A Husband for Margaret (7 page)

Miss Potter narrowed her eyes at the
boys. “You are in desperate need of a mother.” She turned her gaze
to Margaret. “One who knows enough to put a stop to your ugly
words. Really, if these were my children, then I would not tolerate
such insolence.”

Margaret shrugged. “Boys will speak
their minds.”

“
Not when I’m around, they
won’t.”

Joel hastened over to them. “Is there
going to be a fight?”

Miss Potter cringed. “Women do not
fight. They merely quarrel.”

“
What’s the difference?” he
asked.

“
None,” Margaret replied.
She turned to her father. “Let’s get this wedding underway.” She
didn’t care who Miss Potter was. Joseph came to marry her, and by
golly, she was going to marry him regardless of what Miss Potter or
anyone thought!

Miss Potter pulled her arm and spoke
through gritted teeth. “He is to marry me.”

By now Margaret’s temper was starting
to come to a boil. “Get your hand off of me or I’ll...”

“
What? You’ll what?” Joel
asked, practically jumping up and down with excitement.

“
Leave our ma alone!” Bob
yelled out. “Pa doesn’t want you and neither do we!”

Miss Potter glared at Bob. “You’re just
a child. You don’t know what you want.”

“
When I was a child, I knew
what I wanted,” Margaret snapped. “And I assure you, they know what
they want too.”

Joseph broke through the crowd that had
gathered around them and jerked back. “Debra?” he asked in a tone
that seemed to be the perfect blend between shock and
horror.

Well, that was all Margaret needed to
know that the boys told the truth. Whoever this Debra Potter was,
Joseph had no desire to marry her.

Debra’s demeanor changed in an instant.
“Joseph, how nice it is to see you. I came just in
time.”

He stood there for a moment as if he
couldn’t believe what was happening and finally said, “Yes, you
did.” He stood beside Margaret and put his arm around her
shoulders. “You came in time to see me get married. Will you be
having a seat on my side?”

Debra pressed a hand to her heart
before she let out a chuckle. “Oh, you must think I’m still
entertaining the affections of Bernard Winslow. I assure you that I
am not.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Margaret
saw Bob roll his eyes at Doug who snickered. She wondered about the
exchange but gave it little thought as Joseph replied to Debra’s
announcement.

“
I’m sorry it didn’t work
between you, but I don’t see what that has to do with this
wedding.” He gave Margaret’s shoulders a slight squeeze and glanced
at her, “Shall we get this started?”

“
Yes,” Margaret agreed. She
saw no reason to draw this whole thing out. After all, this was her
day by golly, and she was going to enjoy it, even if it killed her!
“Get on back up to the preacher and I’ll be there.”

Looking relieved, Joseph quickly
obeyed.

Though she knew it was a bad example in
front of the boys, she stuck her tongue out at an angry Debra. As
she figured, Bob and Doug giggled at what she knew to be a childish
display. Oh well. Maybe it would be good for them to know that even
adults had their moments. She tapped them on the shoulders and
said, “Go on ahead and my pa and I’ll follow you.”

They went to stand in front of
her.

“
Wait.” Margaret grabbed the
baskets and handed them to Debra. “You may do the honors if you
don’t want to take a seat.”

Doug and Bob looked very happy to get
rid of those baskets and marched down the aisle as the fiddler
began playing the tune.

“
This isn’t over,” Debra
hissed.

“
It is for you,” Margaret
said.

And that was all she would
say to this horrible person who made it a point to come all the way
to Omaha just so she could try to ruin her wedding day. The woman
had a lot of nerve, but in no way was Margaret going to run off in
defeat just because Debra Potter was no longer
entertaining the affections of Bernard
Winslow
. Nope. For now on, she’d ignore the
unwanted guest. She had much more important things to attend to.
Like walking down the aisle. She followed her father’s lead, aware
that Debra watched her, probably glaring and seething. But she’d
give Debra no more thought.

Instead, she turned her gaze
to Joseph. Her heart sped up at the sight of him. So what if Debra
was there, looming in the background? If nothing else, this was
proof that Joseph meant it when he told her that it did matter to
him
who
he
married. And that made her feel pretty good. Other men might have
felt that marrying her meant settling for second best but Joseph
didn’t. As long as he didn’t, then who cared what anyone else
thought?

By the time she made it to Joseph, she
could hardly hear what the preacher was saying. This was it. She,
Margaret Williams, was actually getting married. The day she’d
dreamed about since she was a little girl was finally coming to
pass. True, the day had not included someone trying to stop it, but
it was happening nonetheless—and that’s what mattered.

She glanced at Joseph and saw him smile
at her. The happy look on his face put her at ease, but only
slightly. It was impossible to fully relax when people sat and
watched everything that was going on.

When the preacher began to speak, she
made an effort to pay attention but couldn’t—not really. However,
when he asked if anyone had any objections, she looked over her
shoulder to see if Debra would intervene. Even Joseph took a moment
to glance back. But she wasn’t there. A quick scan of the area
assured Margaret that the woman was, indeed, gone. She wondered
about it. Surely, Debra wasn’t going to leave them alone. In
Margaret’s experience, people like Miss Potter didn’t give up that
easily.

The preacher spoke again, continuing
the ceremony, so she dutifully turned her attention back to him. It
puzzled her. Maybe it shouldn’t. Maybe it was in her nature to
second guess everything and believe the worst, but she couldn’t get
rid of the nagging feeling that she hadn’t seen the last of Debra
Potter.

What could Debra do at this point
anyway? Joseph was getting married. Margaret snuck a peek at
Jessica who smiled at her. So her friend didn’t think there might
be a backlash from the incident that just happened?

The ceremony continued as uneventfully
as it had in her dreams. She and Joseph said their vows and kissed.
In one instant she went from being Margaret Williams to being Mrs.
Joseph Connealy. Doug and Bob ran over to her and gave her a
hug.

“
We’re sure glad you made
that woman go away,” Bob said.

“
Alright,” Joseph said. “We
have to walk back down the aisle. Then you can talk to her all you
want.”

She followed Joseph’s lead and stepped
forward, accidently bumping into Doug who jumped in front of
her.

“
You have to watch where
you’re going,” Joseph told him with a chuckle in his
voice.

“
Oh, Pa. Doug is clumsy,”
Bob replied. He looked at her. “You get used to it.”

“
I’m not clumsy,” Doug said,
narrowing his eyes at his brother.

“
Fight later.” Joseph
pointed down the aisle. “Right now, walk.”

They stopped their bickering and
obeyed.

As they passed her parents, Margaret
saw that Ben and Charles had gotten fidgety on their chairs, so she
decided they might as well get up. She might not be familiar with
children, but from what she did know, she suspected they had a hard
time sitting still for any length of time. She motioned for Charles
to join Joseph while she picked up Ben.

She smiled and told Joseph, “If we’re
going to be a family, we might as well walk down the aisle
together.”

He returned her smile and nodded before
they continued past the guests.

Chapter Seven

Margaret thought the day went well
despite Miss Potter’s arrival. She wanted to ask Joseph about the
woman, but the guests surrounded them during the potluck lunch. She
kept expecting the woman to pop up again, which she never did. Even
so, she couldn’t fully enjoy the day. It was a strange thing
really, for as soon as the vows were said and everyone started to
go home after wishing them well, it occurred to her that this was
the beginning of her life with Joseph. And that meant this wedding
day led to a wedding night.

Why the thought hadn’t occurred to her
sooner, she didn’t know. Perhaps it was the thought of being a
mother right away. Or maybe it was because she was too busy
thinking of the wedding day and making sure everything was as
perfect as could be. Either way, it was on her mind now, and the
closer evening came, the harder it was to push it aside.

Her mother had explained the facts to
her and advised her to relax. Relaxing, after all, helped to ease a
woman’s body so it wasn’t as uncomfortable for her first time. Now,
if she could just will herself to relax, then things would be fine.
But that proved to be a futile endeavor. In fact, the more she
tried to relax, the more tense she became.

At least the process of taking her
things to her new home distracted her enough so she didn’t insist
on staying with her parents. It also helped that this was the home
she used to admire as a child. Even if she was apprehensive about
being a wife, the house was absolutely charming—more so than she
remembered. She did so want to live in it.

The walk to the place was a mere three
blocks from the one she grew up in. Her father and Joseph carried
the bulk of her clothing and grooming supplies, and all she carried
was a travel bag, which didn’t weigh much at all. She didn’t
realize she had so little possessions to her name. Was that all her
life was summed up in? Two armfuls and a travel bag’s worth of
contents? Just what had she been doing with her life up to that
point? Wearing clothes and brushing her hair?

One moment she was a girl dreaming of
house and home and suddenly she was a woman with those dreams
fulfilled. And even though she wanted to properly enjoy this
moment, doubt nagged at her. Was she ready for this?

Before she knew it, they stopped at the
front door. Bob opened it up and barged through with the other
children in tow. She was beginning to understand that even though
Bob was the second child, he was the one who took charge and spoke
his mind whenever he felt like it. Doug was more reserved but took
his duties seriously. As for Charles and Ben... They were still too
young for her to determine how they would be.

Her father followed the children and
set her things in the parlor.

Joseph asked her to wait at the
doorway, ran inside the house to place the things he carried down,
and headed back over to her. “I want to carry you over the
threshold.”

Her father chuckled as he walked past
them. “I’ll leave you to yourselves.” He gave her a hug. “I’m proud
of you, Margaret. You’ll make a fine wife and mother.”

“
Thank you, Pa,” she said,
partly startled since she wasn’t used to hearing such sentiments
from her father. But the words meant the world to her, and she was
glad he said them.

Once he bounded down the porch steps,
Joseph turned to her and smiled. “Are you ready to enter your new
home, Mrs. Connealy?”

“
Come on in, Ma!” Bob called
out from where he sat on the couch in the parlor. “We checked for
vermin.”

“
Yep,” Doug agreed from
beside Bob. “There’s nothing to make you scream.”

She chuckled. “That’s always a good
thing.”

“
You ready?” Joseph
asked.

She nodded and let him pick her up. Her
cheeks grew warm. He was solid and strong, and she rather enjoyed
being in his arms like this.

“
Don’t drop our new ma!” Bob
warned as Joseph crossed the threshold.

Charles watched them as he sat beside a
sleepy Ben who was lying on the floor in front of the
couch.

“
It looks like someone’s had
a busy day,” Margaret commented, pointing to the two boys who
looked exhausted.

“
We should get you all down
to bed,” Joseph agreed before he set her down.

Her heart fluttered with a strange
nervous excitement. Did he take her innocent statement to mean that
she was eager to be alone with him? That wasn’t what she meant, but
he was already across the room and lifting Ben. She wiped her hands
on her dress. It was no big deal really. Every wife did this. She
recalled how happy Jessica looked a week after she married Tom. Her
other friends seemed just as happy. That meant that this was a good
thing. They didn’t have to say it. It was in the way they talked
and acted.

She continued to repeat this to
herself, assuring herself that her nerves would be settled soon
enough. While Joseph took the youngest two to their beds, Doug and
Bob helped her with her items. They surprised her because she
didn’t expect them to be concerned with making sure all her things
were put away where they belonged.