Bushedwhacked Bride (20 page)

“Sure am,” Eula replied.

“My sympathies. There are a number of us in the
church. In fact, we have a little quilting society you might
want to join.”

“Why, sure,” Ma said eagerly. “I love needlework.”

“We’re working on several quilts which we’ll be selling at the Founders’ Day bazaar, and we could sure use
your help.”

“Count me in,” said Eula.

Mrs. Allgood turned to Jessica, offering her hand.
“And Horace has told me about you, that you’re a refined,
well-educated young lady. Welcome to Mariposa.”

“Why, thank you.” Jessica shook the woman’s thin
hand.

Mrs. Allgood winked at the boys. “And such handsome
young gentlemen. Wonderful additions to our congrega
tion.”

Cole spoke for the brothers. “Thank you, ma’am.
We’re pleased to be here.”

Now another family joined them. The husband and
wife were both dark-haired and attractive, as well as bet
ter dressed than most of the other churchgoers; the
woman wore an elegant full-length coatdress and a large
hat lavishly tiered with egret feathers; ‘the man wore a
beautifully cut gray suit and an elegant top hat. The three
children, two boys and a girl, were also smartly attired.

Turning to the newcomers, Allgood said, “Folks, I’d
like you to meet the mayor of Mariposa, Willard Polk, his
wife, Mary, and their three children, Mildred, William,
and Mathew.”

Jessica and the others shook hands with the Polks.
“Miss Garrett, Mr. Allgood has been telling us all about
you,” Mary remarked eagerly. “Is it possible you might
be able to teach our children?”

Before Jessica could speak, one of the children,
William, addressed her. “Would you teach us, ma’am?
Millie and Matt and me really need us a teacher.”

“Now, Will, don’t be pushy,” scolded the mother.

Will lowered his gaze. “Sorry, ma’am.”

“Please, no need to apologize,” Jessica reassured the
boy.

“We do so badly need a teacher,” Mrs. Polk contin
ued. “Willard has a friend at the teachers’ college in
Denver
, and he promised to send us someone, but so far
no one has arrived.”

“Yes, I heard about that,” Jessica murmured.

“I’ve been able to tutor my children a bit,” Mrs. Polk
added. She gestured toward the two women in black
whom Jessica had noticed earlier. “But poor Chila Clut
ter and Rose Pritchett are widows with several young
ones to educate. They’re too busy hiring out as maids or scrubwoman to do much for their own.”

Jessica sadly regarded the others. “What a shame.”

Mary touched Jessica’s hand. “Think about it, dear.”

“I will,” Jessica promised.

Now Polk addressed Jessica. “We’d love to have you,
Miss Garrett. And Merchant Allgood also mentioned that
you might be willing to write up our town’s history for
the coming Founders’ Day celebration.”

“I’d be happy to assist.” From the corner of her eye, Jessica caught Cole frowning at her, but ignored him.

“Indeed?” Polk clapped his hands together in pleasure.
“If you can come by my office, Miss Garrett, I have some
materials that could help you—and we can discuss the
matter further.”

“I’ll try to get by this week,” Jessica promised.

As soon as the Polks moved on, the bevy of five pretty
young ladies rushed up. As the four younger boys
plucked off their hats and grinned at the girls, the plump one tugged at Mrs. Allgood’s sleeve. “Ma’am, would you
introduce us to the gents?”

All the boys appeared pleased as punch at the prospect,
and Jessica had to admire the girl for speaking up so
boldly. Dressed in yellow gingham, she was stout but also
lovely, with bright blue eyes, an upturned nose, and long,
thick, curling blond hair. Jessica sensed she had a lot of
spunk.

Mrs. Allgood frowned. “Dumpling, your mother
should teach you better manners than to be so forward
around the menfolk.”

As the girl lowered her head, Billy said to Mrs. All-
good, “Ah, ma’am, I don’t think the young lady means
nothing by it. She’s just being friendly.” He elbowed
Gabe. “We sure ain’t offended, are we, boys?”

“Nope!” replied the other three, all grinning ear to ear.

Dumpling grinned back, then turned again to the dowa
ger. “Sorry, Mrs. Allgood, but we just want to welcome
these folks to the church, like the gent says. Ain’t that
right, girls?”

The other girls nodded, giggling behind their fans.

“Very well,” Mrs. Allgood conceded wearily. Gesturing at the various girls, she said to the “Livelys,” “Folks,
these are the Holler sisters—Maybelle, Minerva, and
Beatrice—and their cousins, the Hicks sisters—Peaches
and Dumpling.”

Jessica sized up the rest of the girls. Maybelle, Min
erva, and Beatrice were all pretty, slender brunettes.
Peaches was an auburn-haired beauty who somewhat re
sembled her sister Dumpling, but wasn’t plump. All five of the girls appeared wholesome and pleasing. Jessica
quickly decided they would do nicely as romantic
prospects for the boys. There were even enough of them
for Cole to have one.

Why did that prospect fill her with jealousy?

Meanwhile, Ma was announcing to the girls, “Pleased
to meet you, ladies. And these are my sons—er—”

“Clay, Lyle, Gill, Walt, and Bobby,” Jessica supplied.

The girls giggled at this. “Which one of you fellas is
which?” Dumpling asked.

Grinning with pride, Billy spoke up. “Ma’am, I’m
Bibby—I mean Bobby, and this here is . . . uh—”

“Lyle!” popped up Luke as he shook Minerva’s hand.

“Yeah, Lyle,” Billy repeated, sounding intensely re
lieved.

Wes stepped forward to shake hands with Maybelle.
“And I’m—er—Walt.”

“Pleased to meet you, Walt,” Maybelle said.

Gabe winked at Peaches. “I’m Gill, ma’am.”

“Gill,” Peaches repeated, licking her lips. “I just love
that name.”

Dumpling clapped her hands. “Well, you folks staying
for the covered dish dinner?”

Jessica and Ma exchanged perplexed looks, then Ma
sputtered, “Well, we didn’t know there was no dinner
today, or we would have brung something. Seeing’s we
didn’t, it ain’t fair we impose.”

Peaches would not take no for an answer. “It’s no im
position at all, is it, Mrs. Allgood?”

“Heavens, no,” declared the dowager. “There’s always plenty of food, and we want our visitors to become better acquainted with our congregation.”

“Just wait till you taste Dumpling’s cooking,” put in
Beatrice.

“You got us convinced, ma’am,” said Billy with such an eager grin that everyone laughed.

Peaches clapped her hands. “Will you boys help us un
load the food from our wagons?”

“Why, ma’am, we’d be honored to,” Gabe declared.

The four boys trooped off with the five girls. But
Dumpling lagged behind, turning to Cole. “Ain’t you
coming, Clay?”

He winked. “Looks to me like you girls have enough
help.”

Dumpling shrugged, then followed the others out. Jes
sica couldn’t believe how relieved she felt. Cole had
every right to flirt with the girls, but she was so glad he’d
chosen not to.

She was getting in deep, deep trouble!

Now the minister stepped up with his plump wife. “Welcome, folks. I’m Reverend Bliss and this is my dear wife
Matilda. Who might you folks be?”

Another round of introductions followed. After the
minister and his wife also urged the newcomers to stay for
the dinner, Ma relented. The three followed the others
outside and sat down on benches placed beside a long pic
nic table draped with oilcloth and shaded by a thatched
awning. Several ladies busied themselves laying out food
and glasses of tea.

Sitting between Ma and Cole toward one end of the table, Jessica smiled and watched the girls maneuver
themselves next to the boys a few feet beyond her. Min
erva sat down next to Luke, Maybelle with Wes, Peaches
next to Billy. As for Gabe, he stood beyond talking to Beatrice, clearly flirting with the pretty young woman.
Then Jessica was rather perplexed to watch Beatrice shy
away, moving over to join a dark-haired couple, most
likely her parents, who were seated down the table from
Jessica and Cole. Appearing at a loss, Gabe sat down next
to Peaches at the end of the table.

As for Dumpling, she was left odd woman out; she fi
nally sat down across from Gabe and next to Maybelle.

Jessica felt sorry for Dumpling; indeed, it became ob
vious that Dumpling’s sister Peaches was the center of at
tention as two young men with straw-colored hair strode up to flirt with her. But when Peaches only cast the two a
haughty look and flipped her hair, the boys stalked away.

Once everyone was seated and all the covered dishes
were in place, Reverend Bliss said grace, then made a point of introducing the “Lively” family and Jessica to
the congregation. Jessica was warmed to note many
smiles and nods.

For a few moments, most of the conversation involved
passing the food. Then a stocky blond man sitting across
from them offered Cole his hand. “I’m Joshua Hicks and this is my wife, Wilma.” He gestured down the table.
“We’re the parents of those two young ladies, Peaches
and Dumpling, who are sitting with your brothers, and
we’d like to welcome you folks to our church.”

Cole shook Joshua’s hand. “Thanks much. You’ve all certainly given us a warm reception.”

“You folks farm?” Joshua asked.

“We try our hand at it.”

An old-timer, seated between them and the boys,
called out, “What can you folks farm, with most of our
streams p’isoned by runoff from the mines?”

At this, Billy stepped in, declaring, “Cotton.”

Gabe quickly followed with, “Watermelons.”

Luke added, “Persimmons.”

As laughter erupted, Jessica groaned, while the old-
timer turned fiery eyes on the boys. “You gentlemen josh
ing me?”

“Yeah, they are,” Cole called out.

“Then what do you farm, sonny?” the codger demanded.

“We try our hand at corn and wheat, some livestock,” Cole answered modestly.

“Well, it’s a wonder you can raise anything with all the runoff from the mines,” Joshua commented to Cole. “But
it’s a pleasure to have some new blood in our church.”

“Thank you,” said Cole.

“Especially young men,” added Wîlma, a pretty auburn-haired woman who resembled Peaches. “Several
of our best young men were killed in that cave-in two
years ago.” She inclined her head down the table, then lowered her voice. “Including poor Beatrice’s fiancé.”

Jessica felt a surge of sympathy for the girl, who sat
with eyes downcast. No wonder she had shied away from
Gabe—she was obviously still grieving over her lost love.

Down the table, a younger man remarked, “I say damn
Miser and his consortium for killing off half the good
men in this town. Those of us still working the mines may
not be with you much longer if things don’t change.”

“Yeah,” put in another man, “makes me want to shake
the hand of the Reklaw Gang for terrorizing them low-
down snakes.”

At this pronouncement, Cole raised an eyebrow at Jes
sica, and she demurely sipped her tea.

Another man laughed. “Hey, you boys hear what them
Reklaws did the other day? Stopped old Miser and his
cronies in their fancy carriage, robbed ‘em and made ‘em
strip down to their longjohns.”

As more merriment erupted, Reverend Bliss held up a
hand. “Gentlemen, please, I think we’ve heard quite
enough of this indelicate talk. There are ladies present,
after all. And we Christians must never endorse the ways
of lawbreakers.”