Why was he so angry? He wasn’t the one who’d fallen off the roof. “Fixing the hole in the roof,” she explained. “The chickens were going to drown—”
“They were not going to drown,” he contradicted. “There’s a section in the back they could have roosted on until the rain stopped. You’ve probably just never noticed it before.”
“How was I to know that?” she asked. “I was trying to help.”
“Fixing a roof is a man’s job,” he went on. “You could have broken your neck.”
Even though she was sore and her head was pounding, her temper surged. “And a man couldn’t break his neck falling off a ladder?”
He ignored her question. “You had no business even climbing a ladder without somebody there to hold it steady for you.”
“You mean like you had the day I got here,” she pointed out. “I don’t recall seeing anyone steadying the ladder for you.”
“That’s different—”
She shifted her position, grimacing as her body protested. She glared at him. “How is it different?”
“It … it just is.”
He turned his back on her and paced to the other end of the room before turning back to spear her with his dark eyes. “I don’t want you taking risks like that!”
“I didn’t really think I was taking a risk,” she put in. “I’ve climbed ladders so many times …”
“All it takes is one slip.”
“I know that now.”
“We found Andy sitting on the porch. Alone. He could have wandered off, could have gotten hurt.”
Guilt surged through Josie. In her defense, she hadn’t thought she’d have an accident, but that really was no excuse. She shouldn’t have done what she did, and if anything had happened to Andy because of her, she never would have been able to live with herself. Tears burned her eyes. “You’re right … I’m so sorry …”
“Just promise me you won’t do anything like that again. Leave man’s work to the men.”
For a few moments, she considered it, then shook her head. She couldn’t be somebody she wasn’t, not even for Cooper. “I can’t do that,” she said.
“I … I don’t want to lose you.”
Josie’s anger fizzled out and warmth spread through her veins. “You’re not going to lose me. I will promise you I won’t do anything that could be dangerous when I’m alone. If that’s not good enough—”
“That’s all I ask.” Cooper perched on the edge of the straight-backed chair beside the bed. Reaching out, he buried her hand between his. “Josie, I can’t have you taking chances … I can’t risk something happening to you …”
“I’m sure somebody else can look after Andy just as well as I can.”
“Andy?”
“Yes … you pointed out that I was responsible for him—”
Cooper began to laugh, the booming sound filling the room.
Her head pound even harder. “Please stop!” she wailed.
His laughter died. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You think that’s the only reason I worry about you getting yourself killed?”
“What other reason could there be?”
“Maybe that … that I love you. That’s why,” he snapped.
She must be hearing things. Yes, the thought, her head injury was making her hallucinate. “What did you say?”
“I love you,” he repeated. “I didn’t realize it until today. When I saw you lying on the ground, my insides felt like they were being ripped into a million pieces. I was terrified you were dead. Thank God you were just knocked out. Not that a concussion is a good thing, but—”
“I have a concussion?”
“That’s what the doc says.”
““Would that affect my hearing and understanding?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“Because I thought I heard you say you loved me, but since I do have a concussion, I could have imagined it.”
“You didn’t.”
“You really love me?”
He nodded. “I never figured on loving anybody, but somehow when I wasn’t looking, I fell in love with you.”
Tears filled Josie’s eyes and streamed down her face, the scrape on her cheek stinging from the salt in her tears. “You did?”
“I was so content with my life before you came along,” he said a few minutes later. “I didn’t want anything else, especially a woman who’d make me want to do things like go dancing, or sit quietly beside her on a porch in the evenings watching the sun go down. Or who’d make me think about having a family of my own.”
“And now?”
“Now I know how empty it really was. You made me want to do all those things – and more just to see you smile.”
Josie smiled, her love for Cooper filling her, overpowering the pain in her body. Then she laughed. The pain in her head worsened, but she didn’t care.
“You think it’s funny that I’m at your mercy?” he asked.
She shook her head, then groaned at the movement. “It is, because we’ve wasted so much time.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I love you, too. I’ve loved you almost since the day I got here,” she replied as she struggled to a sitting position and tugged at his hand.
“Is that so?”
“It is.” She patted a spot in the bed beside her. “Now come here.”
Accepting her invitation, he climbed into the bed with her and wrapped his arms around her. His lips met hers and he kissed her soundly until she was breathless and her headache was forgotten.
Josie gazed up at him and smiled. “I was so afraid when Mrs. Norton told me I had to leave the orphanage. I had no home, no family to go to, and I decided coming west couldn’t be any worse than staying in Chicago. I didn’t know it was going to bring me more happiness than I ever thought possible.”
He kissed her again. “It really was, but there is one thing …”
Her forehead wrinkled in a frown. “What is it?”
“Now that I know you feel the same way about me that I do about you, it would be really easy to spend my days right here,” he said, “but I need to get the chores done and you need to rest. You do have that concussion, remember?”
“Tell me again that you love me.”
Cooper shifted and cupped her face in his hands. His gaze met hers. “I love you, Mrs. Thompson. I love you. I love you. I love you.”
Josie grinned. “Well, since I do have a concussion and it’s possible I’ll forget, you might have to remind me regularly.”
He leaned over and kissed her again. “If it’ll make you happy, I’ll tell you every day for the rest of my life.”
She snuggled closer, her heart swelling with love. Her body was bruised and scraped and her head ached, but she’d never been happier. Gazing up at him, she smiled. Happiness filled her to overflowing. “It would.”
“Then that’s how it’ll be.”
Epilogue
Eight months later
Josie and Cooper stood on the boardwalk in front of the Wells Fargo office in Coldwater Creek. The snow was gone, and sunshine beamed down.
The stagecoach would be arriving soon and Josie could hardly stand her excitement. Sally was coming to visit, and if Josie had any choice in the matter, her friend wouldn’t be going back to Chicago.
“Is Sally like you? Always doing things she shouldn’t?”
“She’s … outspoken.”
“Like you then.” Cooper laughed and moved away as Josie reached out to slap him playfully on the arm.
“She’s had a hard life,” Josie told him. “She doesn’t trust many people, especially men. She deserves a good man who’ll overlook her past. I hope she’ll find it here.”
“I’m sure if you have anything to say about it, she will.”
Josie looked up at her husband, her heart filled with love for this man, and for the family she now had. Drew and Andy still spent much of their time with her and Cooper. Nora was expecting a baby very so
on, and Josie was almost sure Nora’s child would have a playmate within a few months.
Josie couldn’t remember ever being happier, and it was all thanks to Nora. She’d never forget that, and gave thanks for her friend every day.
“What are you smiling at?” Cooper asked, gazing down at her.
She tucked her hand beneath Cooper’s elbow and grinned up at him. “Just thinking how lucky I am.”
He squeezed her hand. “I’m the lucky one. I didn’t even know I was missing something in my life until you showed me.”
“I knew I was missing something,” she said softly. “I didn’t know I’d find it here. With you.”
She gazed up at her husband, the man she loved. Her life had begun the day she arrived in Coldwater Creek, and she couldn’t wait to spend the rest of it right here. With Cooper and the family she’d always dreamed of.
Thank you so much for reading Josie’s story. If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review and recommending it to your friends.
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About the Author
Although she grew up as far away from the old west as possible, Margery has always admired the men and women who settled the untamed land west of the Mississippi. Glued to TV westerns like Maverick, Rawhide and Gunsmoke, and reading stories of Annie Oakley, Roy Rogers and Rin Tin Tin, it was only natural that when she started writing, she wrote what she loved to watch and read. She lives on a lake in Canada with her husband, and when she’s not writing or travelling in search of the perfect setting for her next novel, you can usually find her wielding a pair of knitting needles or a pool cue.
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Mail Order Marm
Brides of Beckham
Kirsten Osbourne
Copyright © 2018 by Kirsten Osbourne
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Chapter 1
Doris Butler had been in Salmon, Oregon for just over a month, and the town was already a different place. She hadn’t come to town with the intention of changing everything and everyone, but it had happened anyway.
She sat at the table with her two closest friends, who were like sisters to her already. Gretchen was to her left, and the schoolteacher, Miss Frederica Hughes, was to her right.
“I’ve been thinking about your situation, Gretchen,” Doris began. “I think we need to send for a mail order husband for you. It’s not the way things are normally done, of course, but I’m sure my brother Darryl would come. He can work with Harv at the mill.”
“Darryl is your twin, right?” Gretchen asked. It wasn’t easy keeping up with Doris’s thirteen siblings.
“He is. He’s a good man, and if he doesn’t treat you right, I can box his ears.”
Rica laughed. “I’m not sure if we need more of your demon horde living here in Salmon . . .”
Doris stuck her tongue out at Rica. “I know Gretchen needs a husband. If she’s still living at her mother’s house when the baby is born, I’m afraid it’s going to be terrible for her.”
Gretchen sighed heavily. “You’re right about that. My mother will never forgive me for getting pregnant out of wedlock. It’s not my fault my fiancé was lost at sea, but she sure seems to think so.” She patted her belly. “We only have two months, though.”
“I know . . . so here’s my plan. I’m going to wire my sister and tell her to put Darryl on the first train out here. I’ll make sure she knows that you’re pregnant because even my brother doesn’t deserve that kind of surprise. But when he gets here, you two can marry. I have to talk to Harv yet, but we all know that’s just a formality. The man is practically working himself to death to fill all the orders he gets. He needs a helper.”
Gretchen and Rica exchanged a look.
“I’m not so sure about this plan of yours, Doris . . .” Gretchen said with a frown. “Your brother deserves to be with someone who’s not already huge with another man’s baby.”
Doris sighed. “We’re talking about the brother who insisted I put newspaper on the barn floor before we painted the cow purple.”
“Still . . . He’s been a good brother to you, which is why you’re suggesting he marry me. Are you sure you want him tied to a woman who has a bad reputation?”
“Demon. Horde.” Doris shook her head. “I promise you he’s used to having a bad reputation, and he cares just about as much as I do. Let me telegraph Lizard Breath.”
Gretchen bit her lip. “I don’t know if I’m ready to marry someone. Reginald was the love of my life. How can I just ignore that and marry someone else?”
“It’s your choice. But I think Reginald would want you to do it for the baby.”
Rica nodded as well. “I think so, too, Gretchen.”
Gretchen buried her face in her hands. “Fine. Do it.” Her heart sank as she said the words, but she knew the women sitting with her, her two best friends, had only her best interests at heart. She’d do it, because she didn’t know what else to do.
Darryl Miller stood in the field, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a bandana. He longed for a way to leave Beckham, Massachusetts and never return. Some of his sisters had become mail order brides, traveling to the west for adventures, but as a man, he couldn’t do that.
He nodded to his father, pointing toward the house. He needed to go in and take a quick water break. They’d been at it since sun-up, and it was after five. Harvest season was always the busiest.
When he got to the house, he was surprised to see his sister Elizabeth there, quietly chatting with their mother. Elizabeth wasn’t exactly a stranger, but she usually came out for holidays or invited one or two of her siblings to come and visit her at once. He couldn’t remember the last time she’d just dropped in for a visit in the middle of the week.
“Hey, Lizard Breath.” Darryl had never gotten out of the habit of calling her by her childhood nickname. He was pretty sure none of their siblings had either. It just felt good and familiar. Elizabeth lived in a mansion in town and ran a big business, so it felt good to bring her back down to their level.
Elizabeth just smiled at him, obviously not bothered. Their mother was snuggling Elizabeth’s baby, happy to have a grandchild in her house for a while. “I’m actually here to see you, Darryl.”
He blinked at her. “Me? Why? You have a bride out west that’s looking for a groom to come marry her?”
“You think you’re kidding . . . Doris has a friend. She’s very pregnant. Her fiancé died at sea right before their wedding. She’s been pretty much ostracized in the town. Doris’s husband Harv would give you a job in the sawmill. They want you on the next train.”
“Seriously? Why me?” Darryl had never dreamed of going off to be a mail order groom. Sure, their br
other Wally had done it years before, but Wally had always been a bit odd.
“I’m not sure. Doris says that you’re the man. I think she misses having her twin around.” Elizabeth smiled at him. “Are you interested?”
Darryl sat down heavily, still trying to figure out if this was something he’d even think about being interested in. A marriage to a strange pregnant woman, who had been ostracized by her town. But his sister Doris, who had impeccable taste in friends, wanted him to marry her. And he’d have a non-farming job in the west. Oregon. Near the coast, from what he understood.
“I think I am. We should be done with harvest tomorrow night.”
“Then you can leave on Tuesday? I’m going to go and wire Doris back. She’s going to be so excited to get to see her favorite brother.” Elizabeth got to her feet and reached down for her baby. “Come on, Benjamin. Let’s go home.”
“Did you walk?” Darryl asked.
“Sure. I may live in the city now, but I’m still the farmgirl who grew up in this house.” Elizabeth had never put on airs, and she never would. Once a farmgirl, always a farmgirl.
“Let me hitch up the wagon and drive you back. I can’t imagine walking that far with a baby in your arms.”
Elizabeth laughed. “I won’t say no to the ride, but I’m perfectly capable of walking.”
“I don’t think you’re some hot house pansy now that you live in your big house, but I have a hard time believing you enjoy the thirty-minute walk while carrying my nephew.” He stood up. “Wait here while I hitch up the wagon.”
Ten minutes later, they were on their way. “What more do you know about this girl?” he asked as soon as they were out of earshot of their mother.
“Her name is Gretchen. She’s kind and loving. No one speaks to her, and some of the ladies in town even tried to shun her!” Elizabeth shook her head. “All of this came from letters and not from the telegram. The telegram was bare-bones, asking specifically for you to marry Gretchen.”
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