"We need to get out of here before someone gets hurt," said Joseph. "How are we going to do that?"
"This sounds a lot like a story from that book you showed me," said Henry.
Joseph could only recall one book he had shown Henry. "You mean the Bible?'
"Yep," said Henry. "This seems like the time that God would help a person."
"I have faith," said Joseph and he took a deep breath and kicked the door. There was a little bit of give to it and so he kicked it again, this time with a sickening crack. While the door was showing some obvious damage, Joseph was writhing on the floor with his foot facing the wrong way.
Henry took one look at it, summoned his own courage and kicked the door until he collapsed as well, from exhaustion and a sore foot. It was up to Horace and he found a heavy piece of furniture. He struck the furniture against the door and they both broke, allowing Horace to get through. He looked back at the two injured men.
"I'll come back for you two," said Horace, and Joseph continued to have faith.
Jeanne watched as Francine knocked on the door and ran, luckily running in the direction necessary to be shielded by the door as Jack opened it, holding a gun and a club. It was time for Jeanne to lure Jack out and so she began moaning in pain. Jack looked up and walked over with more caution than Jeanne would have thought and she continued moaning. Francine was still running and Jeanne was sure she was panicked, but that was all right. Jeanne felt she could do this alone and as Jack grew closer, she moaned louder.
He saw Jeanne and narrowed his eyes.
He asked, "What are you doing here? Didn't you learn your lessons?"
"I'm hurt," said Jeanne. "Please, if you have any mercy in your heart, help me!"
"Oh, I'll help you, all right," said Jack and he tossed aside the club and aimed his rifle at Jeanne. "I don't need you for this money train to keep rolling. Only that little man in there."
"Blast," said Jeanne and she grabbed some mud and flung it at Jack's eyes. He managed to swat some of it off his face and while it succeeded in keeping the gun aimed somewhere else, Jack was still coming and there was nothing Jeanne could do but run.
As she stood up, she was with a wave of nausea and fell back down. Jack laughed and lowered his gun and Jeanne couldn't take her eyes off of him. Was this her end? Was this, perhaps, the way she would be reunited with her husband? Jack pulled back the hammer but didn't get any further. Jeanne heard a thunk and Jack fell to the ground, revealing Horace standing behind him, holding a club and breathing heavily.
He looked scared, but brightened when he saw Jeanne.
"Well, Miss Jeanne, it's good to see you," said Horace.
"And you, Horace," said Jeanne. "It looks as if your debt is repaid."
He shrugged and lowered the club. "Are you all right? Where's Francine?"
"Over there somewhere," said Jeanne. "I think I can see her over there, so she should be back along shortly. We should find some rope or chains."
"I know where we can find some," said Horace darkly. Jeanne followed him into the cavern and he grabbed a pair of keys off the wall and led her to a small cell at the back of the cavern. There was a smashed door, but Horace still unlocked it. There were two men inside, both obviously injured, one passed out. When one of them saw Jeanne, he brightened up despite his pain. Horace removed their restraints and ran off.
He asked, "Jeanne Harrow?"
"That I am," said Jeanne.
"I'm Joseph Clauson," said the man. "It’s nice to finally meet you."
Jeanne studied him for a moment. It was a very long moment, as she took in every facet of his face and body and evaluated each one. She made a decision.
Joseph was trying to keep calm and keep positive, but his ankle was on fire. It may have been broken, but was at the very least twisted. It wouldn't do to let Jeanne see him scream and cry in pain, if only because this was the woman who he was supposed to marry. She was looking at him deeply and he was feeling very vulnerable and very uncomfortable. So while she studied him, he studied her. She was covered in something dirty and brown which could either be blood or dirt, and her features were on the harsh side. She was still beautiful and obviously pregnant, all things the telegraphs had exposed so long ago.
"You'll do," she said. "Horace, please go fetch your wife. I need to sit down. That was a lot of excitement."
Joseph was taken slightly aback. "What does that mean?"
"It means a man just tried to kill me twice and I'm shaken and tired," she snapped.
Joseph hoisted himself up on a rounded table as Jeanne found a chair to sit on. "No, the first part. I'll do?"
"It means I'll honor our arrangement," said Jeanne. "You're a handsome enough man and obviously one of some means if a man was going through all this trouble to impersonate you."
"I think he was trying more to get your money than mine," said Joseph and he sat on the table. "You came all the way here to marry me. I want to be more than good enough. In fact, what if I don't think you'll do?"
Jeanne looked shocked, her eyes wide and mouth gaping. She stammered, "Excuse me?'
"I've just been put through one of the most trying periods of my life because you were coming into it," explained Joseph. "I want to be darn sure you're a woman worth marrying before we do it."
"Mister Clauson, I am with child! I don't want him coming into this world without a father," said Jeanne. "Let the love come later. For now, I need stability. Besides, I just helped save you from that Jack person."
"I never liked that part of stories," said Joseph. "What kind of person offers himself or herself up as a reward for being saved? No, Missus Harrow, we're going to do this the old fashioned way. Just as soon as we're out of this cave and I'm able to walk again."
"As you wish it," said Jeanne angrily, but with a hint of a smile.
An hour later, Francine and Horace had loaded Jack onto the back of the wagon and seen to the wounds of Joseph and the other man, named Henry. Joseph was able to sit up and Henry was well enough to have run over to the horse and hug it when he came out of the dank cavern. Jeanne and the injured crowded onto the wagon, while Horace and Francine walked along behind it.
Horace still had the club and Francine had found the rifle. They had all decided that there was no way Jack was going to escape his fate and so precautions were taken. Henry was driving the cart, treating the horse with a gentle tenderness that pleased Jeanne, leaving her and Joseph Clauson some privacy. He was a handsome man in a way and Jeanne was pleasantly surprised by his attitude.
"We have some time to waste," said Jeanne. "We may as well get to know each other."
"What do you want to know? I'm a rancher by trade, I've been told I'm kind and have a good humor about me," said Joseph. "I can't have any children of my own. I had an accident, years ago."
"I see," said Jeanne.
"All the damage is internal," explained Joseph. "No one can fix it, but I'm still fully functional."
"All right," said Jeanne. "I was an actress from a young age and my deceased husband whisked me away from that life. To be perfectly honest, I was trying to use you as an excuse to start a new life in America with just my child. I planned to escape my two companions and live on the east coast for the remainder of my life. Your country is very boring between the city bits, by the way."
Joseph laughed. "I know. I took a train to Pennsylvania a few years ago and slept all the way back because there was nothing to see. I like the theater."
"I don't," said Jeanne. "It made me something I no longer enjoy being. The only sin those two had committed was trying to be kind to me and I was going to abandon them. What kind of person does such a thing?"
Joseph thought about it. "A confused one, I reckon -- sad and alone and confused. It happens."
"I suppose it does," said Jeanne. "Why did you have to resort to mailing away for a bride?"
"The damage, mainly," said Joseph. "Women around here want a man who can produce a child, at least the kind of women I'm in
terested in. I figured someone out there might just want a man in their life and since I got your telegraph, I figured you had as good a chance of any."
"Then why are you so hesitant to marry me?"
"I don't just want to be the man who became your husband and your child's father because it was convenient," said Joseph. "I want there to be some actual emotion there. Do you understand?"
Jeanne kissed him. It felt like the right thing to do and when it was done, she said, "I do."
"Well then," said Joseph. "Well."
"You seem like a good man," said Jeanne. "I'm still hurting, to be honest. I'll always have some pain inside of me. Helping you escape Jack helped ease that pain and I think helping you through life in whatever way I can will help ease that pain."
"This is hardly the old-fashioned way," said Joseph.
"What, pray tell, would the old-fashioned way be?"
"I always saw it as a young man taking his young lady for a stroll and falling in love by the light of the full moon," said Joseph.
"Then we shall do that," said Jeanne.
The next few weeks were a whirlwind of activity. Jeanne became increasingly pregnant, and Joseph gradually healed. They visited every day, became closer and closer. Jeanne and her companions moved into Joseph's home and one night, Joseph walked up to Jeanne's door and knocked on it. She opened the door of her room and still looked radiant, tough, and beautiful. She saw that Joseph was wearing some nicer clothes than his usual fare and while he was walking with a cane, he was smiling.
"Miss Jeanne, I'd like to go for a walk with you."
"All right," said Jeanne. "Just let me get a shawl. It's chilly out tonight."
They walked along the fields, where tired cows slept and sheep huddled together for safety and warmth. A dog was walking along beside them, a herding animal named Orion. Henry had brought him here and had started working at the ranch full-time in order to keep an eye on his horse. He proved to have a knack for working with animals and he ably fulfilled all the duties that Jack had been in charge of. Jack, meanwhile, had been interred in the local jail and was later sent to the state's prison for kidnapping, fraud, and multiple attempted murders.
Horace and Francine were trying to open a medical practice in town, as Francine had already become the midwife for the area and Horace proved to have a personality that made him easily likable. All of this went through Jeanne's mind as she walked with Joseph down the path and then she realized what was going on.
"This is the old-fashioned way," she said.
"It is," said Joseph. "You move well for a woman heavily pregnant."
"And you move well for a man with a cane," said Jeanne. "You know, I've felt normal these past few weeks. I haven't felt angry or hateful and while I do feel sad sometimes, it's an honest sadness. I think that this country is good for me."
"I think you're good for me, too, because I haven't had one bit of sadness since you ad your friends came," said Joseph, and they walked in silence. "I was wondering if you'd do me the honor of marrying me. I would kneel, but I don't think I'd ever get up."
"Of course," said Jeanne, and she threw her arms around him. "I was starting to get annoyed because you refused to ask."
Epilogue
The wedding was small. This time, Thackery personally came to America to pay for it all, since the last time had proven to be a mess. A pastor was brought in, as well as the families of the brides and grooms since Jeanne was true to her word and allowed Horace and Francine to renew their vows during an actual ceremony.
It actually seemed more like it was Horace and Francine's wedding than Joseph and Jeanne's, but neither one of them really cared. All that was important was that they were married in front of their friends. Horace and Jeanne went on a small trip for their honeymoon, while Joseph and Jeanne stayed home. Henry had found out that his horse was pregnant and was doting on her.
The more important pregnancy was Jeanne's own, and soon, the pregnancy became a birth. Francine, back from her honeymoon, delivered the child.
"I'll name him Jeremy," said Jeanne.
"Sounds like a good name," said Joseph. "Any name but Jack."
Once the foal was born, many months after Jeremy was born, Henry gifted it to the young man. He had already started breeding more horses, earning himself a respectable living and the horse was no racehorse. He knew the Clausons would give it a good home. One night, years later, Joseph and Jeanne sat on their porch and watched Jeremy and the children of their friends take turns riding Jeremy's horse.
Horace and Francine were sitting next to them, as well as Henry and his new wife, a girl named Jennifer. Jeanne reflected on her life to that point and smiled. It had all turned out all right and while she did miss her first husband, she had done well for herself. She rested her head on Joseph's shoulder and kept smiling.
It was a good life.
THE END
Mail Order Bride: Bitter & Pregnant, An English Widow Heads Off to Her Cowboy Rancher In California (A Clean & Wholesome Historical Romance) Page 4