“And they never got married?” Josie tried to keep her voice low, but this bit of news shocked her.
Lydia craned her neck around to make sure no one could hear. “No,” she whispered, so softly Josie could barely hear her. “They were engaged, and he ran off on her. She waited and waited for him, but he never came back and, in the meantime, she got mean. And old.”
Josie gasped then clapped her hand over her mouth.
“It’s no wonder she’s such a sourpuss when we talk about the men on the cattle drive,” Lydia said. “She doesn’t have much good to say about anyone, but never a kind word for a man.”
Josie’s head spun from this bit of information.
“Apparently when he got to Monroe City, despite promising to return and marry her, her fella decided he didn’t want to come back to her and sleepy old Juniper Junction.”
“Wh-what’s wrong with Juniper Junction?” Josie asked. She couldn’t imagine any place better. ’Course, she hadn’t seen any other towns since she’d arrived there, either.
“Well, nothing, I guess.” Lydia shrugged. “But I’ve heard Monroe City has a whole lot to offer, especially for an ambitious young man.”
“Oh,” Josie responded, having trouble focusing.
“Now, now, you ain’t got one thing to worry about, and you know it,” Lydia teased her friend. “Clinton’ll be leading the pack when those boys get home. Let me pay your for this fabric, and you can get started.”
“You’re right.” Josie took Lydia to the cash register to complete the transaction for the fabric.
But a little voice in her head started to nag at her.
That night, after supper, Josie, Millie, and Aunt Joyce sat in the parlor in their apartment above the general store. Josie was working on the new dress for Lydia while Millie flipped through a magazine and Aunt Joyce darned some of Uncle Carl’s socks.
“Um, Aunt Joyce…” Josie said.
“Yes, dear,” her aunt replied, glancing up from her task.
“I-is is true Miss Ryan got stood up? That her fella left her high and dry when he went on a cattle drive?”
Millie’s head snapped up. “What did you say?” She closed the magazine and turned her attention to her mother.
Aunt Joyce got a funny expression on her face, and Josie could tell she was debating about how much she ought to say. “I noticed you called her by her first name at the quilting society meeting, so I wonder if maybe you might know a little more about her.” Josie hoped to encourage her aunt to open up about cranky Miss Ryan.
Aunt Joyce set her darning back in the basket next to her chair. “Shirley and I are about the same age,” she started. “Back in the day, we used to spend time together. There weren’t so many young folks in Juniper Junction as there are now. She was head over heels in love with a fella by the name of Kevin Kennedy.”
“Did you know him?” Millie asked.
Josie was curious, too, but she wished Millie would keep quiet. Aunt Joyce was not one to gossip. She could clam up at any minute, and Josie was desperate to hear the story.
“I did.” Aunt Joyce nodded. “He was a good man. Excellent horseman. In fact, before Clinton, he was the best calf roper I’d ever seen. He worked for Mr. Connor, back when Mr. Connor was just starting out. Like Clinton and Travis and Rafe and all the other young men who just left, Kevin Kennedy headed out for an adventure on a cattle drive, too. He promised Shirley they’d get married as soon as he came back. She’d pushed to get married before he left. Maybe she sensed his wanderlust. I don’t know. Not for me to say. But, when the rest of the men returned, he wasn’t with them.”
“Oh how awful,” Josie said.
“Was she always so cranky, or did that happen after she got stood up?”
“Millicent, have some compassion for the poor woman.” Aunt Joyce shot her daughter a look, and Josie held her breath, hoping the interruptions wouldn’t cause Aunt Joyce to stop sharing details of this awful tale.
“Anyway, she insisted he would return and even went so far as to send out wedding invitations. A few people tried to talk her out of it, but she was sure he’d come back, that he just needed to see the sights of the big city and then he’d return home and all would be well.”
“What happened?” Josie could hardly bear to ask.
“The whole town watched and waited at the church, and he never showed up.” Aunt Joyce paused. “It was the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever seen.”
“And she still lives here? I’d have run off to a new town,” Millie said.
“She’s a very proud, though some would say stubborn, woman,” Aunt Joyce replied.
“Did she ever get an explanation from him?”
“Not a word. One of the other men on the cattle drive had to give her the news. He told her Kevin had been hired to go on another drive out of Monroe City and that he’d be home soon with double the money from doing the second drive. I never did find out if that was a true story or just a fib they told so they didn’t have to tell her the truth.”
Chapter 4
Four Months Until Christmas
“You just keep getting better and better, Josie.” Lydia admired herself in the full-length mirror.
“Thank you, Lydia. I’m pleased you like the dress. I knew that color would be perfect for you. I can’t wait for Rafe to see you in it.”
“Me, too!” Lydia turned to gaze at her backside in the mirror. “If this dress doesn’t get him to take action, I don’t know what will.”
“I hope so, my friend,” Josie said. “Has anyone heard from the men?”
“Not that I know of,” Lydia replied with a sigh. “It’s been eight weeks. Eight long weeks.”
“At least it has given me plenty of time to get caught up with my sewing.” Josie tried to put a good spin on a bad situation.
“Have you finished your wedding dress yet? I can’t wait to see it.”
“I’m about halfway done,” Josie said. “It seems you aren’t the only one who wants a new dress for when the men get back to town, so I have been busy.”
“Are you guaranteeing proposals for all of them, too?” Lydia asked with a laugh.
Josie laughed, too. “Not all of them have caught a man’s eye the way you have with Rafe. Mark my words, you’ll be engaged by Christmas.”
“Just in time for your wedding.” Millie joined the conversation. “My goodness, Josie, but I think that is the prettiest dress you’ve ever made.”
“Thank you. Now we just need those men to get back to town to admire my handiwork.”
Another week went by, and still no sign of the men returning to Windy River Ranch. The town, particularly the young ladies, were becoming rather anxious over the absence of the most eligible bachelors, though Josie was more concerned about a man who was not eligible. She absentmindedly touched the star-shaped pendant around her neck.
The quilting society had met an additional four times and presented Josie with her wedding quilt at their most recent gathering. She’d hugged it to her and gazed around the room at everyone, including Miss Ryan, nearly overwhelmed with emotion. She’d brought the quilt home and set it on top of her hope chest. It was too large to fit inside and, besides, the wooden chest at the foot of her bed was nearly full already with items Josie had been making and collecting over the years, since well before she’d even thought of marrying Clinton, though she had never considered anyone else either.
That night, after she got ready for bed, she wrapped it in a length of paper to protect it until her wedding night.
A shiver of anticipation ran through her at the thought of her wedding night. Finally, she and Clinton would come together and soothe the aching need she’d had for months. And months. She recalled the feel of his skin when she’d slipped her fingers beneath the waistband of his pants the night before he left. The remembrance of the coarse hair she’d touched and imagining what she might have encountered had she been permitted to do as she’d wished and slide her hand all the way into the
heat of his crotch sent a scorching jolt of desire through her body. Her breath hitched in her throat, and yearning grew between her thighs.
She slipped between the sheets of her bed, aching to gather up the fabric of her nightgown and touch the soft folds of her womanhood, but Millie would be along at any moment and, though the cousins had shared many secrets over the years, being caught engaging in the sin of self-abuse was not something Josie wished to share with Millie.
But oh, how she longed to feel Clinton’s strong arms around her. She lay back on her bed imagining what it would be like when he finally claimed her, pushing his hard shaft between her thighs and taking her virginity once and for all. Her womanhood quivered at the thought, and some unladylike moisture gathered along her thighs.
Glancing toward the door and listening carefully for any sound of footsteps in the hall, Josie slipped her quivering fingers beneath her nightgown and touched the center of her ache. The tiny nub at the top of her lady parts throbbed, and she rubbed it in an effort to soothe the ache, but her efforts had the opposite effect, and her need blossomed into heated longing that nearly consumed her.
No longer caring about the consequences, she plucked at the bundle of nerve endings that seemed to shoot hot pulses throughout her body with each touch of her fingers. Her hips bucked on the narrow mattress, and she bit her lips together to keep from crying out.
The tips of her breasts hardened and pressed against the fabric of her nightgown, and she imagined Clinton there with her, his mouth covering her breast and sucking on the nipple as he thrust his cock into her wet center. She pushed two fingers into her core and worked them in and out until a climax overtook her and she lay panting in its wake.
When Millie entered the darkened room a few minutes later, Josie pretended to be asleep, not wishing for conversation to mar the self-induced lethargy of her first orgasm.
Millie crossed off another day on the calendar with a big X. “Ten weeks.” She turned to Josie. “Ten weeks they’ve been gone.”
The two girls were working in the general store alone that morning, Uncle Carl had taken the wagon to buy supplies a few miles away, and Aunt Joyce was putting the finishing touches on a pumpkin pie. Summer had turned to fall. Stalks of corn had been replaced by vines of pumpkins, and the heat of August gave way to cool mornings where Josie and Millie shivered while they got dressed. Uncle Carl refused to light the fire in the bedroom before November.
Though he was a thrifty man, he had been more than generous to Josie, and she had no complaints, but dancing around on a freezing cold floor while she tried to get dressed was not a fun experience, though she and Millie did have a few laughs as they contorted while donning their clothes.
With each passing day, it seemed the town grew gloomier and gloomier. Josie and Millie were not the only ones counting the days and weeks on their calendar.
Lydia stopped in for some supplies for her mother. “I just had to get out of the house,” she confided in Josie and Millie. “I’ve nearly worn out the carpet with my pacing, wondering where they are and when they’ll be back.”
And if they are safe. However, Josie did not give voice to the thought she suspected the others harbored as well.
Please, Lord, send Clinton home soon. Safe. She ached with missing him, and Aunt Joyce had commented on her lack of appetite recently. She had never imagined it would be as hard as it had been. But, she told herself, each passing day brought him that much closer to home.
Lydia lingered for a good part of the afternoon, and the three girls socialized, though, without the men in town, there wasn’t much to talk about. The magazine Millie had gotten weeks before had been read, re-read, and triple read, the pages nearly worn from flipping back and forth.
“Well,” Lydia said as the three friends stood around the counter of the general store, “how are your wedding plans coming along, Josie? Is your dress finished?”
Josie looked away briefly before replying. “I thought that missing Clinton would be a good motivation to work on my dress, but lately it seems like I am just too sad and lonely to do anything. At least with the dresses I’ve been hired to make, I have a deadline, and that keeps me going, not to mention the money, but at the end of the day, I…I am just so lonely.”
A tiny tear trickled down her cheek, and the others looked at her with compassion. No doubt they had worries of their own.
They stood in silence for a moment until a commotion on the street caught their attention. Millie was the first to the door to learn what was happening. Josie looked out the window and saw a number of people rushing to the north on Main Street. Oh dear. What if there was a fire? She got up and joined Millie. Lydia did, too.
“Hey!” Millie shouted at a boy rushing by. “Where is everyone going?”
He paused for a moment to answer. “The men are almost back at the Windy River Ranch. A rider came ahead to spread the word.”
There was stunned silence followed by chaos as the boy’s words sank in to the three women. They hugged and squealed and jumped up and down and then started talking all at once.
“Oh, I have to rush home and put on my new dress,” Lydia said. “Mr. Connor has promised a dance the night they return, and I am not going to miss it.” She picked up the goods she’d bought and rushed for home. “See you at Windy River,” she called over her shoulder.
Millie and Josie both scurried for the back stairs before they realized one of them would need to mind the store while the other got dressed. “You go on ahead,” she told Millie. “You don’t want to give another girl a chance to steal Travis’ attention.”
“But what about Clinton?”
“I know Clinton. He won’t look at another girl. Now, go on and hurry.”
Millie flew up the stairs and just as quickly returned wearing the new dress Josie had made for her. It was meant to be a Christmas gift, but she’d given it to her early. She bounced on the balls of her feet as she spoke. “Okay, now you go and get ready, and I’ll mind the store and then we’ll both be on our way.”
Millie’s eyes were wild, and she kept glancing toward the window as more and more people hurried by. Whether they had a loved one returning from the cattle drive or not, nobody wanted to miss the festivities.
Just then Uncle Carl returned. “I hear the men are going to be back at Windy River soon.” He glanced from Millie to Josie. “I see Millie is ready, but what about you, Josie? Have you decided you don’t need to look your best for Clinton anymore?” He had a teasing glint in his eye.
“Uncle Carl! Of course not. It’s just that I was watching the store while Millie got ready, but now that you are here, I’ll go and get changed, if you don’t mind.”
“Far be it for me to stand in the way of young love,” Uncle Carl said.
“Well, hurry up, Josie.” Millie continued bouncing up and down.
Though eager to see Clinton and be in his arms, feel his kisses, Josie did not wish to rush. “Millie, you go on. I’ll meet up with you there.”
“Are you sure?” Millie asked, three steps toward the door.
Josie hurried down the nearly empty street toward Windy River Ranch. She’d had the worst time trying to decide what to wear. Maybe she should have made a dress for herself like she had for Lydia and Millie, so at least she’d know what to put on.
After a couple of changes and three attempts at styling her hair, she ran out the door and down the street, kicking herself for not being faster. What if Clinton was waiting for her? After waiting and waiting for him, she was late when he finally returned. What sort of wife acted that way?
The boy had said the men from the drive were to be returning soon, not that they had already arrived, so she told herself she still had time, though she moved as fast as she could.
When she got to the edge of town, she could see and hear the crowd that had gathered at Windy River Ranch. There was a big bonfire started, and she could hear voices and music.
As soon as she arrived, she looked through the crowd but it
seemed none of the men were back yet. Millie and Lydia waved to her and she joined them in their anxious vigil, staring toward the horizon. Millie patted her hair and rose on tiptoe to get a better view.
“Oh, I think I see them!” She moved in that direction as others did as well. In fact, the entire crowd shifted that way en masse, carrying Josie and the others along with them. A few people were pushing, and Josie feared falling and being trampled. Separated from Lydia and Millie as the throng rushed along, she managed to reach the edge of the group and stepped out of the mob that seemed to have taken on a life of its own.
Saying a silent prayer that no one got hurt, she waited by the corral until the stampede of people passed. As much as she longed to see Clinton, her sense of self-preservation won out.
She gathered herself and, in just a few minutes, was able to hurry along and meet up with the others.
The crowd was absolutely chaotic with shouts and whoops, and people of all ages cheering and waving.
Clinton. Clinton was here, and all she had to do was find him. She dove into the crowd again, determined to locate her fiancé.
Chapter 5
Excitement crackled in the air and Josie’s heart pounded as she rushed around, searching for Clinton’s handsome face. Would he be different? More worldly? Surely, visiting a place like Monroe City would have opened his eyes to many new things. New ideas.
Would Juniper Junction still hold any appeal for him?
As far as she could tell, all the other men were thrilled to be home. Travis and Millie were deep in conversation, Millie’s face bright with happiness. Travis was a good man, Clinton’s best friend, and he and Millie were perfect for each other. Now, she hoped Travis had realized that, too.
She continued through the crowd, though people were breaking off into small groups once loved ones had located their returning travelers.
Newlywed Christmas (Brides of Juniper Junction Book 4) Page 13