by Cia Leah
She had just finished cutting out the kitchen curtains and had them ready to sew when she heard someone yell from outside. She ran to the door and saw a heavyset woman climbing down off a buckboard. She ran over to help her. “Hello,” Callie said, wondering whom her caller was.
“Why Clint married a pretty little girl! I’m so happy about that. I just had to come over and welcome you!”
“Thank you, Ma’am,” Callie smiled.
“Oh pshaw! My name’s Gertrude Hinkens. Just call me Gertie! Everyone does.”
“I’m Callie.”
“Nice to meet you, Callie. I got wedding gifts here for you.”
“Oh my goodness! I don’t know what to say!”
“A simple thank you and invite me in so we can talk. There aren’t many women folks out this way and I am happy to have someone to talk to besides men folk. I’m the rancher’s wife where Clint is breaking horses today. I just had to come over when he told me he got hitched yesterday.”
Callie watched her pick up a small basket and another larger one. She walked to the door and held it open for her. “Let me get my material off the table and we can have cake and coffee.”
“That sounds good. I never turn down food, as you can tell.”
“I love to eat too.”
“Well I wish I could keep a figure like you got and eat all I want!”
“I expect I’ll fill out more when I get older too. Nothing wrong with that,” Callie said as Gertie pulled out a chair and sat down and waited for her to put the material away. When she set two cups of coffee on the table and two generous slices of cake, Gertie set one of the baskets on the table.
“I brought you some of my canned peaches, jellies, and tomatoes. Thought you might like that.”
“Oh how nice! Callie lifted the lid and took the jars out. “My goodness, you brought a lot. I don’t know how to make a garden yet.”
“I’ll teach you all you need to know. I plan on coming over a lot if you don’t mind and I want you to come over to out place too. I have something else for you here, too.” She lifted the basked off the floor and handed it to her.
Callie lifted the lid on the basket and gasped. “Oh my gosh, it’s a puppy!”
“I thought you would like it and he’s young enough that you can train him. It’s good to have a dog out here. They make good friends too.”
Callie picked up the little puppy and fell in love at first site. It was white and black and its fur was so soft. “What kind is it?”
“It’s a mutt, but its ma is one fine dog and so is its pa. You’ll have to give her a name.”
Callie hugged the shivering little puppy to her breast and laughed when it licked her chin. “How old is it?”
“Six weeks and never been away from its ma yet, so it’ll be scared until it gets to know you. Give it warm milk a couple times a day and some meat and it'll grow like a weed. Don’t forget water too.”
“I’ve never owned a puppy! Thank you so much for everything!”
“You’re welcome. Now let’s eat our cake and drink our coffee. You might want to get an old rag and put it by the fireplace where he can stay warm. He might have a few accidents, but you can teach him to go outside.”
Callie ran to her bedroom and took out her old buckskin shirt, brought it back and laid it down in front of the fireplace, and laid the puppy down on it. He curled up and fell asleep. She went and sat back down at the table. “I can’t believe that my life is so good.”
“Well, we will all try and make it that way. I’ll also pick you up on Sunday morning and we can go to church together. I’ll introduce you around. My man and Clint too don’t like going to town, so we girls have to stick together.”
Callie got up and re-filled their coffee cups. “You know Clint well?”
“He and my husband, Hank, has been friends for a long time.”
Callie sipped at her coffee, wondering if she should ask Gertie about Clint and what was expected of a wife in the marriage bed and just the thought made her want to blush.
“The way you’re blushing there, Callie girl, you must be remembering your weddin’ night.”
“Not exactly. I wish my Uncle Ned would have been able to tell me what to expect, but he wasn’t a man for such things and I never had anyone I could talk to.”
“No, Ned was mighty closed mouthed.”
Callie’s head shot up. “You know my Uncle Ned?”
“Well, yes, we did. He was a nice man.”
“You talk like he ain’t here anymore. Well, he isn’t here, but back home.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean anything about it, but Hank, Clint, and some of our workers all knew Ned way back in our younger days. Of course, Clint was just a kid and still green behind the ears in those days.”
Callie laughed. “I can’t imagine Clint being green behind the ears. He’s about the nicest man I’ve met beside Uncle Ned and my Pa. He’s good to me, which is why I am worried about not being a true wife to him.”
“Your wedding night wasn’t like you expected? I’m sure it’s because you are a virgin dear, and it’s not as good the first time. You probably had pain.”
“Oh no! We didn’t… I mean we didn’t sleep together last night.” She felt her face flush at the thought.
“Oh dear. Clint looked as happy as could be when he told us about your weddin’, so I thought…”
Callie squared her shoulders and thought she might as well blurt out the truth, for she wouldn’t have a chance to talk to any other lady about it and she liked Gertie. “I don’t know what’s expected of me in the marriage bed. I mean I know how animals mate and where babies come from, but I don’t know anything beyond that.”
“Do you love Clint?”
“I haven’t known him long enough to love him, I don’t think, but he’s handsome, kind, and helpful. I like him a lot.”
“Well there’s more marriages out there based on less. Let’s just have a little chat and I’ll tell you all you need to know.”
Callie leaned forward as Gertie began explaining things to her. Her eyes about bulged out of their sockets at some of the things she said. For goodness sakes, she didn’t know if she could do all the things she was talkin’ about, but just thinking of Clint and what she said made her feel all warm inside. Feelings swamped her in places she never knew could feel like that and by the time she waved at Gertie as she left, Callie’s thought her face would never loose the blush on it. She just couldn’t imagine.
Chapter Five
Callie had supper ready and put it on the table when she heard Clint ride in. The puppy was fed and sleeping by the fireplace, and she was ready for bed. She just hoped he noticed she was wearing the pretty short nightgown with lace he had gotten her besides the long one. She had thought it pretty when he’d bought it.
Now, as she waited for him to come inside, she felt as flighty as a chicken trying to escape the axe on the butcher block. Her hands were sweaty and her heart fluttered. She could scarcely suck in a breath when the door opened and Clint walked in. She laughed when the puppy barked, then fell back asleep. “He’s cute, isn’t he?”
“Sure is. Gertie said she was gonna bring you one of the litter over and some wedding gifts. Did you have a nice visit?”
She watched him hang up his hat and gun belt, and move to the sink to wash up. “I like her and we had a grand time. I even made some homemade bread after she left to go with the jam she brought over.”
“Sounds good and I’m starved.”
She noticed how he limped to the chair and sat down on the other side of him. “The horses hard to break? You didn’t get hurt, did you?”
“Nah, just got thrown a few times. Oh, and your chickens are in crates out in the barn. We can put them in the coop in the morning. I gave them some feed to last them through the night.”
“That’s great. Let me say grace and we can eat. After she did, she watched him dig into his food. She kept quiet and ate her meal, knowing he was hungry after a long day i
n the saddle. She kept glancing at him through lowered lashes wondering what it would feel like to have his lips on hers. She could just imagine his arms holding her tight against him. She almost chocked on a carrot at the thought and blushed when he glanced at her.
“You okay? Go down the wrong way?”
“Yeah,” she said, feeling her breasts peak against her nightgown. Goodness, she would about die if he saw them through the thin material. She ate slowly and when she saw him push his plate away and get up and get coffee, she pushed her plate away too. “Do you want a slice of cake or bread with jelly?”
“Not tonight. I’m dead tired, but you go ahead if you want.”
She got up and cleared the table when Clint walked over to her and took her hand. She looked at him. “What’s wrong?”
“I got a letter from that school teacher in your town. She put it in my name since Ned told her to. Come and sit down in front of the fire and I’ll read it to you.”
Callie walked over and sat down and Clint came over and knelt down in front of her. “Is something wrong with Uncle Ned?”
“I hate to tell you this, Callie, but Ned died. He died two days after you left.”
“No!” Callie shot up out of her chair almost knocking Clint over as she rushed to the door and ran outside. She looked up at the moon and stars and the tears began to flow freely down her face. When Clint’s arms slipped around her, she turned and buried her face in his chest, holding him tight. “I should have stayed no matter what he said! He wouldn’t have died then!”
“No, Callie. He knew he was dying. That’s why he sent you here to me. He didn’t want you to be alone and he wanted to meet his maker with peace in his heart that you were taken care of.”
She felt like her heart was broken. She’d lost so many in her life and now she had no one. “I can’t bear it. I’m all alone.”
“You have me.”
Callie swiped at the tears and looked up at him. She saw pain in his face and knew it was hard for him to tell her. His heart was kind. “But Uncle Ned loved me. He was the only one I had left that truly loved me.”
“I love you, Callie.”
“What?”
“I fell in love with you the day when I saw you climb up on top of the stage and start shooting at me. I didn’t know you were my intended then, but when I found out you were, I knew I’d found the girl of my heart and that old Ned, the old coot, knew it too.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“But you haven’t even kissed me yet. How do you know you love me?”
“I’ll kiss you now if that will help.”
Callie’s heart somersaulted when he lowered his head and his lips captured hers in a sweet, searching kiss. She tentatively kissed him back and felt his arms tighten around her. He was so warm and she was so cold. Her heart ached at loosing her beloved uncle, but Clint’s kiss and touch told her she had a new life to explore, and a love that would last a lifetime. She broke the kiss and looked into his eyes. “Clint?”
“Yeah, Callie.”
“Are you sure I’m what you want? I don’t know much about what goes on in the marriage bed, except for what Gertie told me, but I don’t want to sleep alone tonight or ever more. I want to be held and loved and to make you happy. I don’t ever want you to leave me.”
“I promise I won’t leave you and to show you, I’m going to carry you over the threshold like I should have done yesterday, take you to my bed, and make sweet love to you. Then I’m going to hold you tight tonight and every night for the rest of our lives.”
Callie felt the tears slide down her cheeks once again as he picked her up and done just that. When he laid her on his bed, she didn’t mistake the look of love and desire on his face and her heart soared with the love he made her feel. As he sat down on the bed beside her and took her hand, she couldn’t help asking him one question. “Do you think we could name our firstborn son, Ned?”
“I think that would be an honor.”
Callie threw herself in his arms and hugged him tight. “I love you, Clint.”
“I love you too, Callie.”
She held on to him tightly as he lowered her to the bed and kissed her, easing the hurt, making promises for the future, and a life filled with love.
The End