Callie's Heart (5 page)

           
“Well,
we will all try and make it that way.
 
I’ll also pick you up on Sunday morning and we can go to church
together.
 
I’ll introduce you
around.
 
My man and Clint too don’t like
going to town, so we girls have to stick together.”

           
Callie
got up and re-filled their coffee cups.
 
“You know Clint well?”

           
“He
and my husband, Hank, has been friends for a long time.”

           
Callie
sipped at her coffee, wondering if she should ask Gertie about Clint and what
was expected of a wife in the marriage bed and just the thought made her want
to blush.
 

           
“The
way you’re blushing there, Callie girl, you must be remembering your weddin’
night.”

           
“Not
exactly.
 
I wish my Uncle Ned would have
been able to tell me what to expect, but he wasn’t a man for such things and I
never had anyone I could talk to.”

           
“No,
Ned was mighty closed mouthed.”

           
Callie’s
head shot up.
 
“You know my Uncle Ned?”

           
“Well,
yes, we did.
 
He was a nice man.”

           
“You
talk like he ain’t here anymore.
 
Well,
he isn’t here, but back home.”

           
“Oh,
I didn’t mean anything about it, but Hank, Clint, and some of our workers all
knew Ned way back in our younger days.
 
Of course, Clint was just a kid and still green behind the ears in those
days.”

           
Callie
laughed.
 
“I can’t imagine Clint being
green behind the ears.
 
He’s about the
nicest man I’ve met beside Uncle Ned and my Pa.
 
He’s good to me, which is why I am worried about not being a true
wife to him.”

           
“Your
wedding night wasn’t like you expected?
 
I’m sure it’s because you are a virgin dear, and it’s not as good the
first time.
 
You probably had pain.”

           
“Oh
no!
 
We didn’t…
  
I mean we didn’t sleep together last
night.”
 
She felt her face flush at the
thought.

           
“Oh
dear.
 
Clint looked as happy as could be
when he told us about your weddin’, so I thought…”

           
Callie
squared her shoulders and thought she might as well blurt out the truth, for
she wouldn’t have a chance to talk to any other lady about it and she liked
Gertie.
 
“I don’t know what’s expected
of me in the marriage bed.
 
I mean I
know how animals mate and where babies come from, but I don’t know anything
beyond that.”

           
“Do
you love Clint?”

           
“I
haven’t known him long enough to love him, I don’t think, but he’s handsome,
kind, and helpful.
 
I like him a lot.”

           
“Well
there’s more marriages out there based on less.
 
Let’s just have a little chat and I’ll tell you all you need to
know.”

           
Callie
leaned forward as Gertie began explaining things to her.
 
Her eyes about bulged out of their sockets
at some of the things she said.
 
For
goodness sakes, she didn’t know if she could do all the things she was talkin’
about, but just thinking of Clint and what she said made her feel all warm
inside.
 
Feelings swamped her in places
she never knew could feel like that and by the time she waved at Gertie as she
left, Callie’s thought her face would never loose the blush on it.
 
She just couldn’t imagine.

Chapter Five

           
Callie
had supper ready and put it on the table when she heard Clint ride in.
 
The puppy was fed and sleeping by the
fireplace, and she was ready for bed.
 
She just hoped he noticed she was wearing the pretty short nightgown
with lace he had gotten her besides the long one.
 
She had thought it pretty when he’d bought it.
 

           
Now,
as she waited for him to come inside, she felt as flighty as a chicken trying
to escape the axe on the butcher block.
 
Her hands were sweaty and her heart fluttered.
 
She could scarcely suck in a breath when the door opened and
Clint walked in.
 
She laughed when the
puppy barked, then fell back asleep.
 
“He’s cute, isn’t he?”

           
“Sure
is.
 
Gertie said she was gonna bring you
one of the litter over and some wedding gifts.
 
Did you have a nice visit?”

           
She
watched him hang up his hat and gun belt, and move to the sink to wash up.
 
“I like her and we had a grand time.
 
I even made some homemade bread after she
left to go with the jam she brought over.”

           
“Sounds
good and I’m starved.”

           
She
noticed how he limped to the chair and sat down on the other side of him.
 
“The horses hard to break?
 
You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

           
“Nah,
just got thrown a few times.
 
Oh, and
your chickens are in crates out in the barn.
 
We can put them in the coop in the morning.
 
I gave them some feed to last them through the night.”

           
“That’s
great.
 
Let me say grace and we can
eat.
 
After she did, she watched him dig
into his food.
 
She kept quiet and ate
her meal, knowing he was hungry after a long day in the saddle.
 
She kept glancing at him through lowered
lashes wondering what it would feel like to have his lips on hers.
 
She could just imagine his arms holding her
tight against him.
 
She almost chocked
on a carrot at the thought and blushed when he glanced at her.

           
“You
okay?
 
Go down the wrong way?”

           
“Yeah,”
she said, feeling her breasts peak against her nightgown.
 
Goodness, she would about die if he saw them
through the thin material.
 
She ate
slowly and when she saw him push his plate away and get up and get coffee, she
pushed her plate away too.
 
“Do you want
a slice of cake or bread with jelly?”

           
“Not
tonight.
 
I’m dead tired, but you go
ahead if you want.”

           
She
got up and cleared the table when Clint walked over to her and took her
hand.
 
She looked at him.
 
“What’s wrong?”

           
“I
got a letter from that school teacher in your town.
 
She put it in my name since Ned told her to.
 
Come and sit down in front of the fire and
I’ll read it to you.”

           
Callie
walked over and sat down and Clint came over and knelt down in front of
her.
 
“Is something wrong with Uncle
Ned?”

           
“I
hate to tell you this, Callie, but Ned died.
 
He died two days after you left.”

           
“No!”
 
Callie shot up out of her chair almost
knocking Clint over as she rushed to the door and ran outside.
 
She looked up at the moon and stars and the
tears began to flow freely down her face.
 
When Clint’s arms slipped around her, she turned and buried her face in
his chest, holding him tight.
 
“I should
have stayed no matter what he said!
 
He
wouldn’t have died then!”

           
“No,
Callie.
 
He knew he was dying.
 
That’s why he sent you here to me.
 
He didn’t want you to be alone and he wanted
to meet his maker with peace in his heart that you were taken care of.”

           
She
felt like her heart was broken.
 
She’d
lost so many in her life and now she had no one.
 
“I can’t bear it.
 
I’m all
alone.”

           
“You
have me.”

           
Callie
swiped at the tears and looked up at him.
 
She saw pain in his face and knew it was hard for him to tell her.
 
His heart was kind.
 
“But Uncle Ned loved me.
 
He was the only one I had left that truly
loved me.”

           
“I
love you, Callie.”

           
“What?”

           
“I
fell in love with you the day when I saw you climb up on top of the stage and
start shooting at me.
 
I didn’t know you
were my intended then, but when I found out you were, I knew I’d found the girl
of my heart and that old Ned, the old coot, knew it too.”

           
“Really?”

           
“Yes.”

           
“But
you haven’t even kissed me yet.
 
How do
you know you love me?”

           
“I’ll
kiss you now if that will help.”

           
Callie’s
heart somersaulted when he lowered his head and his lips captured hers in a
sweet, searching kiss.
 
She tentatively
kissed him back and felt his arms tighten around her.
 
He was so warm and she was so cold.
 
Her heart ached at loosing her beloved uncle, but Clint’s kiss
and touch told her she had a new life to explore, and a love that would last a
lifetime.
 
She broke the kiss and looked
into his eyes.
 
“Clint?”

           
“Yeah,
Callie.”

           
“Are
you sure I’m what you want?
 
I don’t
know much about what goes on in the marriage bed, except for what Gertie told
me, but I don’t want to sleep alone tonight or ever more.
 
I want to be held and loved and to make you
happy.
 
I don’t ever want you to leave
me.”

           
“I
promise I won’t leave you and to show you, I’m going to carry you over the
threshold like I should have done yesterday, take you to my bed, and make sweet
love to you.
 
Then I’m going to hold you
tight tonight and every night for the rest of our lives.”

           
Callie
felt the tears slide down her cheeks once again as he picked her up and done
just that.
 
When he laid her on his bed,
she didn’t mistake the look of love and desire on his face and her heart soared
with the love he made her feel. As he sat down on the bed beside her and took
her hand, she couldn’t help asking him one question.
 
“Do you think we could name our firstborn son, Ned?”

           
“I
think that would be an honor.”

           
Callie
threw herself in his arms and hugged him tight.
 
“I love you, Clint.”

           
“I
love you too, Callie.”

           
She
held on to him tightly as he lowered her to the bed and kissed her, easing the
hurt, making promises for the future, and a life filled with love.