I Chose the Rugged Colonel

The recommendation letter to send someone back to Pine Ridge hit the wooden table with a heavy smack. The force made the chipped enamel mug at the corner tremble.

I looked up, my gaze sliding past Wesley Dalton to the young woman standing behind him.

It was Madelyn Hart, the fake daughter, who had stolen my place for fifteen years.

Wesley looked down at me and spoke in a commanding tone, "Savannah Hart, give your position at Ashford Textiles to Madelyn. She's always been frail. She's never done hard labor. She won't survive being sent to the countryside."

I looked at the recommendation letter I'd earned after spending three nights repairing irrigation canals in Pine Ridge, working until all ten fingers were rubbed raw and bleeding.

Suddenly, I found it almost laughable. "And I can?"

I laid my hands flat on the table. My palms were covered in calluses, crisscrossed with bleeding cracks.

Wesley's eyes flickered away for a moment before he quickly regained his self-righteous expression.

"You've already lived in Pine Ridge for over ten years. You're used to it. What's another two years? Madelyn's different. If she goes, she'll die."

Right on cue, Madelyn let out a soft sob. Swaying unsteadily, she slumped against the doorframe.

"Savannah, I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I never should've cried to Wesley.

"Please don't blame him. I don't want the position anymore. If I have to die in Pine Ridge, then so be it. I'll just give Mom, Dad, and Wesley back to you."

The moment she finished speaking, my biological parents could no longer stay seated.

My mother, Judith Hart, hurried over and pulled Madelyn into her arms, calling her sweetheart over and over.

When she turned to me, though, every trace of warmth vanished.

"Savannah, how can you be so selfish? Madelyn has called us Mom and Dad for fifteen years. Blood isn't everything.

"You're just a country girl who grew up in Pine Ridge. You barely know how to read. Even if you got into the factory, you'd only embarrass yourself."

I raised my bleeding hand and looked steadily at my mother. She didn't spare me so much as a glance. All her attention was on wiping away Madelyn's tears.

In that moment, the family I'd longed for over the past fifteen years and this engagement both died.

My father, Walter Hart, knocked the ash from his pipe and scowled. "Wesley's the most promising college student in Willowville. You're the one who's marrying above your station.

"If you know what's good for you, give the position to Madelyn. Wesley will remember your sacrifice. Once you're married, do you think he'll treat you poorly?"

By then, the neighbors had gathered outside the doorway, craning their necks to watch. One after another, they urged me to be reasonable. They were certain I'd burst into tears and accept my fate just to hold on to a marriage that could lift me out of my life as a farmer.

Instead, I got to my feet.

Without a word, I walked over to the camphor chest where I kept my few treasured belongings. I unlocked it and took out the marriage contract. It was the written engagement agreement our families had made when we were children.

Wesley frowned even more deeply. "Savannah, what's that for? Trying to threaten me with it? I'm telling you right now, you're giving up that factory position whether you like it or not."

I ignored him. Quietly, I looked at the four words across the contract: "Bound Together for Life"

Then I gripped the edges with both hands.

The harsh tearing sound shattered the silence in the room.

Two pieces. Then four. Then eight.

Smiling, I tore the marriage contract to shreds in front of both families.