Nissa (The Widows of Wildcat Ridge Book 3)

by Zina Abbott

  Hal had taken Birdie into Denver and the little towns in between to purchase their household furnishings and supplies. They now were stacked in the barn at Grassy Burl that Hal and a few men under Buck’s direction constructed. Other than that, the two women spent their days together.

  Hal Summers had found himself a prize when he married Birdie Templeton. Then again, Nissa mused with a satisfied grin, she had also snagged a marvelous husband when she set aside her fears and married Dallin Walsh.

  When Hal asked his boss if he could borrow the men and pay two days of wages for them to work on setting the square-cut logs he and Buck had hauled up from the sawmill in Warm Springs, Dallin offered a better plan. He sent a few of his men to neighboring ranches to spread the word about the Saturday they would start the cabin-raising. Dallin figured, with holding the event before fall round-up, it provided the high mountain ranchers an opportunity to plan the round-up, celebrate the two weddings and accomplish most of the construction of Hal’s and Birdie’s home.

  The big bonus in Dallin’s plan was it allowed Nissa and Birdie to meet the women who also lived in the region. Everyone who came could socialize with their far-flung neighbors. He even promised to coax a preacher up for Sunday morning. That meant the families could enjoy the rare pleasure of a Sabbath service without going all the way into town. Afterwards, Dallin planned for them to enjoy a picnic dinner, and then work on the cabin until dark. Monday, everyone would pack up and return to their own ranches.

  Birdie Summers joined Nissa in the kitchen of the main ranch house. “I’m so excited about today, but I’m also dreading it. When I worked at the bank, I met strangers all the time. It seldom made me as feel as nervous as now. I hope I make a good impression on our new neighbors.” She wrapped one arm across her stomach, and her fingertips pressed her lips as she swallowed.

  “You feeling all right?”

  “About the same as the past week. Of all times to feel sick—the day the men have lined up the cabin-raising party.”

  Nissa smiled in understanding. She had already explained to Birdie the probable cause of her discomfort and changes in her body. However, knowing why she felt like she did had not made the days of extra food preparation any easier for Birdie. Nor had it made the prospect of entertaining so many strangers, neighbors though they might be, any less intimidating.

  “Sit down, Birdie.” Nissa reached for a tin of soda crackers and handed several squares to her. “I’ve been going through these pretty fast the past month, so I’m glad I purchased a large case of them. I’ll have some ginger tea ready in a minute. Nibble a few to settle your stomach while I start breakfast for our men.”

  “Thank you. I’ll try them, but everything tastes like bile lately.”

  As if conjured up by Nissa’s words, Dallin and Hal appeared at the kitchen door.

  Dallin sniffed the air. “I smell coffee and ham.”

  Nissa smiled at her husband. “I’m heating the biscuits left from last night, and I’ll scramble some eggs. Sit down and I’ll have your breakfast to you in a few minutes.”

  Birdie shook her head. “None for me, please.”

  Hal slowly sat in his chair and studied his wife with consternation. He took her hand. “Are you feeling all right, Birdie? You’ve been mighty quiet this week.”

  “I’ve felt better, but I’ll be fine.” Birdie bit off a corner of soda cracker.

  “Are you sick? If so, you better stay here today. We don’t need you passing anything on to our neighbors.”

  Nissa giggled. “What she has isn’t catching. Well, except she caught it from you.”

  Birdie glared at Nissa. “I thought we weren’t going to say anything yet.”

  “Say anything about what?” Dallin settled in his chair and wrapped his hands around his coffee mug. “Are we keeping secrets now?”

  “Birdie’s not feeling well, because she’s in the family way.”

  “You are, too. Don’t put it all on me just because you handle your sickness better.” Birdie pouted as she glared at Nissa.

  Nissa smirked as she watched her husband first stare at Birdie then Hal.

  Lastly, Dallin turned to Nissa, a puzzled expression on his face. “How did that happen?”

  Nissa smiled and lifted her shoulder. “The usual way. Things like that occur when a woman has a loving and attentive husband on her wedding night.”

  Hal leaned forward to catch Birdie’s eye. “I was loving and attentive on our wedding night, at least I thought I was. Is that what happened with you?”

  Her mouth open, Birdie stared at Hal and then blinked. “Oh, you were. I don’t know much about it, but from what Nissa explained to me, I don’t think our baby started on our wedding night. Ah…maybe when we went to Denver? You were very loving and attentive to me then, too.” As a realization of what she implied hit her, Birdie blushed a bright red. Next, tears welled up in her eyes. “Oh, Hal. I never thought I’d be any happier than the day I married you. But now I’m going to have our child…”

  Hal rose from his chair. He pulled his wife into his arms. “I’m thrilled for us, Birdie. I hate that you’re not feeling well, but this child of ours is the greatest gift you could give me.”

  After hugging his wife for several seconds, Hal helped her to her seat and flopped back in his chair, a wide grin of satisfaction on his face. “This is better news than knowing after this weekend we’re going to have at least four walls of our house built. As soon as Buck can help me get the roof on and our stove and bed put together, we’re moving in. We need to catch up on me being loving and attentive, and we’ll enjoy it in comfort.” Hal’s expression turned to a frown and he assumed his foreman voice. “Now, Birdie, there will be no overdoing it this weekend or from now on. No heavy lifting, and you take time to rest. Today, you let these other women do most of the work with the food and clean-up—that’s why they came.”

  Nissa laughed at Hal’s heightened concern. “Birdie and I don’t plan to haul logs or buckets of rock and lime mortar. I don’t really want to announce it to everyone yet, just in case one of our babies doesn’t stick. I lost my last one after Molly when I was but a few months along. However, once the ladies get a good look at Birdie being green around the gills, they’ll figure it out and probably try to take over. We’ll be lucky if they let us carry a loaf of bread.”

  Birdie turned to Nissa, her eyebrows raised. “Me green around the gills? You look a little peaked yourself, Nissa.” She sighed in resignation. “We’ll do what we can, but as tired as I’ve felt lately, I won’t mind sitting now and then.”

  As Nissa set a plate of breakfast food in front of her husband, Dallin reached for her hand and gently squeezed it. “When do you think your time will come? Well, both your times?”

  Nissa rolled her eyes. These ranchers knew exactly when to expect their mares and cows to drop their young, but they had no idea how long it would take for their own children? “Nine months. We were married at the end of June, so we can expect our new arrival about the end of March or maybe early April. Hal and Birdie went to Denver two weeks after we got back here, so she would be due a few weeks after me. Of course, with this being Birdie’s first, hers could come two weeks early or two weeks late.”

  “Sit down a minute, Nissa.” Not releasing her hand, Dallin frowned in consternation. “We’ll still have a lot of snow on the ground the time ours is due. Some years it’s worse than others. We might have trouble getting a doctor or midwife in here. I hope we can line up a midwife in town and arrange for her to come out the first break in the weather beforehand. It would be best if she can stay here until you both deliver.”

  Nissa nodded. “Today I can ask the women general questions about who they use for a midwife, and if this woman is in a position to stay here any length of time.”

  Dallin shook his head. “I don’t like the timing. I should have held off a month before I touched you.”

  Nissa laughed and grasped his forearm. “No, you shouldn’t have. Once I decided to
marry you, I wouldn’t have let you keep your distance from me for a month. Besides, at the time, your mind was on other things than scheduling your firstborn’s birth.” She paused then she softened her voice and stared into his eyes in an effort to reassure her husband. “I’ve been through childbirth before and know what to expect. Birdie and I have each other and we both have you two. We’ll be all right.”

  Her elbows on the table, Birdie rested her forehead against her fingertips. “If you say so. At least, you know what you’re doing.”

  Nissa rose from her chair. “I need to get Hal his plate. If we don’t dawdle, we might get to eat in peace before Jamie and Molly come running in here wanting their food. Besides, we need to hurry over and greet those who so kindly came to help us raise that cabin.” Nissa filled her dish with a little egg and a biscuit. She passed on the ham which no longer appealed to her now she was in the early stages of pregnancy. In spite of her stomach’s queasiness that promised a new child coming into her life, she felt greater happiness and contentment than she had in years. She married a wonderful man who loved her and willingly took on the role of father to her children. She brought Jamie and Molly to a new home where they were happy. She had a woman friend close by and a bunkhouse full of ranch hands she knew she could count on for help.

  It occurred to Nissa it was not so much she needed to leave Wildcat Ridge. She needed to build a life with Dallin Walsh, wherever that might be. She prayed the widows she left behind found the same love and contentment in their lives she now enjoyed in her new family.

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  Thank you for reading

  Nissa

  From the series

  The Widows of Wildcat Ridge

  Each of my books is a sweet Western Historical

  Romance. You may find all my books on my Amazon Zina Abbott Author Page on Amazon.com

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  To informed about my book series and individual books, visit my website: ZinaAbbott.homestead.com

  Each of my books in

  The Widows of Wildcat Ridge series

  Is written to be a stand-alone novel.

  However, I hope you will look for my second book

  Diantha

  Scheduled to be published April, 2018.

  OTHER BOOKS BY ZINA ABBOTT

  Kizzie's Kisses by Zina Abbott

  (Book 2, Grandma’s Wedding Quilts series)

  Running from hostile Indians attacking Salina, Kansas in 1862, feisty Kizzie Atwell runs into freighter Leander Jones traveling the Smoky Hill Trail. Will the two joining forces to prevent the Fort Riley Army captain from requisitioning their beloved horses for the Civil War-era cavalry lead to a more romantic bargain sealed with a kiss?

  (Also Book 2 in my Atwell Kin series.)

  Aaron’s Annulment Bride by Zina Abbott

  (Book 3, Sweethearts of Jubilee Spring series)

  Believing she’s unworthy to be any man’s wife, Andrea Dalton marries Aaron Brinks so he can get title to a mining company house. But now she wants an annulment. Can he convince her to stay?

  Cat’s Meow by Zina Abbott

  (Book 6, Sweethearts of Jubilee Spring series)

  Catherine Everett loves tall, lanky miner, Harold Calloway. She wants to marry him, but there is one “meowly” little problem.

  Bargain Bessie by Zina Abbott

  (Book 7, Sweethearts of Jubilee Spring series)

  Bessie Carlson, a confirmed spinster, meets Zeb Jacobson, a successful Monarch Bend rancher who is NOT pushing forty.

  Dead-Set Delphinia by Zina Abbott

  (Book 11, Sweethearts of Jubilee Spring series)

  Delphinia is dead set on being married within a week before her father can track her down. Bennett is dead set on continuing to muddle through life on his own.

  Evasive Eddie Joe by Zina Abbott

  (Book 15, Sweethearts of Jubilee Spring series)

  Cowboy vs. the miners – who will marry the bride?

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  (Prequel, Lockets & Lace series)

  The back of her locket read, “My heart is always with you.”

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  (Book 3, Lockets & Lace series)

  Will Otto’s offer still stand when trouble from Libby’s past catches up with her?

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  Christmas Novellas

  A Christmas Promise

  Too Old For Christmas

  Eastern Sierra Brides Series

  Big Meadows Valentine

  A Resurrected Heart

  Her Independent Spirit

  Haunted By Love

  Bridgeport Holiday Brides

  ABOUT ZINA ABBOTT

  Zina Abbott is the pen name used by Robyn Echols for her historical novels.

  The author currently lives with her husband in California near the “Gateway to Yosemite.” She is a member of Women Writing the West, Western Writers of America, and American Night Writers Association. She enjoys any kind of history including family history. When she is not piecing together novel plots, she pieces together quilt blocks.

  Please visit Zina Abbott on her Website.

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