Wade nodded. “Yes, ma’am, it is. But it’s not owned by five ranchers—I’m the owner, Wade Watkins, and there’s only one of me.”
Miss Margaret stepped forward and put her hand on Miss Westcott’s arm. “You came here from Philadelphia expecting to marry ranch owners?” she asked gently.
“Yes, ma’am. That’s what we were told by Miss Green, the matchmaker. She said we’d each have homes near each other, and that our husbands were quite wealthy.” Miss Westcott pressed her lips together. “If Mr. Watkins is the owner of this ranch, who was it that we’re supposed to marry?”
“Well, didn’t you tell her, Jack?” Sully asked. “This here’s one of the grooms.” He elbowed Jack in the ribs. “And I never said in my letter that you were marryin’ ranch owners. I said you’d be livin’ on the ranch.”
The redheaded young lady spoke up. “Are you saying that the matchmaker lied to us? That she brought us out here under false pretenses?”
Sully scratched his chin. “I can’t rightly say because I don’t wanna be puttin’ blame on people where it might not belong, but all I can say is, between my letter and what you were told, somethin’ went wrong.”
Miss Westcott turned and looked at her three remaining friends, who were leaning up against the wagon, looking pale and quite upset. Jack wished there was something he could do, but what could he do? They’d all been expecting one thing and got handed another. He didn’t know how to fix such a big mess.
“Let’s go inside and sit down,” Miss Margaret suggested. “I’m sure you’re all worn out from your travels, and we’ll think better when we’re sitting. I will, at least.”
She held out her arm and motioned for the young ladies to go inside. As soon as they were out of earshot, she turned on Sully and Jack.
“I don’t know what happened here, but I must tell you, I’m furious,” she whispered. “I can’t believe that the two of you would put together such a scheme and not even give a second thought to how many lives you were going to disrupt. You’re both good, caring men, but as far as logical thinking? Honestly, where did you think these women were going to live? I haven’t noticed any cabins being built—did you mean them to set up housekeeping in tents?”
Sully looked down at the porch, then back up. “I think I got too caught up in plannin’ out the breedin’ schedule, Miss Margaret. I lost track of some of those finer details.”
“Finer details?” Miss Margaret pressed a hand to her head. “Sully, those aren’t finer details. They’re called making a home, which is a crucial part of asking someone to live with you. And you didn’t let me know they were coming—I could have helped you prepare in dozens of different ways.” She looked over at Wade, who was leaning against the porch railing with a grim expression on his face. “I expect you to horsewhip these men at least,” she told him.
“Oh, believe me, I’m no more amused than you are, my dear,” Wade replied.
Jack wished he could burrow into the ground and disappear. “We weren’t thinkin’ to be making a hardship for anyone,” he began.
“You weren’t thinking at all,” Miss Margaret shot back. “Truly, I love you men like my own brothers, but this . . . this thoughtlessness . . . If I wasn’t with child, I’d horsewhip you myself.”
Sully grinned. “So, you’re ready to announce it then, Miss Margaret?”
She gave him a look that made Jack glad he wasn’t Sully. “My news is beside the point. You’re in trouble, Sully Crenshaw, and there’s no getting out of it. Now, who are the other prospective grooms?”
“Tenny, Billy, Zeke, and Big Mike,” Sully replied.
Miss Margaret inhaled sharply. “Every single one of them should have known better than this. I will see you all in my parlor in fifteen minutes’ time.”
“Some of those men are out working on the dam,” Wade replied.
“Then they’d best ride fast to get here.” She turned to Jack. “You ride out there and fetch them. Sully, you’re coming with me. I’m not letting you out of my sight until I’m done being angry with you.”
“Just how long are you thinkin’ that’ll be, Miss Margaret?” he asked.
“Let’s just say, I wouldn’t be making any plans for this Christmas or next,” she replied, and he followed her into the house with his head bowed.
Jack glanced over and saw Wade’s horse on the hitching post. “Mind if I take your horse? Save me time saddling my own.”
“Take it, and fast. I’ve never seen my wife so upset, and I’m afraid of what she’ll do next.”
Jack mounted the horse and galloped away, dread pounding in his heart. This was horrible—it was absolutely horrible. He just hoped there was some way to set it right before Miss Margaret sent them all packing, or worse—lined them up and shot them. He’d seen her with a pistol—he had no doubt she could do it.
***
Wynonna peered through the parlor curtains and saw Margaret Watkins waving her finger in Mr. Milton’s face. She looked genuinely furious, and Wynonna was glad. They’d spent half a week on a train and what felt like half a year on a wagon to get to this place only to discover that it had all been a lie, and she was so upset, it was all she could do not to pick up something and throw it.
“I can’t believe Miss Green lied to us,” Rowena said, sitting down on a chair in the corner.
“Oh, I can.” Helen’s cheeks were nearly as red as her hair. “I knew from the beginning that this wasn’t a good idea.”
“Yes, you were right,” Wynonna said, turning from the window. “We recognize that, but now we need to focus on the next step. I think it’s obvious that we need to telegram Miss Green and hold her accountable. She guaranteed our happiness here, and she needs to pay up on that guarantee.”
“It’s in our contracts, isn’t it?” Fiona dug in her reticule and pulled out a sheet of paper. “Yes, it’s right here. It’s legally binding—she must make this right.”
Cora hadn’t said a word, but now she looked up, her eyes brimming with tears. “I should have gone home,” she said. “I shouldn’t have let myself get carried away.”
“And we shouldn’t have dragged you along with us when we knew you didn’t want to come.” Fiona crossed the room and wrapped her arm around the girl’s shoulders. “I’m sorry, Cora. I know that I for one was too eager to change my situation, and I didn’t think about the consequences.”
“Enough of this, ladies,” Wynonna said sharply, and everyone looked at her. “We’re not going to waste our time feeling guilty. Instead, we’re going to focus on fixing the problem. We need to figure out where to stay until we hear from Miss Green, and we need to decide where we’re going next. Feeling sorry for ourselves will only make matters worse.”
“Wynonna’s right. We’ll ask Mrs. Watkins how to go about sending a telegram, and get her advice on where to stay,” Helen said. “We’re strong women, remember? We’ll survive this, just as we have the other setbacks we’ve encountered.”
The front door opened, and Mr. and Mrs. Watkins entered, Sully Crenshaw dragging his feet behind them with his hat in his hands. The girls fell silent, wondering what would happen next.
Sully cleared his throat. “First off, please let me say that I had no idea any of this folderol was gonna take place. I never told that woman some of them things you said she told you—I was straight forward and true.”
“And I believe him,” Margaret Watkins added. “Sully’s an old fool sometimes, but he’s an honest fool.”
“We were talking just now, and none of us believe you’ve lied to us,” Wynonna said. Her mind flitted to Mr. Milton. He had seemed so open, his eyes so warm—no. He couldn’t be a liar. Either that, or she was the most gullible female ever to walk the earth. “Surely it was a case of miscommunication, and while we’re frustrated and a bit at loose ends, we aren’t angry.”
“Oh, I’m so glad,” Margaret replied.
“I believe my wife is angry enough for all of us,” Mr. Watkins added, a twinkle in his eye.
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“That’s something we’ll discuss when the men get here,” she told them, then turned to the girls. “I’ve sent Jack to fetch the four other men involved in this scheme. In the meantime, I’m going to make some tea. We could all use it, I’m sure.”
Cora volunteered to lend a hand, and the two excused themselves. Mr. Watkins smiled at the remaining girls and invited them to sit.
“You’re here from Philadelphia, you say?”
“That’s right. We were supposed to attend nursing school, but found that we’d been accepted for this year accidentally, and they had no room for us. So we decided to give this a try,” Wynonna replied.
“And this was your result.” Mr. Watkins shook his head. “Believe me when I say, we’ll take good care of you while you’re here, and we’ll do our best to help you get wherever you go next. What a rotten piece of luck.”
Wynonna liked his soft drawl. He sounded a bit like Mr. Milton, and it made her feel like she’d entered another world entirely. She smiled to herself. She had entered another world, it would seem.
A moment later, she heard horse hooves pounding up the lane, then several sets of booted feet pounding on the porch. The door opened, and five scruffy-looking men tumbled into the house, clearly out of breath and obviously having been interrupted in the middle of some difficult work.
“There you are,” Margaret said, coming from the back of the house with a tea tray. “I was starting to think about sending a posse after you.”
“Came as quick as we could, Miss Margaret,” the tallest of the men said. Not only the tallest, but the broadest. He was easily one and a half times the size of the other men.
“I’m glad to hear it, Mike. We need to have ourselves a meeting, but no, you’re not sitting on my nice furniture as dirty as you are. Bring some wooden chairs in from the kitchen, please. I suppose there’s not much to be done about your boots—I’ll mop once we’re done.”
She brought the tray into the parlor and set it on a table. Cora followed her with another tray of small sandwiches.
Once the men had come back with wooden chairs and everyone was seated, Margaret looked around the room. Wynonna had glanced over at Mr. Milton a few times, but he didn’t look her way at all. She wondered what he was thinking.
“We need to discuss this openly and decide what we’re going to do,” Margaret began. “Apparently, the five of you authorized Sully to contact a matchmaker on your behalf. Is that correct?”
They all nodded.
“And none of you, Sully included, thought to provide things like a home for your new brides. You didn’t talk to me about it, you didn’t consult with Wade—can you please explain to me what was going on in your heads?”
The largest man cleared his throat. “Sully said he’d take care of everythin’, so we thought that’s what he was doin’.”
Margaret looked at him incredulously. “You believed that Sully was going to take care of everything, including housing? How is one elderly man supposed to do all that work by himself? Mike, you’re smarter than that, aren’t you?”
He looked down at the rug. “Guess I’m not, Miss Margaret.”
“And the rest of you? What do you have to say for yourselves?”
“Truth is, Miss Margaret, none of us were really thinkin’. We got caught up in the idea of it and didn’t think about the logic.” The man who was speaking turned to the girls and gave a little nod. “We apologize, ladies, ’specially knowin’ how far you’ve come.”
“Could we have some introductions, Mrs. Watkins?” Rowena asked. “Whenever a man begs forgiveness, I like to know who’s doing the begging.”
Margaret smiled. “Of course. You already met Jack Milton, who picked you up at the station. This tall fellow is Mike Denton. We call him Big Mike, for reasons I’m sure you can guess. He’s our foreman. Next to him is Zeke Turner, our handyman, and then Tenny Lawless, who rides swing. There on the end is Billy Smits, who rides drag.”
“Well, Mr. Smits, you do apologize most nicely,” Rowena said. He gave her a little nod.
“We’ve decided that we should send a telegram to Miss Green, the matchmaker,” Wynonna told Margaret. “She guaranteed our happiness with this match and told us she’d buy us new tickets wherever we’d like to go. Where is the telegraph office?”
“In Topeka,” Margaret replied. “And I’m sure we all realize it’s far too late for anyone to be heading back to town tonight. Let’s get everyone’s sleeping arrangements made, and we can worry about telegrams first thing in the morning.”
Wynonna nodded. They needed to handle this calmly and take it one step at a time. As much as she wanted to get away from this place, becoming upset wouldn’t solve anything. “Where would you like us, Mrs. Watkins?”
“Well, first off, please call me Margaret. In the second place, we have a guest room in this house, and there are two bedrooms in Big Mike’s cabin. Mike, is your place atrocious, or have you been keeping it up?”
“I’ve kept it up since Wade moved out of it, Miss Margaret,” Mike said.
Margaret smiled. “Good, because it will be seeing guests tonight. Go make up the beds fresh, then move your things into the bunkhouse. You’ll sleep out there with the men until we get everything resolved.”
Mike gave a nod, then stood and left the house.
Margaret turned back to the girls. “Are you hungry? Can I get you anything more?”
“I’m fine with this,” Fiona said, indicating the trays that had been brought out, and the rest of them nodded their agreement.
“Very well. Jack and Tenny, unload the girls’ trunks, and be sure that the right trunks are left at the right houses so they aren’t scrambling for their things. Miss Westcott, would you please direct them? Billy and Zeke, please put the teams away and give them a good brushing. They deserve a little coddling after their long haul today.”
Wynonna stepped outside with Jack and Tenny, smiling to herself at how easily Margaret ordered the men around and how quickly they obeyed her. She sensed that every one of them respected her, and Wynonna couldn’t blame them. The woman seemed kind and generous, but she also had a will of iron, and Wynonna certainly wouldn’t be crossing her for any reason.
As the men sorted through the trunks, Wynonna had decisions to make as to where each girl would sleep. The other cabin wasn’t too far off, which was nice because it meant they wouldn’t be separated, but still, she wished they could all stay together. They had so much to talk about.
“So, these trunks are for the big house, and the rest for Mike’s?” Tenny asked, bringing her attention back to their task.
“Yes, please.”
Tenny gave her a nod, and he and Jack lifted the heavy boxes and transported them inside. Wynonna followed, having chosen to stay in the big house herself, and Margaret directed her down the hall.
“I know this is strange and foreign, and I’m so sorry for the upheaval in your lives,” Margaret told her. “We promise to make your stay as comfortable as we can.”
“Mr. Watkins said something very similar, and we appreciate it,” Wynonna replied. “I admit, when we first got here, I was quite angry, but you’ve been so good to us, and I’m sure we’ll get it sorted out.”
“Sleep well, and please let me know if there’s anything you need,” Margaret said.
Rowena came in the room a moment later. “I understand you and I are sharing.”
“I hope you don’t mind. Fiona’s exhausted, Cora looks as though she’s about to fall apart, and Helen wants to murder someone. I need to share with someone who can keep me positive.”
Rowena chuckled. “I’ll do my best. I can’t say that I’m any less exhausted, but I won’t fall apart or murder anyone.”
“Good. That’s all I ask.”
They dressed for bed and then climbed in. As Wynonna relaxed onto the mattress, she felt aches and pains she hadn’t even suspected she had, and she winced as she tried to get comfortable.
“This has been the longest da
y of my entire life,” Rowena said into the darkness. “I can still feel the wagon moving beneath me.”
“I can too. And to think, we have to go all the way back to Topeka to send that telegram.” Wynonna pressed the heels of her hands against the sides of her head, trying to ease the ache that was building. “I wonder if we could just ask one of the men to go on our behalf—they’d make it so much faster on horseback. It seems mean, though, sending them when it’s our problem.”
“It’s our problem because they made it our problem,” Rowena replied. “We’re in this pickle because of them. I bet Mr. Milton would go—he seems like a nice man. What did the two of you talk about the whole way here?”
“I asked him dozens of questions about the ranch. Sadly, none of them were, ‘Does your boss know we’re coming?’ For some reason, that never entered my mind.” Wynonna thought back on it. “And the whole time, Mr. Milton never said one word about being one of the husbands. I thought he was just one of the workers—well, I suppose he is one of the workers as well as being one of the grooms.”
“I felt sorry for those men. They all looked so sheepish.”
“I did too. I still don’t understand how they thought they could bring us out here without decent houses, but they seem like good fellows. Hard working, too.”
Wynonna couldn’t keep her eyes open even though she had so much more to get off her chest. She could talk to Rowena in the morning. For that moment, she needed to sleep. She couldn’t help it, though, that her last thought before drifting off was of Jack Milton and his blue eyes.
Chapter Seven
“Am I ever glad that I didn’t get involved in this little project of yours,” Gallagher said, clapping Sully on the shoulder as he entered the bunkhouse.
“Me too,” Irish said. “I might not have been there in person, but I could feel Miss Margaret’s angry eyes from the stables.”
“You could not,” Sully replied, sitting down in front of the stove and taking out his whittling. “And it wasn’t all that bad—she’ll simmer down, and everythin’ will be fine again.”
A Wrangler for Wynonna Page 6
