Noah had moved off the ranch about a year and a half ago to homestead his own place on neighboring land. This secured the boundary next to the family ranch, and Noah had his own home. He dug and cut sod bricks to build a single–room twenty– by thirty–foot sod house, complete with a sod roof, and used his money to build the wooden barn. This arrangement worked well for his parents, so Noah knew it was a good start for his adult plans. Planning to bring his bride Victoria to their new homestead blew up in his face when he got to Illinois. He didn’t know if the time he spent away from home had healed all his emotional wounds, but he missed his family, so Noah traveled back home.
Now he found he had no home to go “home” to. Somehow, he had to get his homestead back from the woman with the gun and yapping mutt first.
Noah let himself in the back screen door of the house, savoring the feeling of being in his childhood home again. Poker whined once, not liking to be left outside on the porch, but Noah knew the dog would lie down in a moment and stay there until Noah came back outside.
Sounds and smells hit his senses, reeling him back to past times as a kid. Was that fried chicken crackling in the cast iron skillet? The distinct aroma of a warm apple pie mingled with the bread his mother must have recently baked together in the large, woodstove. Noah strolled from the screened porch into the kitchen, arms wide to hug his mother, but stopped inside the kitchen door, staring at the tall woman facing the stove.
“Hey!” Noah stomped forward and grabbed her shoulder to turn her around. The long blonde braid swung across her back as the startled woman squeaked in surprise. She grabbed the skillet handle, ready to swing the skillet full of chicken and grease at his head, but then she stopped her motion when she saw his face. Noah knew he and his brothers looked similar, with their brown hair and matching hazel eyes; their varied height was only evident when they all stood together.
Then the ominous ‘click’ of a revolver sounded behind Noah’s back before he could say anything to the frightened woman with the deadly skillet in her hand.
“Take your hand off my wife right now!”
“Woof, woof!” Poker stood barking on alert, peering in on Noah through the screen door.
“Poker, stop!” Noah whirled around, realizing his dog was scratching on the door and was going to tear through the flimsy screen any second.
Then his mother’s ear–splitting whistle made both the dog and men stop and duck their heads as they cringed and shut their eyes. Ouch. Boy, it still hurt his ears when she whistled in close range.
The sound of someone punching his brother’s shoulder, and Jacob’s “Ugh, Ma” caused Noah to open his eyes. Before Noah could do anything, his mother, Cate, wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a tight hug while talking to both of them. “Noah! Welcome home! So glad to see you’re finally back. I missed you. And, Jacob, hang up your gun where it’s supposed to be when you come into the house.”
Then, not missing a thing, Cate turned to look out at the dog peering through the screen and whining. “I assume that’s your dog, Noah? Will he be okay out there or should he be locked in the barn tonight?”
Noah didn’t answer, as he turned back to stare over his ma’s shoulder at the woman who he swore was just at his soddie, pointing a gun at him. How did she get here before him, and why was she here?
Did Jacob just say “my wife”?
But the thoughtful look in this woman’s blue eyes was nothing like the one staring down the barrel of the rifle Noah had recently encountered. And this woman seemed taller, same height as him…and she wore a blue calico dress, with white lace around the collar.
“Poker is okay, Ma. …I was just at my place and was met by…I thought this woman. So who are you?” Noah looked her over again, confused by the resemblance of the two women.
“Noah,” Jacob said, smiling broadly, while reaching to tuck the woman to his side, “I’d like you to meet my lovely bride, Rania. Honey, this is my other brother, Noah.”
Noah stared at his brother and new sister–in–law. “What? When did you get married…and why does your wife look exactly like the woman who’s making herself cozy on my homestead?”
The woman hugged Jacob’s waist, looked to Noah with a warm smile. “We were married last month.” She chuckled before adding, “You met my twin, Hilda Hamner.”
Cate interrupted the conversation by handing Noah a bowl of potatoes, and nodded for him to take it to the dining room table. “Come on. We were just about to eat supper so sit down and we’ll fill you in on what’s been going on with the family. Luckily, Rania didn’t sling the skillet of chicken at your head, or we’d have it to clean up first.”
Even after his family sat around the table and said grace, Noah was stewing about the situation—not only about the mystery woman, Hilda, but that his family thought nothing of her living on his place.
Noah wanted answers—besides this delicious home–cooked meal. “Before you go into wedding details, I want to know why you let my homestead go. Miss Hamner said she bought my homestead. I assumed you’d all watch out for it, and it would be there when I was ready to come home.”
Jacob pointed his fork at Noah before stabbing a chunk of potatoes with the utensil. “Squatters moved in as quickly as we told them to leave, and we weren’t hearing from you. Hilda wanted her own place to raise horses, but still live near her family. With your empty homestead bordering our land, it just seemed like the best solution. Hilda may sell the place back to you. Or, you could register a new claim—although, you’d be homesteading twenty to thirty miles west of here as quickly as the land is being staked.”
Noah pinned Rania with a direct look. “So, where are you and your sister from? You both have an accent.”
Rania politely cleared her throat and dabbed the cloth napkin on her lips before answering Noah. “Our family has lived in Texas ever since we emigrated from Sweden. My father, Oskar Hamner, worked in the copper mines in Sweden. My mother, Annalina, heard of a Texas ranch that would pay ship passage for the family if we worked there upon arrival, so she had her cousin sign our family up…unbeknownst to our father.”
“What? How did you get your father on the ship under those circumstances?” asked Noah.
“Poppa was very drunk when we boarded, but he was sober and ready to work by the time we got off the ship.”
“Ranch tasks were new to us, but we grew into it. We lived in a shack on the ranch, but spent most of our time rounding up cattle and bringing them north on the cattle drives.
“Mother drove the cook wagon and fed the crew. My father and brothers, Leif and Dagmar, worked as riders, and Hilda and I were in charge of the bed wagon and the horse remuda.”
“So, how did you end up in Kansas?” Noah asked after swallowing his mouthful of food. Boy, how he missed his mother’s cooking this past year.
“Over the years we’ve trailed herds around Texas and elsewhere. About five years ago we started bringing cattle up to Abilene, Kansas, every spring, and then working our way back to Texas for the next drive. Two years ago, drives switched to arriving in Ellsworth when businessmen and farmers around Abilene banned the Texas cattle traffic to their rail stockyards.
“After making trips to the area, our family decided to put down roots again. With their earnings from the drives, my parents bought Sam Larson’s ranch, but they and Leif went back to Texas in May for one final trip. My other brother, Dagmar, is now the foreman at the big Bar E Ranch, northeast of Ellsworth.”
After listening to Rania, Noah wondered how he’d thought this soft–spoken woman in a feminine dress was the same spitfire in men’s trousers he’d faced earlier today.
“Why did Sam sell his place, Jacob?” he turned toward his brother.
“Sam didn’t,” Jacob responded. “His horse dragged his body home one day—his foot still in a stirrup—so we buried him, and Adam notified his family back east. They said to sell the place and send them the money. The Hamners were looking for a ranch in the area, so the
y bought it. Rania and I are staying overnight there for now, looking after the place until her folks come back from Texas.”
“What’s Hilda doing at my homestead? It’s only a hundred and sixty acres.”
“Raising horses,” Jacob added to the conversation. “She trained most of the horses in the remuda the family brought up from Texas, and sold what they didn’t need when they arrived in Ellsworth. She gets good publicity on her stock when she wins horse races around here.”
“Yes, I saw a race with her in it a year ago, right before I boarded the train for my trip. The crowd went nuts when they realized the rider who crossed the finish line was a woman. On my…uh…her place, I saw three horses in the pasture behind the barn, so I assumed she was married—and the man just wasn’t around right then. The big palomino paint gelding she rode in the race is in a pen by the barn.”
“Ah, Nutcracker. Don’t mess with that horse,” advised Jacob.
“The stallion?”
“No, the stallion is a pretty mellow creature compared to the gelding. Nutcracker is the horse you don’t want to turn your back on—or ever ride,” Jacob continued.
“Why?”
Jacob looked away with a pained look on his face. Rania cleared her throat, and then looked down at her plate. “Pa planned to use Nutcracker for a stud, but he was on the wild side so…now he’s a gelded male. Hilda is the only one who can handle him, because Nutcracker doesn’t like men, and tends to want to…”
“Try to do the same as they did to him?”
Rania looked into Noah’s eyes. “Let’s just say…it will hurt when he bucks you off.”
Noah glanced around the table. “So what do I have to do to get my place back?”
His mother looked Noah straight in the eye. “You could ask Hilda to marry you.”
“Nope, nope, not happening, Ma.” Noah squeezed his eyes shut with the painful memory of his marriage fiasco. “Fill me in on the family wedding I missed instead.”
“Actually there have been two weddings…” Jacob started to say until he jumped in his chair and leaned down to rub his shin while staring at his mother across the table.
“Yes, there have been two family weddings at church lately. Jacob and Rania’s, and Randal Hobbs and Cecilia Bishop’s,” Cate smoothly explained while buttering her slice of bread.
“Uh, yeah,” Jacob continued after looking across to their mother. “The barber’s son found himself a bride. Wasn’t she a mail–order one?”
Noah looked at the three people at the table, who all look innocently back at him. “People are doing that out here? How can you get to know a person by what they write in letters? Seems it could be deceiving of what the person is really like.”
“Oh, it can work out better than you think, Noah,” laughed Rania. “Now, about our wedding …,” she turned to Jacob with a smile.
“So how’d you two meet?” Noah looked at one then the other newlywed.
“I helped the Hamner family last year when they were loading cattle,” Jacob answered. “You know I lost the army contract for horses and cattle when Fort Harker closed, so I worked at the Ellsworth rail yards for a few weeks. It was about the time you left for Illinois.”
“Jacob helped me this spring when we returned to Kansas,” Rania continued the story, but then took a deep breath before going on. “I couldn’t have survived without him.”
“You’re strong enough to handle about anything, Rania. Don’t think otherwise,” Cate added.
Noah noticed Rania had stopped eating and put her hands on her belly, which looked swollen. Was she already expecting? Noah realized he was looking at Rania and switched back to looking at his plate.
“Yes, Noah. We’re already expecting twins,” Jacob proudly stated, while hugging Rania who sat next to him. Rania gasped, then laughed, so Noah didn’t know if it was the truth or not.
“I sincerely hope Jacob is wrong in saying I’ll have twins, but yes we are starting our family right away,” Rania said while gazing into her husband’s adoring eyes.
A bolt of jealousy hit Noah square in the chest watching his brother and his wife. If he and Victoria had been married, they could be celebrating the start of their family. Would he ever find the right woman to share his life on the prairie?
Time to change the subject. “Where’s Sarah, Ma? In with the Paulsons this evening?”
“No, your sister’s at the Cross C Ranch for a while. Isaac Connely’s housekeeper moved to be near family, so Sarah’s filling in for a while.”
“Why?” Isaac was a good family friend and ranching neighbor, so he knew Sarah was comfortable staying there.
“Sarah thought it would be good practice for running a hotel, but I think she needed a little time away from Ethan, personally. He’s a nice man, but Sarah noticed he wasn’t fond of children, and it’s made her uneasy, thinking she’ll never have the big family she’s always dreamed of having.”
Jacob added with a wink, “I think she likes Isaac’s nephew, Marcus Brenner too, but she’d never admit it.”
“Name doesn’t ring a bell. Is he from around here?” Noah asked.
“No. Isaac’s sister’s son. Grew up in the military, schooled at West Point, then sent out west to frontier posts. He was wounded early spring in a skirmish and was dismissed, so he is staying at his uncle’s to recuperate rather than travel back to Maryland where he parents live. Marcus seems to have recovered pretty well physically but he’s not sure if he wants to go back to the military or do something else.”
“Looks like I’ll need to ride over the Cross C to check things out then.” And maybe check to see if Isaac needs another ranch hand if he couldn’t get his place back from the blonde and her dog.
Chapter 3
Noah lay in his old bed, staring at the ceiling, wishing he could fall asleep—but there were too many thoughts milling around his brain. He never expected to be sleeping in his small, childhood room again.
He should be in his own bed in his home, with his new wife lovingly tucked in his arms.
Noah was fourteen when his family moved from Illinois to Kansas. His brothers thrived on the open prairie, but he didn’t feel the connection then. When his mother traveled back to Illinois to visit her parents, he went along, and ended up moving in with the elderly couple. Noah worked first at a feed store, before finding employment as a bank clerk. That’s where he met Victoria Bushnell, the banker’s daughter, and he was smitten immediately.
He enjoyed escorting her to music events and church, as well as being a guest at her family’s dinner parties. Noah asked Victoria’s father for her hand in marriage, and Mr. Bushnell reluctantly agreed, but only if they agreed to observe a long engagement, because Victoria was only seventeen.
Then Noah’s grandparents died, leaving Noah longing for his family. He traveled back to Kansas and realized he not only wanted to live near his family, but the open spaces made him feel whole again. Working inside in the bank had made his skin pale and his muscles weak, and he needed a physical challenge. Noah signed up for the free land, and started building a place to bring his bride to instead of going back to Illinois. He loved working with horses and knew that was his calling.
Noah faithfully wrote to Victoria, telling her about the ranch he was building for them and professing his love. Victoria wrote back for a while, but the letters had become more infrequent and less personal over the last months. When Noah thought the place was ready for his bride, he boarded the train to Illinois, looking forward to his wedding day.
He arrived at Victoria’s parents’ house wearing a new suit of clothing, a ring in his pocket, and flowers in his hand. Her father met Noah at the front door, telling him Victoria had married three months prior. Then, the man shut the door in Noah’s shocked face, leaving him standing bewildered on the front porch, holding the flowers.
Noah started home right away, but changed his mind at the last minute. He couldn’t face his family, so he signed on as a horse wrangler for a cattle drive hea
ding to the Wyoming Territory. He needed time alone to mend his cracked heart.
After seeing his homestead today, he knew Victoria would have hated it—if her father had let her marry and leave Illinois in the first place. No city woman that delicate would tend a garden, let alone take care of the livestock. Only women like his mother—and the Hamner twins—would welcome the challenge of living on the wild prairie of Kansas.
***
The next morning, Noah’s mother set a plate that held scrambled eggs, crisp bacon and a thick slice of homemade bread on the table in front of him. “Are you all right, son? I know Victoria’s marriage was a big shock for you.” She asked as she poured two cups of coffee from the pot on the stove.
“How did you know what happened?”
Cate slid into the chair next to him, setting their cups on the table. “After you didn’t arrive home or write with news, Adam wired Victoria’s father. When we didn’t hear back from Mr. Bushnell, Adam contacted the marshal there and got a report of Victoria’s marriage. When you didn’t come home right away, I guessed you needed time before facing the family again.”
“It was a hard blow, Ma. I never expected it. I loved Victoria and never realized she didn’t feel the same.”
His mother rubbed the top of his hand when he laid down the fork by his plate. “I hope you get past this heartbreak, because you have so much to offer a young woman. And I want you to experience the joy of life with a helpmate and children.”
“Right now, I can’t fathom wanting to get married after losing the love of my life. I don’t want my heart broken again.”
“Your heart is stronger than you think. You’ll find love again.”
“How can you be so positive about love after you lost Pa?”
A faint smile crossed her face. “I can say it because we had a wonderful life during the years we were together. There were some rough patches, but we always worked together for the benefit of our family. I was devastated when I lost your father, but time puts things into perspective. I wouldn’t mind finding another partner.”
Hilda Hogties a Horseman Page 2