Abigail tossed her hair as if she could dismiss everything he’d said with that one motion. “She’s just an upstart suffragette with nothing to recommend her.”
The people watching were holding their breaths. Margaret was clutching the windowsill so hard that Elizabeth reached over and gently eased her hands off, holding them both in her own.
“That’s my fiancée you’re talking about,” Jake growled back at her.
“But she can’t make you happy the way I can,” she said.
“Considering I love her more than I ever loved you, I find that pretty hard to believe.”
Margaret’s breath caught in her throat. He’d said it. He’d said that he loved her.
The crowd seemed to release its collective breath with his words. The women who’d helped Margaret get dressed exchanged smirks.
Abigail looked as though she had been slapped. Margaret could see the way her jaw tensed and her eyes flickered around as she took in the change in the atmosphere. Earlier, people had disapproved of her but there had been a chance that Jake would end up choosing her. Now that he’d declared that he wouldn’t, she was left standing in her white dress with a rising blush in her cheeks.
Jake leaned over and picked up his nephew, holding the boy on his hip as he called down to Abigail.
“Go home, Abigail. Don’t ever interfere with me and Margaret again. Not ever.”
With that, he turned decisively back into the church with Will and Captain Sharpe. The guests slowly moved to follow him, leaving Abigail standing at the bottom of the steps, alone, with a look of stunned shock on her face.
Margaret realized there were tears in her eyes again. But they weren’t motivated by fear, nerves, or sadness. For what seemed like the first time since her home had gone up in flames, she thought that she wouldn’t need to go through her list of reasons to smile. She thought it would be weeks before she would stop smiling.
Elizabeth was still holding her hands. Margaret turned to the other woman and saw an answering smile on her face. “There’s your answer, my friend.”
“Yes, there’s my answer,” Margaret said. “I feel secure. Oh Lizzie, I’m so happy!”
Elizabeth darted forward and kissed her cheek. “Then let’s get you to the alter.”
Twenty-Two
“You may kiss the bride.”
The wedding ceremony was a blur of words and repetition, but Margaret would remember that kiss for the rest of her life.
It had none of the passion of their first kiss. It was Jake who reached out first, grinning like a fool, and putting his hands on both of her cheeks before leaning in and pressing his lips to hers in a tender embrace. Margaret had an answering grin on her face as she’d kissed him back. It was a kiss of promise. It was a kiss of love. They were so engrossed in their kiss they didn’t hear the cheers from the crowd until Will had swatted Jake on the thigh.
“Quit hogging her, Uncle Jake!” he shouted.
Margaret and Jake broke apart. The crowd started laughing and Will lapped up the attention. Margaret ran her hand through his hair, giggling. He would be quite a showman when he grew up. Margaret couldn’t wait to see that.
The guests and wedding party adjourned to the inn in town for lunch. Margaret had kept Will on her lap as they rode to the inn, enjoying the way the boy leaned against her chest while Jake sat with his arm over her shoulders, leaning over the two of them and kissing Margaret periodically on the temple.
“I love you,” he said against her cheek as they arrived at the inn.
Margaret’s cheeks were hurting from smiling. “I love you, too.”
During lunch, the guests came to congratulate them in groups. Most of them were really only there to speak to Jake – they barely knew Margaret and their well-wishes were well-meaning but not quite as sincere as the ones they delivered to Jake. Margaret didn’t take it personally. She would have years to get to know these people, and gain their trust.
Jake accepted their congratulations, but there was an edge of impatience to it. He kept looking at Margaret and then towards the door. Margaret didn’t need to read minds to know what he was looking forward to.
When the wedding cake came out and Jake and Margaret got prepared to cut it, Margaret caught sight of Elizabeth chatting with Dr. Elliot. Margaret had to smother a smile at the surprised and delighted expression on Elizabeth’s face as she talked to the man. It seemed that Elizabeth had found another potential husband for one of the suffragettes in her mail-order bride agency, and Margaret could guess which one.
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Jake and Margaret finally escaped after lunch. They loved their friends and family, but they loved each other more, and they hadn’t spent nearly enough time exploring that. Elizabeth and Captain Sharpe would be staying at the ranch with Cora and Will, but Jake and Margaret would be spending their honeymoon at the inn.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t get more time off from the ranch,” Jake said, guiding Margaret through the red-curtained halls towards their room. “Two days doesn’t seem like a lot of time.”
“It’s plenty,” Margaret replied cheerfully. “We have the rest of our lives.”
“Still,” he said, lingering over the word. He paused in the hall and ran his hands over her waist, making Margaret blush and tremble. He leaned down to whisper in her ear: “I’ll do my best to make the next two days memorable.”
Margaret’s face must have been glowing – she could have been blushing all the way down to her shoes. She turned her head to kiss him lightly.
“I’m counting on it,” she said against his lips.
Jake laughed, pulling away enough to fumble for the keys and get the door open. He drew her into their room by the hand, his eyes dark and full of promises.
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About Kate Cambridge and Also By
This is Book 3 in the Suffragette Mail-Order Brides Series, in the Choice Mail-Order Brides Agency series.
If you don’t want to miss even one of the mail-order brides stories to follow, please join the CHOICE READERS Updates, where you’ll be the first to know when a new book launches at a fabulous same-day special launch price, as well as notices of contests, ARC opportunities, and more!
Book 4, SUSAN, will launch in June 2016, and is the story of Susan’s journey. Visit KateCambridge.com for more details.
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Send the link of your Amazon Review for ELIZABETH or MARGARET to:
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kate Cambridge is a bestselling Amazon-author writing sweet romance books with strong women and strong men, often coming together in ways you least expect, with a thread of humor, hope, and faith throughout. A voracious reader and lifelong writer, Kate left the corporate world of training and project management to begin her own marketing agency, where the pull to do what she truly loved finally won. And now she writes!
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ALSO BY THE SAME AUTHOR
This is Kate’s second book in the series, with one more to follow in the debut Suffragette Mail-Order Brides Series.
See all Kate Cambridge’s books at:
KateCambridge.com
Suffragette Mail-Order Brides Series Books
(Each are written to be standalone, so you can read them i
n any order, although Beginnings is truly the beginning of the series and the catalyst behind Elizabeth’s choice to start the Choice Brides Agency. If you can read them in order, please do.)
Book 1: Beginnings
Book 2: Elizabeth
Book 3: Margaret
Book 4: Susan
Book 5: Lydia
Book 6: Lucy
Individual Books (Not part of a series.)
MAE'S CHOICE: A Sweet & Clean Historical Frontier Western Romance
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A huge thank you to my editor, Tina Rucci for her invaluable insight and dedication to ensuring my books are as free from typos and grammar errors as possible, and to my cover designer, the amazing and incredibly talented Sarah Hansen, who gets my stories and the essence of the characters, and creates covers the embody them beautifully.
And as always, I am so grateful to my amazing husband — for his encouragement, support, humor, patience, and love. He is my favorite person on the planet. I am blessed.
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LET’S CONNECT
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SUFFRAGETTES
The Women’s Suffrage Movement impacted the rights and equality of women all over the world, and continues to impact women today. I am eternally grateful to the women who led this movement, at great sacrifice to themselves and those they loved; grateful to the men who supported them, and for the fact that they never gave up despite incredible adversity. May we never take that for granted.
~Kate Cambridge
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