Brides Along the Chisholm Trail Boxset

by Maxine Douglas

  “I hope you’re not too upset, Abigail. About not planning a wedding, I mean. I couldn’t let the opportunity pass us by.” Gabe’s hand barely touched her lower back, yet the sizzle between them singed her skin clear through her dress.

  Abby turned, feeling lighthearted as Gabe shifted back and forth. A shy smile peeked at the corners of his mouth. His blue eyes sparked with anticipation. Her heart responded like a drum, beating out a perfect rhythm.

  “You did say there was no reason to wait.” Abby slipped her arm into the crook of his elbow. The jolt of heat as he placed his hand on hers surprised Abby. It had been far too many years since she’d felt that sort of intensity within a matter of moments from a simple touch. The one and only time had been with Robert.

  “So, I did. Didn’t see any reason for the good Preacher Samuels to have to come back when he was standing right there as if waiting for us,” Gabe agreed, a hint of amusement in his words. “I do think it’s time for me to get my new wife settled into our home, if you ladies don’t mind saving your reunion for another day.”

  His gaze swept over Abby’s face, and she felt her cheeks warm. For pity sake, she wasn’t a young girl anymore, so why was she acting like one? Gabe Hawkins touched her soul in places she didn’t even know existed.

  “I will need to get my bags—” Abby bit her lower lip, the tingling in her fingers dancing with her twitching muscles. Why was she so nervous? She knew what being married was like. She knew what would be expected of her…or did she?

  “No need, I sent word over to have everything you brought with you moved to the house. I suspect once word spread of our nuptials, preparations for your belongings were already being made. They’ll be waiting for you,” Gabe assured her, then tipped his head toward Rose. “Mrs. Granger, I trust we’ll see you in a day or two.”

  “Yes, yes, of course,” Rose stammered then leaned into Abby, her head inches from her. “If you need anything send word.”

  Abby nodded, matching Gabe’s stride as they waded throughout the well-wishers. When they finally pushed through the swinging saloon doors, Dodge City seemed different to Abby somehow. She’d arrived an outsider, and maybe in many respects she would remain one for some time. But this was to be her home now. She’d make herself familiar with the people, sounds, and smells as time went by.

  She thanked the strangers who’d gathered to share in their joy. When Montana Sue winked at Gabe, Abby couldn’t help but wonder what secrets he held close to the vest. How much of their pasts would they share with each other? What else would be different now that she was married a man she only knew by the letters he’d sent?

  Having only two to cook for rather than ten or more each meal.

  Managing a small home rather than a large estate.

  Not sleeping alone. Oh, goodness! It had been so long since she’d shared her bed. Did Gabe snore? Would he take all the blankets on a cold winter’s night?

  Would he want to claim her as the sun came up the way Robert had?

  Abby swallowed, staring ahead. Robert hadn’t placed any demands on her in their marriage. She ran the household as she saw fit, and Robert had been more than happy to have her do it. Would she one day say the same of Gabe? Her gaze swept from the rooftops to the fluffy clouds in the blue sky. Please guide me with Your loving hand, she prayed, her heart beating steady and calm. A feeling of belonging crept steadily through her. This was where she was meant to be. Gabe Hawkins was her connection to life again.

  “Gabe, where is your—er, I mean, our home? I’m supposin’ it’s in town since you’re the law here, but I hadn’t taken notice of very many houses.” Abby continued to scan up and down the street. As far as she could tell, the buildings in her sight were anything but proper places to raise a family or to start a marriage. Unless, of course, one owned a respectable business then lived upstairs. Even so, with the lack of children in town, she didn’t think many families lived within the city limits.

  “Yes, it is in town, just beyond the jail house.” Gabe nodded across the street then patted her hand. “I must warn you. It’s small compared to the northern homes you may be accustomed to, but I’d like to think it’ll be comfortable for as long as we are in Dodge.”

  “‘As long as we are in Dodge?’ What has happened, Gabe?” Abby’s heart raced as they made the short journey from the saloon to the single-story wooden structure. Surely if something important had come to pass since their last correspondence, her new husband would have at least mentioned it before they had married.

  Gabe pushed open the door, avoiding her eyes. “I, well, I had put in my resignation. Instead it was rejected, and I’ve been reassigned to Indian Territory. We leave by week’s end.”

  It had only been a few days since the telegram from Territorial Judge Isaac Parker arrived, informing Gabe his services were needed elsewhere. And like it or not, which Gabe did not, Judge Parker was not a man to cross. Gabe’s plans for an early retirement to devote his life to his wife and ranching up in smoke by the stroke of justice.

  Gabe stepped over to the stove, checking the fullness of the pot of coffee, knowing full well it was cold as ice and a layer of sludge lay at the bottom. He needed something to do, anything to keep busy as he waited for the blow he was sure to come his way. Other than the good people of Dodge and his regiment in the war, he’d never had to account for his personal life before. Now he had a wife and, well, he wasn’t sure how to handle that part of his personal life. As of an hour ago, he was now responsible for more than just himself. He had a wife, a beautiful woman who fired his heart and soul to care for.

  “By week’s end I’ll be packing up again to move to an uncivilized area with a man I’ve just met and married, and you just now tell me?” Abby stood in the open doorway, hands on her hips with the sun blazing behind her. “How could you have forgotten something as important as being reassigned, Gabriel Hawkins?”

  “I don’t blame you for being angry, but what was I to do, ride out along the railroad tracks and try to find you? I’ve got a fast horse in Spade, but not that fast.” Gabe stoked the stove, then filled the pot with water, giving it a couple of swirls before dumping the morning coffee out the door. “I only got the news a few days ago, Abby. Judge Parker was clear in his orders. As soon as the new marshal arrives in Dodge City, I am to settle near a place called Fred, in Indian Territory. There is a man there who owns a trading post and a house that we can settle into.”

  She came up next to him, every bone in his body melting from the heat of her anger.

  “Don’t think for one moment the fact that there’s a house waiting for us makes any difference!” Abby snatched the pot from his hands, then marched into the pantry. “It also doesn’t make it any less serious that you didn’t see fit to tell me our circumstances had changed before you took me as your wife!”

  Gabe stifled the smile about to streak across his face. She was mad, and with good reason, but not mad enough to storm out the door and back to the Dodge House with her bags in tow. A good sign as far as he was concerned.

  “If you’ll be wanting a decent cup of coffee with your meals after tonight, Mr. Hawkins, you’ll have to move the provisions to a lower shelf.” Abby stretched to her full length, her fingers barely scraping the bottom of the top shelf, housing the coffee and other items she’d need for cooking and baking.

  She was a fine woman indeed. Curvy and lean, full of fire and a spot of forgiveness as well. Gabe hoped those qualities transferred over to a passion he prayed lay beneath her proper surface. He couldn’t wait for night to fall so he could explore those curves of hers fully.

  “I’ll do it first thing tomorrow, Abby.” Gabe reached above her, heat scorching him as his chest pressed against her back. Everything in the world stopped. Everything except a pulse pounding blood through his veins. He inhaled the scent of lavender rising from her skin and hair. A calming and soothing fragrance, yet provocative to his unraveling senses.

  Gabe wrapped his hand around the coffee can, p
ulled it from the shelf, and handed it down to Abby. She turned to him, her doe brown eyes wide and cautious. “Ah, what else do you need, Abby?”

  “Cornmeal and any canned meat you have will do for tonight.” Abby ducked under his arm, the can tucked securely to her chest.

  Gabe gathered the cornmeal and several cans of meat, as well as some salt pork bacon and a loaf of bread he’d just purchased the day before. By the time he’d deposited the items on the table, Abby had already found the mixing bowls and baking pans. She opened the cornmeal, mixed in some milk and other ingredients Gabe purchased a few days before. Once she’d poured everything into a pan, she pushed it in the oven and set the table where Gabe stood watching in wonderment of her skills. He was definitely not going to starve.

  Abby picked up one of her bags, dropping it on a chair. “Married less than a day and we are already on the verge of an argument. This is no way to start our life together, Gabe. Now, where is the bedroom? I’d like to unpack.”

  Gabe turned to her, his heart bleeding as he led her over to the room where they’d spend the dark hours of the night together with a wedge firmly planted between them. It was not how he’d pictured his first night as a married man. His first time married, and he’d already sent his bride in a tizzy. And it was all his fault; he should have told her the moment he’d taken her over to the hotel. Only one thing to do—admit he was wrong and apologize.

  “I’m sorry, Abby. I don’t blame you one bit for being upset. If the roles were reversed, I would be also. And for the record, I don’t like being moved to Indian Territory any more than you do. I had plans to retire and start ranching on a little plot of land just outside of town with my new wife. The last thing I wanted was to take my bride into wild and untamed country.”

  He strolled up behind her as she yanked item after item from the thread-worn bag. He gently trailed his hands over her arms and down to her hands. “I don’t know how this works, Abby. I’ve never been married before so you’ll have to help me out. Help me to understand what a husband should and should not do.”

  The tension in her shoulders eased. She turned in his embrace, gazing up at him, her jaw set and eyes alert. “As long as we are perfectly clear that I am not, under any circumstances, happy with this knowledge of moving to Indian Territory. There must never, and I mean never, be any secrets between us.”

  “My dear Mrs. Hawkins.” Gabe put a hand in the air and covered his heart with the other. “I promise to always tell you as much as I can when I can as it pertains to our union.” He allowed himself to hope that, for now, they’d have a peaceful night.

  Abby tossed and turned while Gabe snored loudly from his makeshift bed on the front room floor in front of the fireplace. She’d hated to do it but had sent him away from their marriage bed. And he’d gone, head hanging and a chuckle on his lips. It was a message she prayed Gabe would heed for the future if they were to have any sort of a comfortable life together.

  The man was unaware the implications of deceiving a wife were different than tricking a woman here and there. Abby didn’t want the first night of their marriage to be like this. One where they’d sleep apart, like strangers. Never mind the fact they were indeed strangers. She wanted what she and Robert had had before the war ripped him from her. She wanted Robert’s gentle manner and consideration for her feelings, not Gabe’s Wild West antics of what he presumed appropriate behavior with a wife. She wasn’t some naive girl who’d accept anything a man told her, not that she thought Gabe was the type to purposely lead a wife astray.

  She was Gabe’s wife.

  And Gabe was her husband.

  Why hadn’t he told her about the reassignment when she’d arrived on the train? Now that she looked back over the day’s events, there’d been little time for him to tell her. No matter, he should have made an effort. Was he afraid she’d take the next train back to Wisconsin?

  Would she have? She stared at the dark ceiling for a moment. No, she wouldn’t have. But she wouldn’t have married him right away either. She’d have stayed with Rose until she found a place of her own. Maybe she’d have given Gabe a chance to win her over with his blue eyes full of promise and love, and that mischievous smile of his promising a life, full and rich. Abby sighed, then punched the feather pillow into fluffiness.

  Men! Such annoying sorts of mankind. She laid her head down, the gray of the night turning to shades of yellow and orange as the sun peeked through the window. A new day. A new beginning.

  A day of forgiveness.

  Coffee, rich with aroma, wafted teasingly around Abby. She laced up her boots, patted her hair into place, and stepped into the front room of her home. Her breath hitched in her lungs.

  A shirtless Gabe stood at the stove flipping eggs and bacon, humming a tune she was unfamiliar with. Warmth trickled over her as she stood gazing at him. He was lean and well-muscled, perfection when he turned and smiled at her in a natural way.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Hawkins.”

  Abby cleared her throat, smoothing down the front of her simple brown skirt. “I, ah, trust you slept well last night?”

  “As a matter of fact, I did, considering it was on the floor and not in my own bed.” Gabe chuckled, sliding the sizzling breakfast onto plates. “I have slept in worse places, and I thank you for not sending me out to the barn for the night.”

  A rush of regret spurred Abby’s conscience as she slid onto a chair. “I’m sorry, Gabe. I was surprised by your announcement and—”

  “You did what any wife would do. I understand that now, having had all night to think about it.”

  Gabe tugged on a blue cotton shirt, buttoning it slow and deliberate. Abby swallowed and put a fork full of eggs into her mouth.

  “I made you a promise last night that I plan to keep. You’ll never have cause to put me on the floor again, I can guarantee it.”

  Abby smiled at Gabe as he sat across the table from her, shirt well intact. The light reflected across his face and for the first time she noticed the bags under his eyes. Slept well, indeed!

  “All right, Gabe. How much time do I have to pack up our home?”

  “You mean you plan to remain my wife, even after you thought I’d deceived you?”

  Abby laughed aloud. “Gabe Hawkins, you have a lot to learn about being married. Believe me, this will not be the first time we don’t agree, but it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t remain your wife because of it.”

  “Word came that the new marshal is two to three days’ ride from here. I’ll arrange for a team of mules and a wagon for us.” Gabe reached over, his hand covering hers. That sizzle of heat singed her again, sparking a surge of pleasure.

  “Then I shall start immediately. First I must let Rose know my—our—circumstances have changed.” Abby gathered the breakfast dishes and gazed at her husband as he walked from the safety of their home out into a town portrayed as having a wild reputation.

  3

  One week later

  “Why did I give Abby the freedom to pack the household without my say so?” Gabe grumbled, placing the last trunk of the household items into the back of the covered prairie wagon then slamming the tailgate shut. Over the past few days while Abby had been making the preparations to travel to their new home, he’d been briefing the new marshal, Dale Rogers, on Dodge City and its people. He also gave him the lowdown on the trail bosses, drovers, and gamblers who came to town on a regular basis.

  Dale Rogers seemed to be capable of the task and with Judge Parker’s opinion that Rogers was his man, there wasn’t anything Gabe could do about it. All the same, Gabe would feel a whole heap better when Marshal Jones was back in town from Missouri to run things.

  It had taken some careful thought on his part, but Gabe had also mended a bridge or two with Abby, and for the past three nights had slept beside his wife. It hadn’t been an easy task since Gabe had not only uprooted her life twice in the past few months but had also forgotten to tell her about being reassigned. Forgotten? Conveniently forgotten
if he were truthful with himself, a mistake he’d not make again. Even now as he itched to get on the trail, he did not dare to interrupt her goodbyes.

  “Everything will be fine, Rose. I’ll write as soon as we arrive in, well, wherever it is.” Abby swept a tear from her cheek then hugged her friend.

  Gabe’s heart pounded radically in his chest. Was he doing the right thing in taking Abby away from the only folks she knew in the area? Not that he had much choice in the matter, or did he? He would have resigned right then and there from law enforcement like he’d planned without his plot of land if he hadn’t had to give thought to Abby’s welfare. No, it was bad enough he was dragging her into Indian Territory so soon after their wedding. Whether he admitted it or not, being reassigned by Parker was better than the alternative of no roof over their heads or a lack of food on the table for a month or so. Sure, he would have found something eventually, but would Abby have stayed by his side? Would she have followed him further into uncertainty? Maybe. Maybe not. He’d bet Doc Holiday himself she would, that’s how sure he was of Abby.

  He smiled, watching his wife say her tearful goodbyes. Abigail Hawkins was a strong woman in heart, soul, and opinion. Gabe wouldn’t have had it any other way, and he was proud she was his to grow old with. He didn’t think it possible to lose his heart in so short a time, but he had. Abby was meant to be his and he was meant to be hers. Nothing was going to change that.

  “You just got here and now you’re leavin’. It ain’t fair, is all!” Rose whined, sniffing her nose loudly.

  “It isn’t, that much is true. Neither is life sometimes. It’s all what you make of the lemons it gives you, remember that, Rose.” Abby smiled, then turned toward Gabe, the smile on her face tentative at best. “Turn something sour into a pleasing taste and life will be all the sweeter for it, I promise.”