An Angel in the Mail Page 24

  Damian raised his eyebrows at his comment.

  “Amy’s parents are staunch Catholics. I’m not. Angel and I attend the Methodist church with the children. When the Belfords were out last year for their second visit ever, they were upset to discover that.”

  “A difference of opinion on religious upbringing is hardly a reason to seek guardianship.”

  “I know, that’s why I can’t figure out where the ‘unfit parent’ thing comes from.”

  Damian leaned back in his chair, and tapped his chin with a pen. “Do either one of you have anything in your backgrounds to give these people reason to believe you’re unfit parents?”

  Nate shrugged. “No, nothing. I’m as confused by this as you are.”

  The lawyer reached for the paper and read it over again. He folded it carefully, and rested his hands on the desk. “I suggest you allow me to attend this hearing with you. The Belfords will have an attorney, and I think it would be wise for you to have one as well.”

  “Thank you, we appreciate that.” Angel smiled for the first time since she’d entered the room.

  “Should we bring the children with us to court?” Nate asked as he took the baby from Angel’s arms.

  “There’s no reason to involve them at this point, unless the judge requests their presence. This is only a preliminary hearing. Leave them home, you two wear your best Sunday clothes, and meet me at the courthouse.” He glanced at the paper again. “On the twenty-fifth.”

  Following a long, worrisome week, Nate and Angel sat on a long bench in front of the courtroom. A gloomy day, it mirrored their mood. The inside of the building showed scant light, oil lamps casting off barely more than shadows. Angel shivered and rubbed her palms up and down her arms. Every once in a while she would let out a deep sigh.

  Nate checked his pocket watch, and cast a glance out the heavy glass doors.

  Restlessness overcoming her, Angel rose and paced the small entrance hall. Occasionally she, too, scanned the glass door, and then resumed pacing.

  Nate grabbed her hand as she strode by. “Honey, we arrived almost an hour early. You’re making yourself a wreck. Why don’t you take a walk around the block to calm yourself?”

  “No, I’m fine.” She sat down, took his hand, and squeezed it. “We’ll be fine.” She paused. “Won’t we?”

  The outside door swung open and Mr. and Mrs. Belford, along with an older man, entered the courthouse. The Belfords barely acknowledged them, but the older man approached.

  “I’m Jeffrey Strickland, and I represent Mr. and Mrs. Belford. May I assume you are the Hales?”

  Nate stood, and took the man’s outstretched hand. “Yes sir, I am Nathan Hale, and this is my wife, Angelina.”

  “Do you have a lawyer, Mr. Hale?” Strickland asked.

  “Yes, he should be here any minute.”

  An officer of the court came out of the small door alongside the bench at the same time Damian Lawton entered through the front door.

  “If everyone is here, the judge is ready,” the officer said.

  They entered the silent courtroom. A desk sat on a raised platform against one wall, with a Bible resting on it. Several benches were positioned in rows in front of the judge. He struck Angel as a pleasant looking man, probably in his late fifties. His black hair showed streaks of silver, and the sharp blue eyes behind his spectacles twinkled with humor. He wore the robe of his office, and smiled at all the parties as they entered the room.

  “Good morning, folks. I’m Judge Raymond Hathaway.” He motioned to the benches in front of him. “Please, make yourselves comfortable.”

  Angel took a deep breath and followed Nate to a bench directly in front of the desk. Once everyone sat, the judge retrieved the papers before him, and adjusting his spectacles, read the documents. Every once in a while he would glance up, apparently to identify the various parties from the paperwork.

  After several minutes, he nodded in Strickland’s direction and leaned back in his leather chair. “All right, let’s hear from the petitioners first.”

  Jeffery Strickland stood, and smoothing his hair and tugging on his cuffs, faced the judge. “Your Honor, my clients are the maternal grandparents of the Hale children. They are,” he stopped and checked his notes, “Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Julia-Rose.”

  The judge smiled at Angel and Nate, and then returned his attention to the lawyer. “Go on.”

  “Your Honor, my clients have done some investigation, and they have reason to believe Angelina Hale and Nathan Hale are unfit parents and the court should remove them from their guardianship and place them with their grandparents.”

  Hearing the words spoken out loud caused Angel’s stomach to tighten. She glanced at Nate who wiped sweat from his forehead. He reached for her hand, and gripped it.

  “That’s a pretty strong charge, Mr. Strickland. I assume you’re prepared to tell this court exactly what the reasons are?” The Judge regarded the lawyer over his spectacles.

  “Yes, Your Honor. My clients have discovered that some time ago, Nathan Hale kidnapped a woman from her home.” The attorney turned, and faced Nate. “Then he held this woman against her will, until such time as her husband rescued her.”

  He paused, and continued to stare at them. “And Angelina Constanza Hardwick Hale was expelled from Miss Pennington’s Finishing School for Young Ladies in New York City for stealing a very valuable necklace.”

  Angel and Nate turned to each other in shock.

  “You kidnapped someone?” she gasped.

  “You stole a necklace?” Nate choked.

  The Belfords eyed each other and smiled.

  Chapter 20

  Damian stood and addressed the judge. “Your Honor, since this is the first time we’ve heard these charges, I request we adjourn this hearing, and resume it after I’ve had a chance to discuss this with my clients.”

  The judge slammed his gavel. “This hearing will be continued in five days.”

  “Your Honor.” Mr. Strickland rose. “My clients live out of the area and staying here for five days would place a burden on them.”

  “I’m sorry, counselor.” The judge wiped his spectacles with a handkerchief. “Your clients have asserted serious charges. It’s only fair the Hales have the opportunity to defend themselves. If Mr. and Mrs. Belford want to pursue this, they’ll have to either stay here, or come back.”

  With a heavy heart, Nate escorted Angel from the courtroom, and walked her in silence to their buggy.

  “I need to see the two of you in my office as soon as possible.” Damian slapped Nate on his back.

  “Is tomorrow morning all right?”

  “Fine. Come by at nine o’clock.”

  They climbed into the buggy and started off. “I think we need to talk before we see Mr. Lawton tomorrow.” Nate glanced briefly at Angel as they pulled away from the courthouse.

  Angel twisted her hands in her lap. “Yes, I think that would be best.”

  “Since we have someone watching the children, I suggest we drive out of town, and find a quiet place where we can talk privately.” Sensing her distress, he shifted both reins to one hand and took her hand in the other.

  The ride continued in silence, each deep in thought. They left the town behind, and continued on until they reached an area with nothing but miles of grass and woods in every direction. Nate pulled the buggy to a stop. He turned to face Angel and ran his fingers through his hair.

  “I guess I’ll go first.” Taking a deep breath, he said, “About ten years ago, I thought myself in love with a married woman.” He looked up, and not seeing the shock he expected on Angel’s face, continued.

  “Emmaline and I had grown up together, and even though we were close, she fell in love with, and later married, a local man. I was young and hea
rtbroken, so right before the wedding, I joined the army, and was sent out West, and never thought to see her again.

  “Sometime later, she and Peter—her husband—joined a wagon train heading to Oregon. Shortly after leaving, a tragic accident killed Peter, and the wagon master forced Emmaline to marry another man in the group. I was stationed at Fort Laramie at the time, where the wagon trains stopped for supplies. You can imagine my shock when I ran into her, there of all places, and discovered she had been widowed, and then re-married so quickly.

  “At that time, the Army sent two soldiers from the fort with each wagon train for protection. I volunteered to accompany them to Oregon, and I got it in my head Emmaline wanted to leave her husband and go back to Indiana to her parents, and I would be the one to take her.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck, and continued. “After we all arrived in Oregon, I contacted an attorney and learned her marriage could be annulled since she had been forced into it. When I told her this, she said she didn’t want to talk about it, so I, ah—”

  He stopped and pulled Angel close to him. “So I went to her house one day and took her and her baby daughter,” he said in a rush. “I had arranged with another wagon train heading east to meet up with them in a wagon I had bought and outfitted for the trip.”

  She pulled back and looked at him. “Did you hurt her?”

  “Of course not! God, no. I thought I loved her. I sprinkled chloroform on a handkerchief, then when she passed out, I carried her and the baby to the wagon.”

  He sat forward on the seat, his forearms braced on his knees, his head in his hands.

  “And her husband came after her?”

  “Oh, he came after her all right. In the meantime, Emmaline found my rifle and threatened to shoot me if I didn’t turn the wagon around. I did. It seemed Emmaline truly loved her husband, and had no desire to return to Indiana, or anywhere else for that matter, without him. They have a horse farm out in Willamette Valley, and I haven’t been near either one of them since.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck and continued. “To this day I don’t understand it myself. I still can’t believe I did that. I’d never done anything that strange, before or since. I tried to explain it away a number of times, but I always come up blank.” He shrugged, and glanced at his wife.

  To his amazement, Angel wrapped her arms around him, and laid her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

  This could look very bad to someone who didn’t know Nate.

  Truly the most kind, considerate man she had ever known. A wonderful husband and father, and crazy about his children. Losing them would be a blow he would probably never recover from.

  They sat and held each other, not speaking for a while. Eventually, Angel pulled away. “All right, my turn.

  Mine is simply stupidity on my part. When I attended boarding school years ago, an entire group of girls decided I didn’t fit in, so they found ways to torture me. When none of their games and nastiness worked to get me to leave, they hid an expensive necklace in my room, and then reported it missing to the headmistress. So, naturally, they searched the entire school, and there it sat in my dresser drawer.”

  “Didn’t you explain it to the headmistress?”

  “No. And that’s where I made my mistake, because apparently it’s on my record there. I was also young, and full of pride. But I hated the school, and relieved to have my papa come for me, so I could return home and put it all behind me.”

  They sat in silence, holding each other. The rays of sun peeking through the clouds diminished their problems. A God who could make such magnificence would certainly help them through this. Everything would be all right. It had to be, for she couldn’t handle anything less. The children were too important.

  “Well, I guess the next step would be to see Mr. Lawton in the morning and tell him our stories,” Nate said.

  He clutched the reins in his hands and started for home. Angel laid her head on his arm. Anxious to see the children, she hoped her time with them would not be cut short by grandparents who didn’t care for them, but for what they believed in.

  Sylvia placed the book she tried to read in her lap. It didn’t hold her interest, anyway. Her mind kept returning to the situation with Lucy. Eli wore blinders when it came to his daughter’s problems, and Sylvia could see disaster on the horizon. The young woman had been very clear she disliked her, and resented the relationship Sylvia had with her father.

  Although not a very likeable girl, she felt sorry for Lucy in a strange way. Under all that nastiness, a spoiled young girl who’d never had the influence of a mother, cried out. Nate seemed capable of handling Lucy’s ever-increasing advances, and luckily Angelina kept her head about her, and ignored the young girl. But since her drinking had come to everyone’s attention, the time had arrived to take action before something tragic happened.

  She rested her head against the back of the comfortable damask chair and allowed her thoughts to wander. She’d been thrilled when Eli hired her at the restaurant, and knew from the start he was attracted to her. As much as she liked his money, she also cared deeply for the man, and didn’t want to see him hurt. He was so protective of her, and had taken care of that nasty matter with the sheriff.

  The whole episode still bothered her. The attorney for the estate had handed her a check for two hundred eleven dollars, when all the claims against Gerald’s estate had been paid. Why there remained over a thousand dollars still due depositors continued to be mystery.

  But now she worried about her future stepdaughter. She rose from the chair to ready herself for an evening of dinner and the theater. Various ways to address Lucy’s situation with Eli ran through her mind. It would not be an easy conversation, but a necessary one.

  Sometime later, after dismissing the maid who fixed her hair, Sylvia picked up her wrap, gloves and reticule, and headed downstairs. Eli waited for her in the library, a glass of whiskey in his hand.

  “Would you like a sherry before we leave, sweetheart?”

  “Do we have time?” She settled on the padded bench in front of the fireplace.

  “Yes.” He poured a small glass of the dark liquid and handed it to her. Taking the seat across from where she sat, he lifted his glass in a toast.

  Sylvia took a small swallow. “Eli, we need to talk about Lucy.”

  “What about Lucy?” Eli frowned.

  “I don’t mean to upset you, but I have reason to believe she’s been drinking quite a bit.”

  Eli dragged his hand down his face and sighed. “At one time I would have denied that, and taken offense at the suggestion, but I’m afraid you’re right. Even though she denies drinking, I’ve noticed liquor disappearing from my stock, and I have no reason to believe anyone on the staff has suddenly started stealing from me.”

  She set her glass on the small cherry wood table next to her, and took his hand. “What are we going to do?”

  He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I thank God every day for you, my dear. You cannot imagine how wonderful it is to have someone to share my life, and concerns about my daughter.”

  He rose and placed the empty brandy glass on the sideboard. “I wish I knew. A lot of Lucy’s behavior has to do with not having a woman’s influence. Also, my allowing her to run roughshod over everyone and giving her everything she wanted didn’t help.”

  “I don’t think you should blame yourself.” Sylvia edged to the end of her seat. “Certain personality traits are present at birth. I really hate to make comparisons because it’s not always fair, but Angelina also experienced a childhood with no female influence, and had every advantage Lucy had. Yet you’ve seen how well she’s adjusted to her life. She adores her husband and the children. She doesn’t miss all the material things she had before. And she even took me in after I pulled that dirty trick on her.”

/>   Sylvia remembered when she’d told Eli the mail order bride story, taking quite a bit of guilt onto herself when she did.

  “Sweetheart, don’t keep blaming yourself for what you had to do to take care of Angel. You didn’t have a lot of choices, and I haven’t seen a happier couple than those two.” He sat alongside her and ran his knuckles over her cheek. “You did a good thing.”

  “Well, if I’m to not blame myself, how can you blame yourself for Lucy’s failings?”

  “Ah, but it’s a parent’s duty to feel guilty,” he said with a small smile.

  “Enough of this wallowing in pity.” Sylvia swallowed the last of her sherry and stood. “I think we should take this up with Dr. Penrose. Maybe he can suggest something, or maybe you can hire a companion for Lucy. Someone near her age.”

  “Wonderful idea.” Eli helped her into her wrap. “Now, let’s go to dinner and the theater. Although,” he winked at her, “I understand the seating host at the Bella Donna Restaurant is nowhere near as good looking or fascinating as the one at The Golden Buck.”

  Nate yanked at his collar as he steered the buggy around a half-rotted tree trunk in the road. The morning of the court hearing had dawned cool and cloudy. Nobody had spoken much while the family dressed and had breakfast. Nate had decided not to tell the boys why they were going to court, but Angel had changed his mind.

  “You can’t keep this from them,” she said as they readied for bed the night before.

  “I don’t want them to worry.” Nate stopped in the middle of pulling off his boots.

  “I think the chance of the Belfords getting them is slight, but if they do, I don’t want them surprised by the whole thing.” She sat and unbraided her hair, then brushed it.

  “This whole thing is outrageous to begin with. I can’t believe any sane judge would take our children away based on such flimsy charges.” He had come up behind her and took the brush out of her hands. They were both silent as Nate ran the brush through the silky strands.