by Natalie Dean
He leaned back in the chair. His eyes widened. “You took the case?”
She nodded, and the fright and abject misery on her face told him the rest. “I thought that she would just tease him. That she would make him worry and wonder about what happened to the case and then return it. I went walking by the chair that he was sitting in at a small restaurant and then I just sort of snatched it up. I had on a very voluminous skirt, and so I hid it on the side of my skirt, on the side of me he could not see, and he didn’t notice.”
Jack already had a good idea of what happened next. “She did not return it.”
Jeanne shook her head. “No. I swear to you that I did not know that in addition to the receipts the month’s payroll was in that case. The truth is, there was not a lot of actual money because everybody owed basically their soul to the store.” Tears shimmered in her eyes. Her fingers twitched against the cup.
He spoke gently. “It’s all right Jeanne.”
“No, it’s not! The store had no receipts, and the factory owner was livid over the loss of the receipts and the money. They had no choice but to pay the women at the factory their full month salary and in retaliation they let many of them go. They caught her eventually, the girl with whom I shared lodging and who had been familiar with the clerk. She named me as one of her cohorts, and the police were looking for me. I had no choice but to leave as fast as I could.”
So, she had become a mail order bride. Jack knew how those things worked. Ads were placed in newspapers from prospective husbands out West. Jeanne could simply choose someone from an ad to be her intended and off she would go with the train ticket in her hand.
She began to cry. She did not sob or weep loudly. The tears rolled down her face silently. She whispered, “So I will understand if I am not the wife that you wish to have. But I thought it best that you know who I am.”
He leaned toward her. His hand caught hers and held it. He said, “Who you are is a wonderful woman who just happened to stumble into my life. I don’t care how or why. I won’t lie to you. I meant what I said earlier about going back to Texas. The truth is that you would stand a better chance of never having your past catch up to you if we stayed here. Where my family lives in Texas, there are literally thousands of people, and somebody from Philadelphia may at some point see you, and recognize you. But if they did, I can assure you that I would protect you. On the other side of that if you felt like here would be the best place for us to stay, then I would stay here with you.”
A small, inarticulate cry burst from her mouth. She settled the cup onto the table and stared at him. She babbled out, “Oh! I won’t lie! I have enjoyed it here, I most certainly have! It’s beautiful! But the idea of winter, all that snow and the cold and not seeing people for months at a time — some of the women told me that it’s often impossible for the people in the ranches to even get to church or town until it thaws! — and that has been on my mind quite a lot lately.”
He looked down into his cup. “Mine too,” he admitted. “I will also admit that this was never truly my plan. To come to Montana, I mean. It was Lillian’s dream, and I felt like I had to do it for her but I can’t say that I’ve ever actually been happy here.”
She asked, “How hard would it be to move? Oh! And the windows! My goodness! They’re so expensive and so difficult to get here! How could we possibly just leave them?”
He leaned back in the chair. “I haven’t considered all of that. I too love the landscape here, and it’s peaceful and quiet, and I think I needed that. I needed a place far away from Texas to heal. But I’m ready to go back now. It will take some doing, and time to coordinate it all. It’s mid-summer now, and it may be too late to even go this year.”
She took that in stride. Jeanne stood and came to where Jack sat in the chair. She asked, in a completely proper voice, “Will you kiss me again?”
He stood. “I will kiss you for as long and as often as you like.”
Her lashes fluttered downward and then she looked up at him, her whole heart in her eyes. “I want to be your wife. Not just in name. I want to be your wife in deed as well.”
Jack took a hasty stock of everything that needed to get done before the sun came up and then looked back into her face. He said, “I do believe I’m going to be late getting those chores done.”
Her laughter echoed all the way down the hallway and into his bedroom.
Chapter 6
Jeanne took a long breath then she looked around herself. The ranch house had been sold along with most of the cattle and sheep. To be able to buy an entire ranch, one with cattle and sheep, a good garden all set to give off enough things to feed people through winter, that was a deal many would not pass up.
One of the sons who lived on the ranch a mile away, the one overflowing with people from the family and their various wives and husbands and children, wanted a place of his own for him and his wife. The ranch had been well-built, a testament to Jack’s hard work, and the hard work of his brother and sister-in-law too. The purchase would get them on the train and to Texas where they could buy a nice little piece of land and start again.
Jack had insisted that half the money of the sale, which was a shockingly large sum to her, go to his brother and she had agreed immediately. So all there was to do was pack the few things that they wanted to take with them and go to the train station later that day.
Jack’s arms went around her waist, and she stepped back, letting his body meet hers before turning around to face him. Their lips met and held. That kiss made her breathless, and her heart beat much faster, as it always did when he kissed her.
He broke the kiss off to say, “I meant to ask you if you truly want that sofa?”
She looked at it. “No, if you don’t. Yes, if you do. It doesn’t matter to me either way.”
“I bought it second-hand,” he said, “And it’s pretty uncomfortable. That’s why I always gave you the rocking chair.”
That was so him! She chuckled. “Well, we should leave it then.”
“I agree.” He looked around the parlor, and a smile came upon his face as he saw that she had gathered all of the books down from the shelves and neatly packed them into a small box she intended to put into one of their trunks. “I will admit I will miss our evenings in this parlor.”
“Me too, but I’m sure that we’ll have more evenings in whatever parlor we end up with.”
His arm draped over her shoulders. “I agree again. I really think you’ll love it in Texas. I have a huge family and like I said it’s a very big town, so there’s always something do. They have dances and churches and theatres…”
“Theatres!” Her cry was one of utter joy. “You never told me that before! Could we go?”
He nodded and said, “We’ll make that one of the first things we do when we get there! For now, we need to finish this up I suppose. That train will be along in a few hours, and since I also sold the horses and wagon, and they will be trying to move in as we are trying to leave they have little time to take us to town and come back again before nightfall. I hope you don’t mind, but I said we could be ready in an hour. I thought we could have dinner at the hotel and then catch the train if that’s all right with you.”
She burst into laughter. “It’s fine. I never really got around to unpacking, and you don’t have very much either since you don’t want any of the furniture.” She paused then spoke more softly. “Life’s an adventure, isn’t it? And one can always move away from what and who they were before, if they are brave enough to do it.”
His smile was as wide as hers. “It is and yes.” He kissed her again and then said, “Oh I think that’s them coming now. They’re early.”
She said, “That’s all right. You said we didn’t need the pans or the dishes and that they’d be glad to have them, so I didn’t pack them. All that’s left is the curtains. I feel bad about taking those, but the fabric is so dear, and I’m rather fond of them.”
He helped her take down the curtains and ga
ther the last few things. He ended up in the bedroom alone and taking things from the drawers of the cupboard that he used. His fingers closed on a portrait of Lillian, a small little thing that was pressed into a locket. He held it for a few minutes and then tucked it into a pocket before finishing stowing his things into the last trunk. He tied the trunk shut with a stout rope and stepped out of the room and through the house. He ended up in the back acreage.
He went to a tree and knelt down there. He buried the locket quickly and stood, hat in his hands. He spoke quietly. “I am going to leave you here Lillian because I feel like this is where you wanted to be and I…well my life’s somewhere else now and with someone else too. Thank you for being such a wonderful wife.”
He turned to see Jeanne standing there, looking at him with a questioning look in her eyes. She asked, “Are you sure you want to leave that?”
He nodded. “Lillian’s folks live not far from mine. They have plenty of reminders of her. I don’t need it anymore, and this land was her whole dream and life, it was everything she ever wanted. Though, I never could figure out why.”
Jeanne came to stand next to him. Her body rested against him, and her fingers took his hand. He turned his gaze from the small mound of fresh dirt to Jeanne’s face. Happiness hit him again, sharpening everything around him. Maybe coming to Montana had been something he was supposed to do so he could say goodbye to one love and hello to this one.
They turned away and headed back to the house. It was fast, that leave-taking. It took all of a few minutes to load the trunks and then they were clopping toward town. He and Jeanne sat mostly in silence, staring at the vast and booming space around them, at the deep blue bowl of sky overhead, and at the birds startling up from the high grass as the sound of the wagon’s wheels alerted them to possible danger.
He took their trunks into the station and got their tickets. The porter took their things and said he would keep them safe. Jack knew the man well and trusted him to look after their things. Jack took Jeanne’s hand and guided her across the street toward the hotel.
Brad Nelson appeared. He said, “I hear you’re moving on.”
Jack nodded. “Yup, going back to Texas.”
Brad loosed a low breath and then rubbed the back of his neck. “Me and the missus are talking about moving on too. She’s been missing life back East and to tell you the truth I don’t blame her. We’re thinking of going in the late fall, once we get everything settled up here.”
Jack looked about the small town. He knew in his heart that it was a town that would always be lonely, that it was too isolated and too far north and west for most to ever want to live there, but he also knew that it would always hold a special and dear place in his heart. “Well, I wish you luck and safe travels.”
Nelson nodded, “Same to you.”
Jeanne smiled and said goodbye as they crossed to the hotel to have their dinner. Once inside he found himself saying goodbye over and over. Some thought he was a fool for leaving but some, like Nelson, already had plans to go. As they finally sat and had their food in front of them, he looked up to see Jeanne looking at him closely. He asked, “What is it?”
She said, “If…if I hadn’t agreed to help play that prank that wasn’t a prank, if I had come out here just a bit later. There are so many ifs. Somehow I found my way to you, and I’m so glad.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I know we didn’t meet in the usual way. I am quite sure that when you first saw me beating that buffoon with my parasol your first instinct was to run as fast as you could…”
He choked back laughter. “Maybe not my first…”
“Oh you,” her smile was filled with happiness. “But you didn’t. You stood up for me, and you married me and you know I never thanked you for that, for any of it. So, thank you, and I love you. Not just for rescuing me but for being so wonderful.”
He reached for her hands. Their fingers caught at each others. “I love you too. I think I loved you from the moment I saw you wielding that parasol like it was a gun.”
They smiled at each other, two people, in love and with one adventure behind them, and another ready to begin.
Epilogue
Jeanne stared as she exited the train by the little steps that the porter rushed to set in front of the doors. Jack’s hand was on the small of her back, helping and guiding her as she made her way to the platform. He stepped down and stood beside her. His grin was huge. “What d’ya think?”
Her mouth hung open. Happiness exploded into her. “I love it!”
She did. The town was wide and shining, tall and still growing. There were people everywhere, and the streets were filled with all sorts of things to look at.
A group of people rushed at them, and Jack said, “Well, there’s the family.”
The family. Their family. All of her dreams, the ones she had scarcely dared to dream, were coming true. She had a husband and a family, and she was happier than she had ever imagined she might be.
Jack spoke again, “I was wondering what you’d think of living in town. It seems there is a general store for sale and if we do it just right, we would have just enough money to make it work.”
She threw herself into his arms and said, “Oh Jack, that sounds like something…something so wonderful I don’t even know how to say it! I would love that! We could live in town, right over the store!”
His laughter filled her ears. His arms stayed around her. His family, her new family, came up and it hit her.
They were home.
THE END
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Colorado Cowboy
By Grace Weston
Book Description
Colorado Cowboy
A Western Romance Short Story
A big beautiful bride.
A handsome cowboy.
A cute little girl.
A little white lie…
A little lie never hurt anything, right? That’s what Bridget thought when she filled out her mail order bride application and said she could cook, clean and care for children. She wouldn’t actually need to do any of that anyway. After all, only wealthy men in New York placed ads for mail order brides, right? Wrong.
When she learns that she’s going to a small town in Colorado, she begins to question her decision. This was supposed to be her ticket out of poverty and debt. She’d left her family’s farm long ago, and she didn’t want to go back to one. She appreciated the finer things in life and wanted a husband that would be more than willing to give her those things.
When she arrives, she quickly learns this isn’t the case. Jack is a handsome man, and he does well for himself, but this isn’t the life she wanted. When she learns he has a child, her world is turned upside down. She isn’t ready to be a mother, but she doesn’t really have a choice.
Will Bridget find love in a place she never expected it? Is she really cut out to be a mother?
Chapter 1
It was going to be another rowdy night at the Copper Cellar, Bridget had decided. The men from the docks on the Thames were always excitable--after a hard day’s work, they wanted mutton, beer and whiskey, a good song and a lady at their side. Tonight though, she knew they were extra excitable. The way they leered at her as she bustled about, serving up mugs of warm beer and plates of meat pies. Some of the men were even handsy, much to her chagrin.
“Ah! Watch your hands now, scoundrel,” she retorted with a turn of her head and a quirk of her full lips, batting a weathered hand away.
The man, who smelled of the docks--which was to say he smelled of fish--laughed.
“Sorry love, but inquiring minds want to know.”
“Inquiring minds can shove off,” she said with a wink and a sway of her large, supple hips before hurrying back to the bar.
Bridget Collins was popular at
the Copper Cellar. Everyone said she had good English genes, and few who saw her could deny that she was quite beautiful. She had chestnut brown hair that held a curl cascading from the messy bun piled high on her head. Small, rounded ears framed her round rosy cheeks, and she had a small, slightly upturned nose, that was perfectly straight. She had pink, full lips, shaped like a rosebud. That pink color meant she rarely had to make herself up and that filled other women with envy. She even had big hazel eyes with thick lashes, sharp and bright. When she turned those eyes on a man, he knew she’d throw some sarcastic remark and laugh at his foolishness.
This was all icing on the cake. Her figure was the real seller. She was not a small woman. Bridget had full, wide hips that swayed with every step she took, like a pendulum in a clock. She had strong, thick, plush thighs that the folds of her dress barely disguised as she bustled about the tavern. Her waist narrowed, but only because of the corset she wore and at night, alone in her little room in her nightgown, her belly was full and soft and hung just a little. Finally was her bust, which was legendary amongst the regulars at the Copper Cellar. The collar of her dress always gave the men an eyeful of pale, ample breasts that heaved as she worked and swayed as she moved, just like her hips. It was no secret that they’d drop things just to see her bend over so they could get even more of an eye full.