“Because Momma said you soon would be our poppa, and we’d be living with our grandparents.” Burdette looked serious when she said it. Oh, no. All the congratulations and gossip he’d heard just made sense.
“Mary, we need to have a talk, now. Grandma, could you watch Burdette and Nolan for a few minutes?”
“Of course, Nolan. Take your time,” his grandmother smiled and winked, guessing he was about to propose to his future wife.
“I don’t think the Paulson’s will mind us using their office to talk privately,” Nolan told Mary as he ushered her to the door behind the hotel lobby desk.
Just as he opened the door to the office, Holly rushed into the lobby from the dining room, heading for the front door.
“Holly! Wait for me!” Kiowa rushed from the dining room while struggling to put on his coat.
Holly turned for Kiowa’s words, but then saw Nolan and Mary standing ready to enter the office. Tears were streaming down her stricken face.
Kiowa stopped by Holly, and then followed her gaze. Kiowa shook his head as if in disgust. “Come on, Holly. I’ll walk you home.”
Nolan watched Kiowa open and slam the door behind him and Holly before ushering Mary in the office. He shut the door for their private conversation because there were some words he didn’t want to ever repeat again.
He took a deep breath while waiting for Mary to sit down.
“Did you happen to hint to anyone that we were going to wed, Mary?”
“No.”
“Did you correct anyone if they mentioned the rumor to you?”
“No.”
“Then how do you think this rumor started?”
“You asked your grandparents about their choice of living arrangements once you marry.”
Nolan wiped his hand over his face. Mary was right. He had never told his grandparents he planned to ask Holly to marry him. And now everyone—including Holly—thought Nolan was going to wed Mary.
No wonder Holly looked devastated as she left the hotel. Nolan had kissed her, hinted about a future together, and then she heard he was marrying another woman.
All the self-confidence Holly acquired since moving to Clear Creek was probably gone. She’d be back to believing she was worthless again.
Nolan leaned against the desk and crossed his arms before speaking. He didn’t want to hurt Mary’s feelings, but he needed to be clear so no future rumors would continue to circulate.
“Mary, you were my first love, and I always thought we’d marry and grow old together. But you married another.”
“Yes, but I’m a widow now and free to marry again.” She looked up expectantly at Nolan, but her hands were clinched tightly in her lap as if she was worried about what he was about to say.
“Yes you are available, and we have so much in common, but...”
“You love Holly,” Mary quietly finished his sentence.
“Yes. I love everything about Holly, besides wanting to protect and cherish her. Whenever I think of saying the wedding vows to a woman, she’s the one I want to make my promises to.”
“You know it will be hard, for you both and your children, because of her background.”
“And the wedding vows say ‘in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.’ I know it will be trying at times, but I deeply believe the good will outweigh the negative.”
Mary stood up, a faint, resigned smile on her face. “Then Holly is a very lucky woman because you will always keep your vows to her.
“I’m sorry if I caused Holly any pain because she is a nice and deserving woman. I will try my best to become a good friend to her, as you’ve always been to me.”
Mary walked to the door and opened it.
“Talk to your grandparents to make it clear who you are marrying. They might object at first, but they will come around. Holly will treat them with respect, even if she doesn’t always get it in return. She’s just that kind of woman.”
Mary turned back, looking a little melancholy but otherwise okay with his decision.
“Congratulations, Nolan. I hope you and Holly have a wonderful life together.”
Nolan felt both sad and relieved their conversation was over. He and Mary could have made a marriage work between them, but the spark wasn’t there like when he touched Holly. And it happened the first day he and Holly met.
Nolan walked out of the office to search for his grandparents. They needed to go home for a long talk. How would they react with Nolan’s news that he wanted to ask Holly to be his wife instead of Mary? It might be a lively discussion, but it was his decision. He might have a harder time trying to convince Holly instead.
“Merry Christmas, Kiowa,” Nolan held out his hand waiting for the man to shake it. After a second Kiowa grabbed Nolan’s hand for the return greeting.
“Same to you. I have the markers ready. Need to borrow a pick ax and shovel, too?”
“Yes, please. I don’t know how frozen the ground will be, so I’d appreciate it.”
“Wagon outside?”
“Yes. I’m ready to load up, then I’ll go over to the parsonage, and try to convince Holly to take a ride with me.”
The conversation with his grandparents last night was upsetting—for all three of them—but they’d come to an understanding and had accepted his decision. Now Nolan hoped Holly would agree to his proposal.
“She’ll go, once she realizes you have markers for her family’s graves. But she was one devastated woman when I walked her to the parsonage.”
“Holly heard a rumor which was wrong, to begin with, and grew out of proportion at the open house,” Nolan explained.
“Hearing you were planning to propose to Mary tore her apart, Nolan. I don’t know how you could do that to her.” Kiowa looked like he was ready to knock Nolan’s head off for hurting Holly, and he deserved it.
“I was planning my proposal to Holly but didn’t make it clear to my grandparents. They assumed I meant to ask Mary. The rumor spread from there, without me realizing it.”
Kiowa stared at him slack jawed. “You’re...uh, not Mary?”
“No, I won’t be asking Mary to be my wife, but I will ask Holly as soon as I can.”
Why did Kiowa look so relieved? Nolan thought sure the man was interested in courting Holly himself.
“Anything going on between you and Holly I should know about?” If Kiowa was interested in Holly, they’d hash it out right now.
“We consider ourselves ‘cousins,’ so if Holly ever has any problems—even with you—she knows she can turn to me for help.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear she has another person on her side.”
“Thank you, Kiowa. I appreciate you making the markers so quickly. They will mean a lot to Holly, especially since you made them.”
“You’re welcome, and good luck.”
Kiowa shut the shop door, and Nolan crawled up in the wagon seat. Now it was time to talk to Holly.
“I don’t think you should see Holly yet. She barely ate anything for dinner and went back to her room after washing dishes,” Mack stood sentinel at the parsonage’s front door. Nolan should have walked in the back door without knocking as he usually did, but he was trying to be proper calling on Holly. And calling for Holly wouldn’t happen if he couldn’t get past the four Reagan brothers standing shoulder to shoulder in the doorway.
“You’re taking this ‘protecting your little sister’ pretty seriously, aren’t you.”
“Yep,” all four answered together.
“As I’ve explained to Mary, my grandparents, and Kiowa Jones...and now to you four bodyguards...I was planning my future with Holly when I hinted to my grandparents about living arrangements. They took it wrong, thinking I was going to ask Mary to be my wife instead.”
“Let him in the door so we can get the story straight this time,” Nolan heard Kaitlyn say somewhere behind her sons.
“Wait until I take off my boots. I’m in enough trouble as it is,” Nolan said before taking a ste
p in the door.
“So what do you plan to make amends, Nolan?” Kaitlyn questioned him. Luckily she believed it was all a sad misunderstanding after he explained everything to the Reagans.
“If you’d talk her into going out with me, I’d like to drive her over to Fort Harker. Maybe she’d like to play some Christmas songs at the cemetery?”
“Good plan. I’ll have her downstairs in a few moments. Grab the heated bricks by the stove to keep your feet warm in the wagon. There’s an extra blanket in the parlor you can take along, too.”
Nolan waited, along with the five Reagan men, without saying anything. They all hated Holly was upset, especially when it was Christmas. Could Nolan turn Holly’s day into a joyous one? Only time and apologies could tell.
“Hello, Nolan.” Holly’s hoarse voice saddened Nolan, knowing he’d caused her so much pain. It also filled him with hope, because it meant Holly must truly love him, too, to be so brokenhearted. Her life would change for the better this afternoon if she accepted his apology and explanation.
“Merry Christmas, Holly. Thank you for seeing me today. I thought you’d like to take a drive out to the cemetery to play for your family?”
“Yes, thank you, I appreciate your thoughtfulness.” So formal, so polite and so sad.
“Well, let’s be on our way then.”
Seth opened the door, and everyone followed him and Holly to the wagon, being sure Holly was safe for her trip.
“I promise I’ll have Holly back by suppertime,” Nolan said with a nod, knowing there would be a posse looking for him if they were late getting back to the parsonage.
“Holly, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” Nolan started as soon as they were out of town, but Holly put up her gloved hand to stop him.
“Let’s just enjoy the quiet white scenery until we reach the cemetery, please?”
Nolan nodded, listening to the horse’s hooves crunching the crusted snow and watching his breath puff white clouds in the cold air. Nolan’s first word was ‘whoa’ to the horse as they stopped by the edge of the cemetery, closest to Holly’s family’s graves.
After he set the wagon brake and wrapped the reins around it, Nolan jumped off and came around to Holly.
“I need you to find the stone piles again. The last snow covered them up.”
“Why?”
Nolan didn’t answer as he reached to help her down to the ground. Then he went to the back of the wagon and pulled away the tarp which covered the tools and markers.
He carefully lifted out a three-foot metal cross from the back of the wagon and held it up to show Holly.
“I had Kiowa make cross markers for your family graves. We need to find the stones and set these in the ground.”
Holly gasped, then covered her mouth with her hands as she started to sob. Nolan wasn’t surprised by her reaction, knowing it would bring grief, but also peace once the shock wore off. Nolan set the cross against the wheel and opened his arms to comfort Holly. It took a while for her to pull away, but her big sighing breath told Nolan she’d be okay.
“I have two crosses for your mother and Ruth, and a small cross for your baby sister. I also had Kiowa make one for your father. You can either place it in this cemetery, or I’ll find a way to deliver it to Silver Crossing, your choice.”
“Thank you, Nolan. You can’t realize how much this means to me.” Nolan watched her wipe her eyes and nose with her gloved hand.
“I can guess because I’d hate for my parent’s graves not to have markers on them. Let me get the markers in the ground, then you can play if you want.”
Nolan reached for the pick axe, shovel, and the first cross as Holly walked to her sister’s grave and stood beside it.
It took a while to get the holes as deep as he wanted them in the frozen ground, but three new crosses marked the graves now, finally giving the cemetery the feeling of a sacred resting place again.
“I’d like father’s cross put on his grave.”
“That’s a good idea. We’ll take it back home for now.
“Play as long as you want, then we need to talk, Holly.”
Nolan stood by the horse as Holly played about every Christmas carol she could think of, or until her fingers were too cold to play, anyway. He waited until the violin was safely back in its case and the blankets wrapped around them before taking Holly’s hands in his own.
“I had hoped you would be anticipating this moment, as I had been planning it, but I blew it. I’m so sorry for not making myself clear, Holly...”
“Don’t! I was a fool to think you’d want me.”
“Let me finish my sentence. It’s very important. I’m sorry for not making myself clear to my grandparents that I was going to ask you to marry me. They assumed it was Mary because of our past.”
“What?”
“Miss Holly Elizabeth Brandt, I love you. Could I have the honor of being your husband? I promise on Pastor Reagan’s long list of vows that I will try to be the best husband—and the best father to our children—as I possibly can.
“Why?” Holly looked dumbstruck at his question.
“Again, because I love you. You’re the most beautiful woman, inside and out, I’ve ever met, and I want to share my life with you.”
“But everybody thinks you’re marrying Mary.”
“So far I’ve told Mary, my grandparents, Kiowa—and all the Reagan’s—that I was going to ask for your hand in marriage this afternoon. That means the rest of the town will know of our engagement before we’re back to town.”
“Yes, news does get around Clear Creek rather fast.”
“So, are you ready to go back to town to celebrate our upcoming nuptials?”
“Nolan, I never thought I’d meet such a wonderful man as you, who would actually look twice at me.”
“I looked more than twice at you on that first day. I thank God every day for the snowstorm which stopped the train in Miller Springs.
“Now may I kiss you to seal our engagement?”
“There’s no kissing ball around.”
“I think from here on out we won’t need one anymore. I plan to kiss you as often as I can, just for the pure pleasure of kissing my wife.”
Epilogue
December 31, 1885
Holly was so thankful for the welcoming arms of Kaitlyn and Pastor—and her adopted brothers—when they returned to town on Christmas Day. Her first family may be buried, but her second family would always be there when she needed a hug, a laugh, or a prayer.
Today, on her twenty-first birthday, the Reagan’s love—and most of the townspeople—surrounded her again as Holly and Nolan stood in front of the church altar facing Pastor Reagan. Seth, Mack, Cullen and Tully Reagan stood solemnly to the right of Nolan. Iva Mae, Maridell, Avalee and Luella Paulson stood smiling to her left.
Kaitlyn had seriously played the role of “mother of the bride” as they planned their wedding. Kiowa was honored to walk her down the aisle of the church as her honorary cousin.
At Nolan’s request, she wore Iva Mae’s garnet red gown again, which reminded Nolan of the first time he’d seen her at Fort Ellis on Christmas Day, 1878. It was hard to imagine that their chance meeting seven years later would lead to their marriage.
It gave Holly great comfort knowing that her father and Nolan had known each other. Her father would have approved of their marriage. After all, he was the one who pointed Holly out to Nolan, reminding him to protect her in the first place.
“Nolan please take Holly’s hands and repeat after me,” Pastor Reagan instructed while giving each of them a serious look.
“Nolan, will you have this woman to be your wife; to live together with her in the covenant of marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful unto her as long as you both shall live?”
“I will,” Nolan stated with a clear, strong voice.
Nolan slid a thin gold band on her left ring
finger and then squeezed her hand as he said, “Holly, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
“Holly, now it’s your turn to repeat the vows.”
“Holly, will you have this man to be your husband; to live together with him in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful unto him as long as you both shall live?”
Holly stood straight and proud as she stated to Nolan, “I will.”
Nolan had proved to her, time and again, that she could always count on him to be true and faithful to her, and their families, past, current, and future.
Nolan was a groom of honor…
~*~*~*~
Elof’s Mission
Grooms with Honor Series, Book 9
Copyright © 2018 by Linda K. Hubalek
Published by Butterfield Books Inc.
Elof’s Mission is a sweet historical romance set in 1886.
Elof Lundahl, a former Fort Ellis soldier and friend of Nolan and Holly Clancy, delivers a grave marker to a Montana cemetery for Holly’s father’s grave. After this task, he plans to travel to Kansas to start a new life near his friends.
Linnea Meyer, a Swedish mail-order bride, is at the same cemetery burying her husband—of eight days. Now homeless, Linnea and Jamie, her six-year-old stepson, accept Elof’s offer to travel with him to Kansas.
Elof falls in love with the widow and child, but he needs a job and home before he can offer them anything. Then Jamie’s grandparents arrive unannounced, changing all three of their lives.
Elof and Linnea
I always picture my characters, either imaginary or from real images, when I write my books. For the Grooms with Honor series I’m using couples I found in my great-grandparents’ photo album, dating back to the early 1880s to early 1900s period. My great-grandparents were born in Sweden, moved to Kansas, and married in 1892.
Grooms with Honor Series, Books 7-9 Page 28