Helen Heals A Hotelier (Brides With Grit Book 10)

by Linda K. Hubalek

  Helen wrapped her arms around Ethan’s waist and lifted her chin, waiting expectantly for a kiss, one of many they’d shared since marrying this morning.

  “The color green may not be considered the right color for a wedding dress, but I thought it appropriate for a holiday wedding.”

  “And it compliments your pretty auburn hair and green eyes...”

  “And your mother loves the color...”

  Ethan chuckled as he tried to kiss Helen, then had to stop because they were both laughing now.

  “Oh, Helen, you and my mother are a pair. Now I have two strong women in my life.”

  Helen stopped to smooth the fitted jacket across Ethan’s shoulders, then looked up into Ethan’s eyes.

  “Seriously though, the girls and I are so blessed to be part of the Paulson family now.

  “Six weeks ago I took a chance and brought my girls to the Kansas frontier to marry a man sight unseen. I never would have guessed the man would be a fraud and we’d be abandoned and penniless.”

  “Well, I’m glad your marriage to him wasn’t legal, because I fell in love with you—and your girls—the first time you walked into the hotel carrying those two heavy bags. The hole in my lovesick heart started to mend that second—until I found out you were a mail-order bride.”

  “At least that marriage only lasted a few hours, and I was back in your hotel. I wished on more than one occasion that first week that you would have been my groom. You were kind and attentive to the girls, and gave us food and shelter. And such a handsome man to look at...”

  “I volunteered to keep you in the hotel so I’d have you close by, and could ward off anyone wanting you as their bride.”

  Helen laughed at that. “Oh I had proposals, but I didn’t take them, hoping you’d wise up and ask me to marry you.”

  “I knew I had to keep you around because of your talent in running the hotel. I had a limited time to prove I could be a good manager, and you helped me succeed.”

  “Yes, we do make a good team, and I’m glad your parents saw that.”

  “Oh, they knew the minute they walked back into the hotel that things were greatly improved, thanks to the woman manning the front desk. The girls were icing on the cake for my father.”

  “And your mother?”

  “At first the girls reminded her of her loss. I knew she had lost a baby before I was born but my parents never talked about it. Until this week, I never knew they had lost three girls. I think that’s why she’s always pushed that I should have sons. She couldn’t bear losing another girl.”

  “Well now she has four granddaughters to enjoy, and very possibly more in the future,” Helen hinted while raising an eyebrow.

  “I’m hoping for four boys to go with my four girls,” Ethan said with a grin. “We’ll have the whole third floor to ourselves once my parents find a place to live.

  “I’m so grateful you took the chance to be a mail-order bride in Kansas.” Ethan said before giving Helen another kiss.

  “And I’m so thankful it turned out that Mr. Maurice Jensen—or whatever his real name is—was a fraud—who led me to you.”

  ~*~*~*~

  I hope you enjoyed Helen and Ethan’s story. Please keep reading to see what happens next in Clear Creek, Kansas, in Nolan’s Vow, the introduction to the Grooms with Honor series.

  A historical romance set in 1885 in Debra Holland’s Montana Sky Kindle World.

  Nolan Clancy finished his military career in Fort Ellis, Montana Territory and is traveling home to run his grandparents’ café in Kansas. His train is delayed in Sweetwater Springs, MT because of a snow storm, and he helps a woman feed the waylaid passengers in the café in town.

  Holly Brandt grew up on military forts where her father was an interpreter between the soldiers and the Indians. Her mother, a full-blooded Cheyenne, and Holly’s two sisters died in Kansas before she and her father moved to the Montana Territory. Her father’s death leaves Holly orphaned and homeless until she finds work in a café.

  When the café owner decides to sell her business and move away, Nolan invites Holly to travel to Kansas with him.

  People don’t always treat Holly with respect because of her mother’s Cheyenne heritage, but Nolan sees her as a kind woman always wanting to help others. His pastor has always told him to respect and honor women as it says in the wedding vows, and Nolan realizes he wants to say the real wedding vows to Holly.

  But will their differences, along with the townspeople’s interference, let them have their happily ever after?

  Chapter 1

  Sweetwater Springs, Montana Territory

  December 1885

  “You going to wait on us or not?”

  Nolan Clancy glanced at the recent irate customer in this little café. The man wasn’t the first to throw a question at the harried waitress. He’d only seen her from the back of her faded black dress as she rushed between the dining room and the kitchen.

  It was a small building with less than two dozen tables to seat customers, and it was full with the travelers who had disembarked the train for food.

  “Come on, lady! Get out here and take our order. Can’t you understand English?”

  “Stupid half-breed,” grumbled the man’s companion at the table.

  One more remark like that and Nolan would introduce himself to the men, and not with a polite handshake.

  “She seems to be alone back there in the kitchen, Ronald. Maybe we should have something other than a ham sandwich?” Nolan tensed at the man’s words and their meaning. Good grief! Besides the room being full where all could hear his remark, he was being just plain crude.

  “Shut up, Griffin. I’m hungry for food, not a squaw.”

  Nolan reached to his right side and flicked open the flap on his holster, making his Remington Army revolver ready to use if need be. He’d already taken off his hat, dress gloves and blue cavalry greatcoat when he entered the building, hanging them on an available hook on the side wall.

  He was officially out of the army as of a few days ago, but maybe still dressed as a soldier would help curb the attitudes of these yahoos.

  The café door opened again, letting in cold air and a swirl of snow as more people walked in, hoping they’d found a place to eat. Unfortunately, the train was full of passengers trapped in a little Montana Territory town, and many had ventured off the train for food and a warmer place to wait out the delay.

  The door opened again as a couple left, unwilling to wait any longer for service. Was there another café in town though?

  When Nolan stepped off the train, all he saw was a single street with a scattering of snow-covered false-front buildings, with empty lots between them. Houses were sparse, situated on either side of the main street. The dwellings ranged from log cabins, wood-framed homes, to a few tents. The town was situated between the mountains and the prairie so it had a smattering of pines, firs, and deciduous trees, which hadn’t been cut down yet for building sites. And everything was covered with a thick layer of snow.

  I wonder if we have snow at home yet. Kansas had cold weather and snow in winter, but it didn’t start as early or last as long as the Montana Territory winters.

  The kitchen door swung open, with the waitress balancing a tray of stacked empty cups on one hand, while carrying a full enamel pot of coffee with her other. Did she have every cup in the café on one tray? Nolan jumped to his feet and came to her aid as the tray started to wobble.

  “Here, let me help you, Ma’am. I’ll take the tray and set it down for you.”

  Her eyes flashed from the tray to his face and her shoulder dipped as he took the tray with both hands. Nolan was glad she grabbed the pot handle with both hands because he was afraid that was the next thing heading for the floor.

  “Seems like you were surprised with a sudden full café. Do you have any help?” She looked at him questionably. Maybe the woman didn’t understand English.

  The woman’s light blue eyes were a contrast to her gol
den skin but Nolan liked the combination, along with her shiny coal black hair pulled back in a braided bun at the nape of her neck.

  “Ma’am? May I help you serve your customers?” Nolan said slowly, hoping she knew some words other than her own language.

  “Why? Are you an Army cook?” The woman answered in clear English.

  “No, ma’am, I’m Nolan Clancy, just out of the military and heading home. Seems like we’re stuck in your little village for a while so I’d be glad to serve or cook if you need help.”

  “Oh, I don’t know…”

  “I grew up in my grandparents’ café, so I can do anything related to making and serving food...except make a decent pie.” Nolan smiled when his words relaxed her shoulders.

  “I’d really appreciate that. My boss slipped on a patch of ice this morning and is back in bed, so...” She stopped and covered her mouth like she’d said too much.

  “Quit flirting and let the woman get our meals out, Soldier!”

  Nolan took the coffee pot from the woman and set it on the side table beside the tray of cups, and then turned to face the crowded room.

  “Help yourself to the coffee while we dish up and serve the meal then,” Nolan announced while first waving at the table, then at the kitchen door. “After you, Ma’am, I think you have a bunch of hungry customers to feed.”

  Nolan looked around the kitchen as he unbuttoned his fatigue blouse. He’d be plenty warm working in his vest and shirt.

  “What’s your name, Ma’am?”

  “Miss Holly Brandt, sir. Thank you for your help,” she said politely but looked like she was ready to bolt back into the dining room instead of staying by herself with him.

  “Well, Miss Brandt, I’m pleased to meet you and glad to be of service. When I was growing up, our town preacher drilled in us boys to always help a woman in need, be it to cross the street or defend her life.” Nolan looked around where to put his discarded clothing, then draped it across the back of a chair next to the side table.

  “What’s on your menu today, Miss Brandt?”

  “Um, I just made a single pot of stew because we hardly have more than eight to ten people on a bad winter day, and it’s easy to keep warm while customers wander in. I never expected the train to have problems and travelers venturing off to eat here.”

  “You have canned meat and vegetables in your pantry?” Nolan asked as he eyed the pot on the stove, and then the closed door, which probably led to the storage room.

  “Yes, we grew a garden and canned quite a bit for the winter months. Why?”

  “Perfect. We’ll serve Clancy Stew then. Please put two more pots on the stove to warm them up while I get the supplies I need.”

  Nolan knew Miss Brandt was staring at his back when he opened the pantry door, but he was almost excited thinking of making his grandfather’s secret stew. He grabbed several varieties of canned vegetables and two jars of canned meat to make an armful of supplies.

  “What are you making?”

  “More stew. I assumed you started this pot hours ago.”

  “Yes, early this morning, before I baked the bread and pies I thought I needed for the day. But I don’t have enough to feed everyone in the packed dining room, let alone if more people wander in next.”

  “Not a problem with my grandfather’s recipe. One pot of his stew could feed ten to sixty people.”

  “How?”

  Nolan was already popping the seals on the glass jar lids he had lined up on the side table while he spoke. “Could you hand me a long wooden spoon, please?

  “Thank you,” Nolan said as he held one open jar of meat over one pot, then proceeded to spoon the contents into a heating pan.

  “Grandpa would heat various canned vegetables, and canned beef if need be, and then mix it with the original batch of stew to make it stretch.”

  “It makes sense, but it wouldn’t taste or look the same as the original stew.”

  “Didn’t matter to Grandpa’s customers. They all knew it would taste good.”

  Nolan noticed the loaves of bread on the worktable and nodded his head toward it as he continued to fill the two pots with the canned goods.

  “Were sandwiches an option for today’s meal?”

  “Yes, made with ham and cheese. Should I start making some sandwiches?”

  Nolan thought a minute before answering. What else did his grandparents serve on “stretch the stew” days?

  “Slice the bread loaves, then cut the slices into diagonal halves. We’ll single layer them on a baking sheet, then put slices of cheese on top, and heat them in the oven until it melts. We’ll put two half slices on the plate with a bowl of stew.”

  A man pushed open the kitchen door. “Do you have more coffee made?” he asked.

  Nolan lifted the second pot off the stove and carried it to the door to exchange with the man.

  “Thanks for helping out. We’ll have food out pretty soon.”

  Nolan turned back to Miss Brandt. “What kind of pie did you make for dessert today?”

  “All I made is three cherry pies, so that won’t be enough.”

  “But you have more fruit in the pantry, so we can whip up Grandma’s ‘Berry Crumble’. And do have any cream?”

  “Yes, but it’s not whipped.”

  “Well, we may or may not have the cream whipped depending on our time. Let’s get the main meal out first.”

  ***

  Holly was stunned when Mr. Clancy took over the kitchen, but he soon proved he knew what he was doing. Mrs. Randolph always did the cooking, and Holly took care of the prep work and customers. When her employer slipped on the ice patch this morning on the way to the outhouse, Holly assured the older woman she could handle the usual slow day in the café. Never did she expect to feed sixty people instead of the twenty or so regular customers she expected.

  She was also surprised when the man called out to the men hassling her. She’d heard derogatory comments her whole life because of her parentage, but few people, other than her father, stood up to her hecklers.

  Holly grew up on posts while her father was an interpreter and scout for the Army. Because Holly’s mother was Cheyenne, her father could speak that language, and several other Indian languages, so his service was in demand on the western frontier.

  Mr. Clancy was in his mid-to late twenties, although it was hard to tell with his boyish grin. His brown hair, on the long side, had lighter streaks of gold in it, showing the effects of being in the sun most of the year. Apparently, he wasn’t in the habit of shaving daily because he had a week’s worth of stubble on his face. Or maybe he hadn’t shaved since leaving the service. What she liked the most was the look of trust she saw in his sparkling gray eyes.

  She felt at ease around him, probably because he was a former soldier and wearing the army clothes she’d always seen her father wearing.

  “Okay, we’re ready to serve. Let’s feed your hungry customers.” Mr. Clancy lifted the heavy tray of plates easily and backed into the dining room. Holly carried two more plates and put them in front of customers before picking up and distributing plates from Mr. Clancy’s tray.

  “Today’s specials for all of you are Clancy Stew, cheese wedges, and berry crumble for dessert.” Mr. Clancy announced, therefore not giving anyone a chance to ask for something different.

  They turned to get the next plates when someone called out to question, “What if I want more stew? Not sure this will be enough to fill me up.”

  “Each extra bowl of stew is ten cents. We have plenty so eat up and enjoy.”

  Holly gulped down a protest thinking of how far they’d stretched the stew so far, but Mr. Clancy thought they’d have enough.

  By the time they served forty meals, four men were holding up their bowls for a refill.

  “That’s good stew. I want another.” The man who had given her a hard time was now asking for more? What will he say when the first bowl won’t taste like the second?

  “Coming right up, sir, th
en we’ll start handing out desserts next. Anyone need more coffee?”

  Several cups went up in the air indicating they wanted refills.

  “Miss Brandt will be happy to pour more coffee while I refill the stew bowls,” Mr. Clancy called out, as if he was running the place, which he was today.

  “Don’t forget to leave a tip for your waitress, besides for your extra bowls of stew.” Holly heard Mr. Clancy say under his breath while clearing tables.

  “Why?” the man questioned him.

  “Because it was a good meal, good service and she had to put up with your rude comments.”

  “But she’s a….”

  Mr. Clancy cut him off with hard stare and cold reply. “She deserves your respect because she’s a woman. Weren’t you ever taught manners?”

  “We can go outside and I’ll teach you some manners, Soldier.”

  “Come on, Griffin. Just shut up and pay up. We had a good meal. Let’s go see if the train is leaving this afternoon.”

  Holly watched from the kitchen door as Mr. Clancy collected money from the last two—and worst—customers, and walked them out of the café. She knew the soldier could take care of himself, but she’d thought about pulling Mrs. Randolph’s shotgun out of its hiding place just in case.

  Holly went back into the kitchen and poured hot water over the soap shavings she’d added to the washbasin. The worst thing about many customers was it left her with a lot of dishes to wash. But Mrs. Randolph would be so happy to see the cash this large group brought in today. Holly knew money was a concern for the widow, and she was happy she would help the kind woman who had taken her in after her father died a year ago.

  Mr. Clancy carried a loaded tray of dirty dishes into the kitchen and set it down on the side table.

  “Now I remember the worst job I had to do in my grandparents’ café.”

  Holly looked over her shoulder as she lowered the first handful of silverware into the hot water. “Let me guess. Washing dishes?”