The Shepherd's Heart Series: A Boxed Set Book Bundle Collection Volumes 1-4

by Lynnette Bonner

  Victoria showed Jimmy the soap and towel and instructed him to put on his one extra set of clothes and bring her the dirty ones he had on now.

  When she stepped into the parlor, Rocky was laid out on the settee, his stocking feet propped up on the arm. He started to get up, but she waved him back down. “You’ve had a long day. How’s your shoulder?”

  He paused a moment as though deciding how much to tell her. “Been better.”

  Her stomach tightened. Concern for three small children had stripped her of all defenses and now she was married to a lawman. A wounded lawman! “Can I get you anything?”

  His warm honey-brown gaze fixed on her. “I went and told my parents.”

  Her heart stopped and she closed her eyes. Mama. She would need to tell Mama too as soon as she got back from her wedding tour.

  Rocky still watched her.

  “So, how did they take it?”

  A sardonic smile curved his lips. “Ma said we’d better start planning a big ceremony or none of my family will speak to us ever again.”

  Victoria pressed a hand over her mouth. “Oh, Rocky! I’m so sorry. What did I get us into?”

  He came to his feet in one swift motion. Stepping close to her, he said, “She was joking, Ria. She’s been after me to court you for years.”

  “Really?”

  He nodded.

  “Why didn’t you?”

  Jimmy poked his head in. “Done,” he announced, stuffing his dirty laundry into Victoria’s hands. His wet hair stood out from his head in all directions.

  Distracted, Victoria took his clothes. She wished Rocky had been able to answer her question.

  Rocky held her gaze for a moment, rubbing one hand over his jaw, his eyes crinkling with humor. “I’ll make sure to let you know my answer to that, later.”

  She swallowed, suddenly not so sure she wanted to know and thankful for the interruption. If she wasn’t careful she was going to lose her heart entirely to the handsome man before her.

  Finally, he looked down. “Jimmy, why don’t you let Mrs. Jordan show you where that laundry should go.” He eyed the boy’s hair for a moment, his gaze darted to Victoria’s and he winked. “Then come back here and we’ll get that checkers game going.”

  Victoria smiled, glad he wasn’t going to mention the wayward mop. The boy needed to feel welcome here – not harped on. She put a hand on Jimmy’s shoulder. “I’ll take care of these for you tonight. And tomorrow I can show you all around, so that next time you’ll know where to take your dirty clothes. For now, just enjoy your checkers game.”

  “Yesssssss!” Jimmy pumped one fist by his side, then rushed for the checker board set up by the fireplace. He stopped after several strides and spun back towards her. “Thanks!”

  Joy welled in Victoria’s heart. When was the last time someone had taken time to show this boy special attention? “You are most welcome.”

  Rocky touched her elbow as she started from the room. “Where do you want him to sleep tonight?” he asked softly.

  Victoria’s eyes rounded. There were only three bedrooms in the house. The girls were in one, she occupied one, and the other that she’d planned for Jimmy to sleep in held only one singlewide cot. How had she not considered where Rocky would sleep? “Uh… uh… well… I thought he might sleep in the last room down the hall to the left. But….” She licked her lips, feeling heat sear her face.

  Rocky scanned her face. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll get him settled and then head over to my place to sleep for the night.”

  “N-n-no!” she stammered. “She said she wouldn’t accept a sham marriage – I don’t want word to get back to her that you aren’t… we aren’t….”

  “Are ya comin’, mister?” Jimmy asked.

  Rocky held a finger out in Jimmy’s direction without taking his attention off Victoria’s face. “Be right there, Jimmy.” His next words were pitched much lower. “What are you saying?”

  Heavens! She didn’t know what she was saying! She gave a nervous laugh. “I don’t know.”

  With a sigh he rubbed the back of his neck. “Get me a blanket and a pillow and I’ll sleep out here by the fire.”

  “You will? But your shoulder. Oh! Maybe you should go back to your place tonight.” She put one hand to her forehead.

  “No, you’re right. I should be here. I want to be here. But I didn’t want you to...” He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Just get me a blanket and a pillow, alright? I’ll be fine. Stop worrying.”

  She watched as he crossed the room to Jimmy and sat on the hearth across from him before she turned to do as he’d asked. Lord, what have I gotten us into?

  “You done went and did what?” Hannah tossed her large hands into the air then settled them on her hips. “Girl! You is one muddle-headed piece o’ work!” Hannah’s sensible, blue, cotton dress draped over her generous frame and contrasted with the bright white of her work-day apron. The hem swirled around her ankles, showing flashes of her black boots as she stomped around the kitchen. She had braided her thick hair into a series of rows, the ends gathered into a tight bun at the back of her head.

  Victoria leaned against the kitchen counter, hands pressed to her temples. She was glad Rocky had taken all the children out to show them how to gather eggs, and not so glad that Hannah had decided to show up early this morning to find out what had happened at the depot yesterday. “I know, Hannah, but she was going to give ChristyAnne to Mr. V and take Damera back to New York with her! And you know I couldn’t let that happen!”

  “Honey, she’d a give them babies to you if you had just worked on her a bit! I think there be another reason you gived in to the plum fool idea of marryin’ Rocky on the spot!”

  Victoria’s face heated and she fiddled with a crumb on the sideboard, suddenly unable to meet Hannah’s assessing stare. “We’ll find good homes for all the children and then we can get the marriage annulled.”

  “ Lawd, Almighty?” Hannah turned her petitioning gaze towards the ceiling. “What we gonna do with this gal?” Storming over to the sink she clunked the dish-water kettle under the pump and worked the handle furiously. “If you ain’t the craziest gal this side o’ the Mississippi, my name be Mark Twain! What your mama gonna say to me when she hears she left you in my care for one week and on the first day, you ups and gets yourself hitched?” She shook a finger at Victoria. “And don’t you go talkin’ none to me ’bout getting no annulment! There ain’t no going back. But you got yourself into a doozy of a mess this time around, gal!”

  “You don’t think God could have sent us there at just the right time to make sure those two little girls got to stay together?”

  Hannah snorted and arched her brows. “Sho’ ’nuff good thing it weren’t Jay Olson what took you to the depot yesterday!”

  Victoria shuddered at that thought. Would she have married him to keep the girls together?

  “I’d bet my bottom dollar you didn’t stop to say a prayer, ’fore you plunged ahead.” Hannah cocked her a wide-eyed look. “Honey, your problem is you don’t believe the good Lawd love them babies as much as you do.”

  Victoria pinched the bridge of her nose. Was that true? “What kind of person would I be to let two sisters get separated from each other when I could do something to prevent it?”

  Hannah paused at that. “An awful one.” She sighed. “Well, maybe my mouth is runnin’ away with me. Mayhap this be the Good Lawd’s way o’ keeping them cuties together.”

  Victoria folded her arms. “I honestly don’t know, Hannah.”

  “Aw, Honey…” Hannah slammed the kettle down onto the stove and water droplets sizzled across the hot surface. She turned and pulled Victoria into her plump embrace. “I got no call to be so hard on you when you was just doin’ what you felt was right. What’s done is done. You helped them babies. And you’s married now. So best you make the most of it and learn to love that man with all your heart. Least ways you got yourself a good one.” She nodded emphatically and t
urned to retrieve a mug from the cupboard. “Yes’m at least you got yourself a good one.”

  Victoria started to gather ingredients for flapjacks. They needed to get breakfast underway if they were going to make it to church on time. She swallowed. Church was not something she was looking forward to today. What was everyone going to think about her and Rocky’s spur-of-the-moment marriage?

  Hannah shooed her away from the bowl, and pressed a cup of hot coffee into her hands.

  With a sigh, Victoria cupped the warmth of the mug and relinquished the flapjack ingredients to Hannah’s capable hands. She inhaled a lungful of the wonderful aroma wafting from her cup.

  “Now you listen to a bit of advice and you listen up good.” Hannah dumped flour and a dash of salt into the bowl “I was married once. Back before my massah treat my Zeb so bad he—well,” she waved a hand. “I was married once. An’ mind you, Ria, men… they’s different than us women. You gots to give ’em—well you know, you gots to keep ’em happy.”

  Heat washed down from the crown of Victoria’s head into the pit of her belly. “Hannah!”

  Hannah gave her a chin-tucked look. “Don’t you sass me now. You ever been married afore?”

  Victoria gaped at her in silence.

  “I didn’t think so. So you listen to me. You keep that man happy in the bedroom and your whole home will be a lot happier.”

  A floor-board creaked and a horrible sense of foreboding coursed through Victoria. She leaned to peer around Hannah’s broad shoulders.

  Rocky stood in the doorway, one hand resting on his hip, the other scrubbing at the back of his neck, a look of bemused chagrin on his face. “Ahhh… is it alright to bring the children back inside now?”

  Hannah snatched the mug out of Victoria’s limp hands. “You’s spillin’ your coffee, girl!”

  6

  Simon Saunders tilted back in his chair, crossed one ankle over one knee and adjusted the belt buckle cutting into his ample mid-section. Slurping his coffee noisily, he reached for the paper and shook it open. He grunted and almost spewed the hot liquid everywhere. Plunking the cup on the table he grabbed the paper with both hands and gave it his full attention. Amazement set his heart to thumping in his ears.

  All this time, she’d been so close! How had he not known?

  A lazy smile split his lips. “Well, hello Darlin’. I been lookin’ for you fer a long time.” She looked just like Maggie. He scanned the article and then harrumphed. “So, yer a do-gooder like your ma.” Married now, with three adopted children. Well, that would complicate matters slightly. He scratched his chin and angled a look towards the ceiling. No…. Maybe not. In fact, it might even help his image.

  He chewed one fingernail, spitting out the bits and pieces as he contemplated how he would go about getting to know her. He frowned at his finger. He had to break that habit. His hands needed to look smooth and pampered.

  It wouldn’t be easy, but he hadn’t come this far to fail.

  Pulling over a pad of paper, he started his list. There were a lot of things he needed to do. So many little details to think through. He jotted another item down, with a chuckle. Who knew he would find her because of a wedding announcement?

  “Good Lord must be watchin’ out for me. Yes Sir. Things might just finally be going my way.”

  Victoria had never been so nervous in her life. Rocky had gone to the church earlier and asked the Reverend to announce that they were now married, so at least everyone would learn about it at once.

  But as they walked into the church lot, Rocky carrying Damera on his good arm, and ChristyAnne’s little hand tucked into her own, Victoria felt like she might turn and bolt for home at any moment. If ever there was a day tongues would wag in church, this was the day. She hated knowing other people were talking about her. Mama had always told her she put too much stock in what other people thought of her, but she couldn’t help it. She wanted everyone to be happy and to like her. Glancing over her shoulder, she urged Jimmy to a faster walk. “Keep up please.”

  “Don’t want to go to no church.” Jimmy glowered at her.

  Rocky and Victoria looked at each other and stopped.

  “Son, this is not up for discussion. We are all going in there and we are going to sit quietly through the sermon. Then we are going to go home and talk about what the Pastor says today, so I expect you to listen, got it?” Rocky cocked an eyebrow at him.

  ChristyAnne squeezed her hand. “Is this the same pastor that was at the train station yesterday?”

  Victoria shook her head. “No, honey. That was the pastor from Salem. Pastor Hollybough is our pastor here in Shilo.”

  Jimmy kicked a pebble, sending it bounding across the lot. “I’m not your son!”

  “That’s true. But for now you are in my charge and you will listen.” There was an edge of steel in Rocky’s tone.

  Victoria held her breath. Please, oh please, don’t make a scene right here in the church lot.

  ChristyAnne slipped her hand into Rocky’s free one. “I’m happy to go into church.” She blinked large brown eyes up at him.

  Rocky wisely ignored her attempt at becoming his favorite and kept his gaze fixed on the boy.

  “Fine.” Jimmy kicked another rock. “Let’s go.”

  Rocky’s shoulders eased slightly and he started for the doors again. Victoria hurried to catch up, and they slipped into the back pew just as the first hymn started to play, Rocky on one end and Victoria on the other, with the three children in between them.

  Hannah stood in the middle of a row full of orphans, her beautiful voice carrying throughout the church. “Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.”

  Victoria hugged the hymnal close, shut her eyes and inhaled deeply. Softly, under the flow of the music, women’s skirts rustled. And outside, down the street, Mr. Halvorson’s dog barked from where it was tied behind the general store – like it did every Sunday. Sky and Brooke’s baby, Sierra, slurped noisily on her fingers, and Mr. Bennett sang off key as usual. But the words of the song soothed her frayed nerves like a mama’s hug for a scared toddler. “Not the labors of my hands, can fulfill thy law's commands; could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone; thou must save, and thou alone.”

  Oh how she needed this reminder not to take pride in what she had done for these children. God alone could save, and that through grace – not because of anything she had done. Father, forgive me for taking pride in anything I’ve done. Help me to put these children in Your hands. I really believe You sent us there yesterday to help them. Help us to know how best to do that. And if there was another way to keep these girls together and I’ve roped Rocky into something he regrets, please forgive me. And help him to forgive me. Help us to know where to go from here, Lord. We really need Your guidance.

  She opened her eyes, met Julia Nickerson’s assessing scrutiny, and immediately lost any peace she thought she had gained. Lord, I don’t know if I can deal kindly with Julia today.

  From her pew just across the aisle from Rocky, Julia studied them openly. Her gaze raked over the three children and with a haughty arch of her brow she pressed her lips into a thin line.

  How had the woman ever gotten hired on by the Children’s Aid Society in the first place?

  ChristyAnne shuffled her feet and glanced from Julia to Victoria, a question in her gaze. Victoria rested one hand on her head and bent down. “Don’t worry about her,” she whispered, “just sing the songs.”

  Rachel, with Sharyah by her side, glanced back, a soft smile on her face. She took in the three children between Victoria and Rocky with any entirely different expression – one of maternal pride.

  Glancing down at the three children, Victoria felt a small surge of the same. They really were beautiful children.

  Rocky glanced up over the top of his hymnal and Julia smiled at him, batting her lashes. Victoria bit down on her tongue so hard she almost yelped. Quickly she turned back to study her hym
nal – and realized they had moved on to another song, and she hadn’t turned the page.

  When the songs ended and Pastor Hollybough stepped up to the pulpit, Victoria squirmed like a little kid in line to get a tooth pulled.

  Pastor cleared his throat and looked over the congregation. A smile softened his features. “Well it’s not often that a mother and daughter get married on the same day. But here in our little town, we now hold that distinction. I’m happy to announce that Victoria Snyder and Rocky Jordan got married yesterday in Salem.”

  For one moment a church mouse could have been heard breathing, and then pandemonium broke loose.

  But above all the cacophony Victoria heard Julia’s loud question to her mother. “You don’t suppose she’s in the family way, do you?”

  Heat filled her face. How could the woman even insinuate such a thing? She knew very well why they’d gotten married as they had! She had to fix this. Lifting her skirts she stepped out into the aisle and marched toward the front of the church. Silence descended as everyone realized she was about to say something.

  Words almost failed her as every eye fixed on her, but she glanced at Rocky and he gave her a nod of reassurance. That was enough to ease the stranglehold on her voice.

  “Rocky and I went to the train station in Salem yesterday, like I do every year, to see if there would be any orphans who still needed homes.” Victoria rubbed her hand down her skirt. She was thankful she’d only had a couple sips of coffee, or poor Mr. Taylor in the front row would be wearing her breakfast. “There were three. Two of them are sisters. The woman from The Children’s Aid Society was going to separate the girls, leaving one here and taking the other back to New York.” Victoria focused her gaze on Rocky making sure not to look at Julia, but still a low murmur rippled across the congregation. Apparently many of the members knew that Julia had been the Society worker. Rocky nodded encouragement again. “Rocky and I couldn’t let that happen, and the woman wouldn’t allow us to take the children unless we… well… got married.”