Unexpected Vows In A Frontier Town Chapter 05

Unexpected Vows In A Frontier Town Chapter 05

She froze.

Then, footsteps came from behind the crowd.

The real Sebastian stepped out from among the guests, dressed in a crisp black suit.

Martha’s face went white. She whipped her head around to look at the other man.

The servants raised their flashlights. The beam swept forward, and the second it landed on his face, her expression twisted into pure terror.

The man peeled off fake whiskers and a half-mask from his face, revealing a completely different set of features.

He bowed to me. “My apologies, ma’am. This was entirely an accident!”

Someone with sharp eyes called out.

“Isn’t that Corbin Hayes, the famous actor from the Santa Fe Theater?”

The garden’s roar died as if someone had clamped a hand over its throat.

Martha collapsed onto the grass, her soaked dress glistening coldly under the lights.

She stared at Corbin’s face.

From terror to bewilderment. From bewilderment to despair. In the end, her whole face contorted beyond recognition.

“Liar!”

She lunged up from the ground, water streaking through her soaked sleeves as she flailed her arms. It took several maids to hold her down.

“You’re Sebastian! That’s the groom’s wedding suit you’ve got on!”

Corbin flinched back, scared.

Trembling, he reached into his coat and pulled out a crumpled playbill and a neatly folded note.

He raised both hands over his head, his voice cracking.

“I swear, I really am Corbin Hayes, the manager of the Santa Fe Theater.”

“I’ve been performing near Santa Fe Square for twenty years. Half the town can recognize my face instantly.”

He unfolded the playbill and carefully handed over the note.

“This is a script the missus wrote just two days ago. She hired me to dress as Mr. Wolfram and put on a little hero-rescues-the-damsel act. It’s all written down clear as day. I wouldn’t dare make up a word!”

The housekeeper beside me hurried down, took the playbill and the note, examined them closely under the porch lamps, then raised them high and read them aloud for everyone to hear.

“It says Santa Fe Theater, Corbin Hayes. The job’s to play a nobleman in a black suit at Whisper Valley, pays two hundred dollars, and it’s signed Wren Calloway.”

Every word. Crystal clear.

The guests exchanged glances.

The very same people who’d been so righteous moments ago, demanding justice for Martha—now their faces were a masterpiece of embarrassment.

Martha stared at that note like it was a viper baring its fangs.

Then she launched herself off the ground with a shriek, lunging at Corbin.

“Forgery! You forged it! I’ll tear that paper to shreds!”

Three maids grabbed her at once, twisting her arms and slamming her back onto the grass.

Her knees cracked against the stone edge with a dull thud.

Her tangled hair hung across her face, matted with sludge and weeds. Not a trace remained of the pitiful, virtuous model citizen who’d threatened to die for her reputation.

I stood on the steps and looked down at her.

“Mrs. Pike.”

My voice wasn’t loud. It was almost gentle.

“You kept insisting Mr. Wolfram ruined your reputation. You said he was too strong, and you, a helpless woman, couldn’t fight back. And yet now it turns out the man you grabbed was nothing but a theater actor. You dragged him into the pool, clinging to him and ripping his clothes…”

I paused, letting my gaze drift over the marks on her neck, lacing my tone with a perfect, measured note of surprise.

“You didn’t even bother to see who he was before you dragged him into that pond?”