by Rose Gordon
~*~
If Joel never fixed another broken axle it’d be too soon. Patching roofs. Mending fishing nets. Replacing floorboards. No problems. All were easy tasks. Fixing a broken axle was proving to be impossible. Well, not just any broken axle. Just this one. He’d fixed others before, but they’d never given him as much trouble as this one had.
“Need some help?”asked a man from behind Joel.
All the hair on the back of Joel’s neck stood on end. Something about that northern accent was familiar. Slowly, he turned around then froze. Mr. Fitzgerald.What was he doing here?“Can I help you, sir?”Joel asked, taking a defensive stance.
“No.”Mr. Fitzgerald craned his neck to look around Joel’s shoulder.
Joel moved to block the man’s view.“What are you doing here?”
The corners of Mr. Fitzgerald’s eyes crinkled.“You’re quite besotted, aren’t you, boy?”he asked with a chuckle.
Joel pierced him with his stare. He was notbesotted. Besides, even if he was, it was none of Mr. Fitzgerald’s concern.
The older man grabbed a stool that was sitting outside one of the horse pens. He took a seat and crossed his arms.“When we first met, I hoped you’d take an interest in my Anna,”he said softly.“Now, I know why you didn’t.”His words weren’t unkind or sharp, just his thinking out loud, connecting all the pieces to the puzzle.“Jessie mentioned you were out here fixing an axle.”
Joel nodded slowly. The man had thought Joel would have taken an interest in Anna? He’d never admit this to her father, but he didn’t even remember what his Anna looked like. The day they’d met hadn’t been Joel’s finest—nor Herman Fitzgerald’s. Poor man was driving his wife and brood of daughters to town and got lost. Very lost. Ten miles in the wrong direction lost. Joel happened to be riding on the same highway on his way back from Turley, a neighboring town, that had the supplies he couldn’t get at Mr. Murdoch’s store when he heard the most wretched sound in the world: a chorus of screaming females…and one man—who was also screaming.
Joel had narrowed his eyes and peered through the thin line of trees that blocked the bend in the road. The people screaming, whoever they were, were being robbed. Instinct set in and he dismounted his horse and crept through the trees to get closer. Finding the perfect position between the man who appeared to have no gun, only an arm full of stolen goods and was still on his horse, and the one with the gun who was foolish enough to have dismounted his horse, he let a low whistle and leaned back as his stallion ran through the trees and across the road.
The man with the gun wheeled around to see what had just happened and was greeted with Joel’s fist in his face. The man fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes and Joel grabbed his gun, intent to use it on the man still on his horse if necessary. It was not. The coward was galloping away.
After being assured everyone was unharmed, albeit missing all of their money, hair combs, and footwear, Joel escorted the shaken family back to their fairly new home. That was the first time he’d met Mr. Fitzgerald and the only time he’d ever glimpsed Anna.
“Well, is it fixed yet?”Mr. Fitzgerald asked bluntly, pulling Joel back to the present.
“No.”Joel gestured to the wagon.“Care to help?”
“Can we call it even?”Mr. Fitzgerald asked.
Joel bridled.“I didn’t see to the safety of your wife and children so I could hold you in some sort of debt.”
“I know.”Mr. Fitzgerald ran his hand through his silver hair.“I just wanted to thank you proper and I don’t know what to do.”
“You already did.”
Mr. Fitzgerald scoffed, kicking at the loose straw in front of him.“You never cashed in those stocks I gave you, boy. Even I know better than that.”
“You’re right,”Joel allowed. He ran his thumb over the smooth wagon wheel.“I didn’t cash them in, but I did register them with a man in Turley. He sends me the interest each month.”
Mr. Fitzgerald’s jaw dropped.“You did? He does?”
“Yup. How else do you think I’ve had enough funds to not die of starvation or hypothermia?”He snorted.“It certainly isn’t from my little patch of vegetable garden. Confounded thing grows more weeds than crops.”
“Mine, too.”Mr. Fitzgerald got up and walked over to the axle.“You’ll learn, boy, that’s what children are good for: pulling weeds.”
Joel smiled. He wasn’t so sure about that philosophy, but he couldn’t wait to find out.“So that’s why you had so many.”
“No.”The older man waggled his eyebrows at Joel.“There’s another reason. If you don’t know what it is already, boy, then you’ll learn it soon enough, I expect.”
Joel stood stock-still. He didn’t know what to say to such a bold statement. Father had always acted disgusted by Mother and from what he could tell the feeling was reciprocated. He couldn’t imagine ever notdesiring Jessie and the fact that Mrs. Fitzgerald had just had another child gave him hope that Jessie would never tire of him, either. He wasn’t sure if he could bear that.
With Mr. Fitzgerald helping, it only took about half an hour to have the axle repaired and the wheels turning smoothly.
“Thank you, sir,”Joel said, reaching his hand out toward the older man.
“I didn’t do too much,”Mr. Fitzgerald said with a slight frown, shaking Joel’s hand.“You did all the work. I just held the axle while you did everything.”
“Believe me, it helped.”He put his left hand in his pocket and leaned his shoulder against the side of the wagon.“Just like your stocks.”
Mr. Fitzgerald folded his hands and rested them on top of the wagon box but didn’t say anything.
“They’ve provided for me far more than just to keep me fed and warm.”He fought to keep his voice even. Accepting them from Mr. Fitzgerald had been torturous and nearly killed his pride, but even at the time he knew he needed to have them.“I appreciate all of your kindness. Now, let’s go find the girls and go home.”
Chapter Fourteen
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
If Anna truly thought she had a chance for this to work, she’d probably do well not to laugh at her father’s dumbfounded expression. Jessie knew every muscle in her own face was working hard to keep her lips closed, and as a safeguard, her teeth were being employed to bite down on the inside of her lips, too.
“I said, I’d like to go to Charleston and use Jessie’s ticket to Montana,”Anna repeated.
Behind Jessie, Joel coughed.“Excuse me,”he murmured. His lips found Jessie’s ear.“Careful or he’ll never trust the two of you alone again.”
Jessie didn’t let that deter her. Anna had actually been the one to come up with the idea. She was sure she could convince her father to see the sense in it and Jessie had no reason to stop her now. Caleb seemed like a decent sort.
“Could you give us a few minutes,”Mr. Fitzgerald said, looking in the general direction of Jessie and Joel. The poor man’s eyes were still glossed over from shock.
Joel placed his big hands on Jessie’s shoulder, ready to usher her away when Anna’s clammy hand grasped Jessie’s.“No. Jessie is my friend and I need her.”
Mr. Fitzgerald’s eyes narrowed on Jessie.“Did you put her up to this?”
“No,”Anna answered for her. Biting her lip, she cast an apologetic glance in Jessie’s direction.“I hate living in Williamsburg County, Pa. I don’t like it there. Other than Jessie—”she blinked back tears— “I have no one.”
“You’ll still have Jessie,”Mr. Fitzgerald said, gesturing toward Jessie.“If she won’t be using her ticket then I think it’s safe to assume she’ll be coming back with us.”
“Yes,”Anna agreed with what Jessie knew to be a nervous giggle.“But she’ll have a husband. I won’t.”
“Just because you don’t have one now doesn’t mean you won’t find one.”
Anna crossed her arms.“You mean Lachlan Ross?”
A shadow passed over Mr. Fitzgerald’s face.“I’m sure there are o
thers who might find an interest. What about that boy Frederick?”
“He’s Gail’s age.”
Mr. Fitzgerald’s shoulders slumped. Gail was only sixteen.“Byron Mattson?”
“Isn’t he the one who spent a night in jail after he got drunk and rode naked on his horse across the dance floor at the Philips’last month?”
“He what?”Mr. Fitzgerald blustered. Flushing, he ran his bent index finger across his lips, then lowered his lashes.“What would your mother say?”
“She’d say‘write me the moment you arrive to let me know you’re safe’,”Anna ventured.
Mr. Fitzgerald shook his head ruefully.“You sound just like your mama.”He sighed.“Is this even legal?”
“I don’t know,”Jessie admitted softly.“But what I do know is that the agreement through the matchmaking service says we have thirty days from the date of arrival to decide to marry or not. When she gets there she could explain the situation and see if he was still willing to marry her.”
“And if he refuses her because she’s not you?”
Jessie was undeterred by Mr. Fitzgerald’s frankness. Anna wanted to go and Jessie would do her absolute best to convince her father to let that happen.“He won’t.”
Mr. Fitzgerald let out a hollow laugh.“And what makes you so sure?”
“Because Anna was the one who wrote the return letters,”Jessie admitted simply.
Mr. Fitzgerald’s face went as white as a sheet.
“He might not know her name yet,”Jessie continued.“But given enough time, he’ll recognize her.”
“Is that true, Anna?”
Anna nodded.
“I cannot believe I’m even entertaining this.”Mr. Fitzgerald rubbed his temples with the pads of his fingers.“All right. Before I change my mind. Let’s go.”
Anna flew to her father’s arms.“Thank you, Pa,”Anna said excitedly, kissing her father on the cheek.
Mr. Fitzgerald hugged her back, then released her.“We’d better be off if you’re going to catch your train.”
“And witness Jessie’s wedding,”Anna said with far more calm than she’d spoken with a minute ago.
“Wedding?”Joel’s booming voice put a hush over the whole room.
All eyes turned to him.
Jessie put her hands up on his broad shoulders.“Might as well get married in Charleston since we’ll be there.”
Hesitation crossed his face and pierced her heart.
“You did plan to marry me, didn’t you?”she asked unevenly.
“Yes.”His throat worked.“I just don’t think it should be in Charleston.”
“Is there somewhere else you think we should get married?”She couldn’t think of anywhere else. Charleston was as good as anywhere else. And make no mistake, they weregetting married. She had no intention of returning to her father’s house under any circumstances, and if she stepped foot in Williamsburg County without a Mrs. in front of her name, that is exactly what would happen.
Joel’s soft blue eyes met hers.“Home.”
“But—”
Joel put a single finger against her lips.“I know right now you want to marry me because we’ve been through a lot together these past few days, but I want you to be sure I’m the one you really want.”
“You are,”Jessie said automatically.
“And she’s not getting Mr. McHale back,”Anna put in helpfully, garnering her a sharp look from her father.
“That’s all right, Anna. Mr. Perfect is all yours.”Joel’s strong hands framed Jessie’s face, his thumbs gently brushing her cheekbones.“Jessie, I love you more than anyone in this world and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. But I don’t want you to regret your decision later because you didn’t know all the facts.”
“All the facts?”
“Your father threatened me,”Joel said without reservation.
Dread and relief both warred within her.“I’d always wondered if he played a role in why you suddenly wanted nothing to do with me.”
Joel gave a single nod.“He said if I ever talked to you again he’d kill me—”
Tears pricked the back of her eyes at his hoarse confession. She couldn’t imagine a life without Joel.
“—that part didn’t bother me so much, but when he told me how he’d hurt you if you were the one who initiated conversation—”his voice broke.“I wanted to protect you.”Paying no mind to their audience, he pulled her close to him in his strong embrace.“I’m sorry, Jess,”he whispered against her hair.“I never meant to hurt you all of this time. I just wanted to protect you and that was the only way I knew how.”
His confession was all the salve her bruised heart needed and tears flowed freely from her eyes onto his linen shirt.“Joel,”she sobbed, not sure what else to say.
“I don’t know what to do, Jessie,”he admitted, pulling away from her. He took a seat on a nearby chair and pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her.“I want to marry you and I’m willing to leave everything behind, but you need to know that if we marry here or in Charleston or anywhere else between here and there we can’t go back to Williamsburg County.”He offered her an unsteady grin.“In fact, we just might as well board the train with Anna and go live on the ranch with Mr. Perfect.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“Well, I for one, would rather not move to Montana and live with your‘intended’,”Joel said dryly as he swept a lock of her hair from across her forehead.
In spite of her tear-swollen eyes and red, puffy cheeks, Jessie did her best to curl her upper lip and squint at him.“I didn’t mean that part and you know it.”
He squeezed her waist.“I know, but are you sure you don’t mind if we never go back?”
That was a promise she had no reservation making. Jessie’s hands found his shoulders.“As long as I’m with you, I don’t care where we go.”
“Then how about we go find a judge?”
Jessie threw her arms around him and kissed his lips.“I’d like that very much.”
~*~
Their wedding wasn’t what her mother would rave about being the most beautiful wedding she’d ever been to, but to Jessie it was the most beautiful wedding ever held.
Joel, Jessie, Anna, Mr. Fitzgerald, and Judge Landry all crammed into a room the size of her mother’s dining table. Joel’s large hands engulfed Jessie’s and they faced each other, both smiling and fidgeting with excitement as they professed to love, honor and protect each other until death parted them before sealing their commitment with the sweetest kiss Jessie had ever tasted.
“I love you,”she whispered against his lips.
“I love you, too,”he murmured. When he pulled back, she could see just how much he loved her. It was stamped on his face and embedded in the depths of his eyes for all to see.
“I hope my wedding is just as sweet,”Anna commented with a sigh as they loaded back up into the wagon to take her to Charleston.
“I’m sure it will be,”Joel assured her, handing Jessie up onto the buckboard.
“And what makes you so sure?”Anna asked.
Joel grinned.“You’ll be marrying Mr. Perfect, how can the wedding be anything but?”
“With a nickname such as that, I can’t imagine why I was ever worried about letting my daughter go off to the unknown,”Mr. Fitzgerald muttered before releasing the brake of his wagon.
The ride to Charleston was uneventful unless one considered having to see Mr. Baker and his yard again as they passed through. Clearly the man didn’t recognize Joel and Jessie as the couple he’d helped yesterday, but as they passed, he started waving his arms and hollered something about bringing them tea.
They rode on.
With every mile that passed, Anna became more nervous—looking at her watch, checking her fingernails for any snags, smoothing her skirts, repeatedly.
At last, with only ten minutes before the train was scheduled to leave they arrived at the train station.
“Be sure to writ
e to me every chance you get,”Jessie told her when Anna was done reading over her ticket for the third time.
Anna scoffed.“You going to have your new groom respond to my letters?”
“I might,”Jessie said with a blush.“Oh, speaking of letters.”She opened her purse and pulled out a haphazard stack of wrinkled papers.“Sorry, some of them were stepped on.”
“Or used for notes.”Anna examined the piece Jessie had used to write Joel’s mail-order bride ad. She quirked a brow.“Are these Mr. McHale’s letters?”
“I think you should be the one to have them.”She knew without asking that Joel would approve.
“Thank you.”Anna tucked the small bundle of letters into her travel bag, then leaned forward to give Jessie one final hug before turning to say goodbye to her father.
Mr. Fitzgerald whispered something in her ear and Anna responded before pulling back and wiping the tears from her eyes with the pads of her fingers.
“Take care of her, Joel,”Anna commanded.“She’s my dearest friend.”
“I will, Anna. You have a good trip. I’ll be sure to have my new bride write to you. I can’t vouch for the quality of content, but I’ll make sure to supply her with enough pencils and paper for the two of you to keep the carriers comfortable in their employment.”
“Oh, Joel, please don’t commit me to such a chore.”
Just then, the whistle blew. A man wearing a blue suit of clothes that formed a perfect V down his chest and revealing the brightest white shirt Jessie had ever seen stepped off the train and shouted,“Last call for Charlotte! Last call for Charlotte!”
“That’s your first stop,”Jessie said.“You’d better go.”
Blinking her brown eyes rapidly, Anna gripped her ticket in one hand and her travel bag in the other.“Goodbye, Pa,”she whispered then hurried off to the train.
A band formed around Jessie’s heart. It tightened painfully when she looked over and glimpsed Mr. Fitzgerald with a single tear sliding down his cheek. How fortunate Anna was to have a father who loved her enough to be devastated when she left, yet was willing to let go for the sake of his daughter’s happiness.