresses and wool suits. I had more now than I had ever had, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to be free of that feeling of shame and guilt.
“So, when my chance finally came, I took it. Jonathan was nearly forty years older than I, but he was kind and demanded little of me. Most importantly, he was wealthy. Modestly wealthy but wealthy enough I would never need to work again unless I chose to. He died four years after we married. Two years after that I met your father.”
She looked at Winona, tears brimming in her eyes. “I never meant to hurt you. All I wanted was to ensure you would never have to live a life of squalor like I did. When Jude Koch showed an interest in you, I thought this was the best chance you would ever have to ensure you would live in comfort. I see now how wrong I was. I’m so sorry.”
After she finished, Heath spoke. “I have to apologize as well. When your mother died, I felt like I died with her. I withdrew from everyone, you included. I left you alone to deal with your mother’s loss. When you needed me the most, I wasn’t there. I can never make that up to you. I’m so sorry. It’s not fair of us to ask this but I’m asking anyway. Is there any chance you can forgive us and allow us a second chance to be the parents you deserve?”
Winona didn’t answer for a long time. Her head reeled from everything she’d just been told. She felt sympathy for her parents. Both had endured immense hardship. It was understandable that both of them had reacted as poorly as they did.
It was understandable, but was it forgivable? Winona had to endure the brunt of her parents’ suffering. Maybe they had their reasons for being so hard on her, but did that really make up for everything?
No, it didn’t. They deserved sympathy for their suffering, but that didn’t justify the suffering they caused her. Feeling sorry for their behavior didn’t make up for the years of pain Winona had endured.
Despite knowing this and despite knowing that she had every right to deny her parents the forgiveness they craved so terribly, she could feel nothing but compassion for them. They had tried the best they could. Maybe they hadn’t always done well, but Winona could see now how much they cared for her. They didn’t deserve forgiveness, but she would forgive them anyway.
She took one of Audrey’s hands and one of Heath’s hands and said, “I forgive you.”
Instantly, their arms were around her. A moment later, all three were crying and holding each other tightly. No more words were said. No more words needed to be said.
I have my new family back, Winona thought. And now I have my old family back too.
Through the parlor window, the setting sun cast a warm glow over the three of them as they held each other and wounds that had festered for years finally healed.