Cullen's Love (Grooms With Honor Book 5)

by Linda K. Hubalek

“Picked out her ring yet?”

  Cullen’s splayed hands slapped down on top of Rose’s letters on the counter as Mack surprised him.

  “Don’t surprise me like that!”

  “Why are you surprised? I’ve been standing here five minutes watching you reading…” Mack leaned over the counter to study the return address on the corner of an envelope, “…Rose’s letters, huh. Did Kandt give you Rose’s letters since you’re her next-in-line groom?”

  “I’m not marrying Rose,” Cullen quickly answered as he pushed the pile of letters down the counter out of Mack’s long reach.

  “Why not? I saw your spark of attention.”

  “No, you didn’t, because you were standing behind me.”

  “Well okay, after we moved out of Ma’s peashooter range. I could see your face. You’re interested.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Well, I’m just saying it’s okay if you are. I think Miss Leander was nice…and your size.”

  “What? Short like me?” Cullen bristled. Even their little brother, Tully, skinny as a beanpole, towered over Cullen now.

  “Quit bringing up your height, Cullen. No one thinks of it until you rub it in our faces. And there are times, although few, I’d rather not be so danged tall. Low doorways are a real pain in the head.”

  “Sorry,” Cullen said, but he really wasn’t since it was a sore subject to him.

  “I just thought you’d make a nice couple and you wouldn’t have to bend in half to kiss her.” That was one of the features of Doc Pansy that had attracted Mack to his new wife. They would look each other straight in the eye, no looking down for either of them.

  “You stop by for any particular reason? It’s about time to close the post office.”

  “I’m passing on the word you’re invited to the parsonage for a family supper tonight. Ma thought it would be nice if Rose met the family.”

  “She’s setting me and Rose up for next week’s wedding.”

  “I think at this point it’s more so Miss Leander can meet Daisy, Iris, and Pansy. She needs some friends since she’s planning to stay in town. If you don’t want to be social, I can ask Adolph to fill your seat.”

  Cullen stared at Mack, knowing why he’d brought up Adolph’s name—to make Cullen jealous.

  “Okay. I’ll be at supper since I know Rose the best because of her letters.”

  “Oh, Angus said you don’t’ know everything about Miss Leander, so be prepared for a shock.”

  Mack rapped his knuckles on the counter. “See you at six o’clock.”

  Be prepared for a shock? Cullen huffed at the thought as he pulled down the postal window. He’d read Rose’s letters enough times he could recite her life’s history by heart.

  *

  “Oh, my goodness! I could never stand to be that high off the ground, and hanging upside down too?” Angus’ wife, Daisy, exclaimed as Cullen walked in the back door of the parsonage.

  “Boots!” Angus’ toddler son, Benjamin, pointed to Cullen’s boots and then to the line of boots and shoes against the back wall.

  “Yes, Benji. I know I have to take off my boots to keep your Grammy Kay happy.”

  Shoot. Now he was talking like the kid.

  “Glad you could make it, Cullen. Pour the water off the potatoes and mash them,” Fergus ordered.

  Cullen sighed but did as he was told. As soon as the sons were old enough to do it themselves, Ma fixed family meals, but her sons set the table and washed the dishes afterward.

  Cullen was given the task of mashing potatoes when he joined the family because he was angry about everything. Ma thought smashing potatoes would work out his frustrations and it had helped.

  Cullen looked toward the dining room again when another burst of laughter came from that direction.

  “What are the women talking about? They usually aren’t that noisy.”

  “Miss Leander’s telling them stories about her circus days,” Angus replied while cutting the large roast into thick slices with a large butcher knife.

  “Her circus days?” Cullen asked while silently questioning Mack’s nod. Surely Rose wasn’t living and traveling with a circus. She hadn’t written any such thing in her letters to him...or uh, to Richard.

  “Miss Leander grew up in the circus. You’ve heard of the famous Flying Leanders, haven’t you?” Fergus questioned as he stacked silverware on top of a large stack of china plates.

  Cullen stopped mashing the potatoes, remembering something he’d read in the newspaper about the trapeze family. Three generations of the family traveled all over the country performing in circuses. They were in the big circus train wreck that had occurred in Illinois back a while.

  “Rose is from that family?” Cullen asked his brothers.

  “None other. The women are looking through her trunk of costumes and souvenirs right now as Rose tells about traveling with the circus.”

  Their mother stepped into the kitchen doorway. “Ready to eat?”

  “Yep. Get the family around the table, and we’ll start carrying in the food,” Fergus told their mother.

  What was Rose doing hiding out in the middle of the Kansas prairie if her family was famous? Right, her shoulder was damaged, preventing her from working with her family, but surely she wasn’t running away from them.

  Cullen carefully carried the two-brimming bowls of mashed potatoes to the table. One dish had never been enough to go around with six growing boys.

  After the second bowl was safely on the table, Cullen glanced at Rose, now seated at the table. The chair beside her was empty, so Cullen moved around to sit by her before anyone else did.

  “Nice to see you again, Mr. Reagan,” Rose’s words and smile didn’t reveal any tension from their last visit.

  “Please call me Cullen, Miss Leander, since there are so many Reagan men at the table.

  “Then please call me Rose. I feel like I already know you.”

  “Hold hands while I say grace.” Cullen froze at his father’s words. He was sitting on Rose’s left side, and she couldn’t move her hand out of her lap to grasp his hand.

  Rose’s face flushed as she looked down at her left hand, probably embarrassed she couldn’t do the same as the rest of the family.

  Cullen quickly looked up, wondering what to do. Angus caught his eye where he sat across the table. Angus squeezed Daisy’s hand, let go of it, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Fergus noticed too and did the same with Iris.

  Cullen took a deep breath and gently wrapped his right arm around Rose’s tiny shoulders. They both let go of their pent-up breath at the same time.

  “Heavenly Father. Thank you for this table full of excellent food for our bodies, and the family members who sit with us tonight to enjoy it.

  “We thank you for the safe deliverance of Rose, the newest member of our…community. In Jesus’ name, we pray...”

  “Amen,” everyone at the table said in unison.

  Cullen stared at his pa, knowing why he hesitated to say “community.” His father almost said family, as if Rose was going to be Cullen’s wife.

  It did feel good to wrap his arm around Rose, just as his brothers did around their wives. Was he missing something important in life because he hadn’t wanted a wife?

  “Thank you, Cullen, for putting your arm around me. I try not to let my injured arm bother me, but I can’t help feeling sorry for myself now and then,” Rose whispered so only Cullen heard her.

  Cullen’s arm was still around her, and their faces were only inches apart. Rose’s blue eyes shimmered with tears, and Cullen squeezed her shoulder to show his support again before dropping his arm and grabbing the platter of meat Pansy held in front of him. Cullen held the platter with his left hand and used his right hand and the serving fork to transfer a slice of meat to his plate.

  He automatically started to pass the platter to Rose, then stopped, wondering if she needed help.

  “Can I hold the platter while you choose your choice of
roast?” Cullen asked.

  “Yes, please. Thank you, Cullen.” Rose deftly speared a piece of meat with her right hand, laid the serving on her plate and returned the fork to the platter. Ma took the dish from Cullen without saying a word and got her own meat.

  The food continued around the table, and Cullen helped Rose with each bowl or platter. Luckily Cullen’s sisters-in-law kept their conversations to cover Rose’s situation.

  When the food had been passed, and everyone had their plate filled, Cullen watched Rose out of the side of his eye. Did she need help to cut her meat? Buttering her bread? But Cullen didn’t want to act as if she needed help like his two-year-old nephew did though.

  Cullen watched as Rose picked up her knife and cut her meat without using her fork. Then she laid down the knife and picked up her fork to use it next. Only then did Cullen start to eat.

  “Rose, what was your favorite town to visit?” Daisy asked. Cullen noticed Daisy was eating with one hand too because her left held her infant in her lap. Women did seem to adapt when they had to, better than he would have.

  “Most the time we traveled to a town, set up the tent for the performance and left right away for the next town without getting the chance to look around. But every year we’d spend a week in New York City, so we’d try to see a little of the city each trip.”

  “Did you perform in Madison Square Garden?” Daisy asked. “I’ve always wanted to travel to New York, but we haven’t gotten there…yet.” Daisy looked at Angus to make her point. Both Angus and Daisy had traveled before they married, whereas Cullen hadn’t traveled out of Kansas.

  “Yes, we did,” Rose said matter-of-factly as if it was no big deal.

  “What were the highlights there?” Daisy asked between bites of her meal.

  “Being with the circus when Jumbo, the African elephant was introduced in ’82.”

  “The famous Jumbo? I would have loved to photograph him, “Fergus asked.

  “Jumbo was huge, and a big loss to the circus when he died three years later.”

  “Did you get to see the new Statue of Liberty being erected last year?”

  “Yes, last October on our last trip to the east coast.”

  Cullen listened as Rose chatted with his family, answering their curious questions without any hesitation. She was an open book on places she’d seen and experienced.

  Why had Rose decided to be an instant bride in a small frontier town? Why such a radical decision? True, she couldn’t perform now because of her injuries, but maybe her shoulder and arm would heal. Rose and Pansy were already talking about exercises to build her strength again.

  Wouldn’t she want to go back to the glamor of the circus and her family if she could? Cullen was wary of committing to Rose, or anyone because they’d get tired of his simple life and leave him, just as his mother had done.

  Chapter 4

  Rose breathed in the fresh air, reveling in the peace and quiet of the open prairie. Cullen had correctly described the landscape and sounds of the area in the poems he’d added to Richard’s letters.

  “Do the hills have a name?” Rose wondered out loud.

  Cullen turned to look at her, as if he was so lost in thought he didn’t realize she was sitting beside him.

  “Not really. But this area is called Horsethief Canyon.”

  “Why?” Rose asked as she scanned the area. They seemed to be in a low spot with high sandstone rocks on either side of them.

  “Look close, and you can see caves up in the rocks. Makes good places for someone to see out, but not be seen, like horse thieves.” Rose followed where Cullen’s arm was pointing and spotted an entrance to a cave.

  “Could we stop so we can climb up to the cave? I’d love to see the view from that point,” Rose asked Cullen, and he pulled on the reins to slowly stop the buggy they were riding in.

  So far, Cullen had been a man of few words this evening. Rose didn’t think Cullen wanted to drive her out to see the countryside, but his mother insisted, and he grudgingly hitched up the pastor’s one-horse buggy and helped her crawl up to the seat.

  “You sure you want to do that? Could be a long climb up there,” Cullen asked, and she knew he was worried about her arm since he glanced at her shoulder.

  “My legs are fine, and if I pulled up my skirt and petticoats, I bet I could beat you up to the top,” Rose said smartly. She didn’t want Cullen’s sympathy.

  “Fine,” was Cullen’s one-word answer, which he’d seemed to use a lot.

  Rose waited for Cullen to set the buggy brake, hop off the buggy, and to come over to her side. She could have quickly vaulted off the buggy with her good arm but preferred his hands on her waist to help her down instead.

  “The sunset is a gorgeous array of gold and pink, just like you described in your poem, Cullen.”

  Rose looked at Cullen for his reply, but he was looking at the sunset, his face almost matching the red streaking across the sky.

  “Out of the letters I received from prospective grooms, your poems were what made me decide to come to Clear Creek.”

  “I’m sorry I included them then,” Cullen replied.

  “Why? They described my new home perfectly.”

  “Because now you’re stuck out here in the middle of nowhere without a man or a home. You should have answered an ad from a man in a city, one who could send you back to your circus life when you get tired of pretending to be who you aren’t,” Cullen said as he waved his hand to indicate the empty space around them.

  “Destiny changed my path, but I’m not sorry, except for my injury, of course. This is my opportunity to live like a normal person.”

  “Why? You had fame and a glamorous life. Why leave it?”

  “It’s not like you think it is, Cullen. We lived on the train, and all our meager belongings fit in trunks. We worked in all kinds of weather to set up tents, props, and perform. And when our performance was done, we packed everything up back on the train and left for the next town. It’s a routine I’ve done since I could remember, but I don’t want it anymore.”

  “But you’re leaving behind your family,” Cullen reminded her.

  “Yes, I am, but I can write and visit them,” Rose answered as she walked through the clumps of grass toward the cave above her.

  “Watch out for rattlesnakes,” Cullen called behind her, but his warning didn’t deter her. Snakes and their charmers were part of her circus past too.

  “What a glorious view from up here,” Rose called to Cullen who was still working his way to the top.

  “How’d you get up there so fast? You part monkey?” Rose laughed at the first funny thing Cullen had said to her.

  “No, I’m half trapeze artist and half high wire walker. If we could connect a high wire between this side of the canyon to the other, I could walk it, if I still had my balance.”

  “Seriously?” Cullen asked in surprise.

  “By the time I was six years old, I was part of my family act, walking on a thin cable wire twenty feet in the air.”

  “Were there ever any accidents?”

  “Constantly practicing to stay safe was always our priority, but sometimes equipment would fail, or not be set up correctly.”

  “Then what happened?”

  Rose wrapped her good arm around her middle, even though the evening was hot. “Injuries, death. But we always packed up and moved on to perform in the next town.”

  Cullen stood beside her, scanning the view.

  “Now I understand why you’re craving a quiet life, but won’t you miss it?”

  “Yes, I will miss my past for certain reasons, but I’m ready for a future living in one home with a husband and family. Eating a meal at a table in a kitchen instead of makeshift benches under a canvas canopy in all kinds of weather. And a bed that doesn’t rock all night as the train travels to the next town.

  “Living a normal life, wearing normal clothes instead of bright red gaudy costumes. Having all spring and summer to watch a garden gr
ow and be home to harvest it.”

  “But you’re injured—”

  “But not helpless,” Rose cut off Cullen’s sympathy. “I can still walk and function with one arm. Talk, sing, write, cook, sew. I bet I can still do one-handed flips too. Please don’t think of me as if I’m an invalid or cripple, Cullen.”

  Cullen stared at Rose a long second, then nodded. “You’re right, and I’m sorry if I made you feel that way.”

  “Thank you. But I do need your help.”

  “Of course. Anything I can help you with, just ask.”

  “I need a groom, by next Sunday,” Rose boldly said and watched Cullen’s reaction which was to step back and almost trip over a clump of grass.

  “I came as a mail-order bride, ready to meet and marry my groom yesterday. That didn’t happen, so I have a week to find someone else.”

  “My father was joking. You don’t have to marry right away, or at all. Don’t you have income coming from a book you wrote?”

  “I must confess, I’ve sent a story to a publishing company, but I have no idea if they will accept and publish it. But my goal is to marry and have a family, Cullen.”

  Rose took a deep breath before continuing. “Could you please introduce me to prospective husbands?”

  Rose’s choice of husband would be the man standing beside her, but he didn’t want to marry her, yet. Kaitlyn Reagan suggested spending time with Cullen and having him introduce her to bachelors, to get Cullen jealous and propose marriage to her. Rose didn’t know if it would work, but his mother knew him better than she did, at this point anyway.

  “This was my parents’ idea, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes,” Rose answered because there was no use in lying. Lies had a way of coming back to haunt a person.

  “Fine. We’ll start by visiting prospective ranchers this evening and then you can meet bachelors in town tomorrow morning in church. That suit you, and my ma?”

  They had walked back to the buggy, and Rose put her right hand on Cullen’s shoulder to indicate she was ready to be helped back into the buggy. She liked how his muscles tensed under her touch, knowing he was affected by her. She leaned closer so he got a whiff of her rose perfume she’d liberally dabbled behind her ear before he picked her up for their drive.