Chapter Ten

Several months passed with no more incidents. Angus continued to shoo her away anytime she asked, assuring her that everything was fine. She tried to put it out of her mind so that she could focus on things to come, but it still bothered her. Instead of dwelling on it, she just put her faith in God and her husband, that they would get through this. With her growing belly, she would be busy enough soon.

Angus managed to buy enough seeds to get early crops planted with sales of livestock and jams Margaret made from ripened spring fruits. Margaret also took to sewing for the public in order to raise money to get more crops in the ground. It kept her busy and she was able to use some of the leftover material to make baby clothes for their little one’s arrival. By the time the crops were all in the ground and she was too big to work in the fields, they were doing quite well again. Food was still scarce, but they managed to get by with what they had, Angus’s hunting skills, two dairy cows and half a dozen laying hens.

Everything seemed to be going along just fine, until one night when Margaret heard Dog barking out in the yard. He had been laying out on the porch with his new loves, a pile of puppies that had been born of a stray that turned up in the yard one night and died a couple of months after they were born from unknown causes. Margaret tensed, knowing that Dog rarely barked at anything but strangers he deemed a threat.

Then she heard the howling, followed by the awful noise of dogs fighting and yelping in pain. By the time Angus ran out, it was mostly over. Dog lay bleeding in the yard and two puppies were missing. Angus shot at the coyotes as they ran away and then ran to Dog, but it was too late.

“I’m sorry, boy. I didn’t get here in time this go around,” Angus told him as his shallow breathing stopped and he lay motionless on the ground. Tears ran down Margaret’s face as she quietly picked up the remaining two puppies and took them inside where they would be safe. It felt like she was saying goodbye to an old friend rather than just a stray dog.

The following morning, Angus buried Dog and one of the puppies they had later found. They were placed lovingly in the back yard beneath a large Oak tree that Dog often liked to lay under during the hot summer months. Margaret was surprised when even Angus got a little choked up as he put the beloved animal into the ground. She pulled him to her as he put the last of the dirt on the tiny grave and placed a small wooden cross at the top. Then, they went inside and life went on once more.

Margaret was busy making supper several nights later when Angus came in with a huge smile on his face. He lay a small slip of paper down in front of her and sat down to watch as she read it. Her eyes grew wide as she took in the words and looked at him in amazement.

“What? How?” she replied.

“He might have intimidated you out of the country, but not everyone is so easily scared away. My father fought in the civil war before I was born. He died when I was a few years old, but he made one of his friends promise him that he would make sure that my mother and I were taken care of. This friend, who prefers to maintain a low profile, kept that promise. He made sure we always had enough and continued to check on me well into my adult life to make sure I was okay. I went to him about your problem,” he said.

“And?” Margaret asked.

“And he went to London and had a little talk with quite a few folks. He made sure that the accountant that cheated you out of your rightful inheritance was found out by the right people, as well as those that helped him with his little deceit. They will all be going away to jail for a very long time and the estate is yours as soon as you can go there to claim it,” Angus told her.

“I don’t understand how all of this is possible,” she said.

“It is not only possible, but it is done. Lawyers are sending papers for you to sign and then everything is yours. The money, the property, everything that should have been. In fact, you will be happy to know that the estate has grown and since those gains were gained falsely, they cannot be retained by him. They become a part of the estate, as well,” he said.

“Angus! Do you know what this means?” Margaret asked.

“It means that no one else will be coming here to harm you,” Angus replied.

“Angus, it means a lot more than that. We are rich! My father had a lot of money and if it has been grown, then we will not want for anything!” she said. Angus looked solemn for a moment, his face dropping.

“I guess you won’t want to stay here with me on this struggling little farm. You were never meant to be a farmer’s wife. I know who you are now. My father’s friend told me. You should have been a powerful socialite, married to a doctor or a lawyer, perhaps even a Duke of some sort,” he said.

“You are right, Angus. That is exactly what I was meant to be, but the Lord saw fit to bring me here instead. He thought it was better for me to meet and marry you and have our child,” she said.

“It doesn’t change the fact that it is not your calling,” Angus replied.

“That is where you are wrong, Angus. It is exactly my calling. When I left London, I mourned my bad luck. I couldn’t believe that I was having to give up everything I’d known to come to America and be a nobody. The months that I spent in New York, doing sewing for the public and cleaning homes for people who had less money than what I should have inherited, all I could think about was how bad my life was and how I loathed the man that took it from me,” she said.

“It was unfair,” he agreed.

“Yes, it was. I came to you out of desperation when I found out he had sent men to kill me. I admit that, but when I arrived and I saw you, I felt a connection to you immediately. Every day since then, my love for you has grown even stronger. I know now, that God sent you to me. This was meant to be my life. I was meant to spend it with you and our child. I couldn’t be happier. If I were given the choice to do this all gain or have things go the way that I thought they would back in London, I’d choose this every single time,” she told him.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Positive,” she told him, leaning down to kiss him on the lips. His hands found her belly as she pulled away and rested there for a moment, smiling down at where their child grew inside of her.

“I love you so much, Margaret. I almost lost you twice and every day, I am thankful that the Lord saw fit to let me keep you,” Angus told her.

“I am thankful for you, too, Angus. You are the love of a lifetime. Like the man at the vegetable stand said, we only get one and I have no doubt that you are mine,” she told him.

“As you are mine. We’re going to grow old together, my love. I promise you that.”