by Ford, Linda;
Maxie screamed at the rough treatment.
Buck had an incredible urge to push the man to the ground but he tempered his reaction. Whatever he did would affect the outcome of this situation.
“This is the woman I told you about.” Lorenzo spoke to the crowd that had swelled to include most of those staying at the fort and perhaps a few of the teamsters who had been attracted by the noise. “This is the woman that stole the Lorenzo child. She’s an evil woman.”
Buck could take no more. He pulled Sophia to his side, covering her as best he could with his arm. “You tell lies. This is Sophia Lorenzo. She married your nephew who has passed on. She is an honorable woman and good mother and I venture to say everyone in this fort will testify to the truth of my words.”
A rumble of assent rose.
“That child is the Lorenzo heir. He belongs with the Lorenzo family.”
“No sir. He is Sophia’s son and belongs with her.” He looked about the gathering, saw only friendly faces apart from Lorenzo’s men. “You gathered here have seen her. Can any of you raise a doubt about her suitability as a mother?”
“Nay.” The answer came loud and clear, and as a body, those assembled lined up beside Sophia.
Charles Bent had joined them. “Mr. Lorenzo, you have no authority here. We will not tolerate you taking that boy from his mother.”
Expectant silence met the man’s words and then Lorenzo scowled at them all. “I have my doubts that the child is even a Lorenzo. The woman probably doesn’t know who the father is.” He signaled to his men and they stomped from the fort.
Sophia sagged against Buck, crying softly.
He handed Maxie to Mary Mae and led Sophia to a quiet corner. The others hovered nearby, ready to spring to her defense again should the need arise but staying far enough away to allow them some privacy.
He held Sophia and wiped her tears as she cried. “You are safe now. The Lorenzos won’t bother you again.”
“Those ugly words,” she stammered.
“No one believes them.” He tipped her tear-stained face up to look at him. “I certainly don’t.”
She nodded. “I’m glad.”
He must make one thing clear. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to protect you as I promised.” He explained what had happened.
“But you did protect me as you promised. Thank you.”
“Sophia, I would like the right to take care of you the rest of my life.”
She wiped the last of her tears from her eyes. “How do you plan to do that?”
“I’d like to marry you.”
She blinked. “Why?”
He thought it was obvious. “Because I love you so much it consumes my every thought. Can you have just a smidgen of love for me?”
She laughed. “Not a smidgen. Nope.”
He hoped his face did not reveal his disappointment.
“Buck Williams, I love you a whole lot. With every thought and every moment of my day.”
He pulled her to her feet. “Does that mean you’ll marry me?”
“It most certainly does.”
He kissed her, his lips lingering as he drank in her giving and trusting. He broke off, his heart so full he wanted to shout. Instead, he lifted her from her feet and swung her in a wide arc, delighted when she laughed.
Epilogue
“This is it,” Polly called to everyone in sight. “This is the day we exchange gifts.”
That might be the big excitement for Polly, but for Sophia, it was her wedding day. The last few days had been delightful as she and Buck read her Bible together, prayed, planned the future, and played with Maxie. They’d shared stories of growing up. Sophia talked about her marriage to Maximillian, finding there remained no pain associated with those memories. Buck’s love had erased the bad stuff. She knew she could trust him to always treat her right.
When he’d learned that swinging her off her feet was part of a long-cherished dream, he made a practice of doing it often.
He’d expressed one fear—he thought he had failed her in not being there when Maximillian’s uncle had come. Over and over, she had assured him that all that mattered was he was there in the end.
“I will never be a helpless female,” she’d assured him.
“But you will accept my help?”
“I’d love to.”
She smiled at her memories and turned her thoughts to the present. It was time for their wedding.
Mary Mae came to Sophia and brought a mantilla that had belonged to her mother. “We have all worn it for our weddings,” she said. She helped put it in place on Sophia’s head. They waited in the trade room. Buck and the others had gone into the council room. Sophia had said she would walk to her husband-to-be on her own. Her father had left her years ago but now it didn’t matter so much. She knew Buck would not leave her.
Mary Mae left her and an accordion began to play.
Sophia entered the next room, saw Buck waiting, and went to his side.
Reverend Shepton had them exchange vows and declared them man and wife. Sophia spared a fleeting thought about how nice it was that Reverend Shepton and his wife had decided to join the journey west.
Sophia and Buck kissed for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. Williams.
“I have found a man worthy of my love and trust,” she whispered to him.
“And I have found a woman worthy of my love and trust.”
“Now it’s time for the gifts,” Polly called. They sat on benches along the wall as Polly passed a gift to each of them. For the ladies, she had hemmed white handkerchiefs. For the men, handkerchiefs in red cotton.
Sophia had finished a shirt for Maxie and Niteesh had helped her make mittens for Buck.
Buck presented Sophia with a beautiful pair of rabbit fur mittens and a set of blocks for Maxie, who immediately sat at Buck’s feet to play with them.
Polly looked at the leather-bound journal Mary Mae and Warren had given her. Her gaze circled the room. “This is the best Christmas ever.”
Buck wrapped his arm about Sophia. “I have to agree.” They kissed and if anyone minded, they didn’t say so. In fact, when she glanced up she saw her friends smiling at her.
She knew the future held all her dreams and wishes in the shape of her loving husband.
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Temporary Bride (Dakota Brides Book 1)
Lena Stevens huddled on the cold ground and clung to her eighteen-month-old son, trying to silence his screams of terror as flames licked up the roof of her house and poured down the walls like a boiling pot.
Back and forth she rocked, pressing Charlie to her chest, whispering, “Hush, hush. Stop now.”
Dark shadows leaped and danced around her like someone in agony. Her nostrils filled with the smell of burning wood and wool, vegetables and sugar. It was the odor of despair.
She and Charlie had nothing left. No home. No place to get away from the bitter wind filling her veins with ice. No food. Nothing but the clothes they wore and the thin blanket about them like a shawl.
A horse reared to a stop at her side. The rider hit the ground running and skidded to the trough to pump water like mad.
She glanced up and saw Anker Hansen, her neighbor. The man who had been at her husband’s side last winter as he lay drawing his last tortured breaths. The man who had promised Johnson he would take care of her and little Charlie. He took his vow seriously, often coming by to make sure she was all right and to offer help. But she didn’t want taking care of and had frequently been rude to the persistent man.
A wagon pulled up a few feet from her. It was Mr. Hampton from the south. Four gangly youths armed with shovels, buckets, and gunnysacks tumbled over the side. They quickly filled the buckets and attacked the fire.
Water hit the flames and sizzled.
One of the boys dampened his sack and beat out flames springing up where sparks hit dry grass.
A second wagon pulled to a stop beside the first and two men jumped down. In the gl
are of the firelight and the sharp shadows, Lena wasn’t certain but thought them to be the two families from down by the river. The men joined the battle.
After a hard fight, the fire died down to glowing embers. Lena shuddered at the sight of the charred corner posts. Her house had been reduced to rubble.
“I’m sorry, missus.”
She nodded to Mr. Hampton, unable to speak around the throb in her throat.
“It’s too bad,” one of the other men said. “But now you’ll have to go home, for sure. This is no place for a young woman with a baby.”
By “home” she knew they meant back east. But she had no one back there to go to. Her only friend, Sky, shared a tiny room with her husband at the back of their store and had recently had a baby. They had no space for two more people.
Besides, Lena wasn’t about to ask for charity. She would make it on her own. Owe nobody.
Lena shuddered. She’d heard people speak of being burned out but, until now, it was only an expression, not something reaching down into her body and pulling hope out by its heels.
One of the youths slapped his sack against his boot. His eyes met hers and she saw a mixture of shock and fascination before she turned away.
Four more wagons pulled into the yard, drawing into a semi-circle facing the smoldering house.
While the men climbed down from the wagons to gather and compare notes, the women who had come with them remained in their seats, staring straight ahead.
Lena didn’t need to study their stiff posture and averted eyes to understand the unspoken message. They would make sure the neighborly thing was done in controlling the fire, while pretending she didn’t exist.
She hugged Charlie close, silently daring any of them to make a comment about him.
I don’t need them. But her insides were frozen. What will I do?
One man inched toward her. “You will need a place to stay.”
“Albert,” the nearest woman croaked, and the man turned away without offering anything.
Shock, cold, and fear raced through Lena and she shook violently.
The biggest of the Hampton boys grabbed a blanket from the wagon seat and ambled toward her. Awkwardly, he draped it across her shoulders. It did little to ease the cold encasing her, but she murmured her thanks and pulled it close.
“Lady.” His voice cracked. “We don’t have an inch to spare at our house, or we’d take you with us.”
She nodded, painfully aware no one was about to offer help. Despair filled her mind, as black and empty as the darkness beyond the fire.
“She will come with me. I have the room. I take care of her and Charlie just like I promised her good man before he die.”
The women gasped at Anker’s suggestion.
Mr. Hampton stepped forward. “We don’t do things that way in this country. She can’t live with you unless you two are married.”
“I will marry her.”
“No.” Lena tried to gain her feet. Anker, seeing her struggle, took Charlie, who went to him all too readily. Then Anker grabbed her hand and pulled her to his side. When her legs wobbled, he steadied her.
“I can manage on my own.” She’d meant to sound bold and strong, but her words were little more than a whisper.
Disbelieving eyes watched her.
“We talk.” Anker steered her toward the barn. He waited until they stepped into the dark interior before he shifted away to stand in front of her. “You have no place to live.”
“I will live in the barn.”
“You will freeze.”
“I’ll build a little room and put in a stove.” Maybe the kitchen stove had survived the fire. And she’d find bits of lumber somewhere. Maybe from a kindly neighbor, though she’d seen few enough of those in the past months.
“Little Charlie will freeze. You be wanting that, ja?”
“Of course not.” Hadn’t she fought the elements all summer, struggling to run the farm on her own for Charlie’s sake? So he’d have this farm when he grew up? “Nor do I want to owe you for your kindness.”
He mumbled something in that strange language of his. It sounded harsh.
“What did you say?”
“I say you are one stubborn woman. I tell you over and over I take care of you and little Charlie.”
“You’ve already done enough.”
“I promised Johnson. You fight me all summer, but now you need to let me do this. First, we must marry, but I not be one to push you to do something you not want.”
He stopped and let her consider his offer.
“I don’t want to marry again. I want to keep my farm.” She heard the doubt and fear in her voice and clamped her teeth together.
He waited silently.
If she could see his expression, perhaps she could guess how he felt, what his offer meant.
But she already knew. He believed he was obligated because of a foolish promise. The last thing she wanted was to feel beholden.
Charlie made snuffling noises. The poor baby was tired. He’d lived through so many disasters in his short year and a half of life.
She could not add to those hardships by trying to survive the winter in a barn. “I will agree to a marriage on paper only.”
She felt Anker’s stillness as he considered her words.
“I do not understand.”
“Charlie has enough narrow-mindedness to deal with already.” For herself she did not regret that her son clearly showed the evidence of his father’s half-breed status. But for Charlie’s sake she wished he looked more like her. “I don’t want to add to it. So I will go with you to your house. I will marry you to make it look honorable. But in truth, I am not marrying you, and I want you to agree that in the spring we will have the marriage annulled and I will come back here.” People would talk but she had grown used to that.
“This ‘annulled.’ I don’t understand.”
Grateful the darkness hid the heat rushing up her neck and nipping at the tips of her ears, she sought for a delicate way to explain. “If two people don’t...ahh...don’t share the marriage bed—” She choked, but forced herself to continue. “They can declare the marriage to be...”
“Only pretend?”
“Yes.”
“This is possible?”
“Will you agree? Promise to—” How did she ask a man to share his home yet not expect anything in return? Did he truly understand?
“If this is what you want, I will agree.” His voice deepened and he sounded weary.
“You’ll release me come spring?”
“If this is what you want.”
“I promise I will do my share. I won’t leave owing you for giving me a home.”
“You will owe me nothing. I made a promise to your man and I will keep it. Come.” He reached for her hand but didn’t give her a chance to decide if she would let him take it. He pulled her out into the orange light. “We are getting married,” he announced loudly and firmly.
“And the preacher’s here to do it right now,” one of the men said.
Reverend Sorrow stepped forward. “I came to see if anyone needed my services.”
Lena understood he meant he feared someone had perished in the fire. No one had. At least she had that to be grateful for.
Anker’s hand held her upright when her legs threatened to melt.
With curious neighbors gathered around, Lena faced her wedding, in a cotton dress that had seen better days even before she’d soaked it with water, smoke, and mud. Charlie still perched contentedly in Anker’s arms.
Through Johnson’s death and the long hard summer, she’d clung to what Johnson had taught her about God. She was sure he would have been proud.
But now what? What was God doing?
Despair swelled inside her head, reaching bony fingers into her heart and gouging at her ribs.
Had God’s care been for Johnson alone? Perhaps, with him gone, she no longer qualified for it.
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Also by Lin
da Ford
Contemporary Romance
Montana Skies series
Cry of My Heart
Forever in My Heart
Everlasting Love
Inheritance of Love
Historical Romance
Dakota Brides series
Temporary Bride
Abandoned Bride
Second-Chance Bride
Reluctant Bride
War Brides series
Lizzie
Maryelle
Irene
Grace
Wild Rose Country
Crane’s Bride
Hannah’s Dream
Chastity’s Angel
Cowboy Bodyguard
Copyright © 2018 by Linda Ford
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