Elizabeth looked at the clock on the mantle and realized she should be counting the seconds because the children would be home any minute now. “So if my wedding is a very simple one,” she said quickly, “and if I make it plain to the guests that we expect no gifts, would you be amenable to Eli and me getting married the first Saturday of December?”
“Well, certainly, Elizabeth.” Malinda huffed as she reached for her sewing scissors. “You can have your wedding whenever you wish. It is after all a free country, is it not?”
Elizabeth couldn’t remember ever being in a position as socially awkward as this. She loved Malinda and wanted to please her. But she loved Eli more. “So it seems obvious that you would be much happier if Eli and I waited to marry?”
“Spring is a lovely time for a wedding, Elizabeth. And it comes early in this part of the country. Everything is so lush and green by March, and wildflowers would be in bloom.”
“Spring?” Elizabeth took in a deep breath. How could Malinda be so stubborn? But before they could say another word about it, the children came bursting into the house. Suddenly it was time to hear about the happenings at school and to dole out apples for snacks and start preparations for supper. This uncomfortable conversation would have to wait.
Elizabeth had never liked conflict. She tried to avoid disagreements whenever possible, especially with loved ones. For that reason she was tempted to give in to Malinda without a battle. As she checked on a bowl of bread dough that had been rising, she thought perhaps it would be wise to wait until spring to marry. After all, only a year earlier, she felt she’d never be ready to remarry. James had been gone for nearly three years, and her mother had been pushing available bachelors her way, but Elizabeth had felt certain she could never love again.
She gently removed the risen dough, setting it on a floured board. She thought of Eli and how meeting him had changed everything, even if it had taken a while for her to admit to herself that he really was the one. And then she’d felt she’d lost him for good. As she kneaded the warm dough, she considered the freedoms he’d given up just to come back to her. She thought of all he’d done—including giving up his beloved horse—just to hasten their wedding date. And now she had to tell him to wait until spring?
“Goodness, Elizabeth,” Belinda said abruptly. “You look as if you want to beat the living daylights out of that poor lump of dough.”
Elizabeth gave Belinda a sheepish look. “I suppose I was overly exuberant.”
“Are you disturbed about something?”
Elizabeth glanced around and noticed that Malinda wasn’t in the house right now, so she decided to speak freely. After all, Belinda was Will’s older daughter, and she’d grown up in Boston, where social conventions were respected. Perhaps she could test Belinda’s reaction. “The truth is I’m feeling a bit torn about something.”
“What is it?” Belinda asked as she tied on an apron and reached for a paring knife.
Elizabeth quickly told Belinda the good news about her house getting finished sooner than anticipated. “And today Eli encouraged me to pick a wedding date.” She placed the pummeled dough back into the bowl, covering it with the towel. “I don’t want to have a big wedding. Not like Malinda and your father are planning. And I don’t want our guests to bring gifts. But I would like to be married before Christmas so that Eli and the children and I can be settled in our house. So I thought the first Saturday in December might work.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Belinda exclaimed. “Another wedding. What fun!”
“But do you feel that’s unreasonable for your father and Malinda? Just two weeks before their wedding day?”
Belinda pursed her lips as if considering this. “I don’t know…maybe it would be odd if we were back in Boston. But life was different there. When I think of the weddings on the trail…” She laughed. “Well, I’d never seen anything like that before. But I loved it. I love frontier weddings. I hope I have one someday too.”
“From what I’ve observed with Jacob Levine and how he’s always got his eye on you, I’d wager you’ll be planning your own frontier wedding before long.”
Belinda made an embarrassed smile as she looked down at the potato in her hand.
“But there’s no hurry.” Elizabeth set the bowl of dough back over by the fireplace. “Perhaps there is no hurry for Eli and me as well.”
“But Eli is building the house for you and the children. It’s only natural that you’d want to live there with him.” Belinda waved her hand to where Susannah and Emily and Ruth noisily burst into the house. “And it probably won’t be as crowded there.”
Elizabeth smiled. “Not to mention it will be less crowded here if we go.”
Eager to look at something Emily had brought home from school, the giggling girls hurried up to the loft.
“I wonder what your aunt would think about this,” Elizabeth said quietly. When she’d first met Lavinia, she’d been taken aback by the Bostonian woman’s commitment to propriety even though they were on the trail. Of course, it didn’t take long before Lavinia set decorum aside.
Before Belinda could answer, Malinda entered the house. But it was too late for Elizabeth to retract her last question.
“Aunt Lavinia’s so busy with the mercantile and trying to get into their house up above the store. I truly doubt she’d have an opinion one way or another. Besides that, she loves weddings as much as I do.”
“Weddings?” Malinda came over to where they were working. “What are we discussing about weddings?”
“Elizabeth was just telling me that she was feeling conflicted,” Belinda said.
“Conflicted?” Malinda eyed Elizabeth.
“About her wedding date being only two weeks before yours. But surely you don’t mind about that, especially since you’re best friends.” Belinda smiled at her soon-to-be stepmother. “Now I have a beautiful idea!” Belinda set the potato and paring knife down and clapped her hands merrily. “Why don’t you two have a double wedding? Can you imagine how fun that would be?”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” Elizabeth said quickly. She could tell by Malinda’s face that she was not in favor of Belinda’s idea. “I really wanted a small quiet wedding, and Malinda and your father plan to have quite a party out there in the barn.” She looked hopefully at Malinda. “Which I am looking forward to. Besides that, I promised to stand up with you at your wedding. How could I do that if I was getting married at the same time?” She put her hand on Malinda’s shoulder. “And I never properly asked you to stand up with me—I suppose I took it for granted—but I do hope you will.”
Malinda smiled. “Of course I will.”
Elizabeth knew this didn’t mean that Malinda was resolved to the two-week gap between their wedding dates, but it seemed a step in the right direction. Perhaps in a day or two Malinda would become more reasonable. Elizabeth could only hope.
Chapter Nine
By Sunday Elizabeth felt slightly more optimistic. Although the two brides-to-be had not discussed any further wedding plans—they had barely conversed at all—she hoped that was only because Malinda had finally accepted that Elizabeth was immovable on this subject. Either that or Malinda had simply swept the whole thing under the rug for the time being. And with all that was going on in Malinda’s household—her four children, her two soon-to-be step-daughters, and Elizabeth’s own two—it was easy to get sidetracked.
It felt wonderful to sit next to Eli with JT and Ruth on either side of them in church, but Elizabeth once again felt dismayed as the service was ending. She was growing increasingly weary of the negativity of Reverend Holmes’ sermons. If this was simply a season, as her father had suggested, she was ready for it to be over. The short wiry man was so obsessed with hellfire and brimstone that he seemed to have completely forgotten about God’s grace and love and mercy.
She exchanged glances with Flo as they exited the little church building. As usual, Bert was missing, as was Flo’s oldest son. Not only that, but Hugh
Prescott and a few other husbands appeared to be absent as well. Was it possible that the reverend was slowly driving all the men away, or at least the recent settlers? Perhaps the ones who’d been here longer were accustomed to this sort of church service.
Out in the churchyard, where the heavy-leaden skies were almost as gloomy as the faces of the congregation, no one mentioned the content of the sermon. However, Elizabeth could see that people were avoiding Reverend and Mrs. Holmes as the older couple stood near the front steps. Even Mrs. Taylor, who’d once embraced fiery sermons, looked uncomfortable as she hurried away with Mrs. Levine.
“We better load up and head out,” Asa called. “This storm is threatening to break.” He’d brought his wagon, and the plan was for his family to ride with him to his newly built cabin for Sunday dinner. Expecting rain, he’d even put the cover on top of the wagon, and now all of them piled into the back of the wagon and under its shelter. Meanwhile, Malinda and Will and their children would ride over in Will’s wagon. Unfortunately for them, Will hadn’t had Asa’s foresight regarding the weather.
Ruth rode up front with her grandparents, but the rest of them sat in the back, where Matthew had placed layers of fir boughs and covered them with a quilt. He’d done it for Jessica’s sake, but the rest of them enjoyed the unexpected comfort.
“I don’t like going to church anymore,” JT said quietly to Elizabeth.
She frowned, knowing she should probably reprimand him for speaking with disrespect. And yet in all fairness, how could she?
“I don’t like going either,” Matthew told JT.
JT’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
Matthew just nodded.
“Truth be told, I’m not enjoying it too much either,” Eli confessed. “I found myself wishing I was back at the cabin, fitting in the floorboards.”
“Floorboards?” Elizabeth was surprised. “You mean we’re going to have a real floor? Not just packed dirt?”
He grinned. “That’s right.”
“Back to church,” Matthew said in a serious tone. “I don’t know how much longer I can endure being hammered on by Reverend Holmes.”
“Why does he hate us so much?” JT asked.
“He doesn’t hate us,” Elizabeth told him. “He just thinks it’s his job to keep us from going to—well, from straying from the fold.”
“Well, if loud preaching could prevent someone from going astray, we’d all be safe from the fire and brimstone,” Matthew said. “But that’s not the gospel I believe in.”
“That’s not how Grandpa preaches,” JT added.
Elizabeth peeked ahead to see if her parents were listening, but she discovered they were having a conversation with Ruth about what they would be doing for Thanksgiving, which was still a couple of weeks away.
“Is Reverend Holmes going to officiate your wedding ceremony?” Jess asked Elizabeth and Eli. They exchanged glances, but neither of them answered.
“That’ll be one strange wedding if he does,” Matthew teased Elizabeth. “I don’t want to miss it.”
“Maybe that’s why Malinda wants to have her wedding in her barn,” Elizabeth mused.
“Well, couldn’t you have your wedding in her barn too?” JT suggested.
“I don’t know…I think it might be better to have it in the church.” She looked at Eli. “Unless you have other ideas?”
“You tell me when and where and I’ll be there,” he told her.
Elizabeth didn’t want to mention the friction going on between her and Malinda, but she felt certain it would not improve the situation if Elizabeth wanted to have her wedding in Malinda’s barn. It truly did not seem like an option.
“Do you think our house would be big enough to hold a wedding?” she asked Eli.
“Depends on how many folks are coming.”
“Mother was making a guest list,” Elizabeth told him. “And I suspect she’s already invited a few people, like Lavinia and Flo and Mrs. Taylor. But she didn’t want anyone to feel left out, and last I heard she thought there would be close to fifty people attending.”
“That would be mighty cozy in your house,” Matthew told Eli. “Unless you didn’t have the bedroom walled off and if you didn’t have any furnishing in place. Even then it might be tight.”
“The barn would be much better,” JT tried again.
She smiled at him. “Yes, I agree. But I don’t want to burden Malinda with hosting our wedding just two weeks before hers. I don’t think she’d appreciate that.”
“Then it looks like we’ll be getting married at the church,” Eli declared. “Makes no matter to me, as long as we’re married.”
“But I’d like for it to be a pleasant wedding,” Elizabeth said sadly.
“With no yelling,” JT added.
“I wish Asa could perform the ceremony,” Eli said wistfully.
“Now, there’s an idea.” Matthew pointed at Elizabeth. “Maybe you should go and have a little talk with the reverend. Explain what kind of ceremony you want, and if he’s unable to give it to you, ask him if Pa can do it.”
Elizabeth nodded eagerly. “Yes! That is exactly what I’m going to do.”
“You’re a braver woman than I am,” Jess teased.
Elizabeth frowned. “Yes, well, maybe I’ll invite Mother to go with me.”
They all laughed.
Soon they were unloading at her parents’ house. “Why is the tent up?” Elizabeth asked her mother as Brady came out to help Asa with the team and the wagon. “I thought you were all moved into your house by now.”
“Asa worried it might be overly crowded in the house, what with all the children and all,” Clara explained as the women hurried through the rain to the little cabin. “With Malinda and Will’s children, there will be nearly twenty of us.” Clara opened the door.
“Oh, Mother, look at how nice it is in here! You’ve been working hard.” Elizabeth went around admiring familiar pieces and shelves and curtains that had been put up since she’d last been here. “Home sweet home.”
“Matthew and I just moved into our house this week,” Jess told her as they hung their wet coats by the door. “We won’t have a party like this, but I’d love to have you come by and visit as soon as we’re all settled in. Maybe some sunny day when the children are in school, you and Clara could come for lunch.”
“That sounds lovely.”
It was fun being in a kitchen with her mother again. Certainly it was nothing like the kitchen she’d left behind in Kentucky, but it was a great improvement over the way they cooked meals on the Oregon Trail. Before long, the men came in along with Malinda and Will and all the children. As Asa had predicted, it was very crowded in the small cabin, and it wasn’t long before some of the children opted to go out to the tent to play. But it was plain to see that both Asa and Clara were proud of the house they had built. And in some ways it seemed nothing short of miraculous to Elizabeth.
“God has been good to us,” Asa said as they all gathered around for a blessing before the dinner, which would be served buffet style. “For that we are grateful.” Then they bowed their heads and prayed. As her father said amen, Elizabeth wished more than anything that he might be allowed to perform her wedding ceremony in December.
After the dinner and a spell of friendly visiting, the sun came out, and it seemed a good time to load up the wagons again. But Elizabeth insisted on staying behind to help her mother clean up, and JT and Ruth went with Eli to see the progress on the house. By the time they returned—with both JT and Ruth suitably impressed with what would become their home in a few weeks—Elizabeth and Clara were just finishing up.
“I’m envious,” Elizabeth told Eli. “I haven’t seen the house in days.”
“Come on.” He grabbed her hand. “Let’s go see it together.”
Asa winked at her. “Off with you. I’ll challenge JT to a game of checkers.”
“And I’ll show Ruth my plans for the wedding dresses.”
“Dresses?” Elizabeth lo
oked curiously at her mother.
“One for you and one for Ruthie.” Clara grinned. “Didn’t I tell you?”
Elizabeth laughed. “No, you did not.”
“I get a wedding dress too?” Ruth’s eyes grew big.
“Come on,” Eli said again. “Let’s go while the weather is holding.”
It was delightful to be alone with Eli again. It seemed their opportunities were few and far between these days. They had probably spent more time alone together while traveling than since they arrived. He took her hand in his, and they walked blissfully through the cool damp meadow between the two properties. “There’s already a path wearing through here,” Elizabeth noticed. “That’s nice.”
“It’ll be broken in nicely and I expect it’ll be traveled even more regularly once we’re all moved in.”
“I can hardly wait.”
Eli paused in the meadow, and pulling her near, he leaned down and kissed her. “I’ve been wanting to do this for days now,” he declared.
She nodded dreamily. “Me too.”
They stayed there for a bit, just enjoying each other, and then Eli frowned up at the dark clouds that were rolling in again. “We better hurry if we don’t want to get soaked.”
Elizabeth grabbed up the skirt of her Sunday dress, and letting out a whoop, she broke out into a full run. Eli laughed as he hurried to catch her. But they barely reached the house when the sky opened up.
“Come on,” he said as he pulled her through the open doorway. “Part of the roof is up on the north side. We can hunker down there and stay dry until this passes.”
They went to the back of the house where several stumps were doubling as stools and sat down. “The floor is wonderful,” she told him, tapping her toes on the solid board beneath her feet.
“I could easily have the floor done by midweek.” He peered up to where the open part of the roof was letting in the rain now. “But I reckon I should make the roof a priority. Your dad and Brady have been making cedar shingles, but when I ran out yesterday, I decided to go to work on the floor instead.”
“Well, it’s just lovely, Eli. Everything about this house is perfect.”
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