He sat in the other chair and fiddled with the hat in his hands. “My mother is distraught.”
After a few seconds, his meaning sunk in. “Your mother sent you here?”
“No. Not exactly.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. “It wasn’t that bad with me, was it?”
“What?”
“I thought it might be good if we decided to marry after all.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Good for who?”
“Everyone.”
“You mean, it’d be good for her. Then she could have her special day.” Stumping her foot on the floor, she glared at him. “This is why it didn’t work, Peter. It was always about her. She put you up to this, didn’t she?”
“No. She doesn’t know I’m here.”
She couldn’t decide if that was true or not. He’d say just about anything for his mother’s sake. “You don’t need to appease her. What you need is a backbone. Who cares what she thinks? If she wants a special day, let her get married.”
“Have a heart. She’s going through a rough time, and-”
“Have a heart? Have a heart! I didn’t exchange vows with you yet. I had every right to back out of the engagement. Frankly, you need to be a man and find the woman you want to marry instead of letting your mother make that decision for you.”
“Jessica-”
“I’m not done.” She stood up and paced back and forth. “It’s obvious we don’t belong together. Thankfully, we figured it out before we said, ‘I do’. You agree with me on this. And yet, you are going to let your mother’s sour mood compel you to make the worst decision of your life. I don’t understand you, Peter.”
Looking bewildered, he moved his lips but no sound came out.
She stopped and pointed to the door. “Maybe the next woman you find won’t mind playing second fiddle to your mother, but there’s no way I’m going to take that role. I’m going to marry Tom.” She waited for him to say something, but he seemed as if he couldn’t think of anything. Deciding this indicated that they were done, she stomped to the front door. “I’ve had enough of this nonsense. You need to either find a woman who’ll do whatever your mother wants or grow a backbone and determine your own fate.” She threw the door open and someone fell to the floor. She gasped. “Mrs. James?”
Connie quickly got to her feet and placed her hat back on her head.
“What are you doing here?” Jessica demanded.
“You are making a huge mistake,” the woman said. “Peter is a fine young man. He has a good job, a good home, and a caring heart. You can’t do any better than him.”
Jessica turned her face to the kitchen. Now it was time to call in for reinforcements. “Ma!”
Her mother ran out of the kitchen and jerked when she saw Connie.
“Talk sense into her,” Jessica pleaded. “She won’t leave me alone. She even sent Peter over here to convince me to marry him.”
“Mrs. James,” her mother began as she approached the other woman, “perhaps we should sit down and discuss this.”
“Discuss what?” Connie asked. “That your daughter is throwing her life away? She could have my son. She doesn’t need to settle for the likes of Tom Larson.”
“I believe that is her decision.”
“But you’re her mother. It’s your job to prevent her from making ghastly mistakes.”
“What is a grassy mistake?” someone asked.
The three women turned their attention to Joel who sauntered into the house.
“I said ‘ghastly mistake’,” Connie said, cringing as he bent down to pick off a piece of clumped dirt from his boot and flung it out onto the porch. “It means a horrible mistake.”
“Hey, what do you know? Learn something new every day.” Wiping his hand on his pants, he glanced around the hallway and parlor. “Don’t you all sit when you visit?”
They stood in silence for a good moment before Jessica decided to answer. “Well, we aren’t visiting. Not really.”
Rubbing the back of his neck, he shrugged. “Alright. You townsfolk are strange if this is how you meet up. But I’m here to see Tom. Pa needs his horse so I came to switch ‘em out for shoeing.”
“Switch what out for what?” Connie asked.
“Tom already has the horse with the new horseshoes on. So I got to switch.” He peered around Jessica’s shoulder and into the parlor. “Isn’t he here yet? He bolted out to town as soon as he washed up.”
Jessica’s heart leapt. That meant Tom did plan to see her tonight!
“Is Tom allowed to be here?” Joel asked.
“Of course, he is,” Jessica said at the same moment that Connie said, “No.”
Joel blinked in surprise.
Jessica glared at Connie. “I’m not marrying Peter.”
“So it’s true?” Joel asked. He shifted from one foot to another, and another clump of dried mud fell off his boot. Snatching it up, he threw it outside. “Tom wasn’t just making up tall tales?”
Connie shot Joel a scolding look. “Tom is going to ruin Jessica’s life. If her mother would be sensible, the poor thing wouldn’t suffer with your kind.”
Jessica’s mother stiffened and straightened her shirt. “I allow her the freedom to make her own decisions...and to be honest, I kind of like Tom.”
“Really?” Joel asked as if he couldn’t believe it.
“But Peter better suits her,” Connie said, ignoring Joel.
“That’s not for us to say,” Jessica’s mother replied.
Jessica groaned. “Peter doesn’t want to marry me either, Mrs. James.” She glanced at Peter—who remained sitting in silence in the parlor. “Tell her!”
He paled and shook his head.
She nudged her mother. “You see what I mean?”
Her mother nodded. “Mrs. James, no woman wants to be married to her husband’s mother.”
Connie pressed a hand to her heart. “Peter, they are being cruel to me!”
He obediently stood and went to her side.
Seriously, the man needed a good kick in the behind, Jessica thought in disgust.
Jessica’s mother sighed and kindly said, “Neither Peter nor Jessica were happy. This is better for everyone.”
Connie grabbed the handkerchief Peter held out to her and dabbed tears from her eyes. “I had my heart set on a wedding. Maureen was impressed, and she’s hard to please, you know. Now everything’s ruined and I’m the laughing stock of the town.”
“You’re not the laughing stock of the town,” she soothed.
“You don’t understand. I spent hours planning out every little detail. All my work is gone, and there’s nothing I can do to get it back.”
Joel threw back his head and laughed. “You all are a hoot. Who’d have thought Tom could cause so many problems?”
Tom knocked on the open door and cautiously peered into the entryway. “Is this a bad time?”
Joel waved him in. “Heck no. Things are just getting good.”
“Watch your language, young man.” Connie pressed her hands to her ears. “There are ladies present.”
Peter, looking mighty uncomfortable, told his mother, “Perhaps we should leave.”
“No!” She uncovered her ears and pointed to Tom. “This is all your fault. If you’d just stayed out of town, I’d still be having my wedding.”
“Would you listen to yourself?” Jessica’s mother asked. “This is not your wedding. You’re not the bride. You’re the groom’s mother.” She stopped and glanced around at those watching her. “I mean, of course, that you aren’t the groom’s mother. Tom’s mother is the groom’s mother. Uh...That is to say if they get married. Not to say that anything is set yet. So...well...you’re Peter’s mother and Peter’s no longer getting married, which makes this whole thing a useless debate anyway.” She grunted and threw her hands up in the air. “Well, you know what I mean.”
Jessica nodded. “Ma
is right. Tom’s mother is the groom’s mother now.”
“Jessica!” her mother warned.
She shrugged. “Just trying to clear up any confusion.”
“No, you’re not. You’re trying to sneak your wedding past me, and I won’t have it.”
“It’s as good as done.”
Joel cleared his throat. “You know that Tom is right here, don’t you?”
They stopped and turned to Tom whose eyebrows rose in interest. Jessica’s face grew warm. It wasn’t a good thing that she seemed that eager in front of him.
“I got a response!” someone yelled out.
Everyone’s attention turned to the door, giving Jessica a much needed reprieve from her slip of the tongue.
Margaret ran into the crowded hallway and held up a letter. “I think this is the one!” She nearly bumped into Joel. “Oh!” She quickly went over to Jessica and stared at her audience. “What’s going on?”
“Never mind all that,” Jessica replied, eager to switch topics. “What do you have there?” She pointed to the letter in Margaret’s hand.
Margaret’s gaze lowered to the piece of paper. “Someone answered my ad.”
“Already?”
“I know. I didn’t expect an answer this soon either, but he sounds like a good one. Read it and tell me what you think.”
Jessica took the letter.
Connie groaned. “We have more important things to discuss right now.”
“No, we don’t,” Jessica said. “It’s over.”
“What do you know? You’re still a child,” Connie replied. “You don’t know what’s good for you. You’re marrying Peter.”
“Oh, no she’s not,” Tom said. He pushed through the group and put his arm around Jessica’s shoulders. “She’s marrying me.”
“I am!” Jessica added. A quick look at her mother’s exasperated expression made her decide to change her tone. Glancing at Tom, she asked, “I am?”
“Well, if you want to,” he replied.
She counted to three so she wouldn’t seem too anxious. “Yes, I do.”
He smiled and squeezed her shoulders. “There,” he told Connie. “It’s all settled.”
“I don’t believe it,” Joel mumbled, shaking his head. “How did Tom pull it off?”
Connie turned to Peter. “Aren’t you going to stop this?”
Peter sighed. “Jessica’s right, Mother. It’s not meant to be between us.”
She sobbed into her handkerchief. “All my hard work is for nothing.”
“Why don’t you just have a Christmas party for your friends?” Tom asked. “That way, you still get to have your gathering.”
“That’s a great idea, Tom,” Peter said. “You can still show Maureen the white roses you made out of those cloth napkins.”
Connie stopped crying and glanced at Peter. “That might work.”
Looking relieved, he replied, “It would work very well. Maureen will be green with envy.”
“She will be, won’t she?” She smiled. “I suppose this might work after all.”
“And it will truly be your day.”
She clapped her hands. “We must continue our planning. And we should send out invitations. December is quickly approaching! Come along, Peter. We must get things ready.”
After they left, Joel wearily sighed and told Tom, “Just when things were getting good, you had to spoil it. Couldn’t you have bit your tongue for another two minutes?”
“What are you doing here?” Tom asked.
“Oh, Pa sent me to get your horse. You do want new horseshoes on it, don’t you?”
“Yes. Alright. Take it and go.”
“Alright. If that woman comes back, let me know how it goes.” Joel brushed off a piece of dirt that was stuck to his shirt sleeve. “Your house is awful, Tom. I can’t get it all off of me.”
“Don’t dirty up this house.” Tom picked up the small dirt clod and shoved his brother out the door. “Go home and take a bath.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
Once Joel headed down the porch steps and Tom threw the dirt into the trashcan, Jessica relaxed. Thank goodness Connie James wouldn’t cause her any more problems. And she got a proposal from Tom.
She smiled widely and glanced at her mother who mouthed, “Spring.”
“Before planting,” Jessica mouthed back.
Her mother rolled her eyes but didn’t argue. Instead, she said, “Since we’re all here, let’s eat. Supper’s getting cold.”
Jessica winked at Margaret before she turned to Tom. “I even made apple pie. I hope you like it.”
“I sure do,” Tom replied, returning to her side. “Apple pie is a favorite for us Larsons.”
Jessica hoped she did a good job on the pie. At least it hadn’t burnt. Well, she was about to find out. She glanced at the letter. “Margaret, you’ll have to tell us about this one. Is he the first one who sent a reply?”
“Yes. He’s twenty-two and never been married. He’s been looking to come out west to farm.”
“There’s plenty of good land here,” Tom said. “It rains just fine and there’s plenty of sun too. The only thing he’ll have to worry about is the wind. Sometimes that can be unforgiving. One year, my pa lost some good corn from wind damage. But there are good and bad things no matter where a person goes.”
“But if you like the one you’re with, it makes it all the better,” Jessica added.
He grinned at her. “No truer words were ever said.”
Blushing, she returned his smile.
Her mother headed for the kitchen. “Well, come along. The food’s not going to come out here to meet you.”
The others obeyed and followed her to the kitchen.
Epilogue
April 5, 1869
Jessica examined her reflection in the mirror. Her wedding dress turned out even better than she hoped.
Margaret entered the room. “Here are your flowers.”
Jessica took the red roses and smelled them before she placed them on the chair. “Perfect. And they match those in your dress.” She wrapped a pink ribbon around her hair before she put the veil on her head. “It really is a magical day, Margaret. Just wait until that mail-order husband of yours comes in.”
“Two weeks from now,” her friend said, adjusting the thin material of the veil around Jessica’s shoulders. “I don’t know if I’m ready. All this time I’ve watched you and our other friends getting ready for marriage, and now that it’ll be my turn soon, I’m a nervous wreck.”
“Just wait until your wedding day. It gets worse. I couldn’t eat a thing this morning.”
“No one can tell you’re nervous.”
Wendy entered the small room. “Everyone’s ready. Tom’s got a wide smile on his face. I’ve never seen a happier groom.”
At the mention of his name, Jessica’s cheeks flushed. She couldn’t imagine that there’d been a happier bride either, but she kept the thought to herself. Instead, she picked up the roses. “I’m ready too.”
She followed her friends out the door and went to the church entryway where the groomsmen waited.
As Joel took Wendy’s arm, he glanced at Jessica and shook his head. “I still can’t understand why someone as good looking as you would marry my brother.”
“Love is blind,” Wendy joked.
“I reckon so.”
Margaret turned and gave Jessica a quick hug. “Good luck up there.”
“Thank you,” Jessica whispered.
Margaret took Dave’s arm and walked down the aisle.
That left Jessica with her uncle.
“Your ma’s proud of you,” he said.
“I think she did a decent job of raising me.”
He chuckled. “You’ve got a lot of your father in you. I’m sorry he couldn’t be here to see this day.”
She quenched the swell of sorrow that threatened to spoil her mood.
“Maybe you’ll give Tom a daughter. Then maybe he can give her away when i
t’s her turn to marry.”
“Maybe.”
The music from the organ changed, signaling it was her turn to walk down the aisle. She took his arm and steadied her feet. The last thing she wanted to do was trip on her gown. She heard rumors that Tom had knocked over some candles earlier, and all she needed was to add to the discord.
Her uncle took a step forward, and she joined him. Though the butterflies in her stomach grew more active, she made it down to the altar without any mishap. She looked over at Tom and smiled. When her uncle handed her to him, her heart beat with excitement.
She knew Tom well enough by now to know he was even more nervous than she was, so she squeezed his arm reassuringly and whispered, “It’ll be over soon.”
He gulped but didn’t reply.
They turned their attention to the preacher. Tom bumbled a bit through his vows, and even she messed up a couple of times. But they managed through it.
“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride,” the preacher said.
Tom lifted her veil. “You’re one beautiful bride.”
Her smile grew wider and she whispered, “That’s because I’m your bride, Tom.” And then she leaned forward to kiss him.
A Husband for Margaret
When Margaret Williams posted an ad for a husband, she expected Paul Connealy to arrive. But Paul couldn’t make it because of a fatal accident. However, Paul had a brother and that brother needed a wife in the worst possible way.
Joseph Connealy jumped at the chance to marry Margaret. Sure, he didn’t know her, but he saw her ad and figured she’d suit him just fine. His only hope was that when he arrived, she’d accept his proposal...and his four young boys that came with it.
A Bride for Tom Page 9
