The Wedding Kiss

by Hannah Alexander

  “You’ve married a fine woman, Elam Jensen,” Ray said, nodding toward the stairs that Keara had so recently ascended. “She’s turned out to be quite a beauty.”

  “Yes, she has.”

  “Those late bloomers tend to be worth the wait. Your family seems taken with her, as well. Good to marry a neighbor so nearby. I take it the extra land will help you grow your brood stock.”

  Elam hesitated. It would soon become obvious to everyone that the McBride farm had passed hands, and though he didn’t want to be the one to spread the news, he also didn’t want yet another rumor to be spread as to the why of his marrying Keara.

  “Keara and I will have more than enough land without adding her family’s property,” he told Ray. “Brute’s name will be cleared soon, I’m sure.”

  Ray nodded with approval. “Spoken like a loyal son-in-law.”

  “I just happen to know Brute McBride is not a killer.”

  “Not even when he’s drunk?” Raylene asked.

  Ray turned to his daughter, caught her by the shoulders, and swung her toward the front entrance to the house. “Child, out the door with you. Find a dance partner or ride back to town with the Johnstons. They’re leaving in a few minutes.”

  With a loud sigh, Raylene left at last, and Elam watched with relief as she made her way through the crowd to the front door.

  Ray cleared his throat. “Don’t mind my girl. She’s just a little surprised about the wedding.” He leaned close. “Guess she might’ve fancied herself a contender, though her mother and I both warned her, you know. Girl barely nineteen taking on a full-fledged family?”

  Elam nodded and met Ray’s gaze. The slate-green eyes were kind, the skin around them weathered from long hours of work and astute business dealings. The Harpers were a good family, Ray and Rosetta having raised five strong sons who were pillars of the town. Elam had once overheard Rosetta lamenting to Clydene Brown that she had always tried to instill good manners in their strong-willed daughter, but that she was obviously better at raising boys than girls. At nineteen, many young women were already settled with a family.

  “Raylene can speak too much of her mind,” Ray said, “but even though she’s spent most of her time these past couple of years trying to learn how to be a young lady instead of a tomboy, she still knows horses.” Ray kept his voice softer than usual, eyeing those closest to them. “Strange she couldn’t place the mare she saw in your barn tonight. When she dragged me out with her, the door was barred.”

  Elam adopted a look of mild interest. Raylene had, indeed, noticed a difference in Duchess, even in that dark stall, and her father was an astute businessman; he knew how to read people.

  “You wouldn’t be breeding new stock, would you, Elam?” Ray asked.

  “Your daughter may have seen the mare I’m boarding for a friend, but she certainly saw no new property of mine. With the fine horse stock I have already, especially with Freda Mae so promising as a racer, why would I want to switch midstream?”

  Ray gazed around the room. “So you’re not holding out on me? I wouldn’t happen to know this friend, would I?”

  “Someone from out of town.”

  Richard Brown, Clydene’s husband, slipped up beside them. “Speaking of new horses, you should’ve seen the mare I saw out at the edge of town this morning. Fine specimen, like nothing I ever saw before, prancing along Dairy Hollow Road like she was carrying royalty.” He leaned closer. “Strangest thing wasn’t the horse. What caught my eye was the rider. If I didn’t know better, I could’ve sworn it was…Gloria Jensen.” He looked away, cleared his throat. “Sorry, Elam, but I couldn’t believe my eyes. Could’ve been a trick of light. Curious thing, is all I’m saying. All this is kind of like one of those hauntings folks talk about.”

  Clydene joined her husband and took a firm grip on his arm. “Fellas, this is a wedding party, not a business meeting or boys’ night at the saloon. Now, Ray, it’s time for a dance. Elam, I think your bride might not mind having her husband at her side right now. Why don’t you run upstairs and see how she’s doing?”

  Elam could have hugged Clydene as he excused himself and made his way toward the stairs.

  “It’s called trephining.” Susanna’s voice was weaker than before, her face pulled down, eyes dull.

  Had she screamed the words, though, they’d have had no greater effect on Keara. “I don’t care what it’s called, there’s no way I’m going to bore a hole in your skull.” The woman was crazy. Obviously, the hit on the head had knocked her brains loose.

  “Then if I pass out and don’t wake up again, in your hands be it.”

  “If I have to, I’ll take you to a doctor.”

  Susanna closed her eyes. “What will he do, pour his magic water on me? Trust no doctor. Trust no one in town, in this state.”

  The door opened, and Keara jerked around to find Elam slipping inside. He caught Keara’s gaze then nodded toward Susanna.

  “Elam, she’s awake and telling me to drill into her head,” Keara told him. “I can’t convince her I’m not a doctor!”

  “My Duchess.” Susanna’s eyes remained closed. “Elam, your new young bride wants to betray me by riding to town. Tell me that my horse, at least, is concealed.”

  He didn’t reply but held Keara’s gaze. “The barn is bolted shut. She’s been brushed down, she’s dry and unhurt.”

  “But?” Susanna demanded.

  Keara glanced back to see Susanna’s blue-eyed gaze locked on Elam with suspicion.

  “What aren’t you saying?” Susanna asked. “Has someone seen her? If they have—”

  “Susanna Luther, you’re just like your older sister,” Elam said, sinking to his knees beside the bed and laying a hand on her arm.

  “You mean the sister who died less than a year ago?”

  Keara winced at the cold plink of the words against her heart.

  “She was independent and willful when we first married,” Elam said.

  “I don’t care to have my sister talked about in such a fashion.”

  “I’m merely speaking the truth. Gloria was often at a loss if she could not see to the arrangements of every precise detail herself. She eventually learned to trust me, to trust our neighbors and family, and especially trust the outcome of her life to God. That’s what you’re going to have to do.”

  Susanna moved her arm from contact with Elam’s touch. “I didn’t realize my sister married a preacher.”

  “She married a rancher.”

  “And then after she died you married a doctor?”

  Elam paused and shook his head. “I married a neighbor.”

  “Your sister has been telling me bedtime stories then, I presume. To hear Jael tell it, your new bride needs only a medical degree and she could be a full-fledged doctor.”

  “Jael is biased.” Keara shot her sister-in-law a look of caution.

  “She has the kindest touch I’ve ever known,” Jael told Susanna. “But she can’t be expected to perform a procedure she’s not been taught.”

  “Then, Mrs. Jensen, if you’re as smart as Jael says, you’ll hear my words, and hear them well tonight,” Susanna said. “It seems I’ll need to teach you a few things while I’m conscious.” She paused, closed her eyes, opened them again. “You took the utensils from my bag, I see. I also need you to search through those bags for the books. Do you have any cookbooks, Mrs. Jensen?”

  “Yes, I do, but—”

  “Good, then you can read.”

  Keara pressed her lips together, recalling Gloria’s behavior when she first arrived in the community. She, too, had been outspoken and occasionally demanding. Susanna obviously liked to give orders the way her sister once had, but this was one time her orders were not going to be followed.

  “You’ll find a book that describes the procedure, step by step. My life may depend on this,” Susanna said. “There are adequate utensils for you to operate. All you need do is follow the instructions.” For the first time, Susanna found and
held Keara’s gaze, and her blue eyes softened. The disapproval slid away. “All I need you to do is tell me you’ll try.” She swallowed and took a shaky breath. “If you don’t at least try, I could slip into a coma and never revive, and I cannot afford to do that. Not yet.”

  Keara was not a good liar, and when she took Susanna’s hand and squeezed and nodded, she was not lying. Not exactly. She was praying that God would not allow Susanna to slip into a coma on this night.

  Nine

  On Tuesday morning, Elam ran his hand down the warm, muscular neck of Regal Duchess of Blackmoor—her full name, if Susanna was actually in her right mind when she’d told it to Jael about midnight. It was about the same time Susanna had made the decision, of her own accord, that it would not be necessary for Keara to drill a hole in her skull—though she’d warned that she still wasn’t out of danger.

  He grinned and shook his head as he recalled the relief he’d felt—and which he’d seen reflected in Keara’s eyes. Keara may have gone through with the procedure had she thought it necessary. She’d sat beside Susanna all night, studying the textbooks by the glow of Kellen’s battery lamp as long as it lasted, then continued with lantern light. There was no doubt that, were she ever required to drill into someone’s skull to save a life, she could do it.

  The mare snorted, distracting him from his thoughts. Her black coat glowed in the morning sun as he gave her another scoop of oats, but she snuffled at the food then raised her head and looked directly at Elam, her big eyes dark. Could he be imagining her thoughts? Was she speaking to him in the only way she knew how?

  “Lost your appetite?” he murmured as he rubbed her short-cropped mane. “Can’t blame you for that. Yesterday must have been a nasty time for you.”

  She was a beauty, no doubt about it. Gloria had told him long ago that Nathaniel and Susanna Luther had always been good judges of horseflesh.

  Elam recalled Richard Brown’s remark last night about Gloria and ghosts. Obviously, Susanna had been in Eureka Springs yesterday, which meant she had not yet been shot at that time. The only reason she would be in Arkansas, so far from home, must have been to see him. He and the children were the only family she had here. But why would she come without sending word of her arrival? And who, in the five miles between Eureka Springs and here, may have been the likely shooter?

  He shook his head, gave Duchess another pat, and turned toward the house. Duchess followed, snorted, nudged his shoulder, her huge feet coming within inches of his.

  “Don’t push me, Duchess, my friend. I only allowed you into the paddock because you threatened to kick down the stall door.”

  She lowered her head and pressed her forelock against his chest.

  The mare was a big, loveable pet. “I think your mistress is going to be okay.” Elam had gathered from snatches of conversation he’d heard from Susanna in the wee hours that Duchess could take credit for saving her life. His sister-in-law and her mighty horse had a bond he understood. “I do believe Keara will see to it.”

  He hugged the big head and released her then climbed the fence, hoping she wouldn’t attempt to plow through it. He wasn’t sure the logs would hold her.

  At the house, bacon scented the doorway, and he stepped inside to see his sister presiding over breakfast preparations. Solid slices of cooked grits crackled beside the bacon on the griddle, while a pot of chicken broth bubbled alongside—Susanna’s breakfast, most likely, if she had awakened.

  Elam was glad Kellen and Jael had three strong boys in their teens who could be counted on to take care of the farm in their parents’ absence, because his sister and brother-in-law had been desperately needed here this past night.

  Kellen met Elam in the kitchen with a cup of coffee. A tall, raw-boned man with pale blond hair and blue eyes, Kellen had proven himself a steady friend, a true brother, over the years.

  “Keara was down earlier,” he told Elam, his deep voice raw from lack of sleep. “Said Susanna’s restless, seems to have a touch of fever, but otherwise she’s not shown signs of the coma we feared.”

  Jael looked over her shoulder from her activity at the stove. “Oh, good, Elam, would you take over breakfast? I don’t trust Kellen within three feet of your fancy cook stove, and I need to go help Keara with Susanna. We’ll need to bathe her to get her temperature down. You men help yourselves to the food when it’s ready. No telling how long we’ll be.”

  With her economy of movement, she passed along her chores to Elam the way she used to when they lived under the same roof, and as she did so, her gaze caught and held his. “You going to be okay, little brother?”

  He gave her a friendly scowl. “I’ll be fine. Susanna’s the one we need to worry about. Has she taken any tea? Soup?”

  “We were able to get about half a cup of Keara’s weed tea down her.”

  Elam grinned at his sister’s term for Keara’s concoctions. “Herbs, Jael. Not weeds, herbs.”

  “Call it what you want. Oh, not weeds, you’re right. This tea was made from the bark of a willow tree. As long as it gets the job done, fine by me. I’d trust Keara to feed me a dose of poison if she said it was going to heal me. We were just rejoicing over answered prayer about the coma when the fever started. Keara made a poultice for the shoulder this morning, so we’ll see how that works.” She grabbed a cup of the chicken broth, towels, and a bowl of ice chipped from the block they’d carried into the springhouse after last night’s party.

  Before she started up the stairs, Elam took the bowl of soup from her hands and followed her. She’d just turned the bacon, and the grits would take longer to cook. He wanted to assure himself everything was okay, even though he knew his family had everything well in hand.

  Jael pushed open Britte’s door and slipped inside then turned to give Elam a warning glance. She mouthed the word, “Quiet.”

  He nodded as his gaze strayed to the bed. Susanna’s skin was glowing red in the early morning light, and Keara sat on a chair beside the bed, bent at the waist, her head resting in her arms on the mattress. Her hair, tumbling in a swathe of blond next to Susanna’s black tangles, contrasted so dramatically that Elam stared at the sight for a moment. Neither woman awakened.

  Jael took the soup from his hands and set it on the dresser then dipped a towel in the bowl of ice water. She wrung out the towel and placed it neatly across Susanna’s face. It didn’t awaken the patient or Keara.

  Jael looked at Elam and nodded toward the door.

  He hesitated. Bacon spattered downstairs. It would burn if he didn’t go down and rescue it, because Kellen would either try to turn it and toss it onto the floor or spill hot bacon grease on himself.

  Elam stepped back into the hallway, and his sister followed. “I think I’ll ride over to David and Pen’s after breakfast,” Elam said. “See if they’ll keep the kids a couple more nights.”

  Jael sighed. “You don’t want them to see Susanna.”

  He shook his head.

  “You can’t protect them forever.”

  “Maybe not, but we need Britte’s bed. She and Rolfe love their cousins.”

  “And after all the excitement this week already, they could use a break before another surprise is shoved onto them,” Jael said.

  He nodded. “Gloria was my first thought when I saw Susanna last night on the porch.”

  “I know it’s hard for you. Just remember that it’s also hard for Keara. Not only did she see Gloria last night, but she has been treating a woman who mistrusts her and may see her as the enemy.”

  “Susanna will learn otherwise.”

  “That may take some doing. She has to be wondering why you two married so quickly.”

  Elam paused. His sister knew him well, but there were so many things he had not told her. He couldn’t betray Keara’s confidence. If Keara chose to reveal their situation, it would be her choice, not his. As for Susanna, he might need to tell her a little more, if necessary, to keep her from getting too riled and saying something that could hurt Keara.


  “Susanna will soon learn to love Keara as Gloria did.”

  Jael’s lightly arched eyebrows rose. “And as you do?”

  He held her gaze and then he smiled. “Not in the same way, no.”

  Her grin answered his. “Very good. Why don’t you let Kellen bring Cash home?”

  He thought about that for a moment. “Yes, Kellen can do that. Cash won’t see his mother in Susanna’s eyes.”

  “I don’t believe Britte or Rolfe will see their mother there, either, but seeing their aunt in such distress would upset them. I’m sure David and Pen will be glad to keep Britte and Rolfe. Do you want Kellen to explain the whole situation to them?”

  “Susanna asked for silence.”

  “Susanna doesn’t know your family the way you and Keara know us. She’s going to have to trust us.” Jael placed a firm hand on his arm. “See to the bacon before it burns, but remember that you are the man of this household. You always have been. Just because you were gentle and patient with Gloria early in your marriage does not mean you need to treat Susanna in the same manner you treated her sister. Susanna has a decidedly strong will, which may see her through this crisis, but she must not be allowed to take over and run things around here.”

  He chuckled. “You mean the way Gloria first tried to run things?”

  “Exactly.”

  He rushed down the stairs to rescue the bacon. Keara and Jael weren’t the only ones who remembered his early years with Gloria. His beloved, departed wife had taught him a lot about standing up to her. Susanna would learn the basics as she recovered.

  A droplet of water spattered Keara on the cheek and she jerked awake, her eyes encountering a beam of sunlight coming straight through the window. A shadow hovered over her, and she recognized Jael’s back, the long hair only half caught up in a bun. More water splashed, and Keara straightened from the bed.

  “Why did you let me sleep so long?” She stretched to get the kinks from her back.