Rescuing the Cowboy

by P. Creeden

  There at the table sat four of his cowboys. They all stood when he come in. Wilbur offered him a half-smile. “Do you need us to do anything, boss?”

  Marcus frowned and rubbed his shoulder. “Not unless you can wrangle all those people out of here. If have to shake one more hand, I think my arm might dislodge.”

  Wilbur started for the door. “Do you want me to try? I can see what I can do to get them out.”

  Marcus shook his head, chuckled and said, “No. It’s fine. I’m sure they will all leave soon enough.”

  Then he sat down at the hardwood table and the other cowboys sat with him. This was more his speed. These were his people. His grandfather had always handled the business end of the ranch. What was he going to do about that end now? Surely he couldn’t hire a new foreman and take over the business himself? Was there a way to hire someone to handle the paperwork? Could he trust someone to do that? It would have to be a very honest man with a good head for numbers. Where would he find that? Maybe he could talk to the lawyer about helping him find that sort of person. The cook came over without a word and set a warm bowl of soup in front of him with a slice of fresh bread.

  He felt cold. Chilled to the bone, almost like how he was when he’d passed out the other day. But this time it wasn’t the wind and rain that had done it. It was the upper crust of Oklahoma society—the people in town who all wanted to know what he was going to do with this sizable ranch now that his grandfather was gone. Little did they all know that he might lose it all if he didn’t soon get a telegraph back from New York. Or find a suitable wife to meet the guidelines his grandfather required of him. He picked up his spoon and shoveled a large mouthful in. The warmth of the soup helped comfort him. He tore a piece of the bread off and dipped it in before shoving that into his mouth as well. Then he looked up and found all eyes on him. He frowned. “What?”

  Wilbur let out a slow breath. “We’re worried. The lawyer told us that we need to be prepared for changes, but he left it at that. And the look on your face is telling us that our worry isn’t without cause. So are you going to tell us what’s going on? Or leave us in a lurch?”

  After swallowing the bite that Marcus had in his mouth, he set down the spoon. Could he really share his burdens and his fears with his men? Would it be the right thing to do? His grandfather had always said that men respected what they feared and urged Marcus to rule the men with an iron fist. He’d never done that. Like gentling horses, he felt that it required a soft touch instead. But now, with his grandfather gone, who would be the iron fist? Would the workers all run rough-shod over Marcus and find him too soft? He feared that what his grandfather said might be true. He drew in a deep breath and shook his head. He couldn’t be the kind of man that his grandfather wanted him to be, but maybe just in this one thing, his grandfather was right. Wouldn’t it be stronger of Marcus to bare his burden alone? He looked up at everyone and smiled. “No need to worry. I’m taking care of everything.

  And it was the truth. Marcus would do everything in his power to keep the jobs of all the cattle workers and house workers safe. He’d do everything he could to make sure that they all had jobs and nothing to worry about. Even if it meant living in a loveless marriage for the rest of his life.

  When Bethany arrived at the Stewart house, she was brought to the parlor by a servant who bowed and then left. The opulence in the room astounded her. Crystal decorated the candelabras and sconces on the walls, and all the wood trim around the room had intricate carvings in them. The chair railing depicted a hunting scene with horses, hounds, deer and trees that went on and on around the room in a full circle. She’d never seen something so painstakingly delicate.

  “Oh, Cousin!” Claudia cried the moment she entered the room. Bethany barely got a glimpse of Claudia’s red rimmed eyes and nose before the girl fell into her arms in a tight embrace that squeezed her neck.

  Not knowing how to respond again, Bethany patted the girl on the back. “Hello, Claudia.”

  Claudia pushed back, wiping her nose and patting her cheeks with the kerchief in her hand. “I’m so glad that you came. And that you’re early!” She grabbed Bethany by the hand and began pulling her toward the stairs. “Let’s go get you cleaned up and in something suitable for tea.”

  Bethany allowed herself to be dragged up the steps and brought into a room just as delicate and fancy as the parlor had been. Even the bed had a canopy over it.

  Pulling open the doors to her wardrobe, Claudia peered back at her with a smile even though it had been obvious she’d been crying. “What’s your favorite color? I bet green would look lovely on you. If you like green?”

  “Green is fine,” Bethany said with a nod, but she still worried for her new friend. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  Claudia’s lips drew thin and she covered her mouth with her handkerchief as her eyes went wide. Then she shook her head. “It’s fine. I just got some unpleasant news today. I’m trying to put it out of my head right now. Just let me dress you and fix your hair. You are a lovely distraction that comes at the perfect time. I’m so very happy you’re here.”

  Bethany blinked at her and nodded. “All right.”

  A smile tugged at Claudia’s lips while her face softened. “Excellent. Let me call in Renatta to draw a bath for you and then help you with shampooing your hair.”

  Bethany’s hand went up to the knotted braid in her hair. “I can shampoo my own hair. I don’t want to be a burden.”

  “Pish-posh!” Claudia exclaimed, waving her hand in a dismissive gesture. “You’re no burden. Doing this sort of thing is nothing shy of fun. I’m so very glad you came today, Cousin. I was worried yesterday that I might have come on too strong and drove you away. I tend to be a bit too open, Mother says. I need to hold back.”

  “Not at all,” Bethany said, her shoulders relaxing. Did Claudia really believe that she might drive Bethany away, or was she just saying that to make her feel like less of an imposition? Either way, she felt better that Claudia kept assuring her she wasn’t unwelcome.

  Once the two servants arrived, everything happened so quickly it felt like a whirlwind. Bethany had never had servants help her with bathing, dressing, and doing her hair. And Claudia supervised the whole process, never leaving Bethany’s side. While the servants did their work, Claudia told Bethany everything about how she and her mother helped in the church and at the hospital as often as they could. That wealthy people needed to give and be charitable—it was their duty to spread the blessings that God had given them. When one of the servants had begun to braid her hair for the dinner, Claudia sat beside her and another servant unbraided and rebraided her strawberry blonde locks as well. It must have been true that Bethany had provided Claudia with a distraction, because the redness in her face had receded, and one could hardly tell that Claudia had been crying anymore.

  Then the younger woman took a deep breath and let it out. “Don’t you think that fifteen is too young to marry?”

  “You’re fifteen?” Bethany said, lifting a brow. “I thought you were closer to my age.”

  “How old are you?” she asked, both her brows going up.

  “I’m twenty-two. I was married when I was nineteen.”

  Claudia let out a breath. “And when were you widowed?”

  “Last year. Right after my twenty-first birthday.”

  Her eyes went wide. “How soon after?”

  “The very next day.” Bethany swallowed hard, trying to force the lump down.

  “So you weren’t much older than me when you wed. But still, nineteen does seem like a lot older than fifteen.”

  Just as the servant finished with Bethany’s hair, she tilted her head toward her new friend. “Are you supposed to marry soon?”

  Claudia’s lips drew thin as she frowned. “I hope to God that I do not have to. My father got a telegram today saying that there is a Mr. Young who made an agreement with my grandfather to marry me to his grandson. I... I can’t believe my grandfather would
have done such a thing. It’s a horrible, horrible situation. He is coming to tea tonight as well. Anyway, he’s going to need to explain the situation so that we know if I’m really to be sent off to... to... Oklahoma. Can you imagine? Me? Married to a cowboy at fifteen?”

  Her voice ticked upward at the end of it and Claudia’s eyes grew watery as she fanned herself, trying to keep herself from letting the tears go. Bethany reached over and gripped her friend’s delicate hand. “I’m sure things will work out. It cannot possibly be that your grandfather wants you to do something you don’t want to. I’m sure when he sees how unhappy you are about this arrangement, he will let you out of it.”

  A small smile tugged at Claudia’s lips again as she let out a slow breath. “From your lips to God’s ears, Cousin. I hope that you are right.”

  Just then, a male servant knocked upon the door before opening and stepping in. “Miss Stewart, your company is requested in the dining room. Tea will be served in five minutes. And your grandfather has just arrived.”

  “Thank you, Joshua,” she said in a sing-song voice as she gripped Bethany’s hand back. “Let’s go introduce you to Grandfather. I’m sure he’ll love you as much as I do.”

  Bethany’s heart fluttered in her chest as she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Dressed up like this, she felt little more than a pretender in a costume. She hoped that the Stewart family would be half as accepting of her as Claudia had been as she let out a deep breath. Either way, she was ready to face whatever came of that day.

  Chapter 8

  “And this is Bethany Campbell, Mother. Isn’t she lovely?” Claudia introduced Bethany to her family in the most enthusiastic way possible. It was certain that Claudia was the mood-maker of the room. Provided that she was bubbly and happy, it was nearly impossible to be at least smiling when standing in her presence.

  That much worked in Bethany’s favor, because even as several family members lifted a brow at her in suspicion, no one was anything but cordial and welcoming to her. It wasn’t long before they were all seated at the formal dining table and Bethany felt that she could breathe again and relax, even though she wasn’t used to wearing her corset so tightly cinched. Claudia’s father sat at one end of the table while her grandfather sat at the other. On the four seats in between, Bethany and Claudia sat on one side while her younger brother and mother sat across from them.

  “Bethany?” the young boy asked leaning in. “Are you really our cousin?”

  Bethany wasn’t sure how to answer, since she’d never even seen the family tree that Claudia had spoken of, she just kept her lips tight for a moment.

  “Yes,” their mother said, “She is my cousin on my father’s side—a Thomson. I did the research myself.”

  “So, she’s not a Stewart, then,” the Grandfather said as a statement, not as a question, as though he wanted to make things clear. “I wasn’t sure what the relation might have been since I’d never heard of you.”

  Bethany shook her head. “It’s quite all right. This is all news to me, and the last thing I want to do is impose on a family where I—”

  “Nonsense!” Claudia said, grabbing her hand again. “I keep telling you that you are not an imposition. We are happy to have you here. Aren’t we, Father?”

  The man with his hair parted in the middle as neatly and in the same curve as his mustache nodded. “Yes. Quite right.”

  As the soup course arrived, Bethany let out another relieved breath. The courses came one after another, even though they were all light and in small portions. Hunger gnawed at Bethany’s insides as she sipped her tea. She wanted to devour the food quickly and with abandon, but she couldn’t possibly put herself in that kind of light upon first meeting these people of higher stature than herself. She kept her base urges in check and forced herself to eat slowly.

  Upon the finish of the third course, Claudia turned to her grandfather finally. “Tell me it isn’t true, Grandfather.”

  Her grandfather lifted a brow and furrowed it. “What do you mean, Dear?”

  Her father cleared his throat. “She’s referring to the telegram that arrived this morning.” He nodded to a servant who carried the yellow slip of paper to the older gentleman and then bowed as the grandfather took it.

  The color drained from the older man’s face as he read the telegram. He set it down, eyes wide. “I never thought that.. I didn’t realize that... No. He cannot have her. I never intended to...”

  Relief spread across Claudia’s features. “I knew it. I knew it had to be some sort of mistake!”

  Her grandfather swallowed hard and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Dear. This is my mistake. I will try to take care of it. I’m not sure how though. If necessary, are you willing to do as this telegram says.”

  Claudia gasped. “What do you mean? You... You want me to marry him?”

  “No, Dear.” The older man blinked hard. “It’s not that I want you to do anything. I gave my word a long time ago to a good friend who I owe very much. It was long before you were born... Your father was only an infant at the time. I promised that our grandchildren might someday be wed. That was it. I’d forgotten about the deal we made. It had never occurred to me that the old man would come and call me to task like this.”

  A wail escaped Claudia’s lips as a light dessert plate was set in front of each of them. “How could you do this to me, Grandfather. Surely there must be some way out of it.”

  For a long time, the family just sat over their dessert plates in silence until finally the boy across from Bethany picked up his spoon and began eating the small custard tart. “Too bad we don’t have another granddaughter for you, Grandfather. Then they could be the one that gets married instead of Claudia.” Then the boy looked up and smiled at Bethany. “Too bad Bethany is a cousin instead of a sister.”

  The grandfather coughed on the sip of tea he’d taken. “Miss Thomson, was it?”

  “Actually, it’s Campbell. I’m... I’ve been widowed.” Bethany wasn’t sure what to expect next, but her heart began to race as everyone at the table looked at her expectantly.

  “Do you have family in the area, Ms. Campbell? Prospects? Work?” the older gentleman asked as he leaned back in his chair.

  Slowly, Bethany shook her head and swallowed hard. “I’m afraid I have nothing, sir. I... I lost everything I had when I had that accident with the horse last week that put me in the hospital.”

  Claudia’s eyes went wide as she squeezed Bethany’s hand again. “You didn’t tell me that.”

  Honestly, Bethany didn’t know why she was even saying anything about it now. She should have kept her situation to herself. It wasn’t right to burden these good people with her problems. It wasn’t right for her to have been here during their time of crisis either. She was beginning to wish she’d never come.

  The older gentleman scratched his chin and then leaned forward again. “Would you consider, Ms. Campbell, taking my granddaughter’s place and marrying this Mr. Marcus Young in Oklahoma? You are a family member and if anyone says differently, I’ll officially adopt you. I’d be willing to pay for all expenses myself and even provide you with a nice dowry if you’re willing to do this for us.”

  Claudia squealed and squeezed Bethany’s hand tighter as she brought it to her chest. “Oh, please! Would you, Cousin? Would you take this burden from me?”

  For a long moment, Bethany just blinked and glanced at everyone who sat at the table. Could this really be happening to her right now? Her heart continued to twist and flutter in her chest like a bird caught within a cage. And honestly, Bethany felt almost as trapped. Not by the people who sat around her, but by her own indecision. She should have just said no. She should have denied the request immediately. Isn’t that what any rational person would have done? Instead, she considered it. She considered entering into a loveless marriage of convenience because she honestly had no place to go. No family. No source of income. If she accepted this offer, wouldn’t it be a generous turn of events for her
? She’d no longer have to worry about those things. Her breath began to shorten a bit as panic hit her.

  But could she really marry a stranger under all this pretense?

  “I...” Bethany said, suddenly standing. “Would you let me pray about this? I can’t make a decision so...”

  “Of course,” the elder man said as he stood too. “Why don’t you go on up to Claudia’s rooms and make yourself comfortable? I’ll be in the parlor with the younger Mr. Stewart for at least the next hour. If you come to an answer, I’d appreciate one as soon as possible.”

  “I’ll take you up to my rooms and then leave you there in peace. I promise not to interrupt your prayer,” Claudia said as she stood and began pulling Bethany toward the stairs again.

  No one except Claudia’s brother, Robert, had touched their custard. As hungry as Bethany was earlier, she probably could have eaten them all. By herself. But now that a decision had to be made that she wasn’t ready to make, she felt no hunger, no room in her clenched stomach to even consider taking another bite. She followed Claudia up the stairs until the younger girl was saying her goodbyes and then leaving her alone in the bedroom. A ringing began in Bethany’s ears again as she felt overwhelmed for the second time that day. Immediately, she turned and knelt upon the floor, dropping at the feet of her Lord.

  Chapter 9

  The next morning, it was nearly noon when the lawyer arrived at the Young Ranch with a telegram for Marcus. As soon as the man dismounted his wagon, a wide smile spread across his lips. Once he came inside, he waved the yellow piece of paper in the air. “Good news! Mr. Stewart, Claudia Stewart’s grandfather, has sent us word. He has decided that Claudia is too young to be wed yet at only fifteen.”

  Marcus’s heart sunk. He leaned against the mantle in the parlor. Fifteen? He’d nearly been marrying a child. But wait. Although it was good he’d no longer be marrying a child, how could this be considered good news enough to bring that wide of a smile to Mr. Brown’s face. “Is there more?” he finally asked.