The Blessed Bride

by Lynn Winchester

  “And why not? Shouldn’t society ladies know how to skin animals to make their own fur coats?”

  Imagining what that might look like; well-dressed ladies up to the tops of their silk gloves in entrails…a laugh bubbled up in her throat, and she let it out.

  “That would be a sight I’d pay ta see!” she declared, breaking into another round of laughter. After a few moments, she wiped the tears from her eyes and found Pete staring at her, unfettered desire darkening his gaze.

  Stunned, Pati could only watch as Pete stepped closer, bending to grip her arms and pull her to her feet.

  His lips, just within reach, parted, revealing straight, white teeth.

  Pete groaned, and her heart pounded. His large, work-roughened hands were gentle around her arms, holding her to him with a strength she’d yearned to feel for weeks. She pressed her hands against the hot, taut skin of his bare chest, and slowly exhaled. The feeling of him beneath her hands sent tremors of longing through her.

  But as quickly as their almost-embrace began, it ended. Pete picked up the bloody rabbit carcass and took her place beside the creek.

  He made short work of skillfully quartering the rabbit meat.

  “Where did you learn how to do that? It is something you learned at home?” This man was a maze of unknowns, and she’d spend her whole life navigating every corner until she knew him like the lines on her hands.

  Pete stood, wiping his hands on his trousers, which encased muscular legs. Get yer mind off such carnality, Patience Mary-Doll, or else ye’ll end up toilin’ in Purgatory for a million years.

  “Growing up in Baltimore, there wasn’t much call for skinning my own kills. That was something I learned in the army. When rations didn’t stretch as far as we needed them to, we’d hunt whatever wild game we could. Rabbit, buffalo, deer, coyote…we weren’t picky, as long as it filled our bellies.” As he spoke, he retrieved his shirt from where he’d dropped it by a tree. Pati watched, fascinated, as he slowly buttoned it. Who knew watching a man dress could be so stimulating? She forced her mind to focus on what he’d said, not on how he’d looked when he’d said it—he looked as handsome as sin.

  “I don’t suppose you can be picky when there’s a war boiling around you,” Pati offered.

  “No. You take what you can get, then you ready for battle.” Pati noticed Pete stiffen, as if speaking the word battle had stirred up memories.

  This man…how difficult it must have been to go from the glittering city to the barren deserts, and then try to return home with the consequences of war written on his face.

  “Pete, I…” she began, but then waited for him to meet her gaze. “Thank you…for helping me. With the rabbit and with finding the man who stole my money. And for getting my money back.”

  Something sharpened in his eyes, and Pati could feel the tension rise.

  “No thanks needed, Pati. I would do anything for you. You must know that.” His voice was a rumble of thunder, and the storm swirling in the pit of her belly began to rage.

  “Anything?” she asked, stepping closer, ignoring the warning bells pealing in her head. She needed this man.

  Pete’s expression hardened, a blaze of answering need devoured every wall around her heart.

  “Anything.”

  Standing on her toes, Pati threw her arms around Pete’s neck, pulling his head down, and taking his lips in a rush of breath and want and fire.

  Chapter 21

  He breathed her in, taking the slight weight of her into his arms, feeling the press of her softness against him, and reveling in the knowledge that she was where she belonged. Her kiss had been a shock, but one he appreciated with every fiber of his being. The passion in her kiss thickened his blood and made all thoughts flee.

  She was here, and he was hungry for her. He took control, deepening the kiss, pulling her closer until he could wrap his arms around her completely. She was trapped with a beast, and he wanted to unleash every animal instinct within him…but he couldn’t. She was an innocent, unable to grasp the power she had over the creature raging inside him.

  Slowly, gently, he softened the kiss, allowing them to breathe, to languidly taste one another. But then he pulled away, leaning down to touch his forehead to hers. He drank in that moment, the heat of the sun on his back, the heat of Pati in his embrace, and the strength of his love for her filling his heart and mind with new words.

  Yours. Forever.

  “Pati…please…stay in Blessings,” he whispered, his voice harsh against the constricting desperation in his throat.

  She shuddered, closing her eyes, then took a long, deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, the green was clear and bright.

  “Pete…I want ta stay, I do. This place has become the home I never thought ta know again. I love the people, the beautiful mountains and trees, and I think I just may have found me true callin’ as a hemmer of shirts and a darner of stockin’s,” she said, smiling.

  He wanted to hear those words, and he should have been happy, but…he felt that there was more she wanted to say.

  “But…” he prodded, holding his breath.

  She sighed, closing her eyes again, closing him off from where her true feelings were displayed.

  “But…I’m scared,” she murmured.

  “Scared? Of what?” he asked, ready to destroy whatever was keeping his Pati from making Blessings her home. “Pati…” He slid a finger under her chin and lifted it. “Look at me.”

  After a moment, she did, and the pain and uncertainty in her eyes made his breath catch.

  “I’m scared because…what happens if I stay and the one thing I stayed for remains out of reach?”

  He cupped her cheeks, which were flushed from their kiss.

  “Then I will give it to you.” He leaned in and brushed a kiss over her lips. She trembled against him.

  “Pete…ye don’t know what ye’re sayin’.” Pati tried pulling away and he let her, if only for a moment. She turned as if to leave but then stopped, spinning back to him. “We’ve danced a merry dance, ye and I, great big circles around each other.” Agitated, she began pacing, and Pete could only watch curiously as her face flushed deeper, and her breaths came in quick succession.

  “Sometimes, I’d wonder if I was just the job ta ye; protect what the boss says ta protect, aye?” Pulling her shoulders back, Pati spun and began walking away, leaving the quartered rabbit behind.

  No! She couldn’t leave. Don’t let her walk away. She is the one, his muddled mind sharpened on those words. He was done letting fear and pride rule him. He’d hurt Pati enough. His old friend guilt rose up from his guts, punching him. He should have told her, months ago, how he felt, how being with her had never been about the job. It had always been about his need to be with her. But before he could call her back and finally say it, she stopped walking, turned, and flattened him with her anguished gaze.

  “I wanted ta be more ta ye than just yer duty. I know I was a stranger, a burden ta a fledglin’ town, but I wanted ta offer somethin’ even if I wasn’t ta stay.” She blinked as a tear formed in her eye. He raced forward, cupping her face in his hands, and swiping the tear from her face before it could escape.

  “I didn’t mean ta, Payter. I never meant ta like ye let alone need ye so much,” she lamented, her body trembling. “But the more I thought about ye, the more I began ta think about what it would be like ta be a part of somethin’ as special as Blessings…with ye.” Her emerald eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

  Unable to resist the urge to comfort her, Pete bent and kissed first one eyelid, then the other. Pati’s sigh struck at his heart.

  Every excuse he’d made to keep Pati at a distance disappeared in an instant. He could protect her, he could cherish her, he could love her with indescribable love…if she’d have him.

  “And you’d want to be with me, even with this ear? Even if I growl and snap every once in a while?” he asked, his heart in his throat. He knew he was asking a lot. Even of a woman
capable of traversing a country with only a pack of clothes and an iron will, but he needed to know it was possible. That he could have Pati as his own. That she would love him as much as he loved her.

  A soft laugh escaped, and he nearly fell over when Pati smiled up at him. Hope, long since dead within him, flared to life.

  He returned her smile, his soul singing for joy.

  “I can survive a bit o’ growlin’ if ye can handle a woman with a little more fire than sense,” she replied, testing the waters a wee bit. She still couldn’t believe that Pete was saying such things, that he was truly standing before her, smiling down at her. There was a lightness about him now; his smile was brilliant, his teeth flashing almost wolfishly, and his eyes were brimming with something akin to hopefulness. He was hoping she’d agree, that she’d want to be with him. It was a desire she shared.

  She held her breath as Pete leaned down, brushing a much too delicate kiss over her nose. “I’ve always liked stoking fires,” he drawled, and her belly flipped, tightening upon landing. “And there’s no woman I’d rather have with me than you.”

  Pati listened as each word passed his lips. And with each word, her world spun.

  “Ye mean it?” she blurted, happiness flying through her like a covey of doves.

  He chuckled, his grin widening. “I love you, Patience O’Connor. And I want to marry you, to have you as my blessed bride.”

  Joy, bright and shining, burst from her chest, filling her with white hot energy.

  She jumped, throwing her arms around his neck with a squeal. “I’ll have none but ye, Payter Jones. I love ye, desperately.”

  With a whoop, Pete took her into his arms, spinning them both, filling the air with sounds of utter rapture. Pati didn’t want to come down, but needs must…

  “Pete,” she cooed, deliriously happy, “what do we do now?”

  His smile could blind the sun, and she matched it grin for grin. “We send word to Reverend Billings to get here as soon as he can—he has a wedding to officiate. Which means there’s a church to build.”

  Wedding. Church. She was getting married to Peter Jones. Another bubble of laughter escaped.

  “Ye’d better get to work, then. I don’t know how much longer me da will stay in town, and I want him there.”

  Sobering, Pete gazed down at her, understanding in his eyes. “I can’t promise we’ll get married before winter, but I can promise I will love you long after. And I’ll show you every day how honored I am that you found me worthy to be your husband.”

  Her heart melted, and a tender yearning made her reach out and run a finger along the scar over his ear. He was more than worthy of her…he’d earned her heart with grudging kindness, his rare smiles, and his beautiful spirit.

  “Only if ye let me show ye how honored I am ta be yer wife,” she purred, surprising her pragmatic self with the sound. She never felt so wonderful, so light, so—hungry! “Pete, we need to get this rabbit back so I can make stew, and then we can share our news with me da.”

  For a moment, Pete looked like the rabbit must’ve before the trap was sprung, but then the smile returned. “Let’s go, then.”

  Picking up the pieces of rabbit, Pete came up beside her, clasping her hand with the one not covered in rabbit meat. She wanted to giggle. The feeling of his fingers entwined with hers was intoxicating. She peered up at him, and he looked back, and they shared a moment of deep and heart-pounding desire. This man was hers, and she could have him…so she’d wait as was morally right.

  They made it back to the shanty in record time, and Pati found her da where she left him, on her cot, facing into the wall, away from the world. She stepped into the shanty, and Pete came in to stand behind her, lending her some of his considerable strength.

  Lord, but I could get used to this. She shook herself, and stepped to the edge of the cot.

  “Da,” Pati said, tapping her da on the back. He swiped at her over his shoulder and grumbled something about leaving him be to die in his sleep. “Da! Please, I have some news for ye.”

  Her da stiffened, rolling over to look at her. “What’s so important ye’re pullin’ me from dreams of yer ma?”

  An old pain sliced through her. Ma; auburn hair, sparkling green eyes, ready smile…her ma was the most beautiful, kind, fiery woman in Ireland, and she was missed. Desperately. But she was in heaven, and it was time for Pati to begin her own life. It was time for Liam O’Connor to start again.

  “Da…I’m gettin’ married,” she said in a measured tone, unsure of how her da would react.

  As if struck by lightning, her da jumped from the cot, pulling her into his arms and squeezing her. “Oh, Precious, it’s about time! I thought I’d die an old, lonely man, without any grandbabes ta spoil rotten.”

  Pati gasped, both surprised and pleased by her da’s response. Her da squeezed her again, then kissed her on the cheek. It tickled and she giggled, tucking her face.

  “Da!” she cried, cheerfully.

  Her da released her to reach out to Pete, who clasped her da’s hand and shook it heartily. “Sir,” Pete said, his expression pinched with uncertainty.

  “Sir?” her da scoffed, “I’m not yer sir, I’m yer da, and that’s what ye’ll call me, Son.” Liam O’Connor embraced Pete, and Pete offered Pati an uncomfortable smile. She squelched a laugh, coughing to hide it. But Pete saw her smile, smiling back with a teasing grin.

  The two men parted and her da immediately welcomed Pete into the family, placing an arm over his shoulder and leading him out of the shanty, all the while regaling him with stories of when he’d first met Pati’s ma. To see her da so animated, and to see Pete so focused on her da’s words…it made her heart soar. Her two favorite men, side by side…she was truly blessed.

  Chapter 22

  As August died to September, Blessings shined as a beacon of hope and hospitality in the mountains of California. And none were more blessed than Pati. After agreeing to marry the man she loved, she’d also agreed to move into the Winslets’ guest room, just until the cabin Pete was building for them was complete. She couldn’t wait to make a home with him, to fill it with love and warmth and all the things she’d had in her little cottage in Cork with her parents. She wanted to fill the cabin with wee babies, all with their da’s dark hair, her green eyes, and hearts full of laughter and kindness.

  Finishing the last of the embroidery on her wedding dress, Pati gently laid it over Millie’s dining room table.

  “Oh, but that’s a lovely dress, Pati! You’ve got the hands of an angel to make somethin’ so heavenly.”

  Pati grinned at Millie who was wearing a flour-covered apron. “Thank you. I never thought I could make something like this until I had to. And, to be honest, I never thought I’d have to make my own wedding dress. But I’m glad to.”

  Millie chuckled. “I just bet you are, dear.”

  Putting away her sewing supplies, Pati let her mind return to the day she rolled into Blessings on the back of the supply cart from Culloma. She was wretched, exhausted, hopeless, and lonely. She didn’t think a place as out of the way, muddy, and rough could be anything more than what she could see. But then the town welcomed her in; Atherton, Millie, Ellie, Ed, Ben…and Pete, and she began to feel the draw of the place. It was the heart of the people, the warmth of their smiles. It was the spirit of goodness and grace that seemed to fill the growing town with her presence. And it was Pete. His love for her had watered her withered roots and helped her find a place to flourish.

  Millie and Pati turned at the sound of the front door opening. Moments later, Atherton and Pete came through the kitchen and into the dining room. Flying to the table, Pati threw a pile of unfinished mending over her wedding dress.

  “Ye can’t see it, not until the weddin’!” Pati blurted.

  Pete grinned, coming to pull her into his arms for a brief kiss on the forehead. She’d much rather have a real kiss. But she’d settle for forehead kisses until they could kiss properly. As husband and wif
e. But how much longer did she have to wait?

  “Any word on when Reverend Billings will arrive?” she asked Atherton, who was staring at her and Pete with a glow in his eyes.

  “Ed says he sent the letter through Sacramento, so there’s no telling when it will catch up to the reverend. It could be weeks yet.” Disappointed by Pete’s answer, Pati slumped into the nearest chair.

  Pete took the chair beside her. “It’s only a little longer, darling. In the meantime, why don’t you work on making new linens and curtains for the cabin.”

  “Ye know I will,” Pati chirped, strangely excited about such domestic tasks—as long as it helped her build the home she always wanted with the man she’d always dreamt of having. “So, what brings you two here in the middle of the day?”

  “I have somethin’ for Pete, but I wanted to give it to him when you were together,” Atherton said. He walked to a cupboard, opened it, and removed a small item wrapped in linen.

  “I’ve known you were the man for the job even before I hired you. But I had to wait to make it official,” he said, handing the wrapped item to Pete. Blinking, confusion and wariness written into the lines around his eyes, Pete opened it and stared.

  Pati stood, stunned to see a shining silver star in Pete’s palm.

  “What is this, Atherton?” Pete asked, his voice heavy.

  Atherton slapped Pete on the back. “Well, with California now an official state of the United States, I can appoint myself a sheriff. That’s you, Son.”

  “Sheriff?” Pati echoed, unable to believe what was happening. Pete…the sheriff of Blessings. She couldn’t imagine a man more fitting the honor. “Sheriff Peter Jones!”

  “I don’t know what to say. What about the mine?” Pete asked, running a finger over the five-pointed star as if in a trance.

  “I’ve already got someone comin’ who can handle all the land claims and land leasin’, which means I can take on orderin’ the supplies and keepin’ hours and such.”