Annie: A Bride For The Farmhand - A Clean Historical Western Romance (Stewart House Brides Book 3)

by Charity Phillips

  He only had red and pink roses in full bloom behind the house, but the front was lined with white roses, huge and fragrant on either side of the porch. He watched Cindy stoop and lower her nose to their centers, inhaling their heady aroma and smiling blissfully as she exhaled.

  “These are lovely, Jacob.” She gazed around at the yard and the farmland stretched beyond—acres of wheat, corn, and potatoes, with tomatoes and peas starting to push through the soil. “You have such a wonderful home. Thank you for sharing with us—and on such short notice.”

  “My pleasure.” And he meant it; his mind was filled with all the activities they could do together as a family—apple picking, pie-making, swimming in the lake; to think he’d been afraid of finding a mail order bride. “This is your home now, and I think we’re going to be happy together, as long as you’re comfortable.”

  She smiled, and Jacob’s heart started to beat faster again. Settle down! he urged himself, but it was no use; Cindy was stepping toward him now and reaching for his hands. As soon as she touched them, he felt a current of longing rip through his body, and her blue eyes widened as though she’d felt it too; then the moment passed, and Cindy was speaking, her voice a little breathless, but steady. She inhaled deeply, apparently gathering her courage to speak.

  “You don’t have to do this if you feel obligated.” Her eyes were boring into his, and the intensity of her gaze made him shiver. “I would rather you send us off now, no hard feelings, than you get too antsy after Abby gets attached to you. Okay?”

  “Cindy,” Jacob said, the shock clear in his voice. “I said I was happy to have you both, and I meant it. Please believe me. I know you’re used to disappointment from the men in your life, but I’m here to stay.”

  He watched her full lips curve up into a genuine smile and had to fight the urge to kiss her. “Okay.” She released his hands and stepped away, and Jacob regretted not dragging his speech out longer. Already his hands missed hers, like they’d been made to hold each other. Cindy was gazing at the roses again, and his mind rooted around for something to say, anything at all to get her to be near him again.

  “My brother Hank used to say our mother was in every rose,” Jacob said suddenly. “We buried her next to a field of wild roses, and they crept over her grave. Before we stopped talking again, he would say that she could go wherever the roses could go. Sometimes I’d pick some and throw some right off of High Hill, so her soul could see how her favorite place was doing.”

  Cindy was gazing at him and smiling in soft amazement. “That’s so sweet. I’ve never heard anything so wonderful.” She touched his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Do you still do it?”

  “Not as much. I think Richard needs the space to decompress more than I do.” He didn’t move, not wanting Cindy to take her hand away from his shoulder.

  But she did, and she started walking back into the house. “Shall I whip us up some supper? I saw some chickens in there while you were giving us a tour. Does chicken and peas sound alright?”

  “That does sound good,” Jacob said, “but I thought I’d cook for you two, not the other way around.”

  Cindy laughed, pressing her hand to her lips again. Then she saw that Jacob was serious.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just that, no man has ever cooked for me before. Especially not the men capable of cooking in my old hometown.”

  “But you worked in a bakery,” Jacob said. “Didn’t anyone help you?”

  Cindy sighed. “You’re the first man to give me so much as a blade of grass since my father died, Jacob. I’m not sure you know just how used to disappointment I am.”

  Jacob grinned. “Well, I’m aiming to change that for you.” He paused, frowning. “No, not aiming; then I’ll never get it done.”

  Cindy giggled, and Jacob felt the last shred of anxiety fall away.

  “I knew I’d get a good laugh out of you. Now, how do you feel about steak?”

  ****

  Cindy couldn’t believe how well things went over the next month; she swore she was dreaming, but she never woke up from the daze. Jacob’s cheery affection proved genuine and unceasing—he made them breakfast, ran them baths, and gave Cindy days off during the week that were completely unneeded.

  “I just want to make sure you’re comfortable,” he kept saying to her. “I’m happy to make you happy.”

  He was incredibly open, and that prompted her to be more candid as time went on. He told her about his childhood, and she loved hearing him speak fondly of the twin he missed so dearly. She loved hearing him speak about his past adventures as an aspiring lawman, and the nostalgia that dripped over his wistful tone as he wove tale after tale. He listened as well as he spoke, thankfully, so Cindy felt it was easy to pour out her thoughts and anxieties to him—but not too many. As much as she liked him—and she liked him more than she thought possible—she just couldn’t bring herself to believe that this was real. His charm, his ease, the astounding depth of his affection for them—it all seemed too close to the fairy-tale world that Jacob admitted to lusting after as a boy: a world sculpted with magical tools out of wishes, dreams, and shimmering hopes, but nothing that could ever exist in real life. Cindy hated being on edge around a man that she was also so terribly drawn to, but it was reflexive—and it was a reflex that had helped her survive.

  One day during their second month together, as she was helping him harvest tomatoes, he showed her a variety she’d never seen before, spicy and flavorful, almost like it had been roasted. Cindy had never tasted a tomato so delicious, and he let her pick six serve in a salad for lunch.

  “Where did you find these?” she asked as he watched her examine the fruit between her hands. The skin was darker than any tomato she’d seen on a farm.

  “A traveling salesman showed them to me,” Jacob said, pushing a lock of hair away from his eyes. “He had a few grown ones with him, and he sold me a bunch of seeds at a fair price.”

  Cindy stared at him. “A traveling salesman sold you seeds, and they didn’t turn out to be duds?”

  Jacob laughed. “I’ve never had that happen to me.”

  Cindy shook her head and moved to another plant to pick more tomatoes. “I’ve been had by every kind of salesman under the sun. I distrust them all. In fact, I distrust most people.”

  Jacob was gazing at her, his powerful frame motionless under the slowly brightening sky. His face was rather handsome, but when it became thoughtful, his green eyes shimmered like lamps, and the effect was striking. “Trusting people has always worked out okay for me,” he said finally. “Especially lately.”

  Cindy blushed and lowered her gaze, suddenly self-conscious about her long, coltish limbs and pointy nose. “You’re too kind,” she mumbled.

  “I mean it.” Jacob stepped closer to her, and Cindy couldn’t avoid looking at him any longer. “You’re wonderful, Cindy. I just hope you’re as happy here as I am.”

  Guilt washed over her then; she had been holding back parts of herself, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Jacob was handsome and considerate and gentle and sweet, and he’d given her no reason to believe he was anything other than a gentleman. Cindy set her basket down and stepped over to him, her heart racing as she placed both of her hands on either of his broad shoulders.

  “Jacob, I’m sorry.” She paused. “I am happy here, but the truth is that I’m used to things going wrong. My life has been a disaster of mistakes and misfortunes, and I don’t know what else to do besides lock myself down and wait for the skies to clear. I don’t know how to live a normal life.”

  Jacob slipped his arms around Cindy’s waist and pulled her close. “I understand,” he said softly, gazing into her eyes. “I understand more than most would, Cindy. But you’ve got to trust me now. There’s no storm coming to blow you down, not here.”

  “How do you know?”

  Jacob chuckled. “I guess I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I know that if something comes along, we can weather it together.”r />
  Cindy’s heart was beating wildly in her chest, but her blood felt like thick, sweet syrup. She could count each freckle dusted across Jacob’s nose, but her eyes kept getting pulled to his lips. She held the back of his head as she stretched up meet him, and the second his lips touched hers, it was like a dam broke inside her: every feeling she’d been holding back from him came washing over her, enveloping her in a tide of love. His arms locked around her lower back as he pressed his mouth more firmly against hers, and suddenly she was being lifted off her feet.

  Cindy squealed and kicked her legs, and Jacob set her gently back down to earth. They broke apart, both gasping from the intensity of the kiss, and Cindy felt a slow smile spreading across her lips.

  The sound of footsteps bounding toward them forced them apart. Jacob moved in front of Cindy instinctively, but it was only Richard, red faced and breathless from having run as far as he’d run. How far had he run? Cindy wondered as she watched him hunch forward and place his hands on his knees, gasping.

  “What is it, Richard?” Jacob asked, placing one hand on the other man’s back. “Where did you come from?”

  “School,” Richard gasped. “Abby.”

  Fear tore through Cindy’s body, eradicating the bliss that had just settled in. “What? What about Abby?”

  Richard stood and took a breath. “She’s gone.”

  There was moment of silence, and then Cindy shrieked so loud it struck the air like the crack of a whip. She grabbed Richard’s shoulders and began shouting. “What have you done with my niece? What have you done?”

  Jacob pulled her away with some difficulty, the wheels turning in his mind even as Richard spoke.

  “She took a bunch of the flowers I brought for Mia and took off. I came straight here, but we have a search party out already.”

  “She took flowers?” Jacob repeated.

  Cindy was pulling at her braid and pacing between the two men. “Where did she go? She doesn’t know the geography of this town. She has no bearings if she gets beyond it. She gets faint if she doesn’t eat for long—”

  “I know where she went,” Jacob said.

  Richard and Cindy stared at him in shock.

  “How?” Cindy demanded, her eyes teeming with rage and panic. “How do you know?”

  “I told her more about that hill,” he said, and he looked at Richard. “Your hill. Do you have a coach with you?”

  “Yes,” Richard said, and he seemed to understand. He set off at a run toward the driveway of the house, leaving Cindy glaring at Jacob in the field behind his back yard, waiting for an explanation.

  “I told her I’d felt guilty since I didn’t get to release more roses, and I told her a story about the first time I found the hill,” he explained desperately. His eyes were tearing up as he spoke. “Please, I never meant any harm. If something happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself.”

  Cindy scoffed. “I’ll never forgive you either.” She turned on her heel and ran toward the carriage after Richard, leaving Jacob to follow moments later, panicked and afraid.

  Cindy didn’t speak to him as the carriage barreled up the street toward High Hill. Her hands were squeezed on her lap, and Jacob was eying her tense posture, trying to think of something to say.

  “I’m sure she’s fine,” was all he could manage before the carriage halted abruptly, and Cindy roughly shoved the door open.

  “Hey!” Vincent shouted; she’d broken the safety bar which kept the door closed. Cindy was already running up the hill, though, and Jacob set off after her, amazed at the speed she was keeping.

  He heard her scream Abby’s name just as she got to the crest, and heard the girl’s frightened cry the next moment. By the time Jacob had crested the hill, Abby was being wrapped in Cindy’s tightest hug, her hand releasing a fistful of petals that went sailing off the edge of the hill.

  “Why did you run away? Don’t ever do that!” Cindy pulled back, tears streaming down her face as she scolded her niece. “You’re never to do that again!”

  “I’m sorry!” Abby said, her eyes wide with fear. She seemed most disturbed by Cindy’s tears, and she started to tear up, too. “I just wanted our mothers to see how beautiful it is today.”

  Cindy sniffled. “Our mothers?”

  “Jacob’s, mine, and yours,” Abby said tearfully. “Teacher Mia had some daisies outside, like the ones from the yard where we buried Mama. And I got some daisies for Grandmamma, too,” she said, gesturing to the petals at her feet. “I just wanted everyone to see where we live now. I wanted them to be happy like us.”

  Cindy let out a sob as her heart finally unclenched and released all the hesitation and anger she’d been holding inside of her all these years. She wiped Abby’s tears away with her hand and kissed her forehead. “You’re happy here?”

  Abby nodded.

  “Happier than when we lived with your father?”

  Abby nodded emphatically, and Cindy laughed. “Why are you so happy here?”

  Abby smiled then, and touched her Aunt’s cheek. “It’s quiet here, and everyone is so nice. There are other kids my age here, and none of them are mean. And I’m learning so much! And Jacob teaches me about things. And…” she trailed off, uncertain of her next words. Then she took a deep breath and continued. “And you’re happy.”

  Cindy’s eyes widened in surprise, and she saw Jacob smile.

  “What are you smiling at?”

  Jacob shook his head. “Nothing. But you do seem happy, if I may say so myself.”

  Abby laughed. “See? You haven’t been this happy since before Daddy told you to get married.”

  Cindy sighed. “You noticed, little dove? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel any worse.”

  Abby laughed. “Of course I noticed, little duck. This is the most I’ve ever seen you smile. The most I’ve ever noticed either of us smile, really.”

  Cindy realized then what she’d really been doing by staying behind with Phillip: teaching Abby that it was okay to delay your own comfort and happiness for someone who didn’t respect you. She hugged the girl to her again, holding her close as the truth finally settled into her bones.

  Cindy finally pulled back. “Okay, now go walk on back to the carriage. We’ll talk more when I get down there.”

  Abby gave Jacob a curious look, but started to walk back down the hill toward where Vincent and Richard were waiting.

  Jacob laughed nervously. “Am I about to be yelled at, too?”

  Cindy shook her head. “I apologize, Jacob. I’m sorry I got like that.”

  “It’s understandable,” he said, stepping closer to her. “Abby might as well be your own daughter. I helped to put her in danger, you had every right to be upset.”

  Cindy smiled. “How are you so sweet, Jacob Everett? What made you this way? What made you so open, loving, and…trusting?”

  Jacob shrugged and took her hands in his. “The same thing that made you sharp, loving, and protective. My share of chaos. My own personal disasters. But instead of the storm turning me into a pit of despair, it turned me into a…port.” He chuckled at his accidental joke, and she felt a rush of fondness for him.

  Cindy let him pull her close again, and she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, relishing the strength and safety of his body as he gazed down at her. “I’m lucky you were ready for me, then, when my last storm came.”

  Jacob smiled.

  Cindy reached up to kiss him again. “And…well, now that the storm has passed, I’m ready.”

  Jacob stared at her a moment before his smile widened. “You’re ready… to get married?”

  Cindy grinned and nodded, and Jacob picked her up again and spun her around.

  “Careful! I’ll go flying off the hill with those petals,” Cindy shouted. Jacob set her down and kissed her, bending her backwards slightly with the force of his kiss. When he came up for air, they were both breathless again, and Cindy was dizzy and giddy with excitement.

  Jacob offered
her his hand and they started down the hill. They were both grinning like fools, and Jacob kept laughing out loud to himself until Cindy finally asked him what was so funny.

  “If you had told me last year that I’d be able to write to my brother and invite him to my wedding, I would have thought you were crazy. It feels like I’m dreaming.” He paused to look at her and pulled her into a deep kiss, “I love you, Cindy, with all my heart. You’ve made me the happiest man alive.”

  Cindy grinned at him, unable to suppress her happiness anymore. “I love you too, Jacob. This really is a dream come true.”

  THE END

  A Mail Order Bride For William

  Story Description

  After moving to Johnson County at the age of twelve, William “Willy” Butler happily acclimated to his position as the eyes and ears of idyllic Davinia, Wyoming. Though he spends much of his time working hard to provide only the choicest meat and fish for his butcher shop—and lending his own hands, ears, and shoulders to its customers—there’s a little-seen side to him that has gone unacknowledged for too long: a yearning for a true connection that drives him to answer an ad from a desperate-sounding nurse who has been “wandering like a comet in search of a cluster.”

  Jessica is clearly in danger, but Willy has no idea how bad it is until she shows up on his doorstep days early without a coat, bag, or dollar to her name. Willy is bewitched by her sharp wit and smoldering gaze, but the feisty Jessica turns out to have no intentions of truly settling down or dragging him through the shocking history of her life. Luckily, fate seems to have other plans.

  Can Willy convince a wandering spirit to stay under his serene skies, or will Jessica streak out of his path before this new love can sync and fall into harmonious orbit?