Safe Havens Bundle

by Sandy James

  His wife would come. One day. His real wife.

  Why was that thought akin to ripping her heart right from her chest?

  Because Sara had already accepted him as her husband. She’d let him be Lancelot to her Guinevere.

  You foolish, foolish woman!

  Hadn’t she learned her lesson with Jean-Claude? Hadn’t she been reminded of her lot in life daily when she’d been at The Palace?

  Men couldn’t be trusted. Ever. Their hearts were made of stone, and their affections nothing but fleeting affairs if truly felt at all.

  Sara had been cursed with a woman’s heart—one that felt and wept and bled. And somehow in the short time she’d spent with Caleb Young, she’d let him in, if only just a little.

  “Sara?”

  Reality was a slap to the face. “I must go. Tonight.”

  “You ain’t heard a word I said!”

  “You deserve—”

  “I come from common stock,” he insisted. “I don’t deserve nothing but what I got. Pa and Ma made this home, but they weren’t never more than what they were. A miner and a whore who got lucky. They never pretended to be educated. They never put on airs. They never looked down their noses at no one.”

  “Even a woman like—”

  He squeezed her hand tightly. “I don’t give a damn if you was that man’s mistress. Don’t you see? It don’t matter to me. You’re my wife. I want you to stay that way. I took vows with you, Sara Young. I mean to keep ’em and hold you to the vows you made.”

  His eyes held a desperation that touched her soul. She recalled his tales of loneliness and wanting, and in that moment, she made a decision to reach farther than she should have allowed herself.

  But she did it anyway.

  “Fine.”

  Caleb cocked his head. “Fine what?”

  “Fine. I’ll remain here and be your wife.”

  Chapter Seven

  Sara shifted on the wagon’s bench as each rut in the road jostled her. While the stagecoach might have been a bumpy ride, the wagon offered little comfort against the rugged road. Her backside felt fair abused, and the chill in the air made her cheeks sting. Thankfully, she’d found plenty of warm clothes among the stash in the trunk, so she wore a knit cap that protected her tender ears.

  Caleb chuckled and patted her thigh. “Almost there. Ty built his house a ways away from the Twin Springs. He don’t cotton much to company, but Cassie will be glad to know you made it safely from Denver.”

  Although Sara nodded, she wasn’t so sure of the reception she’d get from her brother and his wife. Things hadn’t turned out quite as she’d planned, although having Caleb as her husband was more than she’d ever allowed herself to imagine. She was supposed to come to Ty’s home and perhaps find a job teaching or housekeeping, things she felt she’d be good at. Instead, she was here to introduce her brother to her new husband.

  The house wasn’t as big as Caleb’s, but sitting on a plot of thick sod, a small stream of smoke curling from the chimney, it looked so homey. There’d been no snow the night before, but frost added sparkle to the roof and the grass, giving the home an ethereal glow. The surrounding trees were mostly pines, so no autumn colors framed the setting.

  “He wanted you to come to White Pines, Sara.” Caleb eased back on the reins, slowing the horses. “He’ll be glad you’re here.”

  “Perhaps,” she replied. “Although I worry...”

  “About how he’ll react when he finds out we’re married?”

  She nodded as the wagon ground to a halt. Caleb climbed out and came around to lift her down. Before her feet had even touched the ground, the front door opened.

  Ty took a step out, blocking a rather short woman who hovered behind him. Cassie, no doubt.

  Ty was always an intense presence. So tall. His hair was a lighter brown than Sara’s own, with blond highlights whereas hers held darker, ebony hues. It was a bit longer than the last time she’d seen him.

  Caleb took Sara’s hand, which made Ty’s initial frown deepen. Then his blue eyes flew wide. “Sara? Is that you?”

  She smiled as she nodded. “Yes, Ty. I’m finally here, just as you asked.”

  His gaze kept shifting between her and Caleb. “I can see that. What I don’t know is what you’re doin’ with that varmint.”

  Caleb’s hand clenched around hers. “She’s my—”

  “Not yet,” Sara whispered, trying to keep her voice low enough Ty and Cassie couldn’t hear. “Let me explain. Please.”

  “Sara?” Cassie pushed her way past Ty. Her light brown hair was loose around her shoulders, and her gait as she approached them could only be called a waddle, the child she carried putting quite a burden on her small body. “You’re Ty’s sister?”

  “I am.” Sara tossed one last gaze to Caleb and whispered, “Let me tell him in my own way. Please.”

  Her husband nodded and let her pull away. She met Cassie halfway and despite the size of the woman’s belly, they embraced.

  Sara rested her hand on Cassie’s stomach. “I didn’t know. When will the child come?”

  “Soon,” Cassie replied, putting her hand over Sara’s. A smile reached her hazel eyes. “Only a week or so more.”

  Ty came up to his wife’s side and draped an arm over her shoulder. “You shoulda told me you were coming.”

  “I simply didn’t have the proper time to send word,” Sara replied. “I–I need to speak to you. In private.” She glanced back to Caleb, who’d stayed by the wagon but watched them with great interest. “About Caleb.”

  “Damn right we need to talk about him.” Ty pulled his wife closer against his side. “You go inside, Cassie girl. Stay warm. Take Caleb with you.”

  Although she pursed her lips in irritation—probably at being dismissed—Cassie nodded. Then she gestured at Caleb. “Come inside, Caleb. I have some strong coffee for us.”

  As Cassie turned to go, Ty stopped her and touched his lips to hers. She went into the house with a smile.

  Caleb stopped, his gaze capturing Sara’s.

  “It will be fine,” she assured, lightly touching his fingers with hers.

  He frowned at Ty.

  Ty frowned back.

  Then Caleb followed in Cassie’s footsteps, shutting the door behind them.

  Ty’s scowl was now directed at Sara. “While I’m happy as a rabbit in fresh clover to see you, Sara...can’t say I’m pleased to see you with Caleb Young.”

  Sara couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “I dare say you shall have to become accustomed to him. You’ll be seeing a lot of him whenever you see me.”

  His brown eyebrow arched.

  “It’s a long story, brother.”

  With a heavy sigh, he took her hand and dragged her to wooden bench right outside the door. Plopping down, he dragged her to sit next to him. “Start talkin’.”

  She started at a point in her odyssey she felt comfortable to relate. “I finally found the funds to come to you.”

  “Why didn’t you send word?” he asked.

  “As I said before, there simply wasn’t time.” While being totally open with Caleb wasn’t something she would risk, she could be honest with Ty. “I–I fear I stole the money to make the journey.”

  “From Crazy Kate?”

  Sara couldn’t help but laugh at that notion. “Had I done that, I would not be drawing breath now. No, I robbed a cowboy.”

  “A customer?”

  She replied with a curt nod.

  “That don’t explain why you’re with Caleb Young.”

  “He was waiting for the stage when I arrived. He acted as though he was there for me. We stumbled through some misunderstandings—which now seems a bit serendipitous—and those drove our actions.”

  His brow furrowed. “Actions? What actions?”

  “Please don’t shout at me. Caleb believed he was there to meet his intended—that a wife was coming for him. From the greeting he gave me, I assumed you’d sent him for me, that you’d so
mehow arranged for me to have a husband and a home of my own.”

  “How in the hell could I send him for you? I didn’t know you were coming.”

  “I see that now, Ty. I was so weary...and so frightened. I feared you and Cassie had decided I would be a burden and had convinced Caleb to take me in. He said all the right things...”

  “Oh, I’ll bet he did. Got you right into his bed, didn’t he?”

  She should’ve been offended, but she wasn’t. A former whore had no right to be indignant when someone—even her own brother—assumed she’d conducted a little bit of business in return for a comfortable home. Hadn’t she done exactly that? On a bathroom floor, no less.

  She didn’t deserve the luxury of outrage.

  Ty wagged his finger at her. “Get this straight, Sara—you ain’t gonna whore no more. I won’t allow it. Caleb is gonna have to understand that you ain’t sleeping with him again.”

  A rueful chuckle slipped out, and she allowed herself a moment of sarcasm in light of yet another misunderstanding. Seemed as though her life was filled with them lately. “I fear that I will be sleeping with him again.”

  Ty leapt to his feet. “I wanted you away from Denver so you didn’t make you’re your living on your back. You ain’t a whore no more! Not for him! Not for any man!”

  “You’re correct. I’m not going to sell myself to Caleb or any other man ever again.”

  His angry growl made her drop the teasing. “Sara...”

  “I’m his wife, Ty.”

  Her announcement promptly ended his growling, but the way he gaped at her made her feel as though she’d suddenly sprouted a second head. “His what?”

  “His wife.” Sara patted the bench beside her. “Sit back down, Ty. I’ll tell you everything. Then it will be up to you and your wife to decide whether I’m still welcome in your home.”

  ***

  Caleb shook his head as he looked out the window yet again.

  Sara had been talking to Ty for a very long time. The man wasn’t even wearing a coat, yet he acted as though the cold didn’t affect him. Caleb tried not to see that as a bad sign, but the minutes ticked by slowly as he worried Ty might be trying to convince Sara to end her marriage.

  “You haven’t touched your coffee, Caleb,” Cassie called sweetly from where she leaned against the kitchen table.

  With a sigh, he turned away from the window. “I’m sorry, Cassie. I’m just...worried.”

  She considered him over the rim of her mug as she sipped. “Ty just wants to understand the reasons Sara has finally decided to come to us. Perhaps you’d like to share the tale of how she came to be in your company? Ty will share the story with me once he hears it, but curiosity has me firmly in its grasp.”

  Although telling the whole tale to a woman who’d once been the focus of his romantic attention would be embarrassing, Caleb sat down and sipped from the coffee she’d poured for him before beginning. “Sara came three days ago. Arrived on the afternoon stage, and I was there to meet it.”

  “Meet it? Why on earth would you have been waiting for Ty’s sister to arrive? We didn’t even know she was coming.”

  He couldn’t help but smile. Seeing Cassie confused made him feel less moronic. “I was waiting for someone else, but I didn’t know it.”

  “Stop talking in circles, Caleb. I want to hear everything.”

  “Do you know what a mail-order bride is?”

  She nodded, holding the cup in her hands as if trying to absorb some of the coffee’s warmth.

  “Remember when Reverend Hayes came visiting?”

  “I do. The man was quite charismatic. How does one topic relate to the other?”

  “He got wind of me wantin’ a bride, you see...and well, we...talked about some of the women back in his home in St. Louis. He suggested that he could...um...persuade one to come to White Pines and be my wife.”

  Cassie’s eyes widened. “Caleb, you didn’t!”

  He cheeks heated as he nodded.

  “I had no idea you were so...so...”

  “Desperate?”

  “You’re only twenty-what? Four?”

  “Twenty-five last birthday. Old enough to know my own mind.” He rolled his eyes. “You don’t know my life, Mrs. Bishop. You got everything you wanted and can share it with someone. I got nobody.”

  “Gideon—”

  A snort slipped out. “Gideon’s my brother, Cassie. He and Drew are family. What I want is a companion—someone to be there when I wake up and sleepin’ by my side each night. Someone who’ll help me through my cares and woes and share the good in life.” Caleb gave her a weary sigh. “I want what you got, and I thought the good reverend could help me get it. If that makes me a fool, so be it.”

  Cassie set her cup down. “You’re no fool. You’re simply lonely. I find no fault in your actions, I was simply surprised.”

  “Surprised? Hell, don’t you remember I was gonna try to strong-arm you into marrying me even though you didn’t love me?”

  “I suppose you did do that. But I hadn’t considered your proposal was born of loneliness.” She pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and nodded toward another. “Sit. Please.”

  He obliged her, sitting down as he set aside his cup. “The reverend sent me word a few days back that a woman had agreed to come to me. He said she wanted to meet me first—to see if we got along. If we did, she’d agree to be my wife.” Uncomfortable with the way he’d rushed Sara through the wedding, he winced. “Didn’t honor that promise and give Sara a moment to think it over. Rushed her right to the altar ’cause I didn’t want to lose her.”

  Her lips thinned into a grim line. “Did you send money with the reverend, Caleb?”

  “I did.”

  “You weren’t afraid he would pocket it and forget all about his promise?”

  “Of course I was.” He shrugged. “But he’s a man of God. If you can’t trust a man of God, then there ain’t nobody you can trust.”

  “I had no idea things were that bad.” Cassie’s tone held a little too much pity for Caleb’s taste.

  “Ain’t wantin’ you to feel sorry for me,” he insisted.

  “I don’t,” she retorted. “I was merely thinking about the other men who feel as you do. I hadn’t stopped to consider how many of our friends in town might be every bit as lonely. Perhaps we should work as a community to encourage more women to come here.”

  “You know, I’ve heard of that happening. Churches sending pictures of the men wantin’ wives and letting ’em pick. Then the men pay for passage to get ’em there.”

  “Well then...we shall have to bring the subject up at the next town meeting.”

  Before Caleb could reply to that rather bold suggestion, the door opened. Sara stepped inside, followed closely by Ty. A frown on his face, the man didn’t appear any happier than he’d been before the conversation with his sister.

  Caleb went to Sara and helped her take off her coat.

  “Let me get you some hot coffee to warm you.” Cassie awkwardly tried to stand.

  Ty was quickly at her side, grabbing her elbow and helping the expectant mother to her feet.

  She smiled and murmured her thanks.

  Caleb lowered his head to his wife and whispered, “Everything okay?”

  “We can discuss it on our way home,” Sara replied in the same quiet tenor.

  Her words worried him. “Ain’t nothing to discuss. We’re married now, and we’re staying that way.”

  After she pulled off her gloves, she took his hand. “Yes, Caleb. We’re staying married.”

  Cassie held up a cup. “Please come take this, Sara. I fear much of the liquid will spill over the sides should I try to bring it to you.”

  Relieved that Caleb accepted her pledge, Sara went to her sister-in-law. “Thank you, Cassie.” The warm mug felt wonderful against her chilled hands.

  A silence settled over the four of them, making her nerves begin to fray. What she needed desperately was acceptance, and now
that Ty knew about her marriage, she worried that he regretted tendering his invitation to have her come to Montana.

  Inclining his head at Caleb, Ty stared down at his wife. “Sara married him.”

  “So I was told.” Cassie eased herself back into the chair with Ty’s help. “I’m very happy for them, Ty.”

  “Happy?” He snorted. “Never expected my sister to marry a Young.”

  “Yes, happy,” she replied in a scolding tone. “Sara needs Caleb every bit as much as Caleb needs her. I think it will be a sound union.”

  “Why?”

  “Because two good people have found their ways to each other,” she declared. “And I, for one, believe that is a bit of a miracle.” Cassie tossed Sara a genuine smile. “Besides, Sara Young has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

  Ty might have expressed a few reservations about Sara’s marriage, but he’d agreed to accept Caleb as her husband. And Cassie’s words let Sara know she was welcome.

  With a smile, she let her fears go.

  She’d found the acceptance she’d needed.

  Chapter Eight

  “Sara, sweetheart? Sara? Wake up. I need you...” Caleb’s voice called to her as though from a distance, the rest of his words lost to the haze of her lingering slumber.

  She barely opened her eyes, reaching up to cup his beard-roughened face in her palm.

  This wasn’t the first time she’d dreamt about him since they’d married. The passing week had been full of him—both day and night.

  While the sun was up, she followed him like a faithful puppy as he taught her the chores necessary to run their farm. His hands had covered hers as she squeezed the cow’s teats to make milk shoot into the bucket—or into the mouths of the barn cats, much to Sara’s delight. He’d helped her gather eggs each morning and feed the animals a couple of times a day, and they’d talk about everything and nothing.

  He’d followed through with his promise to help her ride, sitting behind her on Mate as he taught her the proper way to hold the reins. After only a couple of lessons, she conquered the skill and her fear.

  Because of him.