A Bride for Gavin

by Lynn Donovan

  Gavin turned to Emma Grace. “Well, that’s over with.”

  Emma Grace slapped her fingers over her mouth. Tears filled her eyes. “This is what I was afraid of, Mister Sallee. Sure, everything is all right out here by ourselves, but I’m going to be shunned in town. I’ve had enough of people thinking the worst of me.”

  He closed the gap between them and awkwardly put his hand on her shoulder. “Emma Grace, you’re my wife. I don’t care what Aunt Carolyn or anybody in town thinks.”

  She shook her head, ready to declare, but I do. Gavin continued. “What we have done here is not sinful. It’s not improper. And it’s no one’s business but ours.” She lifted watery eyes to meet his. He was sincere.

  “Our age difference is only an issue if we let it be. I don’t care. I didn’t know what to expect when I agreed to marry you, but you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and I’m proud to have you as my wife. I’ve witnessed how you are with my brother and sister. They like you, and you care about them already. I just hope you grow to love me, and them, and soon you’ll forget how old I am.” He swallowed. “I mean, my age and your age won’t matter to you.”

  Emma stared at him. Lily broke the spell when she threw her arms around Emma Grace’s skirt. “Please don’t leave us!”

  Emma instinctively put her arm around the child. She looked down at her and then back to Gavin. “The truth of the matter is, we are legally married, and I do not have any other options. But even if I did…” She glanced at Cole who looked like he was on the verge of crying, too. “I’ve made a commitment to you. I can see that you are doing your best to keep this little family together. My gut tells me there’s something underhanded about your aunt and uncle. I don’t trust them. You need help… my help.” She held Lily snugly against her leg. “I’m not going anywhere. And if that woman ever threatens to take these children, I-I’ll… well, I’m not sure what I’ll do, but I will not let her lay one finger on either of these children.”

  Gavin laughed. “That’s all I needed to hear.”

  “What are you doing?” Carolyn fussed at her husband.

  “Hush now.” David Collins flipped the reins on their black gelding. “Can’t you see? That boy has made up his mind, but don’t you worry. We gotta act like we accept his ol’ maid of a bride. Remember, we get more flies with honey than vinegar. She’s ‘bout as pesky as a fly too, but patience and time, that farm will belong to us and all what comes with it.” He grinned. “What’s rightfully yours, my darling, will be yours again. Besides, Gavin can’t work all three hundred acres by himself. His father didn’t even turn over the whole land. He only planted a hundred. It took the two of them to work that.”

  Carolyn sat back in the buggy with pursed lips and a heavy sigh. “Momma always favored Abigail over me. It wasn’t fair.” She sat silent for a moment.

  “I know, darling.”

  “It’s obscene, him married to a spinster from Ohio. I heard she got fired for fraternizing with unspeakably foul men, and even talked to a saloon owner about working for him before she found out about this proxy bride opportunity. She’s a trickster, she is! My nephew has fallen for her tricks. How ridiculous.”

  “Exactly.”

  She turned abruptly to her husband. “What do you mean?”

  He smiled, keeping his eyes on the road ahead as if the horse needed his undivided attention to be guided to their home. Finally, he continued. “I have to admit, I thought we’d be able to talk him into selling the farm to us after Riggins and Abigail died, but that Gavin dug his heels in until he brought in the harvest. Now, when he didn’t put in the winter crop, I thought we’d have him for sure then, but somebody put a burr under his saddle about getting a wife. Missus Freeman assured me there wasn’t a gal out there willing to marry such a young man, so I wasn’t too worried about it. But then her cousin in Ohio made her a deal she couldn’t refuse, above the offering I had given her to keep him single, and next thing I knew your nephew’s got himself a proxy bride.”

  “It’s obscene.” Carolyn muttered.

  “No, it’s not obscene, my dear, but it does get in our way of convincing that boy that the Sallee Farm is too much for him to handle. I’m also convinced he has no idea what he’s sitting on. Otherwise—”

  “You saw the fear in her eyes.” Carolyn interrupted.

  David nodded. His wife was more focused on that proxy bride. She had forgotten the bigger winnings of owning the Sallee Farm. He let her stew in her own thoughts about Emma Grace. “She knows folks won’t cotton to her being so much older than him.” David reminded Carolyn. “All we gotta do is bide our time, let nature take its course, and soon as his pitiful proxy bride has had enough of the ridicule that she obviously will receive whenever she comes to town, we’ll approach Gavin again. It won’t be long. We’ll own that land all in due time.”

  Carolyn drew her lips into a smug smile. “I can see to the attitude of the women folk. With the right words in the right ears, it’ll be all over town what an improper match they are. That Emma Grace won’t find a friendly reception in any of the shops. She won’t be invited to any teas or socials. It won’t take her long to figure out we don’t accept brazen hussies in our God-fearin’ community.”

  David smiled and patted her knee through the layers of skirt and petticoats. “Atta girl. Now you’re thinking.”

  “My sister should have never married Riggins Sallee. It broke our momma’s heart to see her marry into such a scalawag, lowlife family as the Sallees.”

  “Now, Dear. Ain’t our place to judge. Besides, the Sallee farm is a fine piece of land. Fertile, rich soil, got a nice river to supply irrigation. My own poppa said he tried to buy it before the Sallee’s got hold of it. They managed to beat him to the land office with a claim. Seems only fit that we’re gonna have an opportunity to own it after all. What goes around, comes around, my momma used to always say.” He clicked his tongue to encourage the horse along. “Patience and time, my dear wife. Patience and time.”

  Chapter Nine

  Several weeks later, the small family prepared to sit down to supper. The sun set sooner these days which brought Gavin and Cole to the table sooner. With irrigation and weeding being the primary chores, Cole went out in the fields to help Gavin, while Lily remained around the house with Emma Grace. They had put in a fall garden with root vegetables that could be harvested all the way into winter. Emma Grace loved this Kansas climate with long summers and short winters. According to Gavin, his momma had kept a root garden year round and started a vegetable garden early in the spring. This was unheard of in Ohio.

  Some evenings Emma Grace and Lily sat on the porch and watched for Gavin and Cole to come walking out of the corn. Then they would rush into the house and set the table, pull food from the stove and poise themselves as if they had been waiting to eat supper for some time. It made Lily laugh, and Emma Grace liked how Gavin would play along.

  As Cole entered the house, Emma Grace’s eyes dropped to the hem of his britches. “Gavin, Cole needs new bibbed pants, and probably new boots as well. Could we go to town soon? I’d like to see what is available in school supplies as well, and I think Lily deserves a new dress if Cole is getting new britches.” She smiled at Lily.

  “Uh, sure.” Gavin glanced at Cole’s pants. “The field can rest a day without us tending to it. Let’s go tomorrow.”

  “Great.” Emma Grace appreciated his willingness to accept her ideas and suggestions. After supper Cole sat down with a reader Emma Grace had brought from Ohio. She had only taken one of each reader from the schoolhouse. After all, she had written them all, and Mr. Clementine at the newspaper office had printed them for her classroom. Mr. Greenleaf insisted she leave the educational material for her successor, but he didn’t say anything about her taking one sample of her hard work with her when she was forced to leave. The printer had made twenty-five of each reader. Mr. Williams wouldn’t miss the one. And even if he did, she didn’t care anymore.

  Lily d
ried dishes after Emma Grace washed, and together they put them all away. The girls settled next to the boys in the cool evening air of the porch to relax and let Lily read as well. It was becoming routine and comfortable. Gavin had honored his promise to Emma Grace to a marriage of convenience, and she appreciated him not pressuring her to allow him to join her in the bigger bed. As husband and wife, he certainly had the right to lay with her. But she was so shocked when she disembarked the train and learned he was as young as he was, that she had insisted this be a marriage of convenience. He had never broached the subject again.

  There were times she thought she saw a spark of want in his eye. She had to admit there were times when she felt embers glowing with affection toward him, too. He worked so hard out in those fields and yet always thanked her for what she did around the house. Was he developing true feelings for her, not just lustful ones, a real companionable love for her?

  She laid in her bed staring at the ceiling rafters, thinking about these things. Would it be so bad to have a real marriage with Gavin? They were legally married, after all. She had always dreamed of having children of her own. She loved Cole and Lily already, of course, but to carry her own child and rock that baby at her breast. The thought made her body ache for it. There was only one way to make that happen. Was she ready for that type of intimacy with Gavin?

  The next morning Gavin hitched the wagon to the mule, just like they did on Sunday mornings when they went to town for church. Emma Grace packed a cold lunch anticipating they might find a nice place to have a picnic. She didn’t enjoy eating at the diner. People glared at them as if they were unwanted bushwackers. Only the pastor’s wife, Mrs. Davis, and the woman who helped Gavin find Emma for his bride, Mrs. Freeman, were friendly toward them.

  “Emma Grace,” Gavin assured her. “In time, our aunt’s influence will wear off and the townsfolk will settle in to being more friendly. I promise, as they get to know you, they’ll see… what a wonderfully nice person you are. Your heart is as big as the cottonwood marking our land. These folks can’t help but come to know that about you.”

  Emma Grace did her best to smile at the frowning people before and after church. “More flies with honey.” She told herself. A few smiled back. Perhaps Gavin was right. What she really couldn’t understand was why Gavin’s aunt and uncle would be so calloused against them. Family was family, why did Aunt Carolyn act like Gavin was the black sheep in the family that stole something valuable from her?

  An hour later, the mule trudged along the road approaching Seward. Emma Grace stared out south, as she always did, at a shanty town of tents. Her curiosity got the better of her today. “Gavin, I’ve wanted to ask you… what is their story?”

  He glanced at the shabby tents as if he’d forgotten they were there. “I’m not sure. They’re immigrants, I guess… men who for one reason or another lost their jobs and haven’t been able to find more work. I s’pose they banded together to survive until something changes.”

  “Hmm.” Emma Grace dropped her eyes to her lap. “How do they survive?”

  “They hunt for meat and share the food.” Gavin said dismissively, as if anyone would know this.

  “Interesting. I’ve been meaning to ask you something else.”

  “What?” Gavin chuckled.

  “How much land do you own?”

  Gavin turned to look into her eyes, curiosity twinkled in his chocolate brown orbs. “Three hundred acres.”

  She nodded and lowered her eyes to think. The mule trudged closer to town. “How much of it do you plant?”

  “About thirty.” He tilted his head. “It’s all I can manage with one mule and one plow.”

  “I see. And every year, you store enough seed for next planting, right? Is there extra?”

  Gavin nodded, but he looked frustrated.

  Emma Grace quickly added. “I’m not criticizing, I was just… curious.” She looked ahead at the buildings coming into view. “If you had workers, could you plant more? Seems to me your farm would be more profitable if you were able to harvest more.”

  “Well, yes. You’re right. But I don’t have the buildings to house or the money to pay farm hands.”

  “Hmm.” She glanced over her shoulder.

  “What are you thinking.” Gavin smiled the way he did when he was pleased with something she had done.

  “I’m just curious about those men back there. They have their own tents, they hunt their own food, and if they are looking for work, they might be willing to work until the harvest and receive their pay then.”

  Gavin twisted on the bench and looked back at the fading shanty town. “I never thought about that.”

  Emma Grace grinned, “Well… maybe you should.”

  Three pairs of new britches and a pair of new boots for Cole; a new dress for Lily and a new pair of shoes. Seemed she was growing almost as fast as Cole. Some lemon drops for Emma Grace and some food supplies for the kitchen. Emma Grace had looked over the off-the-peg dresses for herself but didn’t ask Gavin to buy any of them. She had plenty, even if they were dull Schoolmarm colors.

  Gavin headed the mule back toward the Sallee Farm and handed her a package wrapped in butcher paper and twine. “What is this?” She couldn’t help but smile.

  “Open it.” Gavin insisted

  She pulled the twine slowly and peeled back the paper. A dress! Not just any dress, either. It was the lovely yellow dress that she had admired from the ready-mades at the general store. “Oh, Gavin!”

  “I knew you wouldn’t buy it for yourself, so I asked Mrs. Drucker your size, and she picked it out.”

  Tears filled Emma Grace’s eyes. “Thank you.”

  Just outside of town, Emma Grace squealed for Gavin to stop the wagon. “Look at that big rock formation over there.” Emma Grace pointed. “Let’s walk over there to have our picnic.”

  Gavin agreed and pulled the mule into the grassy field alongside the road and tethered her under some trees, so she would be in the shade. They walked to the outcrop and sat under the trees alongside the exposed rock. “It’s lovely here. I never noticed this before.”

  “Yeah, there are several places like this scattered throughout this part of Kansas. I don’t know why? Usually when you see one, there’s a creek nearby.” Gavin listened. I think there’s one over there.” He pointed east. “Finding those creeks is how the land was divided up for farming. Everybody needs irrigation and diverting water from the creek is the best solution to dry farming and relying on rain.”

  She nodded as she laid out the quilt and sat down to distribute sandwiches to the children, Mason jars of sweet tea, and sliced carrots, turnips, and parsnips. Sugar cookies, of course, that Lily had helped make, and corn pones with a jar of molasses. Gavin sat beside Emma Grace. Her heart fluttered with his nearness. She smiled as she handed him a plate with a selection of the foods, and a jar of tea. He returned her smile, causing her heart to flip in her chest. How odd she was having such feelings for him after only a month of living in his home.

  They ate casually, even though the children were antsy to climb trees and go hunt frogs. Well, Cole was interested in finding frogs, Lily just wanted to find a bird’s nest in the tree. Gavin gave them permission so long as they stayed in whistle distance. Meaning as long as they could hear him whistle, they could wander.

  “Mind your stockings.” Emma Grace reminded Lily. Climbing trees could rip a girl’s stocking to shreds if she wasn’t careful. Emma knew from experience.

  Cole ran to the wagon and grabbed a gunny sack, then tore out for the creek. Gavin laughed at his little brother’s enthusiasm. Emma Grace leaned back to look up in the tree overhead. “Lily, if you find a nest, don’t touch it! Just look at it. If you leave your scent, the momma bird won’t take care of the baby birds. You don’t want that!”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Lily replied from the tree bough.

  Emma Grace handed Gavin a cookie. “Lily made these.”

  “Did she?” He grinned at her. “Seems to me
, you are settling in well. I appreciate it. I know all this came as quite a shock when you first arrived.”

  She tilted her head and jutted her eyebrows upward in an expression of “Well…”

  He continued. “I realize you were between a rock and a hard spot, but… I’m really glad you decided to stay.”

  She smiled. To tell the truth, she just knew it was the wrong thing to do at first, but over the past month, she had grown to respect Gavin and his strong work ethic. He cared a lot about his family’s farm, his siblings, and her. He respected her and held to his commitment to a marriage of convenience.

  She knew how ardent an eighteen-year-old man could be, but then again, her being six years older, he probably wouldn’t have such stirrings for her. She knew she was plain. He had mentioned he thought she was pretty, but surely, he was just being polite. After all, he was stuck with her as a proxy bride. She wouldn’t expect him to be honest about her looks.

  She could tell he had amicable feelings for her. On occasion she thought perhaps he felt more. Her own heart reacted when he was near, when he came home from a day’s work, or when they rode together to town. She liked the way she felt around him. He had been right about one thing. The longer she lived in his house, their age difference seemed to disappear. Even the people in town seemed to be getting used to them as a couple. The General Store owners, today, were cordial, even helpful. Perhaps Mrs. Davis’s and Mrs. Freeman’s attitude was having a stronger influence than Aunt Carolyn’s. Who knew?

  Emma Grace shrugged at her own thought. But Gavin thought it was in reply to his comment. “I mean it. I really am glad it was you who became my proxy bride. I couldn’t have chosen a better helpmeet. I think we had some divine selection bringing us together.” He touched her wrist. Her heart did a somersault.

  Lily screamed above their heads, and branches popped. Was she falling? Emma Grace jerked her gaze to the tree and leapt to her feet. Gavin did the same. She’d found a nest and the momma bird didn’t appreciate Lily’s curiosity. She was diving at Lily’s head, and Lily had slipped down a branch or two. “Lily!” Emma called out. “Hold on.”