Fire and Ice by Atwood Leah

Author:Atwood, Leah [Atwood, Leah]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2014-12-10T23:00:00+00:00

An hour later, Sam and his entire family were entering town. Men and women alike stared at them, some with open scorn as their gaze settled on Patrick. Of the ones glaring, Sam knew exactly why they took issue with his brother. Last year, Patrick had cheated during a poker game with Lowell Manning, taking his prized, inherited pocket watch. Sam had seen to it that the watch was returned to its rightful owner. Two years ago, Patrick had been courting Rosalie Beard when he’d been caught kissing Erin McNaughton. There wasn’t much he could do to rectify that situation, and it had cost the Holden family Mr. Beard’s business, who’d, until then, always purchased his beef from them.

Those were just a few of the folks of Weatherton, who’d suffered from Patrick’s ill-mannered behavior and complete disregard for other’s feelings. Sam hoped they didn’t see too many more members of the wronged-by-Patrick club. Tension among his family was already high, and he didn’t want any scenes. He also couldn’t help but wonder how quickly word of Patrick’s marriage on the wings of Maeve’s arrival had spread, along with his own pending marriage to Maeve. Should have left Patrick at home, he thought. The gossip hens already have enough fodder for their squawking.

Except that would raise issues with Candace and alert her to something not being right. Quite frankly, he was surprised that no one had accidentally told Candace the truth yet, or that she hadn’t figured it out. All the other children had been warned to watch their words carefully and not tell Candace that Maeve was originally Patrick’s fiancée.

Such an odd couple Candace and Patrick were, an unlikely pair if ever there was one. During the last three weeks, Sam had observed them, noting that they seemed to be struggling in adapting to life together. They were pleasant to others, Patrick had even been helping out around the ranch a great deal, but they rarely interacted with each other. Sam felt sorry for his new sister-in-law.

Even though Maeve and he had corrected his lie, in the sense that they were now officially engaged, a measure of guilt still plagued him for not being completely truthful. Again, though, it was one of those times when the right thing to do was drawn in blurry lines. He ceased that line of thinking because the ball of anger toward Patrick was growing again in his chest. Instead, he focused his attention on the upcoming nuptials.

The wagon rumbled to the far end of town and pulled up to the church where everyone unloaded. The temperatures were balmy for October and he took that as a positive sign. Good weather on his wedding day had to stand for something.

Pastor Gibbons opened the church doors and welcomed them in. He directed several of them where to stand, and the remainder of the Holden family took a seat in the pews.

Maeve stood in front of the altar, facing Sam. The pastor instructed them to join hands and Sam took Maeve’s hands and covered them with his own.

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