She tried to smile but shrugged her shoulders. “What if we can’t make it to the church?”
Something heated filled his eyes. “I’ll get you to that church if I have to shovel a path all the way there and carry each of you on my back.” His thumb brushed against her bottom lip. “Nothing will stop me from marrying you. You’ll be Mrs. Reilly before the sun sets tomorrow.”
Someone banged on the front door and startled them all.
Agatha was the first to recover and lowered her hand from her chest. “Who in the world would be out in this weather?”
Amanda ran to the door and pulled it open before anyone could say a word. Willie stood on the porch looking half frozen. He nodded his head in greeting when he saw her and Caleb. “I hate to bother you folks today but this can’t wait.”
Caleb stepped around her, the same confused look on his face she was sure covered hers as well. “Come on in out of the cold, Willie.”
The man looked behind him before disappearing from the doorway. She heard laughter followed by a feminine squeal a moment later. Willie reappeared with a woman by his side. He ushered her into the house, then followed, shutting the door behind him.
Rebecca had only met Willie a short time ago. He’d seemed like the talkative sort and she’d never seen him without a smile on his face. Today he looked like he’d eaten something sour.
The woman, however, was smiling so big and wide, you could see her gums. She huffed a breath while removing her hat. “I was afraid I wasn’t going to make it.”
Caleb’s brows went up, but he said nothing as the woman kept on talking and turned to Amanda. “You must be Amanda.” She crossed the room to Amanda's side and bent at the waist so she’d be eye level with her. “Aren’t you the prettiest little thing? I know we’re going to get along just fine.” She straightened and looked at Caleb before starting across the room toward him. “I hope we do, too.”
The woman glanced at Rebecca and the expression on her face changed so quickly, it was stunning. She came to a dead stop, her mouth opening before her face turned red. “That’s my dress!”
The smiling woman from a moment before was now scowling, her brows lowering as her lips pressed so tight together they turned white. She straightened her shoulders, her considerable height making her look imposing. “You have on my dress.” She took two steps, her gaze traveling the length of Rebecca from head to toe. “I had that specially made.” She lifted her head and scowled before her eyes widened and her mouth flew open. “Are you the one who stole my train ticket?”
It didn’t take Caleb but a split second to know who this woman was. She looked exactly the way he’d expected her to all those weeks ago—tall, standing only a few inches short of his five foot eleven stature. Her hair a dull brown in color as described. She was slim and her neck long. Plain, as she’d put it.
This was Diana Hale.
He turned to Diana. She’s not Diana. The expression on her face confirmed what had been unspoken. This woman—the woman he was falling in love with—wasn’t who she said she was. His heart clenched. He’d suspected it many times. Too many to count to be honest, and he’d always brushed the thought aside. He couldn’t now.
Her eyes glossed over with tears and her chest was rising and falling with her rapid breaths. She looked horrified and scared and remorseful all at once.
“You’re not Diana Hale?”
Her bottom lip wobbled as she took a side-eyed glance at the real Diana. She sucked in a breath and gave him a small shake of her head, not meeting his gaze. She blinked and the tears filling her eyes spilled down her cheeks a second before the silence in the room was filled with the sounds of her choked sobs. “I…” More tears slid down her face. She lifted her head and the only way to describe what he saw in her eyes was devastation. “Caleb … I didn’t mean…”
“You meant to take my ticket!”
She glanced at Diana again before whispering a soft, “I’m sorry,” and turning and running to the front door, and bolting from the house.
“Diana!”
“That’s not Diana. I am!”
Caleb ran for the door and looked out. Snow blew past the house in white swirls. He couldn't see a thing past the steps. He grabbed his coat and slipped it on before turning back to the room. Everyone had the same shocked expression on their face. Diana was furious and Amanda … she was crying, her face a mask of confusion. “I’ll bring her back, sweetheart. Don’t worry.”
He left without another word, the real Diana Hale calling his name as he slammed the front door shut behind him. Footprints in the snow led to the bridge but there were several sets, most likely made when Willie showed Diana to his house.
Looking both ways down the road, he saw nothing but white. Closing his coat when a frigid breeze whistled past him, he realized a moment later that Diana—or whoever she was—had run out without one.
He ran back into the house, the cacophony of loud voices dying the instant he stepped inside. Grabbing Diana’s coat, he hurried back outside and headed for the bridge. There was nothing in the other direction but a few houses and the woods so he followed the footprints toward town, pausing when he reached the corner by the Jailhouse. No one was out, the streets deserted. “Diana!” Calling her that was wrong but without her real name, he had no choice.
He turned right and ran all the way to the livery stable, checking the loft first, then inside each stall. He found nothing but the horses and ran back out. Willie was now on the corner. He ran to meet him and clutched Diana’s coat in his hand. “I can’t find her.”
Willie lifted the collar of his coat as another breeze swept through town. “Where would she go?”
“I don’t know. She doesn’t know anyone in town well enough to knock on someone’s door.”
Willie looked down the street and blew out a breath. “This is all my fault.”
“Don’t,” Caleb said. “If you hadn’t brought her to the house, someone else would have, and I don’t see it playing out any differently than this.”
“Did you know?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Well, that’s not true. I knew something wasn’t right. She looked nothing like the description I received. She can’t cook to save her life.” He laughed and his heart ached. He sobered and shook his head again. “I ignored the signs. I just…”
“You care about her.”
Willie’s quiet statement hit him right in the chest. “I do.” He put her coat under his arm and stuck his hands into his coat pockets. “She’ll freeze out here, Willie. I have to find her.”
“I know. I’ll help. I’ll go find a few more people to help us look.”
Caleb drew his hat down over his ears more and nodded. “Thanks. I’ll head toward the end of the street and work my way back up. I don’t think she’d go to anyone’s house but check them all just in case.”
Willie ran toward Adam Larsen’s place across from the livery stable. Caleb ran to the other end of town all the way to the church. The building was cold inside and dark. “Diana?” He heard nothing but the sound of sleet pinging off the windows. He checked every pew and behind the altar. She wasn’t there.