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Tessa looked at Marcus with narrowed eyes. “You are very smart and very tricky. I am still very upset about this, but you are right. I am glad that I didn’t miss out on Dean. Please do not ever divulge what those letters contained.”
“You mean contain. He kept every one of them, Tessa,” Marcus said.
“Really?”
“Yep. I will never tell anyone what’s in them. My lips are sealed,” Marcus said with a smile.
Tessa smiled back and found that her anger with Marcus was cooling. “You really are hard to stay angry with.”
Marcus grinned. “It’s just part of my natural charm,” he said and patted her shoulder.
Tessa had learned early on that Marcus was a hands on type of person and that no offense was to be taken from it. She laughed and said, “Now, about that whittling lesson.”
Tessa walked along the road that ran adjacent to their property, picking some raspberries that had just ripened. Sadie worked along the other side. If they were able to pick enough, Tessa wanted to make a couple of pies. She heard Sadie singing and smiled. Sadie had a sweet voice and Seth especially was always getting her to sing.
The sound of carriage wheels came to Tessa’s ears. She looked up to see one in the distance. They didn’t get a whole lot of traffic on the road so she was curious about who might be approaching. It was a large carriage pulled by two horses. Sadie stopped picking berries and came to stand with Tessa as it drew closer.
The driver pulled the reins and the carriage came to a halt at the entrance of their ranch.
“Hello, miss. Do you live here? Is this the Samuels place?” he asked.
“Yes, it is,” Tessa said.
One of the carriage doors opened and a man alighted. Tessa’s face paled and she gasped as she recognized him.
Sadie looked from Tessa to the man and asked, “Tessa, who is he?”
“My father.”
Geoffrey stood on the dirt road in his fine clothes and looked at his daughter. He knew it was her, but she was dressed as he’d never seen her. Tessa’s emerald dress was pretty enough, but there were far less petticoats underneath. Her hair was done in a long braid that reached almost to her waist. Normally, Tessa wore her hair in a stylish coiffure.
She carried a basket and he could see some berries in it. His daughter was picking berries like hired help. Tessa raised her left hand to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear and he saw the flash of jewelry on her third finger. Married? Tessa had married? His feelings were muddled as he stepped forward.
“Tessa!” Above all, he was overjoyed to have found his daughter safe. He had been incredibly worried about her. To find her apparently well gave him immense pleasure. He opened his arms to her.
Tessa couldn’t believe her father had found her at first and then remembered that he was a man of vast resources and that he possessed a keen intelligence. She was scared of his reaction to finding out about her marriage, but she had greatly missed him. Tessa ran and let herself be enfolded in her father’s comforting arms.
They stood there, clinging to each other, tears flowing freely for several minutes. Then Tessa drew back and looked up at her father. “Papa, I know you’re angry, but please listen before passing judgment.”
He looked down at his daughter, who was so much like him. “Yes, I’m angry. We have been worried to death about you. However, this isn’t the place to discuss it,” he said with a meaningful glance at the driver. He seemed to notice Sadie for the first time. “And who is this lovely young lady?”
Sadie’s cheeks flushed at the compliment. Tessa broke away from her father and went to Sadie.
She took the girl’s hand and led her to Geoffrey. “This is my stepdaughter, Sadie Samuels. Sadie, this is my father, Geoffrey O’Connor.”
Sadie remembered how Tessa had taught her to greet gentlemen of a higher status. She dropped into a deep curtsy and then rose and looked shyly at Geoffrey. “Pleased to meet you, sir,” she said.
Geoffrey hid his shock over the word “stepdaughter” and smiled at her good manners. He bowed to her then and said, “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Samuels.”
Sadie giggled and picked up her basket again.
Tessa picked up hers and handed it to Sadie. “Will you please take these to the house and tell your father we have company?”
“Yes, Tessa. Of course,” Sadie said and trotted down the lane to the ranch.
Geoffrey turned to the driver. “Please take my things to their residence and place them where you are directed. Here is your pay as promised. Thank you for your services.”
The driver took the money, pleased that it was more than they’d agreed on and tipped his hat to Geoffrey. “Thank you, sir. It’s been a pleasure.” He started the horses off again, following Sadie’s path.
Geoffrey regarded Tessa carefully then. Her skin showed signs of sun and there were a few freckles across her nose. Geoffrey was happy to see that she looked healthy. “So this is where you ran off to. The middle of nowhere, when you had everything you could ever want? I need an explanation for your actions, daughter.”
Tessa felt a prick of anger but squelched it as she tried to see things from his perspective.
“Papa, I don’t need material things like Maddie and Claire do. I told you again and again how I felt, but you didn’t listen. No one did. So I did what I had to do. I had to set out on my own and live my life as I wished,” she said softly. “You of all people should understand that. You left Ireland to come to America, after all.”
Geoffrey frowned. “That was different.”
“Why? If you say it was because you were a man, you can turn around and leave right now,” Tessa warned in a firm tone.
Geoffrey raised an eyebrow. “Very well. I won’t say it and I’m not leaving. At least not before I meet your husband.”
“You’ll like him,” Tessa said, despite her and Dean’s recent differences. “He’s a good man.” She frowned despite her words. How can I be proud of Dean, yet be so angry with him, she wondered. Tessa looked back up at her father who was looking at her with intense curiosity. “Come then, Papa.”
“Her who is here?” Dean said as he looked at his daughter.
“Her pa, Pa,” Sadie said. “He’s tall and looks like Tessa.”
Jack said, “He’s our grandpa then, right?”
“No,” Dean said. “Not really.”
“Yeah, he is,” Jack said stubbornly.
Dean let it go. “Where are they?” he asked as a carriage pulled up to the house. “Stay,” he said to the kids and went outside to meet the driver.
“I have some luggage here,” the man said as he climbed down from the vehicle. “Where do you want it?”
“I’ll take it,” Dean said.
The driver handed Dean two suitcases made of fine leather and a briefcase. “There you are.”
“Thanks,” Dean said.
The other man climbed back up on the coach, clicked to the horses, and turned around. He headed off back up the drive.
Dean deposited the bags in the kitchen, warned
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