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

by Charity Phillips

  They gazed at each other in silence a moment longer, and Samuel felt his heart swell with all he wanted to say. I feel the same way and I love you and you make me feel like I’ve never loved anyone before. A thousand sweet words were born whenever he thought of her, and now that she was finally here, he could feel a million more ready to burst from the tip of his tongue—but he couldn’t mold his lips into the right shapes, somehow, and so he rose and moved to her side of the table and pressed them to her cheek, hoping a kiss would do until he found a way to let the words free.

  Sadie’s eyes were shining when he returned to his seat, and she stared at him until he felt heat flood his face. Did I do something wrong? Should I have said something? Gosh, I’m so bad with words.

  “What is it?” he said weakly, his pulse still pounding in his ears.

  Sadie started to speak, but seemed unable to. Instead, she reached across the table and squeezed both of his hands in her soft palms, her brown eyes burning into his. Maybe we don’t need words.

  ****

  It only took a month for Samuel to find that he had made the right choice. Though they’d spent months writing thousands of words to each other each week, sometimes there were moments that seemed to transcend the need for communication. On one of his afternoons off, Samuel planted daisies with Sadie for an hour without saying a word, yet he felt his love for her grow with every glance and hand-touch. Sadie tutored the Raymonds’ children three days a week, and those days were often the most draining; knowing this, Samuel suggested they take a stroll around town at sunset, following the little river as it cut through Sutter Creek. Sometimes they would talk, but most days they wouldn’t—Sadie seemed happy as long as Samuel was, and Samuel was always happy when he was with her. She’d written in her letters that she had quiet moods, but Samuel never imagined he could be as comfortable with silence as he was with idle chatter. He mentioned this to her at the end of their first month together, and she’d given him a warm smile in return.

  “You’re wonderful,” she said. “You’re the sweetest man I’ve ever met.”

  Samuel had smiled back, but he was confused. “Because I like it when you’re quiet?”

  Sadie laughed, and it tickled Samuel’s heart. “No. Because you love being with me. Because you’re in love with me, and you tell me in different ways every day.” She pulled him close and kissed him, leaving him breathless and dizzy when she pulled back. “And I’m in love with you. I hope I get to show you in as many ways as you show me.”

  After that, Samuel did notice little things: small notes in his bagged lunch, freshly polished work boots each week. It hadn’t occurred to him before that love could be in the little details as well the large—and that you could say it in words without using the word love at all. Samuel learned so much about love, it felt like he’d been introduced to a new evolution of the emotion itself.

  They had lively conversations as well as blissful silent periods, thankfully; Samuel had never met anyone he loved talking to so much. Even his weekly card games with some of the other miners weren’t half as invigorating, and his talks with Sadie were usually twice as clean.

  “Of course, my brother hated it when I beat him in anything,” she told him one night after dinner as they sat together on the couch. “So sometimes, I had to lose on purpose. But once, after my daddy taught me how to lay traps for larger prey, I set up something for my brother behind our house. Big pile of leaves with a hole underneath, and a rickety trap door.” Sadie chuckled and shook her head, and her blonde hair swaying around her slim shoulders as she remembered the sight. “He sprained his ankle and my mama said I wasn’t supposed to have supper for a week—but Daddy would sneak food to me after she went to sleep.”

  Samuel smiled and slipped an arm around her shoulder. “You were spoiled, Sadie.”

  His wife laughed. “You bet I was! But I turned out okay.”

  Samuel kissed her forehead. “You turned out more than okay. Me, on the other hand—I could have used some spoiling.”

  Sadie gazed up at him and cocked her head. “Oh? I thought you said you liked growing up disciplined.”

  Samuel sighed. “I did, but I didn’t have much of a childhood because of it. Sometimes, I think that’s my problem…I can’t say no to responsibility. I always have to take care of everything, and now I don’t know how to take care of myself.”

  Sadie wrapped both arms around his shoulders and smiled. “I’ll take care of you, Samuel Barnes. Don’t you worry about that.”

  He ran his fingers through the softness of her hair, studying the light spray of freckles across her nose as his heart swelled in his chest. “I’m not worried about a thing.”

  He pulled her close and kissed her sweetly, happy and fulfilled in a way that was becoming familiar, but that he knew would never get old.

  A booming noise at the edge of his consciousness got his attention and caused him to pull away before he was ready; at first, he thought it was the pounding of his own heart, but it grew too loud and erratic. Samuel stood, trying to discern the direction the noise was coming from. After a moment, Sadie stood, too, creeping toward the drapes that covered the front window before he could stop her.

  She twitched the curtains aside and peered out, her eyes unmoving as she assessed the motion outside. Then she pressed a hand to her throat and gasped; the next moment, a terrible scream sounded from a few houses down.

  Sadie recoiled from the window, her eyes wide. “Someone’s in the street, and someone else is running away!”

  Samuel dashed to the door and threw it open, his heart beating even faster now. He ran to the street in time to see a masked man tearing past him, his red hair blowing in the wind as he ran down the street and turned right to vault over a fence. Samuel looked south to see another man crumpled in the street, and a woman bent over him in the darkness, cradling his head in her lap. Samuel had a split second to consider going after the masked man—he didn’t know what he’d done, but he knew he was causing the commotion. The man might also be armed, though, and he already had a good head start over Samuel. Then a woman’s voice called his name, and he was forced to hurry down the street toward the fallen figures.

  Sadie was already kneeling by them by the time he got close enough to see that it was Jeremiah and Polly, out in front of their own house. Polly was stroking his hair with one hand, her breath coming in fast, panicked gulps.

  Sadie wrapped an arm around her as she started to cry, hushing her in soothing tones. Samuel looked at Jeremiah, whose eyes were glassy and out-of-focus, and finally saw that he’d been hit in the head with something.

  “Polly,” Samuel said sharply, “I know you’re scared, but I need you to tell me what happened.”

  Polly looked up at him and opened her mouth, but she couldn’t stop crying long enough to draw a proper breath. Sadie reached into the pocket of her dress and drew out a handkerchief, thrusting it into Polly’s hands and grabbing her by the chin.

  “Polly, I need you press this on the wound, as hard as you can, okay?” Sadie’s voice was low but urgent, and Samuel saw Polly nod in the darkening night sky, her trembling shoulders finally starting to grow still. “Don’t worry about hurting him. We need to stop the bleeding, but he’s going to be okay as long as we do that. Okay?”

  “O-o-o-okay,” Polly answered. Samuel watched, amazed, as she pressed the cloth to Jeremiah’s head and drew a deep, shaky breath. With something clear to do, she seemed far calmer, and her breathing returned to normal after less than thirty seconds. Sadie looked up at him and smiled faintly, and Samuel tried to convey his gratitude with his gaze. You’re a lifesaver. Sadie blushed and dropped her eyes.

  Samuel turned back to Polly. “What happened?”

  Polly looked up, and she looked so startled Samuel wondered if she’d forgotten where she was. “We were having dinner, and then they just burst in. There were three of them, but one of them held me while the other one held a gun to Jeremiah, and the last one ransacked the place. Then
Jeremiah wrestled the gun away, but the man got it back and—and—” Polly stopped, tears swimming in her eyes. “They hit him with a club. I don’t know where it came from.” A tear slid down her cheek and she gestured to their open door. “The gun is over there, and I tried to shoot them while they were running, but it’s a dud. Then I saw that Jeremiah wasn’t getting up.” She lowered her face again and fell silent. Sadie squeezed her shoulders and started to speak, but a low moan from Jeremiah cut them off.

  “Where are they? Where are the bandits?” His voice was slow but clear, and Samuel knew he was in pain. Polly started to cry harder, and Jeremiah reached up and weakly grabbed for her hand.

  “They got away,” Samuel said quickly. He needed to ask him something before his pain and fatigue caught up with him. “Jeremiah, did you recognize them?” He knew their chances were slim, but it was always his first course of action.

  “No,” Jeremiah said, “but they sounded familiar. And they said they were looking for a diamond.”

  Sadie looked at his wound and narrowed her eyes. “I’ll get another handkerchief.”

  Samuel frowned as she ran toward their house. “A diamond? What?”

  Jeremiah nodded, then grunted in pain. He sat up, Polly supporting his back as he rose. “Yes. Said someone brought it in…someone new. They’ve been here a while, ‘cause they’ve been checking baggage as it comes in…but when they didn’t find it, they assumed they just missed it. Said a diamond that big can’t be hidden in many places.”

  Samuel swore. “There might not even be a dang diamond.”

  Jeremiah nodded. “I know it, and I tried to tell them. Folks tell stories all the time—rumors, really. Gossip. Some man gets braggy, you can’t trace it back. They’ll stop once they realize I’m right. We can tell folks to lock up, have guns out if they own them.” He winced as Sadie came back and pressed a new cloth to his forehead.

  But Samuel was remembering something Walter had said to him the month before—hearing gossip about con men and jewels. What if it had been true? Could they afford to ignore it until it went away? What would they do next?

  The sound of hurrying footsteps behind him made him whirl around and raise his fists in defense—but it was just one of the Raymond children, an older boy this time.

  “Mr. Barnes?” he puffed as he stood before Samuel.

  Samuel felt his stomach clench before he answered. “Yes?”

  The boy gulped. “There’s a fire starting at the foundry, and a few more around town. We had a fire at our house, and then they took four of my little brothers and sisters. They left this, and my father said to give it to you. He said they’re all probably connected.”

  He held out a note, badly-penned words scrawled across it in dark ink.

  Give us the diamond. Barn at midnight or else.

  The note crumpled in Samuel’s fist as his vision ran red and his blood turned to acid in his veins. I’m not even on the Defense League anymore, what am I supposed to do?

  He knew what he was supposed to do: take this note and give it to Walter, who would give it to the most senior member, or decide what to do himself. But that would take time—and Samuel didn’t know how much time they had. He looked at Sadie, and her frightened features made him oddly calm. He knew what he was going to do, and it was what he’d always done: protect his town.

  “Assemble the men,” he thought aloud, “and all the guns we have. We can take the house back by force.”

  Jeremiah nodded. “We can use snipers if need be; there are some good windows to look out from in that mansion.”

  “But what about guns?” Sadie asked, startling him. “Their guns, I mean.”

  Samuel frowned. “Their guns are fake.”

  “Maybe not all of them,” Sadie countered, rising to her feet. “And what about the children? Those bandits still have clubs; how will we keep them safe?”

  Samuel shook his head, unnerved by her line of thinking. “We can send men to sneak in.”

  “And if that doesn’t work?” Sadie pressed.

  Samuel paused, registering the intensity in her eyes for the first time. “Sadie, what else can we do?”

  “Something that won’t get everyone killed,” she answered, placing a hand on his arm. “Something that won’t get my new husband killed before we have a proper wedding.”

  Samuel realized that he’d been planning the raid like he usually had: high risk, high reward, no contingencies in case of injury. But he couldn’t do that anymore—more importantly, he didn’t want to. The same part of him that had softened and warmed since he met Sadie knew that he had to do this another way; even better, it seemed that Sadie herself had an idea.

  “Okay,” he said finally. “But what do we do?”

  “Give them what they want,” Sadie said with a faint smile.

  “How? We don’t even know if the diamond is real.”

  Sadie sighed. “We do.”

  She reached into her pocket and looked over her shoulder before pulling out a diamond the size of a large apple.

  Samuel’s mouth fell open as he watched it glint in the moonlight, and he looked up at Sadie to ask her a question without words.

  “The people I used to tutor for left it to me,” she said in response to his shocked glance, her voice hushed. “Their children were horrible, but they left them all their money…and they left me this. Their diamond was well-known in their county, but not who they gave it to. I’ve kept it secret for a year.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Samuel demanded. “What were you going to do with it?”

  “Cash it in,” Sadie said, her eyes pained. “But I was going to tell you after the wedding. I didn’t want to tell you in letters, because…well…” she stopped, tears swimming in her eyes. “I didn’t want you to fall in love with me for my money. I’m sorry. I know you’d never do that now.”

  Samuel was speechless, but he pulled her into his arms and held her close. “I wish you’d told me before,” he murmured. “But that’s in the past. Now, you need to tell me your plan; I know you’re a clever woman, so I’m sure it’s a good one.”

  Sadie wiped her tears from her cheeks as she pulled away. “Even if it doesn’t involve shooting?”

  Samuel laughed. “Even if it doesn’t involve shooting.”

  ****

  Samuel got Kyle, the Raymond boy, to round up as many men as he could as he tried to spread Sadie’s plan. He marched her up to the barn personally to help her prepare, along with a few other men who had been close by. They watched the opposite hill as they worked, but no lights ever appeared in the windows of the mansion. Samuel and Sadie held hands as they ran down the hill, hearts pounding from adrenaline and the uncertainty of their plan. Back in the valley, in front of Jeremiah’s, she stood by his side as he spoke, even as her plan was steadily voted down.

  “I don’t think it’s the way,” Ivan, an older member, said. “Sorry miss—uh, Missus—I just think we need to do this a man’s way.”

  “Not even so,” Jeremiah cut in, still holding the handkerchief over half his face. “I just think it needs to be done in a more final way. You know, finish it.”

  “Yeah, not like with that livestock,” Darryl butted in, looking apologetically at Samuel. “Sorry, Sam. I would have gone this way, too, if I were in your position.”

  “But you’re not,” Lewis spoke up. Some of his crops had been razed, and he was there with Beth Anne, his wife. “None of you are now, and none of you were then. Since Walter retired, Samuel’s been the leader of your defense league, hasn’t he? And haven’t you trusted him to make decisions?”

  The men grumbled in agreement. Elliot remained silent.

  “Okay, then,” Lewis continued. “So why don’t you trust him now?”

  “Because it’s not his plan,” Elliot said bitterly. “It’s that woman’s.”

  Samuel’s spine stiffened, and he fixed Elliot with a glare while Sadie laced her fingers between his reassuringly. “That woman is my wife, Sadie Barne
s, and you will address her with respect.”

  Elliot shrank into himself under Samuel’s glare. The crowd started to murmur among themselves, and it seemed that the matter was decided—and someone spoke again.

  “Pardon,” said a woman. Samuel looked to see Caroline Walters, Isaac’s wife. Their foundry had been broken into, and they’d been woken from an early slumber. “But it seems like some of these men have it right. These are bad men—and bad men come back. Even if you drive them out, even if you turn them over…bad men have a way of finding a way to worm out of trouble.”

  Polly spoke up next. “Why should we be as bad as them? I agree that they don’t deserve leniency, but mercy is another thing.”

  The crowd erupted into talk, mostly for Elliot’s plan, and Samuel felt anxiety crowding his brain. He looked at Sadie, and the disappointment in her eyes was staggeringly sharp—even though he knew it wasn’t for him, he felt it like a knife in his heart. He knew they would have to try it Elliot’s way—and some of the wives, it turned out.

  He sighed and put up both hands for silence. “Okay,” he said, raising his voice. “How do we do this?”

  Elliot smiled and stood up straighter. “We just hit ‘em from the front,” he said confidently. “Take all of our guns and just march right in. Send some people to go in the windows—break them if you have to. They don’t have real guns, and we should be able to disable the clubs before they use them.” He drifted toward Samuel as he talked, stepping in front of him to address the men. “We can discuss logistics as we move and arm ourselves, but we only have an hour or so until midnight. Let’s get these bandits before they hurt those babies. Agreed?”

  The men cheered in unison, and Elliot smiled as he turned to Samuel.

  “You can sit this one out, Samuel,” he said. His tone was pleasant enough, but there was a nasty glint in his eye. “Save your wife a heart attack. Let the younger boys play.”