Now that Wyoming had become a territory, no one was quite certain if the old circuit judge would be around next month. Then, too, Ellis Stack adamantly demanded money or the women at once. He had a return ticket on the next train. Due to his unyielding insistence, the town’s only attorney, Donald Potter, now sat on a barstool behind the bar and acted as judge.
Jim winced. Whoever had draped a cloth over the oil painting didn’t do a thorough job of it, so a delicate, bare foot peeped out from the right bottom corner. This was no place for a lady … and he had four of them sitting directly behind him. He didn’t care what it took—he’d resolved before he got here that he’d do whatever it took to keep his sweet little Matty and her sisters.
A dozen men—all striving to look their best in hopes of catching the eye of one of the Craig sisters—sat off to the side. None of them wanted Stack to cart them off; then again, everyone knew those men weren’t exactly pleased with the fact that Jim had claimed them as his own. He couldn’t decide whether they might have a slight leaning for or against him.
The “judge” didn’t have a gavel, so he settled for pounding on the bar with the handle of a Navy Colt. The gun promptly discharged, shattering a glass on the shelf just off to the judge’s left.
“Oscar, I thought you told me this thing wasn’t loaded.”
“He was probably loaded when he tol’ you that,” someone drawled.
It took the judge a moment to regain order in the court. He then raised his brows at Ellis. “Mr. Stack, suppose you tell us why you’ve dragged us all away from our work today.”
Ellis Stack was a contradiction—a large, rawboned man, he possessed a high-pitched, whining nasal voice. He dressed with great precision and style, yet his motions were singularly ungainly. Jim couldn’t help wondering if that duplicity extended toward his version of the “truth.”
“Your Honor, sir, I’m missing work myself. It took me five days to get here from my dairy farm in Rhode Island. I’ve been waiting four days for this trial. Even catching the train back tomorrow, I’ll have missed two solid weeks. You know what a loss that represents to a businessman.”
“Nobody dragged you out here,” Luke said.
Stack turned toward them. “I had to come because I’ve been cheated out of more money than any man can afford to write off. I have a contract with James Collingswood for six hunnerd dollars. He ain’t paid a cent.”
“You have a copy of that contract?”
Stack pulled a sheet of paper from a leather satchel. “This is the telegram he sent. He agrees to my price and says to send them at once.”
“Them?”
“The brides.” Ellis jerked his thumb toward the ladies. “Just like he ordered: plain, sturdy, dependable ones who could do hard work.”
The judge inspected the telegram then looked over the rim of his glasses at the jurors. “To my recollection, about four of you had schooling. I’ll read this aloud so everyone in the jury and courtroom has the same information.” He proceeded to do so and then passed the telegram down to the jurors.
Jim fought the urge to jump out of his seat and throttle Ellis Stack. The man twisted things about and slanted them something awful.
“Now, Collingswood, suppose you give us your version of the events,” the judge finally invited.
Jim rose. “I’m calling Linus Hatch as my first witness.”
Lickwind’s telegraph operator came forward carrying a thick book. At Jim’s urging, he produced the original telegraph message. “It says bridle here. B-R-I-D-L-E. The kind you use for a horse. A man who wants a mail-order woman spells it B-R-I-D-A-L. I looked it up in my dictionary before I sent it off, just to make sure I got it right.”
Jim hummed approvingly. He wanted to be careful not to offend the jurors who were illiterate. Stack’s mistakes were ones someone who couldn’t read well would make.
Linus tilted his head to the side and studiously pointed toward the top of the page in his book. “I got it all right here. James Collingswood’s telegram was addressed to L. S. Stocks in Rhode Island. A few of the ranchers hereabouts order gear from that company. Anybody can see right away that Mr. Stack blundered and botched things up on his end.”
Bess testified that Ellis made the mail-order arrangements before consulting with any of the sisters. Jim thanked her then observed, “It’s illegal in the United States of America to buy or sell human beings. By setting a price for each of these women and coming to claim the money, Stack is putting forth that he owned them and can treat them like chattel.”
Unable to contain herself, Bertie stood up. “Yes, he treated us like chattel. And what about the cattle? Tell them about the dairy farm he said was his. It’s ours, too, and he’s sent us away so he can keep it for himself!”
“Your sister still lives there,” Ellis snapped. “She agreed with me on this whole plan. None of the men in town would take any of you—Bess is bossy as a general, and Bertie is a tomboy. Corrine—well, no man wants to marry up with a widow who’s on the nest, and then there’s Matilda. She befriended every last man in town, so marrying her would be like kissin’ his sister. We were doing them a favor, arranging for them to get married.”
“Do you normally get paid for doing a ‘favor’ for a family member?” Jim shot back.
“Train fare was expensive!”
It didn’t take long for the jury to huddle and come to a consensus. “Don—I mean, Mr. Potter—I mean, Your Judgeship, we done made up our minds.”
Jim cast a look back at Matty. She held Corrie’s hand and gave him a brave smile. Her courage impressed him. Openhearted, sympathetic, sweet Matty—worried more about her twin than about herself. There wasn’t a woman on the face of the earth finer than Matilda Craig. He winked, hoping his reassurance wouldn’t be false.
“Me and the boys figured Jim sent off for horses’ bridles, and Mr. Stack made a mistake. Now, it’s a mistake we can all understand.” Jim felt the air freeze in his chest.
“Them gals are right fine ladies—purty and nice, too—no matter what their brother-in-law said, and they deserve far better than they got. We don’t care much that he paid their train fare—it’s precious little compared to their share of the dairy when he booted them out.”
The judge didn’t risk using the handles of the Colt on the bar to quiet the noisy room. Instead, he smacked his palms on the countertop. “Order!”
“Me and the guys don’t think Jim owes him anything since he didn’t deliver what was originally ordered.”
“Fine!” Ellis Stack jumped out of his chair and glowered at the sisters. “Bess, Matty, and Corrie can stay here and molder in this backwater place. Bertie, I’ve decided you’re too young to stay here, and Adele needs your help. You’re coming home with me.”
“You can’t have her!” Bess roared. She and Matty both leaped out of their seats and stood in front of their little sister like a pair of lionesses. The difference was, while Bess glowered at Ellis, Matty stared at Jim. Her eyes pleaded with him to do something—anything—to avert this disaster.
Jim turned to the judge. “Don, if I marry one of the sisters, wouldn’t that give me as much say in whether Bertie stays in Lickwind or goes back to Rhode Island?”
The judge thought for a second then nodded. “Yes, it would.”
Matty stared at Jim in amazement.
Ellis spluttered for a moment then crowed with glee, “Then he’s accepting shipment of the brides, and he has to pay me! You can marry up with whichever one you want, but you’re gonna pay me full price for all four of ’em—six hunnerd dollars!”
Though Matty didn’t know the state of the Collingswood brothers’ finances, she could tell by the way Jim went white beneath his tan that shelling out six hundred dollars would be a huge blow. She couldn’t ask this of him; she couldn’t not ask this of him—not loving him the way she did.
He straightened his black string tie and squared his shoulders. Ignoring everyone else in the crowded saloon turned courthouse, he faced Ma
tty, took her hand in his big, rough right hand, and went down on one knee. She stared into his earnest hazel eyes and could barely breathe.
“Miss Matilda Craig, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Chapter 10
Yeeeehaw!” Lanky yelled. “The brides is stayin’!” Jim remained on bended knee, awaiting Matty’s answer. The poor woman looked completely flabbergasted. She blinked and couldn’t quite manage to keep from gaping. Still, she gave no answer. Something jabbing at his shoulder made him turn his attention to the side.
“You owe me six hunnerd bucks. Pay up.”
A man could afford to kneel to propose, but Jim surely wasn’t willing to be groveling at Stack’s feet while settling this distasteful business. He slowly unfolded and towered over the weasel.
“Wait!” Jones called from the jurors’ seats. “You all jest hang on to yer hats a second.” He and the other jurors all huddled together.
Jim pulled Matty to his side and held her tightly as he waited.
“Your Judgeship, we’re the jury, and we’re thinkin’ we oughtta have some say here.”
Donald Potter leaned forward on the bar and pinched his lower lip between his thumb and forefinger while he deliberated. “Suppose you tell me what you have in mind.”
Jones strutted over near the judge then turned to face Ellis. “Now it’s true, if Jim Collingswood marries up with Miss Matilda, he’s taking delivery on the brides.” Ellis let out a self-satisfied laugh.
“But—” Jones held up his hand to halt Ellis’s celebration, “we looked at the telegram again. It don’t say one-hundred-fifty dollars. It just says one-fifty. Me and the jury decided Collingswood’s gotta pay Mr. Stack a buck-fifty for each of the Craig gals, and they’re both settled fair and square.”
“Done!” Potter banged both fists on the bar and stood.
Ellis turned purple with rage. “You can’t do that!”
“I can, and I am.” The judge pulled a silver dollar out of his pocket and tossed it to Jim. “Consider that part of my wedding gift.”
Mr. Llewellyn stood and tossed a gleaming gold coin. “My bank is glad to see the community grow.”
Doc did the same. “Me, too.”
Soon coins rained all around—nickels, dimes, and a few quarters pinged as they hit the floor. Bertie laughed delightedly as she scurried to pick them up. Bess held out her hands to accept them then shoved a fistful at Jim. “Six dollars!”
Jim hefted the coins in his hand and listened to them jingle. “I haven’t rightly counted them out, but I’d guess there are exactly thirty pieces in my hand. Seems fitting, somehow, Ellis, since you betrayed those you should have loved and protected. Take this and get out of town. We don’t want your kind here.”
“You haven’t seen the end of this!”
Jim stared at Ellis and jutted out his chin. “This had best be the end, or I’ll be filing a lawsuit so’s my wife gets her share of that dairy farm.”
Nervously yanking at his collar, Ellis spluttered and started to leave.
Jim grabbed him and thrust the coins into his shirt pocket. “You’re all my witnesses. Stack is paid in full.”
“Best deal you ever made,” Luke declared.
“Come on, sweetheart,” Jim said as he took hold of Matty’s hand and gave her a gentle tug. “Let’s take your sisters and go home.”
More than half of the men in town accompanied them back to the Rough Cs. They said they wanted to help celebrate, but from the way they all jockeyed their horses to stay close to the buckboard, those men clearly hoped to get a chance to start doing a bit of courting with one of the other sisters. The rest of the men stayed in town—ostensibly to help put the tables back in the saloon. Bess muttered that they’d all be bending their elbows as soon as that task was done.
Matty and Jim didn’t have a chance to say a thing to one another. They had no privacy, and everyone kept calling out to them. Amos Freeling shouted across the road, “Hey, Jones! I just had me a dandy thought!”
“Guess there’s a first time for everything,” Jones hollered back.
When the hoots died down, Amos shouted back, “Any of us who claims the other brides is only gonna have to pay Collingswood a buck and a half as a dowry.”
Jim shook his head. “They’re priceless women, not livestock. I never said they were up for bid.”
“Never said they were forbidden, either,” Luke piped up.
Jim groaned. He hoped he could ditch everyone and spend a little quiet time with Matty. Folks had jumped in so fast, she didn’t even get a chance to answer his proposal. The half-hour ride home had never taken longer.
The minute they reached the ranch, Matty mumbled an excuse and dashed to the outhouse. As a hiding place, it left lots to be desired, but she couldn’t think of anyplace else where she’d be left alone. She shut the door, latched it, and then buried her face in her hands.
This is all my fault. I gave Jim that pleading look in the courtroom. I asked him, just as plainly as if I said the words aloud. I’ve humiliated myself by forcing a man to propose to me so I could keep my sister. He’s such a good man. He’ll never say otherwise, but I’ve forced him into a marriage he doesn’t want.
Tears blurred her vision.
Lord, what am I going to do? You gave me what I asked for, what I longed for—but now I don’t want it. I don’t want a husband who proposed just because he was being gallant. I don’t want a man who marries me because of a mix-up. When I prayed for a husband, I figured You understood I wanted a man who would love me the way Papa loved Mama. Now Jim will have every reason to resent me instead of love me.
“Matty.”
Jim’s whisper stopped her prayer cold.
“Matty darlin’, come on out here,” he said in a quiet, gentle voice. “Leave me alone.”
“If I thought for a second you needed a private moment, I wouldn’t bother you; but your skirt’s caught in the door, and I can see the back of your pretty sunshine hair through the half-moon cutout on the door.”
She moaned in acute embarrassment then felt him give the tail of her skirt a few jerks.
“We need to go for a walk. I’ll make everyone leave us be.” I can’t stay in here forever. I’ll have to face him eventually.
It took every scrap of courage she could summon to open the door. Even then she didn’t look Jim in the eye. He took her hand, steered her around toward the north pasture, and fished a bandanna from his vest pocket. As he offered it, he said, “You don’t have to marry me.”
Those words raked across her soul. Matty tried not to react, but she couldn’t help herself. She stopped dead in her tracks and tried to muffle her wail in the bandanna.
“Aw, Matty.” Jim leaned against the split-rail fence and pulled her into an embrace that only made her cry more.
She didn’t know how long they stood there. The bandanna was a soggy mess, but Jim still held her. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
He tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear and gave her a tender smile. “I learned long ago, sometimes I’ve gotta let a filly wear herself out before I can work with her.”
She closed her eyes. “But you choose which fillies you catch and work with.”
“I think I caught me a fine one.” He snuggled her close and pressed a kiss on her hair.
Matty let out a sigh. “You’re being noble. I don’t want to marry you—a marriage shouldn’t be an obligation or a rescue. It should be because a man and a woman love and respect each other. This whole mess—”
“Isn’t a mess at all.”
She sniffled. “The day we arrived, you called it a mess, and now I can see how right you were. Once Ellis leaves, we can tell everyone it was just an act. My sisters and I will move to town.”
He tilted her face to his. Three deep furrows creased his brow. “Matty, is there someone else you want to marry?”
She choked back a nearly hysterical laugh and shook her head.
“Is there something about me that bo
thers you? I thought we got along.”
“We do get along, but there’s a world of difference between being acquaintances and being married.”
“I thought we’d become much more than acquaintances.” He cupped her jaw in his rough hand and brushed his thumb back and forth on her cheek. “We’ve shared a table for two months now.”
“My sisters were there, too.”
“You’ve worked by my side to deliver a colt, stitched my leg, and pulled out my splinters. They weren’t around then.”
She shrugged. “Those were just everyday things.”
“Marriage is made up of days filled with ‘everyday things.’ I figure if we can find contentment in the commonplace together, we should be able to forge a happy union.”
“A union—like our country after the Civil War?”
He chuckled. “I don’t doubt we’ll have some skirmishes now and then, but who wouldn’t? Mild women won’t survive out here. I didn’t think any woman could until you came along. My sis was miserable, and once Pa died, Ma headed right back East. Only two other decent women have come out, and neither survived a year. Everything inside of me said I ought to send you back for your own welfare. Your gumption and fire changed my mind. If anyone could stand by her man and make a go of it out here, it’s you.”
“Hey, Jim!” Luke shouted. “Bring that gal back to the house. Everyone’s waitin’ to congratulate you!”
Matty wanted to sink under a fence post, but she just ducked her head and tried to hide her tear-streaked cheeks.
Jim cradled her close. “You’re being a pest, Luke. Sweethearts deserve a bit of time alone.”
“You’re as bad as Pa was with Ma.”
“It’s the Collingswood way, and you know it. When we fall, we fall hard.”
Matty leaned into his warmth and strength and wished his words were more than pretense to salvage their pride.
“Now that he’s gone, I have a few things to say to you,” Jim whispered against her temple.
Each word made her tremble.
“My parents had a solid marriage. No one could look at them for more than a heartbeat without knowing they loved each other. Luke wasn’t teasing—he sees that same spark between us.”
Bartered Bride Romance Collection Page 25
