Hannah wiped her face on the back of her hand and she said, “Did Cassie want you to be happy?”
“Yes.”
“Did she want Lily to be happy?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe that in spite of everything, God wants you to be happy?”
“Yes.”
“I want you to be happy. Don’t you see Luke; you are the only one holding you back. You’re the only one denying yourself happiness. I didn’t know your wife, but if she was anything like your daughter, she would give you a good scolding and tell you to get back on that horse and get on with your life. Your future doesn’t have to be about me. I can go home and I can still have a bright future.”
Luke took a step towards her. She didn’t move. “I don’t want you to go home. I want my future to be about you.”
“I don’t want to go either Luke…but I have to protect my heart.”
“I won’t break it…I might bend it a little because I’m a fool and I almost didn’t see that I was pushing one of the best things in my life away…It might still take me a while to figure out how to do this right again…but I can do it…I want to do it. Please don’t go.”
“I can’t compete with a ghost Luke.”
He reached out and put his arm around her waist. He brought his mouth down but instead of her lips, he let it land on her neck. He left soft little kisses all over her neck. Hannah tipped her head back and Luke unwrapped the ribbon holding her braid together. She felt his hot breath and the vibrations of his voice as he said once again, “Please don’t go.” His hand was fisted in her hair as he brought his lips crashing down on top of hers. The sensations of his soft lips and the taste of his tongue as he explored her mouth were almost too much for Hannah to bear. She was dizzy and she couldn’t breathe.
Luke pulled back far enough so that he could look into her eyes and he said, “You scare me to death Hannah.”
“Why?”
“Because you are the only woman on earth who can compete with the ghost in my head. Even Cassie’s voice is in my head telling me that I’m a fool if I let you go. I’m not over her Hannah and maybe I never will be completely. She’s a part of me and she always will be. But the heart’s capacity for love is so much bigger than that…I just need to learn how to open mine up. Please don’t go.”
Feeling emboldened by his words, Hannah put her arms up around his neck. He pulled her up into another long, hot kiss. He licked her lips and tasted her and then in a move that she didn’t see coming, he slid down into the mud underneath them and got on one knee.
“Hannah Louise McMurray…”
“What are you doing, Luke?”
“What I should have done already. Now let me finish…Hannah Louise McMurray…will you marry me?”
The tears were so thick in Hannah’s eyes that she couldn’t see straight. She nodded and pulled on his arms until he stood back up on his feet. Then she stood on her toes and placed her hand on the side of his face and said, “I love you Luke.”
“I love you too Hannah. Thank you, for not giving up on me.”
*****
THE END.
Wandering Cowboy
Mail Order Bride
CHRISTIAN MICHAEL
Chapter 1
Little River, Montana
Dora Sullivan stepped from the rickety stagecoach coated in dust onto the muddy ground. She felt grimy and exhausted but she’d made it. Smoothing a hand over the front of her skirt, she looked around. Men milled about or walked to-and-fro carrying various items but no one seemed to be looking for her, just at her.
Worry knotted her stomach. She wasn’t sure what Hank Mills looked like, he’d only said tall with brown hair, but she was sure he would have recognized her—if only for the fact that she was the only woman who had exited the stagecoach.
Taking a few steps forward, a hand landed heavily on her shoulder causing her to jump. “Sorry, Miss,” the coach driver said with a smile beneath his large moustache, “Just wasn’t sure where you wanted yer trunk?”
Blinking rapidly, she looked from the trunk to the man then back to the trunk. “Is there a hotel nearby?”
He nodded once. “Yup.”
“Please take it there then.”
“Sure thing.”
He turned and left and she searched the crowd again before resigning herself to the fact that Hank wasn’t there. Or if he was, he wasn’t coming to claim her. A thought slammed into her chest. Was that it? Had he taken one look at her and wasn’t interested?
But, looking into the gawking stares of the men surrounding her she didn’t think that was the reason. She was by no means the most beautiful woman, but she had a feeling men in the West took what they could get. Not that that thought was comforting.
Stepping up to the ticket window she leaned closer, “Excuse me.”
“Yeah,” a booming voice said from behind the bars.
“Can you direct me to the local hotel.”
“Down the street. Take a right. It’s on the right.” The man went back to his newspaper without another glance her way.
Trying to shake off the rudeness of the man, she held her head high and pounded down the boardwalk. Just as the disinterested window clerk had said, the hotel appeared on the right and she entered, relishing the calm tranquility of the interior. It wasn’t as nice as places she had seen in Massachusetts but she hadn’t been accustomed to finery anyway.
“Hello,” she said at the desk. “I’d like to reserve a room.”
The clerk helped her, taking almost the last of her reserved money, then directed her to the post office where she hoped someone would know about Hank Mills—her fiancé.
“Yeah, I knew Hank,” the post office worker said.
Dora froze. Knew? “I’m sorry, what do you mean…knew?”
“He passed away a few weeks back. Some kinda accident as I heard it.”
Her heart pounded in her chest and the constriction of her throat kept her from answering.
“Why do you ask?”
“I—” her voice cracked, “I was to marry him.”
The clerk’s mouth dropped open to form an “O” shape. “Really?”
“Yes,” she said, feeling the shock morph to terror like a live thing in her chest. This couldn’t be happening.
“I’m sorry ma’am. Real sorry, but he’s gone. I wasn’t sure who to forward his mail to. Heard about a brother he had and I just tracked him down the other day. Did you want to contact him maybe?”
Dora tried to think through what the man was saying. Contact Hank’s brother? Why…but then she considered the fact that, if she didn’t contact him, who would? She had at least gotten to know Hank a little through their letter writing and, though she never thought she would truly love him, she had felt certain they would be happy. Eventually.
“Yes,” she said, surprising herself. “I’ll write him a letter.”
Nodding, as if to convince herself, she turned around and made her way back to the quite safety of the hotel. She couldn’t afford to stay for much longer as a guest nor could she afford to buy a train ticket back. Maybe, just maybe, she could gain work at the hotel until she figured out what to do with her life.
All of her plans had fallen through and she was alone. Utterly alone.
***
Raymond Ellis adjusted his seat in the saddle. He was used to riding long periods of time and today was no different. He had a lot of territory to cover if he was going to make it half way to his next job by dusk.
The town sat ahead, the dusty streets busy with foot traffic and horses. He rode down the main street on his way to see the smithy. His horse needed a new shoe and he needed supplies. It would hopefully be a quick stop, but a necessary one.
After leaving the horse to be tended to, he walked toward the general store, the list of provisions he needed fresh in his mind. There wouldn’t be another town for a few days so he needed to stock up. He jumped up onto the boardwalk and toward the door of the gene
ral store just as a woman barreled out—and straight into him.
“Ouch!” she said, stepping back and nearly falling over.
“Steady there,” Raymond said, reaching out rough and calloused hands to steady her.
She stepped back, a wild, frightened look in her eye. “Don’t touch me.”
He yanked his hands away, holding them up to show he meant no harm. “I’m sorry, miss,” he offered a small smile, “Just making sure you didn’t fall over.”
Her black hair was pulled back into a sloppy bun but it was her vibrant green eyes that held him captive. They were stunning and beautiful, reminding him of dew on a prairie field in the light of dawn.
He looked over the rest of her face, his eyes flicking to her lips briefly but always back to her eyes.
She took another step back. “Th-thank you,” she said, then spun on her heel and was gone.
He stood watching her for a moment, breathless. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. And he needed to see her again.
Rushing to the corner, he peered around but was greeted with an empty street. She was gone, like the last rays of sunlight in the evening, and he was devastated to realize he may never see her again.
He shook his head, feeling foolish. He was a cowpoke. A man without a home who rode the range—had been riding the range since he was a boy—not some lovesick boy who wanted to meet a girl and settle down.
Yet the thought of settling down wasn’t as unattractive to him as it once had been. He’d spent years traveling, never settling into a place, but that didn’t mean the rest of his life had to be like this. Or maybe it did. What kind of husband could he be?
Expelling a breath, he spun around and went back to the general store. He was thinking like a crazy man right now. One pretty girl and you’d think he’d been out in the sun too long.
“Howdy,” the storekeeper said, smiling behind his counter. “Can I get you anything?”
Raymond sidled up to the counter, weighing his options. He was acting a fool, he knew that, but what could it hurt just to see her one more time? A pretty face to remember as he rode off into the sunset that evening.
“Got a question for you,” he said.
“I’ll see what I can do to answer you.”
“I just nearly knocked over a pretty little lady on her way out of here. I feel terrible and wanted to apologize. Might you know where she went? Rushed off in quite the hurry.”
The shopkeeper narrowed his gaze. “What do you want with Dora?”
“No, no,” he said, holding up his hands, “Nothing untoward. I just wanted to apologize—properly.”
The man kept his narrowed gaze on Raymond for a long time before standing up, putting his hands on his hips. “Her names Dora and she’s a kind woman. Works in the hotel restaurant right now, but she’s only been in town a week or so. I don’t want to hear that you were over there pestering her.”
“’Course not,” Raymond said, honesty in his gaze. He considered the man’s words, wondering what could have brought a woman out to these parts, but he didn’t want to press his luck with the storekeeper.
Instead, he purchased his supplies to pick up later than made his way toward the hotel. Maybe he’d get a meal before he left.
Chapter 2
“Don’t forget my coffee, darlin’,” the man said. Dora tried to ignore the gleam in his eye and shuffled away from his table as quickly as possible.
She had only worked in the hotel restaurant a little over a week but already she was exhausted by the work and tired of fending off marriage proposals at nearly every turn. These men couldn’t get it through their thick heads that she wasn’t interested. At least not in them.
Pouring a cup of black coffee, she picked up two plates of pie and made her way back to the table. She left the coffee and moved on to drop off the pie before the charmer could ask her for more than coffee.
Another man grabbed for her writs as she walked by but she yanked it away, glaring at him before saying she’d be back with his meal soon. Only when she was in the relatively safety of the kitchen did she stop for a moment. She just needed a moment.
The other woman who worked there, Lulu, was older than Dora and had been around men like this for a long time. She wouldn’t tolerate their snide remarks or grabbing hands, but instead told them off like little boys stealing candy out of a jar. If only Dora could be like that.
But she’d grown up in a house of girls and had worked in the factories full of other women for so long she hardly knew how to handle herself in this situation. She needed thicker skin. A fiercer attitude. Gumption.
Pulling in a deep breath she picked up the next plates and charged through the door nearly running into a man.
“Goodness,” she said, catching the plates in time to keep them from spilling.
The man spun around, arums out and a startled look on his face. “I’m so sorry.”
Looking up into his eyes she frowned. Where had she seen—oh! She remembered that he had run into her as she’d come out of the general store.
“You make a habit of running into people?” she asked, surprising herself.
“Only if they are as pretty as you,” he said with a grin.
Not another one, she thought. “Excuse me,” she said, frowning and slipping past him.
“Wait,” he called out after her but she was already moving forward.
When she turned around she groaned, seeing he sat at one of the tables she was supposed to wait on. Could she ask Lulu to take that table? One glance at the older woman told her that she had enough on her hands without taking some of Dora’s work.
Instead, she forced herself to remember what she’d decided in the kitchen. She needed to be tough.
“What can I get you?” she said, stepping up to the man’s table. She took a quick inventory of the clumsy man. His shaggy, light brown hair looked like it had spent a lot of time under a cowboy hat, likely the one with the sweat stained rim sitting opposite him. His hands were rough, she remembered that much from his steadying touch, and clasped lightly on the table before him. His eyes—
They were light blue and flecked with gold…and staring right at her. It wasn’t an uncomfortable stare—one that asked too much of her—but rather one filled with genuine kindness.
“I’d love some supper if you wouldn’t mind. And maybe a cup of coffee?”
Instead of standing there with his piercing gaze locked on her, she turned to go but felt his hand on her arm. Looking down he removed it immediately, grimacing.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to—” he broke his gaze for a moment, “I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I didn’t mean to run into you and…well, I'm not sorry for calling you pretty—even though it’s true—I didn’t mean for it to sound rude.”
She opened her mouth then closed it, unsure of what to say. It was the kindest she’d been treated in…more than a week. Suddenly, tears filled her eyes and she blinked several times before turning and running out the backdoor of the hotel.
***
Raymond had never had an apology go worse in his memory. As he watched the pretty woman run from the room he felt like he’d been punched in the gut. What had he said that set her off?
Feeling a compulsion he couldn't shake, he picked up his hat, shoved it on his head, and went to find her.
The brightness of the sun blinded him for a moment but his eyes soon adjusted enough to see her bent over crying on a bench sitting in the shade of a large tree. Taking in a slow breath to calm his beating heart, Raymond walked toward her.
“Miss?” he said.
She jerked her head up, startled.
He took a step back, raising his hands up. “I don’t mean you any harm, I just wanted to see if you were all right.”’
Wiping stray tears from under her eyes she sniffed and said, “I’m—I’ll be fine.”
He frowned in concern. “You don’t look fine.”
She gave a mirthless laugh, shaking her head.
/> “No, I mean,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “I just mean that you look like something’s wrong and I wanted to make sure it wasn’t from something I’d said. I really was just trying to apologize. “
“No, it’s all right,” she said, dropping her gaze. “I’m not having a very good week.”
“Mind if I sit?” he asked, indicating the other side of the bench.
She scooted over, though there was plenty of room for him, and he sat. Directing his gaze at her, he studied the soft planes of her face. She looked to be a few years younger than he was but there was a weight—a heaviness—to the set of her shoulders. Working in the hotel of this rough and tumble town, she had likely needed to fight off the attentions of men more often than not.
“First off,” he said, feeling the need to clarify this, “I mean you no harm. Anytime you’d liked me to leave, I will.”
He noticed some of the tension leave her. “Thank you.”
“But, secondly, it looks like you could use a friend. Someone to talk to maybe?”
Her surprised expression turned on him and she blushed when their eyes met.
“Want to tell me why it was such a bad week?” Raymond wasn’t sure why he was pressing her for information. It wasn’t like him. He was a lone cowboy—the man without a home—but for some reason sitting here beside this woman made him want to slow down.
“I…” she started then stopped, her eyes drilling into her hands clenched on her lap. “I came out West to be married.” The words married slammed into him but she continued, “But I found out that the man I came to marry is dead.”
[2016] My True Love Page 11
