The Bounty Hunter's Redemption

by Janet Dean

  He lowered his head and kissed her. She gently cupped Nate’s jaw and returned that kiss, her heart hammering wildly in her chest.

  “I don’t want to wait long to get married,” he said.

  “Anna helped Vivian dress for her wedding tonight. The Harders handled delivering the guests. Now I’m free to make my wedding dress.” She cocked her head at him. “Will we marry in church?”

  “Of course. Where else?”

  She’d have the wedding she’d always dreamed of.

  “You know, Carly, after we’re married, Anna could move into the quarters behind the shop and we could rent the cabin to Lloyd and Lester. They’re old enough to be out on their own.”

  “Where would we live?”

  “How would you like to take the reward money and build that house in the woods you’ve been wanting with the white picket fence and a shade tree for Henry to climb?”

  “You’d do that for me?”

  “I’d do anything for you.” He smiled. “I have an ulterior motive for wanting Lester and Lloyd close to the livery.”

  “Why? Won’t you be working there?”

  “Yes, but I’ll be a new father and bridegroom. That’s going to keep me mighty busy.”

  His words heated her cheeks. “I’ll miss working in the shop.”

  “I want to provide for you and Henry. But you can work as much or as little as you want. You and Anna can figure it out.”

  “That’ll give me more time with Henry, something I’ve always wanted.”

  “Just Henry?”

  “No, silly. More time with both of the men in my life.”

  He took her in his arms. “I intend to spend a lifetime showing you dreams do come true.” He smiled down at her. “Do you know how I know?”

  “How?”

  “God brought me you.”

  Tears stung her eyes. “That’s what I told Henry.” She inhaled deeply. The stench of her past now smelled as sweet as the honeysuckle growing on the trellis at the end of the porch. “When has this world ever smelled sweeter?”

  The screen door squeaked. Henry appeared in the doorway, clutching his stuffed elephant. “Mama, I had a bad dream.” Then he raced across the porch and slammed against Nate’s legs. “Nate! You saved me.”

  “Hi, buddy. God saved us all.”

  Nate sat on his haunches and gathered Henry close. “Is it okay with you if I marry your mama?”

  “Would I be your boy?”

  “Yes, you would.”

  “Hurray!” Henry darted out of Nate’s arms and raced around in a circle, like a puppy chasing its tail. “I got me a new pa, Mama.” He looked up at Nate. “A good pa.”

  “The only kind of father for a good boy like you.” Nate gathered Henry in his arms, then stood and tugged Carly close in the other, kissing both their cheeks. A kiss with the promise of now and forevermore.

  Henry took Nate’s cheeks in his hands. “You aren’t gonna leave town, are you?”

  “No, my boy. I’d never leave a town where I found myself, found my family, found God. All waiting on a bounty hunter to find his way home.”

  Epilogue

  The hot, sticky days of summer gave way to the first cool night of fall. Life had settled into a routine, a new routine where Carly woke up with the man she loved every morning and fell asleep in his arms every night.

  As Henry counted stars, his arm around Maizie, Carly ambled up to the porch where Nate sat on the swing, relaxing. The welcoming smile on his face said he’d found his place in the world and was never leaving.

  She slipped in beside him and nestled into the crook of his arm. “I love you, Nate Sergeant.”

  Nate leaned down. “You’ve made me a very happy man, Mrs. Sergeant,” he whispered near her ear, sending a shiver cascading down her spine.

  This loving man had healed Carly’s wounded heart. And brought Anna into her life, a woman she’d come to love like a sister during long days of cutting fabric and stitching hems. The last couple of weeks, Sheriff Truitt had come courting Anna, putting a perpetual smile on her face, as if it had been stitched in place.

  At times life seemed so perfect, so wonderful, Carly wanted to pinch herself to ensure she wasn’t dreaming. She leaned back, studying Nate’s face in the light of the moon. Was he as content running the livery? “Do you miss chasing outlaws?”

  “Nope. I love being a family man with my wonderful wife and son and a baby on the way.” He kissed her forehead. “I thank God each day for the peace of my life.”

  She ran a hand over her belly. “In about five months that peace you esteem will be interrupted with a squalling baby.”

  “Nothing sounds sweeter than to walk the floor with my son or daughter tucked in my arms,” he said, covering her hand with his.

  Carly’s gaze settled on Henry’s small figure, lying sprawled on his back, his face lifted to the sky. “After years of being an only child, I hope the baby doesn’t make Henry jealous and demanding.”

  “We’ll take one day at a time and learn as we go. But, knowing Henry, he’ll be a terrific big brother.” Nate pulled Carly to him, encircling her with his arms. “When I entered your shop that day in April, I had no idea God had far bigger plans for me than I could have imagined. I’m a slow learner, but I’m not about to forget our great God redeemed a lost bounty hunter, then turned him inside out into a family man.”

  Henry clomped up the porch step, raced toward the swing, then wiggled between them. “Then how come your insides aren’t on the outside, Pa?”

  Nate chuckled. “You make a good point, son.”

  Carly ran her fingertips through Henry’s hair. “Are you done counting stars, little man?”

  “There’re so many, Mama, I kept losing my place.” He patted Carly’s belly. “Hi, baby sister. What you doing in there?”

  “What if your baby sister turns out to be a brother?” Nate said, his eyes shining with love for her son. “Wouldn’t you like a boy to play with?”

  “Mama needs a girl for her when you and me go fishing.”

  Carly met Nate’s amused gaze. He gave her a wink.

  “You’re a thoughtful son to think of me,” Carly said.

  “The next one can be a brother for me. Then the next one—”

  “Whoa, cowboy, let’s not get too far ahead with those plans.”

  “Yeah, better save some babies for Aunt Anna and Sheriff Truitt.”

  Carly exchanged a smile with Nate. “Maybe we should give them time to marry first.”

  “Okay.” Henry leaned back and looked up at Nate. “Pa, can I help finish building the cradle?”

  “I could use the help of a big boy like you. But for now, what do you say we try counting those stars one more time before I tuck you into bed with a story?”

  “Will you tell the story again about the prince saving the princess?”

  “That should be easy for your pa since he’s the prince in my real-life story,” Carly said, her voice husky with emotion.

  “You’re his princess, Mama. Pa said so.”

  Nate lifted Henry in his arms, then walked to the step and sat with Henry in his lap. The two most important people in Carly’s world gazed up at the clear night sky.

  “One, two...” Henry said, his voice getting sleepier as he rattled off a growing tally.

  One hand resting on her belly, embracing the child who would join them in a few months, Carly counted her blessings as Nate and Henry counted the stars. Though she had far too many to number, Carly intended to spend the rest of her life thanking God for the wonderful gifts He had given her, the fragrance of the future sweeter than anything she could have imagined.

  But, wasn’t that exactly what she would expect from their loving God?

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from INSTANT FRONTIER FAMILY by Regina Scott.

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you enjoyed The Bounty Hunter’s Redemption. Gnaw Bone, the setting of this novel, is a real, unincorporated communi
ty in Brown County, Indiana. I couldn’t resist using the unique name for my fictional town, which in no way is intended to resemble the real place or its residents. Intrigued by the origins of the name, I found a couple theories in Wikipedia. Some say the town’s name derives from the original French settlement in the area, Narbonne, which early English settlers heard as “Gnaw Bone.” Another theory suggests that someone was looking for a man and was told, “I seed him over at the Hawkins place a gnawin’ on a bone.” I favor the latter folksy explanation.

  I’m often asked where story ideas come from. The idea for The Bounty Hunter’s Redemption came from a sentence that popped into my mind one morning. I quickly grabbed the pen and pad that writers keep nearby and recorded the words I feel God gave me: When you’ve been married to a polecat, it takes a while to get rid of the stench. From that cryptic sentence sprang the seeds for Carly’s story. Whatever way the ideas come, I’m privileged to pen stories I hope bring glory to God and provide a “happily-ever-after ending,” what God wants for each of us.

  I love to hear from readers. Please write me at my website janetdean.net.

  Blessings,

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired Historical title.

  You find illumination in days gone by. Love Inspired Historical stories lift the spirit as heroines tackle the challenges of life in another era with hope, faith and a focus on family.

  Enjoy four new stories from Love Inspired Historical every month!

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  Instant Frontier Family

  by Regina Scott

  Chapter One

  Seattle, Washington Territory

  October 1866

  Maddie O’Rourke stood on the pier beside Mr. Yesler’s mill, waiting for the ship to come in. Every inch of her tingled, from her carefully braided red hair under her green velvet hat to her toes inside the leather boots. After nearly a year of working and striving, she was about to reunite with her little brother and sister.

  She shifted on the scarred wooden planks, the bell of her wide russet skirts swinging in the cool fall sunlight. She could hear the whine of saws from the mill, the hammering that told of new buildings going up behind her. Gentlemen crowded around her, ready to receive the passengers and cargo from the sailing ship that had swept into Elliott Bay an hour ago. Among those about to disembark would be Ciara and Aiden. Maddie could only pray, as she had for months, that her brother and sister had forgiven her for abandoning them in New York.

  But what else could she have done? Her income then as a laundress had barely been enough to pay her room and board, let alone support two others. She and her half siblings had struggled along for months after Da and her stepmother had been killed in that horrible tenement fire. It had been a dark time for them all, one she’d prefer to forget.

  Only the advertisement in the paper, announcing the need for teachers, seamstresses and laundresses in far-off Washington Territory, at exorbitant salaries, had given her hope. She’d managed to scrape together enough money to join the Mercer expedition to Seattle and find a safe place for Ciara and Aiden to stay until she could send for them. But though she had plenty of work here, the costs were high, and she hadn’t been able to bring her family to her or pay for a lady to accompany them on the ship.

  Until now.

  The brine-scented breeze off the blue waters brushed her cheek, setting her net veil to fluttering and tugging a strand of hair free of her coronet braid. So much had changed in the past few months since her friend Rina Fosgrave had suggested a different future to Maddie. No more was Maddie a nameless laundress lugging pounds of dirty linens up three flights of stairs to labor over a steaming tub as she had in New York. Now she was Miss Madeleine O’Rourke, owner of Seattle’s finest bakery, upstanding, respected, admired...

  “You’re a little late on my shirts, Miss Maddie.”

  Maddie kept her smile polite as she turned to the older logger who stood beside her, his bushy brows furrowed in frustration. If she’d learned anything since starting work at the age of nine, sixteen years ago now, it was to never disappoint a customer. There was always another girl ready to scrub her fingers raw for a penny a shirt. And Maddie was well aware there was another bakery in Seattle.

  “My deepest apologies, Mr. Porter,” she said, batting her lashes for good measure. “I’ll deliver them to the boardinghouse me own self tomorrow at the latest. I can’t be keeping my best customer waiting, now, can I?”

  At her praise, Mr. Porter turned as red as the flannel sticking out of the neck of his plaid cotton shirt. Stammering his thanks, he ducked his grizzled head and turned away.

  Maddie smiled after him. Gentlemen had reacted with endearing embarrassment to her teasing since she was sixteen and her scrawny body had blossomed with curves. She’d heard enough compliments over the years to know the fellows liked the rich color of her fiery hair, the twinkle they claimed resided in her dark brown eyes. Her flirting made all the gentlemen, young and old and in between, smile for a time. There was nothing wrong with that.

  But this laundry delivery would be her last. The woman who was coming with Ciara and Aiden could take over the remaining laundry chores, to Maddie’s everlasting relief. Whether that lady flirted with her customers was her own choice. Maddie would be focused on making the bakery a success so she could repay entrepreneur Clay Howard every penny he’d invested in her, with interest.

  Her nerves tingled again as she turned her gaze once more to the ship. The vessel was a two-masted steamer much like the one that had brought her most of the way here. That ship had been filled with women like her, seeking a better life. This one was bringing her own heart’s desire.

  A longboat had been lowered over the side, filled with passengers. Were Ciara and Aiden among them? How much longer would she have to wait?

  “Nice day for a stroll, eh, Miss Maddie?”

  Maddie nodded to the gentleman who had been so bold as to step up to her this time. He was one of the clerks in the Kellogg brothers’ mercantile, where she’d bought her supplies for the bakery. “A fine day to be sure, Mr. Weinclef.”

  He squeezed the rim of the hat in his hands so hard she thought he might strangle the blocked wool. “I’d be happy to stroll with you.”

  “To the moon and back!” one of his friends called from the edge of the pier, and others laughed.

  Mr. Weinclef turned a sickly white.

  “Sure-n but you’re a sweet gentleman to be offering,” Maddie said with a smile designed to turn his friends green with envy. “Perhaps you’d be so kind as to sit with me in services this Sunday.”

  “I...I’d be delighted, ma’am,” he said. He seized her hand and pumped it up and down so hard her hat tipped to one side on her braid. “Thank you, thank you so much!”

  Maddie managed to retrieve her hand before he scurried off. Righting her hat, she turned once more to the waiting ship. She’d never lacked for gentlemanly company in New York, though she’d been careful to keep from making a commitment. Here in Seattle it was far worse, with needy bachelors falling over themselves to make her acquaintance, seek a moment of her time.

  She knew some of the ladies who had come west with her were already betrothed. She’d attended several weddings, been a bridesmaid at two. But that wasn’t how she planned to lead her life. She’d seen how hard work and privation could make any marriage a struggle. Look at Da and his second wife. Look at her life with her father and her late mother in Ireland, for that matter. It seemed love between a husband and wife could not last in adversity. Why pretend otherwise? Why set herself up for more heartache?

  She put up her hand to shade her eyes from the sun, already low over the Olympic Mountains across
Puget Sound. Every yard the longboat bobbed closer, every wave it crested, her body tensed the more.

  Oh, please, Lord. I know You have better things to be doing than to deal with the likes of me, but perhaps You could spare a few moments. I tend to speak my mind, and I’m not long on patience. Would You help me make us a family again? Ciara and Aiden deserve that.

  The burly-armed sailors were putting their backs into their work as they rowed the boat toward the pier. Now she could make out a girl and a boy nestled among the other passengers, and she thought her heart might push its way out of her fitted bodice, it swelled so much. Oh, how they’d grown! Ciara’s hair, a proper brown, was past her shoulders in a thick braid, and wee Aiden’s dark head was nearly to the shoulder of his sister’s blue coat. The seven-year-old was glancing about with wide eyes as if he’d never seen such a place.

  Of course, he hadn’t. How strange Seattle must look to him after being raised in Five Points, the Irish neighborhood in New York. When she’d first walked past the whitewashed houses dwarfed by towering firs all around, she’d thought she’d arrived in another world entirely.

  She felt a little foreign now. Would her brother and sister talk to her as they used to, sharing their fears, their triumphs? Would they still say their prayers together at night? She couldn’t take her gaze off them as the boat bumped the pier and men surged forward to catch the lines, make the boat fast and help the passengers ashore.

  Calm now. Show them what a fine lady you’ve become. Show them that allowing you to go ahead was worth them staying behind.

  Her smile felt shaky as she stepped forward.

  A man leaped from the boat to land on the pier. She had only a moment to register height and broad shoulders before he turned to lift first Ciara and then Aiden to the planks as if neither weighed more than a feather. His heavy dark blue coat and rough brown trousers made him look like a sailor, but instead of helping the rest of the passengers to alight as the other sailors were doing, he took Ciara’s hand in one of his and Aiden’s in the other and turned toward Maddie. The look in his eyes was more challenge than welcome. It was almost as if he was Ciara and Aiden’s father, determined to lead them into a new life and protect them from any harm.