Faith (Goldwater Creek Mail-Order Brides 1) (14 page)

S
ix days later
…

F
aith sat
in the blue wing chair next to the fireplace, her legs curled under her. She felt safe. Happy. Though it was too warm for a fire, she imagined how cozy it would be in winter with the fire to warm her as she sat here with Jax. A smile creased her lips at the thought of the many winters they would spend at Wild Heart Ranch in front of this very fireplace.

“Thank you for replacing this cover.” Across from her, Jax held up the poetry book he’d been reading from. Mary’s poetry book. “This book has had a lot of use. Mary used to …”

His voice trailed off and Faith wondered if he’d stopped himself from talking about Mary to spare her feelings. “I don’t mind you talking about Mary. She was your wife. I know she was a big part of your life. And the baby … well, I don’t want you to forget about them.”

Jax's face softened. He reached across and took her hand. “I won't. I did love her. I never thought I’d be able to love anyone again, but with you, it’s different … better in some ways.” His eye took on a devilish gleam. “And maybe someday there will be another baby.”

Faith blushed and pressed her hand to her belly. Was a baby growing in there right now? Too early to tell, but the thought filled her with delight.

“How is your sister?”

“Huh? Oh!” Faith glanced down at the newly received letter from Mercy that she had been reading. “She’s fine. They’re all fine.”

“Now that Lefty is out of the picture, they should stay that way.”

A wave of thankfulness washed over Faith. Things couldn’t have turned out better for her and Jax. Sheriff Fuller had discovered items in both Lefty’s and Cleb’s saddlebags that had been stolen in one of the stagecoach robberies. They’d been arrested and it would be a long time before they saw the light of day. Neither of them were any threat to Faith’s sisters or the girls at the saloon. And with Cleb out of town, Jax and Ryder could open their own place with no competition.

“Yes, and the town has two less criminals,” Faith pointed out.

“Right. Too bad the stagecoach robberies haven’t stopped,” Jax pressed his lips together. “Clearly Cleb and Lefty weren’t doing that alone.”

“I am a little worried about Silas O’Toole. Did you ever find out what happened to him?” Faith asked.

Jax shook his head. “I don’t think you need to worry. With Lefty gone, he would have no reason to follow through with the threat on your sisters. My guess is he’s headed as far from Boston and any association with Lefty as he can get.”

“I hope so. Mercy is chomping at the bit to get into doctoring and I don’t want Silas messing things up for her. She seems very upset that Lefty has left town and the ‘opportunity’ she thought she had with him has disappeared.”

“We could help her out,” Jax suggested.

“She would never go for that. She’s too proud to just accept money. She needs to earn it.
And
it has to look like it was her idea.” Now that Faith had her ‘happily-ever-after’ with Jax, she wanted one for Mercy, too. She wanted it for all of her sisters, but Mercy was going to be a hard sell.

Mercy’s stubborn abrasiveness usually turned men away. That, coupled with the fact that she didn’t really care to get married and that her whole focus was on becoming a doctor pretty much guaranteed she’d stay single. Before coming to Goldwater Creek, Faith would have thought that a fine plan. But that was before Jax. Now that she knew how wonderful true love could be, she wanted to spread it around.

If only Faith could find some way for Mercy to have her career in medicine
and
find true love.

A knock sounded at the front door seconds before it was pushed open. Loud footsteps in the hall brought Jax to his feet.

Ryder Devlin came storming into the room, his face twisted in angst.

"Ryder what is it?” Jax asked.

Ryder waved his hand. “Sit. Damn it, where’s the whiskey.”

Jax sat and nodded toward the side table. Ryder poured himself a drink.

Concern fluttered in Faith’s belly as she watched Ryder gulp it down. He wasn’t much of a drinker, normally, and it was obvious something was dreadfully wrong. “What is it?”

“Bessie Mae. She’s real sick.” Ryder’s voice broke and he looked away.

“Oh, no!” Faith shot up from the chair. “I’ll go to her.”

“No, not that kind of sick. She’s fine right now. But the coughing … well, looks like it was more than just allergies and Doc Schumann said it doesn’t look good. She may not be around for long.”

Faith’s heart twisted. She knew how much Ryder loved Bessie Mae and Faith had become very fond of her, too. She hated to think of the feisty woman succumbing to illness.

“Oh gosh I’m sorry to hear that. Is there nothing we can do?”

Ryder shook his head. “There's something else.”

“What?” Jax asked.

“Bessie Mae is so happy that the two of you found each other. She said it warmed her heart to see how in love you were and her last wish is to see me married and as happy as you two.”

Jax’s left brow ticked up. “Married? You?”

Ryder snorted “Yeah. You know how I feel about that … but I can’t deny Bessie Mae her final wish. You know she means the world to me and if me getting married gives her peace ... Well.” He shrugged and spread his hands.

“So, who’s the lucky girl?” Jax asked.

“No one from here. There’s no one I care that much about here and anyway, Bessie doesn’t need to know it’s not a real marriage, right?” Ryder said. “I figured maybe I could send away for a mail order bride and get the same kind of arrangement that you two had … I mean before.”

“You mean a business arrangement? To act as man and wife to appease Bessie Mae?” Faith asked.

“Yep, and then after she … well, you know. After that, we can dissolve the marriage.”

Faith glanced down at the letter from Mercy. Ryder did the doctoring of most of the animals in town. He wasn’t a ‘people’ doctor, but doctoring an animal was pretty close. That might be a good start for Mercy. She’d learn a lot about medicine. Ryder was handsome and a good man … and if a spark developed like it had with her and Jax …”

“Let me get the address of the place I mailed to,” Jax said. “Lucky for you Lefty won’t be around to intercept
yours
.”

Jax pushed up from the chair, but Faith shot her hand out to stop him. She held the letter up with her other hand.

“There’s no need to get the address. I think I have the perfect solution.”

U
SA Today Bestselling author Leighann Dobbs
has had a passion for reading since she was old enough to hold a book, but she didn’t put pen to paper until much later in life. After a twenty-year career as a software engineer with a few side trips into selling antiques and making jewelry, she realized you can’t make a living reading books, so she tried her hand at writing them and discovered she had a passion for that, too! She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, Bruce, their trusty Chihuahua mix, Mojo, and beautiful rescue cat, Kitty.

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T
hanks
so much for reading my sweet historical western romance "Faith". I hope you liked reading it as much as I loved writing it. If you did, and feel inclined to leave a review, I really would appreciate it.

This is book 1 of the Goldwater Creek Mail Order Bride series. I plan to write many more books in this series. I have several other series that I write, too - you can find out more about them on my website
http://www.leighanndobbs.com/historical-romance-books

This book has been through many edits with several people and even some software programs, but since nothing is infallible (even the software programs), you might catch a spelling error or mistake and, if you do, I sure would appreciate it if you let me know - you can contact me at
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Oh, and I love to connect with my readers so please do visit me on facebook at
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T
his is a work of fiction
.

N
one of it is real
. All names, places, and events are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to real names, places, or events are purely coincidental, and should not be construed as being real.

F
aith

Copyright © 2015

Leighann Dobbs

http://www.leighanndobbs.com

All Rights Reserved.

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o part
of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner, except as allowable under “fair use,” without the express written permission of the author.

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