by Jillian Hart
When they arrived in town the sun had sunk below the horizon. They moved down the single main street past the wood-framed buildings with the false fronts. Lights sparkled through windows decorated with sprigs of greenery onto the snowy walkways. The church at the edge of town was dark. If there had been a wedding, it was long over. Keith led Colleen to the town’s only hotel.
“I’ll take care of the horses,” he said.
She nodded, unable to trust her voice. How could something so beautiful and special have withered away so quickly?
Colleen went into the hotel. Bells on the jamb above jingled. To her right was a simple front desk and to her left a small carpeted staircase that led to the second floor. Lantern light flickered in the room, casting long shadows.
The lobby was empty, but from the back room behind the counter she heard laughter. She walked up to the front desk and ran the small handbell.
“Hello?”
No answer. She rang again.
She peered behind the front desk, trying to see beyond the curtained door. The smell of roasted vegetables and meats permeated the lobby.
“Hello?” she said louder.
This time, the laughter stopped and she heard someone stand and walk toward the hotel lobby. A man poked his head out from a side door. His thinning hair was slicked back. He wore a white shirt and black pants. Tucked in his starched collar was a large red-and-white-checkered napkin stained with gravy.
“How do you do? My name is Mr. McGraw. Will you be needing a room this evening?” He pulled the napkin from his collar and tucked it in his pocket.
Colleen felt as if she’d changed so much today. “I am looking for my sister. She might have come here this morning. Her name is Deidre Temple.”
He nodded slowly. “Oh, yeah. She’s in room number six. The honeymoon suite. She’s been up there since noontime. Won’t come out.”
Deidre was with her new husband. Deidre was married. Colleen shook her head. So hard to believe that the little girl who had depended on her was all grown up.
Like it or not, Josh Matthews was a part of her family now. Keith had said he was a good man and she’d hold on to that. She’d find a way to like the boy and accept this marriage.
“Perhaps I’ll see her in the morning at breakfast,” Colleen said.
The hotel manager’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t you want to see her?”
“It’s not appropriate that I knock now. I don’t want to disturb her.”
The manager shrugged. “I guess you’ll be wanting a room.”
There’d be no getting back home this night. Like it or not, she’d be spending Christmas Eve in Dixon’s Corner. Alone. “Yes.”
“I’ll put you in room number eight. It’s small but it’s clean.”
“Any room is fine.”
“Want me to take your bags up?”
“That’s not necessary.”
She ignored his surprised look and headed for the stairs. Outside, the sun was setting. The day was over. And she felt so bone weary she suspected she could sleep for a month.
As she moved down the upstairs hallway, the sound of weeping caught her attention. Someone was crying. She slowed her pace, listening at each room as she passed. And then she realized that the crying was coming from room number six—the honeymoon suite.
Colleen’s fatigue vanished. A mother’s protective urge welled inside her. She marched up to the door. If Josh Matthews had hurt her baby sister, there would be hell to pay. She pounded on the door.
The weeping stopped. She heard footsteps and then the door inched open. Deidre’s tear-streaked face peered back at her.
The instant Deidre saw her, she flew into her sister’s arms. “Oh, Colleen, I have made the worst mistake of my life!”
Keith pulled the horses into the livery. He was exhausted and mad as a wet hornet. This had to have been one of the longest days of his life. When he’d woken this morning he’d expected calm and quiet, not the firestorm Colleen blazing through his life.
The livery was dark. Likely the liveryman had gone home early to spend the evening with his family for the holiday. Keith led the horses toward the back of the barn toward several empty stalls.
This morning he’d almost convinced himself that life without Colleen was possible. Each day since her husband died, he’d prayed she come over the ridge and ride back into his life. But as the days turned into months, he’d begun to accept the fact that she wasn’t coming. Any possibility of loving her had died long ago.
And then today, there she was looking so beautiful that it nearly knocked his breath away.
Their lovemaking had rocked him to his soul, igniting the love that had once burned so fierce in him.
It had scared him to death.
Colleen had the power to crush the life from his heart. No one else had the ability to bring him to his knees, but she did.
She’d crushed him twice before, but never again.
Never again.
If she couldn’t commit to this marriage one hundred percent and trust him to care for her then she didn’t belong in his life.
He guided the horses to a stall and started to unsaddle them. He hung her saddle next to his on the sawhorse outside the stall and then stripped the bridles and sweat-dampened blankets off each horse. He filled each of their feed bins with sweet hay.
The memory of her eyes filled with tears gnawed at his gut.
The rustle of straw caught his attention. He whirled around, half expecting to see Colleen.
To his surprise, Josh stood there. The young man stood, his shirttail out, straw in his hair and a bottle of whiskey in his hand.
“What the hell are you doing in the barn?”
Josh moved toward him, swaying as he moved. “Getting drunk. What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you.” The kid smelled of rotgut whiskey. “Not a good start for a marriage if you ask me.”
Josh took a sip from the bottle. “I didn’t get married today.” He raised the bottle to his lips again, but Keith swiped it from his hands.
“What do you mean you didn’t get married today? Where’s Deidre?”
“Up in the honeymoon suite of the hotel, I reckon.” He shook his head. “That room cost me a week’s pay.”
“What the devil is going on?”
Josh drew in a shuddered breath. “She got cold feet.”
“What?”
“We was standing in front of the preacher. And when the preacher asked her if she would stay with me until death do you part she started to bawl.”
“Why?”
“Said it weren’t right to marry without her sister there. They’d had some terrible fight this morning and Deidre was feeling awful about it. Deidre said getting married without Colleen present was a bad-luck kind of beginning.”
The Temple women were trouble all around. “Maybe it’s best you didn’t get married. Maybe she is too young.”
“She loves me,” he said, thumping his hand on his chest. “I know it. She needs her sister’s blessing and then she’ll be glad to exchange I dos.”
“If she wanted you, none of that would matter.”
He sighed. “She ain’t like you or me. We know what it’s like to live without family. We don’t answer to no one. But Deidre loves her sister. She kept talking about how hard Colleen worked to keep them fed when their daddy’s ranch was failing. She said Colleen skipped a good many meals so she could eat. Colleen worked in that store until she was so tired she’d fall asleep standing up. Colleen is everything to Dee.”
Keith’s throat tightened. Each time he was reminded of the struggles she’d faced alone, it gnawed at his gut. “Let’s get you inside and get some coffee into you.”
“I don’t want coffee. I want Deidre.” He staggered a few steps alongside Keith before he stopped. “Maybe I could ride to Grant’s Forge and talk to Colleen. Dee is right. I should have looked her in the eye and asked for her sister’s hand.”
“She’d likely have run yo
u off with a shotgun.”
He nodded. “That’s what I figured.” The boy staggered out the livery into the night. He stared up at the clear sky and the thousand stars winking down on them. “Boss, what am I going to do? I love her with everything in me. Do you know what that feels like?”
“Yeah.” That kind of love was pain and pleasure all rolled into one.
“Do you think if we went back to Grant’s Forge you could put in a good word for me?”
“I would, boy, but I’m afraid that Colleen would run me off with a shotgun now.”
“Dee said you two had a history. But I figured it was over and done with.”
“Not so long ago.” He could still smell her scent on his skin.
“Dang.” The boy sounded miserable.
God help him, but he wanted Colleen. Hell, he’d had her and tossed her away over a damn store. What the hell kind of fool was he? He needed to make things right between them. “Let’s head to the hotel.”
“What for? Dee won’t see me.”
“As it happens, Colleen is there now, too.”
His eyes brightened. “She is? Do you think she’d listen to me?”
“Won’t hurt to ask.” He watched the boy stagger his next step. “But before we do anything, we best get some coffee into you. You’re going to need your wits about you because I think all hell’s about to break loose.”
Deidre melted into Colleen’s arms. “Oh, Colleen, I’ve made the worst mistake.”
“What did he do?” Ice coated her words.
“He didn’t make any effort to understand what I was feeling.”
Colleen guided her sister into the room and shut the door. She glanced to the bed, surprised to see that it was made, not slept in. “Maybe you’d better tell me what happened today.”
Deidre sat on the edge of the bed. Colleen pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the tears from her sister’s face.
Her sister drew in a shuddering breath. “We were standing in front of the minister. Everything was perfect and then I realized it wasn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“You weren’t there. I realized I couldn’t marry without you there.”
Colleen’s heart twisted with love. She tucked a stray curl behind her sister’s ear. “I always dreamed of giving you a perfect wedding.”
“I remember how we used to talk about it when times were so tough with Father. We talked about silk dresses, flowers and a fancy cake.” She sniffed. “But it wasn’t any of that I missed. It was you. You should have been standing next to me and been my matron of honor.”
“So what happened?”
“I told Josh I couldn’t marry him without your blessing. He got upset. He didn’t see any point in waiting. He said we would make things right with you after we were married. But I didn’t want to wait until after. I wanted you at my side.”
“Where is Josh now?”
“I don’t know.” Her shoulders slumped. “He looked so sad and miserable. I think I broke his heart.”
Colleen remembered the look in Keith’s eyes. She’d not forget it if she lived to be one hundred. “Do you love Josh?”
“With all my heart. I know you think I am young and I don’t know what I want, but I know. I love Josh.”
She’d loved Keith with the same kind of fierceness when she’d been younger than Dee. She understood the power of that kind of love.
And she’d let it go. Lord, but she’d been a fool. The store had kept her safe these last eight years, but it was time to let go. It was time to give Keith her love and her trust.
She only prayed it wasn’t too late.
“Let’s wash your face and brush your hair.”
“Why?”
“Because we are going to look for Josh. You two are going to get married and I will be there to witness it.”
Thirty minutes later, Keith led a steady, if a bit blurry-eyed, Josh into the hotel. He marched to the front desk and rang the bell. The manager pushed through the curtain. He had a cup of coffee in his hand. Chokeberry pie stained his shirt. “Can I help you?”
“Deidre Temple’s room,” Keith said.
The manager sighed as his gaze drifted between the two men. “She’s a popular lady this evening. Room number six.”
Josh held his hat in his long slim hands. “Her sister was asking for her?”
The manager nodded. “I’m assuming.”
“Are they both still upstairs?” Keith said.
“Yes.”
That was all Keith needed to hear. “Let’s go, Josh.”
The two men headed toward the stairs.
“Now wait just a minute,” the manager said. “If you two men think you can visit unmarried ladies in my hotel then you are wrong. I run a reputable house.”
Keith was in no mood for this. “We’ll be quick about it.”
The manager reached under the front-desk counter and pulled out a shotgun. “You’ll stay right the hell where you are or I’ll shoot you to high heaven.”
Colleen had dried Deidre’s tears. She’d left her sister in her room and gone downstairs to fetch tea and something to eat. She was headed downstairs when she heard the shouting.
“Now look here, mister,” Keith said. Anger coated each word. “We aim to see those women.”
“Unless they are your lawfully wedded wives, then you got a snowball’s chance, buddy.” The manager’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his thin neck but the firm set of his jaw and the shotgun showed he meant business.
“Get a minister,” Keith said.
The hotel manager’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
“Get a minister,” Keith said. “We’ll marry those women right here and now if that’s what it takes.”
Colleen’s heart caught in her throat as she moved down the carpeted steps. “Don’t you think we deserve to be asked?”
Keith turned around. “I have.” His eyes softened when he looked at her face. “You turned me down.”
Her knees felt weak and the world, save for him, vanished. He was her life. “Maybe you should ask again.”
He moved to the bottom step and took her hand in his. “I should have married you eight years ago. But I thought I was protecting you.”
“I don’t need protecting. I need you.”
“You can keep the damn store. I don’t care about it.”
“Is that a proposal?”
A grin tugged at the edge of his lips. “It’s feeble, I know.” He straightened his shoulders. “Colleen Temple Garland, will you marry me?”
She kissed him. When she broke the kiss she was breathless. “I don’t need the store. I just need you.”
“Is that a yes?”
She laughed. “Yes, it’s a yes.” She kissed him again. “I love you so much.”
“I love you.”
They’d have stood there forever if they hadn’t heard Joshua clear his throat. “Pardon me. But you two mind if I see Deidre?”
Colleen smiled. “She’s upstairs.”
Joshua’s hands twisted around the brim of his hat. “Mrs. Garland, I should have spoken properly to you before all this.”
Colleen pulled out of Keith’s embrace but he took her hand in his. She stared at the boy but said nothing. She wouldn’t make this so easy. If he loved Dee he’d have to work for it.
Her icy glare had the intended effect. He started to squirm. “Well, what I mean to say is I’d like to ask for her hand in marriage.”
Colleen hesitated a beat. “If you ever hurt my sister, I will hunt you down like a dog, Mr. Matthews.”
He paled. “I won’t ever hurt her.”
She relented. “You have my blessing.”
Joshua let out a whoop. “Thank you, Mrs. Garland. I will take care of her for as long as I live.”
Keith grinned. “Best go get your bride to be, boy.”
Joshua started for the stairs.
Mr. McGraw cleared his throat. “Where are you going, kid?”
“I’ll b
e downstairs in two shakes.”
The manager nodded. “You’d better. The minister is here having supper with my family this evening and I intend to see all y’all married proper before my pie goes cold.”
Keith hugged Colleen to him as Joshua bounded up the stairs. “This will be a Christmas to remember.”
Colleen nuzzled her face against his. “It surely will be.”
Epilogue
Nine months later
The baby was a week late.
Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley was unseasonably warm that September and Colleen was none too pleased about it. Her belly was huge and the babe inside her kicked constantly. Her ankles had swollen and her back ached something terrible as she climbed the front steps of the home she shared with Keith. Dr. Dobbs, a former physician for the army, had just come to Grant’s Forge to set up a medical practice. Today, he’d come to check on Colleen.
While Dr. Dobbs visited with Keith, she started back toward the house. “If you gentlemen will excuse me, I think I’ll sit down.”
“You all right?” Keith said, coming up behind her. “You look like you can barely walk.”
The concern in his eyes touched her heart. “I’m fine—it’s your son that won’t settle down. My stomach feels like he’s tightening into a ball. I just need to sit down. You go and have your visit with Dr. Dobbs.”
The doctor was a young man, not older than his midthirties, but he possessed a steadiness that wasn’t easily rattled. Keith didn’t leave her side. “Let me help you to the rocker on the porch.”
Dr. Dobbs nodded. “Is your back hurting?”
“Like a fiend.”
The doctor smiled. “Today just might be the day.”
“Really, I’m—” Before she could finish her sentence, her water broke.
She was mortified.
Keith panicked. “Dr. Dobbs!”
Dr. Dobbs, with his black doctor’s bag in his hand, opened the front door. “Let’s get her to bed.”
Keith scooped up Colleen, took her into the house and straight up the stairs to the room they’d shared since their Christmas day marriage.
