by Craig, Emma
Joy felt her face flush. “Yes. Mr. Perry has done me the honor of asking for my hand.” Whew! If that wasn’t her Auburn upbringing speaking, Joy didn’t know what was.
Susan Blackworth’s laugh sounded like autumn leaves crackling. “I don’t know how much of an honor marriage is, young lady, but I expect you’ll discover that for yourself.” She sniffed, and added grudgingly, “Although I reckon the Partridges and the O’Fannins have managed to land themselves in happy marriages.”
Joy didn’t have any idea what to say, so she sipped her tea instead and wished Elijah would hurry up and join them. She looked up eagerly when the front door opened, hoping for Elijah. She was surprised when a woman carrying a baby came inside. Mac rose and went over to her, hands held out, a huge smile on his face.
“Mellie! So ye’re fit enough to travel, are ye?”
The woman, young and pretty and as vibrant as any woman Joy had ever seen, hugged Mac hard, baby and all. The baby—Arnold, Joy presumed, if this was Melissa O’Fannin—didn’t object. “It’s so good to see you, Mac! We miss you.” She finally let Mac go and smiled at Susan Blackworth. “Susan. How wonderful to see you here, too.”
“How-do, Melissa. Let me hold that child this instant.”
With a laugh, Melissa O’Fannin brought baby Arnold over to Susan Blackworth, who took him in her gnarled hands and smiled. Joy watched, astonished, and wondered why the smile didn’t crack her leathery cheeks.
“And you must be Miss Hardesty,” Melissa went on, holding a hand out to Joy. “Both Mac and Katie have told us ever so much about you, and I’ve been longing to meet you. There are so few women out here in the territory.”
“Yes, indeed.” Joy shook Melissa’s hand, wondering why she’d been so appalled when Mac had told her she’d been divorced. Obviously, whatever had happened with her first marriage, it wasn’t Melissa O’Fannin’s fault.
The door opened again, and little Katie bounded in, holding the hand of a tall man with a tanned, rugged face, whose eyes immediately sought out his wife. Melissa looked over at him, their gazes met and locked, and Joy clasped her hands to her bosom, hoping in that second that she and Elijah would establish the kind of bond these two had.
“Miss Tee!”
Joy’s attention jerked back to the present, and she caught Katie O’Fannin as she hurtled herself against her legs. Laughing, she lifted the little girl up, and silently offered up a prayer that she and Elijah might be blessed with such lovely children as those of the O’Fannins.
“We saw Noah and Grace Partridge heading over here, too, Mac. What did you do? Send up smoke signals?” Cody O’Fannin relegated his hat to the rack beside the door, and came over to shake Joy’s hand.
“No need to send up smoke signals, Cody, m’lad. Word gets out, y’know. Word gets out.”
“My goodness,” Virginia whispered. She’d risen and come over to meet the O’Fannins. Joy introduced er to Katie, who charmed Virginia every bit as much as she’d charmed Joy. In fact, Virginia took Katie from Joy’s arms, so Joy was able to more closely inspect baby Arnold.
“Oh, isn’t he a fine boy!”
“Here, child. Hold him. You need the practice.” And Susan Blackworth thrust Arnold into Joy’s arms.
Joy was only taken aback for a moment before she became engrossed in investigating the baby. What a fine, healthy specimen he was, too.
Mac’s front door opened again, and again Joy turned, expecting Elijah. But this time she saw Noah Partridge, the man she’d met when he’d brought Virginia to town. She smiled at him, he nodded back—not much of a smiler, Noah Partridge, Joy decided—and then he stood aside to let his wife, Grace, enter Mac’s parlor.
Grace Richardson held the hand of a beautiful little eight-year-old girl who looked as much like her mother as it was possible for a child to look. Her other hand held that of a rugged three-year-old boy, who was the spitting image of his father, except that his face seemed made for smiles. Joy let out a little “Oh,” as charmed by the Partridge children as she was by the O’Fannins.
“It’s so good to meet you, Miss Hardesty,” Grace said as she came to Joy. “I see you’ve met the latest edition to grace Rio Hondo.” She nodded at Arnold.
“Yes.” Joy glanced around at all the children. Grace introduced her to Maddie and Christopher, who curtsied and bowed charmingly before they dashed off to play with Katie O’Fannin.
The next time the door opened, it was Elijah. Thank heaven! Joy introduced him all around. It occurred to her to wonder why everyone had chosen today, of all days, to visit Mac, but she didn’t wonder hard. She was having too good a time chatting with the women. She hadn’t had a good hen session—ever. Good Lord, she’d never had a good friend in her life, yet she sensed that these three women—four if Virginia decided to stay in Rio Hondo—were going to be her fast friends for life.
They hadn’t been gabbing for a half hour when the front door opened again. Everyone turned to see who had come now, and Joy saw an owlish-looking man in a black frock coat, a black hat held in his hands, standing in the doorway, looking around as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.
“It’s about time you got here, Joshua. There are two young people here who need to get hitched.” Susan Blackworth stood and, in the silence engendered by her tart comment, hobbled over to the door, her cane making cracking sounds on the hardwood floor.
“Susan!” The man—Mr. Horgan, Joy presumed from Mrs. Blackworth’s comment—blinked at Mrs. Blackworth. “My goodness, what are all these people doing here? Mrs. Partridge. Mrs. O’Fannin.” He nodded all around, and received handshakes and greetings from all of Mac’s uninvited guests.
“They’ve come for the wedding, of course,” Mrs. Blackworth said tartly. “Why else would we all gather here, waiting for you.”
Before Mr. Horgan could formulate a response, Mrs. Blackworth took him none too gently by the arm and dragged him over to Joy. Elijah had walked over to stand behind her, and he put his hands on her shoulders. She lifted a hand and rested it on one of his, and felt wonderful.
“Miss Hardesty, Mr. Perry, allow me to introduce my brother, Joshua Horgan. He’s a preacher, and he can hitch the two of you. I can tell you’re in a hurry.” Her beady black eyes held humor and no approval. An odd duck, Susan Blackworth. Joy liked her.
“You’re right,” Elijah said, his voice booming into the silence. Joy jumped. “We want to be married as soon as possible, because we have plans. Big plans.” He grinned down at Joy and squeezed her shoulders.
“Indeed, we do,” she agreed.
“Well, then, let me hang up my hat and coat and fetch my Bible from my saddlebag, and we can take care of it right now. Mac has procured a license, I’m sure.”
Joy’s happiness fled. “A license?”
Elijah looked startled. “A license?”
Noah Partridge laughed, the sound so unexpected that everyone turned to look at him. “Don’t worry about a license. Mac’s a magician. He’s got one. Never fear.”
A magician. Joy blinked at Mac, who winked back at her. “Sure enough. Noah’s right, of course. I have just the thing right here.” And, with the grace of a conjurer, Mac whipped a paper from behind his back. “All ye need to is fill in the blanks.”
“Good.” Joshua Horgan plopped his hat and coat on the rack and rubbed his hands. “Then let’s get started.”
“Wait.” Grace Partridge stood and held out a hand to her daughter. “Let’s gather some flowers first. The bride needs flowers.”
“Good idea,” Melissa O’Fannin said. “You and Maddie and Katie gather flowers, and I’ll help Miss Hardesty dress.”
Dress. Dress? What was she going to dress in? All of Joy’s clothes were little more than rags by this time. She’d never been heavy, but during her illness and the rigors of nursing Elijah, she’d lost weight, until most of her gowns hung on her like hand-me-downs on a scarecrow. “Um, I don’t think—”
“Don’t bother to think, Miss Hardesty,” Melissa said wit
h a laugh. “I’m sure Mac’s going to take care of that, too. He finds amazing things in his back room all the time.”
“To be sure.” Mac winked at Virginia, who smiled conspiratorially.
“Indeed, he’s taken care of everything,” Virginia said, and she rushed out the door.
Still wondering what was going on, Joy allowed Melissa to lead her to her room. There she took off her day dress, and by the time she was standing in her underthings—and today, of all days, she wore no corset—Virginia was back with a dress.
Joy gasped. “Good heavens, where did that come from?”
“To hear Mac tell it, the freight driver brought it along with yardage from Saint Louis.”
It wasn’t a real wedding dress. It bore no resemblance whatever to the gowns Joy had seen illustrated in fashion magazines. Nor did it look like any of the gowns she’d seen brides wear back in Auburn. It was perfect for Rio Hondo, though. A simply cut dress in creamy calico with lace at the neck and sleeves, it looked as if it had been made for Joy. When Melissa buttoned up the back and Virginia revealed the veil she’d made, Joy was almost in tears.
“I knew you and Uncle Elijah were going to be married,” Virginia said, looking pleased with herself. “So I made this at night, in my room, when no one could see.”
“It’s beautiful. Thank you so much.” Joy kissed Virginia. Then she kissed Melissa. Then she cried a little when she surveyed herself in the mirror. She’d never expected to see herself look so good, and she hoped Elijah would be happy.
He was. He was also as nervous as a typical bridegroom on his wedding day.
Maddie Partridge handed Joy a pretty bouquet put together from all the wildflowers she and her mother and friends had found outside, and Mr. Horgan cleared his throat. As all their new-found friends watched—and the ladies sniffled into their handkerchiefs—Joy Hardesty and Elijah Perry were joined together in holy matrimony.
At the end of the short ceremony, little Katie said, “Perry? We gots a doggie called Perry.”
Her daddy swept her up into his arms as everyone laughed. Then Mac went into his kitchen and came out with a confection made of Italian marzipan. I ordered it from Italy, because I suspected this would happen, y’see.”
“I see,” said Elijah, eyeing him thoughtfully.
“That’s so sweet of you, Mac,” said Joy, and embraced him warmly. It didn’t occur to her until much later that a spontaneous hug was as foreign to the Joy Hardesty she’d been when she arrived in Rio Hondo as was marzipan candy.
The confection was delicious. It went particularly well with the champagne Mac discovered in his back room.
When Noah Partridge sat down at Mac’s piano and began to play like a concert professional, Joy’s astonishment was complete. The party lasted all day and into the night. Elijah taught her to dance, and Joy discovered pleasure in one more thing her mother had deplored. Since nothing surprised her much anymore, she wasn’t fazed in the slightest by the great delight she took in waltzing with her husband.
Along about nine o’clock that night, the guests departed. They all said it was fortunate that the light from the moon and stars was so bright, because they wouldn’t have any trouble getting home. Mac twinkled from his doorway, smoke from his pipe wreathing his head like a halo, and agreed with them.
Elijah gave Joy another lesson in physical love that night. She enjoyed this one even more than the one he’d given her the night before. Along about sunup of the day after their wedding, Joy awoke and, deciding to be bold, attacked her husband in bed. He was delighted.
# # #
The Perris spent their honeymoon in Maryland, where they went to escort Virginia back home. Elijah decided he liked his sister and her husband. He gathered many tips about the hotel business from his uncle Luke, and by the time they headed back to New Mexico Territory, Joy was over the worst of her morning sickness.
The Pecos Valley Hotel opened for business a year and a half after Joy and Elijah married. Their son, Alexander Micah, was nine months old at the time, and they were expecting their second child. Mac said he’d be delighted to stand godfather for however many children they managed to bring into the world. And he did. All six of them.
Joy never heard from the Reverend Mr. Hezekiah P. Thrash again. She did, however, discover that the people residing in Rio Hondo weren’t all debauchees and wastrels. In fact, she was thrilled when the neighboring ranchers and most of the businessmen in town—including the owner of the Pecos Saloon—built a permanent church for Mr. Horgan. She was even more thrilled when Elijah joined her there on Sunday mornings for Mr. Horgan’s sermons. He said he figured it was good for the kids. She thought he was probably right.
Elijah wasn’t sorry when Mary Ellen Loveless decided to move to San Antonio. He was having more fun as a father and a hotel magnate than he’d ever had as a gambling man.
Mac’s wagon yard didn’t suffer from the competition. Rather, Mac expanded his grocery business, smoked his pipe, twinkled at the world, and continued helping lost souls find themselves. It was his favorite line of work.