Unexpected Vows In A Frontier Town Chapter 06

Unexpected Vows In A Frontier Town Chapter 06

A wave of gasps rippled through the crowd.

“In the pond, you sure weren’t holding back, were you? Grabbing him, clinging to him, took several maids to pry you apart. That kind of strength doesn’t look like helplessness to me.”

Martha shook like she’d been stripped naked and thrown into the snow.

Corbin, still wearing that pained expression, added another line like he’d been grossly wronged.

“M’aa’m, I fought back with all I had. But this lady’s grip was something else! She shoved my head underwater, yanked at my belt… I nearly drowned in that pond. If those maids hadn’t come when they did, I’d be a dead man.”

The watching ladies erupted the moment those words left his mouth.

“Pah!”

A middle-aged woman in a silk dress was the first to spit, her face twisted with contempt.

“A model citizen? Just a scheming town fraud!”

“Exactly! Grabbing a man and jumping into the water, tearing his clothes, clinging to him, she’s got less shame than the women in a saloon!”

“Why would someone invite such a vile thing to the wedding? What bad luck!”

Martha knelt on the ground, trembling like a leaf.

She jerked her head up and locked her eyes on me, venomous, like a poisonous insect crawling out of its socket.

“You set me up!”

Her voice was torn and raw, scraping out from deep in her throat.

“Wren, you planned this! You hired that actor on purpose, had him wear a black suit! You knew I would…”

“Knew what?”

I cut her off, my tone flat.

“Knew you’d try to push my husband into a pond on my wedding day? Or knew you’d make a scene in front of all these guests, wrapped around a stranger?”

A sharp, choked sob escaped Martha’s throat, like someone had stamped on her spine.

“I didn’t… I’m not…”

“That’s enough.”

Sebastian had been silent until now. He stepped down from the stairs and came to stand beside me, his gaze heavy on Martha’s crumpled form. His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a cold authority.

“Take her away.”

Several security men moved forward.

“Lock her in the storage room next to the stables. Keep her under watch.”

My voice was calm and clear.

“At dawn, send her to the Silver Creek sheriff’s office. Let those western cowboys decide her fate.”

Martha finally broke.

She collapsed on the ground, pounding her forehead against the stone edge—thump, thump, thump.

“Wren! Wren, please, have mercy! I’m your teacher’s wife! Mr. Pike taught you to read, I cooked for you… you can’t do this to me!”

“You can’t!”

I walked into the bridal suite without looking back.

Behind me, her wailing grew fainter, until the heavy door shut it out completely.

In my past life, she’d enjoyed ten years of wealth and comfort as the lady of Whisper Valley.

In this life, she didn’t even last one night.

And this was only the beginning.

Her daughter was still waiting.