Matt looked at his new wife and saw a glint of amusement in her gaze. “No, we’re married, sprite. True and proper.”
He was about to ask Hannah if she wanted to head back to the ranch after dinner when the heavens opened up and the mist turned into a downpour. The young ones squealed while the older ones scrambled to cover everyone up.
“Let’s head to the boardinghouse. We can get dry there.” Hannah took Catherine’s and Rebecca’s hands and started running, heedless of the rain or the mud.
He scooped up Granny, who squealed in his ear, and ran after his new wife.
“Jehoshaphat, boy! What in tarnation are you doing?”
Matt didn’t bother to see if the rest of his siblings followed. Either they did or they would spend the afternoon in the rain without shelter. It took only minutes to reach the boardinghouse but he was soaking wet by the time he arrived.
Hannah had left the door open, and he skimmed in sideways with the older woman still hooting in his arms. Giggling echoed from the kitchen so he followed the sound. He found the girls sitting at the table and Hannah handing them each a towel.
She glanced up at him, then at her grandmother. A smile spread across her face and a laugh burst from her. It wasn’t a little tinkling laugh, but a full-fledged belly laugh. Matt was so surprised by the way she looked and sounded, he stopped in his tracks.
Hannah was lovely.
“Well, put me down then, young man. I need a towel, too.”
Matt broke out of his momentary stupor and managed to get Mrs. Dolan into a chair without dropping her. It really had been the strangest day and it still wasn’t over yet. In fact, it had only just begun.
The rest of his family tromped in, dripping and complaining. Hannah handled the situation with a quiet grace, handing out dry towels and rags, even arranging the shoes by the stove to dry. After stoking up the fire, she put on a pot of coffee. She obviously worked hard at the boardinghouse—not a big surprise—but he was amazed by how well she did it all.
“You don’t have to serve us.” Matt stood by the back door, watching her flit around like a bumblebee in a field of flowers.
“I’m used to it,” was her only response.
The young ones took to her right away. Catherine in particular seemed to be attached to Hannah’s hip. She missed Mama the most and her new sister-in-law represented a mother figure. Besides, Hannah was obviously comfortable in the kitchen and accommodating of big groups of people. Even if she wasn’t being as social as his mother had been, she made everyone feel at ease by taking care of them.
He noted she hadn’t taken care of herself. She still wore her wet clothes and shoes. Her hair hung in kinky curls, framing her face, making the paleness of her skin that much more prominent.
During all the hubbub, Livy was the only one who stood apart. She didn’t take off her shoes and only accepted a small rag to wipe her face. Matt’s sister was not happy about the marriage and he would try to find out why later. For now he’d have to ignore her unfriendly behavior and hope Hannah didn’t take it personally.
They were, after all, family now, for better or for worse.
Hannah had gotten everyone comfortable and warm. The kitchen was cozy with so many folks gathered around. It was different from the boarders, these folks weren’t there for ten minutes of food only to run off again. Her relationships with the former residents of the building had always been cordial, but a little impersonal. She was almost glad of the rain since it gave her a chance to meet the Grahams in the comfort of her home.
She’d spent countless hours in the last week wondering what Matt’s family would be like. They’d surprised her and scared her. Olivia was seething with dislike or annoyance, she couldn’t tell which. The younger three girls, however, were charming children. So bright and full of life. Hannah thought perhaps she would feel better about moving to the Graham ranch now that she’d met them.
Matt’s brothers eyed her with curiosity, but kept their distance. They accepted coffee and spent their time murmuring to each other. She didn’t sense bad intentions from them, more curiosity than anything.
She tried not to pay attention to Matt though. He watched her as she worked, making her more nervous than she already was. Hannah knew if she looked at him, it would only make her nervousness worse.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, bringing all conversation to a stop.
“Damn.” Matt’s soft curse sounded loud in the quiet room.
“Does that mean we’re stuck here?” Elizabeth appeared to be about twelve, and she seemed to take care of Catherine and Rebecca well.
“Yes, at least until the storm passes. We can’t be out in the wagon if there’s lightning.” Matt snagged Hannah’s gaze. “I know we’ve already invaded your house.”
Hannah gave a nervous chuckle. “It’s Granny’s house, not mine. Besides we’re used to feeding at least eight boarders at a time.” She shrugged. “You’re welcome to stay here as long as you like.”
“We don’t want to put you out.” Matt’s brows drew together. “Besides, Eva was planning on a big feast for supper.”
She knew Eva was their housekeeper and cook. Another person Hannah was nervous about meeting. No woman liked another moving into her territory. It would be a relationship that would take time, of that she was certain.
“If it’s thundering outside, she won’t expect you.” Granny slurped her coffee noisily.
“Do you think?” Matt glanced outside. “She’d started making bread this morning before we left.”
“I met Eva a few times, knew your Mama, too. Eva can put the bread up and keep the supper for tomorrow.” Granny belched more loudly than her slurp. The young girls giggled. “Excuse me y’all. Things don’t work right much anymore.”
Hannah felt her cheeks heat. Granny kept on drinking her coffee. Next thing, she’d probably fart.
“We’ve got plenty of food and rooms for everyone.” Hannah realized she could spend her wedding night here, in her own bed, rather than at the Graham ranch. Once she thought of the possibility, she couldn’t get it out of her head.
“I don’t think the storm will last that long.” Olivia finally spoke. “I certainly don’t plan on staying here all night.”
Matt frowned in her direction, then turned to Hannah. “I appreciate the offer. Let’s just wait and see what happens.” He nodded at his brother, Caleb. “Stay here and make sure they behave.”
Before Hannah knew it, he’d taken her by the elbow and led her to the front of the house with a lantern in hand from the kitchen. The parlor was empty now; the boarders had been gone for a couple days. Matt gestured to the settee and Hannah perched on the edge. When he sat across from her in a chair, she felt herself relax a little.
“I wanted to talk to you alone without our families stirring things up.” He rested his elbows on his knees and captured her gaze.
Lord above, the man was handsome as sin.
The ghost of whiskers had started to appear on his cheeks and chin. His eyes looked very green in the meager light of the parlor. She found herself falling into their depths. His scent surrounded her, a combination of man and clean soap. Quite heady.
“I know this marriage isn’t starting in the best circumstances. I just wanted to say thank you.” He held her gaze while she digested what he’d just said.
Thank you?
That’s what he wanted to say?
It felt like a slap. She wanted to be insulted and tell him to go to hell, but she didn’t. Hannah had no illusions this was a marriage of love. He had been honest with her when he’d proposed. She really had no right to react emotionally.
Yet her heart could not be convinced otherwise.
“You’re welcome, Matthew. I, um, hope I won’t disappoint you.” She didn’t want him to have illusions either. “Believe it or not, I don’t have a lot of experience with men.” She wanted to look away, but she didn’t. If this marriage was going to have a chance, she had to be herself.
To her relief, he smiled. “Disappoint me? I don’t think that will ever happen.”
“I won’t hold you to that.”
He chuffed a laugh. “You have a sense of humor.”
She gave him a small smile, but inside she was grinning widely. “I guess I do.”
That’s when a small kernel of hope blossomed within her. Perhaps her marriage would be more than she expected.
The rain continued as if it would never cease. The road turned into a river of mud while the trees swayed with each gust of wind. It was the storm of the season, and on Matt and Hannah’s wedding day.
Hannah didn’t know if she should take it as a bad omen or a sign of good things to come, a cleansing of the earth. Either way, they were well and truly stuck at the boardinghouse. Even if it stopped raining, by some small miracle, the mud would prohibit travel for a while. How long depended on when the sun came out.
Hannah was making beds for the Grahams, absurdly glad she had done the laundry the day before. The boarders had left something of a mess in each room so she was finishing up the cleaning as she went from room to room.
When Hannah finished, she ended up in her own room, staring at the narrow bed. There was no way a man Matt’s size could share that bed with a woman of her size. That would make their wedding night more than awkward.
She had to put someone else in her room and take one of the two rooms with a larger bed. There was no help for it—she knew the consummation of the vows was important to start a marriage. Without a proper bed, it would be a disaster in the making. After the nearly hostile preacher and the rain, she couldn’t allow the actual wedding night to go haywire as well.
“He only married you for the land you know.”
Hannah jumped at the sound of her new sister-in-law’s voice. Olivia stood in the doorway, arms crossed, lips pinched shut.
“I know that.” Hannah was glad of the fact Matt had been completely honest with her. “Matthew told me everything.”
“And you were so desperate for a husband you said yes?” Olivia’s tone became knife sharp.
Hannah weighed her options. If she got into an argument with Olivia, it would set a precedent. But if she backed down, that would let her sister-in-law know Hannah could be intimidated. It was a narrow path to navigate.
“No, I was not desperate, but I recognized a good man and a good offer when I heard it.” Hannah met the other woman’s gaze. “You and I were friends when we were young’uns. I don’t expect you to hug me or nothing, but I want a chance to fit in.”
There, that sounded reasonable, and she wasn’t shouting, although she was on the inside. Hannah had a bad habit of reacting to insults by biting the head off the insulter, but nobody liked a young woman with a temper.
“You won’t get that chance from me.” Olivia’s eyes flashed. “My brother got us into this mess by lying and now we all have to live with the consequences. But that doesn’t mean I have to like them.”
“What put the bee in your bonnet?” Hannah sounded, now just as annoyed as her new sister-in-law. “You’ve no call to blame me for any of this.”
Olivia’s laugh was humorless. “Then who do I blame? The people who murdered my parents? The incompetent sheriff who couldn’t catch them? Or maybe the bastard who took my little brother?” She straightened her shoulders. “All I know is you are a reminder of everything that went wrong in our lives and now my brother is saddled with a cow he never wanted.”
Hannah felt every word as if she’d been punched in the gut. She pressed her hand to her stomach and leaned over. The Graham family had been through so much, but that didn’t give Olivia a reason to be so dang vicious.
“You’ve no call to be like this to me.”
“I have every right. This is my family.” Olivia turned and disappeared from view.
“It’s my family now, too.” The walls were the only witness to Hannah’s whisper.
It wasn’t as if everything Olivia had said wasn’t true, even though her words had a knife-sharp edge. Her new sister-in-law had just ripped her to shreds on her wedding day. Hannah realized words had more power to hurt than the biggest stick in the world.
It took her ten minutes before she felt in control again. She didn’t check to see if the sheets were on sideways or were even tucked in. Completely unlike her, but so was the fact she was now married. Her world was topsy-turvy.
After she finished making the last bed, she sat down on the window seat in her room. She pressed her forehead against the cool glass and stared out into the nearly unrecognizable street.
The rain was coming down in sheets outside. Hannah was trapped in her own home with her new family who didn’t want her and a husband who’d married her because her name was Hannah.
The storm had definitely not been a good sign.
She didn’t know how long she sat there before she noticed the rain had stopped and someone was calling her name. Getting to her feet, she realized she must have fallen asleep. Her feet and legs prickled as she stood up. Her hair was a mess of curls sticking every which way.