Free A Promise to Love by Serena B. Miller Page B

their daddy instead of having to live with a woman bent on punishing a good man because she’s hurting so bad?”
    â€œIf it appears that the stepmother will make a good home for the children, then yes, I would allow them to live with their father.”
    â€œWelllll,” Hazel drew the word out as she cocked one eyebrow and gave Mr. Hunter a stern look. “It appears that there’s been some courtin’ being done around here that nobody but me’s known much about. Josh here has been sparkin’ my good friend Ingrid these past few days. From what I understand—and I might be wrong about this—but from what I understand, he was thinkin’ of popping the question his ownself in a few months.” Hazel once again cocked an eyebrow and gave Joshua a meaningful look. “Ain’t that so, Josh.”
    A dead silence fell over the courtroom as everyone gawked back at Joshua.
    â€œThat’s a lie!” Millicent fumed. “Joshua Hunter has not been courting that girl!”
    â€œI don’t see as you can know that for sure,” the judge said. “You wouldn’t be the first woman to not know that her hired help was seeing someone behind her back.” He glanced at his pocket watch again. “What’s it going to be, Mr. Hunter? It appears that you have a serious marriage proposal from a woman you evidently care about. I can perform a quick ceremony right now or the children can go home with their grandparents until I come back—which won’t be soon. Your choice—but you’d better make it fast.”
    Hazel motioned for Ingrid to bend down, and the old woman whispered in her ear. “Sorry about that little bitty exaggeration of mine!”
    Ingrid knew that what Hazel had told the judge was a whole lot closer to a lie than an exaggeration, but she also knew that now would not be a wise time to correct her.

    Joshua saw the look of longing in the hired girl’s face and knew that she was only waiting for a word from him. It had taken incredible courage for her to do what she did—or incredible desperation. He had nothing but pity for the girl, but he had been placed in a terrible position. He could refuse and humiliate her and Hazel—and in so doing have all of his children end up in Virgie and Richard’s care, where they would be well fed and well clothed. But with the venom that existed against him in that household, he did not want to gamble with how his children would feel about him a year from now. He knew that Virgie was capable of trying to turn all five of them against him.
    His only other option was to go along with Hazel in this charade of having been courting this poor immigrant girl.
    During the war, he had learned to use whatever means possible to win a battle with the fewest casualties. In this case, if he did not win the battle, the casualties would be the hearts of his children.
    Hazel knew the girl. She would only have spoken up if she believed the girl would treat his children well. He had little to offer except food and shelter, but apparently she had nothing at all. If he was very lucky, it might turn out that she could cook—which would be quite a blessing.
    It wasn’t the best solution, but it was better than having to fight Richard and Virgie every time he wanted to see his children. Another pair of hands to help around the farm would be a welcome thing, and it wasn’t as though he expected to ever love another woman after Diantha. One woman was as good as another to him—as long as she was good to his children. He had heard of men sending off for mail-order brides and of it working out. At least in this situation, she wasn’t a complete unknown. Hazel vouching for her meant something. That woman had an eagle eye when it came to assessing a person’s character.
    But if he was going to marry this girl in front of all these people, it was going to be on his own terms. He would not allow