Her Wyoming Man

by Cheryl St. John

  “Go ahead, Paul,” Leland prompted.

  Color rose in Paul’s face, but he drew a breath to say, “I’m marryin’ Celeste, here.”

  He turned to look for Celeste, and she joined him by taking his hand and smiling ear to ear.

  By the time another hour had passed, four of the women were pledged to local men. Nearly everyone had made a match. Everyone except Lena. Certainly her lack of commitment wasn’t for lack of proposals. Lena was undoubtedly holding out for a better offer.

  Ella, on the other hand, would never get a better opportunity than the one she had right now.

  Ella’s bridegroom had arranged a ceremony for Saturday afternoon. Two other couples planned to marry that same day, both scheduled in the morning. Ella attended both ceremonies, one in the judge’s chambers in a small building beside the sheriff’s office and the other at the Methodist church. After a joint informal reception, she hurried back to the hotel to prepare for her own wedding.

  Though Celeste had been married only a few hours, she and her new husband remained in town for Ella’s wedding, which would take place at Nathan’s church. Ella couldn’t have been more relieved to hear her knock and opened the door to admit her.

  “Did you ever think it?” Celeste asked. “Did you ever in your wildest imaginings think we’d be brides?”

  Ella shook her head. “Or that we’d be married to upstanding citizens and able to walk about town without scorn. I was greeted politely half a dozen times on my way to your ceremony this morning.”

  “We got wedding gifts.” Elation buoyed Celeste’s tone. She buttoned the remaining buttons on the back of Ella’s pale peach dress and fastened a string of pearls around her neck. “Quilts and dishes and such. Paul has family nearby. Did you see all of them in the judge’s chambers?”

  Ella turned to face her, hoping for all she was worth that Paul Adams was every bit the man of character Nathan had assured her he was. “You will come to me if he’s…unkind, won’t you? I have some money, and I can pay for a hotel or train fare.”

  Celeste nodded. “Don’t worry. Paul’s a good man, Ella.” Her smile faltered. “We’re all doing what we had to do, but we might as well make the most of it. Once tonight has passed, I’ll be able to handle everything else.”

  Ella gave her a questioning look. “What do you mean?”

  “We’re supposed to be innocent virgins the first time.”

  “Oh, yes,” Ella agreed. She’d thought of the coming night, as well, but she hadn’t let herself dwell on it.

  “Just cry a little,” Celeste suggested. “And don’t appear eager. We’re good girls now.”

  “I’ll remember,” Ella replied with a nod.

  “Why do you suppose Lena is holding out?” Celeste asked, changing the subject.

  “She wasn’t happy about Nathan asking me to marry him,” Ella replied. “That was obvious.”

  “Your man is one of the richest in the territory,” Celeste agreed. “That probably stuck in her craw.”

  Ella liked the sound of Nathan referred to as her man.

  “Since Lena couldn’t have him, she probably wants the next-wealthiest man for herself. I’m just glad I got a kind one. I’m not going to mind cooking or cleaning or even helping with ranch work, as long as Paul is mild tempered.”

  Ella checked her timepiece and ushered Celeste toward the door. Paul waited in the hotel foyer, his hat in his hands.

  “Mr. Lantry sent a carriage for you,” he said and gestured toward the door. “And he’s even invited us to the reception.”

  Sure enough a black carriage pulled by two fine horses with shiny mahogany coats waited in the street. “There’s room for the three of us,” Ella offered.

  All three weddings she’d ever attended had been on this same day, and all three were ceremonies she’d never imagined to attend, especially not her own. Butterflies created havoc in Ella’s stomach as the three of them traveled across town. She composed her nerves before Paul helped her step down from the carriage and led both women to the door.

  Inside, the late-afternoon sun streamed through stained glass windows, illuminating depictions of Christ in various settings. A garden scene extended its long green shadows as far as Nathan’s feet, where he stood at the front of the middle aisle.

  Three fair-haired children in their Sunday finest stood in stair-step alignment and craned their necks to watch Ella’s approach. She gave each a hesitant smile. Her stomach quivered and her head felt light. This was the best day of her life, but she didn’t know the least thing about children…or about being a wife.

  Dressed elegantly in pinstripe black pants, Nathan wore a black jacket over a crisp white shirt with a white bow tie. Seeing him dressed so formally brought the reality of this moment into sharp focus. She was pledging herself to this startlingly handsome man, who was but a stranger.

  And he in turn was binding himself—and his young family—to her, a woman he knew nothing about, and yet he accepted her.

  She was going to do her very best to live up to his expectations and his trust. Whatever it took to endear her to him and make their marriage work, she vowed to throw herself into wholeheartedly. This act saved her from a lifetime of servitude and a bleak future. He would never regret making her his wife.

  Ella was going to make Nathan Lantry a happy man.

  Her first glimpse of her new home took Ella’s breath away. In the semidarkness, the stately three-story brick house nestled between towering oaks on a parklike lawn. Directly to one side and behind was a carriage house with glowing lanterns on both front corners.

  Nathan helped Ella and the children down, and a weathered fellow came to take the buggy and horses.

  Squares of light spilled from the first floor windows of the house. Several other carriages and wagons had preceded them, the occupants apparently inside.

  The woman Nathan had introduced as Virginia Shippen took little Robby’s hand as they approached the house. The short good-natured woman was at least twenty years older than Ella, with a ready smile and an ample waist and hips. The three-year-old kept looking up at Ella with questioning blue eyes, then quickly looking away when she smiled at him.

  Grace, the four-year-old, observed Ella with silent curiosity. During the buggy ride, she had directed her attention to her tiny reticule. She wore her sandy hair in two long braids that bounced against the frilly sleeves of her dress when she ran toward the front door.

  Nathan’s oldest child, Christopher, wore a solemn expression, but walked ahead to be the first to open the door and usher Ella inside. “This is our house,” he told her importantly.

  His hair was darker than the other two children’s and parted with severe precision. Once inside, he gazed up at her, revealing hazel eyes fringed with long black lashes.

  “Thank you, Christopher.”

  His cheeks pinkened, and he glanced away.

  A woman in a black dress and white apron met them to take hats and wraps. Ella wore only a scrap of Venetian lace on a pearl comb, which she left in her hair.

  They had entered into a foyer lit by a gas chandelier. Voices and music spilled from the open room to the right.

  “Papa, are we allowed to stay up for the party?” Christopher asked.

  “Of course,” Nathan replied. “This is a special night. You may have an hour to greet our guests and eat. After that Mrs. Shippen will see you off to bed, and I’ll tuck you in.”

  Christopher’s grin lit his face and revealed charming dimples in each cheek.

  Robby extended both arms to Nathan, and the man picked him up. “I imagine you’re a little confused about today, aren’t you?”

  The child nestled his head on Nathan’s shoulder. Nathan patted his back through the miniature suit jacket and laid his head against the boy’s while Ella watched their interaction with interest.

  She’d never seen a man interact with his children before. Observing their little family filled her with a sad yearning. Ella had never known a father’s love
or attention. She doubted her mother even knew who her father had been, and if she had, the man wouldn’t have acknowledged her. These children were privileged in more ways than financially. They had a loving father, a man who willingly played a role in their lives and was concerned for them.

  She’d become a recipient of his care and attention, as well. She’d never welcomed change as much as she did now. A shiver of expectation gripped her.

  “Are you all right?” Nathan caught her attention.

  “Yes. Perfectly.”

  “Then let’s go greet our guests, shall we?”

  Besides Nathan’s tender concern for his children, Ella had so much to take in all at once: the size of Nathan’s home and the lovely furnishings; the guests, dressed in elegant clothing, who milled about and stopped to wish them well; the way his peers looked up to him and honored him by attending his wedding and reception.

  All but one of the other girls with whom Ella had come West were in attendance. Instinctively Ella knew that regardless of their new husbands’ positions—or lack thereof—in the community, they’d been invited and accepted as Ella’s friends.

  “Thank you for including Celeste and the others in the reception,” she said during a brief moment alone with Nathan.

  He had handed her a glass of champagne and, after she had sipped the bubbly liquid, smiled. His warm awareness brought a surprising heat to her cheeks. “Of course your friends are welcome,” he said.

  Why his attention embarrassed her, she couldn’t fathom. She hadn’t blushed in years, and all he’d done was smile at her. “I—I haven’t seen Lena.”

  “I sent an invitation that included a guest,” he said. “She declined. I’m sorry she slighted you.”

  Ella shrugged. “We aren’t close friends.”

  “Your friend Celeste will be less than an hour’s ride from Sweetwater,” he told her. “If you should want to call on her, I’ll make arrangements whenever it pleases you. I’m sure being in a new place will be an adjustment for both of you.”

  “That’s kind of you,” she said in surprise.

  He glanced away as though thinking, but brought his gaze back to hers. “I want you to be happy.”

  The intimate low timbre of his voice, the words spoken softly for her alone, hammered a dent in her self-protective layer of aloof dignity.

  The warmth that had been in her cheeks now spread to her chest and squeezed her heart until it ached. No one had ever said that to her. No one had ever cared about her happiness. She didn’t know how to react—or how to believe him. But she wanted to, and she wanted to revel in the luxury.

  Even if words had come to her, she couldn’t have spoken them. For the first time, she wondered about his previous wife, the woman he’d loved. If he was this kind to her—a woman he’d only met, how must it have been to be loved by such a man?

  What did a love like that feel like?

  Immediately, Ella caught herself giving way to fanciful thoughts and reined them in. She’d come to Sweet water with the intent of gaining respectability and finding a safe haven. She wasn’t hitching her wagon to a star. Being Nathan’s wife and gaining his respect as well as that of the community was all she’d hoped for. Above everything now she wanted to be worthy of him and deserving of his trust.

  A couple joined them then, and Nathan introduced her to Eldon and Rowena Templeton.

  “I understand you’re from Illinois,” Eldon said. “What’s the land like in that part of the country?”

  “It’s green, with lush fields of beans and winding rivers,” she replied as though she actually knew first hand. She’d heard about the Illinois landscape from a man back at Madame Fairchild’s dinner table. All she knew firsthand were flat prairies and dry Kansas dust kicked up by endless herds of cattle led from the trail to the stockyard pens—and even those scenes she’d taken in through closed and barred windows.

  “It sounds lovely,” his wife said. “I know Nathan is glad you chose to travel to Wyoming, but it must be quite a change for you.”

  “It’s a big change,” she answered. “And all for the better.”

  Rowena gave Nathan a grin. “You are a lucky man, Nathan Lantry.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he agreed.

  He gazed down at Ella, and she gave him the smile his friends expected. He wrapped his arm around her waist, and she leaned against him. They stood hip to hip, more or less, and she was the first to break their locked gaze and look away.

  With all the attention and after meeting so many new people, she’d grown tired, but she kept her fatigue and emotions well disguised. When the guests at last took their leave a few at a time, Nathan assured her it was acceptable for her to excuse herself and go upstairs. “The last room on the right,” he told her. “I’m afraid your things aren’t unpacked, but you’ll have plenty of time to settle in over the next few days.”

  Climbing the stairs, she left the murmur of voices below to find the room he’d indicated. Oil lamps lit the generous space in a welcoming glow, and she wondered who had made the preparations. The woman in the black dress and white apron who’d answered the door perhaps?

  Her six enormous trunks were neatly lined against one wall, and she opened each to find her hairbrushes, nightgowns and toiletries.

  A pitcher of water and towels had been placed on a stand behind a divider brightly painted with peacocks and oriental flowers. Ella was well practiced at unbuttoning the low-cut back of her gown, and she quickly stepped from her dress and hung it over the screen before stripping out of her underclothing. She washed with the thick cloth and her fragrant soap and then dried.

  After using glycerin on her elbows, hands and feet, she dusted her body with talc and pulled a shimmery sheer gown over her head. She took time to brush out her hair and sparingly rouge her lips and cheeks. She unwrapped jewelry that had been rolled in stockings, placed the stockings in a drawer and the necklaces and rings back in a wooden chest. She poked through the gemstones, each of them reminding her of the life she wanted to forget. Without selecting an item, she closed the box and tucked it into the bottom drawer of the bureau. Lastly, she slipped on a silk dressing gown and belted the sash at her waist.

  Ella dabbed perfume behind her knees and a little on her décolletage and examined her reflection in the mirror. Everything about her new life was unfamiliar…everything but this. The one thing she knew how to do was please Nathan when he came to their room.

  Chapter Four

  The thought of pleasing her new husband had her looking around the room one more time. She opened the closet to find bare pegs and the shelves barren save for extra blankets. The bureau drawers held nothing but the items she’d placed in them. There was no sign of the man or his belongings.

  He owned an enormous well-furnished house with many bedrooms. Apparently she had her own. Was that usual? She had no inkling of normal sleeping arrangements for husbands and wives.

  She put away the rest of her lingerie and hung several dresses to pass the time, but she was tired and eventually perched on the chair before the cold fireplace and studied a still life of fruit spilling from a basket. The painting hung by a gold cord from the crown molding over the mantel.

  Her eyelids were drooping when after several minutes a knock sounded at the door.

  Ella crossed the room to open it.

  Nathan stood in the hallway, his broad form and dark hair lit by the wall lamps, still dressed in the formal clothing he’d worn for the ceremony and reception. With a welcoming smile, she stepped back to allow him to enter.

  His gaze fell immediately to her dressing gown, and the lace that peeked from the deep V where the front overlapped. He swallowed.

  Break the ice. “It was a lovely party, Nathan. Thank you.”

  He drew his attention to her face. “It was my pleasure.”

  Make him welcome. “I was waiting for you.”

  Stepping in, he closed the door, but didn’t turn the key in the lock. Once he stepped farther into the room, she too
k the initiative and locked the door.

  His slight frown revealed uncertainty. “I’d like to talk to you.”

  “I’m eager to hear what you have to say. Would you like to sit? Let me help you remove your jacket.”

  He kept his gaze from wavering to the bed. “Please. Have a seat.”

  He waited until she had settled on the settee and then took a chair across from her. “I’m aware that our marriage is unconventional,” he began.

  She had no experience with marriage, conventional or otherwise. “I intend to be a good wife, Nathan.”

  “I appreciate that,” he replied. “And more than anything I hope you’ll be comfortable and content here. Everything is new to you. The territory. This marriage. Because of the circumstances, we were forced to make decisions quickly, and that’s not an ideal condition. Courting gives a couple time to learn about each other, time to grow comfortable and at ease.”

  “I don’t feel cheated,” she said. “I’m prepared to be your wife.”

  “Ella,” he said kindly, “there are aspects to marriage that shouldn’t be rushed. You’re young, with tender sensibilities, and I refuse to take advantage of you by consummating our marriage while you’re unprepared.”

  At last his hesitancy took shape in her mind. “You don’t intend to come to my bed tonight.”

  “No.”

  “Will you be sleeping in another room?”

  “I’ve given you your own room for privacy’s sake.”

  A sinking sensation settled in her chest, dangerously close to her heart. He didn’t want her? Ella kept her features passive and calm, but inside she quaked with uncertainty. Fear got a tiny foothold on her confidence. What had she gotten herself into? Half a dozen men had looked at her with lusty thoughts swimming in their gleaming eyes, and she had chosen to marry the one man who didn’t desire her?

  How would she prove herself—endear herself to him? How would their relationship be sealed?

  “I intend to court you, Ella. You deserve enough time to come to terms with a marriage and all it entails. We will observe a courtship period before we become intimate.”