To Have and To Hold

by Ruth Ann Nordin

hogging. “You get that wife of yours riled up, and she’l let you have it.”

  “I stil remember how she gave us an earful that time we fixed up that room in your house,

  Joel,” Tom agreed.

  “That’s because she won’t tolerate anyone being mean to me,” Joel proudly said with a smug

  smile.

  “Ah, no one is more in love with himself than Joel,” Richard commented from where he stood

  against the porch railing next to Tom.

  Ignoring him, Joel looked over at Mary. “How are you doing?”

  “Good,” she replied, pleased he thought to ask. “I remember everything.”

  “That’s great, Mary,” Rick said.

  “It is,” Joel agreed. “Thankful y, it wasn’t Dave who forgot. He’d be forgetting what he

  remembered.”

  Dave shoved him off the bench. “Oh, sorry, Joel. I forgot you were sitting by me.”

  “Ha ha.” Joel stood up and put his hat back on his head before he wiggled back onto the bench.

  Mary decided to leave the men to their good-natured ribbing and entered the house ful of

  women and the smal er children. In the parlor, Dave’s mother, Amanda, and Jessica were

  watching Tom and Jessica’s three-year-old daughter Daisy and infants Emma, Laura and

  Hannah. She entered the room and smiled. “I hope there’s room for one more.”

  The women looked up and returned her smile. “There’s always room for more,” Dave’s mother

  said and held her arms out to Rachel.

  Mary set Rachel down so she could wobble over to her grandmother.

  “Did you have a good trip to Maine?” Jessica asked.

  “It was nice to see my father before he passed away,” Mary replied, not wishing to go into it

  any more than that. There were some things she’d like to forget, and her trip to Maine—minus

  meeting her father and seeing Grace—was one of them.

  “I’m sure he was glad to see you, too,” Dave’s mother added.

  Mary nodded. “Yes, but it’s good to be back.”

  “It’s good having you back.” She glanced at Rachel, her other granddaughters, Amanda, and

  Jessica. “A ful house is a happy house.”

  “Ful being the word,” Amanda commented. “If we had any more babies in here, the room

  would explode.”

  Jessica giggled before she tapped Daisy on the back. “Give Emma that cloth to teethe on.

  The poor girl’s going to suck her fingers off.”

  Daisy took the cloth that was on the table and handed it to her cousin. As she returned to her

  mother, she gave Mary a curious look. “Do you remember me, Aunt Mary?”

  “Yes, I do,” Mary replied. “It took a while, but I do.” She turned her gaze to the expectant

  women and added, “I remember everything now. I have for about two weeks.”

  “Then going to Maine was good for that as wel ,” Jessica commented.

  Maybe. Mary didn’t know if she would have remembered that part of her life if it hadn’t been

  for seeing everyone to prompt her memories, but maybe she had to go back in order to for it to

  happen.

  Sal y came into the room. “April said she heard your voice. Do you want to come to the

  kitchen? Jenny, April and I are in charge of supper this time.”

  “Recruiting for help so the kitchen doesn’t catch on fire?” Jessica mused.

  Sal y groaned. “It was only one time, and I was sixteen.” Looking at Mary, she rol ed her

  eyes. “You do something one time and they never let you forget it.”

  “See, Mary?” Amanda began. “We could have fil ed you in on al the details of that fire if you

  didn’t remember us tel ing you about it shortly after you married Dave. Except we have no idea

  what she was trying to make.”

  Sal y raised an eyebrow. “No one needs to know what I was trying to cook when the fire

  started.”

  Dave’s mother shot her a pointed look. “I don’t see why you don’t just come out and tel us.”

  “It’s my secret, and I’l take it to my grave,” Sal y answered, not seeming the least bit tempted

  to tel the group of curious women. “Would you like to come to the kitchen, Mary?”

  Mary hid her grin, for Sal y had confided in her a couple years back that she’d been burning the

  letters an old beau had written to her when she got distracted by a mouse that ran through the

  kitchen and a dishtowel got too close to the cook stove. Perhaps everyone had something they

  wanted to keep to themselves or share with a very close friend who knew how to keep a

  secret. It was why she’d told Sal y everything about Maine but decided not to tel anyone else.

  Mary turned her attention to Sal y and smiled. “Yes, I’d like to help cook supper.”

  “Good because the men wil complain if they don’t get one of your apple pies,” Jessica teased.

  “Plus, who’d want to miss Tom and Joel fight over the last slice?”

  As the others laughed since the matter was true more often than not, Mary turned and went to

  the kitchen with Sal y, eager to spend the day with her friends. This was what being home

  meant, and she was glad she had the rest of her life to enjoy it.

  Coming Summer 2012

  Sometimes men don’t realize the right woman is the one they aren’t pursuing…

  As soon as Sal y Larson meets Rick Johnson, she knows he’s the one for her. The catch?

  He’s interested in her friend. But she has a plan. With the help of a couple others, she

  manages to convince Rick that if he wants to attract her friend, then he must make her friend

  jealous by pretending to be interested in her.

  Between the scheming and getting him to spend time at her parents’ farm, Sal y might discover

  that Rick has a trick or two up his sleeve as wel . If she’s not careful, she might find that the

  one playing the cat just might be the mouse.

  This romantic comedy is rated R.

  Preview of Her Heart’s Desire…

  Omaha, Nebraska

  April 1867

  As soon as Sal y Larson saw him, she fel in love. Rick Johnson. That was his name, and she

  decided right then and there that she’d one day be Sal y Johnson. How she was going to make

  this happen, she didn’t know. At the moment, Rick was hoping to court her good friend, Ethel

  Mae Jordan. But Ethel Mae confided in her that she did not return his affections. So, there

  was nothing stopping Sal y from pursuing Rick. Al she needed to do was convince Rick that

  he’d be happier with her than with Ethel Mae.

  Ethel Mae motioned for Rick to sit in the chair which was across from the couch where Sal y

  rested. “I hope you don’t mind that my friend is here,” Ethel Mae told him as she poured him a

  cup of tea. “Here. I’l take your hat.”

  Rick handed her the hat and smiled. “No, I don’t mind. It’s nice to meet you, Sal y.”

  He said her name! Sal y thought she might swoon. She loved the sound of his voice, especial y

  when he spoke her name. The word seemed to rol so easily off his tongue, almost like he’d

  spent his whole life saying it. And he was gorgeous. In fact, she was certain that in al of her

  nineteen years, she’d never seen a better looking human being. Dark brown wavy hair, parted

  neatly on the right side, brown eyes and the hint of a dimple on his cheeks when he smiled. He

  wore a nicely pressed dark blue suit that fit just right on his broad shoulders and tal , slender

  frame. She’d love nothing more than for him to pick her up and carry her right over the

  threshold to thei
r new home.

  “Do you want more tea?” Ethel asked her.

  Blinking away the images of their future wedding day, Sal y forced her gaze off of Rick so she

  could answer her friend. “Yes, please.” She lifted her cup while Ethel poured the hot liquid into

  it.

  “Before you came, I was tel ing Sal y you recently moved to town,” Ethel said.

  “Oh?” Rick asked as he squeezed his slice of lemon into his tea.

  Ethel put the teapot down on the tray which rested on the table between the couch and chair

  and sat by Sal y. “Yes. I was saying you came from Vermont.”

  “Vermont?” Sal y’s eyes widened. “And you didn’t come out west because of the Homestead

  Act?”

  “No.” He shook his head and laughed. “I wouldn’t know the first thing about raising crops. One

  time I had a plant, and I don’t know what I did or didn’t do that kil ed it.”

  Ethel laughed a little too loudly, a nervous habit Sal y recognized. “Plants can be tricky, I

  suppose, but Sal y would know how to care for one. Her parents maintain a farm just north of

  town.”

  “My family came out here three years ago from New York,” Sal y explained. “My father found

  out about the Homestead Act and decided to try his hand at farming. We didn’t know anything

  about it until we got here.”

  He took a sip from his cup and said, “Then your father is a braver man than I am.”

  “Oh, I don’t know if he was brave,” Sal y began, holding the cup in her lap. “He was sick of

  being in a crowded area. We had neighbors on either side of our house, and the street we

  were on was a busy one with horses and people passing by al the time. We owned no land,

  so it was the acreage that appealed to him. Stil does, in fact. He prefers to wake up in the

  morning, step outside, and see nothing but open land and big sky. He says it’s the best

  decision he ever made.”

  Realizing she was rambling, Sal y stopped and retrieved a cookie so she’d have something to

  put in her mouth to shut her up. She didn’t want to lose his interest because she said too

  much. Her brothers often chided her for talking too much, especial y her seventeen-year-old

  brother Tom who said he couldn’t imagine any male who wanted to sit and listen to a woman al

  day. And Sal y could talk al day long if someone let her.

  Ethel Mae patted Sal y’s hand. “I’m glad your family came out here. We wouldn’t have met

  otherwise.”

  As Sal y chewed the cookie, she nodded her agreement and tucked a stray strand of her blond

  hair behind her ear. Her gaze kept going to Rick. How could her friend resist him?

  After Rick took a drink from his cup, he set it down on the table and said, “My true love is the

  United States Constitution. I’m afraid nothing wil ever pul me away from it, though I have al

  the respect in the world for farmers. They rely a great deal on the providence of God, what

  with the weather and insects.”

  Sal y shuddered. “Like a swarm of locusts devouring crops.”

  “Exactly,” he replied.

  “Rick is the new judge at the courthouse,” Ethel Mae told Sal y.

  “I heard we got a new judge,” Sal y said, wondering why Ethel Mae didn’t mention that Rick

  was the one who took Judge Wil iams’ place after his untimely death. “Is that why you moved

  to Omaha, Rick?”

  “Yes,” he replied, setting his elbows on the arms of the chair and clasping his hands in front of

  him. “That and Judge Townsend is an old friend of my family’s. There were no positions open

  where I lived, so I came out here.”

  “What do you think of Omaha?” Sal y asked.

  “It’s fine. I certainly can’t complain about the people I’ve met.”

  His gaze went to Ethel Mae, and Sal y’s smile faltered for a moment—but just a moment. He’d

  only met her. Surely, she had to give him more time to get used to the idea that he was going

  to marry her instead of her friend.

  “Wel , Sal y is one of the nicest people you’l ever meet,” her friend said.

  “I’m sure she is. She wouldn’t be your friend if she wasn’t,” he replied.

  Ethel Mae laughed but it seemed forced. Her eyes met Sal y’s, and Sal y recognized the

  message Ethel Mae was sending her. Ethel Mae was trying to divert Rick’s attention off of her

  but didn’t know how, and as Sal y sat there, she didn’t know either. Wel , at least not without

  boring him with talk of her family, the farm, or the weather. But he was a judge, so maybe…

  Clearing her throat, Sal y directed her gaze to Rick and asked, “So, you’re a judge. What

  made you go into that profession?”

  Granted, it was bound to make her bored, but better for them to be bored than for him. If he

  was bored, then he might hightail it and run the next time he saw her, something she

  desperately wanted to avoid.

  “It was something I was always interested in,” Rick said with a shrug. “I don’t recal the exact

  moment I knew I’d be a judge, but when I was a child, I made it a point to memorize the

  Constitution.”

  “You did?” Sal y asked, surprised someone would want to do that.

  “I did that and read letters our founding fathers wrote.”

  “As a school project?”

  “No. This was outside of school. Oh, I learned some about al of that in school, but I wanted to

  learn more than the teacher was wil ing to divulge to the entire class.”

  She was amazed at his dedication. A man who could pursue his career with such vigor would

  be a most excel ent husband. While the three of them continued to make idle chitchat, it

  became apparent how much Rick wanted to court Ethel Mae. He’d lean forward in interest if

  she said something and gave her a wide smile each time he talked to her. Granted, he was

  kind and polite to Sal y as wel , but Sal y didn’t want the formal friendliness he extended to her.

  She wanted him to respond to her the same way he responded to Ethel Mae. Though a part of

  her criticized herself for giving heed to the sil y notion that she was already in love with him, it

  didn’t stop her heart from racing wildly each time his focus went to her. And besides, who said

  there was no such thing as love at first sight?

  When Rick said he had to get back to work, Sal y made a decision. She stood up and said,

  “Thank you for the lovely snack, Ethel Mae. I’m afraid I must be going as wel .”

  As he got out of his chair, he nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

  Her friend glanced at her with furrowed brows but didn’t remind her that she was supposed to

  visit with her for the entire afternoon.

  “I’l speak to you again soon,” Sal y told her friend, hoping she understood the subtle hint in her

  message.

  Ethel Mae’s eyes lit up with understanding. “Oh, yes. Wel , then soon it wil be.”

  Though the comment struck Sal y as funny, she held back a giggle and joined Rick as he

  fol owed Ethel Mae to the front door. She had to be careful in how she talked to him. The

  slightest wrong word might make him suspect she was planning to snag him from her friend,

  and there was no way he’d wil ingly court another woman—at least not at this early stage in the

  game.

  Rick took his hat from the coat tree and placed it on his head. Smiling at Ethel Mae, he asked,

  “May I visit you on Saturday?”

  Ethel Mae gave a slig
ht wince. “I’m not sure what my parents’ plan is for that day. Can I

  answer you at a later time?”

  Though he looked disappointed, he said, “Of course.”

  Sal y retrieved her bonnet from the coat tree and put it on, pul ing the strings loosely under her

  chin. “Are you heading straight for the courthouse?” she asked Rick.

  “Yes,” he said as he opened the door.

  “I’m going in that direction,” she said. “Mind if I tag along?”

  “No, I suppose not.”

  Refusing to let his lack of enthusiasm get to her, she waited until his back was turned and

  mouthed the words, “I’l be back,” to her friend who nodded that she understood. She fol owed

  Rick out of the house and pul ed the edges of her bonnet further out so it shielded her eyes

  from the sun.

  After her friend shut the door, Sal y joined Rick and strol ed down the side of the dusty street.

  Rick motioned for her to walk on his other side. “If a horse comes by too fast, the dust won’t

  get on you,” he explained.

  “Most riders don’t race through here,” she replied as she went to his other side.

  “Not most. But why take the chance?”

  With a smile, she said, “You’re right. And thank you.”

  He shrugged and returned her smile. “It’s common courtesy. There’s no need to thank me.”

  Maybe not, but she stil appreciated his thoughtfulness. Clearing her throat, she decided she

  should approach him about her plan. “I notice you’re quite taken with my friend.”

  His face grew pink. “I’m sure she’s noticed, too.”

  “Do you plan to do anything about it?”

  Glancing in her direction, he asked, “You mean, wil I ask her if I can court her?”

  She nodded.

  “I do. I thought I’d see her a couple more times, see how things go, and then ask, though. I

  don’t want to seem too eager.”

  Pretending to be relieved, she let out a sigh and chuckled. “That’s good because you have to

  be careful in how you ask.”

  His steps slowed and he gave her a good look. “I do?”

  “Of course.” She slowed down to meet his new pace. “Have you ever courted a woman?”

  “No.”

  “Then I’m glad I happened to be visiting my friend when you stopped by.” Granted, Ethel Mae

  asked Sal y to come because she knew Rick was coming over, but he didn’t need to know