Want Ad Wedding. Cheryl St.John

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      “About what?”

      “About Leah, of course. Her lieutenant husband died and she’s a widow.” He shook his head, still stunned by her arrival. “Leah’s a widow. Her folks are gone, too. It pains me to think of her being alone and feeling so desperate that she answered our ad.”

      “All of the women who answered the ad were desperate,” Will replied with perfect logic. “We have to figure that much. Most places have very few men of marriageable age left.”

      “I know. The women all have their reasons. But this is Leah.”

      Will tilted his head in concession. “You’re right. It may not have worked out for the two of us, but she’s the closest thing either of us has to family.”

      And family was the most important, yet rarest commodity these days. “Like you said, it’s safe here,” Daniel said.

      “The streets are not dangerous for a woman,” Will agreed.

      “But we don’t know every last man. You can bet those gals will be buried under invitations to dinners and invited for rides and asked to picnics and all manner of social things. It will probably be confusing to have so many different men as husband prospects.”

      Will raised his eyebrows. “We can’t choose for any of them.”

      “I know. But maybe we could give Leah our guidance.” They sat in silence until Daniel’s meal arrived. He picked up his fork. “We need to talk to Noah. I wish he’d come today.”

      “You knew he wouldn’t. He didn’t want any part of it. He only comes to town when he has to.”

      “After I eat, I’m going to see him. Come with me.”

      Will took a sip of his coffee and grimaced. “Cold. All right. I’ll go change and head for the livery.”

      Will had Daniel’s brown-and-white skewbald gelding saddled when he arrived. They headed west. A few miles away from town, they encountered a small herd of buffalo. Interrupted from their grazing, the beasts lumbered away. Daniel and Will sat astride their horses and watched. As they stayed there without moving, several turkeys strutted out of the long grass and pecked at the ground. Daniel patted his horse’s neck, then slowly drew his rifle from its scabbard on the back of his saddle, aimed and fired. The horse beneath him didn’t flinch. One of the birds flopped on the ground and the others scattered.

      Daniel got down to retrieve his kill. “I’ll take this to Noah for dinner. Maybe we’ll make a night of it.”

      Will leaned on his saddle horn. “You know he’ll get cantankerous when he figures out we’re hoping he’ll want one of those brides.”

      “Yep.” He used a leather thong to tie the bird to his saddle.

      Will tipped his hat back and looked at Daniel. “Maybe he’ll take a shine to Leah.”

      “Maybe.” Daniel didn’t like the arrow of discomfort that pierced his thoughts and made him turn away to look at the sky. He relived a brief moment of jealousy, remembering the hug Leah had impulsively given Will. His friend had appeared startled and exchanged a glance of confusion with him over her golden head. Daniel prayed he’d either get used to thinking of Leah with someone else or the good Lord would send him his own wife to change his confusing feelings about her.

      Before the war Daniel had stood back and watched as Will courted Leah. She had shown his best friend favor. Daniel had never told either of them how he felt about her, but Will had figured it out. Things had been tense at first, and they hadn’t talked about it at length, but Daniel had assured Will that if he made Leah happy, so be it.

      After the men had joined the army, Will and Leah’s separation had made communication difficult, and eventually the two had ended their courtship. Daniel and Will had come to terms with the past a long time ago. Life was too uncertain to hold grudges stemming from circumstances that were out of their control. They’d seen each other through days and nights with little to no rations, dug graves side by side, mourned comrades left where they’d fallen and bolstered each other’s grit and determination when death had seemed the easy way out. Leah’s arrival might muddy the waters in respect to their plan for brides, but her presence wouldn’t come between them. He’d see to that.

      They spotted Noah digging a post hole. It appeared a section of fence had been broken or trampled. “Did buffalo do that?” Will called. “We saw a small herd.”

      Noah squinted at them from beneath the brim of his hat and leaned on the handle of his shovel until they got close. His hat shaded his face and eyes from the sun, and beneath the brim his collar-length hair was dark with sweat. “What brings you two out here? Wasn’t this the big day?”

      “It was.” Daniel got down and hobbled his horse. Will did the same.

      “Everything go as planned?”

      “Cowboy Creek has a friendly preacher and four new marriageable women,” Will told him.

      “That’s what you wanted.” Noah gripped the shovel and continued digging the hole.

      Will went for one of the posts in the back of Noah’s wagon and Daniel grabbed a sledgehammer.

      “So, it all went well and you came out here to be ranch hands this afternoon?” Noah still had a Virginia drawl. The burn scars on the side of his face stood out white in contrast to the rest of his face, which was red from exertion and the sun. The scars extended down his arm and on his chest, as well, and were the biggest reason he stayed to himself and rarely went into town.

      They’d met the southerner when the 155th Pennsylvania Regiment had marched to Washington. Opposed to slavery, Noah had left behind his home and family to fight for his beliefs and joined the army at the Potomac in ’62. Only a year later, as they joined the fray at Gettysburg, Noah’s gun backfired at the Battle of Little Round Top and ignited a fire that left him badly burned.

      His discharge from the army had been all the more difficult for him because Noah had always believed that as a born southerner he had to fight harder than any northerner. His bravery had been an example to all the men who fought with him, but he’d been forced to leave due to his injuries. That’s when he’d come to Kansas and staked his claim.

      “I shot a turkey for supper,” Daniel said. “Thought we’d stay.”

      “Daylight’s burnin’.” Noah’s reply was terse as always.

      Daniel and Will glanced at each other and bent to the task.

      Near sundown, the fence repairs were finished and the men headed to Noah’s cabin. Noah’s black fierce-looking companion, a cross between a dog and a wolf, greeted Noah and watched the other two men dismount. Wolf accompanied Noah to town on the rare occasions he went, and folks were wary of him. Like Noah, Wolf came across more dangerous than he was.

      The men washed at the pump in the yard, and Daniel prepared the turkey, splitting it and roasting the meat over a fire pit. Noah brought turnips from his root cellar and Will baked biscuits in a skillet. It was dark by the time they ate under the stars.

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