Chapter Five #2
Her head began spinning as both girls squealed giddily, clasping each other’s hands.
The Landry brothers clapped each other on the back and shook hands, each smiling from ear to ear.
June watched them chatter excitedly in front of the fire, her stomach twisting and twisting.
The twists were becoming violent, so violent that June feared she might vomit as she watched Etta grin from ear to ear, practically bouncing in place.
She sat in shock as the men excused themselves to go tell the rest of the townsfolk the good news.
“Can you believe it?” Etta beamed, pulling June up the stairs to their bedroom.
“We’re really going to be married!” Ada followed more quietly, but she had a similar glow about her.
June opened her mouth to speak. We can’t stay.
Don’t forget the plan… But she saw how truly happy her friends were.
She just couldn’t bring herself to say anything—not right now.
They deserve to be happy.
They all sat together on the bed, and she quickly forced a smile, hands clasped tightly to keep from trembling as she sat between them. “I’m happy for you both,” she said, but her voice sounded hollow to her ears.
Deep down, fear was clawing at her chest. No matter what the girls did to secure their futures here, there was one big flaw in their plan—even if the real brides miraculously received their letters and didn’t come to Fort Davis.
None of their marriages would matter an inch to Trey Bishop. He wouldn’t care about the town’s rules, or the lives the girls had built here, or the men they’d built it with. All he cared about was what he believed was his—and June had no idea how to stop him from coming after them.
“When is the big day?” June said, forcing back the tears that were beginning to form and burn at her eyelids.
“Tomorrow!” Etta and Ada said in unison.
“Tomorrow?” June choked out, surprised. Already? “Oh… wow!”
“Why not tomorrow? We’re in love!” Etta was practically delirious with happiness. “The sooner we get married, the better! Henry and I want to start a family…”
Ada was smiling without any hint of sarcasm. “Tomorrow seemed quick to me, too,” she admitted to June, her fingers playing nervously at the collar of her dress. “But Etta is right. I like it here… and Jack is a good man, even if he’s cocky—even if this whole thing is crazy.”
She looked at June with eyes that shone with hope. “I want to give it a shot, June. To be happy—to make it out and be free. Trey can’t touch us once we’re married.”
June didn’t reply. She couldn’t trust that for one second. Trey had many ways of getting revenge on anyone who crossed him. Even an obstacle like legal marriage wouldn’t stop him from finding them and hurting them.
And even before he got to Fort Davis, there was no way Ada and Etta could be happily married without their husbands eventually finding out their identities.
June pulled the two girls into a hug. “Remember,” she whispered.
“Have a backup plan.” She could pretend like she was happy, but she couldn’t let them go forward without reminding them of the stakes they all faced.
“Take a few things here and there; hide them somewhere. If something goes wrong, we run—all of us—with whatever we’ve stockpiled. ”
The situation was spiraling too fast. Trey would come, and when he did, there would be no undoing the damage he would bring.
They had to be ready.
And although both girls nodded, June’s stomach was still twisted into a permanent knot. How could she be sure that they were going to listen? How could she be sure that they were going to stick to the plan? It plagued her the entire day.
And the entire night. She tossed and she turned, while her two friends slept blissfully in their boardinghouse beds for the last time.
They’d survived so much together—the nights spent huddled against the cold; the near-constant empty bellies; the fables of what they’d hoped and dreamed for the future.
They had been told their entire lives that orphans couldn’t have dreams. So they’d been told in hushed whispers by candlelight… and now they were here.
And June had never imagined their dreams coming true without her by their sides.
The three of the had promised to stick together, to keep each other safe. And now, in the span of days, everything was changing. She was seeing it happen by the hour.
Etta’s wide, starry-eyed excitement every time she looked at Henry made June’s chest ache.
She knew her friend was desperate for a place to belong, to feel secure after years of rejection.
And Ada—proud, defiant Ada—had brushed off all her concerns with a wry smile and a joke, just like she always did when she was nervous, but June could see through it.
Just like she always did. Ada’s walls were as fragile as they were high, and they were tumbling down with Jack.
The next morning would change everything—whether they could find it in their hearts to stick to the plan or not.
***
Before noon the next morning, Etta and Ada were both married in the town’s church, a white, steepled building, small but pretty.
In attendance, besides the pastor, were Henry and Jack’s parents, June, Seth Whitman, Louise Williams, and a few other townsfolk who were close friends with the Landry family.
Pretty white ribbon decorated the outside doors of the white-steepled church, as well as each of the six pews. Wildflower bunches had been tied with twine to the top of each inside pew armrest to decorate the aisle.
The joint celebration was small, but very beautiful, and nothing was more beautiful than Ada and Etta, beaming in borrowed dresses.
They’d done it. They had falsely married two of the most well-established men in town.
Watching each couple exchange a kiss at the altar, June could only hope and pray that they wouldn’t lose sight completely of the plan.
She knew that both girls wanted a new life.
They both deserved it, too. And maybe they could somehow have it, but more important than any of that, she needed them to stick to the plan if things went south.
The little audience followed the married couples out, everyone a perfect scene of bliss… except for June, and Whitman. They ended up leaning against different posts of the little white fence that ringed the church, watching everyone else congratulate the newlyweds.
Henry pulled Etta into a hug, his grin becoming nearly a smirk as he turned to nod to Whitman. “You both doing alright?” he asked.
June glanced around. Both? Who is he talking to?
“Annabelle? Seth?” he clarified.
June flushed. “Doing just fine,” she replied quickly, forcing the biggest smile she could muster. “Congratulations.” Playing nice for the happy couples was getting to be as difficult as pretending to be Annabelle Matthews, bride-to-be.
Whitman scoffed, and immediately her eyes shot to look at him. If I’m pretending to be nice, you can too!
There was something about him that made her blood absolutely boil, and she couldn’t figure out why.
She didn’t know the man. She wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t trust men—especially cowboys, after all the pointless brawls and killings she’d seen from other cowboys in the past—or if it was Whitman in particular that had that effect on her.
Whatever it was, her instincts were telling her that this man was bad news.
“You know, today would be a good day for you and Seth to get to know each other,” Henry said with a grin and a wink.
“Jack and I will be having that dinner with our parents and our new brides at the boardinghouse this evening with Louise. Y’all should be there, too—get to know each other better.
It’ll make things easier when your turn comes. ”
June blinked, her forced smile faltering in panic. “Our… turn?” She had definitely never agreed to marry Seth Whitman. Then it hit her—maybe she had, just by saying she was Annabelle the mail-order bride. But I’ve barely even spoken to him!
“I’d have to ask her to marry me first,” Whitman muttered, just loud enough for June to hear. “And that’s not happening.”
For some reason, his obvious disinterest bothered June even more.
Not because she wanted him, or had any business entertaining the idea of marrying him anyway—but why was it that he didn’t want to marry her, anyhow?
What was it about her he didn’t like? Maybe it was obvious she wasn’t a dutiful wife.
That was what all men in the West wanted, wasn’t it?
A servant whom they pretended to love and honor?
Maybe her suspicion had been right when she had asked him at the boardinghouse that day if he couldn’t handle a challenge. Maybe he couldn’t.
Henry chuckled, clearly amused by their discomfort. “Don’t look so surprised,” he said looking between the two of them. “The town’s counting on all this to work out. You and Seth is only a matter of time. Might as well make the best of it!”
June opened her mouth to argue with him, to push back with every ounce of her annoyance… but she couldn’t.
If she let on for even a second that she was anything other than a bride-to-be, she would ruin every last chance at escaping this place.
“Think about it, eh?” Henry clapped Whitman on the shoulder lightly and turned back to Etta.
Whitman grumbled. “Want to get out of here?”
“With you?” June raised an eyebrow, shocked. “Because Henry told us to? …Do you do everything he says?”
Whitman scowled. “I don’t. And I don’t really care if you come or not, but there’s a place outside of town where nobody can hear this silly music and ribbons nonsense. It’s about an hour’s ride. We’d need horses.” He eyed her with faint condescension. “Don’t think you could handle that.”
June stared back at him, flashing a defiant smile, despite the fact that she couldn’t stand the man. “I can handle more than you think, cowboy. And I bet I can beat you there.” I love watching men eat their words.