Gingham Mountain

by Mary Connealy

  Grant, alone in the empty barn, asked, “What about my promise, God? What about all the children who need me?” Grant ran his hands over his face, trying to wash away the temptation to be selfish away. “I had a good reason for that promise. There are still orphans suffering.

  “I can’t give as much to a child if I have a wife to consider and children of my own.” Something bloomed in Grant’s heart as he thought about having children of his own, maybe a son with speckled eyes. Maybe a daughter with Hannah’s brown curls.

  He needed to trust God with his loneliness. He needed to trust Hannah with his love. A weight lifted, and Grant looked up to heaven to thank God.

  When he lowered his eyes, he saw Hannah coming into the barn. Looking a bit fearful, she said, “Dinner is almost ready. Will’s here and several other families are coming down the trail.” Hannah’s lips trembled. “You know it will be the first Easter dinner of my life?”

  Her expression turned so vulnerable Grant couldn’t stay away. Walking toward Hannah, he walked toward his future. She kept moving in his direction just as steady and solid as the mountain behind his home.

  They met, and Grant reached out to grasp her hands. “You can be with me for every holiday from now on, Hannah. You can be a mother to all these children. They’ve already claimed you anyway.”

  Grant lifted her left hand and kissed it. “I love you. I think I fell in love with you when you crawled under my kitchen table chasing potatoes.”

  Hannah smiled warm enough to bring summer to Texas. “And I’ve loved you ever since you spent an afternoon fixing up Libby’s shoe so she could walk without a limp. Even when it went against every hard-learned lesson of my life, I still loved you.”

  “Will you marry me, Hannah? Will you join our family and make our house a home?”

  Hannah hesitated, and Grant’s heart dived hard enough it’d break if it hit bottom.

  “I have a lot to learn about how to be a woman. My upbringing didn’t teach me a lot of what I need to know.”

  Grant’s heart didn’t crash after all. He smiled and then he laughed. “You’ll learn.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off the floor. He swung her around joyfully, and she squeaked a little and laughed with him.

  “Between Sadie and Marilyn and me, we’ll teach you all you need to know.” Grant lowered her to her feet and kissed her. Not the stolen kiss of those brief times at the schoolhouse, but the honorable kiss of the only man who would ever be given leave to kiss her.

  He lifted his head, his heart thundering. “Shall we go in and tell the children?”

  “Yes, I can’t wait.”

  They turned to leave the barn. She’d never change her mind if it meant disappointing them. He slipped his arm around her waist and urged her along.

  Hannah started moving, such a perfect fit in his arms that Grant decided he was never going to let her go, not even for one more day.

  Hannah moved closer to him as if she was cold. She leaned against his shoulder. He thought his shoulder was the perfect size and plenty strong. She could lean on him for the rest of her life.

  “You know, you’re younger than quite a few of my children.”

  Hannah’s brow furrowed. Then she shrugged and smiled. “Considering Ian’s age, you’re almost younger than a few of your children. That’s a tricky thing to explain.”

  The wonder of her, alive and loving in his arms, was nearly too sweet for him to bear. They opened the ranch house door, and Grant saw a couple dozen sets of shining eyes staring straight at them, Will and his family, and several others.

  “I asked Hannah to marry me. She said yes.”

  The children exploded with noise and hugs.

  In the midst of the chaos, Hannah pulled Libby into her arms in a way that let Grant know how much she’d missed her little sister. His heart overflowed just watching them be truly reunited.

  He looked past his present brood of children and saw wagons and horses hitched here and there. The rest of his family had arrived. His family finally had a ma. The dinner was forgotten for a long time as they celebrated this special day.

  After they ate, the whole family hitched up the wagon and went to town for a wedding. Grant pulled his wagon up beside the church, Hannah at his side, the wagon box full of children.

  He looked behind him and saw what amounted to a parade, following him down Sour Springs Main Street. Doors started opening as curious townsfolk noticed the commotion.

  Putting on the brake, Grant scrambled to beat his sons to Hannah’s side and help her down. Joshua slapped him on the back. Ian came out of his house behind the blacksmith shop with his hand resting on Megan’s back and his daughter hanging from his hand. Gordy saw Benny and Libby and dashed toward the crowd.

  Will laughed and shouted, “Everybody’s invited to a wedding!”

  Grant lowered Hannah to the ground, her face shining with excitement. Something caught in Grant’s throat to think this beautiful, smart, feisty, loving woman was excited. Excited to marry him of all people.

  Suddenly he knew everything in his life had been preparing him to love this woman the way she needed to be loved, and her life had been a preparation to be his perfect match. He could thank God for the things he’d been through, even thank Him for the things many hurting children were going through. Ian being sent out here when he was so old. . .because Megan was here. Josh and Sadie. . .the streets had prepared them for each other. And Marilyn and Wilbur. Somehow Wilbur, from a strong family with two great parents, had grown up to have that perfect place in his heart for Marilyn with her broken past.

  He could breathe more deeply, thank God more fully. His eyes open, his head unbowed, Grant could still pray his thanks with every step.

  A hard slap on his back made him realize he’d been holding Hannah, her toes still dangling off the ground, smiling like a maniac as he watched her and prayed.

  “Put her down.” Will came up beside him. “And if you’d like to have a little talk about the facts of married life, I’ll be right here to help you. . .Pa.”

  The whole crowd erupted into laughter. Grant gave Will a sheepish grin and didn’t admit he had a few questions. He reluctantly put Hannah on the ground and slid his arm around her while he gave his irreverent son a shove.

  The parson came out of his home, which was next door to the church, and quickly caught on to the celebration. His wife was a few steps behind him.

  Walking arm-in-arm with Hannah, Grant approached him. “Can we tear you away from your Easter dinner to perform a wedding ceremony?”

  The parson smiled. “I’d be proud to, Grant.”

  As they headed in, Sheriff Ned came up beside Charlie. Grant noticed and stopped to listen.

  “We picked up Horace with no trouble. And by the time those two got done accusing each other of being the real bad guy, we had confessions for a lifetime of criminal activity. You’ve earned that reward, boy. The U.S. Marshal will be bringing five hundred dollars for each of them two crooks within a week.”

  “A–a thousand dollars?” Charlie’s face went pale, and then he turned to Grant. “It’s for the family, Pa.”

  “No, boy, that money’s yours. You earned it.” Grant still needed to scold Charlie about his sneaking ways. Thinking of a life tied to Shirt Lady made it real hard for Grant to get too upset. But God wouldn’t approve of such underhanded means, no matter that it had turned out for good.

  Charlie shook his head. “I don’t need that kinda money. You’ll put it in the bank for us, won’t you, Sheriff? In Pa’s account?”

  The sheriff nodded.

  “We’ll settle this later,” Grant said, mussing Charlie’s hair. He needed to pray about whether it was right to give a young boy so much money. . . especially as a reward for being a sneak thief.

  There wasn’t much ceremony to the wedding. Grant refused to turn loose of Hannah long enough to let her walk down the aisle. The only delay was in having the guests troop in, which took awhile considering the wh
ole town was idle and available due to it being Easter Sunday.

  Grant held both her hands, and she held on just as tight, while the parson had them swear vows before God. Never in history, at least Grant couldn’t imagine it, had vows been given with such sincerity.

  Grant barely had time to kiss the bride before his whole family surrounded them to offer congratulations.

  The townsfolk all brought out their leftovers from Easter dinner and turned the wedding into a party that lasted until the sun set. Grant’s grown-up children were the last to leave the reception.

  Grant turned to his new wife. “Let’s stop at your room and get your things, Hannah.”

  Hannah smiled. “I’ll be glad to see the last of that place.”

  Grant followed her upstairs with all of the children coming behind to help carry things.

  Except there were no things, or almost none.

  “Charlie said this was small.” Grant was appalled at the size of the room. His head came to the peak of the roof, which slanted sharply. “And where are your things?”

  Hannah blushed and pointed to a small pile of clothes that tucked easily into her satchel. She also produced proudly two dollars and fifteen cents.

  “I’ve been saving my wages.”

  Grant turned to the children who were pushing their way inside. “Go on back down kids. There isn’t room for all of us in here.” The understatement of a lifetime.

  They all seemed to need peeks. Then they grabbed the few bits of Hannah’s possessions, ran into each other coming and going, but finally were all gone.

  “You’ve been living here for three months?” Grant ran his hand up and down Hannah’s arm.

  With a reluctant nod, Hannah said, “It’s awful, isn’t it? Let’s get out of here and go live in the mansion you built.”

  Grant kissed the pretty smile right off Hannah’s face, caught her hand, and they left behind the teacher’s quarters for good. He headed home with his wife. Newlyweds who already had six kids.

  After a festive evening meal, Grant wanted to suggest the children all head for bed. It was a little early, but he had a powerful yen for some quiet time with Hannah. A pang of guilt hit him for wanting his children to go away. Truth to tell, he wasn’t sure just what the point was of quiet time with Hannah.

  From the looks of Megan, Ian had figured out what to do with a wife. Grant would die before he’d ask his son’s advice.

  Of course he lived on a ranch. He had a fair notion.

  Marilyn left for a ride with Wilbur.

  Hannah took the last coffee cups into the kitchen to wash. Grant looked after her, confused and fascinated.

  He rose from his chair and opened his mouth to shoo the children off to bed just as his front door slammed open and a wild-eyed woman rushed in.

  Grant backed away. The woman looked unhinged and that was a fact.

  “Hannah?” She shouted so loud Grant was tempted to cover his ears. “I heard Hannah was here.”

  Before anyone could answer, an explosion of noise and shoving came through the open door. Five boys arguing at the top of their lungs clogged in the door, battling to get through first.

  “Climbing out of that canyon is stupid an’ if you do stupid things, you’re stupid, an’ that’s that.”

  The boys came in two sizes. Medium and large. One of the medium ones ripped his hat off his head and whacked one of the larger ones in the face. They had to be brothers—no brood could look this much alike and not be.

  “Hannah, where are you?” The blond-haired madwoman ran into a side bedroom.

  Grant hoped this wasn’t another one like Shirt Lady. He stayed well away from her.

  “Don’t you be calling Ma stupid.” Blinded, the bigger boy fell over the younger, and both landed on the floor so hard the lantern sitting in the center of the table rattled.

  The wrestling boys shouted. The larger one roared through his fingers as he rubbed his stinging face. “That ain’t right to insult her like that, Mark.”

  “But it is stupid.” The smaller boy jumped out of the fight, threw his coat toward a pair of antlers on the wall, missed, and hit another boy in the face with the garment.

  “Hannah! Hannah, are you here?” The crazed woman dashed back into the room shouting, ignoring the chaos in her wake.

  “Don’t call me stupid, stupid.” Mark was knocked sideways by a smaller child yet. Grant hadn’t noticed him at first. Three sizes. Small, medium, and large. The toddler jumped on Mark’s back, screaming until Grant thought his ears might bleed.

  The toddler grabbed Mark around the neck and pretended his feet had spurs and Mark was a stubborn horse. The little boy screamed for Mark to “Giddyup.”

  “Hannah!” The female voice cut through the chorus of shouting boys.

  A giant replica of all of them came into the house last. “Man oh man, was it ever stupid to come all this way, Grace.”

  “Grace?” Hannah came dashing in from the kitchen then froze for just a second until Grace, ignoring the riot that came in the door after her, and the terrible insults being hurled right and left, turned and looked at her.

  “Hannah?” With a little scream, Grace threw her arms wide. “Oh, Hannah.” Grace ran toward Hannah, and Hannah ran toward Grace.

  They caught each other and swung each other around in a circle, laughing and crying at the same time. Grant had heard enough about Hannah’s childhood now to know who Grace was. But he’d never expected her to come with a crowd attached.

  Joshua quickly snatched the lantern off the table and left the room with it and another breakable lamp. Sadie backed Benny and Libby into a corner to guard them, and Joshua came back and stood beside her. Benny looked between them, thrilled to see the newcomers.

  Charlie scaled the ladder to the loft with a third lantern so it was out of reach but the room didn’t fall into complete darkness. He left it well back from the side of the attic, swung his legs over the edge, and began climbing down into the fray.

  Grant was tempted to yell for Charlie to stay up there where it was safe and send the rest of the family up, too.

  Mark began bucking and hurled his younger brother on a flying trip toward the ceiling.

  Their father snagged Matthew in midair. Settling his son on his hip, the adult man turned to Grant and offered his hand. “We found someone in town to direct us out here. We just came in on the train. My wife was bound to visit her sister. I’m Daniel Reeves and these are my boys.” Daniel seemed to yell every word, far too loud to be explained away by the riot. He swept his arm at the chaos and didn’t bother trying to point out who was who.

  Grant appreciated that. “I’m Grant Cooper.” They shook hands.

  “Grace has kinda made a habit of escaping from me this winter. Every time I relax and quit watching her like a hawk, I’ll be switched if she doesn’t disappear.”

  Grant did his best to listen to Daniel over the crying women and the screaming boys.

  “My contrary wife made me bring her here.” Daniel smiled and blushed just a little. “Women are the almightiest hardest critters to figure out, Grant. I can’t get mine to be submissive worth a lick. I’ve got it underlined in the Bible and everything. But she’s just plain stubborn.”

  Grant had been raising girls for nine years. He could probably give Daniel a little advice. It would start with, “Don’t call her stupid. . .or stubborn. . .or a critter.”

  Then he looked at the six children Daniel had managed to father and wondered if Daniel had some advice that could make the coming night go more smoothly for Grant. Grant had no idea how to ask. “Uh. . . Daniel, did you hear Hannah and I got married today?”

  The crying women had turned on Sadie and Libby and were chattering like a flock of chickens.

  Hannah pulled Sadie close and introduced her as “my daughter.”

  Grace began crying as if her heart was breaking.

  “What is that infernal woman crying about now?” Daniel pretended to drop Matthew and the boy screamed and l
aughed. Daniel flipped him upside down, dangling him by one ankle for a couple of seconds while the boy shrieked and swung his fists at his pa’s knee. Then Daniel swooshed his son around by the leg, flipped him right side up, and tossed him head first over Daniel’s shoulder. The little boy clung like a burr and swung himself around and ended up riding piggyback on his pa.

  “Too many menfolk.” Grant had seen it all before and accepted it. “Women like to talk to other women from time to time.”

  Daniel nodded earnestly, soaking in every word Grant said, even though his son was strangling him and yelling for a horsie ride. “She’s expecting another young’un, too. Probably die from this one.” He looked over at Grace. “I am surely gonna miss that woman.”

  “Ma’s gonna die!” Matthew shouted right into Daniel’s ear.

  Grace whirled around and fairly screamed. “I am not going to die, Daniel Reeves. You quit saying that. If I hear you say that one more time, I swear this is going to be the first baby ever born where we lose a father.”

  Hannah looked wide-eyed at Daniel. With a glance at Grant, Hannah pulled Grace back into the little circle of women.

  Two of the medium-sized boys—they had to be triplets because there were three that were a matched set—rolled under the table wrestling and tipped it over.

  Daniel shouted, “You boys get outside!”

  Shouting with joy, his boys vanished, along with Benny, leaving the door wide open. Grant, his ears ringing, prayed for his son to survive this visit.

  After a moment’s hesitation while he looked between the women and the open door, Charlie grabbed his coat and went out after the others. Grant hoped living most of his life on the mean streets made him tough enough to survive the Reeves boys.

  The Reeves stayed the night. Grant had no choice but to spend his wedding night with the menfolk in the barn, and Grace slept with Hannah. Grant’s children skipped school the next day, and by nightfall, the Reeves family still showed no signs of leaving. Of course the train wouldn’t come through for a week, so there was no escaping the Reeves until then.

  Grant was ready to start building on to his house, maybe a big playroom with no breakables. Something with a lock on it, so Grant could shoo them in there and pen them up.