Grooms with Honor Series, Books 10-12

by Linda K. Hubalek

  “Unless his explorations are about to lead you over a cliff, then I’d stop him,” Angus teased to get in the last word.

  “I don’t care where Tully leads me. I have confidence in him,” Violet winked at him and pulled her arm through his.

  “Shall we go to the hotel to mingle with our families? They are already yours too, maybe in the ‘for better, for worse’ category right now. When my Tucker grandparents figure the Chaney connection, they may need a preacher to talk to.”

  Chapter 16

  Tully and Violet faced his father who stood in front of the altar. Violet’s cousins, Maggie, Molly, and Maisie stood to her left. Tully’s five brothers stood in line beside him, but this time in opposite direction than usual. Cullen was beside him, with Angus on the end. Tully felt a special kindship today with his brothers as he joined their ranks as “married” and maybe finally feeling equal because of it.

  After nodding to Tully’s mother, his father began the wedding service. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the renewal vows of Tully and Violet Reagan.”

  His father stared down at his service book for a long moment, then quietly closed it. “Tully and Violet, because you’re renewing your vows, and you’re now a pastor, Tully, I’d like to sit with your mother to witness this occasion. Is that all right with you?”

  Tully was taken aback by his father’s request, but then Tully looked at Violet. She smiled and nodded her agreement.

  “That’s fine, as long as you still come back up here to bless us,” Tully said with a crack in his voice, honored that he could give his parents this gift on their anniversary.

  “Thank you. I always wanted to sit with my wife for a wedding,” his father said as he handed Tully the service book and walked down the altar steps to sit in the front pew with Tully’s mother. All those years of his mother and his brothers lined up in the front row of the pew…without their husband and father because he was leading the service.

  Tully stood at the altar beside Violet and addressed the congregation.

  “Well, I performed my first funeral for Dan Clancy, and now I’m honored that the first wedding I perform will be for my wife, with all of our family and friends around us to witness this special occasion,” Tully said as he gestured to Violet.

  “Maybe my first baptism will be for a niece or nephew, or for friends,” Tully continued while pointing at Nolan and Holly for them to take the hint. He hoped he could baptize Dan’s next great-grandchild when he and Violet were home after their trip to Wyoming. Both Clancy’s nodded that they liked that idea.

  Tully turned to lay the service book on the altar. He didn’t need the book to guide what his heart wanted to say to Violet.

  He took Violet’s hand and turned to face her. His wife wore a stunning satin and lace ivory gown fancier than any dress he’d seen in Chicago. The tulle veil framed her face and draped down behind her in a pile of fluff. Faye must be ecstatic with how beautiful her daughter looked today.

  Tully lightly squeezed Violet’s hands and started the vows.

  “I, Tully Edward Reagan, promise you, Violet Rose Tucker Reagan, to uphold my wedding vows to have and to hold from—our first ceremony in Chicago—until death do us part.

  “I promise to love and honor you, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish you forever, according to God's holy ordinance. This is my solemn vow.”

  “Mrs. Reagan, it is now your turn to say your vows,” Tully nodded in her direction.

  Violet took a deep breath and pronounced loud and clear.

  I, Violet Rose Tucker Reagan, promise to love and honor you, my husband, Pastor Tully Edward Reagan, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish you forever, according to God's holy ordinance. This is my solemn vow to you, Tully.”

  “And to make this finally official,” Tully said as he dropped Violet’s hands, so he could dig the wedding ring out of his vest pocket. He took Violet’s left hand and slid the custom-made silver band on her wedding finger. The lavender amethyst set in the delicate ring caught the light and caused Violet to gasp in surprise, just the reaction Tully was looking for.

  “Violet, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love, and with all that I am, and all that I have. I honor you, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

  “In so much as you and I have agreed to live together in Matrimony, have promised our love to each other by these vows, the giving of this ring and the joining of our hands, I now declare us husband and wife.

  “You may now kiss your husband, Mrs. Reagan,” Tully pronounced. After Violet’s shocked laugh, she wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a long, delightful kiss.

  After they finished their kiss, Tully looked down at his father.

  “Da and Ma, would you please come up here to give us your blessing?”

  His Ma touched her heart with her hand as tears welled in her eyes. She let his da pull her from the pew, link their arms together, and walk up the altar steps to stand in front of Violet and Tully.

  “Before you do, though, your family wants to wish you a happy anniversary. We brothers could never have found better parents to raise us. Through thick and thin, sickness and fights, worries and wonders, you’ve always guided us with loving arms and words. And we brothers have something for you, to commemorate the day you finally have all of us married.”

  Tully stopped a moment as Cullen dug the rings out of his vest pocket and handed them to Tully. The Reagan brothers had met with Kiowa Jones to have him make custom rings for their parents.

  Tully put the rings in his palm and raised his hand upward.

  “Precious God, please bless these rings to symbolize the love and devotion that our parents have given to their family, their congregation and community, and to each other. May these bands be reminders of the endless love you have also given us. Amen.

  “Ma, you first. Please hold out your right hand.” Her hand shook with surprise as Tully slid the silver ring on her right ring finger. It had six tiny hearts engraved around the band.

  “Thank you, Ma, for…everything,” Tully said as he gave his mother a quick hug. Then he turned to his father.

  “Da, we also had a ring made for you. Instead of hearts, the maker engraved six crosses in your ring. Besides to signify your profession, we thought it might represent the ‘crosses you had to bear’ with raising us boys.”

  Tully slid the ring on his father’s hand, then gave him a hearty hug and pat on the back.

  “Thank you, Da, for guiding us to adulthood. I know it was trying at times.”

  The family and congregation chuckled at his remark, knowing what a problem Tully had been for Pastor Reagan in his teenage years.

  “Finally, Da and Ma, please give us your blessing. We won’t feel married without it.”

  Da laid his right hand on the top of Tully’s bowed head, the other hand on Violet’s head. Ma stepped down to stand behind Violet and him, and she put a hand on each of their shoulders.

  “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up his countenance unto you and give you peace,” Da’s voice was choked with emotion, but he got through the blessing.

  Da stepped back and smiled at Tully.

  “Well done, son. Well done.”

  ~*~*~*~

  Kiowa’s Oath

  Grooms with Honor Series, Book 12

  Copyright © 2018 by Linda K. Hubalek

  Published by Butterfield Books Inc.

  A sweet romance set in 1892.

  Kiowa Jones, Clear Creek, Kansas, blacksmith, keeps to himself most of the time to avoid people who didn’t care for his Native American background. And it’s a good cover for who he really is.

  Widower Mary Jenkins moved home to Clear Creek from Chicago with her two children after her husband died. She owns and manages a dress shop,
living upstairs with her children.

  But a fall down a steep stairs changes their lives instantly and forever. The secret Kiowa and Mary have been keeping to themselves is exposed as they need help from the townspeople, some who clearly are against acknowledging Kiowa and Mary as a couple.

  The “sickness and in health” part of their wedding vows test Kiowa and Mary as they work through the crisis. Will the town tear them apart or make them stronger?

  Kiowa and Mary

  I always picture my characters, either imaginary or from real images, when I write my books. For the Grooms with Honor series I’m using couples I found in my great-grandparents’ photo album, dating back to the early 1880s to early 1900s period. My great-grandparents were born in Sweden, moved to Kansas, and married in 1892.

  There are no names written on the back of these photographs, and I don’t recognize them as any of my relatives.

  Unfortunately, there wasn’t a couple in the album that would suggest Kiowa and Mary’s wedding photograph, so please consider the man on the book cover as Kiowa, and the photo I have featured as his wife, Mary.

  These couples don’t look like our modern-day cover models (men with rippling muscles and women with flawless makeup), but they show real couples starting their new life together as husband and wife during the same period as the couples in my Grooms with Honor series.

  While you’re reading Kiowa’s Oath, you can pretend this portrait is of Kiowa Jones’ wife, Mary. Hopefully, I’ve given her and Kiowa a good start in their married life.

  Chapter 1

  May 1892

  Clear Creek, Kansas

  “Kiowa! Kiowa! Come quick!” Kiowa Jones heard ten-year-old Nolie Jenkins scream at the top of his lungs in panic as he ran toward Kiowa’s blacksmith shop.

  Kiowa had never heard the boy in such a panicked state. Kiowa dropped his heavy hammer and the hand tongs holding the red-hot iron on top of the anvil.

  The forge fire was going full blast, but Kiowa ignored it as he ran to meet the boy.

  “What’s wrong?” Kiowa called out as they raced toward each other.

  “They fell down the stairs! Ma’s not moving and Burdette’s screaming because her right leg is stickin’ out at a funny angle!” Nolie yelled as he ran backward a second until Kiowa was by his side and they both raced toward the apartment stairs above Mary Jenkin’s dress shop, not dodging the water puddles from this morning’s downpour.

  Panic pumped Kiowa’s legs and arms as he ran the block. His thick black braid flying free behind him when he lost the leather cap he wore when he worked in the shop. Kiowa yanked off his thick leather gloves as he ran, dropping them on the muddy ground without a second thought. He was covered with sweat and soot, but there was no time to wash up.

  “Did you go to Dr. Pansy’s office first?” Kiowa shouted between puffs of air.

  “No! I thought I should get you—”

  “Go now! And if you can’t find the doctor, get her husband, Mack Reagan, to find her!” Kiowa yelled and ran on as Nolie veered off to run to the doctor’s office.

  Kiowa skidded to a stop as he reached the enclosed stairway as the boardwalk was slick from the rain. The outside door to the stairway leading up to the apartment was open. Mother and daughter were both unconscious, lying a few steps apart halfway down the steep steps. Kiowa broke into a cold sweat seeing twelve-year-old Burdette’s leg broken halfway between her knee and thigh, jutting out at an odd angle and bleeding through her dress. It would be a blessing if she fainted from the pain, rather than also having a head injury.

  Mary was on her back, sprawled down the steps, her head resting on a step below her body. Had she fallen head first? Dear God, Mary’s not moving. Had she broken her neck?

  Kiowa hesitated a moment. How did he move them without causing more injuries?

  “Kiowa! Don’t move them yet! “We’re coming!” Mack Reagan bellowed, racing with a longboard under his arm beside his wife, Doctor Pansy. The woman was six foot tall and kept up with her husband, even clutching her doctor’s bag to her chest.

  Kiowa stepped back, trying to breathe in his panic. What if Mary and Burdette both died in this freak accident? He caught Nolie around the waist as the boy tried to run up the stairs to his family.

  “Nolie, stop,” Kiowa commanded as the boy fought Kiowa’s hold. “Let the doctor do her job.”

  Nolie’s tears dripped on Kiowa’s forearms. Or maybe the tears were his own because his vision was blurring.

  Storekeepers and customers quickly clambered down the boardwalk because they heard the yelling outside.

  Fergus Reagan, the photographer, stepped up to help his brother, Mack, with the transfer of Burdette since the girl was closest to the outside door.

  “Carefully slide the board under Burdette, trying to keep her back straight,” Doctor Pansy commanded to Mack and Fergus as she held the girl’s leg steady in the position it was in. The stairwell was a tight fit with three extra people trying to slowly move the two-foot-by-six-foot board under the girl.

  “We got her,” Mack took a breath and slowly leveled the board between him and his brother and carefully stepped backward out of the stairwell.

  “Careful! Don’t move too fast. Cullen! Step up here and hold Burdette’s leg in place as the men walk her to my office!” Doctor Pansy directed to the postmaster, another Reagan brother. ”Somebody, run ahead and open the door for them!”

  Jasper Kerns, Mack’s construction partner came puffing up to the group. “Here’s another board for Mary. Want us to move her now?”

  Kiowa held his breath as Doctor Pansy felt for Mary’s pulse on her neck. What if—?

  “She’s alive!” Doctor Pansy announced as if it surprised her. She ran her hands up and down Mary’s limbs checking for breaks. “Her arms and legs seem okay, but I’m worried about her neck and back.”

  Doctor Pansy sat back on the step, leaning against the wall of the stairwell, her right hand rubbing her jaw as she thought what to do.

  “Before we slide the board under her, someone get towels or something I can pack around her neck to hold it steady.

  “Here’s my shawl,” Iris Reagan, Fergus’ wife spoke as bystanders passed it up to Doctor Pansy.

  Doctor Pansy carefully threaded the end of the material under Mary’s neck as it lay at an awkward back angle against the wooden step.

  “I bet their shoes were slick from the rain,” Kiowa heard someone murmur behind him as he stared in shock at Mary. He squeezed Nolie tighter against his front as the boy tried to step away again.

  “Jasper. Get below me as I slide Mary down onto the board.” She looked back at the people crowded behind her. “Elof. Be ready to hold her head still as she slides forward,” Doctor Pansy barked orders as the two men moved forward and others moved back to give them space. Elof Lundahl was the farrier who Kiowa made horseshoes for.

  “Easy, keep her sliding onto the board in a fluid motion. We don’t want to pull or twist her spine.”

  Spine. Paralysis.

  Kiowa’s thoughts hitched his breath, seeing fresh blood on the step where Mary’s head had lain as they moved her body onto the board.

  “Kiowa. Step up here to carry the back of the board but watch your step. Don’t slip on the blood on the stairs,” Doctor Pansy commanded, but Kiowa couldn’t move.

  Blood? Kiowa breath hitched seeing the smear of blood.

  “Kiowa! Get up here, now! She lost a little bit of blood, but her head isn’t bleeding now,” Doctor Pansy barked as she picked up the board herself, causing Kiowa to jump forward as she commanded.

  Doctor Pansy was almost as tall as him, and probably weighed more than him, but she needed to be in charge instead of carrying her patient.

  Someone else had passed a jacket forward, and Doctor Pansy wrapped the article of clothing around the board and tied the sleeves together around Mary’s legs, so she wouldn’t slide off the board.

  “I need another jacket or shawl to wrap around her chest,” Doct
or Pansy called, not taking her eyes off her patient. A dark blue knit shawl appeared and was wrapped around Mary’s chest, securing her to the board.

  “Okay, go slow and watch your step. Put Mary in the back exam room. I’ll work on Burdette first before she wakes up,” she said as she ran toward her office, leaving Jasper, Elof, and himself to transport Mary to the doctor’s office.

  Nolie grabbed the right side of the board and walked with the trio. “Ma! Wake up! Please, wake up!”

  “I bet she just hit her head and blacked out a minute, Nolie. Stay calm. She’ll wake up soon,” Elof calmly talked to the boy. Kiowa wished he could comfort Nolie, but the blood and the angle of Mary’s neck frightened Kiowa.

  “Ease the board down on the exam table. Don’t take her off the board yet,” Doctor Pansy yelled as the men walked by transporting Mary. Kiowa’s arms trembled, not with Mary’s weight, but with the effort to keep the board as steady as possible given his turbulent emotions.

  “I wanna stay with Ma!” Nolie protested as Jasper tried to pull the boy from the room.

  Nolie looked up at Kiowa, begging him to intervene.

  “I’ll stay here with Nolie and keep Mary steady on the table until Doctor Pansy can get to her,” Kiowa nodded.

  “All right. I’ll go back and take care of the forge for you,” Elof said. In Kiowa’s panic, he’d forgotten the blazing fire he’d run away from with Nolie’s distress call.

  “Thanks,” Kiowa said with a nod while keeping a hand on the board to keep it steady, although Mary didn’t look like she’d wake up and struggle to sit up.

  Elof and Jasper each glanced at Mary before leaving the room. Elof quietly shutting the door as he left last.

  “Kiowa, I’m scared,” Nolie whispered, staring at his mother’s pale face.

  Kiowa had the same thoughts, but he couldn’t say them out loud to the distraught child.