Caleb

by Christine Sterling

  “Do you think they’ll like me?”

  Caleb turned to look at his wife. She was stunning in a deep blue dress with pink roses on it. Her hair was secured on top of her head, and she had a matching cap toque pinned to her curls with a bit of lace and a blue feather.

  There was still a little bit of bruising left on her cheek, but she managed to cover it with powder. Her lips were swollen from where she had been biting them.

  Caleb reached over and put his hand around her neck, pulling her close. He pressed a kiss against her lips. If they were going to be swollen, he wanted it to be because he was kissing her; not because she was worrying.

  When he was done kissing her, he leaned his forehead against hers.

  “They are going to love you. Both of you. As much as I do.”

  “I love you, Caleb,” Lydia whispered, leaning her head against Caleb’s shoulder. Caleb took her hand and kissed her curled fingers before placing her hand on his leg. If he had his way, he would never let go of her hand again.

  “Is this where we are going to live?” Hart asked, bouncing on the seat as he looked out the window. His cowboy hat was dangling behind his neck. He insisted on wearing it everywhere.

  “Yes. The house is straight ahead, but that is the main barn.”

  “Do you think the pups will remember me?”

  “I think they will, darling,” Lydia said.

  “I miss Scout.” Hart looked back out the window. “What’s that?”

  “Those are the paddocks that my brothers use to train horses.” Caleb noticed the barn that Owen and Oliver built wasn’t there anymore. He leaned out the window and saw the scorch marks on the earth where the barn once stood.

  Fire.

  He regretted not being home when it happened. He was sure that he would hear the story over dinner. The house came into view and Caleb had never been happier to see a sight in his life. Home meant everything to him.

  Now he had a family, it meant even more. He was determined to have the same life with his wife and son that Marmee and Pa have with their children. The three of them could share his bedroom and then he would work on having a house built in the spring.

  He felt Lydia’s hand on his arm, and he clasped it in his own.

  “Are you glad to be home?” she asked.

  Caleb nodded. “I hope you enjoy being here.”

  “It is beautiful. Texas is hot and dry and the desert is miserable. This is beautiful.” She pointed out the window. “Is that a creek?”

  “Yes. It runs into Flat River.”

  “Can we go fishing there, Pa?”

  Caleb would never get tired of hearing that word from Hart’s lips. “I can’t, but I know that your Uncle Oliver and Uncle Everett love to fish. I bet you they will go with you.”

  “I can’t wait to meet them,” Hart said, grinning from ear to ear.

  “I know they will love you as much as I do.”

  As they approached the house Caleb heard a whoop coming from the barn, followed by a series of whistles. Owen was calling the brothers back to the house. He even whistled for Alice.

  Caleb wondered how Alice would feel with another woman in the house. At the time he left, a woman was staying with them until she could get on the next coach out of town. The woman was a mail order bride for one of the Hartman brothers. When she arrived, she found out Frank Hartman was dead. Marmee opened her home to the young woman. Caleb wondered whatever happened to her.

  As the coach pulled up in front of the house, the front door opened and Marmee came out. She held a handkerchief to her lips as she watched the stage come to a stop.

  “My boy,” she said, walking to the coach door. Caleb could see tears in her eyes. He opened the door and gently eased his leg out of the coach.

  “Easy, Marmee,” Caleb said as Marmee went to wrap her arms around him. He leaned his crutches against the coach and opened his arms to envelop his mother. “I’ve missed you.”

  Marmee planted kisses on his cheeks as his brothers raced around the coach.

  “Caleb. Glad to have you back, brother,” Owen said, clapping him on the shoulder.

  “About time you got here,” Oliver said. “Pa filled us in about the Richards gang. Glad you are home and safe.”

  “Glad to have you home, Caleb,” Everett said standing close to the steps.

  Caleb noticed there were three women he didn’t recognize on the porch. A blonde-haired woman pushed her way through and bounded down the steps. She wrapped her arms around Caleb.

  “You’re home. I was afraid I wasn’t going to see you again.” Alice kissed his cheek and hugged him tighter.

  “Can’t get rid of me that easy, Pint Jar.”

  Alice moved aside so Marmee could hug Caleb once more.

  “Who’s this?” Alice asked, noticing Lydia and Hart.

  Caleb shifted on his good foot and moved out of the way so the two passengers could disembark.

  Hart jumped out of the coach and landed on the ground with a thud. “Scout!” he cried as a blue-gray dog ran from the paddock towards him. Hart knelt and wrapped his arms around the dog that was jumping and trying to lick his face. “I’ve missed you so much,” he said patting the dog on the head.

  Caleb took Lydia’s hand as she came out of the coach. Turning to his family. “This is my wife, Lydia Chapman; and this is our son, Hart.”

  “What?” Several members of the family started speaking at once.

  Caleb held up his hand. “We’ll fill you in after we get inside. Right now, I need to get into the great room and get off this leg.” Caleb picked up his crutches and hobbled to the steps. Handing them to Alice, he took Lydia’s arm and hopped up the steps. The three women moved aside. Caleb looked at them closely and his eyes grew wide.

  “You were here in the Spring.”

  The woman nodded. “That’s right. Elenore.”

  “I thought Owen was going to put you on the first stage out of town.”

  She gave a little laugh. “I guess plans changed.”

  Owen came up the porch with a carpetbag in his hand. He placed his arm around Elenore’s shoulders and pulled her close. “You got home in time for a wedding.”

  Caleb’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Congratulations, brother.”

  “And this is my wife, Willow,” Oliver said placing a second bag on the porch.

  “I’m gone four months and two of you are getting married?”

  “I’m never getting married,” Everett griped, looking at the party on the porch.

  Caleb noticed disappointment flitted across the third woman’s face.

  Interesting. He wondered what he missed while he was gone.

  “I don’t think I’ve seen you before,” he said to the blonde woman standing next to Elenore.

  “I’m Polly Phillips. Elenore’s best friend. I came out to help prepare for the wedding.”

  “And then hopefully you’ll head back home.”

  “Everett! Stop that,” Marmee admonished. “I won’t stand for you being rude to our guests.”

  Everett slapped his hat against his leg and stomped back towards the barn without another word.

  “Ignore him,” Caleb reassured her. “He didn’t get held much as a child.”

  “Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me how he acts.” She crossed her hands over her chest. “If he wants to behave like a child there is naught I can say about it.”

  Caleb looked at Polly. Interesting indeed.

  Marmee took Lydia’s arm and directed her towards the house. “You must be exhausted. Let’s fix you something to eat. Do you like tea?” Without waiting for a response, she grabbed Hart’s hand. He watched Scout run back towards the barn. “I’m sure I have some cookies inside.”

  “Cookies?” Marmee had Hart’s full attention now.

  “Yes. All my boys love cookies.”

  “I like cookies.”

  “Then you’ll fit right in, Hart Chapman.”

  Caleb heard Marmee continue to talk as she enter
ed the house.

  “You’ll have to fill me in on your trip. It looks as though it was quite adventurous,” Alice said, laughing.

  “You wouldn’t believe it.”

  Alice followed Elenore, Willow, and Polly into the house.

  Two sisters-in-law. He wouldn’t have expected the twins to ever get married.

  “Do they have whistles yet?” he inquired.

  Oliver laughed. “Not yet. But they will.”

  Caleb wrinkled his brow. “Any sighting of Brodie?”

  Owen shook his head. Lowering his voice, he said, “Pa hasn’t told Marmee because he doesn’t want her to worry.”

  “We’re on the lookout and all the men know to whistle if they see anyone.”

  Caleb looked around the farm. “Seems a good many changes since I’ve been gone.”

  “Those horses are some of the finest I’ve seen,” Owen said.

  “Many were from Lydia’s ranch. She had to sell them when she headed north. Some of the longhorns are also from her ranch.”

  “Excellent stock. I know Pa was pleased.” Oliver slapped Caleb on the shoulder. “Let’s go inside and we’ll bring you up to speed on everything.”

  Caleb nodded and followed his brothers into the house.

  It was good to be home.

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  Now Available!

  Owen (The Chapmans Book 1)

  Owen Chapman has dreams as big as the Nebraska sky. What happens when a body turns up on the Chapman ranch and the dead man’s bride comes calling demanding answers?

  Owen Chapman’s plans of starting a horse ranch are finally coming true. With his brothers as his business partners, he knows there is no way to fail. What he didn’t expect was a southern belle to arrive and resurrect a ten-year feud that he thought was finally in the past.

  Elenore ‘Ellie’ Brooks longs for marriage, children, adventure, and a life out West. When her plans change, she answers an advertisement for a mail-order bride. But when she arrives in Flat River, Nebraska nothing is as she imagined and she finds herself pushed off on a local family until she can return home. What she didn’t count on was the broody oldest brother and the way he made her question her choices in life.

  Can Ellie convince Owen not to send her back home on the next stage leaving town? Will Owen be able to let her go when the dead man's brother comes calling, hoping for Ellie’s hand in marriage?

  Oliver (The Chapmans Book 2)

  Oliver Chapman is living his best life; he has everything he needs, with no intention of getting married. That is, until a mysterious woman shows up on his ranch. Can a marriage of convenience lead to Oliver losing his heart?

  A battered woman is the last thing Oliver Chapman expected to see when he was scouting on the range. He knew he had no choice but to take her home to his ranch to allow her to heal. But getting close to Willow is proving more difficult than the horses that run wild on the prairie.

  Willow Stephens doesn’t trust men. She was used in payment by her brother for a gambling debt, and the man who owns that debt is one of the meanest she has ever known. When she kills a man in Flat River, Nebraska, she knows she must run. What she doesn’t count on is being rescued by a tall handsome cowboy, nor his family who will protect her with everything they have.

  When the law comes looking for Willow, will Oliver make the ultimate sacrifice to protect her? Will he lose his heart and freedom in the process? Will Willow learn to trust Oliver enough to give him her heart? Can love conquer all things and let the truth set them free?

  Available now on Amazon.

  Releasing October 2020 - Everett

  Everett is the peacemaker. Even though his family has been fighting with the ranch closest to them for years, Everett has always had a sweet spot for the daughter who lives there. When he comes up with a crazy idea to get their families to listen, will it bring the families closer together or tear them apart?

  Available for pre-order on Amazon.

  Releasing October 2020 - Alice

  Tired of four older brothers scaring off every suitor, Alice decides to take matters into her own hands. What she didn’t expect was the family’s childhood friend to notice how grownup she was, and vow to protect her; even if it is from her own family.

  Available for pre-order on Amazon.

  Read all of Christine’s Books

  The Chapmans Series:

  1. Owen

  2. Oliver

  3. Caleb

  4. Everett

  5. Alice

  The Silverpines Series:

  1. Wanted: Medicine Man

  2. Wanted: Gravedigger

  3. Wanted: Redemption

  The Silverpines Companion Tales:

  1. The Coffin Maker

  2. Snowbound

  3. Changing Seasons

  North and South Series:

  1. His Civil War Bride

  2. New York Bride

  The Proxy Bride Romances:

  1. A Bride for Jeremiah

  2. A Bride for Elijah

  3. A Bride for Benjamin

  The Pinkerton Matchmaker Romances:

  1. The Pinkerton Matchmaker

  2. An Agent for Claudette

  3. An Agent for Penelope

  4. An Agent for Marianne

  5. An Agent for Pearl

  The Cowboys and Angels Romances:

  1. Bride in Blue

  2. Beauty and the Baker

  3. Tempting the Tailor

  4. Married by Midnight

  The Belles of Wyoming Romances:

  1. Wynter's Bride

  2. The Homecoming

  3. A Matter of Marriage

  4. The Barn Raising

  The Black Hills Brides Books:

  1. Her Secret Past

  2. Her Secret Baby

  3. Her Secret Shame

  4. Her Secret Love

  The Christmas Books:

  1. A Cozy Mitten Christmas

  2. A Cowboy for Christmas

  3. A Mother for Christmas

  Read Christine’s Other Books:

  1. Gwyneth (Widows of Wildcat Ridge)

  2. Moving from Maryland (Pioneer Brides of Rattlesnake Ridge)

  3. Dancing to the Altar (Holliday Islands Resort #2)

  Please visit Christine’s Amazon page at:

  www.christinesterling.com

  About Christine

  Christine Sterling independently published her first book in 2017. She is the creator of the wildly popular Pinkerton Matchmaker Series, the Proxy Bride Series and the North and South Series. She is an author in multiple collaborations, including: The Belles of Wyoming, Cowboys and Angels, The Widows of Wildcat Ridge and Silverpines, where her book Wanted: Medicine Man won best historical novel of 2018. She recently joined Sweet Promise Press as a historical romance author, writing for the Pioneer Brides of Rattlesnake Ridge series.

  She writes sweet and wholesome historical western novels, as well as sweet contemporary romance novels. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, a spoiled Shih Tzu, two German Shepherds and an energetic Border Collie, that keep her on her toes.

  She spends her time writing, thinking about writing, and dreaming about writing. Her favorite things are a good cup of tea, puppy snuggles, a movie that will make you cry and hearing from her readers.

  If you like this book, please take a few minutes to leave a review now! Christine appreciates it and you may help a reader find their next favorite book!

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  Christine Sterling, Caleb