This last check of the year will go to paying for new saddles for all of his cowboys, and something nice for himself too. Maybe it would be the new Winchester Model 1886 rifle or maybe he would buy a new hat and spurs. Each of these things serves a specific purpose, and Junior can use each one of them. He, however, believes that just because he can afford to buy each of these, he shouldn’t waste his money or be foolish with it.
And so, Junior is standing on the platform of the train station in Coleman, watching the train steadily approach knowing that it brings with it an increase to his wealth and notoriety in Atoka. He does not know, however, just how much his notoriety will increase when this train pulls into the station.
Chapter 2
The Advertisement
Ruth Stafford is sitting in her seat looking out the window of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad car that she is currently occupying. She has no idea what he looks like, what kind of man he is, or what he does to support himself. She does know, however, that she did not expect to be sent for so quickly. After all, she had only taken out the ad three months ago, and was included in only one issue. She does not know if it is common to be called for this quickly or not, but she does know that she does not care. She would have done anything to get out of Atlanta, and boarding a train for the middle of nowhere in Texas seemed to be as good an idea as any.
So she took out the advertisement, and waited just eight short weeks for a response. All he had told her in his letter was that he was tall, and lived well enough. Church on Sunday and he worked the other six days of the week. He said that he helps with the occasional barn raising, and really doesn’t like to drink very often. Other than those few pieces of information, he hadn’t said much, so she really didn’t know how she was going to find him. He had said that he would be waiting on the platform at the Coleman Station… wherever Coleman, Texas is.
Being from Charleston, South Carolina, she had never known anything about the world except to know that the plantation where her daddy worked as a sharecropper was very, very large.
As the youngest child of Timothy and Saralee Edwards, she had enjoyed the protection of her five older brothers and six older sisters. Her daddy had served in the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Generals Bragg and Johnston, surrendering at Bennett Place with the rest of the Army.
After the war, he had struggled to make ends meet. That didn’t stop him from seeking companionship, and so married his third wife, Ruth’s momma, and three years after he received his parole for having served in the army, Saralee gave birth to their second daughter together, Ruth.
Saralee died two months later from pneumonia, and Timothy and his oldest three sons found work as sharecroppers to support the rest of the family. Now, all of Ruth’s sisters have married off, but she has yet to find a suitor that will propose. And this was why she took out the advertisement.
Thinking all of this over as the train puffs into the station, she wonders if she has finally found a husband in Robert Parker Jr.
Chapter 3
The First Meeting
Junior watches as the train brakes and comes to a stop. Walking slowly across the platform to the car marked “US MAIL,” Junior has determined that it simply is not wise to waste money on rifles and spurs. After all, his daddy’s old carbine works just fine, and while his hat may be worn thin, it doesn’t have any holes in it. It would be much wise to continue living the frugal life that he’s been living, and continue increasing his personal wealth.
Sure, he could retire right now and live on his savings if he wanted to. The problem is, though, he has been a cowboy for so long that he doesn’t know how to sit still. He knows that without a family at home, he would have nothing to do if he sold the rest of his cattle and just stayed home.
Junior has always wanted a family, but having gone from penniless only child of a dead Confederate officer to the single wealthiest man in Coleman County in less than ten years has as many disadvantages as perks.
With a net worth of well over $1 million, and most of it held as bullion in a large fire-proof safe in his cellar, every woman in Atoka, Coleman, Fisk, Montvale, Novice, Santa Anna, Trickham, and Voss knows that he is wealthy. Even though he lives very modestly despite his wealth, it’s nearly impossible to hide the fact that he has been moving thousands of cattle each year, for over twenty years. Plus, his taxable estate can easily be checked at the courthouse.
Sure, many women in Coleman County would be his for the asking, but he can’t dismiss his fear that they only want him because of his wealth. And the simple fact is this: without a wife, you can’t have any children.
Junior gets his piece of mail from the gentleman who is handing out the various envelopes, says thank you, and turns to walk away when a voice stops him.
“Junior!”
“Yeah?” He answers, turning around to see who was calling him.
“Junior, your first name is Robert, ain’t it?” asks Big Dave, another rancher. Dave has a large operation in Voss… although nothing compared to what Junior runs. Dave is lucky to make in five years what Junior makes in one.
“Yeah, it is. But I haven’t gone by ‘Robert’ since I was a boy in school. Why you askin’?”
“Well, this little lady here was asking me about Robert Parker Jr.,” Big Dave said, indicating Ruth standing beside him. “I told her that I know a Junior Parker, but I couldn’t remember if that’s your name or not.” Turning to Ruth, Dave said, “Well little lady, here’s yo’ man. I’d best be getting back to the ranch. Junior… ma’am,” he finished, tipping his hat to each.
After waiving at Dave’s retreating frame, Junior turns to Ruth and says, “Well, darling. I’m Robert Parker Jr. How can I help you?”
“I’m Ruth Stafford, Mr. Parker,” she answered, and silence ensued. After one awkward moment, Junior answered,
“Okay?”
“Ruth Stafford? From Charleston? In South Carolina? You responded to my ad in the San Antonio Star, and we’ve corresponded for over a month!” Upon seeing the blank look upon Junior’s face, Ruth realizes that she has become the victim of some scam. “You are Robert Parker Jr.?”
“Yes, I am… but I don’t even read the Star, much less answer ads. What kind of ad did you think I had answered?”
Feeling foolish, and realizing that she had been on the receiving end of some kind of cruel joke, Ruth sheepishly answered, “a personal ad.”
“Well of course it was personal,” Robert answers. “You are a person, and it’s your ad. But what was the ad for? I may be interested in whatever you’re selling.”
“No!” she said, growing more irritated with herself, and becoming frustrated with the turn of events. “I’m not trying to sell anything! I’m looking for a husband!”
“Looking for a husband?” Junior answered, realizing that he may have just discovered a positive outcome for this situation. “What did I say in my letters?”
“Obviously nothing, if you didn’t send them!”
“No ma’am, what I mean is, what did the letters—the ones that you thought were from me—say?”
“Well, they said that you are a cattle rancher, and that you’ve been living alone for many years, and have always wanted to settle down, but could not find the right woman.”
“Did they say anything else? Anything at all?”
“Only that you thought that I am pretty, and would meet me on this platform today, at this time. It included the money for the train ticket, and information about what trains to take to get here at this time,” she answered. “Oh yeah, and they said that you are tall.”
“And that’s all?”
“Yes, sir. And now I find out that you didn’t actually send for me, and have never seen my picture. You probably just want me to go back, but I have no money for tickets.”
“Well, if you decide that you want to go back, I’ll gladly pay your way,” Junior answered her, appraising the situation. “Truth is, I am not married, and never have been, but I have my own re
asons for that, that in time I may discuss with you, but not yet, and not at this time. I have often wondered if I am the marryin’ kind, and I would be willin’ ta give this a try, if you too are willin.’ What d’you say?”
Ruth takes a moment to appraise the situation before answering him. True, she had come here looking for a husband. True, too, the man she came to marry was standing before her, unmarried. However, it did bother her very much that he did not know about the ad, and that he had not sent for her.
All this time, she had thought that he had responded to the ad because he thought that she was pretty, as she had included a picture in the ad. And to be perfectly honest, she did not expect a man that is more than 20 years her senior. He is a cattle rancher, but had hoped for a husband that was closer to her age. Furthermore, he has never been married, and doesn’t know how to be married… but then again, neither does she.
“Well,” Junior says, interrupting her reverie. “What’ll it be? Do you want to come home with me, and see what happens, or should I buy you a ticket back to Charleston?”
“I think… I think that I’ll stay. I took the ad because I was looking for a husband after all, and here you are.”
“Exactly, here I am,” Junior says, bending over to pick up her bags and starting toward the steps leading down from the platform.
Chapter 4
Joy Ride
“Well, Miss Ruth, this is the biggest town in the county, Coleman. Being from Charleston, what do you think?” Junior asks after borrowing a mule to carry her bags, and chestnut colored filly for her to ride.
“Well, it’s much smaller than Charleston, but definitely more attractive,” Ruth answers. I think that I can see myself living here.”
“Well, I don’t live here. I live outside Atoka, northwest of here by a few miles. I only came down here today to meet the mail train. I come down here every so often to hire some more boys, but that’s always at the beginning of the driving season.”
“So you are a rancher?”
“Yes. I have a pretty modest operation ‘bout a mile west of town. It’s not the biggest one around, but I get by.” This of course was not strictly true. There was only one ranch in Coleman or the surrounding counties that was bigger than his own, down outside Brady in McCulloch County, and even that ranch didn’t move as much cattle as Junior’s.
“So what do you do between drives?” Ruth asks. She had done some research before setting out, and knew that Coleman County was very near to the Dodge City Trail, and that Junior likely followed this trail to send his cattle east.
Well, I don’t do much. I keep a garden to feed myself, I brand calves, and I go to church. I’ve never been the kind to go to the saloon, or give in to too much drink. I’ll usually pay my guys a bonus if I’ve had a really good year, and they’ll go to Coleman and stick it to any woman that’ll let ‘em, but I’ve never been one to do that. I try to go to church most every week, and that’s about it.”
“Okay. So you’ve never been one to sleep around, and you go to church, and work. That’s all?”
“That’s me in a pecan shell.”
“Well, that’s good to hear.”
“Like I told you back at the station, I work so much that I don’t have time for much else.”
“Have you ever thought that that could be why you’ve never married?”
“Yeah, it prob’ly didn’t help matters none. Here, let me help you up,” Junior says, proffering his hand to assist her onto the horse’s back. After she was safely straddled on the pony’s back, Junior swung himself onto his own stallion’s back. “Ruth, I hope you don’t mind, but I need to stop by the bank to handle some business before we leave Coleman. We don’t have one in Atoka, but I need to get this done today. Is that alright with you?”
“That there isn’t a branch in Atoka, or that you need to stop?” she asked sarcastically, smiling at him.
“Both,” he said, returning her smile somewhat awkwardly as they set off to the bank that is on the road as travelers are leaving Coleman, going toward Atoka. When they stopped, Ruth dismounted her filly and fed it some handfuls of grass.
Well, he is nice enough she thought to herself. But he is so much older than I! Sure, he looks nice enough too, but will I be able to marry a man that is twice my age? I mean, he seems patient, and he isn’t given over to drink, but… I just don’t know.
She stayed dismounted the entire time that Junior was in the bank, thinking this whole situation over. When he came out, he offered his hand to assist her back on the horse’s back again, but this time, she refused.
“Can you show me how to mount by myself?”
Bemused, Junior responds, “Of course,” and proceeds to mount his stallion with ease, placing his right foot in the stirrup and quickly swinging his left over the horse's back.
“See? Nothin’ to it. Now you try.”
Ruth placed her left foot in the stirrup, and even though she tried to swing her right leg over the horse's back, she could not because of the skirt that she wore. Immediately seeing the cause of the problem, Junior dismounted, and shortened the stirrups on Ruth’s animal, and advised that she try again. This time, when Ruth swung her leg up and over the filly’s back, she was able to do so with relative ease.
“Not bad for a city girl,” Junior said, with his eyebrow raised under his hat and a smile on his face. Together, they turned and rode, leading the mule that was carrying her bags down the road to Atoka, and home.
Chapter 5
Compare and Contrast
The first week that Ruth lived with Junior was eventful to say the least. She was unlike any woman that Junior had ever met, and he was unsure how to relate to her. The two of them sat and spoke about their comparative histories. Junior spoke of growing up without a mother, and how his father had been a career cavalry soldier with West Point credentials, and received multiple citations in Mexico. He also shared how Bob was killed by the Yankees during the War for Southern Independence at Lookout Mountain.
Ruth’s father, of course, had been in the Southern Army of Tennessee, and as such was involved in the fighting around Chattanooga as well, albeit in the Infantry. This was one of the few ways they found that they were similar.
Junior was a cattle rancher whose childhood had been spent in Atlanta and Missouri, before moving to Texas on his daddy’s ranch. Ruth, on the other hand, was born and raised in South Carolina, where many were still bitter over the defeat at the hands of the Northern invaders. She came from a much poorer background than did Junior, as her daddy had been a sharecropper, while his father had a much more steady form of income, being a career military man. Junior was his daddy’s only child to survive childbirth, while Ruth was the youngest of 12 children.
She is brash and no less willing to speak her mind when upset than a rattlesnake is to bite when provoked. As a matter of fact, that first week demonstrated this simple fact when one of Junior’s ranch hands made an uncalled for remark regarding Ruth’s body type.
Needless to say, the rattlesnake’s venom cannot compare to the withering remarks Ruth made regarding the unsuspecting cowboy’s manhood… or lack thereof. Junior has always been a very mild mannered man, and while he is unafraid to stand and fight if the need arises, he has always been the kind to search for a more diplomatic solution first, while Ruth’s attitude is more akin to a “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality.
Another striking difference between the two is obvious… their age. Junior is already passed forty, while Ruth is still nineteen. Junior is smitten with the beautiful young woman almost immediately, and is certain by the end of the first week of her company that she is the woman he has been waiting to meet for so many years.
She stands about five foot six, possesses long, wavy brown hair, and piercing hazel eyes that seem to flash when her temper flares. Additionally, despite the long dresses and exceedingly modest dress of the age, Ruth is unable to hide that she has a ravishing figure, including large breasts, narrow waist, and attr
active thighs and legs.
While he is by no means unattractive, Junior bears all the marks of a man who has spent his life working. He bears few of the marks of aging, as his active lifestyle has kept any unnecessary weight from his frame, whilst also building his muscular body into something men half his age would envy. He does have scars that have come from his years of riding the range and driving the half-crazy longhorn, and from numerous encounters with the Indians who have either attempted to raid his ranch or have attacked while on a drive.
On one particularly memorable occasion three years previously, he took an arrow to the face while he was bellowing orders to his men in the Indian Territory. The arrow pierced his left cheek, went through his open mouth, and out his right cheek. One of his boys shot the Indian immediately. He then broke the head off the arrow, allowing Junior to pull it through, leaving behind minimal scarring. It did, however, make it harder for Junior to eat or drink until the wounds had completely healed.
ROMANCE: Badass Boss (Billionaire Alpha Bad Boy Romance) (Western Mail Order Bride Calendar Contemporary) Page 50