Emmeline's Exile (The Alphabet Mail-Order Brides Book 5) Read online

  “Without the schoolmarm there, he had no one left to seek permission from except the mayor. If the mayor had ever found out what he was up to…”

  “He would have been hanged,” Emmeline finished for him.

  Lawson nodded and swallowed hard, then he said. “He has been coming here all along, using me as an excuse to visit, and making his transactions each year.”

  Emmeline shook her head. “I’m so sorry.”

  Lawson held her to him, breathing deeply. “So am I, Emmeline. So am I.”

  Epilogue

  The sun was shining that day. It was crisp and clean, and it felt to Emmeline, as though it was a long time coming. Lawson had struggled for weeks with his brother’s betrayal, not knowing if it had even been right to let him escape. In the end, it was Emmeline who managed to convince her husband that what he had done had been the only thing to be done.

  “You could never have watched him hang,” she whispered. “He’s your brother, no matter what crimes he has committed.”

  At last, Lawson seemed to agree, and they put the matter to rest.

  It was a fresh sort of Spring day. Emmeline had worn wildflowers in her hair when they had gone to church that morning. Now they were strolling along down Main Street, dressed in their Sunday best, her hand tucked into the crook of his elbow. Lawson had forgotten something at the pharmacy, and Emmeline had agreed to walk with him to retrieve it before they sat down to Sunday lunch.

  They waved and smiled at townsfolk they knew as they passed and arrived at the pharmacy at a quarter to noon.

  “I’ll wait here,” Emmeline said, turning her face to the glow of the sun. She was determined to let it soak into her skin, no matter what Charlotte Drexel had told her about wrinkles. Nothing that felt so very wonderful could ever possibly be bad for you.

  But Lawson was tugging on her arm. “No. Come in. Just for a moment. I want to show you something.”

  On a sigh, Emmeline followed her husband in to the shade of his shop, feeling quite as though she were leaving a friend standing there in the street.

  “What is it?”

  Lawson’s blurry shape circled around behind the register, pulling open a drawer there.

  “Close your eyes,” he said firmly. “And don’t open them again until I say so.”

  “Whatever for?” she huffed, folding her arms over her bosom and frowning sternly at her husband’s blur.

  She could almost hear Lawson rolling his eyes. “Will you just do as I say, woman?”

  Emmeline gave another theatrical sigh, but she was smiling as she did as she was bid.

  She heard Lawson come back around behind the register and then a soft rustling. She had to fight back the urge to peek at what he was doing. Then she felt him there, inches away from her, his warm breath on her cheeks. “Don’t open them. Not yet. Just wait.”

  He slid something rather thin and cold up the tip of her nose, and then Emmeline felt two wires poking her in the side of the head, just above her ears.

  “There,” he said. “They might need adjusted a bit, but open your eyes. Give them a try.”

  Emmeline opened her eyes. She stood there in absolute silence for a moment, unable to comprehend what she was seeing… because she was seeing! Everything! All of it. Clearly and wholly and wonderfully. She could see every detail in the grain of the wood on the table before her. She could see the shelves and boxes and tubes and even read their labels. She could see each herb that hung from the ceiling in the back of the shop and she could see… Lawson.

  Her hands flew to her mouth as her eyes fell on him. She could see the scruff of his jawline, and the scar from the night of the Indian attack. She could see all the places where she had kissed and held and loved him since the day they had met.

  He was watching her anxiously. “I know I’m not much to look at,” he said, shrugging. “But can you see me? Better, I mean, than you could before?”

  Emmeline didn’t trust herself to speak. Tears were springing into her eyes faster than she could wipe them away. She didn’t want them to cloud her vision, her sight, because she could see!!!

  She reached for her husband’s hand. “How did you—What is this?”

  Lawson chuckled. “Spectacles,” he said matter-of-factly. “Have you really never thought to try them?”

  Emmeline shook her head. “I thought… I didn’t think they would help!”

  “I asked Dr. Valentine,” Lawson murmured, coming right up to Emmeline and gripping her shoulders. “He said he thought they would be of some assistance. They should improve your vision now, and hopefully keep it from getting too much worse in the future.”

  She was still wiping tears from her face as she stood on the tips of her toes to press her lips to his.

  “Thank you, Lawson Aldridge,” she whispered.

  He beamed at her. “I would give you the entire world if you asked for it, Emmeline.”

  “I would give you the stars,” she whispered back, still wiping at her eyes.

  Lawson blinked at her, then he shook his head, grinning. “Come here. Let’s go outside. There is so much for you to see.”

  So, Emmeline took her husband’s hand, and she followed him out into the sunlight, truly seeing the new world around her for the very first time.

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  About the Author

  Josephine Blake is a historical romance author who enjoys a quiet life on the outskirts of Portland, OR. Her debut novel, Dianna, hit the shelves in August of 2016.

  Before publishing her own work, she spent her out-of-office days working for a single family home as a nanny, which allowed her time to work on freelance fiction and ghostwriting for numerous clients.

  She lives with her delightfully charming husband and two Persian kitties called Velvet and Ruby. All three are equally feisty.

  When she's not writing, Josephine enjoys hiking, spelunking, graphic design, spending time with her family, or thinking about what to write next!

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