Rose smiled proudly. “Yes, it would have been my grandparents and parents. Was there a little girl on a young man’s shoulders?”
“I think there was. Was that you?”
“Yes, that was me,” Rose said with a lump in her throat. She’d performed for so many years and had so many good memories of those first years.
“Why are you giving it up now?”
“I can no longer perform and decided I wanted a new life away from the circus.” Rose pointed to her left shoulder.
“Ah, just like me,” Mr. Moore pointed to an empty pant leg. Rose had noticed his crutches by his rocker.
“Sometimes circumstances beyond your control changes your course. I was a brakeman for years until I fell off the train at the wrong time and lost my leg.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Mr. Moore. Do you have family here to help you?”
Mr. Moore turned to look at Cullen, but Cullen didn’t meet his eye or say anything.
“Cullen helps me out since it’s hard for me to carry groceries home from the store.”
The silence in the room continued as neither spoke about their relationship. Was Mr. Moore Cullen’s father, uncle, older cousin? Did she dare ask? Or change the subject?
“Since I’m without a groom, Pastor Reagan suggested Cullen marry me next Sunday,” Rose said to stir up the tension in the room.
“Am I going to be invited to your wedding, Cullen?” Mr. Moore quietly asked.
“I think there are other men better suited for Rose’s husband than me. I’m just showing Miss Leander around town this evening.”
Rose looked between the two men, but they didn’t seem to have any more to say to each other.
After a few more moments, Cullen stood up. “We better get back to the parsonage. Ma will have supper ready soon. I’ll see you next Sunday, Charlie.”
The older man sighed, knowing that was the end of their visit. “Nice to meet you, Miss Leander.” He held out his hand, and Rose shook it while Cullen moved the chair back to the other room.
And without another word, Cullen escorted Rose out the back door to return to the street. Dare she ask what Cullen and Mr. Moore’s relationship was? Yes, Rose decided because they couldn’t have that big of a secret between them if they chose to marry.
Chapter 7
“Mr. Moore seems like a nice man,” Rose said as they walked away from the small house.
“Seems to be. I…haven’t spent much time with him,” Cullen quietly answered her.
Rose gave him a look, probably wondering why they only visited one day a week. Cullen hadn’t told anyone Charlie was his father, just an older man he helped.
The Reagans knew but never mentioned it to others since Cullen asked them not to. The family always kept a parishioners’ conversations in the church office between them, so this was no different.
“And why don’t you visit him more often?” Rose quietly asked.
“Just don’t. I have my job and other activities going on,” Cullen said without looking at her, concentrating on the uneven ground they were walking on instead. He didn’t want Rose to fall.
“Cullen, your mother told me why you were adopted when you were young. It doesn’t bother me, nor shame me to be associated with you.”
“Ma told you about my mother?” Cullen felt his face and neck heat with shame.
“Yes, that your birth mother worked in a brothel, and you were left to fend for yourself after she died. I’m sorry for your loss, Cullen.”
Cullen wiped his hand over his face. Years later the facts still stung.
“Is Mr. Moore your father, Cullen?”
Cullen stopped to stare at Rose. What? How did she guess that?
“You two look a lot alike, except Mr. Moore’s hair is silver now. Am I right?”
What could he say? Cullen hadn’t told a soul about his father being in town.
Cullen decided to confess because this might change Rose’s mind about marrying him.
“Yes, Charlie is my father. Charlie came to the area looking for me after my ma died because he thought I was his son.
“Charlie found out I had been taken in by the Reagans, so he left without saying anything. He decided a preacher’s family could offer more to me than him since he was always traveling as a brakeman,” Cullen confessed.
“I’m so glad you’re together again. How did that happen?”
“Charlie was hurt nearby a few months ago. I rented the house for him since he couldn’t work anymore.”
And now it boiled down to Cullen was strapped for money to take care of a wife and family, because he was taking care of his father, who Cullen didn’t want to acknowledge.
“If we marry, Mr. Moore could move in with us,” Rose told Cullen.
Cullen couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Rose would take in his father, willingly, knowing their background?
“It would be more economical to have one household versus two homes,” Rose continued.
Cullen hadn’t asked Rose to marry him, but she was making plans to include Charlie anyway?
“Can we walk by the two homes that are for sale?” Rose asked as she looked around the neighborhood. Cullen’s brothers talked about the houses again during dinner, so Rose knew they were for sale.
“Rose, I’m not sure—”
“Not sure you want to marry me or include your father in your life?” Rose interrupted him.
“Both. A few days ago, you were Kandt’s bride I was writing to on his behalf, and Charlie was just a man I delivered groceries to on Sundays.” Cullen shook his head, still not comprehending how fast his world changed.
“I know what you mean. I thought I’d be a rancher’s wife this week,” Rose answered him while shrugging her shoulders.
How could she be so calm about her life being upended?
“Most women I know would be wringing their hands or bawling their eyes out with your predicament. Why are you so calm?”
“I suppose my background, maybe? You must stay focused and tranquil when you’re walking a high wire. You can’t panic, or you’ll fall, or cause others to fall.”
Cullen and Rose walked on in silence. They’d be walking by one of the houses at the end of this block, so they might as well look at it to satisfy Rose’s curiosity.
“I wouldn’t mind your father living with us, because our circus family has always been packed together like sardines in a can, or rather a rail car.”
“Rose, I haven’t told anyone, besides the Reagans, that Charlie could be my father. People would wonder why he’d live with us unless he was family.”
“Family is whoever you choose, or who chooses you. The Reagans are your family, but you’re not related to them. I consider my fellow travelers, the Bearded Lady, as my honorary aunt, and the Skeleton Man, my uncle.”
Cullen couldn’t help but smile at Rose’s version of a family. Rose and he had such a different background. In some ways it seemed to conflict, and in other ways, it was…refreshing.
Cullen stopped and pointed at the house on the corner. “This is one of the houses. I haven’t been in it, so I can’t say anything about floorplan. It’s owned by the bank, so I’d have to talk to—”
“Does anyone live there now?” Rose interrupted him.
“No, it’s empty, but—” Shoot. Rose ran up to the house, intent to look in the windows. Oh no. Now she’s trying the door handle!
“Rose, you shouldn’t—go inside.”
Too late. Rose realized the low front porch window wasn’t locked, pushed it open, and vaulted one-handed over the window sill. By the time Cullen walked to the front door, Rose had it open and was waiting for him.
“You know Marshal Wilerson would call that breaking and entering,” Cullen told Rose when he stopped in front of her.
“I didn’t break anything, and you’re the only person who entered through the door,” Rose smiled sweetly.
The woman would add a little sparkle to his dull life.
“I a
ssume Mack or Jasper Kerns would be best to inspect the house to see if it’s sound. The plaster needs to be fixed in a few places on that back wall, and painted a bright, cheerful color,” Rose said as she assessed the front room.
Dare he ask what a bright, cheerful color was to a woman who grew up in the circus? It was probably yellow, orange, and red.
Cullen followed Rose into the kitchen, waiting for her thoughts on this room because he was sure she'd have some.
Rose walked over to the cook stove, opening up the oven door and peering in, before opening and closing the fire door.
“You know, I've never cooked on a stove before. The circus cook fixed all our meals.”
“Uh, so you don't know how to cook?” That seemed...unbelievable for a woman not to know how.
“No, but I'm sure I can learn,” Rose's mischievous smile knew she was up to something. “I know there are excellent cooks and bakers in your town. I could ask for their advice and recipes.”
“Just as well have Dan and Edna Clancy to move in with us too,” Cullen muttered under his breath.
“Excuse me? Did you say something?” Rose asked as she backed away from looking out the back porch door.
“Just wondering if the stove worked okay. It would have to be checked out.”
But his words hung in the air unheard because Rose had already wandered on.
“There's no downstairs bedroom unless we use the parlor room as such. Your father needs to be downstairs and have a room to himself.”
“Is there a bathroom?” Cullen opened the extra doors to see where they led to. Charlie would need that too, instead of trying to get to the outhouse Cullen had spied in the far corner of the backyard.
One door led upstairs and the other to the cellar.
“Let's look upstairs, but I don't think this house will work for us,” Rose said as she sprinted up the narrow stairs. Not having use of her left arm didn't slow down her legs.
Cullen waited at the bottom of the staircase because he was sure Rose had already looked around and made up her mind.
“No, the rooms are alright, but Charlie couldn't get up and down those narrow steps without falling.”
“What if Charlie doesn't want to move? Maybe he likes his privacy in his own home,” Cullen threw another block in Rose's path, hoping it would slow her down.
Rose looked thoughtful for a moment as if considering Charlie's point of view.
“No, I think he'd like the company and would welcome our help with his daily needs,” Rose concluded. “His home had a particularly bad smell to it. How does he bathe and wash his clothes?”
Cullen scratched his head and looked away not knowing how to answer that. Cullen had concentrated on bringing Charlie food, so he assumed the man did a spit bath in the kitchen basin.
The smell probably came from the dirty floor if Charlie spilled a little of the chamber pot as he carried it, using his crutches, out the back door and to the nearby outhouse.
“Who does his laundry?” was Rose's next question.
“There's a lady in town who does his laundry, as well as mine. She picks up and delivers washing back to us, and I pay both our bills.”
“I'd like to continue her services after we marry since it's hard for me to wring out clothing.”
Cullen sighed. Rose still assumed they were getting married. But he quit telling her no, so what should he expect? Maybe the idea was growing on him.
Rose stood with the front door open, waiting for him to leave? No doubt she'd crawl through the window again.
“Let's look at the other house now, shall we?”
What could Cullen do but walk out the door? His life was being taken over by a circus ringleader.
Chapter 8
Monday
Rose was lying on her right side on Doctor Pansy’s examination room table with a hot wet towel on her left shoulder. She didn’t look forward to the doctor manipulating her injury, but Doctor Pansy thought something could be done for her stiff joints, so Rose wanted her to try.
“Just relax your shoulder and arm and let me move it,” Doctor Pansy said as she removed the towel and gently pushed around on her shoulder socket.
“What exactly caused the injury and how long afterward before you were treated?”
Rose sighed, hating to think of the accident but that day was very clear in her mind.
“Our train collided with another when a rail switch wasn’t changed. Rail cars buckled, tipped, and some slid down an embankment. I was sitting on the opposite side of the car when it tipped over, so I fell off my seat and down onto other people and seats. Of course, all baggage in the racks above the seats fell too.”
“That must have been awful,” Doctor Pansy said as she gently worked Rose’s shoulder back and forth, and then in a very slow circle.
“What was the worst, was the screaming and moaning of injured people, and animals in the rail car behind us. Just awful,” Rose said with an involuntary shudder.
“Don’t tense up. Relax your shoulder again.”
“Sorry. The car twisted as it fell over and many of the seats were ripped from the floor. I was hit with one of the seats hard enough to knock my shoulder out of place. It was hours before a doctor looked at it.”
“What did he do?”
“Tried to push it back in place and wrapped it in a sling. I wore the sling for a month before finally taking it off. Even though I try, I can’t move it, or my elbow to any certain degree. It’s as if they are frozen,” Rose said, hating the pain and loss of movement she’d had for months.
“I think part of the problem is the shoulder is not back in the right place, and the muscles have shrunk around the socket since you haven’t been moving your arm. I think with time and therapy, you can get some range of motion back.”
Rose was stunned by Doctor Pansy’s assessment. She had come to terms with the fact that she’d be crippled for life, but maybe there was hope?
“Then something can be done to improve my limitations?” Rose relaxed again, enjoying the slow movement Doctor Pansy was making with her shoulder.
“I think if I work on your shoulder and elbow every day for a week or two, you’ll be able to exercise them yourself to improve the motion.”
“Oh, I’d so appreciate it, Doctor. I’ll be in your office twice a day if that will help,” Rose sighed with relief.
“We don’t want to push it too hard at this point. You don’t want to re-injure your shoulder. Take it easy so your body can heal.”
“That’s all I’ve done for months, and I’m ready to get on with my life, hence me answering Richard Kandt’s letters. Then my life’s plan dissolved with his refusal to marry me.”
Doctor Pansy laughed. “Life has a way of doing that. I answered Clear Creek’s town council’s call for a doctor. They were surprised I was a woman doctor and about ran me out of town.”
“But you’re still practicing here, and married to Mack,” Rose finished because Kaitlyn Reagan had told Rose about Doctor Pansy and Mack’s romance and marriage.
Doctor Pansy shrugged her shoulders. “Time, good people, and a little luck convinced me to stay. How about you and Cullen? Pastor and Kaitlyn are bound and determined you’re the right person for their son. What do you think?”
“Since it turns out that Cullen and I were writing to each other, rather than me and Richard, I feel as if I knew him before we met in person. We have a lot in common, and I do like Cullen.”
“Well enough to marry him? The Reagans take the marriage vows very seriously.”
Rose thought about that as Doctor Pansy pressed in another spot and rotated her shoulder in the opposite direction.
“I have funds, so I don’t have to marry, but I haven’t told Cullen that. I left the circus life because I want a husband, children, and a normal life.”
“If Cullen doesn’t come through with a marriage proposal, then what? Adolph Bjorklund is always looking for a wife.”
Rose couldn’t help snickering. “
Adolph is a nice man, but there were no sparks between us. While I’m waiting for Cullen to propose, I’m going to work on another dream of mine.”
“Which is?”
Doctor Pansy pushed Rose’s shoulder a little further, making Rose cringe but she made herself relax again.
“I’ve written a romance novel and sent it to a publishing company before I traveled to Kansas. I’m hoping my first book will be accepted and I want to write more books, possibly a series.”
“Interesting. And where are you going to write?”
“I’m not sure yet. I hate to wear out my welcome at the parsonage. Cullen and I looked at the two houses for sale in town, but neither of them was acceptable for what I wanted.”
“Plus, you don’t have a marriage proposal yet.”
“Exactly. I assume you know Charlie Moore?”
Doctor Pansy’s hands paused for a second. “Yes, why?”
“Cullen took me to meet him yesterday when he was delivering food, in hopes I’d frown on his and Charlie’s relationship.”
“I'm assuming that doesn’t bother you?”
“Not in the least. In fact, I suggested Charlie move in with us if Cullen and I marry. We’d need a first-floor bedroom for him, but neither house had a room downstairs that would work for that.”
Doctor Pansy started bending Rose’s arm at her elbow.
“Cullen is a wonderful man, but he is also very cautious, conscientious, and worries about what other’s think, about himself and others. He’ll mull something over in his mind for a long time before acting on it, if at all,” Doctor Pansy mused.
“In other words, if I want to get something done quickly, I do it myself?” Rose grinned at Doctor Pansy.
“Or you ask the church women’s group to help you. That group of women has done everything from captured bad men to planned weddings in a few hours. Mack calls them ‘the peashooter society’ and after getting to know Kaitlyn Reagan, Edna Clancy, and Kate Connely, you’ll see that the group name fits,” Doctor Pansy told Rose.
The peashooter society. Rose liked that idea. She was used to quickly loading, quick-fire, and fast discharge when getting the circus in and out of town. She could use the same strategy to get her idea in place, with or without Cullen.
Grooms with Honor Series, Books 4-6 Page 16