Shotgun Bride (Book Six of the Brides of the West)

by Hestand, Rita

  "Then say goodbye to the valley for a while. The country will be rough, but more manageable than a wagon train. These men, I don't know much about them except for what they've done. Jimmy John and the older ones are dangerous. So if I tell you something, I want you not to question my instructions. It is only for your good, understand?"

  She nodded. "Of course, but I think it fair to warn you I've been taking care of myself for some time now, Mr. Cutler." She moved her horse up and left him staring after her.

  He caught up to her, "Not under these conditions you haven't. An intelligent person knows when to pick her fights. I really don't want to fight with you. It's going to be a long trip and I need all my wits about me. So…can we call a truce for a while…at least?"

  She started to whip out a smart answer at him but saw the look on Darrel's face and relented. She nodded, "Yes…of course we can."

  "Good." He moved away from her. "I'd appreciate it."

  She studied his broad back, and hated to admit it but she'd been acting like a shrew.

  Darrel moved his horse up beside her. "I think his bark is worse than his bite." He said with a grin. "You two are quite a bit alike in some ways. You're both used to taking care of yourself. Both smart. I know what happened back there in the woods seems strange to you but Ma was right. The town people might not accept you if you came riding back with a bunch of men. They are funny that way. She thought she was protecting you, and in a way, she was. Even though we all know, nothing happened. They don't."

  "Perhaps you are right. And you are right about the fighting too. Fighting will get us no where and he's consented to let me come along, so I'll concede." Shannon shot Darrel a shy smile. "I'll stop fighting him."

  "It's gonna be a long trip if you don't." Darrel warned her.

  "You're from Texas aren't you?" Shannon asked.

  "Yeah, born there, raised there." He nodded.

  "What's it like in Texas?" She asked.

  "It's too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter. But in the spring, the blue bonnets come out and the Indian Paints, and buttercups and sunflowers and you forget about the weather for a while. It's pretty then. And it makes you forget how cold you were in the winter. It doesn't have many mountains except a few out west, just rolling hills all along the way. I don't know…I'm partial to it. The one thing it's got that I like is the trees. Texas has a lot of trees, but unlike this country, the trees are everywhere in Texas, not just in forests."

  "Blue bonnets huh?" Shannon smiled.

  "As far as the eye can see, sometimes. And Longhorns."

  "Longhorns?" She quirked her head.

  "Yeah, cows with the longest prettiest horns you ever did see. Used to be buffalo, but they're mostly gone now."

  "You make it sound almost exciting." Shannon chuckled.

  "In a way it is. There's something about Texas. Maybe it was Crockett and Travis, dying at the Alamo. Maybe it was Sam Houston beating Santa Anna at San Jacinto and hollering, "Remember the Alamo'. But it's a proud land, and once you are part of it, it's in your heart to stay." Darrel was gushing, and he seemed to realize it and stopped abruptly. "Guess I get a little carried away."

  Shannon's mouth was agape when he looked at her.

  "You think you'll ever run into your father?" Shannon asked him.

  "I hope not."

  Shannon gasped. "Why Darrel, why not?"

  "He used to beat my Ma a lot. Took out his hard times on her. Then he started on me. I'm glad to be rid of him."

  "That must have been terrible for you."

  Darrel shrugged and nodded, then rode on ahead to catch up to Jesse.

  Billy was slumping in the saddle and Shannon saw him. "Hold up Jesse, Billy's got to rest."

  "Rest? I knew it. We should have dropped you and him off at Bull Creek, and then we could ride faster." Jesse complained.

  "It's too late for what-if's. He needs to rest…" Shannon insisted.

  "Okay, we'll camp long enough to eat, but then we got to push on. At this rate it will take as long as a wagon train." Jesse fussed.

  "Don't you want to see him to trial?" Shannon asked, her frown speaking for her.

  "He's just a kid. A kid that may die on us…" Jesse remarked coldly.

  "He's my friend." Darrel came up to them and ignored Jesse's rant. "I ain't gonna let him die, if I can help it. Is there anything I can do to help?" He looked at Shannon.

  "I need to re-clean the wound and give him some laudanum. Can you get me some water?"

  "Sure thing."

  Jesse helped the other prisoners off their horses and waited while Shannon redressed Billy's wound.

  When she finished she made coffee over the fire that Jesse had built and took out the food rations.

  Canned beans were all they had. But when she opened the can, they were spoiled. She smelled them and quickly threw them away.

  "What are you doing?" Jesse fretted coming up behind her and whirling her around by the arm.

  "Those beans are spoiled, they'll make everyone sick. We need other food." She insisted.

  "Well I don't see a general store around, do you?" He hollered. "We can't afford to throw food away. Give everyone some jerky then for now."

  She hated the bickering between them. "Of course.'

  Jesse seemed to reconsider his words. "Darrel, let's go see if we can scare up a rabbit."

  Darrel nodded.

  "Havin' fun yet?" Jimmy John questioned her when she looked in the saddlebags for more food and mumbled to herself.

  "I should have let you eat the beans." She said and then caught herself. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so snappy. It's not your fault the beans were no good. Nor mine."

  What was wrong with her? She'd been such a wretch. This wasn't her true nature, but they didn't know that.

  Resigned to not causing any more trouble for Jesse she sat down under the pine tree and closed her eyes for a little nap. Perhaps she merely didn’t get enough sleep.

  When a boot heel at her leg woke her up, she jumped up. "Time to travel. Is he gonna be okay?" Jesse asked squatting down to face her.

  She rubbed her eyes and shook herself, then looked into those gray eyes that mesmerized her. "I cleaned his wound, rewrapped it. He should be all right for a while. The more rest he gets, the better. At least he has no fever now."

  "Good, then we'll push on." Jesse nodded, pushing his hat back and standing up.

  He reached a hand down to help her up. She took it and immediately became aware of him. For one, his hand was sweating in hers. For another, he was being helpful and she was a little unbalanced by that.

  "I'm sorry about the beans. They were bad, though."

  "Not surprising I guess, they been in my saddle bags for six months or more. I guess I should thank you, if you hadn't been around, I'd probably have eaten them…"

  She smiled shyly. "They probably wouldn't have killed anyone, but they would make you sick…"

  "Next town we come to, we'll stock up on some food supplies." He told her.

  "Good." She gathered her belongings together and mounted.

  A clap of thunder had them all lifting their heads to look at the sky.

  "Got a rain slicker, ma'am?" Jesse asked.

  "No…I'm afraid not." She shrugged. "I'll be fine."

  "No…you'll take mine. I'll be fine." He handed her the slicker.

  Darrel smiled at her. "Strange how a man starts changing his ways when he marries up, ain't it?"

  "Is that why he offered it to me?" She asked catching up to Darrel to talk.

  "I reckon a man like that feels responsible." Darrel glanced at Jesse, who had pulled his hat down over his forehead to protect his vision in the rain that had begun as a drizzle.

  "A man like that…what exactly do you mean." She asked him.

  "Jesse is deep down kind of a hero. You know, the law…versus the bad guy. He has ways about him. You'll come to figure it all out in time. You ought to give yourself that time. Maybe…he's worth keepin'. And he o
ught to, too, 'cause you sure are."

  Shannon opened her mouth to rebuke that idea, but then shut it quickly. Her eyes went to the broad back of the ranger, her husband.

  It was the first time she allowed herself to think of him as her husband. But that's exactly what he was.

  Chapter Six

  Jesse stood staring out at the sunset, after he and Darrel had come back from killing a couple of rabbits. He'd wrestled with making camp so early, but she had to doctor Billy and maybe he could ride better and they'd make better time now.

  Shannon had cooked the rabbits over the open fire and everyone seemed in a better mood now that they had some decent food.

  They camped by a small creek and the bull frogs were croaking about them. The sounds of night closed in.

  "That was right tasty," Jimmy John shouted. "Always did like rabbit."

  "Glad you enjoyed it, but you should be thanking Jesse and Darrel, they are the ones that brought them to camp." Shannon told him.

  Jesse glanced at Jimmy John and began retying their hands as he wrapped the ropes around them again.

  "You know them ropes burn after while." Elmer complained.

  "You gotta keep them on us all the time?" Thornton complained as he downed the last of his meat.

  "Yeah, I'm afraid so boys. I don't want to chase you down again." Jesse frowned at him. "I've spent too much time as it is on you. You know that for a fact."

  "That really sticks in your crawl that you had to chase us down so long, didn't it?" Thornton laughed.

  "Yeah, but I'm through chasing and now I’m delivering."

  Thornton made a face at him.

  Shannon went to wash the dishes and Jesse followed her. He wasn't far away.

  When she finished with the dishes, she turned and saw him standing there. She walked up to him. "I need to look at your wound."

  "It's fine." Jesse turned abruptly away from her.

  She looked out at the setting sun and sighed heavily. Her practical nature had never allowed her the privilege of enjoying a sunset. It was oddly romantic, warming the soul with its colorful hues.

  "You don't want to get it infected, do you?" She asked not even looking at him.

  "No," He finally turned to look at her holding her attention with his scrutiny.

  "Is it because I'm a female, or you just don't like doctors?" She asked coming closer now.

  "You being a female has nothing to do with it. And I'm not against doctors exactly. But I've had a few wounds before; they usually heal up without much fuss." Jesse said matter-of-factly his confident air surrounding her. "In my line of work, wounds are part of the job."

  When she made a slight face, he shrugged.

  He stuck his arm out, "Go ahead."

  She unwrapped his bandage and for a moment when she glanced up their eyes locked onto each other. They held each other spellbound for a moment. No longer did they war against each other, but toward.

  She broke the spell by unwinding his bandage, and clearing her throat.

  ~*~

  Jesse didn't need her distracting him so. He fought the attraction that was growing between them. He was a ranger and he put his job first. But he had to admit it was hard to turn away from her.

  There was quality, knowledge and a strange fire about her that pulled him toward her.

  For one thing, she didn't smell like an ordinary lady, there was a whiff of perfume that was unmistakably sweet, and unmistakably hers. Her red hair flowing down her back captured his attention quickly. He thought about stroking it, but thought better of it. She tempted him in strange ways. He prided himself with never getting too involved with a woman. His line of work kept him ever on the guard.

  The doc was a smart woman, he reasoned. He rarely encountered a woman with not only intelligence, but also beauty and common sense. She knew instinctively how to take care of herself. Yet he sensed a vulnerable side to her too. He wondered about that. As sure of herself as a doctor, she seemed to hide the vulnerable woman that gave her a complex character.

  He was drawn to her, despite his resolve to not be.

  He had examined his reasons for volunteering to marry her, and it still astounded him. Not wanting anything to deter him from getting these men to Texas, he had readily stepped forth and offered her marriage. Why? Anyone of the others could have. Although in all honesty, he couldn't see the doc with a known criminal.

  But deep down, he knew why, he didn't want her married to one of these renegades. There was quality in her, and he had spotted that right off. Unlike a lot of men, her education didn't bother him, in fact, it attracted him. He'd met enough vain, frivolous women in his time, but Shannon didn't fit that category. She had a mind and a body, but she flaunted neither.

  Her soft amber eyes stared into his now as she slowly unwrapped his bandage.

  "How's Billy doing?" He asked trying to distract himself from her nearness.

  "He's better. I think his fever is breaking now. I'm going to give him one more sponging to help cool him down. His wound is clean and he's stopped bleeding." She said her voice soft and caring. "He's lost a lot of blood, I wish I could give him a transfusion, but out here…and who would give him blood?"

  "Does he need it that bad?" He made the mistake of looking at her again, and his heart lurched when he realized she was looking straight at him.

  "Well, with a proper transfusion he could sit the saddle longer and pretty much take care of himself. As it is, I'm afraid this is going to be a long trip."

  "He's young; don't you think he can make it?" Jesse asked, looking away from her disturbing presence.

  "I hope so."

  "You don't know?" His voice lowered as he glanced at her once more.

  "No…I don't know." She looked away from him.

  "Who sent you to school to be a doctor? I mean you said your folks died." He asked.

  For a moment, she was silent, but he dredged up the past and she couldn't ignore it. "After a while…I had an Aunt and Uncle that took a lot of interest in me. Especially when I saved one of their prize horses from dying. They had money. They saw something in me, and decided to send me to college." She answered, glancing at him from time to time.

  "Then you haven't been on your own completely." He gathered.

  "No…not entirely." She paused for a moment. "When my father died, my nearest kin, an older cousin took me in. He was a lot older, he wasn't married, and he had no children. I lived with him for a year. It wasn't that he was tenderhearted and cared about me. He simply figured he could fire his maid and use me. So he took me in." She frowned suddenly. "Then my Aunt from Boston came and got me."

  "Why?" He asked his voice lowering as he saw the light go out of her eyes.

  "Why what?" She avoided the question.

  "Why did she come and get you? Was there a problem?" He asked suspiciously.

  Her eyes rounded on him. Brown eyes that were warm like a fine whiskey. "It's not what you are thinking. But…I guess you are entitled to know. My cousin drank a lot. He really didn't take care of me; I just lived in the same house. More like I took care of him. I cooked and cleaned, I felt I owed him. Up until…."

  "Until what?" Jesse's voice tightened with tension.

  Shannon shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

  "Maybe it does." Jesse put his hand on her chin and pulled her face up to look at her in the light of dusk. He wanted to kiss her, but he wanted to know more and if he sidetracked her, he'd probably never know what she was about to say.

  She swallowed hard and looked away.

  "Unfortunately I was growing up. And there were a lot of things I didn't know much about. Cooking was one of them. So now, I've taken an interest in it, and I can make a pretty mean meal or two."

  Jesse's gazed into her eyes. "Go on."

  She shrugged. "Look, we all have our own sad stories. Mine would bore you."

  "Try me." He muttered.

  "You want the whole ugly story?" Her eyes held a far away look in them. "It's real s
imple. When he drank, he started beating me with a whip, many times until my Aunt suspicioned something wrong from my letters and she came to take me away. She thought the same thing you were thinking. When she showed up, I could hardly look at her, I was so ashamed. She thought he'd molested me, but I almost wish he had, as that leaves no ugly scars, except in the heart and mind. Instead, I have marks on my back, all over my back where he tore the flesh from me. I was going for a visit with her, and I was taking a bath. I wanted to have clean clothes and smell nice like she did." She glanced up at him and saw him staring intently. "I was washing my feet when she came in, so my back was to the door. She saw the marks and gasped aloud. Horrified, she didn't say a word. She waited until I was dressed and we were walking out the door with my things when she told him, he'd never see me again. She hurried me into her buggy and we ran all the way to town and caught the train just in time. She was right, I never saw him again. But he left his mark…"

  Jesse's face darkened with fury. "He beat you? With a whip? Why for God's sake?"

  "Many times…." She choked and started to leave. She had finished re-bandaging his wounds. "As to the why I don't know. I blamed it on his drinking. There was a dark anger inside him that he couldn't get rid of."

  "How old were you?" His voice took on such heat.

  "I was thirteen…" She moved away from him. Seeing his expression, she started to walk away again. "A clumsy, awkward thirteen. I couldn't cook yet. My mother died earlier in my life and my father knew very little about cooking, so I was late learning to cook. I was a tomboy. I liked to climb trees and run about the prairie rescuing animals in distress. Sometimes I wonder how I managed to grow up at all."

  He saw the raw pain in her eyes, the tears she withheld. He wanted to comfort her, but from the look of her, she didn't want that.

  He touched her elbow, turning her around so he could look into her face. "Not all men are monsters. It wasn't your fault."

  She held her head high. "I know that…now." A tear ran down her cheek. "I was thankful later that was all he did. He was a drunk, a mean drunk. Anything that didn't please him, he would whip me with that leather whip of his. I saw his eyes when he did it. It gave him some perverse pleasure. I can still here the crack of it sometimes. I used to pray sometimes that God would just let me die. My aunt told me later that she knew something was wrong when she saw the sheets were all bloody. She thought he'd molested me at first. But when she saw the scars...she hastened to get me out of there. She and my Uncle were kind people. I loved them very much."