Authors: Linda Bridey
Tags: #Romance, #Historical, #Victorian, #Western, #Historical Romance, #Westerns
Mitch opened the door for her and followed her inside. “I know. I was surprised to see Owl. Black Fox wanted him back on duty at the camp. I hope he doesn’t get in trouble.”
Sammi said, “I hope not either. He’s funny. He and Marcus look a lot alike.”
“Yeah, especially when they smile,” Mitch said. “Are you hungry?”
“No. I’m fine, thanks. I’m ready for bed and I’m sure you are, too,” Sammi said.
“C’mon, then,” Mitch said.
Sammi wasn’t going to tell Mitch, but she was very glad that she was staying with him and wouldn’t be alone that night. As self-sufficient as she was, thoughts of what might have happened plagued her. She hated the fact that she felt fear. When they went to bed, Sammi cuddled against Mitch, taking comfort in having his large, warm body next to her.
Joe was in his element at the fundraising dinner at the community center Friday night. He was an experienced schmoozer and buttered up his constituents with ease. Marcus had warned him not to make promises and Joe remembered that advice. Joe never said more than that he would carefully consider requests and suggestions.
Donations came in and Claire kept track of them. She kept a log of who contributed how much the person had given. Marcus said it would be good PR to send thank you cards to each person. Marcus had also set up an interview with the newspaper for Joe the next morning. Seth and company played happy music during the dinner to keep people in a good mood.
Tessa had prepared another short speech for Joe to give in between dinner and the dancing that would follow. Maddie had overseen the dinner and everything went smoothly thanks to her competency in planning such events. Jack had helped Joe’s employees cook and Joe’s chef was impressed with the young man’s culinary experience.
Mitch and Sammi were to sit with Joe and Lacey. It would look good for the sheriff and future mayor to be friendly, Marcus said. A couple of the council members were also seated with them. Sammi was nervous and self-conscious in her sapphire blue dress. Mitch was having trouble paying attention to the conversation going on around him because he couldn’t stop looking at Sammi.
Her dress left her shoulders bare and with her hair in a stylish updo, he thought she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Maddie had loaned Sammi a pearl necklace and earring set and Sammi was afraid something was going to happen to them. They were real and Sammi would be mortified it they got damaged.
She tried her best to make small talk, but had no idea what to say about most of the topics everyone was discussing. Sammi could talk about gun, knives, and weapons all day, but let the subjects of fashion and more womanly pursuits come up and she was out of her depth. Mostly she smiled and nodded and was polite when spoken to. Mitch watched her with both sympathy and amusement. Every so often, he would squeeze her hand for encouragement.
As dinner wrapped up, Joe got up on the small stage where the band played and tapped a knife loudly on his wine glass.
When the conversation died down, he said, “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to thank each of you for coming out tonight. I’m grateful for your support. Your donations will go directly to my campaign and are essentially contributions towards the future of Dawson. We are on the brink of something wonderful, my fine friends, and we have to push forward and secure a brighter future. We have some challenges ahead, however. I entered the race a little late. We only have about seven weeks until the election, but I know that working together, we can achieve our objective.”
“It’s going to take some work, but we’re gonna have some fun along the way and that’s what tonight is all about. We’re kicking off this campaign with a party. The Dawson Players are here for your entertainment and dancing pleasure. Our very own Jamie Samuels will enthrall everyone with her lovely voice. So let the good times begin!” Joe left the stage to resounding applause.
The party lasted until after midnight and was hugely successful. Joe hugged Maddie and heartily thanked her for her expert organizing. In fact, Joe went around to each person who had anything to do with the dinner. He gave Jack money, which the young man tried to refuse, but Joe was adamant about him having it.
Sammi was relieved that she’d made it through the night without doing anything embarrassing to her or Mitch. She’d overheard a few remarks about how different she looked compared to when she was working. A couple of men had said that it was too bad she didn’t wear a dress when she was working, which made Sammi smile. She was glad that she looked nice.
The news about the theft on Sammi’s cottage had gotten out and people had expressed their sympathy to her. She’d thank them and been thankful that no one had mentioned that she was now living with Mitch. Sammi had been worried about disapproval over the arrangement. She didn’t want anything to besmirch Mitch’s reputation.
Mitch didn’t want to wait very long to get married for several reasons. Number one was that he couldn’t wait for Sammi to be his wife. Then there was the whole social proprietary issue. Once they were married, there would be nothing for anyone to disapprove. Mitch and Sammi asked Maddie to help organize their wedding.
“How soon do you think we could manage to get it together?” Mitch asked.
Maddie thought it over and said, “Three weeks. Is that soon enough?” she asked.
Sammi smiled. “That’s perfect.”
“Good. I’ll start working on it tomorrow and we’ll set up a meeting when I have something worked up for you,” Maddie said. She liked the happy look Mitch and Sammi exchanged.
Mitch said, “Thank you so much. Just let me know how much we owe you.”
Maddie could tell that Mitch wasn’t going to accept an offer to do the work for free. “All right. I’ll be in touch soon.”
Mitch and Sammi went home soon after that. The first thing Sammi did was to take her shoes off. She wasn’t used to wearing them and they made her feet hurt. Mitch smiled at her loud sigh of relief as she stood and flexed her feet.
“Better?” he asked.
“Much. I don’t know how women stand wearing those kinds of shoes,” Sammi said.
“They do look very pretty. You look beautiful,” Mitch said.
Sammi smiled. “Thank you. You look very handsome yourself, Sheriff,” she said referring to his suit.
Mitch removed his tie. “Thanks. I’m not exactly comfortable in formal attire, either. Joe is almost always in a suit. I don’t know how he does it.”
Sammi yawned. “I guess neither of us is the formal type. I have to go dress shopping again for our wedding.”
Mitch put an arm around her waist. “I can’t wait.”
“Me, neither. Then we won’t be living in sin anymore,” she said smiling into his eyes.
Mitch nodded. “We have to keep up a proper appearance. So far, we haven’t had any trouble. I’ll be there are some tongues wagging, but I don’t really care.”
“Me, neither. C’mon, Sheriff. Let’s go to bed,” Sammi said as she took Mitch’s hand and tugged him towards the stairs.
Sammi couldn’t believe how fast the next three weeks went by. She was swept up in a storm of dressmaking, menu planning, and seating charts. By the time she arrived at work every night, her brain was buzzing so much that she was slow to act a few times and had to be prompted by Mitch. He teased her about it, which earned him scathing looks.
“It’s all right for you because you don’t have to deal with any of this. How do I know who should sit where and why?” she complained to him.
Mitch said, “I told you I would sit down with all of you and try to help and you said for me to just do my job.”
Sammi put her head down on the table where they sat in the bar and gave him a muffled answer of, “I know. I don’t know what I was thinking!” She raised her head again and said, “Don’t worry about it. I’m just whining. Maddie is in her element. She and Maureen are making me such a beautiful dress.”
“Oh?” Mitch said, “What does it look like?”
Sammi narrowed her eyes at him. “Nice try, Sheriff. I’m not telling you another thing about it.”
When the day came, Sammi fretted over everything from her hair and dress to falling when she walked down the aisle. She had a rather unusual person giving her away since she had no father to do so. Somehow Owl had wheedled permission out of Black Fox to continue escorting her home and they had developed a fast friendship. She’d come to think of him as a surrogate brother and he was proud to be a brother to Warrior Woman. He’d been shocked and honored when she asked him to walk her down the aisle.
Due to Marcus’ bicultural heritage, it wasn’t unusual for his Lakota family to attend various functions, especially weddings. This would be the first time that one of the Lakota would take part in one, however. Marcus had convinced Owl to wear a suit for the occasion and lent him one since they were close to the same size.
“How do you stand wearing white man’s clothes as much as you do?” Owl said. “This thing you call a ‘tie’ is just that and it’s strangling me,” he complained.
Marcus smacked Owl’s hand away from the tie as he helped his brother dress. “That’s because you keep tightening it instead of loosening it. Let me do it and then leave it alone.”
Owl stood still as Marcus adjusted it. Marcus finished and said, “There. You look very handsome, brother. All of the women are going to be watching you and thinking how good-looking you are, even the white women.”
Owl’s grin flashed as he looked in the mirror. “Of course they will. I want to do a good job for Sammi. I still can’t believe she asked me.”
Marcus chuckled. “You sure made an impression on her. I think it’s nice. There’s also the political advantage of this, too, Owl.”
“What are you talking about?” Owl asked as he turned from the mirror.
“Think about it. You’re giving away the bride of the Sheriff of Dawson who is a friend of a mayoral candidate in town. You’re helping to further relations between our tribe and the townspeople,” Marcus said. “It’s a big honor on both sides.”
Owl hadn’t considered that before. “I see what you mean. It’s kind of fun being a part of both worlds, I think.”
“You do, huh? Be careful, brother, or you’ll start to like wearing suits,” Marcus teased.
“No. I’d never get used to that,” Owl said.
“We’ll see,” Marcus said. “We better get going.”
Jamie and Lacey were doing everything they could to calm Sammi down. Lacey hadn’t had much time to be nervous because she’d been married to Joe within about a week of meeting him. Jamie had been so certain about marrying Luke that she had hardly batted an eye. Sammi was in completely unfamiliar territory, however, and was in full panic mode.
“I can’t do this to Mitch,” she said.
Jamie said, “You’re not doing anything to him except making him happy.”
Sammi shook her head. “No, no. He needs someone who’s experienced at social events and stuff. I’m not. When I answered his ad, I thought he was just a deputy. Then I get here and he’s the sheriff and I have to wear dresses and shoes and be nice at parties. I’m not good at being nice. I’m horrible at making small talk and I swear a lot. I don’t know how to act like a lady like you guys do.”
Lacey said, “Sammi, it’s going to be all right. Mitch loves you and you love him and that’s all that matters. All of this other stuff will come in time. You think it’s bad being a sheriff’s wife? What do you think I’m going to go through as First Lady of Dawson, as Joe likes to call me? I’m going to be up to my ears in parties and teas and whatnot. So I guess we’ll learn all of this together.”
“I guess so. Is it hot in here? I feel really hot,” Sammi said and fanned her face.
Jamie said, “Mitch should be in the sanctuary. It should be safe to step outside a minute. We don’t need you fainting.”
“Good idea,” Sammi said and followed Jamie out the back door of the church. The air was cool and Sammi closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, she felt a little better. A hand settled on her shoulder, making her jump. Owl stood smiling down at her.
“Hi, Sammi,” he said.
“Hi, Owl,” she said. Just as Owl made her feel safe when he walked her home from work every night, his presence was comforting to her now. She looked at his suit. “Wow. You look handsome.”
“Thanks. More women think so, too, I think,” he said.
Sammi laughed. “You’re very sure of yourself.”
Owl nodded. “You ready get married?”
Jamie and Lacey watched the two friends in wonder. A moment before Owl had showed up, Sammi had been falling apart, but now she was confident and laughing. It seemed as if Owl had Marcus’ ability to put people at ease.
“Yes. I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be,” Sammi said.
The music started and Jamie, Sammi’s maid of honor walked down the aisle. Joe, Mitch’s best man, winked across the altar at his friend, and she smiled back. Mitch’s state of mind was the polar opposite of Sammi’s. He’d never been surer of anything in his life as he was about marrying Sammi. He impatiently awaited the appearance of his bride.
When Owl entered the sanctuary with her, Mitch smiled at the picture the two of them made together. He’d been surprised that she’d chosen Owl to give her away, but then put it down to Sammi rarely doing what people expected her to do. Sammi had said that since Owl walked her home every night, he might as well walk her down the aisle, too.