by Linda Bridey
Iris drove the buggy past the main house, around the barn, and up a small hill on the other side. She pulled to a halt in front of a log cabin perched on top of the hill. “This is the Fort House,” she told them.
Mick surveyed the house. “Why do you call it that?”
“I really don’t know, to tell you the truth.” She studied the plain little house. “My uncle named it that when he built it, and we’ve called it that ever since. I like to think he named it that because it looks like the old log stockades the Army built for their forts when the first settlers moved into the country. But that’s just a guess. I really don’t know.”
Mick and Chuck dismounted in front of the high porch that ran along the front of the house. Mick grabbed the three trunks from the rack on the back of the buggy and threw them, one after the other, onto the porch with no more difficulty than if he were tossing feather pillows. He also unloaded several longer cases. Violet assumed they contained long guns—rifles and shotguns. Pete and Wade kept their guns in cases like that.
Mick tied the two saddle horses to the back of the buggy.
“Would you like us to show you around inside?” Violet asked.
Chuck leaned against the porch. “You don’t have to do that. I’m sure you have better things to do. We can sort ourselves out. I’m just glad to find a place to stop and take a breath for a while. I’m in no hurry to get indoors just now.”
Jake made no move to get out of the buggy. He and Rose continued their silent communion in the back seat, oblivious to everything around them. But as if by some silent cue, he shifted his weight and stepped down from the seat. “I guess I’ll have a look around inside.”
Rose jumped down after him. She didn’t say anything, but Jake took her by the hand and the two mounted the steps to the porch. The next minute, they disappeared through the door into the cabin.
“I’ll take the buggy and the horses down to the barn,” Iris announced. “There’s not much daylight left.”
“I’ll come with you,” Mick swung himself up into the front seat next to her, and the buggy trundled away, down the hill to the barn.
Violet watched the buggy roll to a stop in front of the barn, where Mick hopped back down and slid back the barn door. He stood aside as Iris drove the buggy inside with the three horses trotting after it on their lead ropes.
Violet sighed and glanced at Chuck, who still leaned against the porch. He smiled and lowered his eyes when he saw her looking at him. Violet couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. She turned her shoulder to him and followed his gaze down the hill. “You can see the whole ranch from up here. You can see right through the back door of the main house, and you can see everything going on in front of the yard.”
“Where’s your guardian’s house?” he asked.
“Over there.” Violet pointed out an even smaller cottage on a distant hill to the north. Only the glint of the sun on its windows showed it was there. “It’s very private, the Bird House. You can’t hardly see anything of the ranch from there, and no one can see you. And you definitely can’t hear anything.”
“It sounds ideal,” Chuck remarked.
“Rose mentioned on the way to town this morning that she would like to live there with Jake,” Violet told him. “That is, if Cornell wasn’t there.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Chuck replied.
“I still don’t like the idea of sending him away,” Violet remarked. “It just doesn’t seem right.”
“I understand, “Chuck replied. “He’s family, and family means a lot. But you never know. We’re all going to be married—when did you say it was? Friday? Something could happen between now and then that will clear the way for all of us to get what we want, even Cornell. It often works out that way.”
“Do you think so?” Violet asked.
Chuck nodded. “Don’t worry about Cornell. Everything will work out in the end. You’ll see.”
Violet surveyed the ranch below her. Then she peeked sideways at Chuck again and caught him looking at her and grinning from ear to ear. Violet laughed in spite of herself.
“What’s so funny?” Chuck asked, but before the words got completely out of his mouth, he burst out laughing himself. “Aren’t we a pair, giggling like schoolgirls.”
Violet wiped the corner of her eye. “We’re going to be married. Can you believe that?”
“Hard to believe, isn’t it?” Chuck dabbed his own eyes with the cuff of his sleeve.
Violet composed herself enough to look him in the face without laughing out loud. “I’m….I’m glad you’re here.”
Chuck went serious. “Me, too. I’m….Oh, heck. I sound like an idiot for saying it, but I think you’re awful nice. I’m glad of that.”
“I know just what you mean,” Violet exclaimed. “I’ve wondered so many times what you would be like, and now that you’re here and I’m seeing you in the flesh—well, I’m just so relieved and happy! I can’t put it into words.”
Chuck reached out toward her, and the next thing she knew, she found his hand holding hers. “You don’t have to put it into words. Just so you know I feel the same way. I just can’t wait ‘til Friday.”
Violet tried to answer, but she laughed for joy at the same time her eyes smarted with tears. This moment fulfilled all her deepest hopes for her mail-order marriage. She came up with the idea of getting mail-order husbands as a way to save the ranch. She never considered until this moment that she might marry a man she actually cared for.
Yet here he was, standing in front of her. She could care for him—she could do so much more than care for him! She could dedicate her life to him, she could join forces with him and become so much stronger than they ever were alone. So this was what marriage was all about! And she never realized it before.
Chapter 12