“He wasn’t coming after Jack. He was coming after you, right?” asked Hattie. “So he tried that once with me. Only he was more successful you might say. Jack was his friend. I think somewhere Jack thought there was more too my protesting the whole situation. Didn’t want to believe his friend was like that. Well he had been my friend too. After it happened, there was no place for me to go. Jack made a place for me.”
“Why on earth would he have a man like that perform our service” asked Katherine.
“I guess he wanted to marry you,” said Hattie. “If I don’t come back, you’ll know they didn’t believe me.”
Hattie’s parting words made Katherine realize she was in a grave situation. She was faced with the prospect of being alone on the farm. She could be widowed and alone on the same day. But Katherine did as she was told. She kept her husband awake. She looked into his eyes that were on the cusp of closing and drifting off to sleep.
She reached down into the flap of his pajamas and strummed his belly. Jack smiled. She kissed him and otherwise pestered him, with chatter and touches. Hattie was right, he did revive some. And when she heard the team pulling in, she was revived. They had believed Hattie. She had returned with the Marshall and the doctor. A trickle of hope cracked Katherine’s worry that maybe she was going to be able to keep her happy ending after all.
Epilogue
Katherine Clearwater sat on the bank of the creek that ran through the property she and her husband shared. The shoals were sandy and they were shaded by the few trees that were around. She held a fishing pole that Hattie made for her. Her handsome husband Jack held her. He had gotten a nasty knock on the head by the man who would be his friend, but he was none the worse for wear. His big branch of arms wrapped around her as he pretended to teach her to fish.
“Here,” he said. “Hold it like this,” he said sensually.
She giggled. “I don’t think we’re going to catch anything this way.”
“You don’t?” he said.
He nuzzled the side of her neck.
“Mm,” he said. “I think I got me a bite.”
He released his hold on the pole, making her to hold steady as his hands roamed her. He cupped her plump breast and gave it a playful squeeze. Tingles washed throughout her. She ached for him all over again.
Their flirtation was interrupted when Katherine felt a tug on her line.
“Ohh,” she squealed.
She was really excited to catch her first fish. Their moment was so sweet Jack decided they shouldn’t move. He directed Katherine to gather rocks. They made a makeshift fire pit and camped. They ate the two fish that Katherine caught.
They spread out the blanket that they had brought with them and slept entwined, under the stars all night long.
Hattie and Katherine both having painful pasts, became like sisters. Their friendship lasted their entire lifetime.
The End
Winds of Hope
A Mail Order Bride Historical Romance
By
Brittany Dreams
Copyright 2017 by Brittany Dreams
Introduction
Getting married is the last thing that hen-pecked Esperanza Miller wants to do. But her bitter mother Myrtle never lets her forget, she is too plump –and at twenty-five – too old to land a husband. Myrtle decides to make it happen herself and forces Esperanza on the matrimonial auction block. It is the nicest thing her awful mother ever did for her.
Chapter One
The ribbons of the corset could not pull any tighter, but her mother was bound and determined to find a way. She was going to squeeze her natural curves into unnatural ones.
“Mama, he already proposed. Not sure why you are going to the fuss for?” said Perri.
That was the wrong thing to say. There was no love lost between her mother and her. It seemed Myrtle Miller was angry with her daughter from the day she was born. She was angry her husband liked Perri more than and she was even bitter when Perri managed to be a little on the plump side, even though she yelled at Perri for not eating every bite.
Myrtle Miller made her daughter so skittish that she was way too nervous to attract a suitor. It was an apparent terminal embarrassment that Myrtle had a twenty-five year old unmarried daughter. She put an advertisement in the Matrimonial News and married her daughter off.
At first Perri refused. But Myrtle berated her until her daughter came round to her way of thinking. Myrtle did all the negotiating and letter writing. The bride was to be sent passage for both of them to come join him in Dodge City, where his ranch was settled.
It was not the best travel to endure with a backside full of bruises. The stage to Dodge was so rough, Perri didn’t get a wink of sleep. Fortunately her mother was there to let her know how awful she looked.
“Fix your hair,” Myrtle snapped as the coach pulled up to park. “You look like a loony.”
Perri smoothed and smoothed until she gave up. She pulled the pins from the tangle and let it fall loose. When she stepped out of the coach to accept the hand of the gigantic rugged man who would hopefully father her children, her hair fell in silken drapes.
She looked up to meet his gaze, their faces but a breath a part, she was satisfied by the look in his eye. He liked what he saw. Her mother be damned. This man’s very presence stirred her to the core. She was all tingling and entranced.
“Mr. Jackson, I presume?” said Myrtle with an icky smile on her face.
Wyatt Jackson was a steer of a man. He reminded Perri of the burly Kansas cattle he no doubt ranched. He tipped his hat to her mother.
“How do?” he said politely to Myrtle quickly.
He flashed a full set of even, white teeth and a pair of dimples. Perri was in heaven. She crushed on him immediately. Then he turned to Perri and his tone was decidedly dreamier.
“And you must be Esperanza,” he said, removing his cowboy hat with a sweeping bow.
“Please call me Perri,” Perri said, swooning as he took her hand once more.
She had never felt power before like his. His hand was leathery and tough but it was more that energy that flowed from them into her delicate fingers that what she sensed. It felt as though she were communicating to him without words. That they just had to look into one another’s eyes and they understood what the other was thinking.
“You’ll forgive her appearance,” said Myrtle, trying to step between the two betrothed. “She looks like a savage with her hair that-a-way.”
“I think that’s what I like most about her. Perri, you say?” said Wyatt.
“Oh that’s a ridiculous name her late father gave her,” said Myrtle.
“Ma’am?” said Wyatt, raising his eyebrow.
His face was pleasant though his tone was firm. He was daring Perris’ mother to repeat herself. Myrtle didn’t have the nerve. She bit her lip, literally tucking them in.
“I’ve got a nice room for you at the Dodge House,” he said sweetly to Perri and her mother. “Let’s get you settled. You must be awfully tired after your travels.”
“What will you do?” demanded Myrtle.
“Well we’ll accompany you. I propose you gals have a rest, get refreshed, we have a bite to eat and get on with the nuptials,” said Wyatt.
“All in one day?” said Myrtle. “I was hoping we would maybe do it tomorrow so as I had time to help Esperanza get ready and all.”
“Well don’t you fret none, now ma’am. I want this all to be perfect but I am kind of anxious to go home with my new family,” said Wyatt in a honeyed tone. “So we’ll do as I say.”
Chapter Two
Perri was floored. No one had ever handled her mother that way. Wyatt was a natural. He was telling her what to do while he had her eating from his hand. He flipped a coin to a kid who was loitering in the street.
“Take the ladies bag to the Dodge House,” he said.
The boy received the money with a bright and glad face. It warmed her heart. Swimming with amazement, she hardly paid a
ttention when she felt Wyatt slip his hand in hers. He cut a secret glance to her that made her melt. He already had her mother figured out. He drew her arm through his and folded it so that they walked close to one another over to the Dodge House as he was said they would. Her mother was remarkable silent and content the entire way, walking alongside the boy.
“I trust you traveled well, Perri?” he said warmly.
“Yes thank you,” she said shyly and then added, “Wyatt.”
“Oh I like the sound of my name when you say it,” he said.
“I like the sound of my name when you say it, Wyatt,” she said through her smile.
Gazing at the handsome mountain of a man who was to be her husband, Perri had to concede that for once her mother did something decent for her. Wyatt entered the Dodge House with the two of them and handled their business with the front desk.
“Hey Horace,” he said. “I would like for you to meet my mother-in-law to be, Mrs. Myrtle Miller.”
The man behind the front desk bowed slightly.
“And this beauty is my fiancée, Miss Perri Miller,” he grinned.
“Esperanza,” Myrtle corrected, threatening to raise her voice.
Wyatt was huge and pleasant and he canted towards the small, bitter woman.
“Well I like Perri and that is what I shall call her, when I am not calling her sweetheart or honey,” said Wyatt. “And that is all I should like to hear on the subject, thank you.”
Myrtle’s eyes widened but she didn’t say a word.
“Now Horace, I believe you have the keys for these two fine women,” said Wyatt.
“Yes sir, coming right up. I have number 10 and number 12, just like you ordered,” said the clerk.
“Two rooms?” protested Myrtle.
“Yes,” said Wyatt.
“My daughter is an unmarried woman. It wouldn’t be proper for her to have her own room," said Myrtle.
“I appreciate your love and care for your daughter and her good name. Fret not, mother. After your rest, we are to be married. We will be man and wife before the night is through. Now I insist. Get some rest. I will come round in two hours with the preacher. And then we shall have our wedding supper.”
Wyatt bowed and departed. When the two women were out of Horace’s sight, Myrtle snatched the key from Perri.
“He’s a total clod! I forbid you to marry him!” she hissed. “And you shall not have your own room. Least not until you are a married woman.”
Perri snatched the key right back. She really liked her husband-to-be. Bowled by her daughter’s boldness, Myrtle slapped her hard across the face. Blood spurt from her nose. Half blind with the pain and bleeding, Perri ran to her room with key in hand and locked her mother out. Her mother beat on the door.
Perri let her. She hoped that her noise attracted the hotel clerk who would go fetch Horace. She tossed herself onto the bed and her backside still hurt. If she was still it was okay but if she rolled it was awful. She ached as though her rear-end was broken. And now her nose was going to be red for her wedding.
How humiliating that her fiancé was going to know her mother beat her. That her mother was not just a high needs person, but a troll. Perri was fool enough to be happy that someone had been able to put her mother in her place, for a moment.
Chapter Three
The sound of heavy boots charging down the hallway sounded over Myrtle’s tantrum.
“What’s going on here?” Wyatt boomed.
His voice was commanding and loud and it did the trick to stop Myrtle’s racket.
“I am trying to talk sense with my daughter. I am going to take her home,” her mother snapped.
“Are you indeed?” he asked.
He tried the locked door.
“Perri,” he said softly.
“Don’t engage with him!” shouted Myrtle to Perri.
The next sound of her was an ‘umph’, followed by some very fast steps and a door slam.
“Now stay in there until I tell you otherwise,” Wyatt ordered.
“Perri,” he said softly after a knock. “Let me in sweetheart.”
“I can’t,” she cried. “I’m a mess.”
“You’re talking to a rancher, sweet. I am very familiar with messes,” he replied.
“Not this kind of mess, I am afraid,” she said.
There was no hiding the tears in her voice.
“Come on honey. Do I need to tell you to open the door and not ask you? I don’t want to start things out like that,” he said in a honeyed voice that warmed her belly.
She dabbed her face and smoothed her hair and when she opened the door to him, she avoided eye contact. He touched his fingers to her chin. She could feel him stiffen.
“What happened here?” he asked kindly though his tone was steel.
“I fell into the door. That’s why mother was upset,” she began.
Wyatt bent his knees and lowered himself to her eye level. The look in his face was stern. He had her attention. He wasn’t buying her answer even before she had a chance to finish it.
“We are as good as married. We will have a long and hopefully, happy life together,” he said. “You must always be truthful. I can see plain as day where it might not have been safe for you to be truthful before but I am here to tell you, you are safe.
But Perri was shame-filled.
“I would like some time to answer the question, please,” she said.
Wyatt was quiet.
“All right then,” he said plainly. “I am going to go about doing what I was doing. I’ll fetch you when I’m done and you and I shall be married. Do you have any objections to that?”
Without knowing she was going to, Perri threw her arms around Wyatt’s neck and hugged him with everything she had.
“No,” she said fiercely. “None at all.”
“Well good then. Rest,” he said lightly. “Keep this door locked. Horace is to come fetch me again if she gives you any more what for.”
Perri dozed. She slept a deep, luscious nap and was awakened by a civil knock. She thought at first it was her fiancé. But it was a woman.
“Miss Miller?” called the woman.
Perri peeked around the door.
“Miss Miller, I am Cadie. I work over at the Long Branch Saloon. Your fee-ance asked me to fix you up for your weddin’,” said the woman.
She was an attractive woman with a lot of paint on her face. She wore the fanciest, dress Perri had ever seen. She carried a suitcase with her. Perri let the woman in. She handed Perri a damp, filled handkerchief.
“This is for your nose,” she said. “It ought to make the swelling go down.”
Perri regarded herself in the mirror. Her nose was swollen.’
“Boy she really got me good this time,” she said without thinking.
“Who?” asked Cadie.
“No one,” said Perri quickly. “Boy it’s sure nice of you to help me out like this. My hair is a disaster I know. My mother has tried to do something with it but it never holds.”
Cadie let the long strands cascade from her fingertips.
“Why it’s like silk. I don’t reckon I have ever seen hair so purty in all my born days. I got French underwear that isn’t this fine. Oh and that reminds me,” she said.
The woman quick unfastened the suitcase bindings and pulled out colorful apparel.
“For your weddin’ night. Wyatt figured you and me is about the same size. I hope you like them,” she said. “Now, about this hair.”
Cadie set a jar of goo on the vanity as she tugged and worked on Perri’s hair. Every once in a while she dipped her finger into the jar and wiped her hair with it. Whatever she was doing it worked. Her hair was shiny and beautiful in a scheme of fine, draping braids that gathered in a beautiful bun.
Cadie hugged Perri close. “I don’t know why we go to the trouble of putting our hair up on our weddin’ day. It’s just going to be took down on your weddin’ night.”
She giggled. Perri retur
ned her smile with a blank stare.
“You don’t have any idea of what I am talking about, do you?” said Cadie. “I am going to have to do more than fix your hair, I can see that. Didn’t Wyatt say your mama was with you?”
“Yes,” Perris’ stomach turned at the mention of her mother.
Cadie dabbed some color on Perris’slips and on her cheeks. It caused her to tingle so in an extremely relaxing way. It was bliss.
Cadie asked her, “She’s not told you what to expect on your weddin’ night. What you do for your man and more importantly, what you do for yourself?”
Perri shook her head.
“Okay missy. You just stand up and listen,” she said. “I’ll fill you in while I get your dress on you.”
Perri thought she would faint listening to the vivid details of Cadie’s marital lecture. Cadie was wont to press her fingers in places on Perri to support the information she was giving her. She used hand gestures and poked her tongue into her cheek to mimic the special kiss a woman gave to her man to please him ‘every which way till Sunday.’
“Have you been married long?” asked Perri.
Cadie burst forth with a cackle and laughed hard. When she caught her breath, she answered.
“Oh goodness no,” she said. “But you made my day for asking.”
Chapter Four
There was a knock on the door. It was Horace.
“Miss Cadie, Miss Perri, it’s time. Preacher is in the lobby,” he said. “I have to go get Mrs. Miller now.”
He said that last part like it was a punishment. Cadie turned Perri to give herself a once over in the mirror.
“Look at that beautiful bride,” said Cadie, affectionately embracing her. “We best scoot before mama is out of her cage. I heard all about her.”
Cadie was fun. Perri really liked her. She was overcome with emotion for her kindness and how she fixed her up.
“Cadie,” she said clutching the saloon girl’s arm. “I am new here in Dodge. I can’t thank you for all you done for me,” she said. “I would be pleased if you would be my first friend here.”
A Fall From Grace. Mail Order Bride Western Page 4