by Linda Ellen
With a, “Yeehaa”, Tobias pitched his hat toward the ceiling of the car and jumped to his feet. She giggled as he grasped her hands and tugged her up with him. Then, his lips were crashing down on hers and she was kissing him back with every ounce of passion that had been bottled up inside. He loved her! He really did love her!
It was a full minute before they realized that a thunderous noise had filled the coach. Every occupant of the car—including Dwight—was on their feet, clapping, whistling, and shouting heartfelt congratulations. A voice hollered, “It’s about dang time!”
Pauline and Tobias broke apart and looked over at their fellow travelers. As one, they blushed through their laughter before falling into one another’s arms as Dwight and the rest came forward.
Epilogue
P auline slowly opened her eyes and released a quiet sigh of pure contentment.
It hadn’t been a dream. She and Tobias were married—truly married—and nestled in bed together in their very own cabin, aboard the elegant luxury steamer, J.C. Quincy. On their honeymoon.
She smiled languorously as she allowed herself to bask in the heavenly sensations of the warm shelter of his arms around her, their limbs entwined, and nothing covering them but a sheet. That particular realization made her cheeks pinken prettily with the shyness of a new bride. Her husband’s steady, quiet breathing let her know he was still enjoying a pleasant sleep after their activities the night before. It hadn’t taken her long to decide she loved being a wife in every way.
Closing her eyes, her smile remained as she pictured their perfect wedding—saying vows while looking into one another’s eyes as they strived not to let the tears fall, and how thankful they were to have their family and friends present, giving them their heartfelt blessings and congratulations—and everything that had happened since Tobias had taken the plunge and proposed to her on the train to Nebraska City.
She had been immensely grateful that no incidents involving wanted, masked men with plots for escape had happened on the way there. Once the train had arrived at the station, as promised, replacement deputies were waiting and immediately took over the transfer of the prisoners. After a two-hour wait between trains—during which time, Dwight and Tobias had a heart-to-heart talk—brother and sister said their goodbyes and he had gone on his way back to Louisville—alone.
Once they had returned to Brownville, via a rented carriage, Tobias had hustled Pauline straight to Percy’s Jewelers and had her pick out an engagement ring. They’d set the date for six weeks in the future. He’d said he wanted to be certain that everyone in town knew she was his, and that he wouldn’t tolerate anyone getting the idea that they stood any chance of moving in on his territory—whatever that meant. She thought perhaps he had been talking mainly about one person, but he remained adamantly tightlipped and wouldn’t spill the beans.
Before anything else could happen, however, the town began to buzz with delight as both of the Maynard wives went into labor. Ben Hoffman, owner of the Lucky Buck, offered a free drink to anyone wishing to place bets on the outcome. It was all done in good fun. Within hours, there were clamors of merriment as well as groans of disappointment among those who had wagered, but sighs of joy and relief from both of the mothers, as their prayers had been answered.
Beth Ann had gotten her boy, and for Charise, her long-awaited girl.
Nettie, Pauline, and both of Toby’s sisters had quickly set to work remaking Nettie’s white wedding dress, which Shirley had not been able to wear as she’d had quite a different figure from her mother. Luckily, Pauline’s height and figure was similar to Nettie’s, and she had felt extremely honored to be allowed to wear it on her true wedding day. She had written a letter to her mother, graciously conceding to her sister, Olivia, her right as oldest daughter to wear their mother’s wedding frock.
The next day, Toby had sent a long telegram to his sister and grandfather back in Champaign, asking them to come for his wedding six weeks hence. Poppy had answered right back that they wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Mary’s leg, having properly healed, was declared fit for use by Doc Reeves, and a week later she was happily ensconced at two part-time jobs—working evenings as a waitress at the nicest place in town—Huber’s Restaurant on Second Street—as well as helping Charise during the day while she recovered in her and Finn’s home above his barbershop in the old Lone Tree Saloon. At each place, she was quickly accepted and, in a very short time, both employers wondered how they had ever gotten along without her cheerful, confident help.
Every afternoon, before her shift at Huber’s, Mary and Pauline continued their secret tutoring sessions, and Pauline knew it wouldn’t be long until one would never be able to tell that the girl had spent eighteen years of her life not knowing how to read.
School had let out for the summer, allowing Pauline and Tobias to spend quite a bit of time getting to know one another, enjoying long drives together in the borrowed surrey, as well as several picnics—although they were extremely careful where they laid their picnic blanket so as to avoid any recurrent heroic acts on Toby’s part. Pauline stifled her mirth as she remembered declaring that twice in a matter of days was plenty for now, thank you very much.
Days before their wedding, she and Tobias had stood together, his arms framing her from behind as he held her closely in the curve of his body, while they waited for the nine o’clock train to pull in.
Now, her body relaxing with gentle ease, she allowed those memories to run dreamlike through her mind like a scene in a play.
“I can’t wait for you to meet Grandpa and Poppy,” he had murmured, nuzzling her neck and eliciting a soft giggle. Since he’d discovered his whiskers tickled her, he couldn’t seem to help but to inflict a little playful torture every now and again—which she completely adored. “They’re gonna love ya…just like I do,” he added, his words muffled within the confines of his prickly beard and mustache against her skin.
She raised a hand to cradle the back of his head, sans his black Stetson. “I hope so…I must admit, I’m a bit nervous about meeting the infamous Wyatt Earp of Champaign.”
Tobias smiled against the delicate skin of her neck and then turned her in his arms to face him. With a wink, he confided, “He’s only ferocious with bad guys. With family, he’s a puppy dog. But…” he paused and gave her a mock firm look. “Don’t you dare tell him I told you that.”
She raised a teasing eyebrow and opened her mouth to fire back a sassy retort on the order of having something with which to bargain when the whistle sounded from around the bend. His face responded with a happy grin.
Before long, the train chugged into the station, and soon a lovely, auburn-haired woman, which Pauline assumed must be Poppy, was coming down the train’s steps carrying a toddler, while a dark-haired man followed closely behind, holding the hands of two young girls. Pauline knew these would be two-year-old Freddie, Poppy’s husband, Fred, and their daughters, Amanda and Arlene.
Grandpa Gibson brought up the rear—in all his marshal finery, including his shiny, silver star, spurs, twin tied-down pistols, and black, flat crowned, narrow brimmed hat. His black, three-piece suit, string tie, and bushy, salt and pepper mustache made him resemble daguerreotypes she had seen of the infamous Wyatt Earp. This Hampton Gibson was an imposing man one would not easily forget.
“Where is everybody, son?” Marshal Gibson’s booming voice queried.
“Mom’s back at the house, cooking and cleaning,” Tobias explained as he moved forward and heartily shook the elder lawman’s hand. “She said to tell you there’s still tons to do yet and she’d see you there.”
Then, Tobias stepped back by her side and placed his arm around her shoulders. “Grandpa…Poppy…Fred…everybody—this is my Pauline.”
Everyone was trying to speak at once, offering greetings and complimenting her for everything from her dress, to her hair, to her choice of fiancés, when above the voices came a familiar one that she hadn’t heard in weeks, and T
obias hadn’t heard in nearly a decade.
Elvira.
Pauline’s mouth dropped open—as her family hadn’t sent word that they would be arriving today. What a coincidence that they had ended up on the same train with Tobias’ family!
“Oh, I’m so glad to be back!” the steam engine mouth of Elvira Davis Fetterman began to gush. “Why, it doesn’t seem like it’s been three years since the last time we came for a visit, does it, Lloyd?” Pauline looked toward the stairs of the passenger car to see Lloyd Fetterman, her mother’s employer, stepping down after his wife. Joyce Burke, long-time nanny for the Fetterman offspring, followed after, her greying hair frayed about her tired face. There was no doubt it had been a long trip.
Of course, Elvira hadn’t given Lloyd time to answer as she continued unabated. “It’s a beautiful day for travel. The engineer made good time, don’t you think? The depot here looks just the same and—oh, there she is—yoo-hoo, Pauline, we’ve brought your family for the solemnization! Of course, when my Lloyd was your proxy groom, it was just as legal, so I don’t have a clue why you’d need to marry Toby again, but that’s neither here nor there…”
Pauline opened her mouth to answer, but Elvira barreled on, talking to anyone who made eye contact with her as she shuffled forward. “I just love train travel, don’t you? The food was wonderful and the accommodations in those Pullman cars, oh my stars, was just peachy! And there’s so much to see out the windows and everything! Then, we had a very nice visit with our fellow wedding travelers we met up with in Nebraska City—” with barely a breath, she switched gears, “oh, come now, children, let’s say hello to Pauline’s husband,” she called to her brood of eight—including three-year-old, male triplets that were the spitting image of their father. All eight had, one by one, jumped off the steps and were chasing one another around the group on the platform, whooping and hollering like a pack of wild Indians.
Pauline’s mother, Pearl, appeared in the doorway then, along with Olivia, Grace, Faith, and Dwight in tow, all crowding behind her and trying to get a glimpse of the commotion.
“Mama!” Pauline called, separating herself from her beloved long enough to meet her mother halfway across the platform. Her mother caught her in her arms and held her close.
“Oh Mama, I’m so glad you could come,” Pauline murmured, breathing in her mother’s familiar, mild scent of lilacs. Pulling back, she gave Pearl a kiss on the cheek, and then hugged each of her siblings in turn.
Then, she turned and motioned for Tobias to come forward, wrapped her arms around his middle, and proudly introduced him to her mother and sisters.
Olivia, in her typical say-whatever-is-on-her-mind fashion, exclaimed, “Goodness, Pebs! He’s even handsomer than you said in your letters!”
At that, everyone in the group laughed as the soon-to-be-remarried couple blushed, chuckled and giggled. Pauline had turned her face to hide against Tobias’ chest…
Suddenly, that warm, aforementioned chest currently reposing under her cheek stirred and his beloved voice rumbled, “What you thinkin’ about, sweetheart?” effectively nudging her out of her memories. The husky timbre sent a delicious shiver zinging through her body.
She opened her eyes and encountered those of her husband. His bright, cerulean blue eyes peeked through lusciously drowsy lids in the pale morning light warming the cabin window. Such adoration and desire glowed in that look, its effect was immediate—like warm honey on her tongue, heady, sweet, satisfying, and oh, so good…
“How much I love you,” Pauline purred in response, thinking that she had waited so long to tell him her feelings, she was determined her heart would be an open book to him for the rest of their lives. Raising her face, she touched her lips to his, and he prolonged the kiss until neither one had their minds on amusing subjects.
Later, once again snuggled under the sheet, her husband squeezed her close and asked, “What were you giggling about earlier?”
She allowed her fingers to trail through the light sprinkling of ginger, furring his chest, and then wandered upward to caress the soft auburn beard haloing his jaw.
“I was remembering when Livvy remarked about how handsome you are, and I must say, I agree with her…wholeheartedly.”
Her sweet husband actually blushed a bit at that, his bashful side coming to the fore. He bent his head and brushed his lips on hers. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“And then one of the Fetterman boys ran off with the engineer’s pocket watch!” she laughed, and he joined in her merriment.
“That was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen…” he remembered, snickering. “Kind of like a circus I saw once in Champaign, where all of these clowns came rolling out of a small wagon no bigger than a piano, and proceeded to chase each other around and whop one another on the head with big stuffed bats. That kid—what is he, about five?” he paused and she nodded, her eyes twinkling with amusement as she watched his expressions. “He kept darting in and out of everybody, Elvira squawkin’ and flapping her hands like a big mama turkey, her husband and their poor nanny both trying to catch the little bugger and rescue the watch before it got broke into smithereens, and all the time, your brother is doubled over with laughter.” He raised his brows in wonder. “That kinda thing happen often around that family?”
Pauline let out a slightly unfeminine snort. “Nonstop.”
Tobias shook his head, lamenting, “Pooooor Fetterman.”
A few minutes of affectionate caresses and tender kisses leisurely passed, like the calm waters of the Missouri River outside their cabin window, and then they settled back down into one another’s embrace.
“So, tell me again—who’s faster? Me or Grandpa?”
Pauline shook her head and laughed at his silliness. He’d already asked that question at least five times.
She leaned close again and kissed his lips. “You are, my darling. But not by much.”
His grin encompassed his whole face and he drew himself up like a proud peacock. “I knew it,” he blustered playfully.
Watching him, Pauline let her mind wander back to their wedding reception at Pastor and Mrs. McKnight’s home, and the contest to which her husband was referring.
They’d had cake and punch. They had danced together—and the local musicians had surprised her with a decent rendition of My Old Kentucky Home, which Charise and Beth Ann declared was now a firm tradition at wedding receptions for Kentuckians marrying Nebraskans. She had danced with her brother, who had admitted he had been completely and utterly wrong about Tobias, and she’d also danced with Marshal Gibson—who insisted that she now call him Grandpa—after which she had tearfully thanked him for Tobias’ thorough instruction in the art of the fast draw. He’d been aware of the details, but at her sincere gratitude and pride, he had teared up as well as he’d confided that his grandson had been a quick study and the best deputy he’d ever trained—and that he was also glad he had developed his skill as thoroughly as he had.
After that, she and Tobias had opened their gifts, oohing and aahing at each one. Then later, when they were happily waltzing to the instrument-playing townsfolk’s version of, Let me Call you Sweetheart, a commotion broke out in the other room.
It wasn’t long before eleven-year-old Tad had come dragging his grandfather into the room and pulled him right up to the surprised newlyweds.
“Toby, Grandpa says he’s faster on the draw than you and I told him you’re faster than him, and I told him you’d have a contest, right now, and prove it!”
“Theodore Shoup, what’s all this nonsense,” Tobias had grumbled, but he’d looked up to encounter the self-confident dare in the eyes of his larger-than-life grandfather, and a spark ignited that couldn’t be ignored.
“Not up for the challenge, boy?” the older man had good-naturedly needled. “Ahhh, I see. Marriage to this pretty little filly has already softened you, huh? Your aim a bit fuzzy now?”
Gamely rising to the bait, Tobias stood aside before taking her firmly by the
hand. “I’ll show you whose aim is fuzzy, old man,” he jovially growled, as they trooped together to a side door and out into the yard.
Someone, she couldn’t remember who, handed Tobias his gun belt, his grandfather simultaneously buckling on his own, and then they were loading their weapons while exchanging mock insults as they waited for Tad to finish placing several tin cans on a fence some distance away.
When all was ready, the famous marshal and his protégé were side by side. Tobias had looked over at Pauline, standing with Mary—one of her bridesmaids—and the rest of their combined families, and winked.
“You count it off for us, all right, honey?”
Chuckling, she had given a nod, and then called out, “On your mark! Get set! Shoot!”
What followed was a lot of smoke and a thunderous noise, which caused the ladies to quickly cover their ears, with the marshal and Tobias clearing leather on the draw so simultaneously that no one could have said who was faster. In a flash, they were shooting the cans off the fence from both directions toward the middle and hitting the spinning targets multiple times while still in the air. When all of the cans were on the ground, shot up and barely recognizable, the assembled crowd had erupted into cheers.
The two lawmen had raised their pistols to their mouths, blew the smoke, dropped them back into their holsters, and then busted out laughing as the older cuffed the younger around the back of his neck.
“I’m still a half second faster, you young whippersnapper.”
“What? Old man, I’d say we’re dead even, or I’m faster by a hair.”
“One of those whisker hairs you wear on your face, you mean?”
“Better than the silver ones on top your head, or that multi-colored, wooly worm over your lip.”
The elder made as if offended and grasped the lapels of his jacket. “Now see here. There may be snow on the roof, but—”
They both stopped when a shrill whistle pierced the air and their heads snapped toward Pauline, who had placed her fingers in her mouth to make the startling sound, and then slapped both hands onto her hips.