Grooms with Honor Series, Books 4-6

by Linda K. Hubalek

  “No, I’m so excited, I just want to open the packages!”

  “Let’s see…” Seth sorted through the packages and picked out one but didn’t hand it to her outstretched hands yet.

  “Keep in mind because we’re traveling, I just bought a few pieces of clothing. Taylor’s Mercantile in Clear Creek won’t have the same selection as Chicago, but we can buy more clothes for you later.”

  Lily literally tore the brown paper wrapping off the first small package to reveal a royal blue silk shawl. She ran her fingers over the slick material then wrapped it around her shoulders. “It’s gorgeous! I’ve never had something so elegant! Thank you!”

  “The sales lady said you could wear it as a shawl or as a scarf. And I mentioned I liked blue on you, so be prepared…” He grinned as he handed her a box from a favorite department store next.

  She had the string unwrapped around the box and the lid off in seconds. Neatly folded inside were two shirtwaists, one white and the other a blue and white striped, and a navy blue wool dress skirt.

  “Hopefully they’ll fit. The skirt has an adjustable waistband so that should help to make it fit right. And…I picked blue again.”

  Lily’s eyes grew full of joy. “Oh, Seth, these are perfect, both size and color! I’ve never had three new pieces of clothing at once…or ever. And the latest fashion, too!”

  Seth laughed. His ma literally danced around the Christmas tree last year when she unwrapped a new shirtwaist. She was especially excited because it had the unique style of sleeves. In contrast, the men in their family didn’t care a whit what they wore as long it was clean at the start of the day.

  “Okay, here’s a package you won’t get as excited about since it holds the items on your list.”

  “Well, I shouldn’t have forgotten my toiletries on the washstand, but I did in my rush to get out of the Emporium. I’ve been embarrassed knowing I hadn’t used my toothbrush and powder in days,” Lily confessed opening the top of the paper bag from the pharmacy to peek inside it. She’d also needed a comb and hairpins.

  “What’s the little bottle?” she stuck her hand in the bag to pull it out.

  “Now I didn’t buy it because you have an odor and need to be wearing it but…read the label.”

  “Blue Lilies Perfume!” She immediately unscrewed the cap, took a sniff and then held it up so he could smell it. “I like it! Thank you, Seth.”

  “I didn’t know what it might smell like, but I couldn’t pass it up when it had both ‘blue’ and ‘lily’ on the bottle,” he chuckled, pleased he’d bought the little extra surprise for her.

  “Okay, you need to finish opening your packages, so we can get on with our day. Since it’s winter, you need…”

  “A shawl to keep warm,” she finished his sentence as he handed her a large package.

  “This is awfully heavy for a shawl. Are Kansas winters worse than back East?”

  “Don’t know since I’ve never been past Chicago. Please open it up and see if you think it will be warm enough.”

  Lily’s mouth changed into a big “O” as she unwrapped her new…navy blue Mackintosh coat.

  “Oh, Seth! This is too much!” The full-length wool coat, lined with a dark blue plaid to add another layer of warmth, also had two detachable capes for even more protection. Lily stood up and put the coat on over his nightshirt she was still wearing.

  “Kansas can have some harsh blizzards, so you’ll be warm wherever you go. And there’s a pair of lined leather gloves already in the side pockets, too.”

  “You’ve spent so much money on me! I don’t know what to say, except thank you a thousand more times!”

  Seth raised his hand. “You’ve already said it enough times, and I’m glad I could purchase them for you. Now you have one more box to open. And remember you’re going to be living on the Kansas Plains, not in the Chicago high society district, so it’s not fancy.”

  Of course, Lily knew it was a hat by the box. He was sure she’d like anything to put on her head, but he wanted her to look nice too. Nice hats gave women self-confidence, simple as that.

  Lily slipped off her new coat, and carefully laid it on the bed before opening the hat box. Lily’s eyes teared again when she took the hat out of its tissue-lined box. Seth had seen Lily’s plain brown hood cap at the train station, so he wanted to give her something more stylish, but that would still offer warmth. The hat was a combination of light blue silk and dark blue velvet fabrics, with a little sprig of dainty blue silk flowers on the crown. The wide velvet ribbons would cover her ears when she tied them under her chin.

  “I thought a simpler hat without too much—flowers, birds, and stuff—would work best so you could wrap your shawl over it for more protection.” She looked so overwhelmed—or shocked—he wanted to put his arms around her to give her more warmth and confidence.

  Seth had heard Lily quietly crying during the night, but he tried to keep his breathing even, so she wouldn’t be embarrassed he heard her. Seth had a tough time visualizing how she must feel because he’d never been in a desperate situation like hers. He and his brothers were taught to push forward in a bad situation, dig their way out of a mess, find a solution—but his family was always there to support one another. Lily had no one, and it gave him a guilty conscience for being lucky, so maybe he went a little overboard on the clothing he bought, but Seth wanted to give her hope in mankind—and him.

  “Since I was hoping you’d say yes to my proposal, I also checked about getting married. It would be easiest and faster to be married at the courthouse, rather than a church. Will that be okay with you, Lily?”

  “Yes, I’m just happy to become Mrs. Seth Reagan,” she hiccupped through another sniffle.

  How she said his name made him a little uneasy, but that was to be expected with her circumstances.

  “You’ll need to show some sort of identification to get the license. Do you have something to prove who you are?”

  “Yes. Since my immigration paper was in my Bible, it didn’t get stolen at the Emporium.”

  “Good. How about you get ready, then we’ll go to the courthouse. I want to go back to the Stock Show this afternoon, but I’ll bring you back here to rest.”

  “I’d like to go with you if I wouldn’t be in the way. My ribs are sore, but not enough to spend most of the day here by myself—especially since it’s our wedding day,” Lily shyly finished as she picked up the clothes and headed for the bathroom.

  Well, yes it was, so he should make it special for Lily. After the ceremony, they’d go to the show for the afternoon, then dine in a nice restaurant before returning to their room this evening.

  ***

  “Malena Lilya Linddotter,” Lily proudly stated as she handed the clerk her immigrant paper. In a few minutes, she would be wed to Seth Edward Reagan.

  She looked up at Seth when he coughed in his hand. He raised his eyebrows questioning…? Oh, she hadn’t told Seth her real name. She’d Americanized her name to fit in, but she hadn’t officially changed it. And now it didn’t matter because her last name would be Reagan, at least for a while.

  “That’s all the paperwork, now if you’ll wait on the bench down the hall, the judge will call you into his office for your ceremony,” the clerk said while handing the papers, which the judge would sign, to Seth.

  “I’m glad you said your name first, or I would have said Lily Lind,” Seth whispered when they got to the bench and sat down.

  “I’m sorry, I’ve used my American name for two years, but the Swedish version is still my legal name.”

  “I like the name, Malena. Why don’t you use it?”

  “Our family, and most Swedes use the second name when talking about someone instead of the first. Malena was my grandmother’s middle name, and she went by that. My parents put it as my first name and used Lilya for the name I went by in Sweden.”

  Lily’s breath halted when the judge’s chamber door opened, and a man waved to them to come into the room. She
stood, smiling at Seth as they linked arms. This man was giving her a new future, and for today she’d pretend it was forever.

  Chapter 7

  Lily walked tall and proud, walking through the Exhibition Hall, looking at some of the best cattle in North America. Not only was she now married, but she also wore beautiful, fashionable clothes for the first time in her life. Lily caught herself smiling and rubbing her new gold ring with her thumb through her gloved hand. My temporary husband is wealthy!

  Her bruised side was a little uncomfortable walking so much today, but she wouldn’t miss this time with Seth for anything. She wanted to learn everything she could about the livestock raised in Kansas because it could be part of her new life. I’m a rancher’s wife…for a while.

  Lunch was in a cozy little café, and Seth told her to order whatever she wanted to eat. Lily ate a big meal while Seth told her about his hometown of Clear Creek. She could imagine the Wild West town and couldn’t wait to be a part of it.

  “What breeds of cattle do they have in Sweden? Longhorns made up the first herds in Kansas, but now we have Shorthorns, Herefords, and Angus, too.”

  “I’d say milking shorthorns are the main breed of cattle in Sweden now. I milked Fjäll cattle, the Swedish mountain breed when I was young. Women do the milking there compared to men milking the cows on the farms here.”

  “We have a shorthorn cow for the ranch’s milk supply, but she’s a pain to milk. Daisy can knock over both the milker and the milk pail in one quick kick,” Seth smiled, thinking of the cow’s antics. “Maybe you can show me how to do it right,” he joked.

  “Oh, I bet Daisy, and I would get along fine. I’d love to milk her. Even though I hated doing so many chores on the manor farm, I enjoyed the animals. They were my friends. They didn’t yell or hit me, well, except for one sow who always chased me when she had a chance. She bit me once, too.”

  “Lily? Who yelled and hit you back then?”

  “Seth, I was a poor peasant girl, and well, life was not good there. I prefer not to talk about it, especially today.”

  Someone grabbed Lily’s arm and yanked her hand out of Seth’s arm. “Ouch! What are you doing? Stop it!”

  Her feet left the ground as she was roughly hauled up against a big chest of a man who was running and shoving his way through the crowds of people in the Hall.

  “Seth! Help!” Pain shot through Lily’s side as she twisted and kicked at the man.

  “Quit it! Mr. Hardesty doesn’t want you banged up too much.” A deep voice hissed in her ear as he wrapped his big paw around her mouth. Lily froze a second when she heard the man’s voice. He was one of the two burly thugs who had escorted Seth out of the Emporium that night!

  Where was the other man? Did he attack Seth?

  Lily clamped her teeth into one of the big fingers and ground her teeth as hard as she could, while bringing up her knees and kicking her heels backward repeatedly, trying to connect to his groin. She finally hit the right spot, and he staggered, still holding on to her, but losing his grip on her mouth.

  “Help! This man is kidnapping me! I’m a rancher’s wife!”

  Lily tumbled to the ground when she was dropped by her attacker. She jerked around to kick him again and realized the man’s arms were being held back by several men.

  “Are you all right, ma’am?” A hand reached down, ready to help her up.

  “No! Where’s my husband!? I think someone attacked him too!”

  “I see a mad rancher coming this way with a policeman, so I bet he’s all right, ma’am,” the gentleman assured her as he helped her to stand.

  It felt so good to have Seth’s arms wrapped around her shoulders. “Are you all right, Malena?”

  “My ribs…he squeezed me so hard, they hurt like the devil,” she complained.

  “Okay, Malena, we’ll go find a doctor to check your ribs in a minute.”

  Lily realized he’d called her Malena twice as if to remind her of her Swedish name?

  “Officer, you need to arrest these two men for attacking us. Plenty of witnesses saw what happened,” Seth was breathing hard, and Lily noticed his right jaw was starting to discolor and his lip was cut. Seth got hurt because of me!

  “Now, sir,” the policeman said to Seth, “this gentleman tells me another story—that you kidnapped this woman from the Stockyards Emporium and they were rescuing her instead,” the policeman tapped his baton on his palm. Lily’s heart raced even faster with panic besides pain because this police officer was apparently on Hardesty’s payroll.

  “Who are they rescuing? What’s her name?” Seth pointedly asked the officer, then looked at the men who were being held. Thank goodness people were gawking at them, so the policeman had to appear to be honest.

  “She’s Miss Lily Lind, Mr. Hardesty’s favorite…ah singer, and the cowboy who took her—is you—George Milner,” Hardesty’s man sneered. “You paid to use her ‘female services’ up in her room one night.” Lily could have melted into the ground because of his remark.

  “Officer, he’s lying. May we show you identification of who we are?” Seth asked, staring down at the policeman until he finally shook his head, yes.

  “First, I’m taking off my left glove, showing you my wedding ring. Malena, would you please do so, too?” Lily did so, raising her left hand in the air to show off her new ring, but she kept her right arm wrapped around her middle.

  “I have identification in my wallet, and I am now getting it out,” Seth stated loudly as he pulled his wallet from his vest pocket.

  “Care to read it out loud, sir?” Seth said holding his card in front of the officer.

  “Seth Reagan,” he said, then slanted his eyes at one of Hardesty’s men still being held by bystanders.

  “Malena sweetheart, do you need help getting your Swedish immigration paper out of your reticule?”

  “Yes, please,” Lily breathlessly said as she handed her reticule to him.

  Seth opened the drawstring, pulled out the paper, and held it in front of the policeman. “What’s the name on her paper?”

  “Malena Linddotter,” he grumbled.

  “Yes, and Malena became my wife today, so her name is Mrs. Seth Reagan.”

  “Can you prove that? You could have fake identification cards and rings on to disguise your real names,” the policeman was trying to draw any suspicion on them to sway the bystanders.

  “I still have our marriage certificate tucked in my vest pocket because we came from the courthouse, directly to the Stock Show. Want to read it, too?” Seth’s temper was rising with his voice.

  “Yes.” The officer’s chin jutted out, mad Seth wasn’t bowing to his authority.

  Seth reached into his pocket, pulled out and unfolded their license. “So, the officer doesn’t have to question my honesty, anybody who wants to read our marriage license is welcome to come to view it.”

  “I was in the courthouse this morning, too, and saw them filling out papers at the marriage license counter,” a man in a nice business suit piped up. Four men walked up to read the paper and agreed out loud the names were correct on the certificate.

  “Officer, could you confirm these men’s statements?”

  He read the paper Seth held out in front of him, then shrugged his shoulder in deference.

  “These men have no reason—nor right—to accost my wife or me because a certain saloon keeper is looking for a poor woman who was probably trying to escape from him anyway! I want these two arrested for attacking us without any cause!” Lily guessed Seth’s temper had reached the boiling point, but she wasn’t worried he would ever use it on her, only to protect her.

  The policeman eyed her, Seth, then the crowd around them. It was clear he was outnumbered by witnesses, especially the ones who still held the arms of the two men.

  “Okay, if you men holding these two will help me escort them outside, I’ll get some officers to accompany them to jail.”

  Seth stepped in front of the officer before he turned
away. “Should we follow you to your police station, so we know these men will be thrown in jail? Because if there’s any hint my wife is in danger ever again…I’ll be sure the Chicago newspapers, the Chicago mayor, and the city council hear about it.” Then Seth lowered his voice so only the officer could hear him. “I’m sure not everyone in this town is on this saloon owner’s payroll, and this incident could shut him down.”

  The officer looked at the ground, then back at Seth. “No, it will be taken care of. I’ll pass on the word.”

  “Thank you for your help. Now, where can I find a doctor to help my injured wife?”

  Chapter 8

  “Are you sure—because the hotel can have a doctor come here to check your ribs,” Seth realized he’d asked the same question several times already but seeing the big thug squeeze Lily scared the dickens out of him. He’d taken off Lily’s shoes, and she was now reclining on the bed, and he was pacing back and forth.

  Seth wished his sister-in-law, Doctor Pansy Reagan, was here to examine Lily. Mack’s wife would have taken care of Lily and eased Seth’s mind.

  “I’ll be all right, Seth. I don’t need to see a doctor. Yes, the ogre aggravated my sore ribs, but he didn’t break any.”

  “You would think with the thousands of people in Chicago and the Fat Stock Show, we’d never see or hear from Hardesty’s men again.”

  “They knew you were here for the exhibit and got lucky running into us.”

  What would have happened if they hadn’t gotten married today to show their wedding rings?

  How lucky was it Lily’s first name is Malena, and she had proof along with her because they needed it to get married?

  Thank you, God and Saint Michael…again.

  “Please stop pacing, Seth. We’re all right…and it’s our wedding night.”

  “He got your new coat dirty!”

  “We were in an exhibit hall filled with cattle. The dirt will brush right off the coat…once the manure dries. I grew up around animals. I’m not upset.”

  Seth turned and looked at Lily. No, she didn’t seem upset, but tired, bruised, and happy. Lily finally felt she was in a safe place with him, and he didn’t want to burst her bubble.