Maybelle laughed a little. “He seems slightly wary, but he is much more approving of Benjamin than when I first met him. He used to act as though he couldn’t warm up to me because Benjamin was the one who had sent me there for the job.”
“It’s good that you are there in that shop,” Hannah said. “I could tell that he was becoming rather overwhelmed from all of the incoming requests. I haven’t seen your work first hand yet, but he seems a great deal less stressed than he was before you joined him there at the shop.”
That was the perfect compliment for Maybelle to receive just then. She made a special note of what Hannah told her, to use at a later date. For now, she was quite focused on Benjamin. She felt it necessary to find a way to beg him for his forgiveness, the sooner the better.
There was a great unveiling party the day after the orphanage was completed. Everyone gathered around outside of the church while Benjamin showed off his handiwork. The orphanage he had built was made of the sturdiest oak. He gave it many of the same accents and flourishes, so one could tell by looking at it and comparing it to his own house that it was his hand that sculpted it.
Maybelle was very impressed with it and with him. There at the gathering, she watched in awe as everyone showered him with congratulations and compliments. From what she could see, everyone in town really did admire him and think of him as a valuable member of their little society. Maybelle felt sheepish for jumping to conclusions about him. She should certainly have taken the sheriff at his word…but then, she was a cautious girl from a much different place. She had never seen a bandit in her life back home. The only things she had learned were from stories told by others. In all of his letters, Benjamin certainly hadn’t seemed dangerous or even the slightest bit violent. He always came across, to her, as mindful, caring and generous. The orphanage was certainly a testament to that.
Maybelle took a carriage to Benjamin’s home after the orphanage’s grand opening. She knocked upon the door and wondered what sort of reception she would receive. If he was icy towards her, she told herself that it was what she deserved after the cruel and unforgiving way she had treated him.
When he opened his front door, he was puzzled to see her standing there. Right away, he began to worry. Was she going to tell him at last that she had changed her mind about him? He did his best to remain stoic and non-reactive until she had gotten some words out. “Please, won’t you come inside?”
Maybelle happily entered his house, once again admiring all of the finely carved wooden fixtures that made up the walls of his home. It wasn’t merely made well; it was made with love, seemingly.
“Make yourself comfortable,” he told her, gesturing to the nearby couch in his living room.
She sat and he took his place in a chair beside it. He was tentative, not knowing quite which expression he should have on his face. Should he be happy? Was this going to be a pleasant visit, or what she about to tell him something upsetting? Maybelle was always difficult for him to read.
“I have something important that I must tell you,” she began. “You are going to think me a horrible fool. When you told me that you were a former bandit, I must confess that I misjudged you at once. I took you for a liar and for someone who wasn’t deserving of my trust. I started to hear tales of your misdeeds about town, and I became so scared. I didn’t know whom to believe, or if you were really the way people seemed to attest. The Benjamin that I knew from the letters wasn’t at all like the Benjamin who had been laid bare before me upon my arrival. So often, too, I wished that you had told me in the letters…I understand why you did not. Based on the way I acted, I believe that you were right not to. I wouldn’t have handled it well and likely would have ceased my letters to you. Letters which I hold most dear…”
Benjamin felt on one hand like a condemned man and on the other hand like he was being redeemed for a second time. Maybelle spoke to him calmly and steadily and the words flowed forth from her as though she had been practicing this speech for some time. He had so many things to say, but he did not dare interrupt her.
“I do believe that I have been awful to you,” Maybelle went on. “I was warned by Mrs. Bishop – Hannah – that you were not as you once were. She informed me that she was the very person from whom you had tried to steal that day. She told me all kinds of wondrous tales about your honor, and like a fool I refused to believe them…but then I saw the orphanage you made. No man who is cruel and heartless could ever make a building so loving and kind as that.” She looked around the living room as if to emphasize this point. “And no one who is unloving could have made a home like this, for that matter.”
Benjamin felt his heart throb in his chest. At last, Maybelle was coming to understand him and his plight. She was starting to see beyond his past sins. He was relieved that she hadn’t decided to return home to Maryland, as he had initially thought she might. Could it be? Yes, it certainly seemed so! She was giving him another chance!
“I did make this house with love,” he said, trying to keep his nervousness in check. He wished to remain strong and calm, despite the fact that he was so happy at last, he felt like dancing. “After all, I made this house for you.”
Maybelle blushed and gazed upon him. “Surely you made this house for yourself mainly,” she said.
He shook his head. “I had been living in the inn,” he told her. “I could have been content to go on living there. I had everything that a man can need…but I wanted a home to share with you, Miss Fields. I wanted to make a place that was suitable for a bride.”
And that bride was Maybelle. She didn’t feel like she deserved it. Not anymore. “But I went and ruined it,” she said sadly. “Oh, I wish that I could take back the mean way I treated you! I wish that we could start anew and we could forget my distrust and my distance.”
“But we can,” Benjamin said at that. “We can start anew. Maybelle…Miss Fields. If you marry me, we can start everything as new. I have changed. I see the importance of love and decency in this world. I aim for nothing more than to be a good person and to enrich the lives of others in this community as long as I am alive. Oh, Miss Fields – Maybelle…will you marry me?”
Benjamin’s words were so sweet that Maybelle had been brought to happy tears. There was no way that such things could ever be uttered by a man who was evil. She was amazed by how gentle and kind he was, after everything he had done and been through. “Yes!” Maybelle proclaimed at last. “Yes, I will marry you! I would love to marry you!”
Benjamin went to her on the couch and they embraced. It felt so good to finally hold her in his arms and feel the softness of her; to smell the lilac fragrance in her hair…“I don’t have much,” he confessed, “but I promise you that I will give you anything you ask for, anything you need. I will devote my life to your happiness.”
Maybelle giggled a bit and planted light kisses upon his cheeks. “I will devote my life to your happiness. I will do everything within my power to make all of this up to you. I promise. You shall receive no more harsh judgement from me.”
Benjamin smiled at her. “Well, some harsh judgement is probably deserved on my part,” he said jokingly.
He made the arrangements at the church right away and Maybelle set to work making a wedding dress for herself, with some help from Ephraim and some guidance from Hannah. “Of course, I shall provide you with all the necessary jewelry,” she told her.
The two friends really bonded while they prepared for Maybelle’s big day. “I’ll be sad to leave your home,” Maybelle told her. “I look forward to living in Mr. Pickett’s big, beautiful home but I shall miss having a friend like you by my side.”
“Oh, come now,” Hannah told her with a playful smile. “I will live just as close to his house as I always have. You may come over and see me any time, and please don’t be afraid to visit my shop whenever you are in the mood, too.”
While Maybelle worked to sew together her white wedding gown, Hannah crafted some lovely gold earrings for Maybelle to w
ear on the momentous occasion, as well as a simple golden band that would serve as her wedding ring.
Benjamin had been so caught up in the moment when he asked for Maybelle’s hand in marriage. He hadn’t purchased a ring for her, but she had not really needed one either. The sentiment was still there. And now, thanks to Hannah, she would have a wedding ring anyhow. She asked for Mrs. Bishop to be her matron of honor and Hannah gladly accepted.
****
As Maybelle prepared herself to walk down the aisle towards Benjamin on their wedding day, she marveled about how much everything had changed. She realized with some satisfaction that there was an awful lot of symbolism to their union. “I spent so long thinking about how the orphanage changed my mind about Benjamin,” she told Hannah. “Then I realized…what really struck me is that he builds solid foundations based in love. He told me that he built his house because he loved me, and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard.”
Hannah smiled encouragingly at her. She wore a pretty white and pink floral dress, and carried a bouquet of lilacs and white daisies. Maybelle wore a beautiful white gown that she had designed for herself. It was simple rather than ornate, but the golden earrings and sparkly ring did just the trick to make her look especially lovely that day.
Everyone in town who was friends with Benjamin, and indeed within his wider circle of friends, was there at the church to see him and Maybelle be married. When the music began, Hannah walked confidently up the aisle towards the waiting minister and Benjamin. She stood off to the side when she reached the wedding arch, and then everyone waited in excited anticipation for Maybelle.
She slowly walked down the aisle, not feeling anywhere near as confident as her friend did. Maybelle wasn’t used to all eyes being on her. Even less was she used to so many people coming out to show their affection to her and her fiancé. But all of those nervous fears dissipated as she gazed upon the face of Benjamin, the man she so dearly loved. She knew that the support and trust that he had earned from the people of the town had been hard fought for and she could see as evidence this day, it was well worth it.
At last, she came to the front of the waiting congregation and the minister began. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness and be a part of the love and the celebration of these two souls who are coming together in holy matrimony. If there is any among us here who has a reason why these two should not be wed, let him speak now or forever hold his peace.”
Benjamin held his breath for a moment, praying that no one would have a complaint against him. There was only silence.
“Then we shall proceed. Maybelle Eleanor Fields, do you take this man, Benjamin Pickett, to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, to love and to cherish, to honor and to obey, from this day forward, forsaking all others, until death do you part, as long as you both shall live?”
Maybelle grinned at Benjamin and discovered that her eyes were full of joyous tears. “I do.”
The minister then turned to Benjamin. “Benjamin Michael Pickett, do you take this woman, Maybelle Fields, to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, to love and to cherish, to shelter and to protect, from this day forward, forsaking all others, until death do you part, as long as you both shall live?”
Benjamin was doing his best not to cry himself. He didn’t want to be seen as unmanly, especially not by Maybelle, though he didn’t believe she would ever think such a thing of him. He couldn’t believe how much the good Lord had allowed him to have, after so many years of strife. This moment was a sure sign that God was good. “I do,” he said.
“Then, by the power vested in me by the California territory and our lord and savior Jesus Christ, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Benjamin tentatively stepped closer towards Maybelle. She was grinning from ear to ear at him, too happy now to even think about being shy or nervous. He leaned in to her and, wrapping his arms around her waist, brought her in for a kiss. She puckered her lips a bit and they shared a sweet first kiss together.
Everyone in the church cheered the happy newlyweds. They all went back to Benjamin’s house after that for a celebration with dancing and feasting in his backyard thanks to much planning by Hannah and Louise.
“Well, well,” Thomas said to Benjamin as everyone was gathered there to celebrate. “It seems that things have turned out pretty well for you, Sir.”
Benjamin grinned at his friend. “It does appear so indeed,” he said. “Though I’m not sure I will ever feel as though I deserve it.”
“As someone who also has experienced this newfound love,” Franklin asserted. “I agree with you. I believe a part of married life is feeling, each morning, that you are somehow blessed.”
“I think I can get used to it,” Benjamin said.
The friends laughed together, and then they were joined by Daniel. He shook Benjamin’s hand and apologized for being so gruff and unfriendly before. “I was wrong to think that way. I should have given you more of a chance, like my wife did.”
“Apology accepted,” Benjamin said.
It was agreed upon by one and all that Benjamin had fully been reformed. They were amazed at how far he had come from the bandit he had been previously, and it was decided that he was a good example of someone bettering themselves. Every man deserved to be given a new chance at life, especially someone who had been so brave and helpful like Benjamin. Instead of finding himself living in a town that always would mistrust him, he realized now that he was living in a town full of friends. Maybelle made his house feel more like a home than it ever could have before. She continued to work at Ephraim’s general store and she sometimes brought him home the new shirts that she had made, just for him.
“I made this out of love,” she told him, kissing him on the tip of his nose.
Benjamin never had to worry about having an empty closet again. And Maybelle was finally able to enjoy being a seamstress not as a means to live, but as a means to festoon her husband with gifts to show that she how much she loved him. Every day she reminded him that she was sorry for the way she had treated him, and every day she repaid him in spades by making his life ever so happy.
THE END
Zelda’s Story
Ogden, Utah Territory – 1868
Zelda, the eldest daughter of the Hughes family, longs for a life away from the rolling hills and barn animals of her parents’ farm in Ogden. She loves and supports her family, of course, but she wants to explore what else the world might have to offer her.
When word gets around that there is a railway expansion planned to be constructed nearby, Zelda is excited for the new opportunities–and people–it might bring. Her father, however, is not. He doesn’t like the railroads coming near their peaceful, quiet town. Even less does he like the people from further out West; men he presumes to be too greedy for their own good.
One day, the Cooke family rolls into town as a part of a wagon train from Coloma, California. When Zelda and their eldest son, Tom Jr., lock eyes, she feels that she has at last found what she has long been yearning for.
A Christmas storm seems like it might bring them together, but her father’s frostiness towards them doesn’t dissipate. As the rails are joined together, can the two families also put aside their differences and unite? Will Zelda and Tom ever be able to be together?
Chapter One
Ogden, Utah Territory – Winter, 1868
“Make sure you don’t come back with an empty bucket again, you hear?” Zelda’s mother called to her from the back door of the farmhouse that she and her family had lived in for longer than Zelda could remember.
“I won’t, Mama,” she called back, clutching the wooden handle of the bucket. She went into the barn where the cows slept and made momentary eye contact with her bovine nemesis.
Nessie was a brown cow with white spots. Not the other way around. Zelda never thought that a cow could have opinions, but the way that this one stared back at her with her black, u
nmoving eyes made it easy to believe that she knew everything about everything. Zelda’s least favorite chore was milking the cows, but she especially disliked milking Nessie.
“Calm down, you old grumpy gus,” Zelda said to her. She spoke to all animals that way, as if they were humans and could understand her. Her brothers and sisters told her she was silly for being like that, but Zelda was imaginative enough to be reverent towards all living things.
The eldest child of Ralph and Emma Hughes, Zelda had four brothers and sisters. She was nineteen years old with honey blonde hair and green eyes. Her skin was smooth pink-white and peppered with red-gold freckles from the bright midday sun. She worked on the farm along with the rest of her family, so having fair skin was not quite an option for her. Neither was keeping the dust off of her clothing for more than a few hours.
Her mother often got cross with her because Zelda was so afraid of the cows. She couldn’t milk them if she was anxious about getting near them, and Nessie was the absolute worst. However, if she didn’t milk the cows then they would suffer. And, more importantly, her mother would yell at her for not doing her part in the morning’s chores.
As much as Zelda loved her family, as the years rolled on, she found that she was growing tired of farm life. Oh, the land was all right and she had a decent bed, but she didn’t like having to get up at sunrise and have to labor so vigorously. She believed that she worked harder than any other lady her age.
And, what was worse, she and her family lived in a place that didn’t have that many people. Zelda felt lonely, not really having friends outside of her family. Most everyone around was old like her Pa or young like her brothers and sisters. Zelda longed for a friend her own age to spend her free time with – not that she got much of that anyway.
Annie: A Bride For The Farmhand - A Clean Historical Western Romance (Stewart House Brides Book 3) Page 15