Free The Mail Order Midwife's Secret (Wanted: Wives In The West 2) by Trinity Ford Page A

sad, is all.”
    Millie smiled, thinking about how Pastor Littlejohn’s plan was slowly changing peoples’ lives—Hannah’s, Samuel’s, John’s and her own. By the grace of God, she would have her happy ending, too—if she could get a legal divorce from Henry without him harming her first. She hated carrying this secret with her. “John?” she asked. “Is there somewhere we can talk…alone?”
    “Come on,” John said. “I know just the place.” John walked Millie back to the carriage and they drove away from town, toward his cabin. He stopped at the top of a hill in the middle of the prairie. “I always come here to think.” It was the same place where they’d had their picnic—where John had confided in her about the tragedy in his past.
    The black night sky was painted with twinkling stars and the soothing hum of the cicadas serenaded them in the moonlight. Still sitting in the carriage, Millie turned to face him. “John,” she said. “I can’t have a child.” The minute she said it, she wished she could take it back. After all, the two weren’t getting married—hadn’t even dated—but they both knew there were strong feelings between them, and she felt it wasn’t right not to tell him, in case he wanted to change his mind.
    John stared back at Millie, the look on his face pained as if he were already having regrets. “Oh, Millie,” he said. “Is that what’s been eating you up all this time? Why, I don’t care about that. You should know that.” He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close for a hug. Slowly backing away, he looked into Millie’s eyes. “I love you , Millie—everything about you. Nothing could change my mind about wanting to marry you.”
    Millie’s heart filled with love and relief, knowing that John would still love her even though she couldn’t give him a child. He moved his head slowly toward hers, in an effort to kiss her, but Millie stopped him. “I can’t, John,” she said. “I still have something to take care of back home. I’m going to leave for Kansas in a couple of weeks, and then when I return, we can move forward. I promise.”
    John looked at her face quizzically and then turned to look up at the sky. “I wish you trusted me,” he said solemnly.
    “I do, John,” she said, turning his face back toward hers with her hand. “ You have to trust me now.”
    “Okay,” he answered in a pained voice. They sat in silence, staring up at the sky for a few minutes more. “Better get on home before it gets too late.”
    Over the next several days, John seemed reserved, as if deep in thought about what Millie hadn’t told him. She wished she could speed up time and put the past behind her, but she had to plan carefully. She wanted to find a safe place to stay in Kansas while she petitioned for a divorce from Henry—somewhere he’d never find her. She’d gotten a reply back from a couple who owned a little shop in town. She had delivered their child for free when they fell on hard times. They were going to let her stay in the loft above the shop and keep it a secret for her. If only she could tell John of her plans and alleviate his concern…
    Her train would leave a week from today. She’d told Clara and Doc that she’d be going back home to finish some business there, before returning to Fort Worth permanently. “Do you want us to come along?” Clara offered. “It might be dangerous. On those trains, I mean.”
    Millie knew what Clara really meant. She’d seen the bruises on her when she first arrived. “I’ll be fine,” Millie reassured her. The couple didn’t press her for details, and she wouldn’t have told the truth anyway. Maybe someday. Maybe after she told John. But the whole situation was embarrassing—answering an ad as a married woman, fleeing an abusive husband. She’d rather just take care of it and move on with a clean slate.
    Millie finished getting ready for the night’s shift as Clara went to wake Doc.