“Deal.” Jonah murmured as he took her hand in his and stepped closer to her. But instead of kissing her like he so wanted to, he just stood there and stared down at her. Then he turned abruptly and left.
There was one little package that he didn’t place under the tree though. He had bought it at the spur of the moment and he was still unsure if he wanted to give it to her. He didn’t know if he wanted to take such a chance. He kept it with him wherever he went for safekeeping.
A couple days later, one week from Christmas, Bianca was in the kitchen making eggnog and hot apple cider. There was a small festival being held in town that day and Jonah said he would take her. She packed the drinks in a small thermos and placed it in a basket along with some food for them so they could enjoy the Christmas show. The little school children would be singing carols and putting on a play and there was even to be a Santa Claus who would pass out small trinkets to the people in attendance.
Snow was falling all around them as they travelled to the heart of town. Jonah had wrapped them both in cloaks and blankets to ward off the cold. Bianca still shivered as the wind swept past them and Jonah put his arm around her, pulling her closer to his side. When she huddled deeper into him and even buried her face against his shoulder, he couldn’t help but feel very content.
Bianca, for her part was also quite satisfied. More and more, Jonah was starting to display his affection, in look and touch, and Bianca was happy that they had come as far as they had. She could see them growing old together and loving each other, perhaps with a house full of children, as time marched on. It warmed her heart and she sighed appreciatively and thanked the Lord from her heart.
When they reached the town, Jonah helped her down from the carriage and then placed his arm around her waist as they walked. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Given the dense crowd, neither of them noticed the man that had trailed them throughout the day.
Little children ran around with mistletoes tied to sticks and tried to get as many couples to kiss as they could. When one little girl ran up behind Jonah and Bianca, dangling her mistletoe over Bianca’s head, Jonah laughed out loud. He quickly pecked Bianca on the cheek obligingly.
“No mister,” the little girl said between giggles, “you have to actually kiss her.”
Jonah looked at the little girl and then at Bianca. She merely raised her eyebrows and waited patiently.
“You shouldn’t disappoint the children, Jonah,” she said smiling.
Jonah grinned and leaned in closer. “And how about you, Mrs. Cassidy? Would you be disappointed?”
“Very much so.”
Jonah’s eyes lit up with heat at her reply. He bent his head closer and brushed her lips with his. She responded by opening up to him and he pressed in closer. He would have deepened the kiss and happily forgotten his surroundings if the giggles of the little girl didn’t bring him back to reality.
“I think we should continue that in the privacy of our own home.” Jonah whispered.
“Is that a promise?”
The only reply she got was a wink.
Bianca had trouble keeping her mind on the festivities. It kept going back to that brief kiss she desperately wanted to continue – and the promise of more from Jonah. She had been half afraid that he would pull back from her again but he kept a hold of her hand as they meandered along and found opportunities to touch her in one way or another, whether he adjusted her hat or cloak or wrapped his arm around her waist.
When they arrived home that evening, Jonah helped Bianca to her cottage. For the first time since she had first entered the house, Jonah followed her inside. For a while, they just stood staring at each other; the only light around them came from the moonlight filtering through the window. Bianca made the first move when she stepped closer to him and reached up to remove his hat. She placed it on the hook near the door and began to untie his scarf. Before she could pull it off of his shoulders, Jonah caught her hands and pressed them against his chest, drawing her even closer in the process.
He pulled her hands up and twined them around his neck while wrapping his arm around her waist. With the other hand, he lifted her chin and pressed his lips against hers. When she responded, he deepened it further and slid his fingers into her hair. After a long moment, before the kiss could go any further, he pulled his head back, breathing heavily. He rested his forehead against hers and gazed into her eyes.
“The horses,” he said between deep breaths, “their still standing in the snow.”
Bianca nodded. “You should go put them in the stall.”
“Mmm. Bianca. I…I think I am falling in love with you. You are not at all what I expected. And…I have to know if you feel anything like that for me.”
Bianca’s heart soared. She didn’t say anything. She just nodded.
Jonah smiled. “I can’t believe you are mine.” He took a deep breath and opened his mouth to continue but was cut off by the sound of the horses’ whines. Jonah laughed wryly.
“Let me go take care of those horses and then I will be back.”
Bianca grinned and nodded before watching him leave.
Smiling softly to herself, Bianca headed to her room after hanging up her cloak, hat and mittens. She stripped off her gown and slipped into the peignoir and wrapper Cissy had insisted she buy. She took her hair out of the constraining bun and unbraided it to brush it out. When she heard her bedroom door close, she turned to greet Jonah shyly.
But the man who stepped into the candlelight was not Jonah.
“Who are you? How did you get in here?”
The man laughed harshly. “The name’s Frank, darling. I see my son hasn’t mentioned me. That’s too bad. I told him what I would do to the one he loves. He must not have believed me.”
As he spoke, he drew a knife out of his pocket. Its edge glowed sharply in the small light as he advanced on her. “That was a very touching scene you shared in the foyer.”
“You were watching us?”
“Indeed I was. I’ve been trailing you since this morning when you arrived at the festival. After I saw that kiss, I came back here and waited for you.”
As he spoke, Bianca edged sideways and Frank matched her moves, circling her, as if toying with her.
“Why?”
“My son stole my wife from me and now I will steal his from him. I warned him long ago that I would.”
Sudden understanding dawned on Bianca. “You’re the reason why he’s been so hesitant to take our marriage forward.” She didn’t fully understand but she knew she was right.
The back of her legs hit the table behind her and she grasped a heavy paperweight before moving away and closer to the door.
Frank followed her but he was done talking. He lunged at Bianca with the knife but she threw the paperweight at him with all her might and it caught him on the side of the head, dazing him. Bianca didn’t wait. She pulled the door open and ran out of the bedroom and then out into the yard, screaming for Jonah along the way.
She heard Frank crash through the living room and follow her. She twisted back to look and slipped on the ice in front of her and fell. Frank was faster than he seemed and the paperweight hadn’t done much damage.
He covered the distance between him and his prey quickly. Bianca tried to scramble away from him but the ice was slippery and Frank got to her first. He turned her over and straddled her stomach. The knife glinted in his hand in the moonlight as he raised it above his head with a maniacal laugh. When he brought it down, Bianca braced herself, just as a loud boom shook the night air and Frank screamed in agony as the knife went flying and blood spurted from his hand. Another boom and Frank’s shoulder jerked and he fell back away from Bianca.
Jonah came up alongside her, shotgun to his shoulder. He pulled her up with one hand, keeping the other steadily on the trigger of the gun firmly aimed at the now bloody man. Bianca scrambled up and Jonah swept her behind him.
He slowly advanced on Frank but the man didn’t
move. When Jonah stepped over him, he was surprised to see Frank looking at him with wide, glazed eyes – a dead man’s gaze. Jonah turned him over and found the knife Frank had used on Bianca lodged in his back. It must have landed hilt first in the snow when it was shot out of Frank’s hand and Frank had impaled himself on it when he fell back from the second shot.
Jonah felt nothing but relief. The shadow specter of Frank Cassidy was no longer hanging over his life like a gloom. He was free.
The next week, on Christmas morning, Jonah and Bianca sat down before the hearth and sipped on hot chocolate. They had a pile of wrapping paper flung all over the living room and both were as giddy as children as they took in their gifts. Jonah excused himself and went to his room. When he came back out, he had a small package wrapped in gold with a red bow in his hands.
Bianca looked at him curiously when he presented it to her. I bought it a month ago but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to give it to you until we went to the Christmas Festival. I had already decided that I would give it to you that morning and Frank’s demise just gave me more of a confirmation.
“I am sorry about what he put you and your mom through, Jonah. I am glad he can’t hurt you anymore.” Jonah had explained everything about Frank to her after that fateful night and Bianca was glad Jonah was finally able to move past it.
She carefully unwrapped the package and opened the small box inside. The gift inside stunned her. Jonah knelt next to her.
“I know I said when I met you that I did not want a wife, only a maid. But you changed all of that. You turned my world upside down. You are genuine and generous, practical and fun. I can’t imagine anyone else that I would rather spend the rest of my life with. We have been married for several months now but as of yet, we have not lived as husband and wife. But I love you and I want you to be mine alone. Bianca Cassidy, would you be my wife and companion from this day on for as long as God gives us breath to share?”
Bianca just stared at him. Her Christmas Miracle had occurred. He was everything she ever wanted and she loved him with all that she had.
Bianca leaned forward and kissed Jonah. She didn’t have words to say what she wanted to say but he knew what she was saying all the same. He slipped the ring on her finger and enfolded her in his embrace.
The End.
Cowboy For Christmas
Mail Order Bride
CHRISTIAN MICHAEL
Bianca Cassidy tried to put on a brave face for the well-wishers in the receiving line. The shock was only just starting to wear off. As much as she tried to control them, her eyes kept straying to the two large wooden caskets lined up neatly beside each other. And the small one next to them.
God, what am I going to do?
“Thank you for coming, Mrs. Casey. I really appreciate it.”
“Oh my dear! You poor thing!” the little rotund woman sniffled into her lace handkerchief. “To lose your family like this!”
Yeah, you’re really not helping me out right now!
But of course, she couldn’t say that out loud. Bianca just nodded and hoped her smile didn’t appear too pinched. She wished it was over. She was ready to go to her room and shut the door and bury herself under her covers.
An orphan. That’s what I am now. And I don’t even have Little Betty anymore. And those two vultures! How dare they just waltz into our house like they own it and think to stay! Oh for shame!
Her aunt, Jessy and her greedy cow of a husband, Gerald, had moved into her house like they owned it, without so much as a by-your-leave. When her parents were still living Jessy and Gerald wanted nothing to do with them, believing themselves too good to mess with “common-folk” like May and Jim. But all that had changed when Papa had been lucky enough to strike a line of gold in the mines just two months ago. Overnight their fortunes had changed and there was now talk of getting an education for Bianca – and a good husband- and raising Little Betty up right and in style. Her parents were generous souls who gave to everyone in need in the town, even when they had little. When they became wealthy, they gave even more generously than before. Everyone loved them.
When Jessy and Gerald heard of the news, they had become like flies in honey with mama and papa. And the poor souls had swallowed their sap, never questioning why the two vultures were all of a sudden proud to call them family. Bianca knew better. She also knew that Jessy and Gerald would soon try to marry her off to some poor fellow far away so they could keep all the money for themselves. She had heard them talk about it just the night before.
At twenty-one, Bianca knew that she was pretty much on the shelf. When they were poor, no man wanted anything to do with her even though she was widely regarded as a beauty. When they became rich, all the eligible men began to flock to their door. But Bianca refused to let her head be turned by some man who was just after her new money. She was a practical soul. She knew that they did not truly want her. And as soon as she realized Jessy and Gerald were planning to stay, she had gone to Mama’s hiding place and took the “rainy day” cash the woman had stored in the little cubby under the floor. She hid it in her bodice and sneaked to her room; there she was astonished to find four thousand dollars in her hands. It was more than enough to last a life-time if she was careful. She could even live a little lavishly if she wanted to. Bianca had furtively hidden the funds in the bottom of her trunk under some old papers so that no one else would ever be the wiser.
Now as she stood with Jessy and Gerald at the funeral, she was glad that she had taken the money when she had. No doubt, the Vultures would go through the rest of Mama and Papa’s money in no time at all. And their plans for Bianca probably did not include any mercy or generosity.
I wish they were still here. Oh why did you even have to go to that place, Papa?! If you hadn’t, all of you would still be here now.
When Papa had struck gold in the mine that everyone had thought to be useless and dry, he had gone out and bought it that same day. Since no one knew the value hidden in it, he had gotten it for the price of dirt. Then, when he began to mine the gold, the cave’s value had soared and many people wanted to buy it from him. Rather than selling, he instead took up position as an overseer of the mines and hired others to do the work for him.
The day Bianca saw him for the last time, he had gone over to speak to the foreman about opening up another cave, connected to his own, that had just been discovered. Mama and Betty had gone with him because they were going to go shopping later for the annual town Fall Picnic and Dance. Bianca had opted to stay home because of a headache.
When she woke up from her noon nap, and discovered no one was home, she decided to go to town herself to join her mother and sister in shopping. On the way, she saw several people milling towards the mines on the edge of town. When she heard the dreaded words “cave in” fall from the lips of several people, she had thrown caution to the wind and made her horse gallop there a frenzy.
Everything was still a blur in her mind. The only thing she remembered clearly was seeing Papa, Mama and Betty lying prone and lifeless on the ground and Dr. White’s old and cloudy blue eyes misting with tears when he saw her. Bianca didn’t scream or cry or anything. She had slowly and unsteadily made her way over to them. She sank to the ground and placed her head and arms on Papa’s chest for the last time and lay there until the undertaker came to take them away.
Now here I am. All alone. Without a clue what to do.
The funeral was over; the crowds were gone. The bodies of Mama, Papa, and Little Betty had all been laid to rest in their graves. She was back home, in her room. And the Vultures were downstairs. Bianca slowly pulled off her clothes and dressed in her regular woolen dress and stockings before getting into bed. She needed to sleep. When she woke, she would face her future again.
That evening, Jessy, Gerald and Bianca all sat down for dinner. Jessy rang the bell for the servants to bring in the food. It was an aspect of life Bianca was not used to. Even after they had money, they lived humbly. Mama had hired a ma
id to help her cook and clean but she had also done a lot of the work herself. And she served the food to her family by herself as she had always done. Jessy though, loved to play Lady of the Manor. She lorded herself over the maids and demanded that they wait on her and serve her. Gerald had already set plans in motion for a contractor to come and discuss building a grand home for them because he absolutely refused to live in the “hovel” that Papa had built with his own hands, any longer than necessary.
Over dinner, Jessy pushed some ads under Bianca’s nose.
“Here, Be-Be dear. Take a look at these. Gerald and I think it is high time you are married. Why you are twenty-one now – almost twenty-two! You are an old maid and no one here wants to marry you – trust me, we asked – you’re too old for their tastes.”
Bianca nodded silently. She refused to rise to Jessy’s baits. What was the use anyway? The two of them wanted to get rid of her and marriage would be an opportunity to escape. As she perused the ads, she saw that they were all for mail order brides.
It’s not enough that I be married, they want to ship me across the country!
“We hired an agent to help you select a man,” Gerald said as he wiped his chin of gravy. “He will be here tomorrow.”
Select a man? As if I am choosing a horse?
“You should be grateful, girl” he continued. “We’re settling quite a sum on you – one hundred dollars, in fact – so that, if you’re lucky, your age won’t be too much of a deterrent.”
If you’re lucky, you mean? If I am out of the way, and some other man’s property and burden, you will have free access to Papa’s money after all.
Bianca smiled calmly, but inside she was seething.
“When will this agent be coming by?”
“He will be here tomorrow morning” was Jessy’s reply.
“Then, if you will excuse me,” Bianca said, pushing away her plate -she suddenly did not have much of an appetite - “I will like to get an early night and go through these ads before he comes.”
[2015] A Love Miracle Page 24
