His Remarkable Bride (2 page)

His attempt was cut short by a cracking boom and a high-pitched whiz several yards beyond the tent. Several ladies screamed. A half-second later, there was a sharp fizzle, then the opposite corner of the church tent caught fire. Another rash of screaming followed as women and children dashed out from under the tent and Dr. Dean Meyers and Aiden Murphy grabbed several glasses of lemonade to throw on the canvas. The fire went out quickly, which shifted everyone’s focus to the cause of the sudden conflagration.

It wasn’t difficult to find the culprits. Hubert stood with a box of matches in one hand and a burnt-out stub in the other. At his feet was a stick—the kind fireworks were attached to in order to assure a straight launch. Freddy and Noah stood several feet back. All three boys wore startled expressions on their pale faces.

“Vagrants!” Vivian called, even louder. “The younger ones tried to murder me and my sisters, and the oldest tried to burn down the—EEK!”

Her tirade came to an abrupt halt as Vernon rushed into the crowd to see what was going on, a grass snake in each hand. It was the Bonneville sisters’ bad luck that he squeezed between Vivian and Melinda to get a good view of the fuss. Only, Vivian’s shriek shocked him just enough for him to simultaneously jump and let go of the snakes. One fell on the ground and slithered under Bebe’s skirts, but the other leapt right for Melinda’s bosom. It just so happened that with her bodice sticky with apple pie, the snake stuck to her for the split-second it took for her to clap a hand to her chest in fright. The snake used that split-second to wriggle against her hand and up through the row of buttons on the front of the dress, disappearing under the fabric.

The shriek that erupted from Melinda was loud enough to wake the dead. “Get it off me, get it off me!” She bolted from the crumpled side of the tent in hysterics, ripping at her bodice.

Two of Bonneville’s ranch hands chased after her and began helping relieve her of her bodice by tearing through it. It was only when the snake plopped to the ground and raced away that Melinda realized two rough men had divested her of part of her clothes. She let out an even more piercing scream and slapped the one closest to her with a resounding smack.

Bebe, meanwhile, had broken into a flat-out run, wailing in misery, “It’s in my petticoats! Help! Help!” as she took herself as far as possible from the spot of grass her snake had landed in.

“This is an outrage,” Rex Bonneville boomed. He advanced on Athos, fist raised.

Athos’s first and only reaction was to throw both arms wide to shield his children. “It was an accident.”

“Vivian is right,” Bonneville went on. “Those children are conniving, evil-minded, wretches.”

“They are not!”

“They’re no better than beggars in the street, and you, sir, are unfit to be a father to them.”

“Rex, calm down,” Bonnie hissed from the side. She was ignored.

All of the grit and energy Athos had saved up to defend his children deflated under Bonneville’s comment. As much as it hurt, the man might have had a point.

“My brother does the best he can,” Piper stepped in to defend him. “He’s a good father and a hard worker.”

“Ha!” Bonneville barked.

His exclamation was underscored by Vivian’s weeping and Melinda’s and Bebe’s continued shrieking as they fled the scene. Honoria—who had been standing by Solomon’s side, watching the scene with wary eyes—hesitated, then rushed after them.

“You’ll regret this,” Vivian shouted, pointing a cherry cordial-stained finger at Athos. “The whole pathetic lot of you will regret this! Tell them, Papa.” She didn’t wait for her father to speak. She lifted her ruined skirts and fled after her sisters.

“You
will
regret this,” Bonneville vowed in a far more menacing voice. He narrowed his eyes at Athos, taking one last threatening step toward him, then turned and stormed off, head held high.

“Sorry,” Bonnie apologized on behalf of them all, then picked up her skirts and chased after Bonneville with stooped shoulders.

A deep, awkward silence followed their departure. Athos’s face pinched ruefully as he watched the man go. Rex Bonneville was a terrible man to make an enemy of. This was bad news all around. Incredibly bad news. He rubbed a hand over his face, then turned to face his four youngest.

“We’re in trouble now,” he told them as if he was one of them, another child waiting for the real adult to show up and scold them all. “Very bad trouble.”

“We’re sorry, Papa,” Millie said, her eyes round and regretful. “We were just playing.”

“We didn’t even see misses Bonnevilles there,” Geneva added.

Athos’s heart broke at the sorrowful cast to their eyes. “No, sweethearts,” he sighed. “You never do mean to get into trouble, do you?”

“No.” The four young ones shook their head and looked down.

“Am I in trouble too, Papa?” Vernon asked, shuffling over to join his siblings. “They were only snakes, after all. Not even venomous ones.”

Athos sighed and ruffled Vernon’s hair. “I know.” He looked up, searching outside of the ring of people who had gathered to watch with either sympathetic expressions or disapproving scowls. Many of them were helping right the table that had been upset, picking up the knocked-over tent pole, or assessing the firecracker’s damage to the side of the tent canvas. Beyond that group, Hubert stood with his friends, being scolded roundly by Howard Haskell. Athos was glad he couldn’t hear it. Then again, if he could, maybe he’d have half a clue what to say to his son. The only members of the family who had come out of the excitement unscathed were Ivy and Heather, but neither of them looked particularly eager to lay claim to the name Strong at the moment, as they hid their faces in their hands on the church stairs and were comforted by their friends.

“That’s it!” The exasperated exclamation came from none other than Piper. She marched up to stand in front of Athos and the five children who hadn’t escaped the disaster. “Athos, you’re my brother and I love you, but you can’t go on like this.”

“Go on like what?” He could pretend innocence all he wanted, but Athos knew exactly where Piper’s frustrated outburst was going.

“You’re only one man,” Piper went on. “And even though I’m your sister and would lay down my life for you, I need to have a life in order to lay it down in the first place.”

“What are you talking about?” Athos reached out to grasp Millie’s hand on one side and Neva’s on the other. They squeezed his hands in return, apparently also realizing where this was going.

“How do you expect me to start a millinery business when I am forever minding my nieces and nephews? I love them, but I need a life too. And Mama keeps writing for me to come back home to Connecticut for a visit,” Piper went on, losing some of her steam. “I haven’t been home in three years, Athos. I have friends there, a life.”

“I know that, Piper, and I’ve never forced you to stay with us or stopped you from visiting.”

“I know.” Piper pressed a hand to her temple. “But how was I supposed to leave you alone with all eight of them? I had hoped there would be some nice young woman in town, but…” She paused and sighed, shaking her head, then meeting Athos’s eyes. “Natalie has been gone for four years, Athos. These children need a mother. A full-time mother who can devote her life to them. I love you all,” she said to the children, “but I need a break. Athos, I’m putting my foot down. You need to remarry.”

“I know, Piper, I know.” Athos let his shoulders drop. Hadn’t he been saying the same thing for the last several months? Everyone from Franklin Haskell to Travis Montrose seemed to be sending for a bride from Hurst Home. He had declared several times that he would do the same, but something had always come up. The station was always busy, his children always needed some sort of attention, and between those two things, there simply wasn’t room for anything else.

“I think I see what’s needed here,” Charlie Garrett—who had stood close by watching the entire scene—spoke up. He gestured for Athos and Piper and the children to walk with him out of the way of the men and women who had swooped in to clean up the mess that had become of the tent. As soon as they were all a good ten yards out into the open yard beside the church, Charlie went on. “You need a bride from Hurst Home.”

“Yes!” Athos let out the single word with so much weary emotion that it caused his throat to close up. A moment later, he shook himself. “I mean, I don’t know. I…I wasn’t a very good husband the first time. What reason do I have to believe that I’ll be any good at it a second time?”

“No, Papa, no,” Neva and Millie disagreed with him in unison.

“You’re a great husband.” Vernon too tried to bolster his spirits.

Athos laughed and ruffled Vernon’s hair again. “And how would you know that?”

“Because you’re the best Papa ever?” Lael replied.

Something not too unlike tears stung at Athos’s eyes. He cleared his throat to fight the sensation. A good father—and a good husband—would be stronger than his emotions. He’d be organized and conscientious. He’d keep his children out of trouble and dress them, well, better than his poor things were dressed.

The oldest three children must have sensed something was in the air as Athos, Piper, and Charlie moved to the side. Hubert rushed to join the group, and even Ivy and Heather broke away from their friends long enough to gather with the rest of the family.

“What’s going on?” Hubert asked.

“Papa is going to get a new bride,” Vernon answered.

“Are you, Papa?” Heather asked.

“I…I…”

“He is,” Charlie answered for him. “And your Aunt Piper is going to take a nice, restoring vacation back home in Connecticut.”

“Yay!” Thomas exclaimed, although at four years old, Athos doubted he knew what he was cheering for.

“Mr. Garrett here is going to send for a bride for your father,” Piper picked up the explanation. “I’m sure he knows exactly how it’s done.”

“Not only that,” Charlie continued. He tilted his head to the side and tapped a finger to his chin. “I think I might know just the right woman for you.”

“Really?” Athos blinked. The entire concept of the right woman for him was so foreign to his way of thinking that the idea that someone else would know of one mystified him.

“Yes.” Charlie waved across the lawn to Virginia Piedmont and Josephine Evans.

The two of them stood somewhat aside from the crews that were cleaning up the tent, as if sensing they would soon be needed elsewhere. At Charlie’s signal, they made a bee-line across the lawn to join the ever-increasing group.

“Well, Charlie,” Virginia started. “If you’re the one waving at us and this lot are the ones you’re talking to as you wave, I have one guess what this is all about.”

“Especially after that display,” Josephine agreed. She bent to pinch Thomas’s chubby cheeks.

“You’ve finally decided to really, truly, and actually send for a wife, haven’t you?” Virginia asked.

“Yes.” Athos wished he didn’t feel so defeated as he said it. This was a good thing for everyone, after all. He wasn’t making the decision lightly, and judging by the smiles his friends and even his children wore, it was the right thing.

“I was thinking Elspeth Leonard,” Charlie said.

“Who?” Athos turned to him.

“Yes,” Josephine exclaimed, clapping her hands. “She
would
be perfect, wouldn’t she?”

“Why, I can’t think of a single other woman who would be more suited to the job of Mrs. Strong than Elspeth Leonard,” Virginia agreed. “Good idea, Charlie.”

“Who is Elspeth Leonard?” A tiny spark of hope had ignited in Athos’s chest at the amount of enthusiasm his friends were showing.

“Elspeth Leonard is one of the women currently living at Hurst Home,” Charlie explained. “She’s been there for a little over a year. Mrs. Breashears has been giving me updates on the histories and talents of each of the women under her care so that we might assist her in placing them in Haskell.”

“Elspeth is British,” Virginia rushed on, evidently impatient with Charlie’s storytelling pace. “British, though she’s been in this country for the past seven years, working as a nanny and governess.”

“Not only does Mrs. Breashears report she’s quick and intelligent, she has experience caring for children,” Josephine finished, eyes bright with excitement.

“She’d be our nanny?” Ivy asked, exchanging a confused look with her twin.

“No, she’d be your new mother, in a manner of speaking,” Charlie went on. “She’d come out here to marry your father.”

“But with the understanding that she is needed to care for the lot of you as well,” Virginia finished.

A stunned silence followed. Athos turned to his children with a shrug. “Well, what do you think?”

“A new mama?” Millicent asked.

“Is she pretty?” Lael followed her question with one of his own.

“Is she nice?” Geneva asked her question as if she considered it to be most important.

“Yes, I should hope so, and of course,” Charlie answered all three questions at once, then winked at the girls.

The girls giggled. The oldest three children turned to Athos, their expressions approving. Thomas swayed closer to his papa and took Athos’s hand.

“What do you say, Athos?” Charlie asked. “I can telegraph Mrs. Breashears today, and if Miss Leonard is willing, she could be in Haskell as your bride by May first.”

Athos studied his children, marked each one of their faces, looking for approval. He checked on Piper, who nodded in encouragement. Most of all, he searched his heart, wondering what Natalie would have said. She probably would have said that the children should have a mother…and he probably wouldn’t have heard her as he rushed to get something else done or fix some other mistake.

Oh, Natalie
. He sighed. The others would try to scold him and tell him he was wrong, but he really had been a terrible, absent-minded, inattentive husband. Miss Elspeth Leonard deserved better than his sorry bag of bones.

But he was desperate. In the end, only one thing mattered. His children needed a mother.

“All right.” He gave up with a shrug. “Send the telegram. We’ll do everything we can to get ready for Miss Elspeth Leonard.”