The Scarred Bride (Mail-Order Bride Book 11)

by Stella Clark

  “I’ll stay with him,” Kate said.

  “Are you sure?” Richie asked her as night set in.

  Rubbing her hands together, Kate nodded. She wasn’t really sure, but she didn’t want to keep the man trapped in the house any longer. “We’ll be fine. We’ll … please tell the men I’m sorry there’s no supper. You can take two of my pies with you. Hopefully that’ll appease them.”

  “Don’t worry,” he shook his head. “We’ll live off tree bark if we have to until he’s healed. Coop’s a good boss. I’m sure he’ll pull through.” He put his hat on and walked out.

  Her heart hammered as she found herself alone with her husband. The silence grew heavy. Kate knelt, her knees thudding against the ground. It hurt. But she appreciated the pain as it pulled her from the daze.

  “What happened?”

  “Oh!” Kate jumped, grabbing her heart in surprise. Looking down, she saw Cooper with his eyes open. He was tight-lipped, but his voice was clear. Her eyes widened in relief. “Cooper, I …”

  He groaned, trying to move. Kate grabbed his arm, holding him still as she shook her head. “Kate? What is it?”

  She attempted a smile. “You tell me. Your men brought you here all banged up.”

  His hands trailed slowly to his chest. The man had lost his shirt and now wore one made of bandages. Still, she saw much of his shoulders and arms. She flushed but didn’t turn away.

  Cooper spoke thickly. “There were … there was …”

  “We can worry later.” Kate squeezed his hand. “The important thing is that you’re going to be just fine, all right? By tomorrow, you’ll be back in our bed, and—and you’ll probably be walking by next week.” Her throat constricted. “You’ll be just fine.”

  The tension in his shoulders slowly loosened. Cooper nodded, trusting her. His eyes closed as he relaxed.

  Not knowing what else to do, she stayed right there as he fell back asleep, pain etched into his face. Kate did what she could to help, keeping food and water handy. Then she brought down their pillows and settled in the rocking chair to keep an eye on him through the night.

  A fever overtook him quickly from the infected wound. Kate worked to keep him warm and hydrated. Cooper was hardly conscious and a reluctant patient, but she worked tirelessly until two days later when the fever broke.

  By then, he was good enough that with help, he made it up the stairs to their bed. Only then did Kate feel comfortable enough to leave his side for a few hours. He was improving. Even the doctor said his healing was marvelous.

  That evening, Kate was finally able to give him some peach cobbler, and they held a conversation for more than five minutes.

  Afterward, he slept again. Kate washed the dishes and then crawled into bed beside him. She took a deep breath and then reached out when he tried to turn. With his bandages, Cooper couldn’t sleep on his side yet. He stopped at her hand, however, and relaxed.

  Silence settled in, though she could hear her heart pounding. After what they had just been through, she still wasn’t done talking to him. “Cooper?”

  No answer.

  Scooting up, she glanced at him in the moonlight. The last couple of days had been the most stressful in her life. As exhausted as she felt, Kate found herself studying him carefully. Just to make sure he was fine.

  “You’re going to heal,” she whispered, knowing he wouldn’t hear her. But she had to let the words out. After what they had lived through, she couldn’t keep her feelings pent up any longer. “You’ll be just fine. You have to be. I … I can’t lose you. Not after everything we’ve been through. I love you.”

  Chapter 12

  Everything hurt.

  Cooper wanted nothing more than to fade into the blackness. The last couple of days had been drenched in pain. Everything throbbed and ached.

  The only thing that kept him going was Kate. Her voice crept through the dark to bring him back every time. She had gone above and beyond as his wife. When everything went wrong during the stampede, the first thing on his mind was the fear of losing her.

  He knew he tossed and turned at night. It was something he had always done, unable to just be still on the bed. Unable to sleep through the pain, he often found himself in a fog and barely conscious. That happened several times with the fever.

  Cooper was in a foggy daze when he tried to turn, forgetting about the wound. He hadn’t realized Kate was so close. Her small hand was firm as she stopped him, and he relaxed. When she said his name, he meant to speak up. But his tongue felt thick. He expected her to sleep.

  She talked instead, whispering in the night.

  It took all his strength not to react when she confessed her love for him. Hearing that was so unexpected that he didn’t even know how to react. Feeling his heart thudding in his chest, Cooper forgot about the pain as she talked.

  “I know—I know I shouldn’t,” Kate continued with her hand slipping off his chest. “I’m sorry. It’s—this marriage we have—I understand what you want and why you want it. I didn’t mean for this to happen. But you’re partially to blame.” She gave a small, helpless laugh.

  Cooper tried not to breathe loudly. He told himself to either fall asleep or let her know he was awake. But before he could decide, she was talking again.

  “You’ve been so good to me. Every day, you treat me with respect and—and you see not just who I am, but who I can be. It makes me want to try harder and be better. You do that for me, every day.

  “I look forward to every morning and evening. Our conversations are always a highlight, even if we’re just talking about the weather or—or about peaches. You and those peaches.”

  She was quiet for a minute. Cooper held his breath. There was a tug at the covers before she covered his chest. “I’m sure your men will tell you eventually, but I made three pies. I just wanted them to be perfect for you.

  “You make me happy, Cooper. You make me excited for each day. Every morning is an adventure. I never know what will happen and you’ve helped me to enjoy that. Back in Boston, I always felt invisible. But with you, I never do. Not once.

  “And when you smile at me, my heart starts pounding like it’s going to pop right out of my chest. I can hardly breathe. I don’t know a lot about love, but I know enough that I love you. So you can’t die on me, Cooper. I need you too much. I love you.”

  As Kate talked, Cooper’s heart started to pound louder than ever before. He realized that it was beating so hard it felt like it would climb right out of his chest. Just like she had said hers was doing.

  Slowly the truth dawned on him. All that tightness in his chest, all the times he found himself smiling at her, everything that he felt inside was more than what he assumed it was.

  Love. It was more than fondness.

  At first, the idea gripped him with fear. He didn’t want to love anyone. He hadn’t wanted to get married because of what had happened with his parents. There were still restless nights when he remembered what his father had done.

  It had been rough. Cooper had left home as soon as he was old enough, swearing he would never make the same mistake. What if, by loving Kate, he was sealing a terrible fate for her?

  The fear fled as he realized he knew he would never treat her in such a manner. If he had already loved her for longer than he realized, then love could be a good thing. He never touched alcohol and he never wanted to hurt her.

  Hope sprang in his chest. Every word she said brought a wave of joy. When she described her love for him and how it affected her, he realized that his love for her affected him as well.

  He liked his mornings with her. And his evenings. Especially his Sundays when it was just the two of them going to church. He liked her strong spirit and her bright smile. He enjoyed their conversations, their adventures with escaped chickens, and washing dishes with her after supper.

  If that’s what love was, Cooper realized, then he loved her.

  “I do,” Kate was wrapping up her thoughts with a shaky breath. “I
love—”

  Cooper opened his eyes to find her leaning towards him, resting on one arm to partially sit up. The moonlight shone on her face. It shone right on the scar. The scar that she didn’t talk about. The scar that pinched when she smiled. It pinched often. The scar that she tried to hide and that she believed made her hideous.

  He couldn’t take it anymore. “Kate.”

  “Oh!” His wife gasped loudly, jerking back to hit her head on the wall. He wrinkled his nose sympathetically as she put a hand to her head. “Cooper? You’re awake?”

  Stretching up with his uninjured arm, Cooper took her hand in his and kissed it. She smelled like peaches. When she leaned closer with her big blue eyes, he managed a half-hearted smile. “I love you too.”

  She was speechless. They stared at one another until she hiccupped. “You mean it,” Kate murmured in wonder. “You’ve never lied to me.”

  “And I never will,” he reminded her firmly.

  Scooting a little closer, she leaned forward on her pillow. “Can … can you say that again?”

  He considered teasing her. His heart felt so light all he wanted to do was laugh. But Cooper knew what she meant. He squeezed her hand and agreeably told her again, “I love you, Kate.”

  A look of wonder passed over her face before she smiled. It was a big toothy one, the smile he liked on her most. Reaching up, he touched her cheek. The one with the scar. She didn’t flinch. “I love you too,” she told him.

  “I know.”

  Then she frowned. “How long were you awake? You should have said something before I hit my head.”

  That earned a short chuckle before he groaned. Alert again, the pain returned. He tried to shift but she put a hand on his shoulder. It had become a quick habit of hers, he assumed.

  Cooper reluctantly answered her question with a sheepish grin. “For all of it.” He stole her hand before she could cover her mouth in embarrassment. “And I’m glad I was.”

  She thought about it. “Me too,” she gave a grudging smile. Kate shook her head with a wry laugh. “Everything’s always a surprise with you.”

  Chapter 13

  The healing process was a slow one for Cooper.

  Kate didn’t mind. Having him trapped in bed meant having him to herself. She handled the chores in the morning, prepared one meal a day for the men, and spent the rest of her time with her husband.

  The hardest part was having Cooper learn to let go. He had a capable foreman in Richie. Wagby was fired for his poor management of the stampeding cattle—he very likely had caused the stampede, it turned out—and they hired Richie’s two cousins who were almost as capable as him. The men continued to work hard, and Richie stopped by to provide daily updates.

  As Cooper began to heal up, he learned that he wasn’t as needed as he liked to think. It was a hard lesson, but Kate didn’t mind. That just meant the two of them had more time together.

  She cheered as they made a lap around the house without stopping. No longer using a cane, Cooper gave her a proud grin before laughing and pulling her into his arms. She was careful not to touch his side since the ribs were still healing.

  “You’re doing wonderfully,” Kate informed him happily. “You’ll be on your horse before the next storm, I just know it.”

  He rolled his eyes. “You’re a little overeager, darling.”

  “Since when do you play it safe?” She raised her eyebrows. “You’re the one who took the Oregon Trail on your own at fifteen. If you can do that, you can do anything.”

  After confessing their love, neither of them slept. Instead, the two of them lay there together and whispered their secrets. She had never felt so vulnerable or so safe in her life.

  But he told his story about losing his mother during one of his father’s drunken fits and running away a few years later. He left Kansas and made his way west, doing anything he could for a bite of bread before staking the land and working to earn a penny here and there. Little by little, he spent the next ten years building up the Circle Seven Ranch.

  And she shared her story. The eldest of seven children, unable to help her family survive in the poor part of Boston. She had few friends and even fewer people willing to hire a scarred woman. Kate told him about the fire and the fears that had plagued her ever since.

  Soon there were no more secrets. Yet they never ran out of things to talk about. Kate nestled closer into Cooper’s arms as a chilly wind passed through them.

  He tugged her shawl closer around her shoulders and again she wondered how she had been so lucky. There was nowhere else she wanted to be. Craning her neck up to get a better look at her husband, she grinned at him.

  Cooper raised an eyebrow at her. “What is it?”

  “Nothing,” she told him simply. “I just adore you.”

  He gave her a quick squeeze. “Good. I love you too.”

  They said that every day, in one shape or form or another. Even if it wasn’t said until they were crawling into bed together, they still made sure to mention it.

  All the stories in her youth were wrong. They all said love didn’t exist or that love could fix every problem. The second one was close, but not right. Instead, Kate decided, love was the way she lived with her husband.

  It was the comfort that wrapped around her heart like a cozy blanket in the winter. Love was the soaring feeling she felt when he held her close. It was the way she created new peach dishes for Cooper to show her feelings for him, and how he arranged for her to have a garden of her very own.

  “We’re very lucky, I think,” Kate announced decidedly as she melted into his arms.

  He stood tall and straight, keeping her close. “Oh? Why do you say that?”

  She leaned back to study his face. His eyes shone like he was ready for a joke. But it wasn’t a joke, the way she felt for him. It pained her that it had taken him being gored by a bull for them to realize their feelings for each other.

  Yet she was so glad that they had. Kate wasn’t sure where they would be if she hadn’t confessed and if he hadn’t heard her. She couldn’t wish for a better life now than the one she lived with him.

  “Because,” Kate told him, “We have each other. We don’t have to be alone ever again.”

  He smiled. It still put butterflies in her stomach. The man was still the same person who had written those early letters. He was still the same person who had told her how much he valued decency, honesty, and hard work. He was still the same man who had defended her after their short wedding.

  “We are lucky,” Cooper echoed. And because he said it, she knew it must be true.

  He did so much for her. Kate could hardly believe her fortune. Though she tried to explain it sometimes, words could never do her emotions the proper justice.

  He had given her a life that she never would have had in Boston. The open air, the large ranch, the beautiful valley, and even all the scenery was hardly the beginning of her wonderful life. A ranch, a house, a husband. Kate would never have imagined she would be where she was.

  She nodded. So lucky. He showed her every day how much he loved her.

  There were many things he did. But one of her favorites was how he gave her those extra kisses. Cooper gave her a grin and leaned forward, kissing her lips as if he knew what she was thinking. And then his lips trailed over her, soft against her cheek.

  He planted a kiss directly over her scarred skin like it was nothing. Because it was nothing. Kate felt the blush only rise hotter on her cheeks. Touching his face, she redirected him towards her lips. They were very lucky, Kate knew, to have a life together.

  She couldn’t wait for what might come next for them.

  The End

 

 

 
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