Grooms with Honor Series, Books 4-6

by Linda K. Hubalek

  “And I look forward to that, now that I’m over the shock.

  “You know I never knew my middle name before this evening. When you were getting the cake, Charlie told me I was named Cullen Charles O’Malley when I was born. Cullen was Sargent O’Malley’s first name, and my mother added Charles as my middle name because she knew Charlie was my father.”

  “Having your father here opens a new world for you. Will it bother your parents and brothers?” Rose asked as she handed Cullen the last serving bowl to be dried.

  “No. We knew we were adopted and we boys made up stories of what our parents were like when we were young. I was the only one who, I thought, knew my mother’s story, based on what I remembered of the brothel. Turns out my memories weren’t the best.”

  “And aren’t you glad the truth came out tonight?” Rose nudged Cullen with her hip.

  “Speaking of truth,” Cullen bumped Rose with his hip. “Thanks for cooking the meal tonight. The brisket was tough, but the cake was delicious.”

  Cullen wrapped the towel around Rose’s waist and pulled her closer until they stood toe to toe. He leaned down to kiss her upturned lips. Rose melted against him like warm chocolate frosting.

  She would love to be kissed like this every evening after supper. Life in the circus didn’t permit this kind of close relationships between couples.

  If she told the truth now? She was glad that her recent chain of events landed her in Clear Creek in Cullen’s arms.

  Chapter 12

  Thursday

  “Slow down, kids! Don’t run into Miss Leander’s apartment without—” Jasper told his children as they ran through Rose’s door the moment she opened it.

  “Without knocking?” Mack grinned at Jasper.

  “Don’t worry Jasper, your children and I have already met, and I told them they are welcome in my home anytime,” Rose told the furniture maker when he followed his children into her home. Because Rose shared the staircase and landing with the Kerns, Rose had already met Jasper’s wife, Julip, and her children, five-year-old Tara and three-year-old Tyrell.

  “Let’s see what you need up here,” Mack said as he walked around the apartment he and Jasper built this past year. It was void of any shelving, furniture, etc. until the new renter or owner moved in.

  “It needs everything. It’s empty,” Tara said as she whirled in circles.

  “You’re right, Tara, but I have plans to change that,” Rose told the child.

  “Jasper, what furniture do you have on hand that I can buy now?”

  “Well now, I can sell you everything I got, which is displayed downstairs in our store, and build more too. I have a nice table and six chairs that would fit in this dining room. I’ll have to tell you I don’t like to make chairs, so I order them first, then finish the table to match the color.”

  “You don’t have to apologize for that, Jasper. I’ve seen your table and matching chairs, and I love them. I would also like you to build a matching buffet table for this wall though,” Rose said as she walked to the wall to the right of the windows. The light was bright with the three large windows in the room.

  “If you don’t sew, talk to Mary Jenkins about curtains,” Mack said when he saw Rose walk to the window and look down. Hopefully, he didn’t realize she was looking toward the post office, hoping to see Cullen out and about.

  “I’ll do that. That’s one skill I didn’t learn in the circus.”

  Rose would order a parlor set for the living area. She’d love to have a matching set of a divan, two or three upholstered chairs, and a rocker. And at least two end tables. Rose wondered if she’d have a choice for the upholstery colors.

  Rose followed as the group moved into the kitchen, after waiting for Tara to attempt some handstands in the doorway. Rose would have to put on a costume and teach Tara some simple aerobatics. Even without the use of her left arm, Rose could probably still do one-handed stands, tumbling, and flips.

  “Isaac Connely’s already furnished the kitchen with the wood stove and dry sink. You want shelves and a counter built on the west wall?” Mack asked.

  “I have so much space I’m giddy!” Rose laughed. “Build whatever you think I’d need, Mack.”

  “A work table and set of chairs would be nice for the middle of the room. How about a pie safe?” Jasper asked.

  “Yes, I’d like a pie safe. Pies have become my favorite dessert since Millie Wilerson showed me how to make them.”

  “You’re living here by yourself?” Tara asked as she jumped from one leg to the other. The girl was a bundle of energy, and Rose enjoyed seeing the girl so happy and carefree. She’d heard the sad tale of how Julip and the children were living in the Montana Territory before Jasper found them and moved the family to Clear Creek.

  “Well, so far I am,” Rose confided.

  “My brother hasn’t…?” Mack quietly asked without giving Tara something more to ask about.

  “Not yet, but I’m not waiting. I was raised to move on, so I am,” Rose answered as she moved to the bathroom right off the kitchen.

  “Your bathroom is just like ours,” Tara said as she jumped into the built-in tin tub which had a drain in the bottom. This was Rose’s favorite room, although she wouldn’t tell the men that. To have her own bathroom, with a sink, tub, and flushing toilet, after living on trains and in tents her whole life, was just…wonderful.

  “This building, with the two apartments, is the first in town to have indoor water. There are gutters on the roof that collect rainwater, which is stored in a cistern in the attic. The used water drains outside the building. Don’t waste water though, or you’ll have to haul water up the stairs from the well out back.”

  “Or during a drought,” Mack added. “The bathroom is right off the kitchen, so you can draw water from the faucet in the bathroom into the bucket, then heat it up on the kitchen stove for your bath. Then pull the plug to drain the tub instead of hauling the used bath water downstairs.”

  Rose was going to love living here, with or without a husband.

  Jasper led the way to the largest bedroom next.

  “I have one bedroom set for sale. It includes a bed headboard and frame, a chest of drawers, a dresser with a top mirror and a wardrobe,” Jasper rattled off his inventory. “I think all that would fit in this room.”

  “The two other bedrooms are smaller, designed for children. You could add furniture in those rooms as needed,” Mack said since he knew the room measurements.

  Would Cullen have any furniture to move here, if they married? Or did he rent his room furnished?

  “We’ll move in the furniture today. Let’s go downstairs to see what you need for the library and Charlie’s space,” Jasper said as they walked outside to the stair landing.

  Julip stepped out of their apartment door. “Children, please come back inside. Let the adults finish their business in peace.”

  “They aren’t bothering us, Julip. Actually, I’d love for you to join us downstairs. I need ideas for the library,” Rose asked.

  “I wouldn’t be much help since I don’t read or write very well,” Julip blushed.

  “Then the library books and I will help you improve, Julip. You need to be ready to help your children with their school work,” Rose offered. Julip probably wasn’t the only one in town who couldn’t read so it would be one of Rose’s missions in the library. She could offer to tutor anyone, young or old, to teach or polish their reading and writing skills.

  They walked down the back stairs that brought them to the back room, which Rose thought Charlie could use.

  “Please partition off the staircase and a hall to the main room to bypass the downstairs living space. I don’t care how you configure the rest of the area. That would be your expertise, Mack.”

  Mack studied the space. “We’ll make a living and dining area, with a kitchen and bathroom on the back wall. Might make the bedroom accessible to go either direction since Charlie has problems getting around.

 
Rose walked on to the front room, where her enthusiasm rose with excitement, thinking of all the possibilities.

  “I assume lots of shelves for books? There are two full walls without windows breaking up the space. What else do you want in here?” Mack asked.

  “I envision this as a meeting place, besides a library, so I’d like a large long table for the center room, which seats at least sixteen people.”

  “How about two tables instead, but you could push together? It would give you more ways to seat people,” Jasper said as he walked off the room, rough estimating the space available.

  “Very good idea. I also want about four rockers that can be moved around the room. They can sit by the stove during the winter or sit by the large front window other times.”

  “Best to order rockers out of a catalog. The chairs too. What about a workspace for you?” Jasper asked.

  “A teacher’s desk would work here by the window. Oh, and I’d like a roll-top desk for upstairs.”

  “You’ll have half a railcar load of furniture at the rate you’re going,” Mack cocked up his eyebrow, wondering if she had the money to pay for all this?

  “Mr. Connely said he’d pay for the library furnishings. I have funds to supply my upstairs choices.” Rose said to ease his mind.

  “Julip, what do you think about inviting young children and their mothers here for a couple of mornings during the week? I would read a storybook, or the children could play together. Maybe have tea and refreshments for the mothers?”

  “That would be nice to meet young mothers,” Julip shyly said, “if they’ll talk to me.”

  Apparently, Julip was still embarrassed about her past. Meeting others in the library, a neutral place would benefit Julip, new residents, and others who usually didn’t get out to socialize.

  “If the meeting is advertised for the children, I’m sure many women will come, and you’ll make new friends,” Rose assured her.

  “I hope so. When Tara starts school, it will give Tyrell and me something to do together too.”

  Everyone turned to look as the front door opened, and Dan and Edna Clancy shuffled in.

  “Gonna be a library, huh?” Dan said as he waddled around the room. “What’s in it for me?”

  “Besides books to read, Mr. Clancy?” Rose thought of the other idea she had.

  “How about a time in the afternoon you and your peers could come in to discuss books, or whatever topics you wanted to?”

  “Will you serve coffee and cookies?” Mr. Clancy asked with a twinkle in his eye.

  “I don’t want to be a competition with the café or the hotel’s dining room,” Rose said, not wanting to upset their owners.

  “They can take turns furnishing the coffee for our group. I’ll take care of talking to my grandson, Nolan, and the Paulsons about it.”

  “Would there be room enough to set up a quilt stand?” Mrs. Clancy asked as she stood in front of the window. “This would be a bright place to sit and quilt.”

  This might be more of a community room than a library the way people were thinking of how to use this space. Would they need more chairs?

  “You already having meetings in here?” Cullen asked as he opened the door and watched Charlie maneuver his crutches over the threshold.

  “I think this might be the first one, of many,” Mack answered his brother. “We came in here to think about what shelving and furniture the library needs, and we’ve come up with other ways the community could use the space.”

  “What’re you doing out of the post office this hour, Cullen?” Mr. Clancy asked.

  “I escorted Charlie over to Doctor Pansy’s office for a checkup. And he got some good news today,” Cullen smiled at his father.

  “My stump has healed, and Doc Pansy measured me to order an artificial leg. I’ll be able to walk again,” Charlie choked up telling of his good news.

  “Oh, that’s wonderful, Charlie,” Rose said as she rubbed his arm. She’d have given him a hug but didn’t want to knock him and his crutches off balance.

  “While you’re here, want to see what Mack’s thinking about doing for the back apartment? I meant it when I said you would live here.”

  “And you’d be just down the hall to come in for my men’s coffee group,” Mr. Clancy told Charlie.

  Charlie looked at Cullen who nodded toward the back area. “Go look around. See what you think.”

  “Come on, Mr. Moore, I’d like your opinion about the bedroom,” Mack said as he ushered Charlie into the other room with everyone following, except Cullen and Rose.

  “What’s wrong, Cullen?” Rose asked knowing the smile on Cullen’s face was strained.

  Cullen let out a long breath. “I’m still in shock over the cost of a custom-made artificial leg. I want Charlie to have it, but it’s a lot of money. A lot more than I have in savings.”

  “Will the railroad company pay part of that by chance, since Charlie’s accident happened on the job?”

  “I hadn’t thought of that, but I can check into it. I’m afraid the railroad will say it was Charlie’s negligence that caused the accident and they aren’t responsible.”

  Dare Rose offer to help pay for Charlie’s new limb? She’d gotten a settlement for being in her train wreck. Rose thought she’d still have money left over after buying all the furniture she wanted.

  “The government gave veterans seventy-five dollars if they lost a leg in the Civil War, to help pay for the artificial limb. But even then, many men still couldn’t afford a good leg, opting to use crutches instead.

  “Guess how much the best type of new limb cost now, twenty years later?” Cullen let out another breath before rubbing a hand over his face.

  Oh, dear. Maybe Rose didn’t have enough money to help pay for the leg either.

  “Doctor Pansy gave me a quote of one hundred sixty dollars. But I didn’t tell Charlie the real amount, and please don’t tell him either. He’d say not to order it if he knew how much it is going to cost.”

  Rose made a snap decision. She didn’t need the fancy parlor set she’d picked out. She could order the least expensive set instead.

  Writing on the dining room table would work just as well as the roll top desk she’d planned to put in the corner of the living room. She could easily cut her furnishing’s cost down to pay for Charlie’s new leg.

  “I’ll give you the money, Cullen. Please go ahead and tell Doctor Pansy to order Charlie’s new leg,” Rose quietly said so no one would hear them from the other room.

  “Rose, you have that much money? I heard Jasper whisper to Julip you’d bought all the furniture he had in stock in his showroom.”

  “I need furniture for upstairs, and I thought I should give Jasper as much business as I could. Besides making nice furniture, it would help out his new family.”

  “That’s very nice of you, Rose, but I couldn’t accept your money. I’ll think of another way to raise the funds.”

  “Here’s another option. Let go of your apartment. We can marry, and you move in with me.”

  Chapter 13

  “If you can’t answer me, Cullen, at least close your mouth. It’s so wide open a dragonfly could land on your tongue.”

  Cullen snapped his jaw shut, but he still couldn’t speak. Did Rose just offer to marry him so Charlie could get his leg? Should he be ecstatic or offended?

  “Why?” was all Cullen could sputter out.

  Rose’s arms wrapped in front of her chest in the typical woman’s defensive stance.

  Oh, oh. Cullen knew someone was in trouble when his ma used that posture, be it him, one of his brothers, or his pa. Someone was about to be clobbered with words—or silence. Either one was effective to make Ma’s point.

  “It will give Charlie the chance to walk again. He’s too young to spend the rest of his life using crutches,” Rose answered, knowingly avoiding the question Cullen was really asking her.

  Cullen hated to see Rose upset. He really liked Rose, but she kept bringing up mar
riage. He should be the one to ask for her hand in marriage—when he was ready. Cullen wasn’t going to let Rose, or his parents, push him with a deadline. This was a decision he had to be positive about because it would affect him forever.

  Everything had to be planned and perfect. Cullen didn’t want his children growing up in a loveless situation as he had.

  Cullen stepped back from Rose as voices moved toward them. Tara and Tyrell skipped ahead of Charlie, apparently fascinated with his crutches since they were trying to skip backward and watch Charlie at the same time.

  “I think we can get your apartment ready in two weeks, don’t you, Jasper?” Mack said as they walked back into the library room.

  “As long as Rose doesn’t want a rush on her furniture,” Jasper asked Rose as he followed Mack.

  “No, I can get by just fine with what you have in stock. Please do everything you can to help Charlie move in here as soon as possible,” Rose smiled, but the warmth in her face was gone.

  Cullen hurt her feelings by not accepting her help, but a man shouldn’t take advantage of a woman like that.

  “Cullen, how about we eat lunch at the café since it’s noontime?” Charlie asked, looking hopeful. He couldn’t blame the man for wanting to get out of his little house and have a decent meal. Of course, Cullen would be paying for that meal though.

  “Sure, Charlie. Let’s go see what the special is today.”

  “Nolan is serving meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Angel food cake today, so tomorrow there will be sunshine cake to use up the egg yolks,” Dan announced as he and Edna slowly moved to the front door. “We were heading to the café before we stopped here. Want to sit with us?”

  Charlie looked expectantly at Cullen. Cullen hated to leave Rose at this point in their conversation, but he was with his father. Being out among people would be good for Charlie.

  “We’d like that, Dan. Want to eat with us, Rose?” Cullen offered out his hand, trying to make a peace gesture.

  “No, thank you. Go ahead. It’s almost time for Doctor Pansy to work on my shoulder,” Rose answered. “Enjoy your meal.”