The Bride Series (Omnibus Edition)

by Bittner, Rosanne

  Her eyes teared with love and joy. Of course it was too soon, totally illogical, just as he had said. But didn’t Delores say love was that way sometimes? “Oh, Josh,” she whispered. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you!”

  He tried to smile and laughed softly. “I’m not in much of a condition to be a husband to you—but by God I’ll make an effort to heal fast.”

  She felt her face redden as her blood rushed hot at the meaning of his words. “I love you, Josh,” she said in a near whisper. “Yesterday, I was afraid I was going to lose you and Danny both. Oh, Josh, I was so scared for you…for Danny…I felt so torn.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “I just…want to get away from this wagon now—this camp. I just want to be with you.”

  “Don’t cry, Marybeth. Everything is going to be all right now.” He managed to touch her face. “You just have to hang on until we get to Fort Laramie. It’s only a few more days. I’ll be healed by then—at least enough to walk like a normal man. John isn’t in any condition to give you any trouble, and people are watching Mac. You’ll be all right. After Fort Laramie, we’ll have a wagon to use. If we’re lucky we can find a way to be married—at the fort—and we’ll share that wagon together. When we get to Oregon, I’ll buy up some…horses and round up some mustangs; and we’ll have a big ranch, Marybeth. I’ll be married to the most beautiful woman in the Willamette Valley, and there will be all kinds of Rivers descendents running around. And Danny…will be as much my son…as the children we’ll have together.”

  It seemed as though fire moved through her blood at the thought of being his wife; never had she known such joy as realizing she wanted a man with utter wanton passion. She leaned close and gently kissed his sore lips. “I’m scared, but I’m happy, too,” she told him.

  Josh looked down at Danny, gently touching the boy’s sunburned cheek. “What a miracle. He’s a strong boy, Marybeth. You’ve got to hand that much to the MacKinder blood.” He met her eyes. “I love you, Marybeth.”

  She gently kissed his cheek. “And I love you, Joshua Rivers, but you’d better go back. We’ll have to break camp soon and I have a feeling you can’t walk very fast.”

  He grinned as much as his swollen lips would allow. “I think you’re right.” He turned away then, grunting with pain as he moved to the back of the wagon and Aaron helped him climb down. He looked at Marybeth once more before limping away.

  John MacKinder managed to rise up on one elbow when Bill Stone told him Josh was walking toward the wagon. “He’s been inside Mac’s wagon with Marybeth and the kid,” Bill told him.

  John grimaced with almost unbearable pain. “Give me another drink of whiskey,” he groaned, breaking out in a sweat. He watched Josh walk by, the sides of the canvas top still rolled up against the heat. “You’re a dead man!” John managed to call out to Josh.

  Josh just looked at him. He said nothing, as he kept walking.

  “A dead man!” John yelled the words as loudly as he could, and Marybeth felt the sick feeling return to her stomach. “You hear me, Rivers? You’re a dead man!”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Marybeth returned to the MacKinder campsite with an armload of wood to see Aaron and Delores, Sam and Florence, the lay minister Raymond Cornwall and his wife Lillith, as well as Cap and Josh, standing at the campfire. She walked closer and laid down the wood.

  “Get your things, Marybeth,” Aaron told her. “We all agree you should not stay here another day. We will all take turns taking in you and Danny until we get to Fort Laramie.”

  Marybeth looked at Josh, then at Ella, who watched with sorrow in her eyes. Mac and Bill were inside Bill’s wagon changing the dressing on John’s burned back. Marybeth walked up close to Josh and took his arm, leading him away from the others.

  “It’s all right, Josh. We’ll share a campfire with others at night and be together; but during the day, I’ll stay with the MacKinder wagon.”

  Josh frowned. “You don’t have to, Marybeth.”

  “It’s only a few more days. I—” She leaned up closer to him. “It’s for Ella,” she said quietly. “She’s afraid she won’t get to see much of Danny once I leave the wagon.”

  Josh sighed, grasping her shoulders. “I don’t know why you would want to do anything for any MacKinder, but if you think it’s right—”

  “It is. I’ll be all right. I’ll be with you evenings, and Mac is too busy driving the oxen during the day to give me any trouble. John won’t be raising a ruckus very soon.” She sighed. “She’s Danny’s grandmother, Josh. After the fight…she said some things that made me realize how much she’s suffering.”

  “But she can see Danny whenever she wants. I would never stop that.”

  Marybeth shook her head. “Once I take my things and go Mac will never let her come and visit with me and Danny, and he’ll never allow me back into their own camp. I don’t trust them to come and take Danny to their camp. Mac is determined Danny will stay with the family, so I can’t trust what they might do if Ella comes to get Danny to keep him with her for a while.”

  “You sure?”

  She leaned up and kissed at a cut on his cheek, her heart aching at his battered condition. “Yes. And tonight I want you to get your rest. You need to heal, Josh. We need you to hunt for us, remember?”

  “You’re more important.”

  “Than food?”

  He touched her hair. “I get my nourishment just looking at you.”

  She smiled and reddened. “Well there are others in this camp who need to eat.”

  His eyes moved over her in a way that made her feel undressed, and she was surprised that she looked forward to allowing him to see and touch her naked body. Could a woman ask for more ecstasy than to lie in Josh Rivers’ arms?

  “Look at them out there,” Mac was grumbling inside Bill’s wagon. He took another slug of whiskey. “He comes around here like he owns our Marybeth and our Danny. He’s got no right filling her head with ideas of going off on her own. None of them have the right to stick their noses into MacKinder business.”

  “You might as well let it go, Mac,” Bill told him. “I don’t aim to leave the safety of this wagon train.”

  Mac glowered at the man and looked down at John’s burned back. “There will be a way some day. We’ll find it.”

  “You bet we will,” John groaned.

  Josh and Marybeth walked back to the others. “She’s staying until we reach Fort Laramie,” he told the others. “It’s all right. I’ll explain later.”

  Marybeth looked at all of them, her heart swelling with love for these loyal and supportive new friends she had made. She knew some of the others along still gossipped and frowned on her religion, but these few friends were all she needed. “Thank you—all of you. But I don’t want to put anyone out any more than I already have. And please take Josh back and make him rest. I’ll come see him in a few minutes. I’ll visit with all of you every night, unless there is too much work for Ella. You are all being too good to me. I will not forget.” She put a hand on Josh’s arm. “Florence, take this man back and don’t let him up any more tonight. I’ll come and see him in a little while.”

  Florence smiled, the terrible grief still showing in her eyes. “He has kept me busy, and I need to be busy right now.”

  Marybeth walked up and hugged her. “I know. I’m just glad to see you rejoining us in the evenings. Oh, I’m so sorry, Florence. When I thought Danny—” She hugged the woman tighter. “God help you, Florence. We all love you.”

  “Thank you, Marybeth.” The woman pulled away and wiped at tears. “Are you sure you don’t want to come stay with us?”

  “No. I’m all right here, really.” She grasped Josh’s arm. “Please go back and lie down, Josh.”

  He looked around the camp warily, then leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Anything goes wrong, anything at all, you scream just as loud as you can, understand?”

  “I will. Thank you for coming for me.”

  He looked around the camp again,
his eyes resting on Bill Stone’s wagon. “I have a feeling I should have finished him off,” he muttered. He looked down at her. “I was sorely tempted when he went for my gun. But the fact remains they’re still family, to Danny at least. I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about me if I had killed the man.”

  A chill moved through her at the thought of either of them killing the other. “It would have been a terrible thing.” She searched his eyes. “But if it came to his life or yours…God forgive me that I would choose a man I have known such a short while over my own brother-in-law.”

  He smiled in sympathy. “I figured even somebody like John MacKinder is allowed one more chance.” He sobered then. “If it ever comes to him and me again, Marybeth, I can’t guarantee the outcome.”

  “I know that. And I understand.”

  “I still don’t like leaving you here.” He started to leave with the others, but they hesitated when Mac climbed out of Bill Stone’s wagon and headed toward them, his eyes on fire. “Marybeth MacKinder, what makes you think you can pick and choose when to stay with us and when to leave?”

  Josh started to push her away, but Marybeth moved in front of him, facing Mac. “Ella wants to have a little more time with Danny.”

  “To hell with Ella!” Mac shouted The woman looked up sadly from the campfire, then rose, watching her husband. “If you’re so damn bent on leaving this family, then go!” Mac nearly screamed the words. “I’ll not have you prancing around in front of us with Josh Rives panting at your feet. You’ve shamed us enough!”

  “She hasn’t done one thing to shame you,” Josh spoke up. The anger in his words frightened Marybeth. If Mac decided to land into the man, Josh wouldn’t have a chance in his condition. She noticed Aaron and Sam step closer and thanked God they were nearby, but Mac’s remark was humiliating, even in front of her friends, let alone the fact that most of the others could hear.

  “You stay out of this,” Mac shouted at Josh. “I’m saying right now that if she’s itching to go live in sin with you, then she goes now. But by God I’ll find a way to keep the two of you from raising my Danny!”

  “He’s my Danny, and you’ll never take my son from me!” Marybeth was surprised at her own words.

  Josh grasped her shoulders. “Let him keep showing everyone what a stubborn fool he is,” he said angrily, his eyes on Mac. “If he wants you to leave now, then let’s get the hell out of here!” He gave her a light shove, walking past Mac, not too sure himself whether or not the man would land a blow.

  “Go on with you! I’ll not have the two of you flaunting around in front of poor John. He loves you, Marybeth! You’re doing a foolish, sinful thing!”

  “Don’t argue with him,” Josh told her calmly. “Just get your things.”

  She looked up at him, and Josh could see the devastation and humiliation in her eyes. “You’re right and he’s wrong,” Josh went on. “You know it in your heart, Marybeth. God means for us to be together, and there’s nothing sinful about it. Now get your things.”

  She hurried away, while Mac ranted on. Aaron moved to stand beside Josh, and Mac walked to the back of the MacKinder wagon, full of enough whiskey to batter Marybeth verbally. “My God, I wish I could use these hands,” Josh muttered.

  “He’s just drunk,” Aaron reminded him. “We’ll have her out of here soon.”

  Marybeth handed Danny to Florence. “Take him to Ella to hold while I get everything together,” she told the woman.

  Florence obeyed, giving the boy to his grandmother, who took him with tears in her eyes. Marybeth packed her belongings into a blanket and a carpetbag, then climbed out and piled everything into the little wagon Aaron had given her. Delores pulled the wagon while Marybeth went to get Danny. Her heart ached at the look in Ella’s eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Ella. I wanted to keep him here a little longer.”

  “I know.”

  “I have to do this. I love Josh and we’re going to be married. I wish I could feel differently about John, but you already know how I feel.”

  Ella nodded, kissing Danny and handing him over. “He will try to get the boy. But there is really nothing he can do. Don’t fret about it. Be happy, Marybeth.”

  Marybeth felt a lump growing in her throat. She leaned forward and kissed Ella’s cheek. “Good-bye, Ella.”

  The woman just turned away. Marybeth walked over to Josh. “You can stay with us again,” Delores told her.

  Josh put an arm around Marybeth. “It will just be for a few days,” he said. “We’re getting married as soon as possible, and then Marybeth MacKinder will be Marybeth Rivers, and she’ll stay with me.”

  Marybeth’s eyes teared with a mixture of love for Josh, and humiliation at Mac’s ranting. She walked off with Josh—away from the MacKinder camp, away from the MacKinder family, this time for good. She felt as though she was walking out of a dungeon into the light of day. She was free, truly free! Free to be with Josh Rivers, free to be a full woman. Josh had told her there were often traveling preachers at the forts for the army men, sometimes priests. She would pray fervently that there would be someone at Fort Laramie who could marry them, for she wanted nothing more now than to lie in Josh Rivers’ arms and know the ecstasy of belonging only to him.

  “Zosh,” Danny said, reaching toward the man with a big smile.

  The next five days were the most delightful Marybeth could remember, in spite of everyone being bone weary, and edgy from one night’s theft of some horses by Indians. By day she walked with Delores, and Florence often joined them again. Evenings were spent either at Delores’ campfire, or with the Gentrys, or with Cap and Devon. Danny was so popular with all of them that Marybeth had a great deal of help with the child, especially from Florence, who needed the diversion, and the joy of a baby’s laughter.

  Josh’s injuries and an Indian threat kept him close, and in spite of a hunger for fresh meat, Marybeth was grateful. It felt good to be open about their feelings, to be able to share the news that they intended to marry. No one seemed to think there was anything wrong with her marrying again so soon.

  “Out here things happen fast,” Cap told her one night over a plate of beans. “Folks have to be practical—a man loses his wife and is left with kids to raise, he’s got to have a woman. A woman loses her husband—same thing. It’s hard out here for a woman alone. When she’s lucky enough to actually love the man like I can see you feel about Josh here, well, that’s all the better. Sometimes out here, a person has to marry first and then learn how to love their partner. You and Josh are startin’ off the right way.”

  There were no questions about her first husband, no accusatory looks. Marybeth felt nothing but friendly support, and just before reaching the fort, several more families from the wagon train came together with surprise gifts for both Marybeth and Florence Gentry.

  “You’ll need things to start your own home when you get to Oregon,” Lillith Cornwall told Marybeth, handing her a homemade quilt.

  “And you need to replace so many things,” Bess Peters told Florence, presenting her with a blanket and a coffee pot.

  Others came forward. How they came up with so many things from such meager supplies, Marybeth could not imagine.

  “Cap says we have to lighten our wagon even more,” another woman told her. She set a crate down in front of Marybeth. “This china belonged to my mother. Jed says I have to get rid of something. I know you will take very good care of it for me. Mother would have been happy to give it to you if I couldn’t have it.”

  Marybeth was overwhelmed by their generosity. When they were through, she and Florence both had a good start of supplies to set up housekeeping. Florence wept. Her emotions over the gifts and the memory of having lost everything in the tornado, then losing everything again, along with two children because of the cholera, brought forth a wash of tears that soon had all the other women quietly crying.

  “No more of this!” Cap whipped out a harmonica, and Raymond Cornwall retrieved a fiddle from his wagon.
After a round of ear-curling notes in an effort to get their tunes in harmony, the two men managed to keep in time with each other well enough to play a few rousing songs that soon had husbands and wives whirling in circles, tattered skirts flying, booted feet stomping. Those who stood aside clapped rhythmically for those who danced, and the two men who had lost wives to cholera danced with the two women who had lost their husbands. It had taken considerable cajoling from the others, but everyone understood all of them were grieving. No one saw anything wrong with taking one evening to forget, just for a little while—to laugh and dance and try not to think about cholera and Indians, mountains and hunger. For Marybeth and Josh, it was a night to forget about the MacKinders, who chose to stay to themselves.

  Although still badly bruised, the swelling in Josh’s face had gone down, and his hands were more limber. “I think I can at least shoot a rifle if I have to,” he told Marybeth. They danced to a slow tune drawn out on Raymond’s fiddle. Others twirled around the large campfire all had built together out of wood gathered from dead cottonwoods along the river, using buffalo chips as hot coals at the center to keep the wood burning.

  Marybeth and Josh had eyes only for each other, both of them feeling the fire move through them at the thought of other reasons for needing the use of his hands. Josh drew her own hand up to his mouth and kissed it, the glitter in his eyes making her feel weak.

  “How about your ribs,” she asked, reddening as she attempted to change the subject.

  “They’re healing.”

  “Oh, Josh, I hope we never have to go through that again.”

  “We? I’m the one with all the bruises,” he said with a grin.

  “And I had to watch. I’m not sure that was any easier.”