Chase's Story (Grandma's Wedding Quilts Book 10)
Page 11
Molly stepped out of the metal tub and dried herself off. She donned a white cotton chemise that hung just past her knees. It was a cool morning, but the June sun would soon be heating things up. Her freshly washed hair was a mass of tangles.
It had been decided Molly would get ready for her wedding day at Emma’s so she wouldn’t be in the way of getting all the fixings ready for the celebration.
Emma, after what seemed like an eternity, finally had all the tangles out of Molly’s thick mane. She brushed it slowly, letting it curl naturally as it dried.
Rosie was now almost six months old and was crawling and getting into everything. Emma would have to stop what she was doing and run over to move her daughter to keep her from getting hurt or into some sort of trouble. Molly laughed at the devilish glint in the baby’s eyes.
“I know Chase wants children, Emma. I hope we’ll be blessed with a few.”
“Course you will,” Emma replied, intent on the job in front of her.
“What if I can’t get in the family way? What if I can’t give Chase the children he wants?”
A loud screech startled both women. Rosie had been trying to crawl around the table and got stuck. Molly burst out laughing at the sight of the baby trying to get her chubby little body through the chairs.
Emma sighed loudly, walked over and picked her daughter up and deposited her on Molly’s lap. “Then you can have mine!” Rosie was none too happy with being taken away from her explorations and let everybody know with a loud cry. Emma went grabbed a small blanket for modesty’s sake so she could feed her daughter. When she had Rosie sucking hungrily at her breast, she said, “Molly, you are trying to borrow trouble when there’s just not any around to be found? Don’t fret about things that you have no control over. If the good Lord wants you to have children, then you will. Chances are you’ll have a whole passel of them running around.”
Once Rosie was put down for her nap, Emma resumed her job of styling Molly’s hair. She tried putting it on top of her head and letting the curls fall. She tried just pulling the sides up and having the rest cascade down her back. She finally decided on a loose chignon at the base of her neck with a few wispy, curly tendrils framing her face and falling past her shoulders.
Emma stood back to survey her work. A smile spread across her face.
“Well,” Molly asked, “how do I look?”
“Pretty as a picture, if I do say so myself,” Emma said. Then she went into her bedroom and brought out the wedding dress.
Molly gasped when she saw it. The light pink dress, trimmed with lace, looked like it was brand new. Except for the tiniest bit of yellowing, the white lace underskirt appeared as if it had just been made.
“Emma, I can’t believe what you have done with this dress. Dear friend, you are amazing.”
“You have become like a sister to me and it’s what any sister would do.”
Tears stung Molly’s eyes. “I love you, too.”
Emma sniffed. “That’s enough of that. We can’t have the bride all red-nosed for her big day. Let’s get this on you. We don’t have much time.”
The guests had arrived and everyone was seated. Bill and Steve Barnett were there, but Caroline had headed back east, choosing not to attend. A few other ranchers and their families were also present. Juanita and Zack, as promised brought the pork. It was already cooked and cut up in iron kettles and placed in the pit with warm coals covering them.
A tap on the door signaled it was time to start. Emma had just finished buttoning up the back of Molly’s dress. When she turned her around, Emma’s eyes widened and her hand came up to her chest. “Molly. You — you look beautiful.” She took Molly’s hand and pulled her into the bedroom where a mirror hung on the wall.
Molly stared. Her skin had been kissed by the sun from being outside in the warmer weather. The light pink dress against her lightly tanned skin was stunning. With her rich, red hair pulled back and a few curls falling against her long, slim neck, she was a vision.
She looked so much like her mother. “Mama, I wish you could be here with me,” she whispered
Through the mirror, she saw her father standing behind her, tears in his eyes. “You are the picture of your mother. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Lucy was standing here.”
“I know, Papa,” she said, hugging him. “I’d give anything if she were.”
He held her at arm’s length. “She is here, Molly girl. You can bet on that.” Using a handkerchief, he wiped her eyes, then his own. He took her hand and put it in the crook of his arm and walked her outside.
The small crowd went quiet except for a couple oohhs and aahhs. Molly’s eyes were trained on her future husband. He was in black pants, a white shirt and a black vest. He was a vision himself. As Joseph walked her down to take Chase’s hand, she saw Timmy sitting between Viola and Charles. She giggled when she heard him say, “Is that my mama?”
Joseph kissed his daughter on the cheek and handed her over to her new husband. Chase looked into shimmering green eyes and felt a love he didn’t know could exist for him. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I love you,” he whispered. “Are you ready to be my wife?”
“Just try and stop me.”
Holding hands, they turned to the reverend, ready to start their own new life together!
Epilogue
He pushed the bedroom curtain aside. An explosion of reds, pinks, and purples filled the eastern sky illuminating all the white that covered the ground and everything else that got in its way. Chase shook his head. It was mid-March. How could this be happening? How could snow have fallen for two straight days in the middle of spring?
He tip-toed out to the living room and threw more wood in the hearth, wincing when it popped as it caught fire, always afraid the loud noise would wake somebody. He’d been up several times during the night making sure the fire didn’t go out. He walked to Timmy’s room and found his son bundled up with Socks laying right beside him.
A noise came from his bedroom. He crept back in and went to the wooden cradle in the corner. Lucy, his two-week-old daughter, was sucking on her bottom lip and her arms were stretched over her head. He lifted his daughter out of the cradle and took her with him to the living room. Taking Grandma Mary’s quilt from the couch, he wrapped Lucy in it and stretched out on the overstuffed chair in front of the fire.
He kissed each of his baby girl’s fingers and spoke to her in a low, calming voice which had her back to sleep in no time at all. His hand was big enough to cover her entire back. The smallness of his precious daughter always put a lump of emotion in his throat. The love he felt for both his children and his wife was so powerful, it sometimes frightened him, afraid he might somehow lose what now meant more to him than anything else in the world.
With his daughter sleeping on his shoulder and the heat from the quilt and the fire relaxing his thoughts, Chase slept.
A hand brushed hair from his forehead, waking him. Molly stood there, red hair falling in tangled curls down her back. “You weren’t beside me where you belong. I woke up.”
“Lucy woke up and told me she needed me.”
Molly took their sleeping daughter and put her back in the cradle. When she returned, she knelt beside Chase. “She’ll always need you just like Timmy does. You’re their father. But right this minute,” she whispered, stroking his dark hair lovingly, “I need you for a completely different reason.” Molly kissed him with a sweet fierceness. She rose to her feet and went back into the bedroom with Chase close behind.
Thank you for reading Chase’s Story!
Enjoy the romances of Grandma Mary’s grandchildren. Every title is a Clean, Sweet Historical Romance set in North America.
All 12 titles released in January, 2017. You may find them all by searching for Grandma’s Wedding Quilts on Amazon.
If you enjoyed this book, please help other readers find it by leaving a review. Just a few words will do. Reviews make all the difference!
To learn more about our series and the individual books, visit SweetAmericanaClub.com.
Grandma’s Wedding Quilts Series
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About The Author
Hi everybody! I write for all ages, from the early reader to adults. My books range from pictures books for the little ones, to fantasy, time-travel adventures for ages 9 to 13.
I also write romance adult stories in many genres. These include contemporaries, paranormal and historical westerns. These are written under P. A. Estelle.
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