A Gown Of Spanish Lace Part 25

"Iait was after I'd shot the snake. I was afraid. I suddenly realized thet if somethin' happened to youathet I wouldasuffer terribly. Thet you were much more than aaprisoner thet I was bound to free. I loved you. I realized thet then."

Ariana stirred dreamily.

"That's when I first knew, too," she told him.

She turned and reached up to run a finger gently along the scar. "And to think that I might have never met you. That you could have diedaas a baby. You know, I owe Will Russell so much. For saving you, then forafor kidnapping me."

She giggled. "That sounds like a silly thing to say, doesn't it? But itait turned out very welladon't you think?"

He nodded, his heart too full for an answer.

"You know," went on Ariana, "our backgrounds really aren't that different. Both orphans. Both lost our folks in an Indian raid. Rather ironica"or coincidentala"don't you think?"

Laramie nodded, his head bent over Ariana's.

"Well, all that's behind us. Nowanow we have the whole future ahead of us. We canacan make up for all the pastain the years ahead." She sighed deeply.

"G.o.d has been good," said Laramie.

"He has. Laramiea"" Ariana caught herself and laughed softly. "You know," she hastened on, "it's hard for me toato switch to Burke. I like that name. Burke. It's just that I've always thought of you asaLaramie. Will you mind if I slip now and then?"

Laramie smiled good-naturedly. "It's hard fer me, too," he admitted. "It takes some gettin' used to. I still have to stop and think when I go to sign my name or even when someone speaks to me. I guess we'll get used to it in time."

Ariana nodded. "It's hard to make a changea"as an adult."

They stood in silence for a few minutes and then Laramie spoke. "What if we keep the Laramie? It seems thetawell thet I owe thet much to myapa. He did do his best. He could have jest left me to die. It must have been an awful nuisance fer a man like himato raise a child."

Ariana smiled. "Mrs. Laramie Burke Lawrence," she said softly. "It sounds just fine to me."

Laramie worked hard and saved his money for his upcoming marriage. They would not be wealthya"but neither was anyone else on the prairies. At least they would be together.

Ariana, too, was saving each penny she could from her small stipend as a schoolteacher. She was certain they would manage just fine. Her uncle Jake had given them a small parcel of land down by the creek and neighbors had promised a house raising just as soon as the crops were out of the fields. Ariana was fully confident they would have a snug little dwelling all their own by the time their important day in December arrived.

Her mother and father arrived two weeks before the wedding. Ariana was so excited when she met their stage that she thought she was acting like one of her first-graders.

"Oh, I'm so anxious for you to meet him," she bubbled. "I know that you're going to love him just as mucha"well, almost as much as I do."

Her papa smiled and her mama held her close. "I knew it," she insisted. "I could sense you were in love with him when we were here before."

"Oh, Mama," laughed Ariana. "I scarcely admitted it myself then."

"Well, I knew it. You can't hide the look of a girl in love."

Ariana laughed joyfully. "We're going to need to fix that gown," she reminded her mother. "Did you bring the satin?"

"Oh yes. I didn't forget. Perhaps Molly will do the sewing. She is much better with a needle than I am."

Ariana fairly skipped her way back to the house. In only two short weeks she would finally be Mrs. Laramie Burke Lawrence. It still seemed like an impossible, beautiful dream.

"Ariana?"

It was Laramie who called.

"In here," she answered, her cheeks flus.h.i.+ng with pleasure. She and her aunt Molly were busy at the kitchen table, studying the lace wedding gown, figuring just how to cut the satin for the new cuffs.

"I suppose we could undo this cuff and see just how it is put together. We would then have a pattern," Aunt Molly was saying.

Laramie stood in the doorway. Ariana looked up and smiled.

"It's okay," she a.s.sured him. "I'm not superst.i.tious. You can see the gown before the wedding day."

He moved forward then. He knew nothing about gownsa"but the gown that hung before him looked beautiful.

"You'll beawearing that?" he questioned, his eyes traveling from the gown to Ariana and then back again.

She nodded, excitement flus.h.i.+ng her cheeks and making her eyes s.h.i.+ne.

He reached for her hand. "I had no ideaa"I mean, I've never seen a wedding gown before. I had no idea they were soasoa"

Ariana laughed joyfully. "They aren'ta"always," she admitted. "It just happens that you are seeing theathe most beautiful gown in all the Americas." She laughed again. "It's speciala"even for a wedding gown. Imported lacea"right from Spain. Isn't it gorgeous?"

He nodded. "I can hardly wait to see you in it," he said quietly.

"Well, first, we have this little problem," stated Ariana.

"What is that?"

"This sleeve. See how that other cuff is? It b.u.t.tons on. This one is missing."

"Can you make another?" Laramie inquired with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Not to match. We'd never match the lace. So we have to make two new onesa"out of the satin. We're just trying to figure out if the cut is on the bias ora""

Laramie leaned closer and took another look. He frowned.

"Wait a minute," he said as he reached to finger the material. "I jest might have something to help you. I'm almost surea""

Ariana looked at him in surprise.

"In my ma's little chest. I saw a sc.r.a.p of materiala"almost like that. I don't think someone would notice any little bit of difference."

Ariana's eyes took on a s.h.i.+ne.

"Could you get it?" she asked hurriedly. "It would be wonderful if we could keep the cuffsa""

"I'll go home and pick it up," he a.s.sured her. "I'll be back in an hour or so."

Laramie retrieved the small chest from its place of safety and flipped up the lid. He was anxious to get back to Ariana.

Hurriedly he put aside the small baby gown and fumbled through the hankies, searching for the bit of material he had seen in the box. He did hope that he hadn't inadvertently lost it.

He was almost at the bottom of the box before he found it. He smiled with relief and drew it forth.

Yes. He had been right. The lace looked very much like the lace of Ariana's gown. He smiled again. She would be so pleased.

Laramie was about to tuck the sc.r.a.p of material in his s.h.i.+rt pocket when something caught his eye. A tiny b.u.t.ton.

His eyes widened and he brought the material closer. Another b.u.t.ton. And another.

He stared, not able to believe what his eyes were seeing. In his hand he held the missing cuff. It could only mean one thing.

His legs gave out on him and Laramie lowered himself to his bunk, his face in his hands. A wave of nausea pa.s.sed through him, making him feel sick inside. Did he and Ariana share the same mother? It couldn't be. It just couldn't be. He loved Ariana. They were to be married. He felt inner pain as he had never felt before in his entire life.

His first temptation was to destroy the little cuff and say it had been lost.

But reason and honesty won the battle. That would not be fair. It would not be right. He could never live with the fact. Nor would Ariana ever forgive him if he tried.

One simply could not marry one's own sister. He lifted his head and stareda"unseeinga"before him. He would have to tell her. Would have to tell them all.

He hated the thought of the whole ordeal.

Why? Why? When everything seemed to have finally worked out for good?

Laramie dropped his head in his hands again and groaned. Where are you, G.o.d? How could you let this happen? Why didn't you let us know we were brother and sister right from the start? Then our relations.h.i.+p could have been thet of familya"good and proper.

Laramie groaned again. He had never, in his lifetime, been struck such a cruel blow.

Ariana paced back and forth on the porch of her aunt's farm home. Laramie was taking longer than she had expected. Was he having trouble finding the material? It would be so nice to have the cuffs matchinga"or even nearly matching. It would be so nice to keep the dress as close as possible to the gown her mother had worn. She did hope that Laramie was right. That the cuff would not need to be changed to satin.

She hesitated and looked out over the country road in the gathering twilight. Laramie was still not in sight.

She sighed and paced some more.

She hoped nothing bad had happened. What if his horse had spooked? What if the law had suddenly appeared? No, that was silly. Laramie had said that he had confessed and been pardoned. Nothing like that would happen now.

Just as Ariana felt she could stand the uncertainty no longer, she saw Laramie's buckskin appear around the bend in the road. In her agitation she felt like running out to meet him. But that would be silly. She held herself in check. He would be with her soon enough.

She tapped one foot against the porch boards, impatience making it hard for her to wait. The warm evening breeze played with her hair, wisping it about her oval face.

At last Laramie pulled up and threw the reins over the hitching rail. He came toward her. Ariana beamed and moved to meet him.

"Will it work? Is the lace pattern close enough?" she called as the distance between them closed.

In the semidarkness Ariana could barely see his face. When he drew near enough she saw he was pale and drawn. Something had happened. Ariana felt her heart beat faster. Was it just his disappointment that the lace wasn't right?

He said nothinga"just reached out his hand to her. In his palm was the bit of lace. Ariana took it and turned it over in her fingers.

"It doesn't matter if it doesn't match," she began. "Don't feel badly ifa""

Ariana looked more closely.

"It looksa"very close," she said and looked up at Laramie.

He still was ashena"silent. She could not understand.

"Arianaait doesn't justamatch the cuff," he said softly in a choked, forced voice. "It is the cuff."

Her eyes widened. She looked into his face with disbelief.

"It is the cuff," he repeated. "Look. It has the tiny b.u.t.tons."

Ariana's gaze went back to the bit of lace. She turned it over and over. First unbelief, then delight, filled her eyes.

"Why, that's wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Who would have ever believed it? Who would have ever imagined? The real missing cuff. Isn't it wonderful! Isn't G.o.d good!"

She threw her arms around Laramie's neck. Her warm tears of joy fell on his cheek.

Gently he pushed her from him. "Arianaalisten to me."

She looked at him, shock in her eyes. What had happened? What was wrong?

"I found the cuffain my mother's box."

She nodded.

"Myamother's."

She looked puzzled.

"It matches your mother's dress. Exactly."

She took one tiny step backward, still staring at him.

"You don't meana"?" she began, but she did not finish.

He nodded.

"But it can't be," she almost screamed at him. "Ita"can't be."

"Arianaa""

She looked at him for one moment, her eyes wild and denying. His own tears were tracing the pattern on his cheek where Ariana's tears had been such a short while ago.

"It has to be," he said simply, looking away from the pain in her eyes.

"I don't want a brother," she cried. "Ia"wanta"" and then she turned from him and ran toward the house.

Dear Ariana, I am leaving. I hope someday to return when I can think of you as a sister. I have decided that it is too hard for us to see each other now. I will pray for you. I will love you always, but that love must change now. Perhaps someday we will be able to say that G.o.d has worked it for good.