“What? I’m sorry I forgot the ring.”
“It’s fine,” Georgia said.
He expected her to be disappointed, but she wasn’t. Most females he knew would have pouted.
At the end of the ceremony, he was supposed to kiss her, but she still had flour on her forehead. He took her hand and kissed the back of it. He was glad of the shy smile she gave him.
“We might as well put your things in my wagon.”
“That will be fine. I don’t have much.” She led him to the Wilsons’ wagon and reached in. She pulled out a simple carpetbag and handed it to him.
“Is this all?” He hadn’t meant to embarrass her, but by the shade of red her face turned, he had done just that. Another sigh slipped out. “Say your goodbyes. I’ll be at the wagon. We need to make tracks while it’s still daylight.”
Georgie nodded. “I’ll be right there.”
He felt the heat of her gaze the whole walk to his wagon.
* * *
Tears formed in her eyes as she tightly hugged the Wilsons. They’d been more than kind to her. Mr. Wilde gave her a fatherly hug, and she started to walk away.
“Wait!” cried a shrill voice.
She turned to find Davey running toward her.
She crouched and gave him a big hug. “You take care now, you hear? I’ll miss you something awful.” She let go, turned him in the direction of his parents. “Goodbye.”
Tears trailed down her face as she walked to her new husband’s wagon. He hadn’t wanted her. He hadn’t proposed to her. He hadn’t even known about her. The situation couldn’t be worse. She took a deep breath as her confidence plummeted. Circumstances could and had been worse. Whoever Parker was, he’d come through in her time of need. He didn’t seem to think much of her, though. That message was clear in his stormy, whiskey brown eyes.
He held out his hand and helped her onto the wagon. She settled on the hard bench as he climbed up on his side. Soon they were off. She wanted to say something, but she didn’t know what to say. Everything she thought she knew was a lie. How could his mother have done such a thing?
They headed down a heavily rutted trail, then Parker turned onto a trail that looked little used.
“How far is your ranch? You do have a ranch, don’t you?” She held her breath hoping he said yes.
He turned his head and looked at her. “Yes I do own a ranch. It’s a cattle ranch, and it takes most of my time. It’s over a week away.” He turned back and watched the trail.
“You’ve been away from it two weeks already?”
He gave a silent nod.
“I’m sorry it never occurred to me that I’d take up so many weeks of your time. Maybe I could have found a wagon going your way. I should have tried.”
Some of the tension seemed to leave his body as his shoulders relaxed. “You didn’t know. You were as duped as I was. My mother is meddlesome, I’m afraid. I’m all she has left. We lost my father and brother to the war effort, and she didn’t understand why her maids left her. She thought of them as family, she said.” He shrugged. “You don’t own family, of course, but she grew up on a plantation with slaves. She insisted they all accompany us to Texas. My father was the same way except he never lived to see them emancipated.”
Georgie mulled over his words, unsure how to respond.
“My brother and I both swore we’d never own another human,” Parker continued. “I’m capable of doing any of the work required, and now I have plenty of men who work for me. I wanted to hire some black women to help take care of the house, but I didn’t dare. My mother would have expected them to bow to her.” He glanced at Georgie. “I’m sorry. I don’t even know how you feel about slavery, or if you grew up with them. Everyone seems to have their own distinct opinion on the subject. It’s led to a lot of discord in my area of Texas.”
She squirmed a bit, trying to figure out what to say. “I grew up on a fine plantation, and yes we owned slaves. I owned Betsy. I never gave a thought to it being wrong. It was just how things were. I hated the treatment the overseer meted out. But I was just a female. I was expected to smile and know how to arrange flowers.” She shook her head. “Things are so different now.”
“Yes, things are different.” He pulled off the trail and stopped. “We might as well make camp.”
She jumped down without his help. She was frightened of what came after the sun went down. Betsy had told her horror stories about what happened between men and women. “I’ll gather some wood,” she called as she went into the woods. A moment alone was what she needed.
She stopped and leaned back against a big tree trunk. What if he didn’t like her? She’d never had a beau. The war started just before her sixteenth birthday. There were older men willing but her father put a firm stop to their attempts at courting. Maybe she wasn’t likable. No one had ever told her she’d be the belle of the ball someday. Not like they’d told… She shivered. It hurt too much to think about. She needed to keep busy. Pushing away from the tree, she found and carried a big pile of wood.
Was there something wrong with Parker? Why not find a wife closer to home? She expected Union soldiers to lie. She expected carpetbaggers to lie. She did not expect a Southern mother of a captain of the Confederate Army to lie. She cleared the heaviest part of the woods and pasted a smile on her face.
Well, she was married, and she had no choices left. She dropped the armful of wood and then stacked it by the fire pit that Parker had made. Where was he? A twig snapped behind her, and she quickly turned around, but she didn’t see anyone or anything, and a shudder rippled through her. Who knew what animals were in the woods?
Glancing at the horses, she relaxed. They were calmly grazing on the grass. They would have alerted her to trouble. She went to the back of the wagon and put the back down before she climbed in. She could start getting the evening meal prepared. There wasn’t much in this wagon compared to the wagons in the wagon train. Those wagons had been filled with everything the owners had.
She quickly found the flour and almost laughed. He’d seen her at her worst, yet he’d still married her. Why? He could have ridden away. She might have if the shoe was on the other foot.
“Georgia?” He had a nice deep voice.
“I’m in the wagon.” She grabbed what she needed to make biscuits and climbed back out. Parker was getting the fire going. When she approached him, she made sure her face was graced by a smile. His mouth curved upward as well. Her lips twitched.
“I just set a couple snares. There are rabbit trails everywhere, it seems.” He put more wood on the fire as soon as he had a flame.
“That must be what I heard.”
He quickly glanced up at her. “What kind of noise was it?”
“I heard a twig snap. I looked, but I didn’t see anything. The horses didn’t react so I didn’t worry.”
He studied her for a moment. “That is a good indicator. I have to say I’m surprised you’d know that.”
This time her smile was real. “A girl learns a lot when she only has herself to depend on.”
He frowned but didn’t ask her to elaborate. He probably didn’t want to know. Everyone had a hard luck story about the war. Both sides had suffered.
“I’ll just get the biscuits ready to put in the Dutch oven.”
He smiled. “That will go good with the leftover stew from last night. Rabbits have been plentiful ln this part of the trip. I’m sure I’ll be able to get a deer in a few days. I’m glad you can cook. I expected a woman from the south to be pampered.”
She gave him a sad smile. “Once upon a time I was pampered. But you learn what you have to, and you survive the best you can. I saw women wither and take any proposal even from sharecroppers. Not that marrying a sharecropper is bad, but those women were humiliated and wouldn’t meet my eye when our paths crossed.”
“Where did you live?”
“I converted the cookhouse to my living area. It was the only building that didn’t burn. The slave qua
rters were still intact but I didn’t want to disturb them. I was no longer their responsibility even though many checked on me and tried to help. They didn’t know where to go and many stayed. They had a large garden of their own that hadn’t been pillaged. I helped many find their family members that they’d been separated from and brought them back to my property. In the end, we worked together to keep everyone fed.” Sorrow overtook her and she shook her head. “I cautioned them to make a plan since I could not pay the taxes. It was very likely we’d be run off the land.”
She finished with the biscuits. “It was pure luck I saw the ad you – I mean your mother placed in the paper. I didn’t know what to do. I was thinking about going north but I didn’t know if I’d be welcome up there. I divided my mother’s jewelry between me and Betsy. I knew we’d get cheated if we tried to sell it in Tennessee, but I figured it would be useful for something. It got me to St. Louis where I was able to join a wagon train heading this way.”
“Why didn’t you use it to pay the taxes?” he asked.
“The price was the jewelry plus my virtue. What would happen next year? It didn’t make good business sense.”
“It’s been rough for you.” His voice was gentle and sincere. She’d heard it all before but no one ever really meant it.
“It was hard for most. But here I am, married to a man who didn’t know he was supposed to be my groom. That must gall you. I bet having been a captain you’re used to making your own decisions.”
An ironic smile twisted Parker’s lips. “You’ll soon learn that my mother is the general in the family.” He chuckled.
“Was there someone back home you had your eye on? Did you have an understanding with any woman?” She held her breath.
He shook his head. “I’m always too busy to socialize. So the answer is no. I have no interest in any woman.”
Including her. Georgie put the stew on to heat. She knew what it felt like to have choices taken away. “I’m sorry you got stuck with me. The letters were so beautiful, and I thought I knew you through them, but I really don’t know you at all, do I?”
“I’m afraid you’ll find that I don’t have a romantic bone in my body. I am the oldest son, the responsible one, the one who was to take over the ranch someday, so I didn’t get much free time to think about much other than cattle. Then the war broke out.” He shrugged his left shoulder. “It’ll be all right. The house is big, not a plantation, mind you, but it’s nice. It’s heavily guarded against the soldiers, carpetbaggers, outlaws, and Indians.”
“Oh my, are we safe traveling alone?” She peered around into the woods.
“We’ll be fine.”
If those few words were meant to comfort her, they didn’t. “How many guns do you have?”
“You shoot?” His voice was full of doubt.
“Of course I do. That’s how I’m still alive. I’m a good shot too.” She stirred the stew and checked the biscuits. “It’s almost ready.”
“Have you ever shot a man?”
Her eyes grew wide as her heart took up a frantic pounding against her ribs. She didn’t like to think about it. “I only shot people who deserved it.”
He cocked his right brow but he didn’t ask anything more. “I’ll grab a couple plates.”
She sighed in relief as her heartbeat went back to normal. So much had happened and she tried to put it all out of her mind.
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Love Before Midnight
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About the Author
Sexy Cowboys and the Women Who Love Them...
Finalist in the 2012 and 2015 RONE Awards.
Top Pick, Five Star Series from the Romance Review.
Kathleen Ball writes contemporary and historical western romance with great emotion and
memorable characters. Her books are award winners and have appeared on best sellers lists including: Amazon's Best Seller's List, All Romance Ebooks, Bookstrand, Desert Breeze Publishing and Secret Cravings Publishing Best Sellers list. She is the recipient of eight Editor's Choice Awards, and The Readers' Choice Award for Ryelee's Cowboy.
Winner of the Lear diamond award Best Historical Novel- Cinders' Bride
There's something about a cowboy
Other Books by Kathleen
Lasso Spring Series
Callie’s Heart
Lone Star Joy
Stetson’s Storm
Dawson Ranch Series
Texas Haven
Ryelee’s Cowboy
Cowboy Season Series
Summer’s Desire
Autumn’s Hope
Winter’s Embrace
Spring’s Delight
Mail Order Brides of Texas
Cinder’s Bride
Keegan’s Bride
Shane’s Bride
Tramp’s Bride
Poor Boy’s Christmas
Oregon Trail Dreamin’
We’ve Only Just Begun
A Lifetime to Share
A Love Worth Searching For
So Many Roads to Choose
The Settlers
Greg
Juan
Scarlett
Mail Order Brides of Spring Water
Tattered Hearts
Shattered Trust
Glory’s Groom
Battered Soul
Faltered Beginnings
The Greatest Gift
Love So Deep
Luke’s Fate
Whispered Love
Love Before Midnight
I’m Forever Yours
Finn’s Fortune
Glory’s Groom
Faltered Beginnings: Mail Order Brides of Spring Water Book Five Page 14
