“Her?” Colten asked, hoping to throw Lester off his path. “Not sure what you’re talking about, Lester. You sure you haven’t been drinking again?”
“Course I’m sure,” Lester said, though his words were a little slurred. “I had a woman coming to marry me. I got the letters right here.”
“Let me see those.” Colten grabbed the papers that Lester had waved in his face. After turning to the side to keep Lester from grabbing them back, Colten unfolded the letters and scanned through them. He felt a little awkward reading the conversation from Annabelle to the man she had planned to marry, but he wanted to find out if there was any absolute promise of marriage when she arrived.
“See,” Lester said. “Now where is she? I know I saw her.”
“Hold on a moment,” Michael said. “Give the man a chance to look over your claim.” Michael looked at Colten and he shook his head.
“There’s no solid promise here. She did say she agreed to come out and meet him and if things were agreeable to both parties, she’d marry him.”
“See. She’ll marry me.”
Colten shook his head. “Said she would meet you and then decide. Now you can’t force a woman to marry you if she isn’t agreeable.”
“I paid for her,” Lester said. “Sent her the money and everything.”
“Where is the proof of that?” Colten asked.
“She came, didn’t she?” Lester asked. “I gave her twenty dollars to buy a ticket and come out to me.”
“You couldn’t have paid for a ticket from New York to Birch Creek with that much,” Michael said. “I checked the ticket prices myself when I was writing Susan. You’d need more than twice that amount.”
“So you see,” Colten said. “You have no claim on Miss Annabelle. She doesn’t have to marry you unless she chooses to.”
“Of course she’ll marry me. What other choice does the woman have? I even have a house.”
Colten knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to laugh at the man, but he wanted to. Lester’s house was barely more than a lean to against a rocky outcrop near a small creek.
The sound of Susan’s voice made all three men turn around and Colten’s eyes widened in dismay. Annabelle was right there with Susan, looking just the same as she did yesterday and Lester recognized her immediately.
“There you are. Come on now…, Annabelle, you said?” Lester turned to Colten, then back to Annabelle. “I’ll go get the preacher and we can get married right away.”
Annabelle froze where she stood as Lester started toward her. Colten put his hand on Lester’s shoulder and stopped him.
“Now hold on, Lester. You don’t own this woman. She has the right to make a choice on whether she’ll marry you.”
“Annabelle,” Susan said. “You don’t have to marry him.”
“I paid for her,” Lester said. “She spent my money, which means she’s mine. And if you try to stand in our way, then I’ll go to Oakley and get the sheriff involved.”
Colten took some bills out of his pocket and shoved them at Lester. “Here, this is twice as much as you sent her. Now you’re paid back.”
Lester stared at the money, looking unsure if he should take it or keep arguing about the girl. “But that isn’t her paying me back.” Lester pushed the money back to Colten. “I want her.”
Colten looked at Annabelle who had terror in her eyes and looked as if she wanted to faint.
“You can’t have her,” Colten said. “She’s going to marry me. That’s why I’m paying you back for your part in getting her here. We already discussed it. So thank you for your help. Here is your money plus interest.” Colten took Lester’s hand and placed the bills in his palm. “That will get you a lot of supplies for the winter. You know you need it. Now be gone with you.”
Lester looked at the money without giving Annabelle a second glance then nodded and shoved the money in his pocket before turning on his heels and marching back the way he’d come.
“What do you say we head back to the house and get sewing you a wedding dress?” Susan said, taking Annabelle by the elbow, but Colten stopped them.
He walked over to face Annabelle and looked her in the eye. “I wouldn’t be any better than Lester if I forced you to do this against your will.”
She looked up at him with glistening eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I won’t marry you unless you actually want to be married. I’ll do what I can to keep Lester from bothering you. Everyone in town will. But if you want to get married, since that’s what you came here for, then I’m willing.”
The quick intake of breath from Susan made Colten want to look and see if she was going to faint, but he kept his eyes steady on Annabelle. He had surprised himself by his statement to Lester that he would marry her, but once he said it, he’d known he wanted to. But only if she agreed.
After a moment, Annabelle nodded once. “I’m willing.”
“Yay!” Susan squealed. “Come on. We’ve got lots to do. I think we could manage to put a wedding together in a day. And since you are so good at sewing, I think you should have something nice and new. We’ll go get Mrs. Howard and let her know, then she’ll make sure the town is ready to come join us for your wedding tomorrow. Oh Annabelle, it’s going to be so wonderful.”
Before taking too many steps, Susan turned back to Michael and handed him the lunch basket. “Get back to work, who knows what will happen with all this excitement.” She patted her belly and Michael laughed then turned to Colten.
“You still good to help, or do you need to go make some plans?”
Colten shook his head. “Sounds like they’ll do all the planning. I might as well help you finish this up.”
“Where you going to live?” Michael asked.
“I don’t know,” Colten shook his head again. “I suppose we could stay with my parents until I can get you to help me build my own place.”
“What about my cabin?” Michael asked. “Once this place gets a roof on it, Susan wants to move over right away. We could keep working on the inside even after the baby comes.”
“Before you give anyone your old place, let’s get this one done.” Colten took the sandwich Michael offered, then a drink of water from the bucket sitting on a tree stump in the shade. In no time at all, the two returned to working on the boarding house, finishing the floor boards and framing the stair case that would lead to upper floors.
It would be a nice place once it was finished.
***
Annabelle looked over at her friend. “What have I done?”
“Exactly what you should have. You may not see it yet, but I’m certain this will be the best thing for you. Colten is a good man and you two will be happy together. I’m not saying there won’t be some trials ahead, but oh I’m so happy for you. Come on.”
Susan grabbed Annabelle’s arm and tugged her along, the fatigue and sore feet she’d complained about not long ago seemingly forgotten. As they passed a group of boys, Susan hollered, “Jessie, run get Mrs. Howard. Tell her I have to talk to her immediately.”
A boy about thirteen jumped up and ran off toward the mercantile. Annabelle wondered what Mrs. Howard would think of suddenly acquiring a new daughter-in-law. The woman was nice and all, but this sudden change of plans would throw anyone off.
Before they got to the church building, Annabelle spotted Mrs. Howard running out of the store and heading straight to them.
“What’s the matter Susan? Is it time? Should I get the wagon to take you home? Do you want to just come to my place?”
“Oh, it’s nothing like that,” Susan said. “We have some news.”
“Don’t you think Colten should be the one to tell her?” Annabelle asked.
“Not a chance,” Susan said. “We need to get things started if we’re going to have a proper wedding planned in time.”
“Wedding?” Mrs. Howard asked. “You didn’t agree to marry Lester did you, darling?”
Susan made a sound that surprised Annabel
le. Something like a snort and a laugh. “Not Lester,” Susan said. “Colten.”
“What?” Mrs. Howard said, looking between Susan and Annabelle. She took Annabelle’s hands and held them between her own. “It can’t be true.”
“I’m sorry,” Annabelle said. “We should have made sure it was all right with you.”
“All right with me? Oh my dear, you have no idea how happy I am. I will finally get a daughter.” She pulled Annabelle into a warm, motherly hug sending a wave of belonging through her. “I have been after that boy to find himself a wife for so long. But there aren’t a lot of choices here. And then you come along and are just perfect for him. I can’t wait to have you as part of the family.”
“I was going to take her back to my house and we’ll make her an outer dress to wear for the wedding. She will be able to get one made up in no time. And what better way to show off her talents than with a dress everyone will see. I was hoping you would spread the news and get people to gather together for a wedding tomorrow night. We can have a big celebration and food and dancing and music, just like you all did for Michael and me.”
Mrs. Howard nodded and hugged Annabelle once more. “I’ll get right on that. Tomorrow night then?”
Susan didn’t even look at Annabelle when she answered Mrs. Howard. Of course, if Annabelle took any more time to think about it, she might panic and change her mind. It would be best to get it over with. Especially if Lester changed his mind. If she was already married to Colten, there would be nothing Lester could do.
And if she didn’t act fast, Colten might come to his senses and change his mind as well. Yes, tomorrow night would be just fine.
CHAPTER FOUR
Colten had never in his life both looked forward to and dreaded the same event. At times, it seemed like the day just dragged on, especially with all the building and hammering and floorboard laying he and Michael were doing. Of course a surge of help from neighbors and town folk made things move faster.
Once news got out that Colten had found himself a wife, everyone wanted to come see what had happened and Michael took advantage of that. As people offered their congratulations, Michael started giving orders to everyone and told them that the sooner the boarding house was finished, the sooner Colten and his new bride Annabelle could have Michael’s house.
Luckily, there weren’t a lot of women that came around, and Colten wondered if they were all descending on Annabelle, or if they were home doing all kinds of baking and cooking for what he knew would be a big to-do given the fact that his mother was involved.
Eventually, it got too dark to see and Michael, Colten, and Jessie—who were the only ones still working on the boarding house—headed home to rest up in preparation for another long day tomorrow.
“Too bad it won’t be finished tomorrow.” Michael patted Colten on the shoulder.
“We can still do a bit of work on it in the morning. From what everyone said, the wedding won’t be until around supper time.”
“Don’t you think you ought to spend the morning preparing to get married?”
“What kind of preparation do I need? I can change into my nice clothes when I’m finished helping you here.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Michael said. “I’m sure your mother will have something for you to do. So unless Susan tells me I’m coming back to work on this, I plan to stick around close to be a runner for everything she needs.”
Colten nodded. His mother probably would have a long list of things for him to do. “Let me know if you need help tomorrow, then.”
Michael patted his shoulder once more. “You did a good thing today. Saving her from Lester. And I think you’ll find you’ll enjoy being married. It’s nice to have someone to call your own. To be your family.”
Colten nodded once, not sure he wanted to reply. Not even sure exactly what he felt. A wife. He didn’t have a clue how to make a wife happy. Hopefully it wouldn’t be that hard to figure out. All he knew was that whatever Susan wanted, Michael did for her. Whatever his mother wanted, his father made it happen. He wasn’t looking forward to being at the beck and call of some woman.
***
Annabelle looked at the dress in front of her, reluctant to try it on. She’d made dresses for herself before, but this was so different. It wasn’t the normal, simple fabric that would blend in well with all the other clothes she wore. It was nice and brightly colored with yellow and blue accents.
Susan had cut the fabric for a dress for herself already, but hadn’t had time to finish it before she started increasing in size and insisted Annabelle use it for herself instead of saving it.
“It looks amazing,” Susan said. “Try it on before Jessie and Michael get here.”
Annabelle moved into the room that was Jessie’s and took off her outer dress and slipped this one on, noting the places she’d need to do a bit of altering. Overall, the fit was pretty good so far. Doing the button work on the bodice would be what took the most time tomorrow. But if the wedding wasn’t until the end of the day, and she worked hard by lantern light, then in the morning, she could get it done.
“Can I see?” Susan asked, knocking on the door.
Annabelle opened the door and stepped out into the main room where the full sized lantern allowed for a better view.
“I still have some fixes through the hips and the bust, but I think it’s okay.”
“It looks amazing,” Susan said. “You really are talented.”
Annabelle looked down at the skirts, and smoothed them out, feeling uncertain once again. “It really is happening, isn’t it?”
“Only if you want it to,” Susan said. “You know we’ll take care of you. Help you get set up. With your sewing skills, you won’t want for work. If you have changed your mind, Colten won’t force you to marry him.”
“I’m just so nervous about it all. I thought when I had agreed to come out here to marry Lester, that I was ready for this. To be a wife, and someday a mother.” Annabelle looked at Susan’s belly, but the fear she had was too awkward to speak of.
“It’s an adjustment to be a wife, that’s for sure. But it’s also a wonderful thing. Having someone who loves you and cares for you and thinks the best of you is amazing.”
“My mother died when I was fourteen,” Annabelle said. “I never had siblings either. I started working in the factory after she died. I gave up hope of marriage when I heard all the tales from the older girls who worked there. None of them seemed happy with their marriages or husbands. I don’t know if I’m ready to be a wife.” Annabelle closed her eyes tightly against the tears that threatened.
“Colten will treat you right.” Susan placed her hand on Annabelle’s shoulder. “A good man makes all the difference. You won’t be forced to do things you don’t want to do.”
“But what about sharing his bed?” Annabelle felt her throat tighten and she was surprised she got the words out.
“I can only tell you what I know from my own life. I was nervous, and needed time to adjust to the idea. Especially since I didn’t even know Michael. I’m sure if you ask Colten to give you a day or two to get used to his presence and try a few kisses at first, you’ll get comfortable enough to not be afraid.”
“I couldn’t do that,” Annabelle said. “How could I even bring it up?”
“Honesty and open communication is important Annabelle. Just tell him you’d like to request a couple of days, but then tell him you are open to start with kissing.”
Annabelle nodded, wondering if she really would be able to speak to him like that. But if they were going to share their lives and so much more as husband and wife, she really needed to learn how to talk to him.
“You’ll be fine, sweetie. Now go change back into your other dress. I’ll make a couple of pies for tomorrow’s celebration.”
Talking things out with Susan had helped, and Annabelle was able to return to work on the dress with a little more ease than before. Colten was a good man. She could tell that from the short
time she’d known him. He made her nervous for sure, but it was such a different feeling than the way she’d felt with other men. No, this kind of nervousness was felt in her heart with fluttering in her belly and not in her chest with the heaving pounding of fear.
She could do this. By this time tomorrow night, she would be Mrs. Colten Howard. Annabelle Howard. She liked the way that sounded.
***
Job after job, chore after chore, table after table, chair after chair, and well-wisher after well-wisher had Colten on edge. Though it was probably his own fault. He’d thought if he’d kept himself busy and worked nonstop then he wouldn’t have time to over-think what he was about to do.
Reverend Morrison had come to talk with him as Colten helped set up the tables under the trees near the church building. Colten supposed the reverend just wanted to make sure Colten knew what he was getting into, but it didn’t ease his mind. Especially when the man started talking about the importance of caring for a wife and family and raising them up to know God.
“I had the chance to meet with Miss Annabelle, and she appears to be a woman of faith. I am confident you two will have a wonderful life together.”
Colten nodded. He hoped so. At least she was kind and easy to look at. Though he knew looks weren’t everything. He’d argued with her, and knew she had some spunk. But he also knew that she had come out here without really knowing what she was getting into. She should have been more selective in her choices, but he had gathered from the few things she’d said that maybe things back east weren’t the best for her.
Things would have had to be terrible for her to choose Lester over factory work. Yet if Lester didn’t really give the girl all the details about his life, she wouldn’t know.
Colten wiped his brow with his sleeve then returned his hat to his head. He needed to just stop thinking of all the past and be ready to do things right in the future. The future he would have with this stranger.
The Clerk's Bride: A Golden Valley Story (The Brides of Birch Creek Book 2) Page 4