Where the Heart Leads

Bluebell, Montana Territory, Spring 1877

“Have you told Aumaleigh?” Verbena asked the minute their aunt left the room.

“Told Aumaleigh what?” Magnolia hefted her end of the curtain rod as she balanced precariously on a chair.

“About Gabriel coming to my wedding.” Rose went up on tiptoe, feeling the chair beneath her toes wobble unsteadily. They should have waited until Oscar came with the ladder, but she didn’t want him climbing with his leg still healing. “Honestly, I haven’t known how to tell her.”
“I’ll do it.” Daisy shook out the freshly made curtains. Ruffles fluttered as she worked them onto the curtain rod. “I’ll just pull her aside and tell her.”

“As gently as possible.” Iris fussed with a set of newly hung curtains, trying to get them to gather just right. “Maybe I should be the one.”

“Are you saying I can’t be gentle?” Daisy’s mouth twitched in the corners.

“I’m saying I could be gentler.” Iris teased. She smiled so easily these days now that she wore the sheriff’s engagement ring. He’d surprised her with it a few days after his proposal.

“Maybe we should all tell Aumaleigh,” Rose suggested, setting the curtain rod into its wooden bracket.

“Tell me what?” Their aunt’s voice echoed across the charming parlor of her new two-story log house. She arched a slender eyebrow. “What is with you girls! You’ve all gone pale. What is going on?”

“Nothing.” Rose eased down from the chair. She really didn’t want to upset her dear aunt, not today, her moving in day. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Yes, no worrying, that’s right.” Magnolia leaped down from the chair. “We need to be talking about exciting things. Like where to put the sofa. Look, there’s Oscar with a wagonload right now.”

“Aumaleigh.” Daisy accidentally dropped the curtain rod and stooped to pick it up. “Where do you want the furniture? This is such a spacious room, you could do so much with it.”

They didn’t give her much time to answer. Not at all. Iris rushed in with an opinion. “I’d want to look out these windows at this view.”

She seemed eager to direct the conversation away from whatever the five of them had been talking about.

Those girls. Aumaleigh shook her head. They were up to something, and you never knew what. “Fine, I won’t ask what you’re keeping from me, but I have a long memory. I won’t forget. I will get it out of you eventually.”

“Why are you looking at me?” Magnolia asked innocently.

“Because you’re the weakest link in the chain.” Verbena finished dusting the window sill. “Our aunt knows you’re the one who will buckle under pressure.”

“I’d like to deny it, but I can’t. It’s true.” Magnolia shrugged. “How do the curtains look? Are they straight? Oh, Oscar and Beckett are carrying something heavy. Open the door, Iris!”
“You’re closer to the door, Magnolia.”

“Yes, but I’m fixing the curtains. Are you sure you measured right, Rose?”

“Me? Maybe it’s you that did the measuring.”

Life was never dull when they were around. Aumaleigh laughed, shaking her head at her nieces. “I’ll get the door. Goodness, Beckett. You men are doing too much. That must be heavy.”

“Not for us.” Her capable ranch foreman lumbered through the door, hauling her heavy carved oak headboard. “Where do you want this?”

“Upstairs, first door on your right.”

“Your wish is my command.” Beckett winked as he headed toward Daisy instead of the staircase. The two took a moment, leaning toward each other. Their voices dipped low, keeping their words just between the two of them.

Oh, it was good to see them so happy. Aumaleigh turned her attention to the other man hauling her furniture around. She held open the door for him and breathed in the fresh spring air. “Oscar, you are doing too much.”

“My leg’s better, Ma’am. I’m fine.” Polite as always, Oscar Holloway crossed the threshold, balancing the bed rails and slats on his shoulder. “Whew, this is sure a nice place. Bet it’ll feel like home in no time.”

“It already does.” She shared a smile with the young man and closed the door.

As he ambled away, she realized she was proud of how her nieces had hired him on to help both at home and in the bakery. Nor had she regretted for a moment asking Oscar to move into the ranch’s bunkhouse. He insisted on doing work around the ranch to earn his room and board.

When his leg was fully healed, she was going to miss him. He was a logger in the forests up north. Surely he would be returning to that well-paying work.

“Verbena, guess what I see.” Magnolia waggled her brows as she adjusted her chair in front of the last curtain-less window. “Your handsome husband is here.”

“Already?” Verbena glanced at the little mantel clock ticking away above the fireplace. “Well, I guess the afternoon is nearly gone. Aumaleigh, I’m sorry I didn’t help more.”

“What are you talking about? You’ve been wonderful.” She wrapped an arm around her youngest niece, so full of happiness for her that she could burst. Verbena was still battling morning sickness, but in the afternoons she had a rosy glow. “You need to head home and take it easy. I won’t let you do too much. You have your growing baby to think about.”

“I know.” Verbena beamed with joy. Her hand landed on her still flat stomach. “But it’s hard to leave. We’re having such fun.”

“Here, put on your coat.” Taking charge, Aumaleigh grabbed the garment from the hook by the door and helped her niece into it. “You need a nap.”

“A nap would be good. I get so tired these days.” Verbena hid a yawn behind her hand.

Zane opened the door, an impressive, brawny man who looked tough enough to bend steel with his bare hands. But when he gazed at his beloved wife, he went soft inside. You could just see it. His Verbena meant everything to him.

“Looks like you’re settling in.” Zane slipped an arm around his pregnant wife. “Are you sure I can’t help out around here?”

“No, we have it under control,” she assured him. “Keeping track of the five McPhee sisters is a full time job. I don’t want to add any husbands to the task.”

“Understood. I just wanted to offer one more time.” Zane tipped his hat, glancing around the room in a brief farewell before leading his wife away.

“They are so sweet together,” Magnolia said, spying on them through the window.

“Yes, he’s as tough as nails,” Iris agreed, “but achingly tender with our Verbena.”

“Well, he better be,” Daisy went to the window to spy on the couple too. “Or he’ll answer to me.”

“To the five of us,” Rose agreed.

Aumaleigh couldn’t help stealing a peek out the window. Call her nosy. Verbena and Zane stood by their wagon, kissing. How sweet.

“They make me miss my Tyler. It’s all that kissing. I wish he was here,” Magnolia sighed from atop the chair. “Rose, is the curtain rod in the bracket on your side?”

“Yes. But yours isn’t. Will you stop watching the kissing?”

“I can’t. That’s my favorite kind of kissing. True love kissing.”

Aumaleigh opened the front door, sure her nieces could handle finish hanging the curtains. Their cheerful banter followed her onto the porch and into the fading sunshine. Clouds were moving it, swift and sure. She loved spring. The air was still a little crisp because of the snow on the nearby peaks. She savored the moment, this moving-in day. The start of her new life.

The rattling of another wagon caught her attention. There, passing Verbena and Zane’s departing vehicle was a supply wagon heading her way. Funny, she didn’t remember ordering anything from town.

“Hey, Aumaleigh!” Adam waved, drawing his draft horses to a stop in the road. “Looks like it’s moving day. How are you liking your house?”

“I love it. I need to have you, Annie and Bea over to supper sometime soon.”

“We would love that.” Adam, her nephew by marriage, touched the brim of his Stetson. “How about sometime after Rose’s wedding? It’s coming up fast.”

“It is.” Aumaleigh wrapped her arms around her waist, shivering a bit in the house’s shadow. “Where are you headed with that delivery?”

“The place just up the road. Your new neighbor. He got into town this morning and ordered a wagon full of furniture from over in Deer Springs. Nice stuff, too.” Adam slapped the reins, sending his horses forward. “I’ve got a second load to deliver for him after I get this one unpacked.”

“It’s good for your business.”

“That it is. See you, Aumaleigh.” His wagon rattled and rolled away, following the rutted road and rounding the corner.

Cottonwoods rustled their green leaves, keeping her company as she stared down the empty road. Interesting about her neighbor. According to the latest rumors, he was some well-to-do gentleman from Ohio.

Ohio.
She winced. Did it have to be Ohio? She didn’t like to think about the years she’d lived in the southern part of that state. Well, that was water under the bridge. She shrugged, meaning to turn around when another wagon loaded down with furniture and men rolled in her direction.