Mail Order Bride: Bitter & Pregnant, An English Widow Heads Off to Her Cowboy Rancher In California (A Clean & Wholesome Historical Romance) (5 page)

"That's complicated," said Francine. "Isn't
there an easier way to do it?"

Jeanne sighed. "I suppose we could just lure
him outside and lock him out of his little hut, but I made all this
mud."

"You can still use the mud," urged Francine.
"In fact, why don't you just toss it in his face? Blind 'em while I
sneak around!"

"All right, that could work," said Jeanne.
"Yes. I'll act as if I've been wounded and this is my life-blood
seeping from a deadly wound."

"If that's what you want to do," said
Francine. "I'm just going to go knock on the door, then."

"After you knock, run," said Jeanne. "I doubt
he'll be very happy about this."

Joseph and the others were in their cell and
trying to formulate a plan when they heard a faint knocking. Joseph
went over to the door and looked out of the little window. Jack
looked over at the door, dumbfounded and he walked over to a wall
and grabbed a club. Joseph was glad he hadn't gone for the gun that
was also over there, but as he thought this Jack grabbed the gun as
well. Whoever was out there was about to be hurt and Joseph refused
to allow that to happen.

"We need to get out of here before someone
gets hurt," said Joseph. "How are we going to do that?"

"This sounds a lot like a story from that
book you showed me," said Henry.

Joseph could only recall one book he had
shown Henry. "You mean the Bible?'

"Yep," said Henry. "This seems like the time
that God would help a person."

"I have faith," said Joseph and he took a
deep breath and kicked the door. There was a little bit of give to
it and so he kicked it again, this time with a sickening crack.
While the door was showing some obvious damage, Joseph was writhing
on the floor with his foot facing the wrong way.

Henry took one look at it, summoned his own
courage and kicked the door until he collapsed as well, from
exhaustion and a sore foot. It was up to Horace and he found a
heavy piece of furniture. He struck the furniture against the door
and they both broke, allowing Horace to get through. He looked back
at the two injured men.

"I'll come back for you two," said Horace,
and Joseph continued to have faith.

Jeanne watched as Francine knocked on the
door and ran, luckily running in the direction necessary to be
shielded by the door as Jack opened it, holding a gun and a club.
It was time for Jeanne to lure Jack out and so she began moaning in
pain. Jack looked up and walked over with more caution than Jeanne
would have thought and she continued moaning. Francine was still
running and Jeanne was sure she was panicked, but that was all
right. Jeanne felt she could do this alone and as Jack grew closer,
she moaned louder.

He saw Jeanne and narrowed his eyes.

He asked, "What are you doing here? Didn't
you learn your lessons?"

"I'm hurt," said Jeanne. "Please, if you have
any mercy in your heart, help me!"

"Oh, I'll help you, all right," said Jack and
he tossed aside the club and aimed his rifle at Jeanne. "I don't
need you for this money train to keep rolling. Only that little man
in there."

"Blast," said Jeanne and she grabbed some mud
and flung it at Jack's eyes. He managed to swat some of it off his
face and while it succeeded in keeping the gun aimed somewhere
else, Jack was still coming and there was nothing Jeanne could do
but run.

As she stood up, she was with a wave of
nausea and fell back down. Jack laughed and lowered his gun and
Jeanne couldn't take her eyes off of him. Was this her end? Was
this, perhaps, the way she would be reunited with her husband? Jack
pulled back the hammer but didn't get any further. Jeanne heard a
thunk and Jack fell to the ground, revealing Horace standing behind
him, holding a club and breathing heavily.

He looked scared, but brightened when he saw
Jeanne.

"Well, Miss Jeanne, it's good to see you,"
said Horace.

"And you, Horace," said Jeanne. "It looks as
if your debt is repaid."

He shrugged and lowered the club. "Are you
all right? Where's Francine?"

"Over there somewhere," said Jeanne. "I think
I can see her over there, so she should be back along shortly. We
should find some rope or chains."

"I know where we can find some," said Horace
darkly. Jeanne followed him into the cavern and he grabbed a pair
of keys off the wall and led her to a small cell at the back of the
cavern. There was a smashed door, but Horace still unlocked it.
There were two men inside, both obviously injured, one passed out.
When one of them saw Jeanne, he brightened up despite his pain.
Horace removed their restraints and ran off.

He asked, "Jeanne Harrow?"

"That I am," said Jeanne.

"I'm Joseph Clauson," said the man. "It’s
nice to finally meet you."

Jeanne studied him for a moment. It was a
very long moment, as she took in every facet of his face and body
and evaluated each one. She made a decision.

Joseph was trying to keep calm and keep
positive, but his ankle was on fire. It may have been broken, but
was at the very least twisted. It wouldn't do to let Jeanne see him
scream and cry in pain, if only because this was the woman who he
was supposed to marry. She was looking at him deeply and he was
feeling very vulnerable and very uncomfortable. So while she
studied him, he studied her. She was covered in something dirty and
brown which could either be blood or dirt, and her features were on
the harsh side. She was still beautiful and obviously pregnant, all
things the telegraphs had exposed so long ago.

"You'll do," she said. "Horace, please go
fetch your wife. I need to sit down. That was a lot of
excitement."

Joseph was taken slightly aback. "What does
that mean?"

"It means a man just tried to kill me twice
and I'm shaken and tired," she snapped.

Joseph hoisted himself up on a rounded table
as Jeanne found a chair to sit on. "No, the first part. I'll
do?"

"It means I'll honor our arrangement," said
Jeanne. "You're a handsome enough man and obviously one of some
means if a man was going through all this trouble to impersonate
you."

"I think he was trying more to get your money
than mine," said Joseph and he sat on the table. "You came all the
way here to marry me. I want to be more than good enough. In fact,
what if I don't think you'll do?"

Jeanne looked shocked, her eyes wide and
mouth gaping. She stammered, "Excuse me?'

"I've just been put through one of the most
trying periods of my life because you were coming into it,"
explained Joseph. "I want to be darn sure you're a woman worth
marrying before we do it."

"Mister Clauson, I am with child! I don't
want him coming into this world without a father," said Jeanne.
"Let the love come later. For now, I need stability. Besides, I
just helped save you from that Jack person."

"I never liked that part of stories," said
Joseph. "What kind of person offers himself or herself up as a
reward for being saved? No, Missus Harrow, we're going to do this
the old fashioned way. Just as soon as we're out of this cave and
I'm able to walk again."

"As you wish it," said Jeanne angrily, but
with a hint of a smile.

An hour later, Francine and Horace had loaded
Jack onto the back of the wagon and seen to the wounds of Joseph
and the other man, named Henry. Joseph was able to sit up and Henry
was well enough to have run over to the horse and hug it when he
came out of the dank cavern. Jeanne and the injured crowded onto
the wagon, while Horace and Francine walked along behind it.

Horace still had the club and Francine had
found the rifle. They had all decided that there was no way Jack
was going to escape his fate and so precautions were taken. Henry
was driving the cart, treating the horse with a gentle tenderness
that pleased Jeanne, leaving her and Joseph Clauson some privacy.
He was a handsome man in a way and Jeanne was pleasantly surprised
by his attitude.

"We have some time to waste," said Jeanne.
"We may as well get to know each other."

"What do you want to know? I'm a rancher by
trade, I've been told I'm kind and have a good humor about me,"
said Joseph. "I can't have any children of my own. I had an
accident, years ago."

"I see," said Jeanne.

"All the damage is internal," explained
Joseph. "No one can fix it, but I'm still fully functional."

"All right," said Jeanne. "I was an actress
from a young age and my deceased husband whisked me away from that
life. To be perfectly honest, I was trying to use you as an excuse
to start a new life in America with just my child. I planned to
escape my two companions and live on the east coast for the
remainder of my life. Your country is very boring between the city
bits, by the way."

Joseph laughed. "I know. I took a train to
Pennsylvania a few years ago and slept all the way back because
there was nothing to see. I like the theater."

"I don't," said Jeanne. "It made me something
I no longer enjoy being. The only sin those two had committed was
trying to be kind to me and I was going to abandon them. What kind
of person does such a thing?"

Joseph thought about it. "A confused one, I
reckon -- sad and alone and confused. It happens."

"I suppose it does," said Jeanne. "Why did
you have to resort to mailing away for a bride?"

"The damage, mainly," said Joseph. "Women
around here want a man who can produce a child, at least the kind
of women I'm interested in. I figured someone out there might just
want a man in their life and since I got your telegraph, I figured
you had as good a chance of any."

"Then why are you so hesitant to marry
me?"

"I don't just want to be the man who became
your husband and your child's father because it was convenient,"
said Joseph. "I want there to be some actual emotion there. Do you
understand?"

Jeanne kissed him. It felt like the right
thing to do and when it was done, she said, "I do."

"Well then," said Joseph. "Well."

"You seem like a good man," said Jeanne. "I'm
still hurting, to be honest. I'll always have some pain inside of
me. Helping you escape Jack helped ease that pain and I think
helping you through life in whatever way I can will help ease that
pain."

"This is hardly the old-fashioned way," said
Joseph.

"What, pray tell, would the old-fashioned way
be?"

"I always saw it as a young man taking his
young lady for a stroll and falling in love by the light of the
full moon," said Joseph.

"Then we shall do that," said Jeanne.

The next few weeks were a whirlwind of
activity. Jeanne became increasingly pregnant, and Joseph gradually
healed. They visited every day, became closer and closer. Jeanne
and her companions moved into Joseph's home and one night, Joseph
walked up to Jeanne's door and knocked on it. She opened the door
of her room and still looked radiant, tough, and beautiful. She saw
that Joseph was wearing some nicer clothes than his usual fare and
while he was walking with a cane, he was smiling.

"Miss Jeanne, I'd like to go for a walk with
you."

"All right," said Jeanne. "Just let me get a
shawl. It's chilly out tonight."

They walked along the fields, where tired
cows slept and sheep huddled together for safety and warmth. A dog
was walking along beside them, a herding animal named Orion. Henry
had brought him here and had started working at the ranch full-time
in order to keep an eye on his horse. He proved to have a knack for
working with animals and he ably fulfilled all the duties that Jack
had been in charge of. Jack, meanwhile, had been interred in the
local jail and was later sent to the state's prison for kidnapping,
fraud, and multiple attempted murders.

Horace and Francine were trying to open a
medical practice in town, as Francine had already become the
midwife for the area and Horace proved to have a personality that
made him easily likable. All of this went through Jeanne's mind as
she walked with Joseph down the path and then she realized what was
going on.

"This is the old-fashioned way," she
said.

"It is," said Joseph. "You move well for a
woman heavily pregnant."

"And you move well for a man with a cane,"
said Jeanne. "You know, I've felt normal these past few weeks. I
haven't felt angry or hateful and while I do feel sad sometimes,
it's an honest sadness. I think that this country is good for
me."

"I think you're good for me, too, because I
haven't had one bit of sadness since you ad your friends came,"
said Joseph, and they walked in silence. "I was wondering if you'd
do me the honor of marrying me. I would kneel, but I don't think
I'd ever get up."

"Of course," said Jeanne, and she threw her
arms around him. "I was starting to get annoyed because you refused
to ask."

Epilogue

The wedding was small. This time, Thackery
personally came to America to pay for it all, since the last time
had proven to be a mess. A pastor was brought in, as well as the
families of the brides and grooms since Jeanne was true to her word
and allowed Horace and Francine to renew their vows during an
actual ceremony.

It actually seemed more like it was Horace
and Francine's wedding than Joseph and Jeanne's, but neither one of
them really cared. All that was important was that they were
married in front of their friends. Horace and Jeanne went on a
small trip for their honeymoon, while Joseph and Jeanne stayed
home. Henry had found out that his horse was pregnant and was
doting on her.

The more important pregnancy was Jeanne's
own, and soon, the pregnancy became a birth. Francine, back from
her honeymoon, delivered the child.