by Kit Morgan
Text copyright ©2016 by the Author.
This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Debra Holland. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Montana Sky remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Debra Holland, or their affiliates or licensors.
For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds
An Unexpected Gift
(A Montana Sky World Novella)
by
Kit Morgan
Dear Reader,
An Unexpected Gift is written by Kit Morgan. I first met Kit at a writer’s conference in San Antonio, Texas in 2014. Conferences are a great place for authors to meet, network and get to know one another. It’s one thing to interact on social media, quite another to do it in person – not to mention a lot more fun. Right after meeting Kit, we got our picture taken together with some handsome cowboys, two other authors and a chicken –a toy chicken, Kit’s idea and that’s Kit for you. She writes with a lot of humor and her books are known for being fun and whimsical. She’s also a very prolific writer, something her readers enjoy and I’m in awe of. Like me, Kit likes to dabble in the fantasy romance genre.
Have fun reading Kit’s third contribution to my world.
Debra Holland
Table of Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
About the Author
One
The Jones ranch, outside Morgan’s Crossing, Montana, December 1890
Jess Jones stomped his way to the corral from the small cabin he shared with his wife Lillie. Maybe it was the cabin’s size that had him on edge this morning. After all, it was only one room, with a tiny stove, a small table with two chairs, a worn settee and a bed barely big enough for the two of them. He’d ordered the last one right after they married in Sweetwater Springs five months ago.
Unfortunately, the bed he ordered and the bed that got delivered were two different things. He was sure what he had coming would be bigger than what they got, but it was what it was, and too much trouble and expense to send for another, so they made do.
Of course, it was times like this morning when he wished he not only had a bigger bed, but a bigger house. His wife was in a mood, if that was the right word, and Jess decided he’d best steer clear for safety’s sake until she worked the burr out from under her saddle. By lunchtime, with any luck.
“What’s the matter with you?” his cousin Anson asked as Jess approached the corral.
“Lillie’s got herself all worked up over nothing.” He shook his head in dismay. “Women.”
Anson laughed. “Yes, Zadie has her moments too. But that’s all part of being married and living with someone. You take the good with the bad.”
“This morning was particularly bad,” Jess complained.
“Come now – sweet, beautiful Lillie? You must be joking.”
“I wish I was,” he said with a sigh. “I can’t figure out what set her off. She’s been so short-tempered lately.”
“Are you talking with her?” Anson asked.
Jess had to think a moment. His wife had lost a good percentage of her hearing because of physical abuse by her no-good father when she was young. Thank Heaven the man was in prison now and likely to remain so for some time. She could hear Jess if he spoke very loud, and was a master at lip-reading, which she’d had to learn in order to survive while growing up.
When she was eighteen, she’d had all she could take of her father’s drunken rages and left, but not fast enough. He’d actually shot her in the hip as she fled! Jess found her in Anson’s barn the next morning, bleeding, scared and confused. He wasn’t keen on the circumstances that brought her to him, but glad he’d found her when he did. They’d ended up happily married … until lately.
“I got a letter from Pa,” Anson said, interrupting his thoughts.
“Oh? Did he say anything about sending help? You know we’re to the point we can’t handle everything ourselves.”
“Yes, I explained that in my last letter. He’s sending Caleb White.”
“Caleb White? That scrawny kid?”
“That ‘scrawny kid’ is only two years younger than you,” Anson pointed out. “When was the last time you saw him?”
Jess shrugged. “Just around Clear Creek in passing, but I never really paid much attention to him.”
“Well, according to Pa’s letter, he’s worked on the ranch quite a lot over the last year, and he volunteered to come here to help us out.”
“Really? Well, I’ll be. Caleb always was good with horses, but I figured he’d take up farming like the rest of his family.”
“Nope. So what say you, cousin?” Anson asked. “Shall I write my pa back and tell them we’ll give Caleb a try?”
“If our fathers think he’ll work out for us, I trust their judgment. I just wish Caleb could come sooner. My guess is he won’t make the trip until spring.”
Anson looked at the gray December sky. They hadn’t much snow yet, but he knew it was coming. “I’m afraid I’ll have to agree with you there. We’ll have to get by until then.” He slapped Jess on the back. “Besides, I think you have more important matters to attend to at the moment. I heard raised voices coming from your place again this morning.”
“Uh … because my wife is practically deaf,” Jess reminded him with a sardonic smile.
“You two communicate well enough when it suits you. Until this last month I haven’t heard yelling like that. You want to talk about it?”
“Nothing to talk about. It’s a simple matter, really.”
“What?” his cousin asked with a chuckle. “That you sleep in the barn?”
“No, that I get a bigger bed.”
Anson burst out laughing. “A bigger bed - what’s that got to do with anything … oh yes, I suppose it has to do with a lot.”
“Don’t it, though?” Jess said with a roll of his eyes. “I have to say, cousin, I don’t know how you and Zadie lasted as long as you did in that tiny cabin. It’s a far cry from the ranch house in Clear Creek.”
“That it is, but you’ll be able to build yourself a house come spring. One more reason we’ll need an extra hand around here.”
Jess nodded and sighed in frustration, watching it cloud in front of his face. “If only that catalog company hadn’t sent me the wrong blasted bed! I should’ve sent it back, but no!”
“Beats sleeping on a single cot with your wife,” Anson pointed out with a grin. “Besides, the two of you are all cozy this way.”
“It’s not much bigger than a single cot, so I still have to be careful not to fall off. Lillie’s smart – she sleeps next to the wall. I’d better build us a bigger place – before we drive each other loco.”
Anson glanced at the small but pretty Queen Anne-style house he’d built for Zadie the year before. “Having more than one room to spread out in does make a difference,” he admitted. “Don’t worry, Caleb and I will help you get it done.”
Jess groaned and glanced at his own one-room cabin not far away. “I suppose Lillie and I can get by until then. Provided we don’t kill each other first.”
“Look on the bright side,” Anson said as he put an arm around him. “At least Lil
lie’s not in a family way – then there’d be three of you in there!”
Jess groaned again. “As much as I want younguns, I hope the good Lord sees fit to wait and bless us after I have a house built.” He slapped his cousin on the back. “Let’s get to work.”
“Good idea.” Anson removed his arm and entered the corral.
Jess followed, then stopped short. “Great jumpin’ horny toads!”
“Now what?”
“Where’s Caleb gonna sleep?”
Anson blanched.
Jess suddenly grinned. “Well, I guess we have until spring to figure that out. One thing’s for sure, though.”
“What’s that?”
“He can have our bed. Next time I’m in town, I’m ordering a bigger one!”
* * *
“Ryder, don’t you think we should have written Jess and told him we were coming?” his wife Constance asked.
“I agree,” said her sister Eloise, sitting in the seat behind them. “I asked Seth the same thing.”
Seth, Ryder’s older brother, snorted in amusement. “Don’t you two believe in surprises?”
“Ya ain’t seen yer son in how long?” Ryder argued. “Think how happy Anson and Jess’ll be when we show up on their doorstep!” Admittedly, they hadn’t planned to visit Montana – things just worked out that way. The Jones brothers saw it as an opportunity to do some business face-to-face rather than through their sons. They just hoped they didn’t get stuck there until the spring thaw.
“Speaking as a woman,” Constance said, “I know how happy their wives won’t be. Unexpected company can be maddening.”
Ryder patted her on the knee. “Now, sugar, calm yerself. Maybe that’s how it is back in jolly ol’ England, but things here in the West are different.”
“Not that different,” Constance said, then turned to the landscape as the train rolled by, the rhythmic clackity-clack a constant background.
“I must say, sister,” Eloise said. “Surprise aside, I am looking forward to meeting my new daughter-in-law.”
Constance glanced over her shoulder. “I can’t agree more – there is that. Though I must admit I’m still anxious about simply showing up with no warning whatsoever.”
Seth grumbled something unintelligible and picked up the paper he’d been reading earlier. “I just hope Anson and Jess don’t have to suffer through a winter like they had up there a few years back. Brutal it was, I hear.” He began reading his paper, ignoring the idle chatter between his wife and sister-in-law. Ryder likewise returned to the book he’d been reading.
The fifth member of the party, Caleb White, smiled in his seat across the aisle from Ryder and Constance. For him, it wouldn’t matter what the weather was like after they arrived in Morgan’s Crossing. He was planning to stay. This new job working for Seth and Ryder’s sons would help him make a name for himself.
He was good with horses and knew it. Working on the Jones’ ranch outside of Clear Creek had let everyone else there know it too. Now he could carry that to Montana, where Anson and Jess Jones had set up a horse ranch outside of Morgan’s Crossing. Who knew where the Joneses would leave their mark next – California? Washington? Wyoming? The prospects were seemingly endless.
And in the end, Caleb hoped to reach his ultimate goal: a ranch of his own.
“I do hope they have proper accommodations for all of us,” Constance lamented. She turned to Ryder, whose nose was still in his book. “You don’t think poor Caleb will have to sleep out in the barn, do you?”
That got Caleb’s attention. He turned and looked at his employer. “Will I?”
Ryder looked up from his reading. “As my wife would say, ‘I haven’t the foggiest’,” he replied in a mock British accent. “But don’t worry, we’ll make do – even if one of us has to sleep on the floor.”
Caleb faced forward again. The thought of sleeping in a cold barn in the middle of December didn’t sit well. Oregon winters were bad enough – Montana’s were reportedly far worse. He shivered at the thought and settled more comfortably in his seat.
“Wylie, give it back!” a little girl whined several seats ahead.
“Wylie Todd!” a woman scolded. “Give Katie back her doll!”
“Then tell her to give me back my ball!” the child countered.
Caleb leaned into the aisle and peered past the man sitting in front of him to better see the exchange. The mother was seated behind the two children, from the looks of it. He couldn’t see her face, but liked what he could see. She wore a blue traveling outfit with a matching hat and, considering the length of the journey they’d had so far, looked very well-kept. From the back, anyway.
“But Mama,” the little girl protested. “I don’t have Wylie’s ball.”
“Then where did it go?” the woman asked as she glanced around. Blue. Caleb could see her eyes were blue …
“I saw you take it,” Wylie accused.
“I didn’t touch your silly old ball,” his sister said. “You put it on the seat and it …” She looked around. “… disappeared.”
The woman disappeared too. Caleb leaned further into the aisle and saw her bent over, trying to look under the seats. He looked himself and spied a small red ball next to one of his employer’s booted feet. He reached over, snatched it up and stood. “I beg yer pardon, ma’am.” He walked down the narrow aisle. “But is this yers?”
The woman sighed in exasperation. “Yes, I’m afraid it is. Thank you so much.” She turned and handed the toy back to her son. “Now hang onto it, Wylie. You’re lucky this nice gentleman found it. What do you tell him?”
The little boy turned in his seat and smiled shyly at Caleb. “Thank you, Mister …”
“… White,” Caleb finished. He looked at the woman and noticed her eyes were more like violet – and with her dark hair, mesmerizing. “Caleb White, ma’am. And it was my pleasure.”
She stared at him, her mouth half-open. She quickly shut it and swallowed. “Thank you, Mr. White. I hope we won’t be needing your kind assistance again.” She sent a mother’s warning glare to her children, and they ducked behind their seat.
Caleb laughed. “I hope not either.” He nodded and returned to his own seat, wondering if the woman and her children would get off before Morgan’s Crossing.
Once seated, he gazed out the window and wondered where their train was at the moment. He glanced at the woman again and couldn’t decide which was prettier to look at: the scenery, or her. Leaning past the man in front of him again, he watched her fuss over her daughter for a moment. Yes, definitely her.
He smiled, sat back and wished the man in front would trade places with the woman seated next to him. Seated beside him was a cowboy like himself, a simple sort in clean work clothes rather than the finer traveling outfits his bosses wore. He didn’t have that sort of money.
He watched Ryder converse with his wife, then turn to say something to Seth. They were honest, hard-working men who’d married Englishwomen. Clear Creek had a huge British influence because of the English-born Cooke brothers who owned the Triple-C Ranch outside of town – and who’d imported a half a dozen female cousins, including both the Joneses’ wives.
While the Cooke men were cattle ranchers, the Joneses had focused on horses. Both spreads were big and successful, and he was proud to work for one. With the Joneses married into the Cooke family, it meant he got to hear a lot about both. Their success fueled his own aspiration to have such a spread one day. One of the reasons he’d volunteered to go to Montana was that if he did well, the Joneses might have him start another branch someplace else.
Caleb sat back in his seat, pulled his hat over his eyes and relaxed. Yes, one day he’d have it all – and what a proud moment that would be! Grateful, he offered up a silent prayer to the Almighty for such a blessing, then closed his eyes for a nap.
Two
Dear Viola,
This money should cover train fare for you and the children to Morgan’s Crossing. I realize it’
s barely enough, but I know how resourceful you can be when the need calls for it. I’m sure your heart was set on staying in Baker City, but at times like these family should stick together. Ever since Edward died, thoughts of you and the children have weighed heavily on my heart.
I hope you don’t think I’m being selfish sending for you like this. That’s not it at all. The truth is, as your brother I feel it’s my duty to protect you and the children until you get on your feet or marry again. And I admit that I wouldn’t mind tasting your cooking once more. The cabin I rent should be comfortable enough and you’ll have your own room. Wylie can bunk with me in mine, Katie with you in yours. We’ll make it work, sister. I can’t wait to see how much Wylie and Katie have grown!
I pray the three of you have a safe journey. I can think of no better way to start out this new adventure together than with Christmas. I’ll see all of you soon. Write me with your arrival date and I’ll make sure I meet you at the station.
Your loving brother,
Clarence
Viola Todd folded the letter and stuffed it back into her reticule. She was a little unnerved she was on a train with her children heading to Morgan’s Crossing, having not heard back from her brother. But then, he never said he’d write back once he had their arrival date. Besides, she’d have already left Baker City.
Baker City. She’d met Edward there, courted and married. Within the year Wylie was on his way, followed in short order by Katie. They were a happy little family and though Clarence had left for Montana Territory to find his fortune, she still felt he was close. At least his letters came often enough to make her feel that way. The man did love to write, and she and the children were all the better for it. She just wished he could’ve found a way to come back to Baker City rather than have the three of them travel to Montana.
But it was what it was, so who was she to argue? She knew she’d have to do something to bring in money, but that was all right – she was used to hard work. She and Clarence had grown up on a small cattle ranch outside of town and had gotten their hands dirty along with their father and the hired hands.
