“That’s why it’s important to keep busy. Helps the time go by faster,” Mrs. Campbell advised. “Besides, if we’re expecting more engagements, we’ll need to hurry up our quilt production.”
“I still can’t believe you all are working so hard on this quilt and want to give it to me. And to Clinton. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled when he finds out.” Gratitude swelled in Josie. She’d arrived in Juniper Junction as a little girl. Her ma and pa had both died on the trip across the Rockies, and she’d been delivered to Aunt Joyce and Uncle Carl by the other members of their wagon train. The ones who’d survived.
Josie tried to block out the memories of that terrifying trip. The bad weather, avalanches, and wild animals.
She’d been young, but not so young she didn’t remember. And all of that gave her an appreciation for the stable and safe home she had with Aunt Joyce, her mother’s sister, and Uncle Carl. And Millie, too. She was like the sister Josie had always hoped she’d have.
What a special gift this quilt would be.
Her body heated a bit thinking about what might happen beneath that quilt once she and Clinton were officially married. She’d been disappointed when he’d scolded her for being forward the night before he left, but now she just had that much more to look forward to on her wedding night. Under the beautiful new quilt.
“I’m sorry it’s just a crazy patchwork quilt,” Aunt Joyce said, “and not some fancy pattern. But it’ll keep you warm just the same.”
“I love it and will cherish it always,” Josie replied.
“I hear your fella, Clinton, bought an option on a house,” Miss Ryan butted in. “I understand Mr. Kent is a sharp businessman. I hope he didn’t take advantage of your young man’s inexperience.”
Josie bristled at the suggestion Clinton had made a poor choice. “Clinton is hardly an impulsive man. If you knew him, you’d realize that.”
“That house is just right for a couple of newlyweds,” Millie piped up, giving Miss. Ryan a dirty look, though it was likely lost on her since she still had her head down stitching away. She might have been a sourpuss, but she was diligent.
“Are you still planning to get married on Christmas day?” Lydia asked.
“Yes.” Josie smiled. “I’ve always loved Christmas, and this will make it even more special.”
“Pish,” Miss Ryan mumbled. “Girls today with their fancy ideas, getting a big head about practical matters.”
An awkward silence permeated the room, unusual since the ladies of Juniper Junction typically had plenty to discuss during their twice-a-month quilting society get togethers. Though Miss Ryan’s frosty demeanor certainly put a chill in the air, these pioneer ladies would not be cowed by the likes of her.
“Oh, come now, Shirley.” Aunt Joyce took the bold step of addressing Miss Ryan by her first name. “Weren’t you ever young and in love?”
Millie, sitting next to Josie, nearly choked holding back a laugh, and Josie wasn’t faring much better as the whole room held its breath, waiting to see what Miss Shirley Ryan had to say about that.
Ever so slowly, she raised her eyes and met Aunt Joyce’s gaze. “Well, I guess I was once,” she allowed. “Biggest mistake of my life.” She turned to stare directly at Josie, her malevolence palpable. “Men ain’t nothing but trouble. Unreliable, selfish bunch of no accounts, if you ask me.”
Three days later, Lydia arrived at the general store just as Josie finished waiting on Mr. Marshall, who had been in a bit of a mood, though with a heavy rain to travel through, Josie figured she ought not to blame him. Uncle Carl helped Mr. Marshall get his purchases situated on his wagon, and Josie showed Lydia the latest fabric to arrive at the store.
She held a length of it across Lydia’s torso as they stood in front of a mirror so Lydia could imagine it as a dress.
Millie strolled over to offer her two cents. “Oh, Lydia, Josie was right about that color being just perfect for you.”
Lydia smiled at Millie then at her own reflection. “Yes, it is. You sure know a lot about fashion and clothes, Josie.”
“Thank you. I like pretty things.”
“I noticed the necklace you’re wearing,” Lydia mentioned. “That’s sure pretty.”
Josie touched the star at her throat. It was a wonder she hadn’t worn it out in the nearly four weeks since Clinton gave it to her. She’d gotten into the habit of fingering it every time she thought about him and started to feel anxious. The star reminded her of his promise to return. And Clinton always kept his promises.
“Thank you. It was a gift from Clinton.” Her eyes teared up, and she blinked hard to keep them away.
“It’s okay, Josie.” Lydia patted Joie’s arm. “We’re all missing them. And you’re engaged and have a wedding date and everything. Millie and I...well, we just have high hopes.”
“Well, once Rafe sees you in this dress, he’ll make up his mind on the spot,” Josie said, wrapping the fabric back onto the bolt.
“Is that a guarantee?” Lydia asked.
Josie paused and gazed toward the front window. I don’t think I can guarantee anything right now.
But she kept that thought to herself. It hadn’t even been a month yet, and there was no point in getting morose. Besides, she had a dress to make.
“No guarantees.” Josie forced a laugh. “But I’ll make you such a pretty dress that even if Rafe doesn’t propose, someone else will.”
“Josie!” Millie scolded. “What a thing to say.”
The three girls hovered over the latest magazine discussing what style would be best on Lydia.
“Are you going to make yourself a new dress for the party, too?” Lydia asked Josie.
The thought had crossed her mind. Just like Lydia, she wanted to look her very best for her fella.
“Clinton’s already been caught,” Millie said. “Hook, line and sinker.”
Josie gaped at her cousin. “Millie!”
“Well, it’s true. Besides, I need you to focus on making me one of these dresses sure to get a man to propose.”
“Harumph.”
The three girls paused in their chatter. Miss Ryan scowled down at them. “I need some help with a few items, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone available to assist me. I don’t suppose either of you girls could tear yourself away long enough to help a customer?”
Miss Ryan’s tone, once again, stiffened Josie’s spine. No doubt Millie’s, too, but her cousin dutifully jumped up. “I am terribly sorry about that, Miss Ryan. Of course I’ll help you. Please show me what I can do for you.”
Josie breathed a sigh of relief as the two of them walked away.
“She sure is grouchy,” Lydia said.
“I know,” Josie replied. “Any idea why?”
Lydia glanced toward Miss Ryan and Millie then back to Josie before she leaned close to Josie. “I heard that her fella went on a cattle drive a few years ago and never came back. Rumor has it...he found himself another woman.”
“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, e
ither.
“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.”
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