Kiowa's Oath

by Linda K. Hubalek

  “Kiowa mentioned remembering his grandmother’s ceremony to cleanse her home, and I also remembered a saying my Irish grandfather used when someone moved into a new house. I might have changed the words around in my memory, but I’d like to say it now.

  “May you have walls for the wind, a roof for the rain, and drinks beside the fire. May you have laughter to cheer you, those you love near you, and be blessed with all that your heart may desire,” Pastor concluded with a nod.

  “I like that, Pastor, thank you,” Kiowa said as he squeezed Mary’s hand and looked down at her. “I have been blessed by coming back to my native state, not only for this home and community but most all for my family and this room of friends.”

  “I’m glad we came back to Kansas, too. Thank you so much, everyone, for all your help and support while we’ve dealt with our problems,” Mary said, trying to keep her tears at bay. The four of them would have gotten by, but the acts of kindness from this group of family and friends made their struggles manageable.

  “Wait. Don’t everyone rush to the table of food in the kitchen yet. I’m not done,” Pastor announced as the younger people turned to leave. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to give a sermon.”

  Pastor waited for the chuckles and murmurs around the room to subside before continuing.

  “Dear Lord, please bless this house and all who live within it. Thank you for the roof and walls which keep out the wind and rain, and the windows which let the glorious sunshine in.

  “Bless this family as they eat, sleep, and enjoy life in this house. May they keep warm, nourished, and know your peace. In your name, Amen.”

  “Thank you, Pastor, we appreciate the blessing. And everything you and Kaitlyn have done for us this spring and summer.”

  Even though Mary still had to use her rolling chair, this home had given her freedom to move around and function as best she could as a wife and mother.

  Some movement had returned to her right leg, but Doctor Pansy warned her it would take time to walk again. At least there was a chance now that she might eventually get around with crutches or a cane instead of the chair. And if not, Mary had faced the facts that this was her life now.

  Mary had never guessed falling down the stairs one rainy morning would change their lives so much. Burdette’s leg had healed from its break, but Mary was still disabled.

  Their living arrangements had changed from her and her children living upstairs over her shop, to this remodeled home. Maggie, Molly, and Maisie Brenner, Sarah and Marcus Brenner’s daughters, moved in from the Cross C Ranch and were taking over Mary’s dress shop and apartment.

  Kiowa had put the blacksmith shop for sale and had some inquires but didn’t have a buyer yet. His silversmithing now took residence in a specially-equipped room in the new house addition.

  But the biggest change in their lives was that she and Kiowa were finally living together as a married couple. Mary had had young love with Nolan Clancy, but had her head turned by bank clerk, Abram Jenkins, who was leaving Clear Creek for Chicago.

  Mary thought marrying the up-and-coming banker and living in their up-scale home was giving her the best in life. Unfortunately, there wasn’t passion in the marriage, and after her husband died, her lavish home lacked the sense of home that Clear Creek did.

  Then Mary and the children moved home, and quiet Kiowa sparked the emotions she’d been missing in both past relationships. He fought their mutual attraction at first, but over time they fell in love, and married. The best thing that happened from Mary’s accident was the realization they needed to live their lives together as a family.

  Burdette pulled away from Mary’s hand, chatting with her friend about seeing her room. And Nolie took off for the sweets on the table as soon as Pastor was done addressing the group around them.

  “I think your friends have taken over the parlor, Mary. I’ll get you a cup of coffee while you join them,” Kiowa said after he kissed her hand and turned away. The man showed her affection and respect at every turn and was such a good example for Burdette and Nolie.

  “Mary, I’m sorry that I ever doubted you’d have a good marriage with Kiowa. He is so wonderful to you,” Darcie stated as Mary entered the parlor.

  “Isn’t he? I’m so lucky,” Mary beamed at her mother.

  Mary counted her blessings every day now. Kiowa had promised to love, honor and take care of her forever, and he’d kept his oath.

  Kiowa was truly a groom of honor, and she was so happy they were finally together.

  ***

  Kiowa looked around at the couples filling his and Mary’s home. Some of them grew up in Clear Creek and others moved in from elsewhere, but they all had unique experiences with their courtship and marriage now that Kiowa thought about it.

  Nolan Clancy met his wife, Holly, in a Montana café when he was stranded during a snowstorm on his way home to Clear Creek. Kiowa and Holly, being a half-breed herself, had forged a kinship from the beginning. Kiowa ushered Holly down the church aisle for her and Nolan’s wedding. The Clancy’s worked together in the café his grandparents, Dan and Edna Clancy, started when the town was new in 1868.

  Elof Lundahl, who knew Nolan when they were fellow soldiers in Montana, met his wife, Linnea, in a Montana cemetery. He was putting an iron cross on Holly’s father’s grave, which Kiowa had made and shipped up there. Linnea, a just married mail-order bride, was burying her husband in the same cemetery after the man died in a barn fire. Elof was traveling to Kansas to locate near Nolan, so he brought Linnea, and her stepson with him. Elof and Linnea married, and Elof was the area farrier.

  Angus Reagan and Daisy Clancy grew up together in Clear Creek, but both moved out of state to pursue careers. Angus was a train detective in Colorado, and Daisy worked in a Denver pharmacy when they, by chance, ended up on the same train during a robbery. They moved back to Clear Creek after the incident. Angus was now the train depot manager and Daisy had her own apothecary shop.

  Fergus Reagan, a photographer, saved his wife, Iris, after she jumped off a moving train into a river in Nebraska to get away from her abusive fiancée. They ran the Reagan Photography Studio in Clear Creek now.

  Iris’ brother, Jasper Kerns, found his Kentucky plantation childhood friend, Julip, because Holly Clancy had met her in Montana. The couple settled in Clear Creek to be with Iris’ family. Besides helping Mack Reagan with his building construction, Jasper built furniture and Julip wove rugs to sell in their home furnishings store.

  “The addition to the house turned out well, don’t you think?” Mack asked as he surveyed the back of the room.

  “You did a great job. Thanks for getting it done so quickly,” Kiowa said as he raised his coffee cup to salute his friend.

  Mack Reagan not only built this house addition, but Kiowa’s buildings downtown too. The big burly man, and his wife, Doctor Pansy, had been great friends to him through the years, besides helping so much with Kiowa’s family’s needs since the accident.

  Mack’s brother, Cullen, had worked on their house in the evenings too after working at the post office all day. And Cullen’s wife, Rose, a former circus performer but now the town’s librarian, had visited Mary and Burdette often, bringing books for them to read during their convalescence.

  “I should have brought more sliced meat for your housewarming, Kiowa,” Adolph Bjorklund, the town’s butcher said as he surveyed the crowded room. The older lonely butcher invited himself to Sunday noon meals at the Reagan’s parsonage for years before Kaitlyn finally ordered a mail-order bride for Adolph. Poppy, Adolph’s bride from back woods Tennessee, turned the man’s life upside down with her bubbly but simple outlook on life.

  “I’m sure Poppy is keeping an eye on the food table, Adolph,” Seth, another Reagan brother, assured the man. “Our wives are very independent and self-reliant.”

  Seth was talking of his own experience. He met his wife, Lily, a Swedish immigrant, singing in a Chicago saloon when Seth was in town for a livestock exhibition
and sale. Lily had raised horses on a well-known ranch in Sweden and knew as much about raising horses as Seth did. Together they managed the Straight Arrow Horse Ranch north of Clear Creek.

  “I never figured you’d be my brother-in-law and live in such a fancy house, Kiowa,” Gabe walked up and laid a hand on Kiowa’s shoulder. “Of course, knowing my sister’s tastes in fine things, I guess I should have known.”

  “Gabe, I can’t believe you didn’t see that they were in love,” Iva Mae, Gabe’s wife, ribbed him.

  “I don’t have eyes in the back of my head like you do,” Gabe teased back. Iva Mae, a former schoolteacher and the oldest daughter of Helen Paulson, pursued Gabe since he was too shy to court her and they’d been happily married for five years. Kiowa couldn’t ask for better in-laws than the Shepard family.

  *

  Kiowa glanced at the front door, which was being opened for the umpteenth time today. He figured it was some of the dozen or so children who were making themselves at home, but the couple walking in the door was a surprise to everyone.

  “Tully and Violet! You’re home!” Kaitlyn Reagan called out as her son and daughter-in-law walked into the living room.

  “I heard there was a party we needed to attend,” Tully said as he hugged his parents.

  “We just got off the train from Wyoming. It was a glorious place to explore,” Violet gushed as she made her greetings around the room full of people.

  Tully was a travel writer for the Chicago Tribune and exploring Yellowstone National Park had been his first assignment. Kiowa bet Tully, and his effervescent tomboy wife, had the time of their lives camping and exploring the wilderness. The couple had been friends since childhood and both went to school in Chicago. This spring they came home, announcing they’d married, and left to explore the country.

  Kiowa watched as Pastor and Kaitlyn interacted with their sons and their wives as they gathered around Tully and Violet. The older couple influenced every couple here by example and with their guidance.

  Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others, be faithful unto her as long as you both shall live?

  The question Pastor Reagan asked at every wedding popped in Kiowa’s mind. Kiowa had said his vows to Mary, and he’d teach Nolie to honor and respect women just as Pastor had shown Kiowa and so many other young men to do too.

  Mary rolled up beside Kiowa and reached for his hand.

  “It’s so good to have our family and friends around us, Kiowa. Should we share our news with them now?”

  Kiowa looked at his beaming wife. The love of his life had recently told him something which had sent his world spinning. He was going to be a father next year.

  “Yes, I’m ready to announce the upcoming addition to our family whenever you are,” Kiowa raised Mary’s hand and kissed it.

  Kiowa worked with diamonds as he made his jewelry, but there was no precious stone worth the value of his wife and family. He was so blessed…

  The End

  Want to read the beginning of the Grooms with Honor series to see how it all started?

  Enjoy the first chapter of Angus’ Trust now.

  Chapter 1 of Angus’ Trust

  Fall 1886

  Colorado Mountains

  “Angus? Angus, is that you?” Angus didn’t look up at the woman who was standing beside his seat in the moving train car. He’d been watching the men seated five rows up from him, not paying attention to the woman walking down the aisle, probably to the washroom at the end of the car. It was his job as the train’s detective to keep an eye out for trouble, and apparently, this woman slipped past his watch, because she could mean trouble for him and others on this train, if she revealed his identity.

  “No, ma’am, you’re mistaken. Now please be on your way,” he lowered his voice as he lowered his head, hoping his hat kept the woman from getting a better look at him.

  “Angus Reagan, your ma would thump your head for being rude to me!” she hissed as she stiffened her spine and walked on.

  An imaginary thump to his head made Angus spin around in his seat, trying to figure out who in heck had just spoken to him. It had to be someone from his hometown of Clear Creek, Kansas, and who knew his family. His ma, even though she was a preacher’s wife, was known for thumping heads to keep her six boys in line. Angus didn’t know how she did it, but a single thump from her right forefinger could sting like the dickens.

  He couldn’t help reaching under the back of his hat to rub the imaginary sore spot. It had been a while since he’d gotten a thump from his ma, but then he’d been employed by the railroad companies for years, so he wasn’t home very often. Most times a quick visit to the parsonage while the train stopped in town was the only chance he had to visit his family, if he happened to be riding between Denver and Kansas City. It had been a month of Sundays since he’d spent a week with his parents and brothers.

  For the past year he’d been riding the short rails between Denver and the Colorado mining towns, protecting products from the mine going to Denver and payroll going back to the mountain towns. This short train he was on today was making the loop from Denver, down to Fairplay, through the mountains west to Kokomo, down to Vista and back to Denver. The train was made up of two passenger cars beside the engine, the express car and the caboose. Only about three dozen passengers were on today’s train so there were not too many people to watch.

  He’d gotten a quick view of her shapely figure trouncing down the aisle. A perky feathered navy blue hat sat on the upsweep of her light brown hair. The two-tone indigo blue jacket and skirt were trimmed with black lace. He knew the ensemble was in style because he spent so much time studying people as he rode the train daily.

  It’s a wonder he hadn’t heard her talking during their trip, so she must have been reading or dozing. The woman had to be in her late twenties or thirties by her figure and voice. Which meant she could have been a school mate of his or one of his brothers.

  Light brown hair…Daisy? Daisy Clancy?! Even though she wasn’t there, Angus turned around to stare at the space she’d just been in. My, my… she’d changed from the tomboy who’d given him a black eye back in second grade. Now he couldn’t wait to see what the front of Miss Daisy Clancy looked like when she went back to her seat.

  What the heck was Daisy doing in Colorado?

  Angus quickly turned around, scanning the area where she must have been sitting. Daisy could be married and have a passel of kids by now. Shoot. His heart sank thinking about that. And why, he thought, trying to analyze his thinking as he did trying to solve problems on the train. Why did it matter to him if Daisy was married?

  His shoulders slumped, knowing why. Daisy had been the first girl he kissed—hence the black eye. And the last girl he kissed in Clear Creek when he left for his first railroad job, laying tracks in Colorado eight years ago.

  They had kept in touch by letters for a few years, until Daisy wrote she was moving to Chicago to experience life in a big city. He didn’t write again after that last letter, and neither did Daisy. It was like they were finally letting go of their childhood past and moving on.

  It hadn’t been fair to Daisy to wait until Angus was ready to settle down. His dream of traveling took precedence over living in his hometown with a wife, at least it had for several years. But now lately…Angus was getting tired of seeing the same depots up and down the rail lines crossing the western states and territories. Maybe he was ready to step off the train at Clear Creek’s depot and stay home.

  The two men he’d been watching caught his eye. They said something to each other, while looking straight at him, then both pulled their hats down and slumped in their seats like they were going to nap.

  Angus heard the washroom door behind him unlock, knowing that the woman was going to open the door and step out. If the men he’d been watching weren’t paying attention to him…Angus quickly stood and walked to the washroom, stepping in the woman’s path to block her
walking back down the aisle. He had to see if she was Daisy.

  She looked up at his face, surprised he was standing there, as Angus was knowing his childhood friend had grown into a beautiful woman.

  “Daisy, I—”

  A big body hit Angus hard in the middle of his back, pushing him sideways against Daisy as she screamed in surprise. There was no stopping their combined fall onto the cramped space of the washroom floor. Someone kicked his legs, causing him to draw up to kick back. Only his reaction allowed the man the second he needed to shut the washroom door and lock it from the outside. Angus kicked at the door, but the man kept his shoulder against it.

  Angus kicked the door in frustration again! He’d let distraction drop his focus on the men in question and now they were about to do the very thing he was supposed to prevent!

  “Daisy! Get out of the way! I need to get to the window!”

  He pushed up on one knee, trying to get past her and realized she wasn’t answering—or moving.

  “Oh no, no. NO! Daisy?!” Daisy laid limp as a rag doll in the cramped space beneath him. She hit her head going down, knocking her out cold. Angus touched her forehead, seeing a bloody lump was starting to form. Dang it! Her nose was bleeding too. Was it broken?

  He gently pushed her over so he could stand up. There was nothing he could do for her right now except slide her out of harm’s way.

  Just as Angus reached for the window sill to pull himself up, the train brakes screeched in vain, trying to avoid something on the tracks. The motion caused him to jerk back and lose his balance as he tried not to step on Daisy’s prone body. This time his temple met the edge of the cast iron sink, and that was the last he thought of the robbery in process.

  ***

  Daisy swatted at whatever was bothering her face. It felt like a bug was running down her forehead. She rubbed her face and felt something sticky on it. Her head was pounding in pain and for some reason she knew opening her eyes was going to hurt.