Embraced in Love's Melody, page 10
The whole concept of love in marriage was there for the sole purpose of giving some people wild dreams of better lives. Passion was nothing more than abandoning yourself to emotion. From what he had seen that sort of arrangement wore thin fairly quickly. Where were you then, when the emotion petered out and went cold?
Much where Laura and I were when we saw each other this last time. Thankfully I was never hitched to her. He could only imagine what marriage to her now would be like, without a cushion of fine feelings. He wondered if he even would have liked her anymore. Truth be told, she seemed a little shrewish when they’d talked.
On the other hand, marriage itself was not a bad institution. There were certain things a wife could do for a home that a man had troubles with. Making it cozy and warm for example. A place a man would want to come back to at the end of the day. A wife also made a good partner, someone to share chores and burdens with. Someone you could have a conversation with on a long winter night.
Maggie had a strength to her, a backbone of iron that would hold up well to the demands of living on a ranch at the edge of the world. She was a good choice in temperament and ability and the fact that she was one of the prettiest things he’d ever seen didn’t hurt a bit either.
And yet, she was probably better suited to the life of a rancher’s wife than Laura ever was.
But as he passed Laura’s ranch, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge in the area of his heart. A small part of his mind wanted to reach out for Laura, to reclaim her. It was infantile and stupid, but there had been a comfort in thinking about her, a solace in the years of war and death. Now, in the stress of the moment, his mind reached for that familiar feeling again. Except this time, it wasn’t comfort, it was pain that came with her memory.
He squashed her image in his mind ruthlessly and ground it under a mental heel. Laura was gone. She had betrayed him, and the wound was too fresh and his bitterness too fresh. Besides, Maggie deserved better from him. She might be the prickliest thing he’d ever met, but she was clever and smart, two qualities that were not often found together. She was also devilishly pretty. Al had to have been too deep in manure to have let her go.
The horse was bouncing in a trot and he settled into the saddle to ease the jolts against his spine. He thought of Maggie’s smile–that rarity which lit up the room when it happened. He wanted to hear her laugh, really laugh, as though something had tickled her soul. He imagined that it was musical, beautiful.
He was only able to imagine it though. He’d not heard her laugh. He’d not heard her cry either. Though she had been weeping when they first met, throwing the pie at him seemed to have dried her tears better than a handkerchief could have.
The fact was that he didn’t know her, not at all. And he was about to make a life-long commitment to this woman, this stranger.
Hank seemed to know her pretty well. His strange melancholy seemed to vanish after she showed up and proposed marriage. After she had left, he had been all too vocal at expounding upon her virtues and her skills. He seemed oddly pleased at the prospect of Cliff marrying Maggie.
He prodded the horse again. He had been wool-gathering and the mare had stopped in the middle of the road to sniff something that looked suspiciously like another’s horse’s leavings. “Come on!” He kicked the horse again and cleared his head for the rest of the journey.
He was creating after all, his vision of homecoming: the ranch, the fresh mountain air, and a wife to share it all with him. He dismounted a few feet shy of the hitching post and led the horse the rest of the way, looping the reins over the post and leaving enough room for the mare to sniff the ground. Ed had added a water trough within easy reach of the post and the horse gratefully dipped her muzzle into the water and snorted.
He walked across the sidewalk and hesitated for just a moment at the door. There was no reason for nerves, this visit was a formality. Ed favored the union, as did Maggie. Their reasons might not have been to ensure his happiness, but a woman could help out around the place in ways Hank never could.
How that man had survived four years on his cooking was still a mystery that might never be resolved. Clint briefly indulged in the fantasy of coming in at the end of a day to a hot dinner. Steak with the potatoes whipped light and fluffy. Biscuits piled high with fresh butter.
With such an image in his mind, it was not hard to straighten his spine and stride into the shop. Ed was behind the counter and gave him such a broad wink that pointing repeatedly at the back room was just overkill. Cliff held up a hand to indicate that he understood Maggie to be within.
Only the signal was apparently something Ed didn’t understand. “She’s in there,” Ed said in a whisper Cliff was sure could have carried to Tacoma. He nodded and began his part of the charade.
And so it begins.
“Mr. Kelly, I have come here today with the intent of asking for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”
“Really?” Ed replied in a tone that was meant to be surprise, but sounded more like he had eaten something disagreeable. “Well, that is a surprise, Mr. Pierce. A surprise indeed.”
“Oh for heaven’s sake, father.” Maggie snapped from behind the closed door.
“Now, Maggie, this is serious business, between men. I need to be sure you’re well taken care of.” He looked sharply at Cliff and leaned forward. “You are speaking of Maggie? I do have two daughters, you know.”
“FATHER!”
“I am indeed,” Cliff shifted his gaze to the countertop, trying like the devil to keep from laughing. There was a certain amount of humor in the way Ed was playing this game and if he wasn’t careful he’d ruin his part in this little theatrical production.
“Well…” Ed threaded his thumbs under his vest and looked at Cliff as if he’d never noticed him before. “I suppose the correct procedure would be a long engagement and a big wedding…”
The door jerked open. “We’ll marry next week.”
Maggie standing there, arms akimbo with a look of fire in her eyes seemed to make her father lose his place in his lines.
“Uh…” Ed seemed to flounder. The conversation was obviously not going the way he’d expected.
Cliff raised an eyebrow. “This weekend.” Cliff crossed his arms. Stared her down. Two could play at this game.
“Done.”
“Saturday.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.” Cliff straightened and nodded to Ed. He turned to Maggie and flashed her a broad smile before walking past her to the door. “Don’t be late.” He waved and went through the door and nearly ran into someone walking by. A woman. He only saw a swish of skirts and a broad hat. He reached out to steady the poor thing so she wouldn’t fall.
“Oh, please excuse…” the rest of the words died on his lips and his heart went cold. It was Laura.
“Hello, Cliff.” Laura smiled up at him. It was a sad smile, one that would haunt him later. It was the same smile she had given him as he left for war four years ago, the trying-to-be-brave smile.
The pain returned, the bitterness hit him and he turned, wordless to his horse. He untied the animal with a sharp pull on the rope keeping her there and mounted in a single leap. The mare shuffled under him to adjust to his weight, whickering in surprise. For a moment he juggled the reins and still managed to tip his hat to Laura. Then duty done, he spun the mare and pointed her toward home.
The horse bolted out of town like he’d just robbed a bank. Two men sidestepped trying to get out of the horse’s path and Cliff only urged the mare to greater speed.
He needed the sanctuary of his ranch, the familiarity of a house that still hadn’t become home. Even if it didn’t feel like his house yet, even if it was more Hank’s than his, it was becoming his sanctuary from the betrayals and manipulation of women.
And he was about to permanently add a woman to his place.
He slapped the horse and leaned in, yelling “HAH” until the mare was at full gallop. He rode as if the entire Confederate army was at his heels. But the ghosts that followed him were far more deadly than any army.
Escaping a memory was a lot harder.
Chapter 15
This wasn’t quite the wedding she’d been planning for. As she waited at the door to the church, Maggie looked down at the dress she’d sewed for another wedding to another man and felt something clench inside. She shouldn’t have worn this dress. She knew that now, only it was too late to go back and change. Besides, what would her parents say if she wasted it now, after so many hours of work had been put into the embroidery and trimmings?
Of course, the time spent sewing this was meant in part to show off the fine work the Kelly family did when it came to dressmaking. Maggie’s original wedding would have set up Anna and Maggie with more customers than they could have managed had the original plan been carried out. The entire town would have been at the wedding and this dress was to be the centerpiece of the talk to come afterward.
The tradition of a special dress just to be married in was not one upheld quite so much this far from proper civilization, where every article of clothing had to be practical. Useful even. Most women were married quite simply in their Sunday best.
Not that Alfred would have allowed Maggie to go on sewing after the wedding, a small detail Maggie hadn’t shared with her family yet.
It was a moot point anyway. Alfred was to be wed to someone else entirely and Maggie was here, about to walk down the aisle on the arm of her father to a man she barely knew. There would be no grand glorious wedding today, only a simple ceremony. Her family were the only ones present, save the hulking presence of Hank who had showed up with Cliff, more cheerful than the rest of them combined.
Well, except for Anna. She’d seemed chipper enough today. The girl was probably glad to finally have the bedchamber to herself, and a fuller portion at dinner.
“Ready, my girl?”
Ed Kelly was trying hard. He smiled at her brightly though there was a tremor to his arm. Was he that emotional to be losing his daughter, or that worried she would still bolt and leave him to ruin?
“Father…”
His head jerked up and she saw it then, the naked fear in his eyes that somehow none of this would come to pass. Whether for her sake or his was not worth questioning. She only knew she loved him and needed to reassure him all would be well. Before she could speak, he did.
“He seems a good man. He will take care of you.”
“Thank you.”
What she was thanking him for she didn’t know. Perhaps for the care of her and Anna both for so many years. Perhaps for being there now. Or for saying in his own fumbling way that to his way of thinking she would be all right. Oddly enough, Maggie thought she might be.
She looked forward now, staring into the darkened depths of the church. She saw Cliff standing waiting for her, Hank at his side. Hank at least was smiling, as was the old minister who waited there. Cliff? Well, Cliff looked like a man set to do what he needed to. There was a set to his shoulders, to his mouth that reflected her own stance she supposed. They both were doing the only thing they could right now.
Cliff needed a wife.
She needed a husband.
Could that be enough?
They had lingered long enough. It was time to go in.
***
The whole thing was over quicker than she’d expected. One moment she was walking down the aisle, the next the minister was announcing the happy couple.
“May I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Pierce!”
The minister seemed happy enough as her family closed around her to offer hugs and tearful congratulations. Her mother offered her a hug that was almost grim in the way she pressed her close. Her father had gone pale and drawn.
Panic closed Maggie’s throat. What had she done?
Cliff’s arm came around her waist as he escorted her from the church. She couldn’t so much as look at him.
“Maggie!” Anna pulled her away the moment they were outside, pressing something into Maggie’s cold hands. Her sister was all smiles. She looked down to stare in surprise at an exquisite reticule, trimmed with bright embroidery. It was an entire flower garden presented upon the tiny bag, the work of many hours. The monogram in the center included a stylized ‘P’ which took her a moment to register.
Pierce. Her new name.
“When did you…?” she started to ask and noted for the first time the dark circles under her sister’s eyes.
“I worked after you fell asleep, by candlelight. I wanted you to have a wedding gift that wasn’t…well…meant for another wedding.”
Maggie looked down at her bridal finery and laughed, for of course her sister had understood after all. She didn’t feel quite so bad about wearing the dress now. “I shall treasure it. Thank you. And the dress turned out quite fine, don’t you think? It’s a shame no one saw it.” Maggie turned in a circle, so the skirts swirled out. “Maybe you shall wear it for your own wedding someday, just so the ladies of this town can see we can sew after all when we put our minds to it.”
To her surprise, Anna blushed, her eyes darting toward Hank who stood not far away talking to her new husband.
The bearer of the ribbon?
Maggie’s eyes widened, but she dared not ask. Not here with her parents quite so close by.
Oh, she would miss her!
“We’d best be heading out.”
It was her new husband who spoke. The man stood there awkwardly, his hat in his hands as though he had no idea how to proceed from this moment. Funny how she hadn’t thought past the ceremony either. Someone had though, for she clearly saw her trunk in the back of the wagon when Cliff handed her in. In moments they were away, and Maggie came to the sudden realization just how far from home she would be.
I wish we could live in town, closer to my family.
It was a fleeting thought, a silly one for she was not that many miles from town. She could very likely ride in whenever she liked. Still, the distance from her sister, from her parents made her ache more with each passing mile. Her smile felt pasted on as they left the town, faltering until she found she could not smile at all.
“Well. That was…nice,” she said as they left the city limits and started down the valley road.
“Nice.” He looked at her quizzically. “I am not sure I have ever heard a bride quite use the word ‘nice’ in regards to her wedding.”
“Have you been around many brides then?” she asked, one eyebrow raising haughtily, for she knew enough of his history to know he had no siblings, especially sisters.
“Enough.” He clucked to the horse as they reached a level place, encouraging a somewhat quicker pace. “I was stationed in town, boarding with a family in Durham for a time. My commanding officer wanted his adjuncts near at hand. They had four daughters in their home. I was there several months and saw all but the youngest married in that time. They seemed quite…fluttery…over the ceremony.”
“Fluttery.” For a moment, Maggie felt something new she couldn’t quite define, a tightening of lips and aching feeling in her heart kind of feeling. She wondered if the youngest hadn’t married for a reason. If maybe Cliff had left behind something he might have…preferred. “I suppose the youngest was fluttery about her own pending nuptials by the time you left then?”
Cliff shot her a look. “Not really. But then she was only eight. I expect she will be someday.”
Why did his answer please her so? She chose not to think too deeply on it, focusing instead on what would come next. “Can you tell me about the ranch? So I know what to expect?”
