Shaking thoughts of Jarrett out of her mind, she looked around her room. Aaron and Drina had provided well for her. It was a huge room. One side was her bedroom, curtained off from the rest of the area. There was the sitting area around the fireplace and on the other end, roped off by heavy curtains, was where she’d set up her dressmaking business. She liked the room very much because it afforded her not only privacy, but access from the side door to a veranda which was surrounded by a flower garden. It was also the door the public used when they came for fittings and to pick up their finished dresses.
At the end corner of the room was a closed off stairway that led to the room Aaron and Drina had provided for Minerva and Tobias. So far, it had worked well. Minerva’s job was to take care of all of Hannah’s needs and since Hannah had become proficient with her crutches, Tobias wasn’t needed as often to lift her to her chair. He could now be found almost daily working in the barn area tending the horses. He had become fast friends with Aaron’s right hand man, Salty Andrews, and the two of them spent time repairing saddles, reins, and other gear the ranch and the cowboys needed.
It was a good living and a good place to live. Hannah knew she should be thankful every day, and she really was. The only thing that would make it perfect was if she could get Jarrett MacMichael off her mind.
Hannah jumped when her door flew open and an excited Minerva ran into the room. “Miss Hannah, Miss Hannah, come quick.”
A little frightened, Hannah grabbed her crutches. “What is it, Minerva? Has something happened?”
“You’s never gonna believe it. I’s hardly believe it myself. Hurry.”
Hannah knew she wasn’t going to find out what was going on unless she came to the front porch. Drina came around the house with a basket of vegetables in her hand. Beulah came outside and took them. Minerva was practically jumping up and down.
Shaking her head, Hannah looked in the direction of the approaching horse and her heart came into her throat. Was it? Could it possibly be? Were her eyes deceiving her? No, they weren’t.
Jarrett! She almost called out, but she dared not. He could be here for some reason other than to see her. He probably had business with Aaron. Even so, it was wonderful seeing him.
With Minerva’s help, Hannah managed to get down the steps to the yard. Maybe she should go back on the porch. She didn’t want to seem anxious.
Then he reined his horse to a stop, jumped down and let the reins fall to the ground. He didn’t pause as he ran toward Hannah. Without saying a word, he folded his arms around her and kissed her full on the lips.
Stunned, she let her crutches fall to the side, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back. “Oh, Jarrett, I love you so.”
He smiled at her. “I wanted to say that first, but it’s wonderful to hear you say it. I was afraid you’d forgotten me.”
“I could never forget you.”
He kissed her again. “I love you, Hannah Hamilton. I love you with all my heart. Will you marry me soon and put me out of my misery?”
“Oh, yes, Jarrett. I’ll marry you. I want to marry you, and I want to marry you soon.”
Oblivious to all that was going on around them, Jarrett swooped her up in his arms and headed into the house as Beulah held the door open. Minerva ran down the steps and picked up the crutches. Tobias and Salty came around the house and watched the couple disappear through the door. Tobias took the reins of Jarrett’s horse. “Guess I might as well put him in the corral. Looks like Mr. Jarrett’s gonna be here for a while.”
“Who’s he?” Salty asked.
“The man who rescued Miss Hannah from her mean old aunt.”
Salty nodded as if that explained everything and followed Tobias to the barn.
Aaron came up, put his arm around his wife’s shoulder and looked down at her. “What’s going on?”
“Jarrett MacMichael is back.”
“And that means?”
Drina smiled, kissed his cheek, then put her arm around his waist. Looking up at Beulah, who still stood on the porch, Drina said, “It looks as if Hannah’s biggest wish is coming true. I figure that means we’re going to have another wedding around here very soon, doesn’t it, Beulah?”
“Yes, Miz Drina. It shore does.”
“Then I think you should get my wedding dress out and press it. I’m sure there’s not going to be enough time for Hannah to make another one.”
Chapter 23
Three weeks later, the buggy stopped in front of the large Victorian house in Hatchet Springs, Arizona. Hannah looked over at her husband. “This place is beautiful. It can’t be ours, can it, Jarrett?”
“I told you we wouldn’t have to live with Aaron and Drina for more than a month until I moved us into our own home and, yes this is ours, sweetheart.” He grinned at her. “How did I do finding the perfect house for us?”
“Like I said, it’s beautiful, but…”
“No buts.” He winked at her. “My wife deserves the best.”
“But…”
He wrapped the reins around the brake stick and shook his head. “I told you, no buts. Do you think we can live happily here?”
“Yes, Jarrett, I can live happily anywhere with you. A house, a barn, a cave. It doesn’t matter.”
“I agree, but we might as well be as comfortable as we can.” He slid his arm around her. “Now, let’s go see our house.”
“Yes, my love.”
He jumped down and reached for her. He held her in his arms until she grabbed her crutches, then let her drop her good foot to the ground. They walked side by side up the flower flanked walkway to the front porch.
It surprised her when Minerva opened the door for them. “Come in Mr. and Miz MacMichael.”
“Thank you.” Hannah smiled at her. “How did you get here?”
“Mr. Jarrett brung us this mornin’ and we’s been doing some work around here.”
“I hope you’ve picked out your rooms.”
“No, Miz Hannah. We’s got a ’partment all our own. Can you believe that? It’s connected to the back and we has a bedroom, a little tiny kitchen and a nice setting room. Me and Tobias is gonna be happy here in our own little place.”
“That’s good, Minerva. You deserve your own apartment.”
Tobias came out and greeted them. “I’s git your stuff into the house, then put up your horse and buggy. You has a nice stable in back, Mr. Jarrett. I’s gonna like working around here with you as much as I did on Mr. Aaron’s ranch.”
“I’m glad you feel that way, Tobias, because I plan to keep you busy. You may end up being a detective yourself.”
“My Tobias is too old for that sort of thing, Mr. Jarrett, but he be a good person. He’ll shore help you out.”
“Now, Minerva, I might not be as old as you thinks I is.” He shook his head.
As Jarrett and Hannah started inside the house, Hannah said, “I heard Tobias say that was your buggy. When did you buy it?”
“I got it so my wife could have it to get around town in… and it’s our buggy, not just mine. Everything I have is as much yours as it is mine, now.”
“I only have a necklace and a few other odd pieces of jewelry to share with you.”
“You keep your jewels, my love. I know you shared with Lydia and Drina, but what you have left should someday go to our future daughter.”
She looked at him and her eyes grew big. “Do you mean you want me to have children?”
“Yes, but if you don’t want any…”
“Oh, Jarrett, I’d love to have children, but Aunt Verbena told me that crippled women couldn’t have them. I didn’t think I could.”
“Hannah, I want you to promise me you’ll stop thinking about what your aunt told you. That woman filled your head with a lot of untruths and half lies. From now on, what you and I decide together is what will be happening with us.”
“I like that.” She smiled at him. “Now, let’s look around.”
“All right, we’ll do that.
If you notice there’s a door on each side of this entry. On the left is the perfect size room for my office. I want to set my business up there.”
She nodded. “It will be nice to have you working at home.”
“I think so, too.” He waved an arm to the right. “On this side of the hall is an even bigger room. I thought if you want to continue your sewing, it would be the perfect place for your dressmaking room. Each of these rooms have an outside entrance and that’s the way the public will come in to do business with us. We’ll keep the front door shut except for our own use and for guests.”
“And the doors into the hall?”
“That’s where we’ll stand to kiss good-bye in the mornings, and where we’ll meet for lunch, and for anytime we feel the need or want to see each other about during the day.”
“Jarrett, you’re a rascal.”
“I know. That’s why you love me.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead. Straightening, he said, “Now, this leads to the parlor. I guess here is where we’ll entertain our special guests.”
“I think all guests are special.”
“Of course they are. Off to the side are doors that lead to the dining room. And behind it is the kitchen. The room to the left is a nice, comfortable family sitting area. It’s probably where we’ll spend a lot of time holding each other and maybe kissing and such.”
“I like that.” She giggled as they went through the dining room and into the kitchen. She pointed at a door near the pantry. “Where does that go?”
“That leads to the Johnsons’ apartment.”
Back in the entry, she looked up the long, winding stairway. “Is our bedroom up there?”
“It is.”
“I’m not sure I can maneuver my crutches to get up those steps.”
“And you’re not going to have to. I look forward after our long day’s work to carrying you up the stairs to our bedroom every night.”
“But what if you’re not here?”
“I’ll be here most of the time, but in case there’s an emergency, there’s a bedroom downstairs. When I get too old to carry you, we’ll sleep there.”
“You have it all figured out, don’t you?”
“I do.” He swept her up in his arms. “I want to practice taking you to our bedroom.”
She laughed as he went up the stairs and didn’t even breathe hard. When they entered their suite, she gasped. “Oh, Jarrett, what a beautiful bedroom suite.”
“Do you really like it?”
“Oh, I do. It’s the prettiest one I’ve ever seen.”
He smiled. “It pleases me to know you like it. When my family came for our wedding, they brought this suite for us. It belonged to my grandparents.”
“Your brother and sister were married before you, how did we luck out and get it?”
“The story goes that when I was a little boy, my grandpa bought this suite for grandma. When he brought it home, I thought it was pretty. They say I looked up at grandma and said, ‘When you die, can I have this bedroom stuff?’ It was left in their will that it come to me whenever I got married.”
“Oh, what a wonderful story, Jarrett. I’ll always cherish this suite because of that. It’s something else we can pass to our child.”
“You’re wonderful, Hannah.” His eyes were misty as he sat her on the bed then sat beside her. “I promise you that there’ll be a lot of love and maybe more than one child made in this bed, just as it was for my grandparents. They’d be proud to know how much you like it.”
“Maybe they do know, Jarrett. Maybe they also know how much I love their grandson. You may think I’m naïve and inexperienced, but I know there’s no other man anywhere in this world for me. I think I’ve told you before that you’re just what I always wished for in a husband.”
“All I know is, the moment I walked into your Aunt Verbena’s parlor and saw you sitting there looking like a princess in your faded dress, I knew you did something to my heart that no other woman has ever been able to do.”
She looked at him and smiled. “It’s still a while before supper time and I know Minerva will probably be making something special for our first night here. I think that might give us time to try out your grandparents’ bed. What do you think?”
“I think I might be the man you wished for, but you’re the woman I’ve wanted and needed all my life and didn’t know it until our wedding day.” He removed her hat and reached for the buttons on her dress. “I love you, now and forever, Hannah MacMichael.”
Hannah surrendered to his kisses and knew that no matter what happened in the future, all her most important wishes had already come true.
About the Author
In 2012, Agnes Alexander’s first western historical romance was published. Agnes has lived all her life in her home state of NC, but loves to travel. Though she has visited 48 of the 50 states, she says she has an affinity with the west and loves writing and researching this genre. Other than traveling, her most favorite thing to do is spend time with her two grandchildren.
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DRINA’S CHOICE by Agnes Alexander
To escape her terrible father, Drina Hamilton feels she has no choice but to make the long trek to Arizona to become the wife of a rancher she only knows from the one letter his uncle has written her. Unknown to Drina, to have the mortgage taken off his Rocking Chair Ranch, Aaron Wilcox is being forced to marry the woman his uncle has chosen from the answers he received from the mail-order-bride ad he put in the Savannah, Georgia paper. As Drina and Aaron struggle with the situation they’ve been forced into, they are unaware there is a plan in the works to murder Aaron and force the sale of the huge ranch.
WISH FOR THE MOON by Celia Yeary
At the dawn of the Twentieth Century, sixteen-year-old Annie McGinnis wishes for a chance to see more of the world, since all she’s ever known is the family farm in North Texas. A mysterious visitor arrives who will change not only her life, but her family’s as well. To save Max Landry from a bogus charge, she follows him and the Texas Rangers back to the coal-mining town one county over where a murder occurred. The short journey sets Annie on a path of discovery—new horizons, an inner strength, and quite possibly…love.
www.prairierosepublications.com
Hannah's Wishes Page 26
