The Trouble with Patience

by Maggie Brendan

  “This is a treat. I don’t get switchel very often. It’s a nice change from coffee, especially on a warm day like this.”

  “I’m happy you like it, Jed.” Patience smiled.

  “I’m feeling like you’re spoiling me. Delicious biscuits, apple strudel, complete suppers at your place, now switchel . . . But I’m not complaining. Spoiling feels kind of nice.” He set the cup aside while Patience handed him a sandwich. “Mmm . . . ,” he said around a bite. “Delicious—add roast beef sandwich to the list.”

  “Why, thank you. I’m glad to know I can do something right.”

  He gave her a long gaze. “Oh, you’re doing many things right, Patience. You’ve been so kind to Cody, then Judith, when they both really needed a friend. Cody could’ve still been after me. I don’t know how you did that—changed his mind, I mean.”

  “Perhaps it wasn’t me. I was simply God’s instrument to help Cody see that revenge never works the way we want it to.”

  Jedediah polished off his sandwich, leaned back against the trunk of the pine towering above them, and lifted his cup of switchel again. “Ah . . . that was good. Just the right amount of sweetness. Like you.” He looked at her for a long moment, and she felt her cheeks grow warm.

  He finally said, “Did Judith tell you before she left that I asked her to give me first chance if she decides to sell the ranch?”

  “No, I don’t believe she did. That would be a big ranch to run, I should think.” Patience wrapped what was left of her lunch in the basket and pulled out the sliced pound cake. She put a slice of cake on a small plate and added huckleberries.

  “It could be, but I’ve been saving up because I’ve always wanted to buy a spread of my own someday—get married and have a family, if it’s not too late for me.”

  Patience wasn’t sure how to respond so she took a bite of her dessert and waited for him to speak again.

  He finally broke the silence. “That was a delicious lunch, Patience,” he said, wiping his mouth.

  “Thank you.” She leaned on the tree trunk next to him, curling her legs underneath her skirt. They sat without saying anything further for a few minutes, then Jedediah suddenly shot straight up.

  “I nearly forgot. Be right back.” She watched as he loped over to the buggy and lifted a parcel out from under the seat. Returning and seating himself closer to her, he handed her the brown-paper-covered package. “I found this at the store, and I thought maybe you could use it.”

  “Goodness . . . a present?”

  “Go ahead and open it,” he urged.

  Patience removed the paper wrapping to discover a journal. She ran her hand across the smooth brown leather. “Jed,” she turned to look at him, “this is the best gift I’ve ever received—well, other than the piano from Mother,” she added with a smile.

  He grinned back at her, then turned serious. “I want you to know that I support you in your writing, wherever it takes you.”

  She could hear the sincerity in his voice. “Thank you so much. I sent my writings off to a publisher, hoping at the very least that someone would actually read them, but I don’t really expect to hear back.”

  She leaned over to give him a quick hug, her hat slipping off the back of her head, and then he put his arms around her and held her for what seemed like a long minute. When she drew back, he looked into her face, then tipped her chin up and leaned over to give her a kiss that jarred her senses. When he released her, she wondered if she could catch her breath again.

  Jedediah took her hand in both of his. “Patience, I’ve waited for just this very moment . . . to ask you, will you marry me?”

  She blinked, thinking she must be dreaming. With her heart racing, she took a deep breath. “Are you sure, Jed? Do you really want—?”

  “I’ve never been more sure than I am at this moment.” He drew a ragged breath. “I didn’t mean to catch you off guard, but I couldn’t hold my feelings in any longer. I’ve been thinking of nothing else but us for weeks now. Since the first day you marched into my office, I couldn’t help but be attracted to your spritely courage to dare question my authority. And your solid faith drew me to you, even though at first I tried to deny it. My heart is hoping you feel the same way about me . . .” He looked away, as though afraid of what he might see in her face.

  “Oh, Jed,” she exclaimed, taking his face in her hands, “I do, I do! Since we’ve spent time together lately, walking and talking, I’ve been certain I love you too! But I couldn’t let myself believe you might feel that way about me.” He pulled her hands from his face and held them tightly.

  “Is that a ‘yes’ then?” His dark eyes seemed even darker as they searched hers.

  “Yes . . . I mean ‘yes’ to your question!” Patience felt tears in her eyes as he brought one of her hands to his lips and kissed it as though it were some fine object, holding her other hand to his heart.

  “I’m sorry I have no engagement ring for you today, but we’ll pick out wedding bands together,” Jedediah told her. “I promise to do all that is within my power to make you happy . . . to give you a home with children if you want them like I do.”

  Patience brushed at the tears sliding down her cheeks. No one had ever talked with her about love, about her happiness before. “I do want to have children, and there’s nothing I’d rather do than spend my life making you happy.”

  Jed pulled her into the crook of his arm. “Let’s set a date—not too far away—and plan our future together,” he said in a husky voice.

  She made herself comfortable, her head on his shoulder, and they talked and laughed and planned until the waning sun began to dip along the horizon.

  Patience and Jedediah suddenly found themselves the center of attention after telling first Emily, then Hannah and Joe, about their engagement. Before long it seemed like the whole town knew.

  The boarders were gathered in the parlor after dinner, and congratulations came from each of them when Patience joined Jed on the settee.

  “This is so exciting! Have you set a date yet?” Emily asked from the kitchen doorway.

  “We want to get married a week from next Saturday,” Jedediah announced.

  “We have a lot to do before then!” exclaimed Emily. “Oh my, and—”

  “Slow down, Emily. We’ll make a list of things we must do,” Patience assured her.

  “Then you’d better be on your way now, Jedediah.”

  There were good-natured laughs, but folks decided Emily was serious when she took Jedediah’s arm and pulled him to the door. Patience followed, laughing.

  “Guess that means I’m leaving,” Jed chuckled ruefully, turning to wave good night to the residents.

  “I hope you have a good night, Jed,” Patience said as they walked out to the porch. “Emily’s right, we’ve plenty to do.”

  Jedediah leaned over to steal a quick kiss. “Good night, my dear. I’m a very happy man, you know.”

  Patience felt like she’d been walking on air ever since their picnic. She was surprised she could keep her mind on her duties at all.

  She went to find Emily so they could start making the plans for a small wedding celebration. When she entered the kitchen, Emily was there, ready with a pad and pencil.

  She started right in before Patience even got herself seated. “Since the town doesn’t have a church building, we can have the wedding here at Creekside or maybe outdoors. What do you think about that?”

  Patience chuckled. “I love having your help with this, Emily. But first things first: would you be my maid of honor please?”

  Emily jumped up, clapped her hands, and hugged Patience. “By all means! I would be very honored.” The two hugged again, then Emily asked, “Who will be Jed’s best man?”

  “He’s going to ask Joe. This will be a small wedding, but let’s start a list since it’s less than two weeks away. I wonder if Hannah has ever baked a wedding cake?”

  “Oh, this is going to be so much fun!” Emily exclaimed. “Where will you f
ind a wedding dress on such short notice?”

  “I’ll be wearing my mother’s gown that’s in my trunk. We’ll have to get it out right away, air it out, and look for anything that needs mending or altering. It’s very beautiful,” Patience said, “but it probably will need to be let out a bit—”

  “Ooh—I can’t wait to see it,” Emily put in with more clapping.

  “I’ve already sent a telegram to Mother. I do hope she can come.”

  The two of them made wedding plans until they were both yawning. “We must get to bed, Emily, or I’m afraid I’ll fall over.”

  “Me, too.” Emily closed the notepad. “But this is a nice kind of tired, don’t you think?”

  Patience nodded in agreement as they climbed the stairs. “I’m hoping I sleep better than I did last night,” she said. “I was so full of thankfulness and love and hopes and dreams . . .”

  “. . . that you couldn’t sleep,” Emily finished for her, and they held their hands over their mouths to silence their chuckles.

  32

  Sunlight played over Jedediah’s face, and for a moment he thought Patience was blowing kisses to him. He jerked awake, looked at the clock, and realized he’d slept much longer than usual. As he dressed and prepared for the day, Patience’s face and her “Yes!” response that would make him a husband played across his mind. He smiled into the mirror. “See, there is someone who cares, who loves this face, ” he said aloud. Thank you, Lord, for bringing Patience here. He couldn’t help but grin as he shaved around his mustache.

  He had no family to inform about the wedding and had happily left most of the details to Patience. He decided he’d wander over to the bakery and have some of Hannah’s biscuits. He had no inmates in cells presently, and hopefully his presence of authority around town was making any law-breaker types think twice.

  He was soon headed toward Hannah’s, and she was waiting for him with a cheery “Mornin’, Almost-a-Bridegroom!” She walked over to him, and Jedediah grabbed her hands, began humming a tune, and waltzed her around the small shop while she laughed breathlessly. Folks having their morning coffee clapped in time to the beat, laughing along with them.

  When they had finished, Jedediah and Hannah moved to the counter while she poured him a cup of coffee. He was surprised to see tears. “Oh, no—don’t you dare cry,” he ordered.

  “I’m so happy for you both that I could bust!” She handed him the coffee, then dabbed her eyes with the corner of her apron. “You couldn’t have chosen a better woman to marry than Patience.”

  “How right you are, Hannah. Now, how ’bout a biscuit or two to go along with my java,” he said with a wink.

  He took his breakfast over to the only remaining table. As other customers were leaving, most of them offered, “Congratulations, Marshal,” as they passed.

  When he was finished, he called over to Hannah, “Joe around?”

  She nodded, went through the curtain into the kitchen, and soon had Joe seated across from Jed with his own cup of coffee and a refill for Jed.

  Joe, in his white starched apron and flour-streaked face, leaned across to murmur he was “learnin’ how to make those biscuits you like.” Jed grinned but didn’t say anything. As if nobody would know just looking at you.

  “Since you’re my deputy,” Jed told him, “I’ll need you to keep the law for me for a few days. Think you can do that along with your baking?”

  “You know I can.” Joe grinned, patting his shiny new deputy badge showing above the apron.

  “I have one more duty to ask of you, Joe. Would you be my best man?”

  “Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat! Me? Well, I’d be downright honored to, Jed.” He turned his head and sniffed. “Uh-oh . . . I think my biscuits are burning,” he said, and rushed back to the kitchen.

  Hannah walked over to the table, once more wiping her eyes with her apron. “Now I’m going to cry again,” she said. “Thank you for asking Joe. He’s trying so hard to get folks to think of him as an ordinary citizen rather than the town drunk. But that’s in his past now, and seeing him up in front with you and Patience will be a big help.”

  “I pray it stays that way, Hannah.” He stood up, placed some coins on the table, and thanked her for the breakfast.

  As he started out the door, he saw Patience and Emily across the street, their heads together, looking over what seemed like a list. They were really out early. The two then separated, Emily going into the general store and Patience heading toward the bakery.

  Jed opened the door for her and took her arm. “Good morning, my dearest,” he said, keeping his voice low. “A very nice way to begin the day, looking into your lovely face.” He wanted to kiss her, but he could imagine the buzz that would start across the town. “I’m surprised you are already out and about this morning so soon after breakfast. Hope you slept as well as I did.”

  “Well, Emily and I worked too late last night—with wedding plans running through my head, I didn’t have such a good night.”

  “Here, have a seat.” Jedediah pulled out a chair and helped her into it.

  “I’m really here to see if Hannah could bake us a wedding cake,” she said as Jed sat down one more time.

  “Did I hear someone speak my name?” Hannah called over as she and Joe walked out of the kitchen carrying a pan of fresh biscuits. She hurried over to give Patience a kiss on the top of her head. “I’ve already said my congratulations, but you can’t imagine how happy I am that you found each other.”

  Patience blushed prettily and murmured her thanks. Jedediah was surprised at this unusually shy side of Patience.

  “Help yerself,” Joe said, bringing over a plate of biscuits. “Made ’em myself this morning—with a little help from Hannah.”

  Hannah laughed. “We had to throw out the first batch, Jed—it got burned while you and Joe were jawin’, but I guarantee these are good.”

  “Hannah, have you ever baked a wedding cake before?” Patience asked.

  “Only once or twice. Why? Are you asking me to bake yours? You know I will—”

  “Oh, that would be wonderful!”

  “You let me know what kind and how big, and I’ll make you a cake that’ll knock that straw hat off your pretty head.”

  They all laughed. It felt awfully good to Jedediah that he had managed to find some really nice folks as friends . . . and even nicer, a woman to be his wife.

  By the time Patience and Emily met up again that morning, they were pleased to discover they’d completed quite a few things on their list. The cake was ordered and Emily had found decorative paper for the handwritten invitations to be given to the small group of friends the couple wanted to invite. Patience’s mother’s wedding gown and veil were airing out in her room. Hopefully most of the wrinkles will fall out, she thought once again.

  “I’m so glad your mother’s dress needed only a little alteration,” Emily was saying. “It won’t take me long to finish it up, with you telling me exactly what to do.”

  “I don’t know what I’d do without your help, Emily. I knew the dress would be tight.” She sighed. “I’d better not have any sweets from now till the wedding.”

  Emily said, “By the way, will Reverend King from Virginia City marry you and Jed?”

  “Oh my goodness—I never thought about that!” Patience exclaimed. “I’ll talk to Jed this very afternoon and see who he knows. On second thought, I’ll do that now. I won’t be long. I’ll see you back at the boardinghouse.”

  She didn’t have to go very far to find Jedediah standing outside the mercantile talking to the store’s owner, Benny Foster. Jedediah saw her coming and greeted her with a welcoming smile. “I thought you were busy with wedding plans,” he said, holding out a hand toward her.

  “Hello, Benny,” she said as she joined the two men.

  “Congratulations, Patience. I hope you’ll both be very happy.”

  “Thank you.” She looked up at Jedediah. “May I speak with you, Jed—privately?”

&nbs
p; Benny picked up his broom. “I’ll leave you two alone. I’ve got plenty of work to do. Patience, if you need anything at all to help with your wedding, let me know.”

  “That’s very kind of you, Benny.”

  After the man had disappeared inside, Jedediah asked what was on her mind.

  “We need someone to marry us, Jed, and Nevada City doesn’t have a preacher. Do you think Reverend King will marry us here?” Her voice sounded as worried as she felt.

  “Mmm . . . I guess I’m the only one in town that’s licensed to do the marrying.” Patience felt her heart drop till she saw the twinkle in Jed’s eyes. “We’ll figure out something, Patience,” he said with a pat on her arm. “In our excitement we seem to have forgotten that small detail. But I’m sure Reverend King will perform the ceremony.” He thought a moment, then snapped his fingers. “I’ll ride over to Virginia City and ask him right now.”

  “Thank you. That would be one less thing to worry about. I do hope he’s free next Saturday.”

  “Don’t worry. If not him, I’ll think of someone else. I’ll stop in later and let you know what he says.”

  Jed’s going to take care of this! She wanted to hug him, but didn’t dare in public. “I’m sure you’re right.” She gave his arm a firm squeeze, then whirled around, picked up her skirts, and hurried back to Creekside, Jedediah’s chuckles following her down the boardwalk.

  “That didn’t take long,” Emily said. “I need you to slip on your gown. I baste-stitched it together like you showed me, and I want you to see if it’s right before I do the final stitching.”

  “All right. Let’s go do that right now before I write the invitations. Hannah said Joe’s going to hand them out for me. What a sweetheart he’s turned out to be.”

  Emily laughed. “He surely is, though I don’t know if he’d like being called that to his face. On second thought, maybe Hannah does when nobody’s listening.” They both laughed at the thought.