August (Prairie Grooms, #1)

August

(Prairie Grooms, Book One)

By

Kit Morgan

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ANGEL CREEK PRESS

August

(Prairie Grooms, Book One)

by Kit Morgan

© 2014 Kit Morgan

Find other titles by Kit Morgan including:

The Prairie Bride Series:

His Prairie Princess (Prairie Brides, Book One)

Her Prairie Knight (Prairie Brides, Book Two)

His Prairie Duchess (Prairie Brides, Book Three)

Her Prairie Viking (Prairie Brides, Book Four)

His Prairie Sweetheart (Prairie Brides Book Five)

Her Prairie Outlaw (Prairie Brides Book Six)

Christmas in Clear Creek (Prairie Brides, Book Seven)

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The Holiday Mail-Order Bride Series:

The Christmas Mail-Order Bride (Book One)

The New Year's Bride (Book Two)

His Forever Valentine (Book Three)

Her Irish Surrender (Book Four)

The Springtime Mail-Order Bride (Book Five)

Coming June 2014:

Love in Independence (Book Six)

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Prairie Grooms:

Ryder (Prairie Grooms, Book Two)

Coming late June:

Seth (Prairie Grooms, Book Three)

Coming in July:

Chase (Prairie Grooms, Book Four)

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

All characters are fictional. Any resemblances to actual people are purely coincidental.

Cover design by Angel Creek Press, The Killion Group and Hotdamndesigns.com

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License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

For Carly, who will understand fully these words (especially since they are coming from Kitty Morgan herself): “Don’t worry, one day your prince will come. It’s all the shopping between now and then that a girl has to worry about! I hear the shopping in New York is fantastic ... shall we?”

The Players

Introduction

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

About

The Narrator: Tom Turner

His Audience: The Weaver Clan

The Players:

Our Hero ................................................................ August Bennett

Our Heroine ............................................................. Penelope Sayer

Also starring:

The Cooke Brothers and Their Wives

The English Cousins

The Townsfolk of Clear Creek

And Introducing:

Clyde, the Chicken

No harm came to Clyde during the telling of this story, though the same can’t be said for anyone who had encounters with him ...

T
he Weaver farm, a day’s ride out of Nowhere, Washington Territory, March 1871.

Deputy Tom Turner was a natural-born storyteller. He sat, hands folded on the kitchen table, and waited for his audience – in this case, the Weaver family – to sit and ready themselves for what he was about to tell them.

He’d been sent out to their farm on account of a ruckus he’d caught wind of at the Gundersons’ stage stop a half-day’s ride away, and had come to investigate. There was a nasty outlaw roaming the area, and once he reached his destination, sure enough, the low-down varmint had been terrorizing the Weaver clan. Or was it the other way around? Tom couldn’t be sure, but he made his arrests (turned out there was more than one varmint), had the bad guys locked up for a spell, and figured he had time for a tale before hauling his catch off to jail in Nowhere.

“Is there gonna be blood an' guts?” Calvin, one of the identical twins, asked, his voice tinged with eagerness.

“Land sakes, boy!” his mother chastised. “Haven’t we had enough excitement for one day? Darn outlaw comes here givin’ us all this trouble on our own farm, and you want to hear about blood and guts?”

“Well, gee, Ma, it’s a right logical question,” said Benjamin, the other twin.

Tom smiled. The twins were a few years younger than himself and hadn’t quite settled down yet – unlike their older brother Arlan, who’d just got married. He sat with his pretty wife Samijo at his side, waiting for him to start.

Tom cleared his throat. “Now, this here tale is about when a bunch o’ English ladies traveled all the way from the other side of the world so they could find husbands.”

“Were they mail-order brides like me?” Samijo asked.

Tom thought on that a moment before he nodded. “You could say that. It was a rather unusual situation. Duncan Cooke, the oldest of the three Cooke brothers back in my hometown of Clear Creek? Well, he up and found out he was a duke – inherited a title and all that went with it. In this case, that meant havin’ to go to England to live and do whatever it is a duke does.”

“What’s a duke?” asked Daniel. At nineteen, he was the youngest of the Weaver clan.

Tom scratched his head. “A duke is a fella that lives in a big fancy house, has servants runnin’ around keepin’ the place clean, and’s got himself a heap o’ responsibilities to take care of.”

“What kind o’ responsibilities?” Arlan asked.

“All kinds,” said Tom. “But the one we’re concerned with is the marryin’ kind. Seems Duncan got stuck with a passel o’ female relations no one wanted to have anythin’ to do with.”

“Was they ugly?” asked Calvin with a grimace.

“Calvin, mind your manners!” his mother hissed.

“No,” Tom answered. “They were all right pretty.”

“Then how come no one wanted to marry ‘em?” asked Benjamin.

Tom bit his lower lip as he looked at each one of them in turn. “On account any man that started courtin’ one of ‘em met with ...” He leaned forward for effect. “... a horrible accident.”

“What?” the men asked as the women gasped.

“What do you mean, they met with an accident?” Samijo added, her hand to her chest.

Tom shrugged. “All I know is, some other fella wanted to be the new duke and have all that went with it. As I recall, his name was Thackeray Holmes. He didn’t want some other relation to get it. But that’s another story – let’s stick to this one. First, let me tell you a little about the Cooke family. It was a sad day when Duncan and his wife Cozette left Clear Creek for England. The whole town turned out to see ‘em off, and there was weepin’ and wailin’ like you’d never seen or heard before.”

“Forget about that,” said Calvin. “Let’s get to the blood an’ guts!”

Calvin’s mother rolled her eyes and groaned.

Tom chuckled and continued. “Duncan, Cozette, and a few others left for England, which o’course takes a long time to get to. A year passed, and Duncan sent word to his two brothers, Colin and Harrison, that he had a problem – about six to be exact, and all female. Well, Sadie—she’s Harrison’s wife—she comes up with the idea o’ tellin’ Duncan to send them to Clear Creek to be married, on account mail-order brides from back east didn’t want to come to some tiny speck of a town. They wanted to choose husbands from more settled areas.”

“How did that work?” Samijo asked.

“Well, ya see, Sadie’s real smart. She rounded up some o’ the men in town, and had ‘em write letters tellin’ about themselves and what they were lookin’ for in a wife. And she didn’t have them write just one letter, she made ‘em write several. She then sent them to Duncan in England, and he and Cozette matched up the menfolk – based on their letters – with each one o’ Duncan’s cousins.”

“Wow, talk about your mail-order bride!” Arlan exclaimed.

“And I thought New Orleans was a long way to travel from,” added Samijo.

“Yep, these gals came all the way from England. But when Sadie Cooke told the men in Clear Creek she could get ‘em mail-order brides, she left out the part about them comin’ from so far away.”

“Don’t seem fair, not lettin’ those men know,” said Ma. “What happened when they found out?”

Tom laughed. “Well, ya gotta hand it to Sadie – that woman had a system, let me tell you! And it worked. The women arrived in sets of three, the first comin’ along in June. Let’s see ... there was Penelope, Constance, and Eloise in the first batch.”

“Who got hitched first?” asked Calvin.

“Well, now, that’s what I’m gonna tell ya. Sadie, she came up with the idea that only one should get married at a time, ‘cause she and Belle – Colin’s wife – couldn’t keep track and chaperone three women at once, so they spaced the courtin’ apart to make sure things were done right. But ...”

“But what?” Arlan asked, a hint of a smile on his face.

“Well, there were a few things that didn’t go quite as planned ...” Tom paused for effect and watched his audience as they looked at one another.

“Well?” Arlan asked. “Aren’t you goin’ to tell us?”

Tom smiled. “You ready?”

“Of course we’re ready! Now tell the dang-blasted story!” Ma said as she slapped the table with a hand.

Tom straightened in his chair. “All right. I’ll start with Duncan’s departure, ‘cause that’s really when Sadie came up with the idea ...”

Clear Creek, Oregon, April 2, 1859

Duncan Cooke watched the townsfolk as they filed out of Mulligan’s Saloon and gathered around the stagecoach. The people of Clear Creek had held a special breakfast for him and his fellow passengers, and were about to send them off.

Harrison, the youngest of the Cooke brothers, slapped him on the back. “I say, old chap, it’s not going to be the same around here without you bossing everyone about.”

Duncan smiled. “I’m sure Jefferson will be happy to bark orders in my stead. He’s done a fine job so far, what with organizing all of this.” He waved his hand to indicate the crowd. Jefferson Cooke, their stepfather, was nowhere in sight. “He’s probably busy ordering everyone around in the saloon right now.”

Harrison nodded in agreement and patted his stomach. “Mrs. Dunnigan did herself proud with that breakfast!” He eyed his brother and smirked. “Admit it, you’re going to miss her cooking ... and her badgering.”

“I have my wife’s cooking to look forward to,” Duncan reminded him. Cozette was an exceptional cook, and everyone in town knew it. “As to the badgering, I think I’m safe.”

Harrison sighed. “Well, you can’t blame me for trying. I was hoping to find something with which to tempt you into staying ...”

“You know this has to be done. We have to go, there’s no help for it. If the estate is in good order, I estimate a visit within the next few years. Don’t worry about me, worry about your wife and child.”

Harrison glanced to his wife Sadie, who rubbed her growing belly with both hands. She was due in a few months, and Harrison had been beside himself ever since he found out she was pregnant. He turned back to Duncan with a smile. “If it’s a girl, we’re going to name her Honoria, after mother.”

“What if it’s a boy?” Duncan asked.

“Sadie is convinced it’s a girl, and hasn’t thought on a boy’s name yet.”

“She’d better hurry, just in case.”

“What are you two gabbling about?” Colin, the middle brother asked as he strolled up. “Giving orders before you leave, Duncan?”

“Hardly,” Duncan said. “Other than watch out for this one,” he added with a toss of his head at Harrison. “He’s going to be so excited when Sadie gives birth, he’ll be worthless on the ranch.”

“As opposed to now?” Colin laughed. “We’ll make do.”

“It’s going to be a girl,” Harrison insisted. “You’ll see.”