Rebecca Hagan Lee - [Borrowed Brides 01] (32 page)

“Truly?” Joy’s face brightened.

“Of course,” Kevin assured her.

“Will Faith come, too?” Joy asked.

“I hope so,” Temperance said simply. “She can live with us if she likes, but it would be better if she lived with Reese and the baby,” She stared at Faith, daring her daughter to contradict her.

The train whistle sounded.

“How much longer until we get there?” Temperance asked her husband. “I need to walk around.”

“You shouldn’t have come,” Faith said. “This traveling can’t be comfortable for you.”

“You weren’t going to leave me behind,” Tempy replied. “Besides, I know you didn’t really want to face your Aunt Virtuous alone.” She smiled at Faith. “We always handle her better when we stick together. And I’ll bet she turned three shades of red when she got my last letter.”

“Or green with envy,” Kevin teased. “Because you’ve managed to snag a handsome husband.”

Tempy laughed, then shifted in her seat. “A well-to-do husband. My sister, Virtuous, isn’t impressed by handsome men.”

“Unlike some women I know.” Kevin winked at Faith.

“She’s only impressed with wealthy ones.” Tempy continued.

“Then you ladies are lucky we…I…fit the bill. Virt should be most impressed.” Kevin glanced back at Faith to gauge her reaction to his gaffe.

She pretended not to notice. Just as she pretended this was simply a trip home from an extended vacation.

Kevin was worried about her. If only she’d cry. If only that fool son-in-law of his would come to his senses. Kevin reached out and grasped Temperance’s hand.

She glanced up at him. “How much longer?”

“We should be stopping for breakfast in just a few minutes.”

Kevin snapped his pocket watch closed just as the train roared into the Pine Bluffs Station.

“Come on, Faith.” Joy tugged at Faith’s hand.

“I think I’ll stay here,” Faith said.

“You’ll do nothing of the kind,” Temperance protested. “You’re going to eat breakfast with the rest of us.”

“I don’t…”

“You heard your mother,” Kevin chided. “Get going.”

Faith pushed herself up from the bench and allowed Joy to lead her into the aisle and down the steps of the train.

A young man stood on the platform shouting. “Telegram for Faith Jordan. Telegram for Mrs. Reese Jordan.”

It took Faith a moment to realize he was shouting her name. Her
married
name. “Here!” she called, waving a hand.

“That’s us!” Joy cried, gleefully jumping up and down. She held up the coin Faith handed her.

The messenger took the money from Joy, but was careful to hand the envelope only to Faith.

She ripped it open and read the message, clasping it to her breast, laughing and crying at the same time.

“What does it say?” Kevin demanded.

Faith held it out to him. It was simple and to the point. Typically Reese.

STAY WHERE YOU ARE. STOP. I LOVE YOU. STOP. HAVE COME TO MY SENSES. STOP. I NEED YOU. STOP. YOUR DAUGHTER, HOPE, NEEDS YOU. STOP. AM BRINGING DAVID, GRANDFATHER, AND THE PREACHER. STOP. YOU PICK THE CHURCH. STOP. ACCORDING TO OUR CONTRACT, YOU STILL OWE ME A SON. STOP. WILL YOU MARRY ME SO WE CAN BEGIN NEGOTIATIONS ON THE TERMS? STOP. LOVE, REESE. STOP. P.S. DID I MENTION THAT I LOVE YOU?

Faith stayed at the Pine Bluffs Station. She was pacing the length of the platform as the train from Cheyenne rolled to a stop. She hurried forward.

Reese was the first person off the train. He held out his arms as soon as his boots hit the solid floor beneath him.

Faith rushed into his embrace. Joy grasped him around the knee.

“I love you!” he whispered into her hair. “I love you. I love you.” Reese pulled her into his arms, smothering her face with kisses, before his warm mouth located her lips. “Let’s get married. Now. Today.”

“Oh, Reese.” Faith was overwhelmed by the rush of emotions she felt for this man. “I thought David was going back to start the divorce proceedings. I thought you wanted to be rid of me. You never…”

He kissed her again to stop the flow of words. “I was afraid,” he admitted. “Afraid you wanted to leave me. I was trying to find the courage to tell you how much…” He pulled her tighter into his arms. “Promise me you’ll never leave me again. Stay with me. With us.” Reese looked around for the first time. Kevin and Tempy stood watching them. David and Duncan were exiting the train. David held Hope against his chest. Reese reached for his baby daughter, taking her from David, handing her to Faith. “
We
love you. We need you. We missed you. Say you’ll marry me again.”

“I will.” Faith cuddled Hope close and smiled up at Reese.

“Today?” He was hopeful.

“Oh, Reese.” Tears formed in Faith’s eyes. “I can’t. Not like this.”

“What?” Reese took a step backward, staring at Faith as if he’d never seen her before.

Faith stood on tiptoe, tilted her face up for another kiss.

“I love you, Reese, more than anything on earth, but I don’t want another haphazard, spur-of-the moment ceremony. I deserve more than that this time.
You
deserve more.” She smiled at him, then kissed him again to show him how much she did love him. “Thank you for bringing a preacher. But we won’t be needing him today.”

Reese’s stomach seemed to sink. He understood, all too well, what she wanted. He cleared his throat. “I suppose you want a big wedding.”

“Uh huh.” She kissed the scar on the underside of his chin.

“With lots of guests.”

“Uh huh.” Faith stood on tiptoe, straining to reach his lips.

Reese bent over slightly to accommodate her. The baby wiggled in her arms. “And I suppose you want me to wait at the altar while Kevin escorts you down the aisle?” There wasn’t an ounce of enthusiasm in his voice.

“Something like that,” Faith agreed.

“All right.” Reese sighed, heavily. “But there is one thing you must do for me.”

“What’s that?”

“Tell me again how much you love me,” he ordered.

“My darling Reese, I love you,” Faith told him. “I’ll love you until the day I die.”

“That’s all I wanted to know.” He reached down for Joy, then opened his arms for Faith and Hope. He couldn’t stop smiling. His fondest dream had come true.

They were a family.

* * *

The wedding took place two weeks later at the Roman Catholic Church in Cheyenne. The priest who had married Temperance and Kevin officiated.

Reese smiled at the memory. It was the town’s most colorful and unusual wedding ceremony to date.

David Alexander, Reese’s best man, had stood alone at the altar.

Mary and Sarah were two of Faith’s attendants. They had worn beautiful gowns, which incorporated the Alexander’s red and green Highland plaid and traditional Cherokee wedding garb.

Typically, Joy had stubbornly refused to wear any color except pink.

Temperance was dressed in a velvet gown of brilliant emerald green, and though her gown was artfully sewn, it failed to hide her pregnant state. Kevin sat beside Temperance with their eight-week-old granddaughter on his lap.

Faith’s aunt, Virtuous Hamilton Jessup, and the two other members of the Richmond Ladies Sewing Circle had put up quite an argument against a having a public ceremony. Virtuous pitched a fit at the train depot.

Reese understood how she felt. He’d put up quite an argument himself. But there was no dissension in the family ranks during the ceremony. And Reese was grateful that the very proper Richmond ladies did not allow their shock to mar the proceedings. And they had to be shocked. Because…

Faith wore burgundy silk. And because he marched down the aisle at her side. Her hand was firmly locked inside his elbow as she matched him stride for stride until she was practically running down the aisle.

Reese remembered the snickers of several guests as they hurried down the aisle and a comment about Faith being afraid he wouldn’t show up at the church. But he didn’t let those comments bother him. He knew better and so did the members of his family.

Reese smiled as he recalled the look on Faith’s face as she recited her vows. Tears had rolled down her cheeks as he removed the thin gold band she wore on her left hand and replaced it with a wider, heavier band. And he would never forget Hannah Colson’s expression when Joy carefully delivered the first wedding band back to its rightful owner.

Tears had sparkled in his eyes when the ceremony ended and Faith asked the good father to read a message to the guests. Reese would never forget the words. They were embedded in his heart.

“This is my public proclamation of love for my husband, Reese Alexander Jordan. I am honored to share my husband’s Cherokee-Scots-English heritage. I am proud to stand beside the man I love and prouder still to bear his children.” It was signed Faith Elizabeth Collins Jordan and duly witnessed and dated by the best man.

Agnes Everett and Hannah Colson had surreptitiously fanned the faint Virtuous Jessup when Reese Jordan made his own proclamation.

He produced a thick sheaf of white documents from inside his suit pocket. David solemnly handed him a candle from the altar.

“This contract is declared null and void,” Reese had proclaimed, setting fire to the corners of the papers. And once the papers had blackened to crisp ash, he dropped the ashes onto a tray and offered them to his bride. “I love you, Faith,” he whispered. “I’d like to renegotiate a contract favorable to both parties.” He bent down and kissed his wife.

Their daughter howled throughout the ceremony, then howled even louder a half hour later when the priest sprinkled her with water.

Hope Amanda Jordan, as she was christened, proved herself a person to be reckoned with.

Just like her father, snickered half of the crowd.

Just like her mother, snickered the other half.

And at the request of Faith’s Aunt Virt, Reese had a full account of the wedding, descriptively recorded and lavishly embellished by the local newspapers, sent to Richmond. Virtuous was cackling with glee at the idea of a copy residing in Lydia Abbott’s mailbox.

Reese saw to it that no mention of Champ Collins ever appeared in print. Champ remained a well-guarded, well-loved family secret, his memory toasted with every bottle of champagne opened in the Jordan household.

The End

* * *

Read
Chapter One
of
Harvest Moon

Book 2 in the
Borrowed Brides
Series

Buy
Harvest Moon

Something Borrowed
, Book 3 in the
Borrowed Brides
Series

Buy
Something Borrowed

Enjoy a Special Bonus Sneak Peek at
A Wanted Man

After arming herself with a degree in fine arts and experience in radio, television, and film, Rebecca Hagan Lee wrote her first novel
Golden Chances
. Since then, she’s published numerous bestselling and award-winning novels and three novellas.

She’s won a Waldenbooks Award, a Georgia Romance Writers
Maggie
Award, several
Romantic Times
awards, been nominated for an RWA
Rita
Award and has been published in nine languages.

She currently lives in Georgia with her husband, her two beloved Quarter Horses, and a miniature schnauzer named after literary icon Harper Lee.

Visit Rebecca’s website
http://www.rhaganlee.com

Join Rebecca on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/rebeccahaganleeauthor

Golden Chances

Harvest Moon

Something Borrowed

A Wanted Man

Taking Chances

Gossamer

Whisper Always

A Hint of Heather

Once a Mistress

Ever a Princess

Always a Lady

Barely a Bride

Merely the Groom

Hardly a Husband

Truly a Wife

Twice Blessed (Homespun Mother’s Day anthology)

Clearly a Couple (Talk of the Ton anthology)

Coventry’s Christmas (A Regency Holiday anthology)

Sneak Peek

Chapter One