John rose and shook it. "I thought—"
"There was a lot of talking in the schoolhouse after you left yesterday. And some more conversations in town after that. There's some folks that wish you’d told us up front, but others of us can understand why you didn't. Seems like most of us have done something we aren’t proud of. But we're glad to have you as part of our town. I'm glad to have you as my friend."
Cecilia was tempted to stay with John as he crossed the room to speak to Lucy in the parlor doorway. Instead, she turned to Ruth on the far end of the couch.
Ruth looked thoughtful. Cecilia sipped her coffee, grateful that the U.S. Marshal was gone and that John hadn’t been in trouble.
Ruth tipped her head in Cecilia's direction. "Why did they do that?"
“Hmm?”
"After how they treated us in the church building yesterday, the things they said about my brother…" She shook her head, appearing flummoxed. "I don't understand why Mr. Bart and Mrs. Jamison stood up for John."
"That's what community is," Cecilia explained. "Your brother has spent two years being a friend to the folks in this town. Today, they got a chance to show their loyalty to him."
The little girl seemed to ponder her words, staring into the crackling fire in the hearth. That left Cecilia with a quiet moment to consider what she’d said.
She hadn’t given Susie a thought since she’d walked into the boardinghouse last night. Where was her sister now? Was she alone? In trouble?
Just because Susie had made a mistake—all right, a few mistakes—that didn't mean that Cecilia would stop loving her.
If Papa and Jonas and the others didn't find Susie, Cecilia would do some searching of her own. Maybe she didn't agree with the lies Susie had told or the choices she had made. Even still, they would always be sisters.
And Cecilia would stand by her side, whatever it took. Even if she had to prove her loyalty to her stubborn sister.
She was brought out of her thoughts when Ruth started sniffling. A tear tracked down the girl’s cheek, and she pressed it away with her shoulder. She was still staring at the fire, crying almost silently.
Cecilia glanced over her shoulder to see John still in conversation with Lucy. Cecilia unfolded the blanket she’d wrapped around herself and scooted closer to Ruth. She hesitated. She still remembered the wild child who’d scrapped with Jericho in the classroom on Friday. But this girl beside her was wounded, not wild. She scooted closer, angling to face her.
"Why did you do it?" Ruth whispered on a choked breath.
"Why did I do what?"
When Ruth looked up at Cecilia, her eyes were not filled with anger or malice. "You gave me your coat. You could've frozen yourself, but you made me wear it. And you made a distraction so I could get away."
"I knew you would find help.” But that wasn’t all of it. “And it was very cold."
Ruth drew a shuddering breath. "But—why did you run in the kitchen? Why did you try to rescue me?"
Her eyes filled with tears, and Cecilia wrapped her arm around Ruth’s skinny shoulders. "I had to," she said softly. "I love you."
Ruth buried her face in her hands. A soft sob escaped her.
The conversation on the far side of the room came to an abrupt halt, and John crossed the space and knelt on the floor in front of both of them. His eyes were wide and he glanced questioningly at Cecilia.
"I thought—I thought—” Ruth’s voice was muffled by her hands. "You were only being nice to me because of John."
Cecilia held her tighter. "I would've done the same for any of my students. Every one of you is different. And I love each one of you."
"But I—I gave you a black eye. And I…" Ruth finally looked up, her eyes stricken. She cut off her words when she realized John was there.
Her brother stared at her, eyebrows lifted, waiting. She had the grace to look chagrined.
"I love you for your spirit," Cecilia said.
Ruth’s gaze swung to her, and she continued. “For your sense of adventure and your charm. You're certainly smart enough to go to college, to be whatever you want to be when you grow up. If you apply yourself."
The girl gave a tiny, soggy laugh.
John rested his palm on Ruth’s knee. "Are we past all the shenanigans now?"
Ruth nodded slowly, and Cecilia saw the promise in her eyes. Thank goodness.
"I'd like us to get to know each other better," Cecilia said.
Ruth nodded again. Cecilia had never seen her so agreeable.
"That's a good thing," John said. "Because Cecilia and I have some news."
Ruth looked between them warily.
Cecilia hadn't realized Lucy was still in the room, but the other woman gasped and clasped her hands beneath her chin.
Ruth looked from Lucy back to Cecilia and John. "Are you getting married?"
Cecilia reached out to John, and he took her hand. "We’ll wait a while,” she said. “And have plenty of time to get to know each other. Maybe by the end of the school term."
John made a noise of dismay. "That long?"
"I'm sure you'll be busy finding another teacher."
She would be sad to give up the job. She'd come to love the children and had felt she was serving a purpose here.
"I'll be talking about that with the school board," he said. "There's no reason we can’t have a married teacher," he grumbled.
"And my family will want to be here," Cecilia reminded him.
He made a show of gulping. "I guess I better get on the phone with your father."
Both she and Ruth giggled at his discomfited look.
Ruth teased him about his unsuitability, and Cecilia was content to watch them in friendly banter. She'd been determined to prove herself when she came to Granbury. But in the end, the only person she’d needed to prove anything to was herself.
By opening her heart, she had found love. Soon, she would have a family of her own.
Epilogue
John stood outside the school building wearing his Sunday finest beneath his coat. Over the past week, spring had hinted that she was coming, but a thin layer of snow had blown in overnight and covered the ground.
He and Mr. Tellers and Mr. Collins had convinced Cecilia that a spring wedding would be just the thing. That is, after John had convinced the other school board members that Cecilia was the obvious choice to stay on as a teacher. Someday, if they were blessed enough to have children of their own, perhaps she could share the teaching duties with Mrs. Sullivan, whose children were older. If that wouldn’t work, he would find something else that did.
Cecilia loved teaching, and it was his privilege to ensure she could keep doing so.
What was taking so long anyway? He’d been the one to propose having the wedding out of doors, since her entire family had traveled up from Bear Creek. Between her large family and the entire town of Granbury, the assembled crowd wouldn't fit in the schoolroom. They’d dragged every bench out of the schoolhouse, and he'd spent a couple days sawing logs to make several more.
Ruth and Mrs. Fitzgerald had found some evergreen fronds and tied them with colorful ribbons. The boughs were tacked to the end of each bench. The preacher was waiting on the schoolhouse steps.
Now all he needed was a bride.
Cecilia, her mother and Velma, along with a handful of other family members, were finishing getting ready at the boardinghouse. He’d been ceremoniously shooed from the building over an hour ago.
She and Ruth had become close. Ruth had been included in most of the wedding plans and was with Cecilia now. His sister had stopped being so suspicious of Cecilia's motives and accepted that things would be different going forward. When Torres had come to town, she’d tasted a hint of the consequences they might’ve faced if they’d stayed in that life. She understood now that she and John were never going back to the life they’d once lived, and she was glad for it. The trauma of the kidnapping and new relationship with Cecilia had left her more open. More kind, though he w
as still the recipient of the occasional ornery prank.
He caught Oscar eyeing him from where he stood talking to his deputy brother.
John wished Cecilia would hurry up. He’d been welcomed into the family, though there had been a couple of long talks with Oscar, when he’d revealed his background, and several more when Cecilia's father and uncles had pushed him on what his plans were. It wasn't that they didn't trust him, not exactly, just that they were very protective of Cecilia.
The only shadow on today’s festivities was Susie’s absence. Cecilia had been the last one to see her sister. She hadn’t sent a letter home or even called to let her family know she was alive.
John had hired a private detective some months before to try and locate her. The man hadn’t found a trace in Sheridan and had put feelers out in the surrounding towns with no luck.
John knew that Cecilia was hurting, having a family celebration without her sister. Without being able to locate Susie, there was no way to mend the rift between them. He could only hope that Susie would someday come to her senses and return to the family.
Finally, he saw a gaggle of women descend the steps outside Mrs. Fitzgerald's. They walked in a loose knot. Cecilia must be in the center, because he couldn't get a glimpse of her.
Ruth skipped up to him and gave him a hug. He squeezed her, then looked back toward his bride. When the women moved aside to go to their seats, he got a glimpse of Cecilia’s beautiful pale pink dress. She wore a white fur cape but held no bouquet. Probably for the best, after the poison ivy incident. Her eyes were glowing with joy.
His heart threatened to stall in his chest. She was so beautiful. And soon, she would be all his.
Ruth stood proudly at his side as Cecilia joined him. He reached out for her, and she gave him her hand, glancing at him almost shyly.
"It's about time," he whispered. "I thought your father was going to call the whole thing off."
He could see the mirth in her eyes. He winked.
The three of them stepped onto the bottom step of the schoolhouse. Their family and friends gathered in the benches. Ruth stood next to Cecilia.
The preacher’s words rolled over John, but he couldn't tear his eyes from Cecilia, who was looking up at him with love and joy shining in her eyes.
He’d never expected to find someone like her. Never known to hope for someone who could both challenge and comfort him.
In addition to the verbal vows he repeated after the preacher, he vowed to himself never to take her for granted. To always find ways to surprise her. And to bring comfort to her life.
He found himself choked up when she spoke her vows with gentle fervor.
Her family whooped and whistled when he kissed her.
Their life together was just starting. He couldn't wait to see what other blessings the Lord had in store for them.
Susie clutched the back of the rickety kitchen chair as another pain took her.
It started at the base of her belly, so big now that she couldn't see her own feet, and rippled upward, spreading over her entire body as it grew in intensity.
She’d been present when Sarah had given birth to Leo and Laura. She’d thought she knew what to expect, but this was too much.
She was terrified.
Tears threatened, and she blinked them back. She struggled to catch her breath and gasped when the pain finally subsided.
She put one hand to her lower back and paced across the floor of the tiny one-room apartment. She didn't want to look at the space around her. Everything inside it was shabby. She opened the door, just a crack, because an icy wind blew in. It was late, far past midnight. She couldn’t see down the back alley outside.
She didn't know what she had hoped for. Maybe that she’d hear Roy’s step on the creaky stairs that led to this room above a laundry.
But Roy wasn't there.
He’d been gone for three days.
Back in Bear Creek, he had whispered promises of what their life would be like. She'd soon discovered that he’d lied.
He had been shocked to see her in Sheridan when she’d tracked him down in a seedy hotel. He'd been almost angry about the baby. She'd been surprised and hurt by his reaction and hadn't been able to keep herself from crying. Her emotions had been overwhelming anyway.
Her tears had only angered him more. His anger had terrified her.
For a frightening moment, she’d been thrown back in her memories to a night when her stepfather had been drunk and angry.
She’d left the hotel room but only made it as far as the lobby. Roy had come after her, offering profuse apologies. He’d talked her into returning upstairs, and he’d kissed her the way he had back in Bear Creek.
She'd been so relieved that he still loved her.
They’d only stayed in Sheridan for a few days, then traveled several hours to a small town whose name she couldn’t remember. It had been a series of one small town after another. In each new town, Roy promised that he was going to hit it big. She didn’t know what that meant. That they could finally find somewhere to settle?
That he would finally marry her?
But every night Susie was left alone as Roy went to the saloon to play cards and drink whiskey.
They’d been in this tiny apartment for several weeks, almost as long as he’d stayed in Bear Creek.
Roy’s luck seemed to have run out. Every night he was more irritable. He'd even broken a plate a few nights ago when he’d swept it off the table in anger at something she had said.
She hadn't expected being with Roy to be… like this.
Tears threatened. She needed him. Tonight most of all.
But he wasn't on the stairs, and so she closed the door. Before she could take a step, another pain took her. She leaned against the door, groaning and fighting the panic that wanted to close her throat.
The baby shifted, and somehow the pressure low in her belly grew even stronger. She felt water trickle down the inside of her leg.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. She was all alone, without a single friend. The baby was coming. Tonight.
She wanted her mother. She wanted Cecilia. But she had burned those bridges. When she remembered the cruel things she’d said, the way she’d ignored Cecilia’s pleas to stay, she felt ashamed.
She could never go home. They would never forgive her. She knew it.
Somehow she staggered to the bed. While she had been with Mama during her laboring, she hadn’t actually witnessed a baby being born. She’d thought she had more time to get supplies ready. She’d started sewing several tiny dresses, but she needed blankets. Diapers.
But it didn’t seem to matter that she wasn’t ready. This little one wasn't going to wait.
She cried out as another pain took her.
She couldn't help it, she curled into a ball and bore down against the pain. Her body knew what to do, even if she was terrified and couldn’t stop sobbing and didn't know where her not-quite-husband was.
She was stupid, so terribly stupid, to have gotten herself into this situation.
Her pains came one on top of another, and she screamed. She pushed against the endless pain.
But then it did end. She pushed once more, and it was over.
She could barely move, but she reached down and touched wet, hot skin.
Her baby.
She brought the tiny person to her chest. A little girl. The babe gave a gurgling gasp and then wailed. Finally she settled against Susie’s heart.
She stared down at the little perfect person in her arms and knew she would never be the same.
Whatever it took, she was going to protect her little girl.
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The Wrangler’s Ready-Made Family sneak peek
Susie is a desperate young mother with another baby on the way. Her late husband left her nothing but his bad reputation. She has no money and is too ashamed to return home to her family. When she is trapped alone during a snowstorm with a stranger and the baby coming, her only choice is to rely on him.
Boone came west to find healing for his tuberculosis. He never expected to find himself trapped with a lost young widow. Or how fast he could fall for her and her two little ones. But it doesn’t take long for his secrets to come to light.
After everything she’s suffered in the past, can Susie ever trust another gambler?
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Winning the Schoolmarm: Wyoming Legacy (Wind River Hearts Book 14) Page 17
