Annie: A Bride For The Farmhand - A Clean Historical Western Romance (Stewart House Brides Book 3)

by Charity Phillips

  Zelda and Tom gazed lovingly at each other. Her cheeks ached a bit from smiling, but it was a beautiful kind of pain.

  “Zelda Clarice Hughes,” the minister said to her, “do you take Thomas Cooke, Jr. to be your lawfully-wedded husband, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, to honor and to obey, forsaking all others, in sickness and in health, until death do you part, as long as you both shall live?”

  Zelda gazed over at Tom. She smiled at him and he smiled back at her. Then she looked back to the minister and gave a little nod. “I do.”

  The minister turned his attention to Tom then. “Thomas Alexander Cooke, Jr., do you take Zelda Clarice Hughes to be your lawfully-wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, to protect and to comfort, forsaking all others, in sickness and in health, until death do you part, as long as you both shall live?”

  Tom grinned at the minister as if it was a silly question for him to even ask. “I do,” he said.

  The minister returned the focus of his speaking towards the crowd that was gathered there on the grass. “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. It is by the authority vested in me by God Himself – and the great town of Ogden – that I gladly and reverently pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

  Tom stepped the few inches towards Zelda. He gently raised her veil, letting it fall back behind her honey hair. Then he cupped her face in his hands and gave her a sweet, loving kiss. Zelda kissed him back with all of the passion that was there in her heart for him. Everyone in the congregation, as well as the bridesmaids and groomsmen, stood up and cheered, clapping their hands and hooting in their joy.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The festivities continued after the wedding when Mr. Cooke presented Tom and his new bride with the completed house that Tom and his father had been working to build for all of those months. “And now may I present to the new Mrs. Cooke… her new palace!” Mr. Cooke went to the front door of the house and pushed it open for them so they could go through and see what it was like inside.

  Zelda was ecstatic. It wasn’t exactly a surprise, considering that she’d been around for the entire construction and Tom had even mentioned that he wanted the new house to be for them instead. But still, it was glorious to be able to step inside the front door of that new house and know that she was going to be able to call it ‘home.’

  The deep wood paneling on the walls inside were a really nice touch. Tom had even had the home decorated with some furniture that his father helped him make along with a few other pieces that he was able to purchase in town. The living room and dining room were fairly sparse, but he made up for it in the library and the spacious bedroom on the upper floor. There was even a large feather bed in the bedroom and a closet for all of her dresses and things.

  Tom carried Zelda over the threshold of the house once they were officially invited inside, to more cheers from their friends and family.

  “I’m sorry that I couldn’t take you away for a little bit,” he told her once their hearts and nervousness had settled down and at last, they were alone together for the first time since their nuptials. Tom was Zelda’s husband and she was his wife. It didn’t feel completely real to her yet. “But you know I couldn’t get away. Not when this project with the rails is so important and so close to being finished.”

  Zelda smiled at him and nodded her head. “I understand,” she said, taking his hand as they sat together on the couch that he had bought from a small shop in town. “We’ll have our whole life together to go on adventures now.”

  Tom gazed into her green eyes. Bringing her hand to his lips, he softly kissed each of her fingertips. “I will take you around the world and back again if it’s what you want,” he promised her.

  They explored their new home together, marveling at the construction and the little details that had gone into it. “I particularly like the engraving here on the bookshelf,” Zelda said, running her fingers over the carved-in Z and T that were on display there.

  “I told my father that you would want a bookshelf,” he told her modestly. “But that was all his doing.”

  She noticed, too, that Mr. Cooke had gone to the trouble of carving a pretty Z into the top and bottom of her wardrobe in the bedroom. She smiled. It pleased her and made her feel secure somehow, to know that Mr. Cooke Sr. cared about her happiness, too. She didn’t care what her father might say about him. He was a true gentleman.

  The next several months flew by in marital bliss. Zelda would wake up early every morning and go visit the animals in her parents’ barn just like always while Tom was at work. She was considering getting her own animals, so she wouldn’t continue to rely on her mother’s milk and eggs. “I suppose this is my responsibility even more now,” she said to her.

  Meanwhile, the Cookes were planning their own eventual move out of the farmhouse. Mr. Hughes was happy to help them, of course, if it meant they’d get out of his space again. Zelda noticed a change in him since the wedding, though.

  “Mr. Cooke is not such a bad man,” he said thoughtfully. “He was a great help for the wedding, and he’s never shied away from helping us around the house when he had the time after his own work.”

  “It makes me so happy to hear you say that,” Zelda said with a smile. “He’s not going to make you leave the town, Papa. And he’s not going to make anyone else come here, either. He’s just a businessman, not really too much different from a cattle trader or a farmer like you.”

  Her father then did something that surprised her. He pulled her into a hug. “I don’t really worry about him anymore,” he told her. “I worry that Tom is going to make you want to leave town.”

  She sighed a little. Her heart felt heavy in her chest. “Tom won’t make me want to leave, either,” she said. “But I have always wanted to go somewhere new and exciting… Maybe only for a little while. I will always come back to you. I promise.”

  Her father nodded and let her go. It wasn’t quite the answer he was hoping for, but it was going to have to be good enough for him. “It’s not my place to try to control you anymore,” he said. “And I promise that I won’t try to.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  One day, early in May, Zelda awoke feeling odd. She was dizzy and doing the simple tasks around the house proved to be much more difficult than they usually were. She hadn’t risen in time to see her husband off to work, which was strange for her.

  At the first sign of something being truly amiss, Zelda put on a simple red and white dress and walked the short distance to her mother’s house. Mama will know what to do, she thought. Mama might even know what’s wrong with me.

  Her mother did indeed know what was troubling Zelda. As soon as she heard the symptoms, she broke out into a delighted and reassuring laugh. “Oh, darling, you’re going to be just fine!” she declared, hugging Zelda before telling her what was going on.

  Tom returned home to find Zelda sitting on the couch in their living room. She had been waiting for him for over an hour, too excited to do much else. Her head was spinning with excitement. “Tom!” she said, beaming and coming over to hug and kiss him.

  Smiling at her, he returned her hug and kisses. “It seems like you’ve had a good day,” he said. “What have you been up to?”

  She bit her lip, not wanting to just immediately blurt out her news. “You know how I stayed in bed this morning rather than waking up with you and seeing you off?”

  Tom raised an eyebrow and nodded. “I was wondering about that. I hope you’re feeling better now…”

  Zelda giggled a little. “Oh, I’m feeling much better. In fact, there’s nothing at all wrong with me. I went over to visit my mother and ask her for her opinion, or what she thought it might be, and she knew right away.” She took a deep breath, beaming all the more at Tom. “We’re going to have a baby!”

  Tom’s jaw dropped. Then he grinned at her, one of those big handsome grins that had made Zelda fall in love with him in the first pl
ace. He hugged her gently but tightly, lifting her up slightly and cuddling her even more. “That’s wonderful news!” he cried, his voice cracking a little with his emotion.

  “We should go visit the town doctor together, to confirm it with a professional, of course,” Zelda said, wiping the tears from her eyes. “But my mother would know what the symptoms mean. She’s been through it enough times.”

  “Yes, of course,” Tom said with a nod. “We will go to the doctor first thing tomorrow. I want to make sure that everything is going right with it, too. Oh, Zelda!” He kissed her and hugged her again, overcome with joy and surprise.

  It was a lot to take in. Tom had been so busy for so long on the railway in Promontory Point. Soon that was going to come to a momentous end, but until now they didn’t know exactly what they might be doing once his work there was done. Now it was obvious that Tom was going to need to keep up his good work elsewhere, perhaps working on another big, important project. “As long as nothing takes you away from me,” Zelda said emphatically. “Where you go, the baby and I will go.”

  It was all well and good to think about their new life together in terms of the two of them, but now that there was going to be a baby involved, they were going to need to be responsible and thrifty in order to make ends meet and make sure that the baby was healthy and happy.

  The following morning, like Tom had said, they went into town and the doctor looked into Zelda’s symptoms as well as felt her belly. “Why yes,” he said with a nod of confirmation. “Mrs. Cooke is with child. Congratulations!”

  The doctor and Tom shook hands. It all felt just a little bit more real to Zelda once the doctor had affirmed it. She was going to be a mother! After being a caregiver for the barn animals for so long, Zelda was going to have a baby of her own to care for.

  “I suppose it will be just as you hoped for when we spoke about it a long time ago now,” she said to Tom, beaming radiantly. Something about her being with child made her seem to glow. Tom thought that she couldn’t be more beautiful. “You’re going to have your future household with me,” she said.

  Tom carefully picked Zelda up and carried her back to the couch, where they could cuddle some more. “I already do,” he said to her, petting her long honey curls. “But I look forward to continuing to make it grow.”

  Chapter Twenty

  All of Mr. Cooke’s and Tom’s work came to an end on a lovely day in early May, 1869. May tenth, in fact. The plan for the joining together of the railway lines had been scheduled for two days prior, but due to some scheduling conflicts and disputes, it was postponed until the tenth. Because of this, Zelda woke up with great anticipation on the day of the big event. She dressed quickly, in the beautiful green dress that she reserved for such auspicious occasions. “I am so proud of you, Tom,” she said. “I have been looking forward to this day for a long time. Not because I didn’t want you to be working anymore, but because I wanted to be able to witness this marvelous end result!”

  He grinned at her as they sat together and ate a quick breakfast of grits. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about me not being able to work anymore,” he said. “I believe today is the day that I find a new boss who will want me for the next assignment. Something to do with running these rails. Maybe I’ll even become a station manager!”

  Zelda rested her chin against her hand. “If there is such a need of a man for that job, then I know you’ll do it so well.”

  They kissed each other.

  Once they were done with their breakfast, Tom donned his brown cowboy hat and offered his arm to Zelda. She gladly took it. “Oh, this is mighty exciting!” she said.

  They took a wagon to the place where the ceremony was going to be held. Thomas came in the other wagon, bringing his wife and Diana along with him. The Hughes family even got into their buggy and made the trek over. Zelda’s eyes grew big at the sight of her father there.

  At Promontory Point, there was a sizeable crowd of people gathered. All of the townspeople had turned up, along with all of the rail workers who had been working for and with Thomas Cooke and his son Tom.

  Two trains slowly made their way to the point where the lines connected – one from the West and one from the East. Zelda held onto Tom’s hand, eagerly watching all that was unfolding. She bit her nails a little, suddenly overcome with dread that he might have to part from her in order to perform some duty for this ceremony, but he continued to hold fast to her hand. The wives of the men who had worked on the railway line were allowed to be a part of things. Once everything had reached the intersection of the two rail lines, Mr. Cooke and a man who was in charge of the Eastern line came forward and shook hands.

  Then, to great fanfare, a man named Leland Stanford was called forth to hammer in the golden spike, marking this very special occasion. He drove the spike down into the rails but missed slightly. Nevertheless, a cheer went up.

  “Done!” shouted one of the officials.

  Another cheer went up from the crowd of men and women that were gathered there.

  The spike was quickly taken back up as soon as that proud moment had passed. There was a laurel that was produced as well, and it was placed onto the joined tracks, only to be taken away soon after. How curious, she thought. However, it made sense that they wouldn’t want to operate a train over such a valuable spike. They would want to conserve this important piece of history for generations to come!

  Zelda looked around with glee, watching everyone as they celebrated. There was a flash of a camera and she was struck by just how important this day and this project really had been for Tom. He was not merely some railway worker – he had helped to bring these two crucial lines together. Her husband was a part of history and she couldn’t be prouder of him. She knew that he was going to get that station manager position that he had mentioned. In fact, quite a few men in suits had come forward to shake Tom’s hand and speak with him about his experience.

  Now that this railway project was complete, East and West could traverse the United States. It all made their great country feel even more united. Zelda thought about that and wondered if it might be possible for her to travel to see the entire country someday. She felt that, with Tom, anything was possible.

  Everyone clapped as speeches were made. All of the workers, including the drivers of the two trains that had stopped there, congratulated each other and gave each other pats on the back. Zelda looked over curiously and saw, with her own eyes, her father hugging Mr. Cooke. He was smiling genuinely. She smiled at the sight and tears welled up in her eyes. The wedding of the rails had brought everyone together in more ways than one. She couldn’t wait to see where they could go from there.

  THE END

  Millie’s Christmas Surprise

  Ogden, Utah Territory – 1875

  Millie Saxton knows what she wants. Or, more accurately, she knows what she doesn’t want. She left New York, the place of her birth and her successful job as a seamstress at a shirtwaist factory, to find love out West. She met a man named James O’Neill who placed an advertisement in the newspaper and, before long, sent for her. But when the train stops in Ogden, Utah and a nasty winter storm hits, Millie finds that her future as Mr. O’Neill’s bride might not be what she wants.

  A blacksmith by the name of Clyde Roberts hammers his way into her life and refuses to leave. What started out as a chance meeting on the main street of Ogden becomes something far more noteworthy for Millie.

  Will she be forced to continue westward and keep her word to James, or can this handsome metalworker unlock her heart and let her dreams come alive?

  Chapter 1

  The train jostled Millie Saxton awake. Her head was pressed up against the glass window and she didn’t know how long she’d been asleep, but gazing out of the window she realized that her train had stopped. She had finally arrived at her destination – well, her first stop anyway.

  Gathering her bags, she stepped off the train and onto the platform at the Ogden station. From here,
Millie’s plan was to continue on to California. She grinned a bit as the sun’s warm rays touched her pale skin. She’d just arrived and already the West felt like home.

  The sun couldn’t quite ward off the wintry chill, however. As soon as she’d thought about how pleasant this place was, a gust hit her face and woke her up to the fact that it was indeed mid-November and it was no time to be standing outside without a coat on. Fortunately, Millie had packed along such a garment.

  She brought her bags to a bench and set them down before rummaging through them for her handmade, black woolen jacket. Millie hadn’t had much back home in New York, but she’d worked in a shirtwaist factory so she knew a thing or two about making clothing. Once she found the jacket in question, she threw it on and carefully buttoned it up. That would help keep her warm for the time being.

  Collecting up her bags once again, Millie marched with purpose to the ticket counter. She smiled politely at the man sitting there. “Hello,” she said. “What time is the train to Coloma arriving, please?”

  The man at the ticket counter looked at his ledger and tutted a bit. “’Fraid the train is delayed three days. There’s some nasty weather in Nevada.”

  Millie’s smile folded into a frown. This was not the sort of news that she wanted to hear, nor was she prepared for it. “I see… Well, thank you, sir.”

  Collecting up her bags again, she approached a carriage driver who was parked outside of the train station, seemingly for the exact purpose that she needed him for. “Excuse me, sir?” she said, approaching him with another polite smile on her face which she somehow mustered even though she was feeling rather downtrodden at the news.

  “Hello, little lady,” the driver said, smiling back at her. “Do you need a lift somewhere?”