“Can I help you?”
She waved over her shoulder. “I can handle it.” A few minutes later she returned with plates and cups on a large tray. “Don’t bother yourself with the dishes tonight. I’ll take care of them in the morning.”
“Thank you, Valentine.” Leah gave the woman an appreciative smile. “You’re a blessing.”
“Don’t let her get up,” Valentine said to Daniel.
“I won’t.”
He got the lap tray from the end of the bed and set Leah’s supper on it. They enjoyed the meal. He hadn’t had an appetite for nearly a day, so he ate all of his food and everything Leah left on her plate. “You sure you’re full?” he asked.
“I’m sure. She brought me breakfast and lunch, too.”
He carried all the dishes down, and she was dozing when he returned. He went to wash and change into a clean shirt, and he carried a book back with him. The sun was setting, casting its last pink rays across the bed and turning her hair and lashes to gold. Daniel seated himself in the chair and reveled in looking at her. His wife. His heart.
She opened her eyes.
“You’re beautiful.”
She smiled.
Later, once the sun had disappeared over the horizon and the katydids had begun their nightly song, Daniel pulled the curtains closed. “Will you be able to sleep tonight?” he asked in the darkness.
“Will you stay close?” she asked.
“Always.” He stretched out atop the covers beside her and stacked his hands behind his head.
“I’m sorry I avoided the question when you asked how I felt about you,” she said. “I should have just come out and said what I was feeling. From now on that’s what we’ll do. We’ll tell each other how we’re feeling.”
“I was always a little jealous over Will,” he admitted. “He’s my best friend, and I wanted to be happy for both of you, but it hurt.”
“And then Charles...” she said.
“I never knew him, and I didn’t have to see you with him. Knowing you loved someone else left me empty, though.”
“I never felt about Charles the way I feel about you,” she confessed. “I had high hopes and dreams, but they were shallow. There was never substance between us.”
“He was a fool if he didn’t know what he had,” Daniel said.
Leah took a deep breath. “I was a fool, too. I thought a life as an officer’s wife would be fulfilling, glamorous, safe. At first he paid attention to me and showed me off. I suspected then, I guess, that it was all for show. Had he loved me he would have cared about my welfare. He would have made an effort. Whenever he returned from the field I pretended things were all right. While he was gone I kept myself busy. And the babies...”
“What, Leah?”
“It was as though he had no part in them, as though they didn’t exist for him. The first time he acted as though it hadn’t happened, and to him it didn’t matter. So the second time I insisted I go home to Pennsylvania.”
“And that time?”
“When I told you about Mama, I never told you that I was pregnant then.”
“I didn’t figure it out, either.”
She released a sigh. “When Hattie and I left Mama and escaped through the woods, I was about eight months along. Travel was dangerous and we didn’t get any rest. I’d been eating poorly, not sleeping well. Before we reached the city, the baby had started making its way into the world. I was too weak. The baby was too weak. He didn’t survive.”
Daniel reached for her hand and brought it to his chest. “I’m sorry, Leah.”
“Yes.” She rolled her head toward him, though she couldn’t see him in the darkness. “I recuperated. But Hattie died. I made my way to Chicago, where Charles kept our place. When the war ended I was there waiting for him. He came home and there was no baby. He never even asked me about it.”
“And you didn’t tell him.”
“No. I was trying to pick up the pieces without dealing with all that had happened.” She released a sigh. “I guess I imagined the end of the war would somehow change everything for the better. It didn’t.”
“And you stayed because there was nowhere else to go, and he was your husband.”
“He stayed gone for days at a time. Once I hadn’t seen him for an entire month. I started to worry what I would do if he never came back. I started to form a plan. Then I got news that he’d been killed.”
“Killed?” he asked.
“I never told anyone. I was too humiliated. He was shot by an angry husband.”
Daniel took a deep breath and seemed to absorb that news.
“I wasn’t surprised,” she confessed. “And weeks later I realized I was expecting again, and I felt like the biggest fool in the world.”
“It’s not foolish to hope,” he responded. “To give people chances.”
She shook her head against the pillow. “There was a pittance of his army pay left after he’d squandered it on who knows what. I used it for room and board, and then I got desperate. I scoured the newspapers for jobs and found the ad for mail-order brides.”
“Thank You, Lord.”
Silence folded them in its comforting embrace for several minutes. “Now you know it all,” she said. “I didn’t tell you before because I was ashamed.”
“You don’t have to be ashamed. You were doing your best. You were being a wife and hoping to be a mother. His mistakes aren’t yours.”
“I didn’t believe I deserved you, Daniel,” she said. “I kept so much hidden and I was embarrassed about my past, about my choices.”
“You deserve the best, Leah.”
She smiled into the darkness. “That’s fitting then. Because you’re the best.”
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. “Sleep now.”
* * *
Within days, Leah was able to get up and walk with the aid of a crutch, provided by Dr. Fletcher. By the end of the week their schedule had resumed normalcy, so it was a surprise when over breakfast Leah asked Daniel if he would stay with her that morning and fetch a buggy to take her to the train station.
He widened his eyes. “Are you going somewhere?”
“No, silly. We’re meeting someone.”
His features relaxed. “Who are we meeting?”
“Well, this has something to do with the meeting you saw between Will and me at the hotel. We were collaborating on a plan. He was helping me.”
“A bride for Will?”
“No. You’ll just have to wait and see.”
He raised a questioning brow. “I thought we had no secrets left.”
“Just this one, and it won’t be a secret for long. Trust me.”
Daniel was impatient, wondering what Leah had cooked up and what Will had to do with it. She had dressed in a new dress, one created by Hannah, with a pretty green-and-white print. She wore the garnet dragonfly brooch on her collar. In the foyer she took a hat from the rack and adjusted it on her head. She would always be the prettiest woman he’d ever laid eyes on. He would always be the most fortunate man in Kansas.
Pippa waved from the corner near Remmy’s as they passed.
“Remmy said his business is flourishing since you requested additional catalogs and he stocked more of the items you and Hannah shopped for,” Daniel told her.
“He’s selling knitted items for Opal, too. He’s a smart businessman,” she replied. “The place doesn’t smell like pickles or salted pork, either. More women are on their way. He’ll do even better when they arrive.”
Daniel drove the buggy up between the station and the railroad office and helped her down. A lanky cowboy sat on one of the chairs outside the office building, a cup of coffee on his knee and a hat shading his eyes.
He touched the brim of his hat. “Mrs.
Gardner. Mr. Gardner.”
“Good morning, James,” Leah replied.
Daniel nodded at him, lifted her down and handed her the crutch. “How do you know the Johnson fellow?”
“He’s been in town for weeks now. We’ve met.”
He helped his wife up the stairs to the platform and ushered her to a bench in the shade. Leah didn’t have any family left, so he couldn’t imagine who she was expecting to meet getting off the train, unless it was another bride. “Will told me he’d know his bride when she batted big blue eyes and twirled her parasol.”
“That sounds like Will.”
“Is that what this is about?” he prodded.
“You’ll just have to wait and see. Were you this impatient waiting for my train?”
“Yes.”
A dog chased a rabbit across the tracks and away, its bark fading. One other person came to wait on the platform, a Chinese man who worked at the laundry on First Street.
After twenty minutes, a train whistle blew in the distance and a cloud of black smoke rose into the sky. Daniel glanced at Leah, who waited calmly and smiled up at him. He walked to the edge of the platform and paced back.
Finally the platform trembled as the train rumbled closer. The engine slowed, steam hissing, brakes squealing as the locomotive slowed to a halt. Steam rose into the blue sky. A conductor in his blue uniform climbed down and lowered the stairs.
A well-dressed couple emerged from the passenger car. “This here’s Cowboy Creek?” the man asked.
“That’s right,” Daniel answered, wondering if he was supposed to know the fellow. “Welcome.”
“Thank you, sir. The missus and I are doing some traveling. I heard there were good business opportunities here.”
“You heard right. What’s your business?”
“I was a surveyor for the army. I’ve done some banking. The missus is a teacher.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Daniel Gardner. The Cattleman Hotel is a fine establishment, and the town may have another hotel soon. With all that and cattle money, we can’t have enough banks.” He shook hands with the gentleman. “Tell Mr. Rumsford to put your meals on my tab and your first night’s stay is on me.”
“That’s quite generous of you, Mr. Gardner. Thank you.”
The couple moved on and Daniel noticed two young Chinese boys of maybe fifteen or sixteen greeting the man who’d been waiting. He turned and walked back to Leah. “Was that the surprise? A teacher? Did you know there was a teacher arriving? Or the banker?”
She shook her head. “I had no idea. But that’s good news, right?”
He put his hands on his hips and strode back toward the passenger car. Leah got up and joined him, leaning on her crutch.
A man in a fawn-colored suit, a straw hat pressed to his chest and a bag in the other hand climbed down from the car. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a short-cropped beard. His hair was a distinctive chestnut brown, but instead of golden highlights, strands of silver threaded the front and temples. It took Daniel a full minute to connect what his eyes were seeing with his brain, and another thirty seconds to make his feet respond. He shot across the platform. “Pa!”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The man stepped onto the planks, unceremoniously dropped the bag and opened his arms wide. Daniel ran to him and the two men stood in a rugged embrace, joy throbbing into Daniel’s bloodstream. He took a step back and looked at his father’s tanned face, lined from experience, but still firm and familiar.
“It’s good to see you, Daniel.”
“It’s good to see you.” He turned and found Leah watching from a distance with tears in her eyes. He motioned her forward. She limped to join them and Oliver Gardner crushed her in a fatherly embrace.
“Leah, dear. It’s been a long time.” He patted her back and she gave a little sob against his jacket.
Daniel swiped a hand over his eyes. “Well, this is quite a surprise. This is what you cooked up?”
Oliver straightened. “I was surprised to get Leah’s telegram.”
“Will told me where you were living,” she explained.
“I knew you were doing well here in Kansas, but I had no idea you boys had built an entire town—and I sure didn’t know Leah had found her way here.”
“I was going to send you a wedding portrait,” Daniel said.
“You might have sent me a wedding invitation.”
“It all happened so quickly,” Daniel explained.
Leah supported his rationale. “And then things got a little rocky, but everything’s sorted out now.”
Daniel reached to draw Leah near. “We’re going to be parents.”
Oliver placed his hand over his heart. “I can’t think of better news! I guess you did invite me for the best part.”
Daniel slapped his father on the back and leaned to hug his wife. “Best surprise ever, Leah. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Daniel went for Oliver’s bag and Oliver clapped his straw hat on his head. “I have a town to see.”
“When we exchanged letters, it sounded like you were busy,” Daniel said. “Working with an international company in New York?”
“Just staying busy,” he agreed. “And you. You were setting up a stockyard and getting into construction.”
Daniel shrugged. “Building a house. Maybe a railroad investment soon.”
“Maybe you’ll need help.” Oliver paused, his expression uncertain.
“If you’re asking do I want you to stay, the answer is yes. And there is plenty of work to do. Opportunities arise every day.”
Daniel’s father fell into step at Leah’s side. “What is the story about this crutch, daughter?”
“It’s a pretty long story,” she replied. “We’d better save that for over supper. I’m sure there will be plenty more catching up to do.”
James Johnson tipped his hat from where he still sat in front of the railroad office. They reached the buggy, and Oliver went straight to the brown-and-white horse. He let the horse smell his hand and sleeve and then rubbed his knuckles down his forehead. “What’s this magnificent animal doing pulling a buggy?”
“He won a race last week,” Leah told him.
“I’ll bet he did.”
Daniel settled his hat on his head with a nonchalant adjustment. “I bought a quilt with the prize money.”
Oliver raised a brow. “A quilt?”
Leah turned to her husband. “A quilt? What kind of quilt?”
“I don’t know what kind. It’s pink and green and has white buttons on it.”
She caught his sleeve with excitement. “The kaleidoscope quilt Mrs. Foster made?”
“That might be the one.”
“And you didn’t tell me? Where is it?”
He grinned. “I was saving it.”
“For what?”
“For a special occasion.”
She waved her arm. “Well now you’ve spilled the beans, so you have to show me.”
He laughed and helped her up to the buggy seat.
Oliver glanced at them, his expression pleased. “Daniel, are you spoiling your new wife?”
“I might be.”
“Good.”
Daniel handed his father the reins and Oliver flicked them over the horse’s back.
“Head over this way, Pa. We call this Eden Street, because it marked the beginning.”
“I like that, son.” He grinned. “The two of you have a new beginning, as well. If you have a son, you can name him Adam. Or a girl could be Eve.”
Daniel looked at Leah, and she met his eyes with a hopeful smile. “I like Eve,” she said.
“Over there is the bank.”
Oliver looked aw
ay, but said over his shoulder. “I know you’re kissing your wife.”
The three of them laughed.
Daniel had everything he needed. Helping to form Cowboy Creek had fulfilled his burning desire to create order. Finding Leah and rekindling an enduring love brought the inner peace for which he’d been searching. He couldn’t control what happened next, he could only plan and pray. The future was always uncertain, but the certainty he relied upon now was that tomorrow was in God’s hands. Whatever happened next, he and Leah would face it together.
He surveyed Railroad Street, seeing the people and the storefronts through his father’s eyes. It was a good place to live and work. Leah squeezed his fingers. He gazed down at her, and his heart swelled.
Cowboy Creek was their future, their destiny, their hope. Their hearts and lives, as well as those of their countrymen, were being restored one day, one bride, one baby at a time.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from THE COWBOY’S BABY BOND by Linda Ford.
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Dear Reader,
I’m confident you’re going to enjoy the Cowboy Creek continuity. It’s been a pleasure to collaborate with Sherri Shackelford and Karen Kirst during the development of this series. We had a lot of fun with these characters, bringing three Civil War veterans and their prospective brides to life set against the vivid backdrop of a Kansas boomtown.
Daniel and Leah are both starting over, both seeking a better life and hoping to change things for the better, not only for themselves but for their community. Neither of them believes their reunion in Kansas is by chance or that abiding love and happy-ever-after is an accident. They’re thankful for each day and appreciative of the opportunities afforded them.
This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope: It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in Him.
—Lamentations 3:21–24
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