“Who lit the fire this time?” Evangeline removed her wraps and helped her children do the same.
“Your new housekeeper.” Justice grinned as Effie Bean’s daughter May entered from the dining room carrying a tray of sweets and coffee.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Benoit, and Merry Christmas.” A sweet girl of about eighteen, May had her mother’s cheerful manner. “I hope you don’t mind my taking over your kitchen. Sure do like that new cook stove.”
Speechless for a few seconds, Evangeline gave Justice a quick hug. “Not at all, May. It’s all yours.”
“Let’s see what’s in these packages.” Justice gave one to each of the children, then told Evangeline, “Yours is a little heavy.” He pointed to a large one by the coffee table.
While the children ripped off their paper, Evangeline carefully unwrapped hers to reveal a new Singer treadle sewing machine. “Oh, Justice, it’s perfect.” She stood on tiptoes and kissed his cheek.
Isabelle’s present was a beautiful blond baby doll with a bisque head, cloth body and a pink silk gown. For Gerard, Justice had selected a guitar. Evangeline had seen both items in Winsted’s Mercantile and was pleased he’d known exactly what each child wanted.
“You two can share the puppy,” he said, and neither child complained.
Evangeline had already given Gerard his coat to replace the burned one. Now she brought out her own presents from the burlap sack. Matching shirts for Justice and Gerard and a new blue wool dress for her daughter. With everyone pleased with their gifts, they managed to find room for May’s delicious Christmas cookies.
The holiday celebration was bested only by the next day, when Evangeline married Justice. The church was packed with all of the Northams in attendance, even old Colonel Northam in his wheelchair. It was a simple ceremony, and they’d decided not to hold a reception because the town had already done a great deal of celebrating for Christmas. Instead, May and Effie Bean offered to provide refreshments at the new house for those who wanted to stop by with congratulations.
After Reverend Thomas pronounced them man and wife, Fred Brody took their wedding picture. Then Evangeline, Justice and the children walked the three blocks to their new home. As he’d promised, Justice carried Evangeline over the threshold, accompanied by the giggles of Gerard and Isabelle. To the surprise of the whole family, they found the house filled with well-wishers.
“You see, Sheriff, I said you should have a housewarming.” Electra Means waved to a stack of presents on the dining room table.
“And I said the same.” Effie Bean indicated a beautiful three-tiered white cake on the sideboard.
While the celebrating went on around them, Justice kept Evangeline close to his side. “I don’t ever plan to let go of you again,” he whispered in her ear, sending a pleasant shiver down her side.
“Don’t worry.” She snuggled beneath his arm, hoping no one would think her scandalous. “Now that I have you in my clutches, I’ll never let you go either.”
She gazed around the room, taking in all the friendly and loving gazes sent their way. After so many years of feeling lost and alone with her precious children, she at last had a home and a husband to love and protect them all. With gratitude to the Lord for reuniting Justice and her, she couldn’t ask for anything more to complete her happiness.
* * * * *
If you liked this story, pick up these other
FOUR STONES RANCH books
by Louise M. Gouge:
COWBOY TO THE RESCUE
COWBOY SEEKS A BRIDE
COWGIRL FOR KEEPS
COWGIRL UNDER THE MISTLETOE
COWBOY HOMECOMING
Available now from Love Inspired!
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Dear Reader,
Thank you for choosing Cowboy Lawman’s Christmas Reunion, the sixth book in my Four Stones Ranch series. I hope you enjoyed the love story of my hero, Justice Gareau, and my heroine, Evangeline Benoit. These two sweethearts waited for a long time for their happily-ever-after.
My series setting is the beautiful San Luis Valley of Colorado, where I lived for many years before moving to Florida thirty-seven years ago. While I’ve forgotten many things about the Valley, as we call it, my research sources include a helpful book by lifelong Valley resident Emma M. Riggenbach, A Bridge to Yesterday (High Valley Press 1982), in which she writes about Monte Vista, Colorado, the inspiration for my series.
If you enjoyed Justice and Evangeline’s story, be on the lookout for more stories set in my fictional town of Esperanza. Can you guess who my next hero or heroine will be? Who would you like to see have his or her own happily-ever-after?
I love to hear from my readers. If you have a comment, contact me at:
http://blog.Louisemgouge.com (You can also sign up for my occasional newsletter there.)
https://www.Facebook.com/AuthorLouiseMGouge/
Twitter: @Louisemgouge
Blessings,
Louise M. Gouge
Keep reading for an excerpt from MISTLETOE MOMMY by Danica Favorite.
Mistletoe Mommy
by Danica Favorite
Chapter One
Denver, Colorado, 1883
Luke Jeffries twisted his hat in his hands as the woman stared at him from behind her desk. Like he was an errant schoolboy facing the teacher for his misdeeds. But he hadn’t done anything wrong. At least not in the way most people considered something to be wrong. He hadn’t hurt anyone or broken any laws, and yet standing in front of a strange woman, begging her to find him a mail-order bride, felt more wrong than anything the worst of sinners could do.
“Please, ma’am,” he said again, swallowing the guilt in his throat. “I’m not asking for me. But you see, my children...” Luke shook his head. Took a deep breath. “Without their mother, things have been hard for them. I’ve got to work.”
Some folks might say he didn’t. The mining company gave him a nice payout after Diana’s death. But he couldn’t accept their blood money. It just sat there in the bank, taunting him, telling him what they thought a woman’s life was worth. But none of that would bring back the woman he loved. A dollar couldn’t tuck in the children at night.
Which was the greater sin? Going to some agency to find himself a bride he could never love? Or spending money that could never replace what had been taken from him?
Luke straightened his shoulders. “I’ll provide my wife with a good home. Plenty of food, and the children are well behaved. It’s a good life for a decent woman.”
“And what about you, Mr. Jeffries?” Mrs. Heatherington, who ran the mail-order-bride agency, stood, leaning over her desk to stare at him even harder. “What do you have to offer of yourself?”
It was the very reason he’d come here. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. “I will be kind to my new wife, if that’s what you’re asking. I’m not a violent man. I don’t drink. I don’t gamble. I go to work every day at the smelter, then come home to spend the evening with my family.”
“What of love?” the woman asked quietly, almost too quietly, but his heart heard. And wept.
“I can offer her the love of a friend or a brother. I have no expectations of my future wife to be anything more.”
Luke stared down at his hat, knowing he wasn’t doing it any favors with the way he was twisting it, but right now the feel of the material gave him some comfort, like it was his only friend.
“It seems to me that you need a nanny or a housekeeper, not a wife,” Mrs. Heatherington said, sitting back down and jotting a few notes on a piece of paper. �
��I can give some recommendations of a few agencies that might help you.”
“No. I appreciate that, but I do need a wife. I can’t afford to pay someone, and to be honest, my living situation...” Luke shook his head again. “It wouldn’t be proper, having a woman come and stay with us if we weren’t married. Housing in Leadville is hard to come by, and our little house is but one room, with a tiny loft for sleeping.”
Mrs. Heatherington looked up at him over her glasses. “But you aren’t going to love her?”
It was obvious what she was asking, and yet such things weren’t spoken of, not in polite society, not with a respectable woman like Mrs. Heatherington. Then again, Luke wasn’t sure that asking someone to find him a wife was something a person did in polite society, either.
“With all due respect, ma’am, I think I understand what you’re asking. And let me assure you that I have no desire to have...” Luke paused and drew in a breath. “Any sort of...relations...with my new bride. Our marriage is to be in name only.”
And yet his words only served to make the woman stare at him like he was a criminal.
“Just what exactly do you think you’re offering? What would induce any woman to marry a man who only wants her to be a housekeeper or nanny without pay, and without the benefit of someone to love her? Someone to care about her?”
Luke shifted uneasily as she rose from her chair yet again.
“Please, ma’am. I just thought that maybe there was a woman out there, someone who doesn’t have all those romantic notions. A widow, maybe. Someone who needs a good home, children to raise. Women dream of that, don’t they?”
He looked at her, hoping she could see the earnest desire in his heart to find a situation that would work for not just him, but for a woman who wanted a similar situation.
“Women dream of being loved, Mr. Jeffries. They dream of being more than someone’s domestic servant.”
Shaking his head, he said slowly, “I don’t intend for her to be my servant. We’d be partners. Working together for the good of our family.”
Mrs. Heatherington glared at him.
“This isn’t just about me. My children need a good woman to guide them. My daughter Ruby, she’s...” Luke hesitated, trying to find polite words to describe the situation he found himself in. “Things are changing in her, and she needs a woman to help her.”
Once again, he stared at the floor, anything to avoid meeting the gaze of the woman who stood on the other side of the desk, judging him. Making him wish he hadn’t seen the ad in the paper promising to find men good wives. Easier than Taking a Mail-Order-Bride Ad Yourself, it claimed. We Do the Work for You. And since he’d tried finding a mail-order bride, with no answers to his ads, this seemed to be his last option.
“Surely a woman from your church could discuss those things with your daughter,” Mrs. Heatherington said kindly. “I understand it would be difficult for a man, but—”
“I won’t have anything to do with the church,” Luke said, his attention snapping back up at her. “That’s the whole reason we’re in this mess. As far I’m concerned, the church killed my wife. Even if they could help, I wouldn’t take it.”
With a pang, Luke thought of the many meals the ladies had brought over for his family when Diana had been killed. He hadn’t wanted to take them, hadn’t wanted to eat the food, but the children had been so hungry, and Luke’s efforts at preparing anything edible hadn’t gone over well. Every bite had made him feel sick, and he’d been grateful when ten-year-old Ruby had calmly told him that her mother had taught her to prepare some basic things, and she’d taken over the cooking.
But it wasn’t Ruby’s place to prepare the meals, do her mother’s chores and take care of her siblings. Especially now that the woman Luke had hired to watch Maeve, the youngest, who wasn’t yet in school, had quit. Maureen’s note to him saying she was leaving had somehow gone awry, and Luke found out that Ruby was skipping school to do the job herself. She deserved to have her childhood back, which was one more reason Luke had to find a wife. Clearly hired help couldn’t be counted on, and Luke still didn’t understand how it had taken him nearly a week to find out that Ruby had taken over. Since then, he’d relied on the generosity of neighbors, but Luke had to find a more permanent solution. It didn’t feel right to take a wife not six months after Diana’s death, but Luke was out of options.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Jeffries. I can’t help you,” Mrs. Heatherington said, coming around to the side of her desk. “We are a Christian organization, and it’s my obligation to bring together men and women of faith to create a loving home.”
She shook her head as she looked at him with sympathy. “I am truly sorry for your loss, and I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for you to have lost a wife, and for your children to not have a mother. But this goes against everything I believe in. Too many women come out here as part of mail-order-bride schemes, thinking they’re going to end up with a wonderful life. All too often, they end up in terrible situations, some even being sold to houses of ill repute.”
“I would never—”
Mrs. Heatherington shook her head slowly. “Perhaps not. But what happens to this bride of yours when the children are grown and you have no need of free labor? Or one of you realizes that you do, in fact, need someone to love in your life?”
Before Luke could answer, a voice called out from behind him. “I’ll do it.”
Luke turned to see a woman standing in the doorway. Though her clothes seemed to have once been of fine quality, they were now threadbare and worn. Her dark hair was piled on top of her head in a simple yet elegant style, and she bore herself like a lady of means. The lines at the corners of her deep brown eyes indicated a weariness of the world matching his own. Yet her face seemed to have a strength to it that said she was not going to let any of her hardships get her down.
“And you are?” Mrs. Heatherington stepped past him to approach the woman.
“Nellie McClain,” she said, entering the room. “I’ve come to see if you’d find me a husband.”
Nellie looked around the room, then her gaze settled on Luke. “He’ll do just fine.”
He’ll do just fine. Not exactly the words of love and devotion one would expect to come from a bride, but Luke wasn’t looking for love and devotion. Still, he knew nothing of this woman, and it seemed odd that she’d jump right in and offer to marry him.
“But you know nothing about him,” Mrs. Heatherington said. “And we haven’t... That is to say, I don’t know who you are, and we haven’t gone through the interview process.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “You won’t help him, but I can.”
“What do you mean, you can?” Luke said.
“I need a husband,” she said, turning her attention to him. “Based on what you said, I think you’re exactly what I’m looking for. I don’t want a man to make promises with his fancy words. I don’t want some notion of romance. All I want is someone who is decent, hardworking, and knows how to treat people right. I know it’s wrong to eavesdrop, but based on what I heard in here, it seems to me that you have the qualities I seek.”
Her words might not sound like what a man hoped to hear from a prospective bride. But they were music to Luke’s ears, given that it seemed like they wanted the same thing.
“But what of love?” Mrs. Heatherington asked. “You seem like a nice young lady. Surely you want better for yourself.”
“With all due respect,” Nellie said, “I’m a widow. I know what it’s like to marry over some foolish notion like what a person thinks might be love. A woman like me needs nothing more than the protection of a good man and a family to care for. To be able to raise children is a pleasure I dared not hope for, but I would be extremely grateful for the opportunity.”
She stepped farther into the room and looked at Luke, and for the first
time, he was able to examine her features and see that while it was easy to mistake her for a young lady in the marriage mart, her bearing bore the strain of someone who had seen far too much pain in so short a life. A widow. This woman knew what it was like to love and lose, and it was obvious she wasn’t willing to take the risk again. A perfect match for him.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Luke said. “What makes you want to marry?”
Nellie hesitated. A dark look flashed across her face, and Luke wished he could ask her about it. But he barely knew this woman, and it didn’t seem right to dig into her pain.
“I suppose it sounds selfish for me to say that I wish to be cared for. A woman in my position finds herself taken advantage of and placed in bad situations because she is alone. There is little a respectable woman can do on her own, and she is often faced with challenges simply because of her circumstances. I’ve had enough struggle and hardship, and all I really want is to live life in peace.”
She looked up at him with such sadness in her eyes that even if he hadn’t already decided to marry her, Luke would have found some way of helping her. He couldn’t disagree with her words. Though he had nothing but respect for women, he had also seen how many other men mistreated them. A woman on her own was a target for all sorts of vile deeds. Based on the expression on Nellie’s face, Luke would guess that something terrible indeed had happened to her.
“I can’t promise you that a life with me will be easy,” Luke said. “I live in Leadville, a mining town in the mountains that boasts of luxuries and society rivaling that of Denver. However, Leadville also has a dark side, an uncivilized side, and the best I can offer you is a tiny cabin on a dirty street in the midst of it. We’ve plenty enough to eat, clothes on our backs, and as long as you don’t require anything fancy, you’ll have what you need.”
“But what of love?” Mrs. Heatherington asked again, looking distraught and wringing her hands as she came forward. “The two of you sound like you’re planning a business deal. But marriage is so much more than that. What happens when the children are grown? What happens when you can’t bear the sight of each other?”
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