“I think I get the idea. No wonder we weren’t getting anywhere. Thank you, my friend.”
“You know you can’t marry her here in Hunter’s Grove, right?”
“What do you mean? I have to. We’ll keep it low-key.”
“No. If you want to pull this off, you have to be already married when she steps off the stagecoach. People cannot know you’ve just met.”
“How will we marry, then?”
“Maybe you could go to Chicago.”
“I can’t do that. Do you know how long that would take? I’m in the middle of three cases right now.” Cam paced the floor. “How will I do this?”
“I could set up a proxy marriage for you both,” Simmons said.
Cam relaxed. “Proxy. Perfect. Good thinking.”
“What about the children? How many does she have?”
“She doesn’t have any.”
Before Simmons could open his mouth any wider, Cam said, “But I’m getting some. I’m going to Hays to get two from the orphan train next week.” Cam hit his head with his hand. “Dagnabbit! I should have told her about them already, but I have no idea what to say about children I don’t already have.”
Joe Simmons rolled his eyes. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. The more we twist the truth, the higher our chances of being found out.”
Cam took a seat across the desk from his partner. “Why do you want this for me?” His friend took so long to answer that Cam wondered if he ever would.
Finally, Simmons spoke. “Hunter’s Grove is dying. The salt mines have closed, and people are leaving in droves. We need the railroad to change its course from Hays to Hunter’s Grove instead of Great Bend. If you were to become our senator... well, let’s say we’d have a good chance of making that happen.”
“Why me? Why not you?” Cam asked.
Simmons sighed. “You know what my personal life is right now. My wife ran off with the undertaker, and I can’t get a divorce because I have no idea where she is. Even if I could find her... a divorced man could never be elected.
“As to why you,” Simmons continued, “it’s because I think you’d be a great senator. As you know, people are leaving Hunter’s Grove. Soon there won't be enough business for two lawyers. If you become elected, I can hold our firm up, at least until the railroad comes through Hunter’s Grove.”
“Hold on!” Cam said, standing. “So, I have to marry a woman I don’t love and acquire two children just so I can persuade the railroad to come through Hunter’s Grove?”
Simmons nodded with a smirk. “Yes, pretty much.”
Cam paced his office. He felt used and angry. How could his best friend do that to him? He re-read the letter Joe had edited, balled it up, and threw it into the trash. He wouldn't do it. Joe Simmons was using him. Still, he loved the idea of running for a senate seat.
He paced some more. Hannah did seem like a perfect wife for him, for she was pretty, and she came from a good family. Her letters showed distinct class. He already felt a bit fond of her. The poor woman had lost her parents, her home...
Would it be such a sacrifice to marry her? A lot of men married women they didn’t love for companionship or to have someone to cook and clean for them. He already had a housekeeper, but now, he’d have an intelligent companion, and who knows? Perhaps they would become a good match.
Cam retrieved the letter from the trash and flattened it out. He rewrote the letter using Joe’s editing and added at the bottom, Alas, I failed to mention that I have two children. Would that change things between us? He thought hard on his next words. Would you consider marrying me by proxy and coming to Hunter’s Grove as my wife? Cam added an explanation as to why the marriage had to be by proxy due to his caseload, and then he mailed the letter.
Cam brought the two children home and introduced them to his housekeeper, Bessie. He’d had to explain his plan to his housekeeper, but he trusted her.
Bessie left to bathe the children, show them to their rooms, and help them unpack their few belongings. She met with Cam in his office after leaving the children to nap. “Excuse me, Mr. Hart, but may I have a word with you?”
Cam put his ink pen down and turned to face her. “Of course.”
“I’ll keep your secret and help you with the children, but,” Bessie shuffled her feet nervously, “I think my pay should increase, what with the extra work and all.”
“I’ve already decided to raise your salary, and in a few weeks, my wife will arrive to help you with the children.
"Would you send them to my office when they awaken from their naps? I need to prepare them for their new mother.”
Cam stared at the children sitting stiffly on the settee. The little girl looked about four or five, and the boy much younger—he was sucking his thumb. Cam planned as he studied them. If he had a two-year-old son, his first wife might have died in childbirth two years ago. Yes, that would work. He smiled and addressed the little girl with blonde hair and big blue eyes, wearing a faded brown pinafore and a guarded face. “I’m your new father. You may call me Father. What’s your name?”
The little girl looked him square in the face and said boldly, “My name is Annabelle Digby.”
Cam laughed nervously. “Ah, but now that you’re my son and daughter, your names will become Annabelle and Georgie Hart. Can you remember that?”
“Of course, I can.”
“How old are you?”
Annabelle shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“Our parents had so many children,
