Undaunted Love (PART TWO): Banished Saga, Book 3.5 Read Online Free PDF Page A

away to marry a man who’d been banned from your father’s house.”
    “If they were truly concerned about courtesy and respect, they would be upset with Mrs. Smythe for having the ceremony on the day we informed her we were to arrive,” Colin hissed but then cleared his frown with a vague smile at a passing couple.
    “She knew you were to arrive?” Savannah asked.
    “Of course,” I said. “We cabled her the minute we made our plans.”
    Savannah sighed and said, “Here comes Mother.”
    I looked around Savannah and nodded toward Aunt Matilda and Uncle Martin. “Clarissa, you are a sight for sore eyes,” Uncle Martin said and pulled me into his loving arms. “It’s good to see you.”
    “And you, Uncle,” I whispered. My throat thickened at smelling his familiar scent and for feeling, for an instant, sheltered in his strong arms again.
    He held out his hand and shook Colin’s. He looked at the two of us with a deep sadness in his eyes. “I’m terribly sorry about Sean. It came as a shock to us all.”
    I gripped his arm in acknowledgment, my eyes filling with tears and throat thickening, unable to speak.
    “I can’t believe you would disgrace your father in such a way by arriving as you did,” Aunt Matilda seethed. “Your mother would be appalled.”
    I glanced around the site to realize very few people remained. I cleared my throat and blinked away my tears. “Mama would be appalled, Aunt, that our stepmother did not have the decency to hold the ceremony one day, even though she knew we were coming. She’d be appalled that her husband is not to be buried next to her. Our appearance would be the least of her concerns.”
    “Well, I can see you’ve only become less refined in that horrid town you live in out West,” Aunt Matilda said.
    “Yes, and I’m thankful for it. I’m able to decipher what truly matters,” I snapped.
    “Mattie, you know the girl has the right of it,” Aunt Betsy said.
    “Aunt Betsy!” I exclaimed. I saw her standing near Lucas and moved toward her to embrace her. “Thank you for all your letters.”
    “I promised you that we’d have letters,” she said, as she wiped away one of my tears. “Have you spoken with her yet?” she asked as she nodded toward Mrs. Smythe. I shook my head no. “I’d speak with her and end your agony now, dearest.”
    I nodded and turned toward my stepmother. I signaled to Colin that I needed to speak to her alone and approached Mrs. Smythe, who had turned to leave with Mrs. Wright. “Mrs. Smythe,” I said.
    “How dare you? Have you no shame?” She spun to face me, her blond hair hidden under a black hat. She wore a stylish, flattering black dress and jacket that highlighted the curves she’d never lost after she had Melinda.
    “I beg your pardon? I believe you are again asking questions that you should answer. I can’t believe you didn’t have the decency to hold the funeral for Colin and me.”
    “Why should I have felt compelled to do anything for you and your feckless brother? You are nothing to me, and were nothing but a source of pain and disappointment for your father.” Any of the singsong sweetness she had used when my father was present was now absent, replaced with a grating, purposeful voice that no longer hid her cunning or ambition.
    “Why would you think that statement would shock me? I’ve never been anything to you, other than a means to an end. And I chose my own path,” I said with pride.
    “You deceitful girl. Your father despaired of you, and it’s your fault he was brought to an early grave.”
    Colin had joined us after watching the heated exchange from a few feet away. She spun to him. “And you, you ungrateful leech. Learning all he had to teach you and then abandoning him to run the forge on his own. I’m not surprised he died such an early death with the likes of you as his children.”
    “Why not look in the mirror, Mrs. Smythe, and realize that your endless harping and spendthrift ways were