“Yes, Father,” a subdued Grace whispered.
“Have no worries, Miss Woodward. I have it on good authority that Mister Montgomery owns a large successful cattle ranch and has never been a bounty hunter.”
Eliza did her best to smile as the judge began the ceremony if it could be called a ceremony. It was over before it started, and Eliza gripped a marriage certificate in her hands. Her ticket to freedom.
The judge handed Eliza an envelope. “Your husband wanted to be sure you had enough funds even though all your expenses are covered. This is if you need anything before you travel or along the way.”
Eliza took the heavy envelope and mumbled, “I have some funds in the bank.”
“My driver and the guard will see to it that you can withdraw your money after you collect your belongings. The best of luck to you, my dear.”
“Thank you,” Eliza said as she left the judge’s office.
The judge’s secretary introduced Eliza to Morton, a large, burly man sporting a bald head and pitch-black beard and mustache.
“Morton will assure that you do not have difficulty collecting your things and will accompany you to your hotel and see you safely settled. He will also assure that you get on your train safely in the morning. The best to you, Missus Montgomery.”
Missus Montgomery, that was her name now. Eliza muttered her thanks and followed Morton out of the building to the waiting carriage.
She dreaded the scene that might take place at the Richards’ home. When Morton followed her into the parlor and explained to Mister Richards that Eliza, a now-married woman, was there to collect her things and he was there to guarantee her safety, Mister Richards nodded his approval and disappeared into his office.
Eliza packed quickly, and Morton and the butler took her meager belongings down to the waiting carriage. Morton helped her with her few errands, and when she arrived safely at the hotel, he assured her he would be there in the morning to take her to the train station.
Chapter 3
As the stagecoach rumbled closer to the stop in front of the mercantile, Blake felt his stomach tighten. He’d promised Amalie and Faith that he’d treat Eliza well and behave like a gentleman which he knew he’d have no problem doing. However, just the idea of having a woman living in his house made him a bit uneasy. He swallowed hard when the stagecoach neared with piles of luggage and trunks on top. When it stopped, and the door opened, he blew out a quick breath.
A tall, thin man wearing an Eastern style black suit, vest, tie, and bowler hat stepped out first, offering his hand to someone following behind him. A lovely blonde woman dressed in the height of fashion stepped out and gazed apprehensively around her. This wasn’t Eliza; she didn’t fit the description.
When the man held his hand out to help another passenger alight, Blake’s heart skipped a beat at the beauty that stepped out. Faith had said Eliza’s hair was red, but the cinnamon shade of her hair was far more lovely than he expected. She wore a simple green traveling suit that brought out the green in her eyes and squealed in delight when she saw Amalie and Faith waiting to greet her.
As the young women were giggling and talking, Blake stepped forward and said, “Hello, Eliza, I’m Blake.”
Eliza turned to greet him with a broad smile on her face. “Hello, I’m happy to be here. Thank you for your assistance in getting me away from my unpleasant employment situation.”
Blake took her hand and answered, “It was my pleasure to be of assistance.”
When she smiled at him again, Blake’s heart beat faster. He felt happy and content that he did the right thing for Eliza and himself. Both would benefit from this proxy marriage, and he would help her find her way in the world when they needed to annul it. His happiness was short-lived when he recognized the shrill voice coming from the inside of the stage.
Aunt Hortense?
The voice grated his ears again, and he knew for sure that it was his aunt. “Of course, I expect you to allow me off the stage before you, young man. Who do you think you are? Don’t people in this part of the country have manners?”
Blake watched the man in the black suit help his aunt from the coach. She was followed by a rather red-faced young cowboy who disappeared heading for the saloon as soon as he dropped to the ground after jumping from the stage’s door.
Blake was still holding Eliza’s hand when he heard his aunt say, “Blake? How did you know we would be on this stage? It’s delightful that you came to meet us.”
Blake stepped forward with Eliza following and greeted his aunt. “Welcome to Wyoming, Aunt Hortense. I hope you had a nice trip. I’d like you to meet my wife, Eliza.”
“Wife?” Aunt Hortense stammered before her eyes rolled back, and she dropped to the boardwalk in a dead faint.
The tall thin man in the Eastern suit rushed forward. He fanned Aunt Hortense with his handkerchief until Blake intervened and said, “We can carry her across the street to the hotel and call for the doctor.”
The thin man nodded and answered, “She has these spells often, but resting in the hotel will do her good. Perhaps a doctor can offer her a tonic for her nerves. Your introduction of your wife has unsettled her greatly. My name is Simms, by the way, Sir.”
“Thank you, Mister Simms,” Blake said. “Let me help you.”
“No need, she is quite light, and it’s just Simms, Sir,” he said as he lifted the petite woman in his arms and carried her across the road.
Blake looked over his shoulder at Eliza, Amalie, and Faith, saying, “I’ll be back as soon as I see to Aunt Hortense. Perhaps you could go to the café for lunch or tea.”
“We’ll be all right,” Amalie assured as Blake rushed to follow Simms.
Blake nodded and hurried to follow Simms into the hotel.
“We need a room,” Simms announced as he walked through the doors of the hotel with a still unconscious Aunt Hortense.
“Right this way,” the desk clerk said and pointed to the stairs. He turned to a young waiter walking out of the dining room and said, “Go fetch the doctor immediately.”
The young man turned and ran out the front doors as the clerk quickly guided Simms up the stairs to a room at the back of the hotel where he assured Simms it would be quiet and would allow the lady to recover.
Simms entered the opened door and laid Aunt Hortense on the bed just as Blake rushed up to the doorway.
“How is she?” Blake asked.
“She’ll be all right in a few moments,” Simms assured Blake as he held a small vial he had removed from his pocket under Aunt Hortense’s nose.
Aunt Hortense coughed and sputtered and slapped Simms’s hand away. “That’s enough, Simms. Are you trying to kill me?”
Simms smiled at Blake. “I told you she’d be all right. Stressful situations cause her to faint.”
“Then why on earth did you allow her to travel all this way. Why didn’t you stop her?” Blake barked.
“I am merely her employee, Sir. There is no way to stop Missus Montgomery when she has her mind set on anything.”
Blake nodded and remembered his aunt could be quite stubborn.
“Blake,” Aunt Hortense said. “There you are.”
Blake approached the bed and said, “I’m here, Aunt Hortense. Please relax, and you’ll be all right.”
“Of course, I will be. Where am I? This can’t possibly be your ranch. This room is less than desirable,” Aunt Hortense insisted.
Before Blake could answer, the doctor arrived and shooed everyone from the room. Waiting in the hall, Blake and Simms could hear murmurs in a male voice and Aunt Hortense’s grating voice insisting she was not ill and demanding to get out of bed.
When the doctor opened the door, he was shaking his head. “She should rest in bed for a day if you can convince her. Fainting spells are not something to be ignored. I left a tonic for her to take. It should help her regain some strength. I believe eating more would also benefit her. She should put a little meat on her bones. I’ll send you
my bill, Blake.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Blake called out after the man as he hurried away from the room toward the stairs.
Aunt Hortense glanced around the room. “Where’s Constance?”
“I left her with Eliza and her friends,” Blake explained.
“Go find her immediately, Simms,” ordered Aunt Hortense. The man rushed from the room without answering.
Aunt Hortense sat up and looked directly into Blake’s eyes. “I brought Constance here to marry you. You could have told me you already married.”
“I didn’t have time. We married recently,” Blake defended.
“We can have that taken care of. Constance and I will stay at your ranch, and you will see the mistake you made. I will leave Simms in town to take care of any business that might arise. Now, help me up so we can leave.”
Blake shook his head. “The doctor ordered you to rest. I’ll find Simms and then Constance. Tomorrow I’ll bring the buggy for you and Constance, and one of my hands will retrieve your luggage.”
Aunt Hortense glared at Blake as he backed out of the room, wondering how he was going to convince not only his aunt and Constance that he was happily married but also convince Eliza to play the happily married wife.
The young blonde woman who had ridden in the stage with Eliza stood staring across the road. She held a lace-edged handkerchief to her nose and sniffled while mumbling, “What shall I do now without Miss Hortense.”
Eliza approached her and said, “We were on the stage together. Perhaps I could be of some assistance. My name is Eliza. We didn’t have a chance to meet during the trip from Cheyenne.”
“No, I prefer to read while riding anywhere,” the young woman answered. “My name is Constance Olivia Beatrice Glavens-Bradshaw, and I do not wish to speak to the harlot who stole my husband.” She promptly turned her back on Eliza.
A stunned and embarrassed Eliza rushed back to Amalie and Faith. “What did she mean I stole her husband. I have never been called a harlot. What is going on? I thought I was helping Blake from a difficult situation. I never dreamed he was married. That isn’t legal here, is it? I certainly hope not because I refuse to stay married to someone who is already married,” Eliza managed to say in one long breath. She drew in a deep breath when she finished, and Amalie spoke before she could say more.
“No, Blake is only married to you. His great-aunt wants him to move back East and came out here with Miss Constance Olivia Beatrice Glavens-Bradshaw to try and force him to marry her. With her as his wife, she would make his life miserable until he moved back East the way his great-aunt wishes.”
“I see,” mumbled Eliza. “What am I supposed to do now?”
Amalie linked arms with Eliza and said, “Have some tea and lunch with Faith and me at the cafe while Blake sees to his aunt.”
“What about Miss Constance Olivia, whatever the rest of her name is?” Eliza inquired.
“Look,” Faith said. “She’s walking toward the hotel. They have a dining room. She’ll be all right. I’m sure Aunt Hortense would rather see her than any of us. Let’s go eat something and talk about old times and our futures.”
Chapter 4
As Blake pushed through the hotel’s doorway, he saw Simms meet Constance at the edge of the road. Knowing Simms would take care of her and escort her to his aunt’s room, Blake spun on his heels and headed for the café.
Blake glanced into the window of the café and saw Eliza sitting and laughing with Amalie and Faith. He had absolutely no idea how he was going to deal with his aunt and a marriage of convenience at the same time.
Blake drew in a deep breath, pulled the door open with a smile on his face, and walked up to the table where the young ladies were enjoying tea and a slice of apple pie.
Amalie looked up from her plate and said, “Look, Blakes here.”
Faith and Eliza turned toward the front door and smiled as they watched Blake pull out the empty chair and sit across from Eliza.
“How is your aunt feeling?” Eliza inquired.
“The doctor said she will be all right if she rests until tomorrow. She expects to come out to the ranch and stay with us tomorrow. I’m going to take a buggy into town and have one of the ranch hands follow with a wagon for her and Constance’s trunks and bags.”
Eliza nodded and said, “I’m sure your aunt wants to spend time with you. Is your home large enough to accommodate everyone?”
Amalie giggled and said, “His house is large enough to accommodate half the town.”
Blake shook his head, raised his hands, and said, “Let me explain. I grew up in New York and would spend summers on my grandfather’s estate in the countryside. It was a grand house with a lot of room, and I swore as a boy, I would own a house as large and spacious as my grandfather’s one day.”
Blake paused a moment to take a sip of coffee from the cup the waitress placed in front of him and continued. “When my father passed away, I inherited a goodly sum and came west to buy a ranch. I still had the boyhood dream to have a house to match my grandfather’s, which is what I set out to do.”
“It’s a lovely home,” Faith interjected. “I think Eliza will be happy with it.”
“It may seem foolish to have a large home sitting in the middle of a cattle ranch, but I was determined to fulfill that childhood dream.”
“I think that’s wonderful,” Eliza said. “We all have dreams, and I’m happy you were able to achieve one of yours.”
“Yes, um, thank you,” Blake said and swallowed. “But having a big house brings up a problem.”
“What?” asked Eliza.
“I have a large guestroom that Amalie and Faith decorated for you. I thought it would be comfortable and give you the privacy you need. However, Aunt Hortense insists on staying at the ranch house along with Constance,” Blake explained.
“If your house is large, don’t you have other rooms available?” Eliza inquired.
“I never expect guests. Besides the newly decorated guestroom, there is one room upstairs with a small bed, a simple chest of drawers, and washstand that my other rancher friends use if they can’t travel home right away. Aunt Hortense is going to insist on having the best room in the house, which is the guestroom, and Constance will have to be satisfied with the small room upstairs.”
The three women stared at Blake while he gathered his courage to try and explain.
“The problem is,” Blake continued. “Since we are married, Aunt Hortense will expect us to share a room, especially since there is no other room available.”
Eliza’s eyes flew open, and she stammered, “I wasn’t prepared for this.”
Blake shook his head and said, “I can sleep on the floor; that’s not a problem. I just want you to be aware of the situation before you decide to come home with me. I understand this is more than you expected, and if you want to go back to St. Louis, I’ll pay for your ticket.”
Faith interjected, “What about your aunt and Constance? If Eliza leaves, your aunt will force you to marry Constance after your marriage to Eliza is annulled.”
“I know,” Blake said, “and that is my problem to deal with. This is not the arrangement I made with Eliza, and I refuse to allow her to suffer because circumstances have taken a turn for the worse. I did expect my aunt to send me a telegram at some point in her trip, and I could return a telegram with the news of my marriage. It would have stopped her from traveling here.”
“Wait,” Eliza said. “I can’t go back to St. Louis. There is nothing there for me, and if my former employer would learn of my return, he would make my life miserable. I said I’d be your wife to help you with your aunt. You said you’d be my husband to assure my safe departure from St. Louis. You kept your end of our bargain. If you sleep on the floor, I think I should be able to uphold my end of this bargain.”
Blake stammered for a moment or two and finally said, “I can do that if you think it’ll work. We don’t have to pretend for long, and I promise not to call you honey or
hug and kiss you to help our fictitious marriage.”
Eliza blushed furiously at Blake’s words and tapped her fingers against the white tablecloth before smiling at him. “We can act married within reason. A simple embrace or peck on the cheek in front of your aunt when you leave in the morning or return in the evening would be acceptable.”
“I can do that,” Blake assured her. “We should leave now and go home and explain things to my foreman and his wife, Sarah. She’s my housekeeper, and while they expected you, they didn’t expect my aunt and Constance.”
“I can help Sarah,” Eliza promised. “I don’t mind working, and I am a decent cook.”
“We’ll talk about all of that, and I’m sure Sarah will appreciate the help. We need to go back to the stage office and retrieve your things,” Blake said as he stood. “Ladies, I thank you for being here today and helping me. I’m not sure how I would have handled my aunt’s arrival if you hadn’t been here for Eliza.”
Amalie and Faith both hugged Eliza and promised to visit soon before Eliza took Blake’s arm, and they left for the stage office.
“Is this all the luggage you have?” Blake asked as he picked up the worn carpetbag. “Or did someone mistakenly take the rest of your things?”
“That’s all I have. I have this traveling suit I’m wearing and a Sunday dress. The simple day dresses I wore as a nanny for the Richards were purchased for me by them, and when I left, Mister Richards insisted I leave them behind.”
Blake shook his head as he guided Eliza to his carriage. “We’ll have to change that.”
Eliza settled into the black carriage with shiny gold wheels. She said, “I just need enough fabric to make two simple day dresses. I don’t need more than that to work around the house.”
“Nonsense,” Blake answered as he flicked the reins and started the horses and carriage toward the ranch.
“When Amalie and Faith arrived, they didn’t have a lot of things either. I believe a visit to the dressmaker’s tomorrow is in order. She also has readymade dresses you can purchase until your wardrobe is ready.”
A Bride for Blake Page 2