Katie: Bride of Virginia (American Mail-Order Brides 10) by Sylvia McDaniel

had died and the town turned against him, Frank had been his only friend. They were as close as brothers and sometimes they disagreed just like siblings.
    “It appears this marriage agrees with you. The house has never looked better and your wife, she's delightful. I think ordering you a mail-order bride was a great solution.”
    What could he say? Katie was a delight and the only problems in their marriage so far were because of him. But there were too many secrets and he didn't know how to tell her the truth.
    How did you tell a woman he wasn't the one who ordered her or that his previous wife died suspiciously and he was the person everyone suspected of killing her?
    Glancing around, Daniel shook his head. “She doesn't know I wasn't the one who placed that ad. She doesn't know about what happened to Eloise. Mother told her I'd been married before and she found the death certificate.”
    “How did she find the death certificate?”
    People believing that he murdered his wife he couldn't control, but he'd just shoved the document in his drawer and tried to forget its existence. That time in his life was painful and he tried not to think of those dark days.
    “While I was out in the fields, she rearranged and cleaned out the armoire. I forgot I just shoved that document in my drawer, never wanting to see it again.” He cursed. “It has the cause of death on the document.”
    The corners of Frank's mouth turned down in a frown and his eyes darkened. His breathing changed and for a moment, Daniel thought he was angry, yet he had stood by his side when everyone else believed the worst about him, including his mother.
    “Exposure. Isn't that what the death certificate says?” Frank said, his voice rough. “You've never told me what caused the argument that night. All you've ever said was that you awoke and she was gone.”
    The reason for Eloise's death, the reason for their argument was something he'd never shared with anyone. And just thinking about that night caused his stomach to clench. “She was leaving me.”
    He'd told the sheriff he suspected there was someone else, but he'd never mentioned the argument. He feared if he told them they'd fought about her leaving, then the authorities would think he was a killer. And he had not killed his wife.
    Frank stood and began to pace the parlor, sipping his brandy even faster. “That's hardly a reason for her to go running out into the cold. It was one of the worst storms of the season. Why would she go out of the house? She wasn't stupid.”
    No, Eloise was anything but stupid. She was manipulative, conniving and used to getting her own way. She had to have the very best and Daniel had never made her happy. In some ways her death was a relief.
    “Why are you asking these questions now? Because I mentioned the death certificate? Or are you having second thoughts since I've remarried?”
    Pain clenched Daniel's chest. He'd relived that conversation a thousand times over wondering what had sent her running out into the snow in her nightgown. When she'd gone to sleep in the spare bedroom, he'd been resigned to her leaving the next morning. He had given up trying to make her happy. And yet guilt ate at him and the wondering at her reasoning, why would she go out in the weather, the snow?
    “No, I know you didn't kill your wife,” Frank said quietly. “I've wondered what would send her racing from the house.”
    “I went to sleep thinking she was going to leave me, and when I woke, she was gone. At first I thought she'd left already, but then I found her suitcase still in the bedroom. Why would she leave everything behind? The woman loved her things, she would not have gone without them. So I started searching for her.”
    “She had a lover,” his mother's voice came from the doorway and he stared at her in surprise.
    Frank turned and smiled at his mother. “Mrs. O'Malley, you do talk. How do you know?”
    “I saw them together. She was pregnant.”
    Pain clenched