Chapter Four
“I can’t believe you kept this secret from us!” Logan exclaimed as they stood side by side outside the Twin Rivers Boarding House and Stagecoach Station. “When were you going to tell us? The day of your wedding? Or after y’all had gotten hitched?”
Garrett grimaced. He’d known keeping Hannah and her siblings a secret was going to be a mistake, but he’d had no idea how genuinely hurt both his friends were going to be. They were cowboys for crying out loud. Feelings weren’t ever at the top of their list. Just work.
“I said I’m sorry, okay?” He offered, “I was just so nervous about it all.”
“No kidding,” Dean grunted, standing on Garrett’s other side with his arms folded, “You ordered a bride. What’s there not to be nervous about?”
“We’re not getting married right away,” Garrett hastily explained. “We decided to take the first day or two and see how we felt around one another. I didn’t want to tell you until she was for sure going to say yes.”
“A day or two?!” Dean asked, “And where are you gonna sleep?”
Garrett shot him a look.
“I set up a cot in the barn loft. I’ll be fine there,” he said dryly.
“Sure, if you don’t mind snakes or mice slidin’ into your blankets for a cuddle,” Dean retorted.
Garrett ignored his friend as he rubbed the callouses on his hands like worry stones.
He was once again thinking about the new house, worrying once more that it wasn’t going to be big enough or new enough for his intended bride and her siblings.
Not just the house, but himself. This deal with Dean could really start to turn things around for him, or it could be the end of the ranch that had saved his life. The weight of it all felt tremendous.
“Don’t pay him any mind, son,” Logan drawled, elbowing him lightly, “I was just givin’ you a hard time and so was he, weren’t you, Dean?”
Dean grumbled something, but Garrett didn’t hear it. He was too focused on the stagecoach that was slowing down just a few dozen feet away. His heart began to beat faster than a hummingbird’s as he realized Hannah had finally arrived.
She’s here. God, please let me make her happy.
“That has to be hers,” Garrett said excitedly.
He took a tentative step toward the stagecoach, but before he could take another, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned, and found a fierce look on Dean’s face.
“Are you sure about this?” He asked for the dozenth time, “This is your last chance to walk away. I know you said you think you know her, but what if you’re wrong? What if she is just after your inheritance? What if she just wants to take advantage of a lonely man?”
Garrett’s expression hardened as annoyance broke through his anxiety.
“Would you stop making judgments?” He shot back. “You don’t know her like I know her!”
“Yeah, and I’m tellin’ you, you don’t know her as well as you think you do!” Dean shot back, “She’s got you all confused, and if you’re not going to look out for yourself then I am!”
Garrett opened his mouth to say something that he had no doubt would later regret, but before he could speak, Logan stepped between them.
“Enough of this,” he commanded, using his authoritative, Sheriff tone he usually reserved for the bar brawls he often had to break up at the saloon, “Dean. Shut it. You’re worried. I get that. I am too. But Garrett’s got a good head on his shoulders and, like he said, he prayed about it.”
He turned to Garrett, his green eyes earnest.
“You did pray on it, didn’t you?” He asked.
“Of course I did,” Garrett replied, willing himself to cool down. “I wouldn’t make a decision like this without being certain. I trust God’s guidance, and if this is His path for me, then I’m going to take it.”
Logan gave an assertive nod and turned to Dean, who still looked to be about half-fuming.
“You heard the man. This is between him and God.”
Dean glowered for another moment, then stepped back with a click of his tongue.
“Fine then,” he said, waving a hand toward the now-stopped stagecoach, “Go get your woman.”
It wasn’t exactly the apology Garrett was hoping for, but it was enough. Besides, he knew Dean was only acting so defensive because of their long-standing, good friendship. He got overprotective at times, but Garrett knew he meant well.
Logan flashed an encouraging smile, his gap between his two front teeth long gone since their adolescent days, and gave Garrett an encouraging nod.
“Folks are gettin’ off now. Go see which ones are yours,” he insisted.
Garrett drew in a deep breath, willing the fluttering nerves in his stomach to calm down, and turned back around and walked up to the stagecoach.
His eyes scanned the small crowd leaving it, and his heart skipped a beat as his gaze settled on a beautiful woman in a white dress with ice-blue eyes, high cheekbones, full lips, and a long braid of raven-black hair that fell over her left shoulder.
As those piercing, ice-blue eyes found his, he instantly knew it was Hannah.
She froze, just as he did, and the barest of smiles brought up the corners of her lips. His heart started to beat again, and he couldn’t help but smile back; relieved that she’d actually come. He started to walk toward her, not seeing anyone else in the crowd.
That was- until a boy around twelve or thirteen with similar eyes and hair pushed at her shoulder.
“Jacob!” Another boy, looking about fifteen or sixteen, scolded, coming into Garrett’s view, “Don’t you push her like that!”
Boys? I thought she was bringing two little girls?
Garrett’s smile slipped a little as he looked down, and saw that in fact Hannah was holding a little girl’s hand at both her sides, both with the same startling features as Hannah.
Then to his even greater surprise, another boy, probably six or seven, took tight hold of the front of her skirts, and started to tell her he was hot and scared.
Five?! She brought all five?
The ground seemed to disappear under Garrett’s feet as he had the realization, and he began to panic. Where would he put them all? How would he feed them? Clothe them?
His gaze shot back up to Hannah’s face, and not only was she no longer looking at him, but her smile had fallen, and her beauty had seemed to dim in the moment.
It was only then that he noted the thinness of her figure, the paleness of her cheeks, the dark circles of exhaustion under her eyes, and the look of fear in those blue pools as she did her best to soothe the little boy while already having her hands full.
“Jacob, please be kind,” she begged. “Isaac, could you pick up Louis?”
Garrett watched as the oldest boy attempted to juggle all of the luggage he was holding into one hand, but as he bent down to scoop up the youngest boy, they all tumbled out of his grip.
One small case tumbled toward the smallest of the girls by Hannah’s side and hit her in the shin, causing the poor thing to let out a wail as she bent over and held her knee.
From his peripherals, Garrett noted people were starting to stop and stare, some even wrinkling their noses in disgust.
Hannah’s eyes shot up from all the chaos and back to his face, a look of pure remorse shining in those crystal pools. Though bewildered and slightly worried that Dean might actually be right, Garrett moved from his rooted spot and hurried toward them.
“Hey there,” he greeted, willing himself to smile at all of them. “I’m Garrett. You all must be the Bennetts.”
Hannah’s chin wobbled as she forced a smile, as if she were about to break down in tears as she gave a terse nod.
“Yes,” she rasped out, her voice trembling through the chorus of upset children. “I’m Hannah. It’s so nice to meet you.”
As she said her last word, her voice broke, and she looked down, and he knew she was trying to stave off tears.
Whether she was purposely trying to fool him or not, it didn’t matter in that moment.
He couldn’t take people crying. Especially children.
It brought back memories of all those awful nights he’d spent alone and frightened after his mother died, where he’d cried until his throat ached and nothing but the taste of salty tears had filled his mouth.
Garrett moved into action, waving over his friends as he went down to one knee in front of the smallest girl.
“Hurt your knee, huh?” He asked, his deep voice gentle. “That stings something awful, doesn’t it?”
The little girl looked at him with those Bennett blue wide eyes as she sniffled and nodded.
“Oh, I think I know you,” he said, forming a slow grin. “Pretty as a picture and dressed in pink? You must be Rebecca. Your sister told me in her letters that was your favorite color.”
The little girl’s cries softened, turning into hiccups as she wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
“That’s me,” she replied, her little voice cute and angelic. “Hannah wrote about me?”
“Oh-ho-ho, she sure did!” Garrett replied enthusiastically. “Told me all about you and Maria here.”
He looked toward the trio of boys and gave them a nod. “And I’m guessing you’re Isaac, Jacob, and Louis, but the question is which one is which?”
“I’m Isaac, sir,” the oldest replied in a serious tone.
“Jacob,” the middle one all but grunted.
“I’m Louis,” the little one said meekly, rubbing his eyes.
“Pleasure to meet you all,” Garrett said with a nod. “I’m going to be with you in one shake of a lamb’s tail,” he added, then turned his focus back to Rebecca.
“Say, if your knee is still hurting, I could pick you up if you want?”
The little girl looked distrustingly at Garrett for a moment as her grip on Hannah’s hand tightened, then she looked up to her big sister.
“It’s up to you,” Hannah answered, her tone kind despite her obvious frazzled nerves. “But if you say yes, remember to also say thank you to Garrett.”