Because of Rebecca - By Leanne Tyler Page 0,53
foot, he kicked the door shut.
He laid her gently on the bed and then loosened two buttons on the collar of her dress before he patted her cheeks. “Rebecca. Rebecca. Rebecca, can you hear me?”
“Jared,” she murmured moving her head back and forth as she came around. Her eyelids fluttered before she fully opened her eyes.
“I’m here, darling. You’re safe. No need to be frightened.”
“Oh, Jared.” She clutched at his hand and tried to sit up, but he stopped her.
“Lie still.” He went to the washstand and wet a towel. He came back and blotted her face and neck. “Does that feel better?”
“Yes,” she murmured. “What happened?”
“You fainted.”
“I did?”
“Yes. I have a mind to go after that Delaney fellow for frightening you. Why did he think he knew you?”
She slowly sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Reaching for the damp towel, she ran it across the back of her neck. She looked at him and bit her bottom lip, shaking her head.
“Because he’s Lucas’ father,” she blurted.
“What?” Jared stood and stared at her. “I don’t understand. I thought you said your husband was dead.”
“I never said that. I’ve never been married.”
“Never married? But at Mitchell and Elizabeth’s wedding you said…”
“No, you assumed I had come out of mourning for a husband when it was my sister who had passed.”
“Then why didn’t you correct me?”
She licked her lips and shrugged. “It seemed easier to let you believe I was a widow than explain being a single woman with an infant child.”
Jared turned away not understanding any of this. He gripped hold of the dresser. “If Delaney is Lucas’ father, how could he not know who you are?”
“Because I never met him before today,” she said. “I’m not Lucas’ biological mother.”
He turned back and felt as if the floor had disappeared from beneath his feet. He couldn’t believe what he heard. She’d lied to him. Pretended to be something she wasn’t. Yet, he’d fallen in love with the woman he thought she was, and she claimed to return his feelings. Could he believe her? Should he believe any of what she was saying?
He crossed his arms, leaning back against the dresser, and stared at her. “If you aren’t Lucas’s mother then who is?”
“M-my sister. Mariah.”
“And she’s dead?”
“Yes.” Rebecca nodded, twisting the hand towel. “She died shortly after giving birth to Lucas, but before she passed, she begged me to take him and raise him as my own. Sh-she didn’t want Stuart Delaney to ever know he’d fathered a child from their union.”
Rebecca looked up at him and he saw moisture in her eyes, pain, and uncertainty. “You see, he’s not an honorable man. He tricked Mariah into thinking they were married by a priest on a riverboat while she and Aunt Josephine were in New Orleans. She was young and too naïve. If only I’d been there—”
“You can’t blame yourself for that.” God help him, but he believed her for no other reason than the man he believed Stuart Delaney to be.
“Aunt Josephine blames Mariah. She said Mariah died for her sins. But how can she have sinned if she thought the ceremony real?”
Jared sat beside her. He took the towel from her and laid it aside before taking her hands in his. “I don’t believe she did, and I don’t believe your aunt truly believes it either. She’s blaming Mariah as a way to deal with her own guilt for allowing this to happen. I should know. I blamed myself for Charisse dying.”
“Oh Jared,” Rebecca said, running a hand up his arm. “You must forgive me for allowing you to think I was a widow. I hated deceiving you, but I had to do it to protect Lucas. You understand that, don’t you? I regretted not correcting your misconception of why I had come out of mourning, especially after you told me how Charisse died in childbirth.”
Jared stood, ran a hand through his hair and walked across the room. He turned back. “Where does Rory come into the picture? Is it because he gambled away Oak Hill and Delaney bought the markers?”
She gasped. “Delaney is the one who holds the markers on Oak Hill?”
“Yes.”
“You must not let him get your plantation, Jared. I cannot stand the thought of that vile man living at Oak Hill. Let me cover the markers if Rory is unable to pay his debt.”
He shook his head. “Rory has the money. He showed it to me before I left Jackson.”
“That is