The Marriage Agreement Read online

  All eyes turned to Richard, and he seemed surprised to have everyone’s attention. Sitting up in his chair, he nodded. “Sure. I’m looking forward to it.”

  Laura didn’t know how true that was. It seemed like weddings were more of a woman’s thing, but she guessed he was going because Amanda wanted to be there. And that suited her well enough.

  “Will you be my matron of honor?” Laura asked Amanda.

  Amanda smiled. “I’d love to.”

  On impulse, Laura hugged Amanda, glad she’d agreed to it. Sometimes it was hard to tell what Amanda was willing to do. In many ways, Amanda still struck her as a mystery. She kept so much to herself. But at least she was a faithful friend. No one could ask any more than that. And it was nice to know Amanda would be with her when she said her vows.

  Chapter Seven

  “What have you been feeding him?” Fanny demanded a couple days later as she stormed into the barn.

  Jesse waited until he was done digging dirt out of the mare’s horseshoe before he glanced up. She had Elliot on her hip, and since Elliot was smiling and babbling, he had no idea why she was upset this time.

  “I’ve been giving him goat’s milk,” he told her then turned his attention back to the horse’s hoof and started digging out a couple of small rocks stuck in the horseshoe.

  “You can’t do that,” she said. “I already told you that many times, but you never listen.”

  “Goat’s milk doesn’t give him diarrhea,” he argued, not bothering to look back at her. “It’s the soup you insist on making.” That recipe was so spicy he was surprised Elliot even ate it.

  “He doesn’t have diarrhea.”

  “Then why are you complaining?”

  “I told you he’s too old for the bottle. He needs to be on real food. You need to mash up some of those carrots you got growing in the garden.”

  “I just planted them. They aren’t ready yet.” Good grief, but the woman didn’t pay attention to anything he did around the place.

  “Can’t you make them grow faster?”

  He shot her a pointed look. “Can you make it so that tomorrow is July?”

  She gave him a blank stare.

  “They won’t be ready until July,” he said, not hiding his frustration from his voice. “Vegetables don’t just pop up out of the ground overnight. They take time. You can’t rush them.”

  “Humph,” she grunted. “With the way you do things, Elliot will still be on the bottle when he’s five.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” he muttered. Why was he even wasting his time with her? “You won’t have to worry about how incompetent I am after tomorrow. Laura will be here, and then she’ll make sure he’s eating correctly. Now, go on back to the house I built for you and leave me alone.”

  “Are you really going to marry that woman?”

  “Her name is Laura, and yes. I have to. It’s the only way I’ll get you off my back.”

  “What you’re doing isn’t right. You can’t replace Elsie.”

  “I’m not trying to replace her. I’m giving you help when you need it. You’d think after all the bellyaching you do about your hands hurting and getting tired all the time, you’d be thanking me for bringing her out here to live with us.”

  “I tolerated her coming out here to watch him a couple times during the week because I agreed we need her help,” Fanny told him. “But never once did I think you’d marry her. She’s not Elliot’s mother.”

  “She’s well aware of that.” He went to the last hoof he needed to clean and lifted it. “Elsie isn’t here, and we need the help. We’d both be better off if that help didn’t leave after a few hours. Elliot’s getting older. He’s not as willing to sit and watch things anymore. He wants to move around and explore the world. You can’t stop him from growing up.”

  “Well, she can’t take Elsie’s place.”

  Before he could reply, a horse’s neigh from outside the barn caught his attention. He let the hoof down and went to the doorway so he could see who’d be coming onto his property. He didn’t get many visitors, which made him wonder if it might be Laura. But it wasn’t. It was her father.

  Hiding his disappointment, he stepped outside the barn and crossed his arms. If this was going to be as unpleasant as the last time he dealt with her father, he was already too tired to deal with it.

  From next to him, he heard Elliot give out a happy squeal. He glanced over and saw Fanny. He rolled his eyes. What would it take for the woman to mind her own business?

  Mr. Rufus pulled the steed to a stop a few feet from him and slid off the animal. “I have a hunch you know where my daughter is, but you’re so stubborn you won’t tell me,” he told Jesse, not even bothering with a polite hello.

  “How would we know where she is?” Fanny snapped. “She comes and goes as she pleases. It’s hard to say if she’ll even stick around after the wedding tomorrow.”

  Jesse shot her a pointed look, willing her to shut up. The less her father knew, the better.

  “Good,” her father said. “Then the damage hasn’t happened yet.”

  Damage? Is that what her father thought? That Laura marrying him would be damaging to her? “What did I ever do to make you hate me?” Jesse asked.

  “I don’t hate you,” her father replied. “I just want what’s best for my daughter.”

  “And I’m not it,” Jesse filled in for him.

  “I could have told you that,” Fanny said. “The two of you don’t belong together.”

  “Exactly,” her father agreed. “This is a bad match. Laura doesn’t need to be tied down with a child who isn’t hers or a cranky old lady who makes everyone miserable.”

  “Well, I never!” Fanny huffed and lifted her chin high in the air.

  Alright. Now, that was funny. As much as Jesse didn’t care for Laura’s father, he had to admit he enjoyed watching him offend Fanny.

  “I come to you as a father with the utmost concern for his daughter,” her father continued. “How much will it take for you to end this ridiculous engagement to my daughter?”

  “What?” Jesse asked, sure he hadn’t heard the man right. Her father couldn’t be saying what he thought he was saying. Could he?

  “I know you owe money on those houses and this barn,” her father said. “Farming’s harder than you think it’s going to be. I’ve heard stories of hail and locusts destroying crops. And if tornadoes aren’t knocking things down, the strong winds can do damage. Things have been good up to now, but you haven’t even been here for a full year.”

  Jesse frowned. “Do you really think I’m going to fail out here?”

  “All it takes is one bad year and everything will fall apart.”

  “He’s right,” Fanny agreed. “You don’t know what you’re doing, either. If you did, we’d already have carrots.”

  Ignoring her, Jesse told him, “I can make it out here. You think when things get tough, I give up? Look at her.” He pointed to Fanny. “If I can tolerate living on the same land as her, I can get through anything.”

  “Well!” she protested.

  “Fine,” Laura’s father said. “Let’s say you don’t have a bad year with the crops. Let’s say everything goes better than I think it will. You still have debt, and debt is like a noose around your neck. It might not squeeze the life out of you today. You’re too young and foolish to be concerned about it. But mark my words, you took on too much too soon, and one of these days, you’re going to feel that noose tighten around your neck until you can’t breathe. Now, I’m here to offer you money to pay everything off. You can own it all free and clear.”

  “And in return you won’t let me marry your daughter,” Jesse guessed.

  “Yes. That’s all you have to do. It’ll be the easiest agreement you’ll ever make.”

  “Do it,” Fanny told Jesse.

  “No,” Jesse told her.

  “Why not?” she asked. “It’s the perfect solution to your problems. I heard you moaning and groaning about the
debt the other day. You can’t guarantee you’ll bring in enough crops to cover even a small portion of it.”

  Jesse turned to face her. “It’s because of you I’m in debt. My original plan was to build sod houses and a sod barn. But you insisted on having lumber for everything, and lumber isn’t cheap.”

  She gasped. “You can’t blame that on me.”

  “I can when you threaten to take Elliot from me if I don’t give him the kind of home you think he needs to have.” He turned back to her father. “I’m marrying Laura.”

  “This is nonsense. You don’t even love her,” her father argued.

  “No, but I value all she does out here,” Jesse replied.

  “You only want her because it’s convenient for you,” her father said.

  “I also enjoy her company,” Jesse pointed out. “And what’s more, she wants to be here. She’s the one who suggested marriage. After she explained her reasons, I thought she had good points and agreed to the arrangement.”

  It was on the tip of Jesse’s tongue to tell him how unhappy Laura was with what he and her mother had been putting her through, but he decided against it. For one, the man probably wouldn’t believe him. And two, he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Yes, he had no trouble telling Fanny what he thought of her, but she’d worn him down in the three years he’d known her.

  Her father’s face turned red, and Jesse sensed it took all of the man’s willpower not to punch him. Finally, after what seemed like an abnormally long time, he shoved his finger in Jesse’s face and said, “If you go through with this marriage, I’ll make you pay for it.”

  Jesse swatted his hand away. “You don’t scare me.”

  After a long, tense moment, her father headed back to his horse.

  “Why are you making things harder on yourself than you need to?” Fanny hissed. “That girl is a liability. She’s going to get you in trouble.”

  “No, she won’t. She’s not the problem around here.”

  Before she could say anything else, he stormed back into the barn. Of the people he knew in this town, Laura was one of the few who made his life better. There was no way he was going to give that up. He’d stood up to Fanny all this time. He could stand up to Laura’s father, too.

  “Just let him try to break me,” Jesse muttered.

  After all he’d been through, he couldn’t imagine how much more difficult life could possibly get. Mr. Rufus had no idea who he was dealing with. No idea at all.

  ***

  No matter how hard she tried, Laura couldn’t stop fussing with the lace on her white dress. She glanced at Jenny, who was holding some wildflowers as she waited in the parlor with Laura.

  “I know lace is impractical,” Laura said. “After today, I plan to remove it from this dress. And then I think I’ll add some color to it. White clothing gets dirty so easily, but it’s such a beautiful color for a bride. I saw my aunt marry, and she had a white dress on. At first, I thought she was an angel.” She giggled. “I was only eight at the time.”

  Jenny smiled and went over to her so she could touch the dress. “The lace is pretty. It makes the dress romantic.”

  “That’s what I thought when I was making it.”

  It was silly. The marriage was not going to be the least bit romantic. But she’d always dreamt of a romantic wedding, like the kind her aunt had, and she saw no harm in at least having a special day. Didn’t every woman deserve a day where her fairytales could come true?

  “I like the look of the dress,” Jenny told her. “You used a simple style, but the lace makes it look like it was difficult.”

  “It was a trick I learned a couple years ago when I sewed with some relatives.”

  “You were lucky. No one in my family likes to sew. Ma does it because she has to, but she doesn’t enjoy it.”

  “You like to sew?”

  Jenny nodded. “I like exploring different ways of making things. I made an apron and am now working on a skirt.”

  A knock on the door interrupted them, and Laura went to answer it.

  Sally stood on the other side, holding two bouquets of wildflowers. “Everyone’s ready,” Sally said and held out one of the bouquets to Laura. “This is for you.”

  “Thank you,” Laura replied and took it.

  Now that the moment was here, Laura realized she was nervous. Up to now, she’d been so caught up in the fantasy of getting married that the reality of it hadn’t sunk in.

  “I didn’t realize how handsome Jesse is,” Sally said.

  “Oh?”

  Laura hadn’t even thought of the way he’d dress for the day. She stepped onto the porch, followed by Jenny. She scanned the Larsons but didn’t see him. It didn’t help that Tom and Joel were running around, distracting her.

  Sally shut the door and said, “He’s next to my father. At the moment, he’s talking to the preacher. His back is turned toward us. He’s wearing the dark blue suit.”

  It was then Laura’s gaze settled on him. As Sally had warned her, his back was turned to her, so she wasn’t able to get a good look at him. But she did see Elliot. Mrs. Larson was holding him and seemed content to fuss over him.

  “Let me tell them you’re ready,” Sally said.

  She proceeded to hop down the porch steps and ran over to the group.

  “Sally likes to tell people what to do,” Jenny joked.

  Laura grinned. “That’s probably a result of having to watch over you and her brothers so much.”

  “We call her bossy from time to time,” Jenny replied.

  “I’m sure she seems that way to you and your brothers, but I don’t think she means to be that way.”

  Sally clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention and started telling them where to stand.

  “Or maybe she just enjoys being a leader,” Laura amended. “Some might say she’s bossy. Others might argue she takes control and gets things done.”

  “She’s bossy,” Jenny said as if the matter was easy to settle.

  “But she doesn’t mean any harm in it. She’s trying to help.”

  Jenny sighed but didn’t argue with her.

  After Sally had everyone standing where she wanted them, she took her father by the arm and led him over to Laura. Laura didn’t bother looking at Jenny. If she did, she’d probably see Jenny rolling her eyes, and right now, that would make her burst out laughing.

  From the lawn, Amanda left Richard and followed Sally and Mr. Larson. Laura smiled, glad her dearest friend would be with her on this special day.

  When they reached them, Sally waved Laura to her father. “You hold onto his arm. Jenny will go first, I’ll follow, then Amanda will go, and you two will be last. Ready, Jenny?”

  “Yes, sir,” Jenny replied and gave a mock salute before she headed down the porch steps and headed toward the preacher.

  “Slow down,” Sally called out. “You need to walk with grace. This is a special day.”

  Jenny didn’t hide her sigh, but she slowed her steps.

  Laura bit her tongue so she wouldn’t laugh. However, next to her, Sally’s father was chuckling.

  Sally shot him a pointed look, imploring him to stop, and then turned to follow Jenny. Amanda, in turn, shot Laura a smile before going after Sally.

  A few seconds passed then Mr. Larson said, “I suppose it’s safe to go now.”

  “As long as we don’t walk too fast, we should be alright with the commander,” Laura whispered.

  She couldn’t help it. The joke was too good to pass up. And Mr. Larson laughed, so she figured it was well worth saying. Together, they headed for Jesse and the preacher.

  Chapter Eight

  As Jesse watched Mr. Larson bring Laura toward him and the preacher, his mind unwittingly went back to his wedding with Elsie. Her father hadn’t been able to take her down the church aisle, but her brother had. The whole time he watched her, he couldn’t help thinking she was so beautiful and sweet. He had to keep pinching himself to remind himself he wasn’t dream
ing.

  There had been so many things he’d been looking forward to when he took Elsie as his wife. On her way down the aisle, their life had flashed before him in a span of seconds. They were going to have a home in Nebraska. They were going to sit on the porch and enjoy the sunset after a long day of work. They were going to have children, and eventually, grandchildren. Then, after a long, full life, they were going to die together and would be joined, once again, on the other side.

  But that vision hadn’t come to fruition. Instead, he’d had to watch her die after she labored almost a full day on the wagon trail. He’d begged her not to go, pleading with her to do anything she could to hold on. She’d said she was sorry, but she couldn’t, that she knew it was her time. She’d said the heavens were open and she was being welcomed home.

  “I love you, Jesse,” she’d whispered. “I’d do it all again to be with you.”

  Then she’d let out the final push and Elliot was born. Laura had been there to deliver him, and though Laura had hurried to show him to Elsie, Elsie barely had time to hold him before the life left her eyes.

  Jesse swallowed. He hadn’t realized this wedding would remind him of all he’d lost. So many things were the same. People were there to witness the event. The preacher stood beside him. He was dressed in his Sunday suit. The bride coming to him was both beautiful and sweet. Except she wasn’t Elsie. He’d never get Elsie back. He swallowed the lump in his throat and blinked back the tears. Now wasn’t the time to give into grief. This was the day Laura had been dreaming about, and the least he could do was let her get the most out of it.

  Once he steadied his emotions, he made eye contact with her and smiled. Despite what she’d said about her parents trying to match her up with undesirable bachelors, he knew she was sacrificing a lot to be with him and Elliot.

  When Mr. Larson and Laura reached him and the preacher, Mr. Larson placed Laura’s hand in Jesse’s. Jesse had to force aside the sudden sting of betrayal. Elsie wouldn’t want him to feel guilty for taking another wife. She’d understand why he did it. But he couldn’t help the sting of guilt all the same. Elsie had only been gone for ten months. Almost eleven now.