by Kari Trumbo
“No! Ruby!” He yelled, running to the spot where the coach had been. “No,” he rasped, holding the stitch in his side.
“Beau?”
He stood up straight and turned to see Ruby, holding her carpetbag in both hands.
“I ... missed the coach,” she stammered. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
Words escaped him. His heart soared, and the stitch that had stolen his breath a moment ago was replaced by something wholly different, but left him just as breathless. He strode up to her, taking the bag from her hands and setting it by her feet. He cupped her soft face in his hands and she glanced at him, confusion in her eyes. Wisps of her hair blew across his knuckles, tickling and tempting him. Her face fit so perfectly in his hands and he pulled her closer until he could see each beautiful fleck of gold fire in her eyes. He kissed her temple, enjoying the hitch of her breath as his lips touched her silky skin. Then he kissed each of her cheeks. She turned her head to meet his mouth, and he pulled her against him as their lips met for the first time.
She was warm, inviting, intoxicating. She drew away, and he wanted to gather her into his arms again, but her expression tore at his heart. She was not afraid, not of him, anyway.
He covered her mouth with his finger. “I know you want to get your sisters. I do, too. Will you let me do this for you? He’ll let me take them, he offered to let me take Jennie when I saw him last.”
She squinted at him and tilted her head. He moved his finger and she asked, “What do you mean, ‘when you saw him last’?”
“I should’ve told you, but I didn’t want to upset you.” He paused, forming the words slowly. “I saw your father the last time I went to Yellow Medicine, that time I found your cabin. Can you forgive me for keeping it from you?”
“He didn’t care, did he?” Her lip trembled and he pulled her close, tucking her head under his chin.
“It don’t matter if he did or not. He’s a fool. And you know what? I’d like to take you with me when I go to get your sisters. I want you to show him what a strong woman you are, that you didn’t need him and your sisters don’t need him, either.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and he tightened his hold on her, convinced he could never let her go.
“We can’t travel alone without being married, though. I was going to wait until Caruso was done with my contract before I asked you, but you rushed me a bit.” He let out a soft chuckle, then a heated thrill rushed through him. “I’d like to make you my wife, Ruby. If you’ll have me?”
She clutched the back of his neck, pulling him into a kiss that lit a fire in his heart and quickly ignited every part of him.
As she broke the kiss and met his gaze, her eyes danced with deep emotion. “I’m sure the preacher is in.”
***
Ruby couldn’t believe she was a married woman. For real this time; for the first time, as far as she was concerned.
She sat on the bench of the buckboard Beau had borrowed from Josiah and held onto his leg, since his hands were busy. He kept glancing down at her hand, and she could feel the tension in his muscles, even through the thick dungarees he wore. They hadn’t been dressed for a wedding, and had to pull two people off the street to be witnesses, but it was done. Mrs. Bligh chuckled through the whole service and made kissy faces at her, right before Reverend Bligh had pronounced them husband and wife. Ruby took Mrs. Bligh’s silly faces to mean she should kiss her new husband good, and she had. If he weren’t driving, she would again. She’d never dreamt kissing could be so enjoyable.
Now they’d spend their wedding night at the inn in Yellow Medicine, with seven young girls… For once, she was a little disappointed she wouldn’t be alone with a man. She squeezed Beau’s leg and he turned and stole a kiss, quickly turning back to driving the team. Her insides fluttered. She was Ruby Rockford and soon she’d be caretaker of a whole passel of Arnsbys. Beau said it’d be easy to get her sisters, and she hoped he was right. She prayed her father was sober and not in the mood to fight.
The road was rutted; frozen mud and the buckboard bounced them around. She held tight to the side and to Beau. He’d never let her fall, but it was a whole day’s ride and they had gotten a very late start. He slowed the horses and let them walk for a bit. He glanced over at her and nestled her closer to him.
“Are you cold?” His breath fanned over her face and she snuggled in near to his side.
“Not now.” She smiled up at him.
He reached behind him and grabbed a blanket, handing it to her. She draped it over their legs and tucked it beneath her to trap the heat. Her stockings and petticoats provided some warmth, but the cold had seeped through. Beau held the lines in one hand and draped his other arm around her.
“I need to let them rest a bit and I…uh was wondering…since it’s going to be so late when we get to Yellow Medicine and I already have a credit at the inn…” He ducked his head away from her.
She reached under the blanket and put her arms around his waist. “I think my sisters will still be there tomorrow morning.” He sighed and kissed the top of her head. She smiled. The Lord sure answered her fears and worries in strange ways.
It was full dark when they pulled into Yellow Medicine, and she helped Beau unhitch the team, mostly she just kept him company, since she hadn’t any idea what to do with all the leather straps and rings. Beau was nervous or cold and his hands fumbled with the buckles. He spoke to the liveryman about his credit. The liveryman wrote something down and then Beau took her hand, leading her into the warm inn.
He waved to a man in a preacher’s collar then he approached the front desk to speak with a man there. He nodded and handed Beau a key. Ruby’s heart tripped at the sight of it, her shyness returning in spades.
Beau gently took her hand and led her up the stairs, holding her carpet bag in his other hand. Reaching their room, he unlocked the door and pushed it open, then led her in, closing the door behind them.
She faced him and he captured her lips against his own crushing her to him, but not near enough to suit her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he ran his hands up her sides and down to her hips.
She didn’t want him to say a word, didn’t want him to ask any questions. If he did, it might ruin all the feelings rushing through her. They could talk about what she had done, and hadn’t done, in the morning.
21
Beau woke with lovely red hair spilling over his chest, and a lovely wife tucked in beside him, breathing softly. He slipped his hand under her head and kissed her gently. Her eyes fluttered open.
There were millions of things he wanted to say, but there wasn’t much time for talking. “We should leave soon. We’ve got a long ride ahead of us if we want to make it back to Cutter’s Creek with your sisters.”
She wiggled up close and kissed him on the nose.
“I could wake up like that every morning.” He smiled.
“I can see to that.” She rested her head on his chest.
It took them a while longer to get down to breakfast but they hoped the trip out to Ruby’s parents would go quickly and smoothly. As it was, they’d probably have to bunk at his Pa’s house that night as it’d be too late to take them over to the Williams’s house. They ate in a rush and got the team hitched for the ride out. It was only a few miles to the Arnsby place.
Beau lifted Ruby onto the buckboard and she settled herself next to him. He couldn’t say much, and hoped he didn’t have to. He was concerned about seeing Ruby’s pa again. Though Ruby sat comfortably next to him, he could feel the tension in her arm next to his. She had to be even more nervous than he was.
Beau navigated through the thick trees over the narrow trail. As they got closer to the cabin, the horses shied and side-stepped as the smell of smoke surrounded them. Beau glanced over at Ruby, the fear etched on her face tore at him. He jumped down and grabbed the halter on the lead horse. They pulled against him, but he led them along the path as Ruby held the lines.
They came into the clearing to find black smoke billowing out the windows of the small home.
“Ruby, set the brake!” he called as he ran for the house. Ruby pulled the brake and wrapped the lines around it. She climbed down and rushed after her husband. Her mother and sisters stood outside the door, staring at the flames.
Ruby touched her mother’s shoulder and the red-haired woman turned, gasped, and yanked Ruby into an embrace.
“What are you doing here, Ruby?” she yelled over the deafening fire.
“Beau and I came to get the others. Where’s Pa?”
Her mother peered at Beau then shook her head. “I made him move the still into the cellar. He complained about it, but did as I asked. Two days ago, it started to smell right awful. Thank the good Lord the girls and I were out here gathering wood when the whole place just…” She shook her head, again her face twisted in pain.
“You take these girls and get them out of here.”
“Ma, I can’t just leave you here.” Ruby grasped her mother’s arms.
Beau stepped forward. “Ma’am, I’m sorry to meet you like this, but I’m Ruby’s husband, Beau. I’d be happy to take you back to Yellow Medicine or back to Cutter’s Creek with us, if you’d like. You can’t stay here. It’s the middle of winter. You’ll freeze.”
She shook her head. “Argus was my life. What’ll I do without him?”
Beau appreciated the stubborn tilt of Ruby’s head. “You still have us. There’s room for all of us in Cutter’s Creek, and I’ve missed you so much.”
Ruby’s mother held out her hand to Beau. “Maeve Arnsby, I’m pleased to see that my daughter wasn’t as cursed as her father said she was.”
Beau turned to the fire, it had eaten away most of the house, the roof had collapsed.
“I can try to put it out with buckets of snow, ma’am.”
Maeve shook her head. “It’s no use, Beau. We were standing here for quite some time, not knowing what to do. All the buckets were in the house, melting snow for water. The house is gone, though we should wait here until the fire dies down.”
As much as Beau wanted to just leave it all behind and get Ruby out of there, the house was close enough to the trees that it’d be dangerous to leave it.
Beau wrapped his arm around her and squeezed, then went back to the wagon and grabbed the blanket out of the back. He wrapped it around the four youngest girls who were standing in a huddle. They’d be frozen if he didn’t do something for them quickly. Though the fire was large, after being outside for so long, the girls were shivering.
Ruby took them over to the buckboard and got them settled on the seat, while he searched the garden and found a shovel. By the house, he found several large rocks, hot from the fire. He picked one up with the shovel and took it back to the buckboard, leaving it under the blanket Ruby’s sisters were using.
As the fire died down, he and Ruby examined the inside without getting too close. The cabin that had been her home was now just a hole in the ground, with black charred boards sticking out of it. Everything was gone.
Maeve and Jennie moved to stand next to them.
“It’s time for my girls and I to start new lives,” Maeve said, her voice weak but her tone determined.
Beau led the women back to the wagon. Ruby waited while he got them all comfortable in the back, then he helped Ruby up and put another warm rock under the blanket. Seating himself, he took the lines.
“It’s already getting dark. We should head back to town and start our trip back to Cutter’s Creek in the morning.”
Ruby nodded. Beau’s throat tightened at her silence. She’d been strong in front of her mother and sisters, but now that they had a minute, he wanted to give some of his strength to her. She buried her head in his shoulder.
When they reached the inn, Beau gripped Ruby’s small waist and lifted her down from the wagon.
“I’d like you to go inside and get two rooms, we’ll have to split us up, five of us in each room.”
Ruby nodded and waited as he helped each girl, then finally Maeve, down from the back of the buckboard. When he turned around again, Ruby was already inside. The day had turned from the best of his life, to the worst. Though Ruby’s father had done a horrible thing by sending her off with Arnold, Ruby had still loved him. He could see it in the pain in her eyes.
He gave the wagon lines to the liveryman, then went inside to join the women. He found all nine of them sitting in the room he and Ruby had been in the night before; Maeve and the younger ones on the sofa, the older ones sitting in a circle around their mother’s feet. Ruby was by the hearth, lighting a fire. He took over so she could go to her mother.
Very few words were said all evening and no one mentioned getting anything to eat. As the evening wore into night, Maeve took four girls with her and went into the next room, leaving he and Ruby with three of the older girls. Ruby got them situated on the sofa and the rug in front of the fire, then she turned to him. He held out his arms and she rushed into them. He stood holding her for a few minutes, giving comfort and accepting love.
A few hours later, Beau heard Maeve enter the room and begin waking the girls. He nuzzled Ruby awake. She rubbed her forehead and her face pinched.
“You need a shave.” She reached up and scratched his chin.
“I’ll do that when we get home, so let’s get there.” He kissed her and pushed himself off the bed.
Maeve collected all the girls. “I don’t know how we’re going to do this. We have nowhere to go, no clothes… How are you going to provide for all of us? Argus was never able to make enough, even with his business.”
Ruby got to her feet and tidied her hair. “Ma, don’t worry. I’ve got a bit of money and I don’t mind sharing. We already have a place for you when we get there. We’d already planned to come get the girls.”
“I just don’t see how you’re going to provide for all of us.” She bit her lip.
“We’ll worry about that when we get to Cutter’s Creek.” Beau nodded and counted each head as he took in the whole room. Ruby had told him all their names, but he could only remember the oldest was named Jennie, because her father had mentioned her the last time he’d been there. She had dark blond hair like her father. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have the same temper.
“Let’s go down and get a few bites to eat, and then we’ll be on our way. It’s a long drive back.”
Beau made sure everyone was as comfortable as possible for the ride. He hoped no one bounced out the back with the ruts, but better that the road was frozen then full of snow or mud.
He tried to drive around the worse areas as best he could, but everyone was glad when the gaslights of Cutter’s Creek came into view. Beau heard Maeve’s sigh of relief.
He drove down the first few blocks of houses, then turned down the street to Carlton William’s home. Beau climbed down and stretched the numbness from his legs. He strode up to Carlton’s front door and knocked. Ivy answered and smiled.
“Good evening, Beau. Are these the girls?” She peered out into the night.
“Yes, and one extra. Their mother, Maeve, will be joining them, if that’s all right with Carlton.”
“I’m sure it is. Why don’t you just bring them right on inside? I’ve spent all day preparing a few rooms for them.”
Beau went back out to the buckboard. Ruby had already helped the younger girls down so Beau lifted the older ones. He brought Ruby, and all the others followed.
Ivy led the three oldest girls to one room on the second level, then the four younger girls to another room. When she came back down she introduced herself to Maeve.
“I don’t have a room ready for you yet, but we do have plenty of space. Dr. Manning and Carol are on holiday at the inn, they were married yesterday. Carol won’t mind if you use her room for the night.”
“I thank you.” Maeve appeared much older and more tired than when he’d met her just the day before.
“I wasn’t sure when to expect you so I’ll
go to the kitchen and get you something to eat. I’m sure you didn’t stop along the way.”
Maeve shook her head and Ivy led her up the stairs to Carol’s room, leaving Beau alone with his very tired, but happy, hopeful bride.
“Should we stay and make sure they are comfortable, or can I take you home, Ruby Rockford?”
Ruby blushed a pretty pink. “I think I’m ready to rest. Take me home Beau.”
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Author Bio:
Kari Trumbo is a writer of Christian Historical Romance and a stay-at-home mom to four vibrant children. When she isn't writing or editing, she homeschools her children and pretends to keep up with them. Kari loves reading, listening to contemporary Christian music, singing with the worship team, and curling up near the wood stove when winter hits. She makes her home in central Minnesota with her husband of eighteen years, two daughters, two sons, and three cats.
Other Books by Kari Trumbo:
Cutter’s Creek Series:
A Lily Blooms
A Penny Shines
A Carol Plays
A Ruby Glows
Western Vows Series
Forsaking All Others
To Honor and Cherish
For Richer or Poorer
To Love and Comfort
Seven Brides of South Dakota
Dreams in Deadwood
.
Copyright © 2017 Kari Trumbo
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is purely coincidental.
