Grooms with Honor Series, Books 10-12 Read online

  “I set the box on the table, so let’s see what we can rustle up for a meal while your momma rests a bit more. Tara, you want to set out the plates and silverware?”

  Tara went to a near empty shelf and set two plates, a fork and a spoon on the table, then looked up expectantly at Jasper. Was that all they had? The only other thing on the shelf were two tin cups.

  Jasper bit his tongue when he looked back at the bed and saw Julip had turned her back to them, silently sobbing into her pillow. What had the woman gone through these past months?

  He didn’t see a knife by the dry sink, so he tore the ham slices into small chunks and put them on the two plates, along with a pickle on each plate.

  “Would you please get those tin cups, Tara. I also bought a quart of milk.”

  Tyrell’s thumb popped out. “Milk?”

  Tara scrambled to get the tins for Jasper, and he poured a couple of inches of milk in each one. He was worried the children would gag and spill it as they tried to drink it too fast.

  When did the children last have some? Did they not have a milk cow in the pasture by the lean-to behind the house?

  “Do you have any eggs I could scramble up to add to the meal?” Jasper asked Tara.

  “The last chicken disappeared last week, so no eggs.”

  Eaten by a varmint, or their last meat?

  Jasper set the plates and cups by the one chair, and both children scrambled on the chair seat to sit on their knees so they could reach the table.

  Jasper quietly told them, “You two eat the ham slow, one piece at a time. Chew it until it’s mush in your mouth before you swallow it, okay?”

  He was afraid they’d stuff their mouths and choke the way they were eying the food. Jasper watched them for a few minutes before returning to Julip’s side.

  Jasper gently laid his hand on her bony shoulder. “Julip? Do you want to come to the table to eat, or shall I bring it to you here?”

  With a shuddered breath, she rolled on her back, wiping the tears from her face before answering. Jasper looked down at her body. She was so thin her bosom was flat. How would they have survived the winter?

  Good Lord, thank you for sending me to find Julip.

  ***

  Julip timidly sucked on the ham, worried she’d vomit it back up if she swallowed it. She rarely bought meat since it was so expensive compared to beans and rice. And to think of the abundant meals, she cooked for Widow Lula Chambers three times a day for two years. She and the children lived in the widow’s house, ate meals with her. The children called the woman Grandma Lula at her insistence, and the four of them enjoyed the life they’d formed together.

  “Taste good? I think the children enjoyed the ham.”

  Julip swallowed the bite of ham, which was the first solid food she’d had in a week. She’d given the children everything instead. “Full tummies made them sleepy,” Julip said as she looked at the children now asleep in the bed, while she sat at the table with Jasper.

  “I can’t thank you enough, Jasper. Your timing couldn’t have been better.”

  Jasper smiled, not reminding Julip she’d already thanked him umpteen times already. He studied Julip as if he was trying to piece her past together.

  “For the past two years, we’ve been living with an elderly widow woman in town. We got room and board in exchange for me taking care of the household and the woman’s needs.”

  “When and where were you making rugs then?”

  “At the woman’s house. Lula had a weaving loom, and she taught me how to loom rugs, and we worked together to produce rugs. Most people would bring in old clothing, and we’d cut the material up into strips and wrap it up in a ball. Then we’d weave the strips into rugs for them in return for a fee. If we had extra material to make rugs, the mercantile sold them for us. We split the profit, giving me a little money of my own.”

  “What happened since you’re living here instead with the widow?”

  “Three months ago, Lula fell down the front porch steps and died while I’d run to the store. Lula’s son, who lived out of town but came for the funeral, blamed me for his mother’s death. He evicted us from the house as soon as I had finished cleaning up after the funeral luncheon,” Julip bitterly told Jasper.

  “I’m sure Mrs. Chambers wouldn’t have wanted that. Were you able to get your things before leaving?”

  “We just had our clothing, but the worst part was I didn’t get the last split of money for my work.”

  Jasper put his elbows on the table and cupped his hands under his chin as he stared at Julip. He looked like questions were whirling in his mind.

  “How’d you come about living in this cabin?”

  “A man offered the cabin in exchange for ‘baked goods’ he said, but it turned out I was the ‘goods.’ He told a few other men and…he took part of the money men left for me.”

  “Why didn’t you tell the reverend or the sheriff?” Jasper demanded.

  “I’m now the town’s prostitute, Jasper. Everyone ignores us. I’m lucky if I get waited on in the stores.”

  Julip hated telling Jasper her problems, but she knew he wouldn’t judge her. They’d been through so much together on the Washburn Plantation when they first moved there. Jasper and his father had always stood up for her.

  “What do you need from the mercantile or butcher shop for the next few days? I’ll go buy it right now before they close for the day.”

  For just the next few days? Then he was leaving?

  Julip’s panic must have shown on her face because he grasped her hands in his to calm her.

  “I said a few days because you need to build up your strength before we travel.”

  “Travel? Where?”

  “Home with me to Clear Creek. I can support you all, Julip. And my sister, Iris, will help you too.”

  Julip felt tears well up in her eyes at Jasper’s solution to their problems. Move to live with him and his sister? Should she take the helping hand he was reaching out to her? Julip was on her last strand of sanity. If something happened to her now, who would take care of her children?

  “Thank you for offering, Jasper. I’ll think about it.” She hadn’t seen Jasper in years and didn’t know if he told the truth about his past. Did she dare trust him?

  Chapter 3

  It was hard not to buy more groceries than what they needed for a few days, but Jasper was tempted when he’d looked at the empty shelves in the cabin. He stuck with basic foods, except for the bag of peppermint candy. Jasper wanted to spoil the children until they were healthy and happy. He’d win them over, but Julip would take more time.

  There was relief in her eyes when he came back from the store with a wooden crate filled with food, but there was also sadness and worry. She was so frail and miserable right now she couldn’t see the future as he could, or what he hoped for.

  “Good morning, Jasper,” Julip said as he walked in the door this morning. He’d slept on the floor last night while Julip and her children slept in the bed. Jasper slipped outside early this morning to find fallen timber in the woods to chop up for fuel in the fireplace. There wasn’t a cookstove in the cabin, so all their heat and cooking had to be done over the fire.

  Jasper wasn’t surprised there was no stove considering how old the cabin was, and who knows when it was last used. At least it had provided shelter for the family.

  “Good morning, Julip. Sleep well?” Jasper asked as he kneeled to lay the wood in a box by the fireplace.

  “Best sleep I’ve had in a long time, thanks to you.” Julip sat at the table, dressed, but not looking as if she had the strength to do anything else.

  “Then that makes me feel good, Julip. Ready for some hot tea?” He’d bought a small box of loose tea leaves, thinking that might settle her stomach besides the tin of crackers he’d thought of at the last minute. He remembered his wife nibbling on crackers while she was with child. Jasper didn’t know if Julip was with child or plain starved and not used to eating food.<
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  The place had a well, so fresh water he’d drawn this morning was already heating in a pot hanging over the fire.

  “Yes, tea would be fine now, and I’ll try to eat more when the children are up for breakfast.”

  Jasper loved watching the two little ones clinging to each other with only their dark hair and noses sticking out above the covers.

  Since Julip didn’t have a tea ball, he sprinkled leaves in the two cups, poured water in the cups and let the tea steep for a few minutes and then spooned out the leaves.

  “Tell me about your children. I didn’t ask where they were born,” Jasper started off the conversation.

  “Tara was five in June, and she was born in Baton Rouge. Tyrell was born in Silver Crossing three years ago in August.”

  “They look like you with your straight hair and light skin, instead of Vernen’s dark looks,” Jasper said, glad that they looked like their mother instead of reminding him of her late husband.

  “When did you leave the Washburn Plantation? I came back looking for you, and they said you’d married and left.”

  “When?” Julip whispered. “I’d been waiting for you.”

  “About when I was twenty and thought I had enough sense and money to marry.” Bittersweet memories crowded his mind when he went back, planning to sweep Julip off her feet for a whirlwind courting and marriage, only to find out she’d married and left.

  “When I was an old maid,” Julip chuckled, “going on eighteen, I decided I better marry, so I said yes when Vernen asked me to marry him. We moved to Baton Rouge, and Vernen worked in a barrel factory.”

  “Why did you move up to Montana Territory? It’s a long way from the South.”

  Jasper watched as Julip unconsciously rubbed her tummy and sadness crossed her face.

  “We lost two boys to Yellow Fever, only Tara survived. We wanted away from the hot, swampy south where the disease is so prevalent so…” Julip shrugged.

  “You wanted a cooler climate and a chance to start over,” Jasper finished for her.

  “Vernen was so happy when I birthed another son, but he didn’t live to see Tyrell’s first birthday.”

  “Is Vernen buried in Silver Crossing? Do you want to go visit his grave before we leave?” Jasper assumed they were leaving with him, but they hadn’t discussed it yet.

  “He was so far back into the mine when the explosion happened, they never got his body out.”

  Jasper reached across the table and grasped Julip’s hand. “I’m so sorry for all your loss, Julip.”

  Julip nodded, tightening her grip on his hand before pulling away.

  “When did you marry?”

  “Not until I was twenty-four. I met Rebekah and fell in love. We had two years and our son together before they died in an accident. Toughest year of my life. Besides losing my family, I was injured too. My broken heart hurt worse than my broken ribs.”

  Julip knew how tragedy hurt the body and soul.

  “But you started over in Kansas?”

  “Besides being with Iris again, the town’s got good people. They accept me, and they’ll accept you and your children too.” She didn’t say anything though.

  “I got something to show you,” Jasper got up from the table to walk over to his carpet bag and opened it to pull out a small package wrapped in paper and twine.

  He unwrapped the paper to reveal a set of cardboard photographs.

  “The benefit of having a photographer as a brother-in-law is that you can ask him to take photos for you,” Jasper joked, trying to put Julip at ease.

  Jasper passed the first photograph to Julip. “That’s me with my sister, Iris.”

  “She looks like you, and your father now that I think about it. Where is your father now? You didn’t say.”

  “You know he enlisted in the Union army once former slaves were allowed to join, and he came back once during the war to see us. I thought he’d died on some battlefield or took off North to start a new life since I didn’t see him again.

  “Turns out, Iris said our mother received a letter stating our father died in the Andersonville Prison before the war ended.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Your father was my protector when we were sold to the Washburn Plantation.”

  When Julip was done studying the first picture, he handed her the next one. “This is Mack Reagan and me in front of a building we just finished.”

  “Mack is a big man.”

  “And a great man to work with. So’s his wife, Doctor Pansy. The town had a hard time accepting a woman doctor, but she’s proven she can handle anything.”

  Jasper pointed to the middle of the photo. “Notice the wording on the window? It says, ‘Kern’s Furniture.’” He was so proud when that paint dried.

  “You’re already started in your business?”

  “Yes, I have. I don’t have too many pieces for sale yet, but I’ll build up my supply come winter time.”

  Jasper took a deep breath, anxious to see what Julip would say to his proposal.

  “If you’d like, I’ll buy a loom and put it in the storefront. You could make rugs for sale and talk to customers when they come in.”

  Julip’s mouth dropped open, now knowing he was serious about her moving to Clear Creek.

  “Where would the children and I live?”

  Should he ask for her hand in marriage now or wait until they were in Clear Creek?

  He handed her an envelope addressed to “Julip” on the front. “Here’s a letter from Pastor and Kaitlyn Reagan to answer your question.” Jasper waited for Julip to read it.

  “They’ve invited us to stay in the parsonage with them until other arrangements are made. What’s that mean, other arrangements, Jasper?”

  Jasper took Julip’s hands, rubbing softly across the back of her hands with his thumbs. “I’ve already moved into the apartment above the store. When you’re ready to marry again, I’d like the honor of being your husband and the father of your children. Then you all can move in with me.”

  Chapter 4

  At any moment Julip was going to wake up from her dream. She was going to wake up hearing the children whimpering from hunger and wondering where she was going to scrounge up food to feed them.

  “Julip?” Jasper leaned forward trying to look into her averted eyes.

  “Please, I’m serious. I want to marry you.”

  “Why?” They would be an instant burden to Jasper.

  “Besides me wanting to offer my help?” Jasper kept a hold of her hands when Julip tried to pull away. “Julip, I missed my first chance to marry you. I don’t want to miss it again.”

  Julip closed her eyes, reeling at his words. She thought she and the children would freeze to death in this drafty cabin this winter, and instead, they were given a chance with the man she’d always loved.

  She pulled her hands away and placed them on her belly. Julip would have to tell him the truth and gauge his reaction before agreeing to marry him. She had no doubt Jasper would help them, but he may rescind his marriage proposal.

  “You know I’ve been with other men, Jasper. I could be carrying a child, and I wouldn’t know whose it is,” Julip whispered. "The child could look like a Chinaman or Mexican..." Julip’s face crumpled thinking of the men she'd had to lay with.

  "It doesn't matter to me, Julip. We'll start our family with two children, and if there’s one on the way, he or she will know me from the beginning of life."

  "What's ya lookin' at?" Tara asked as she stood on tiptoe, trying to see the photographs Julip still had in front of her.

  "Good morning, sweetheart. You sleep well last night?" Julip gently pushed her daughter's hair out of her eyes.

  "Yes, ma'am," Tara answered while keeping her eyes on Jasper. Her children didn't remember their father or living with a man in the house. Now when a man came by, they had to leave the cabin and sit in the outhouse until he was gone.

  "Mr. Kerns was showing me photographs of his family and work." Julip pull
ed Tara onto her lap so she could see the photos better.

  "That's Mr. Kerns with his sister, Iris. Her husband is a photographer, and he took a photograph of them together."

  Tara traced Jasper's face on the photograph and looked up to study Jasper. He smiled wide like he did in the picture.

  "Does that look like me, Tara?" Jasper turned his face one way, then the other, trying to tease her into a smile.

  Tara nodded and continued to study Jasper.

  "Here's Mr. Kerns and his partner in front of a building they built together."

  "He's big," Tara pointed at Mack Reagan.

  "Yes, Mack's big, but he's also a very nice man," Jasper concluded. "And here's a photograph of Clear Creek's schoolhouse with the students and teacher standing in front of it."

  "That's a lot of students for one teacher."

  "Mrs. Iva Mae Shepard has taught for many years and handles the students just fine. She’s a good teacher."

  "She's married and still teaching?"

  "Iva Mae and her husband, Gabe Shepard are newlyweds, and she wanted to keep teaching for a while. The school board will have a tough time replacing her, so they've agreed for her to keep teaching until she's ready to retire."

  If they moved to Clear Creek, this would be where Tara and Tyrell would go to school. They'd have friends besides learning how to read and write.

  "Here's a photograph of Pastor Reagan's family in front of the community church. Since Fergus was in the picture, I took a photograph, after Fergus set the camera up, of course."

  The older couple, probably in their late forties or early fifties, were surrounded by a large group.

  "Pastor and Kaitlyn are in the middle holding their two grandchildren, with their six sons, and three daughters-in-law around them."

  "There's Mr. Mack," Tara pointed out.

  He was easy to see as he was the tallest son of the family.

  "Notice the sons don't look much alike?" Jasper asked.

  Julip leaned over and studied the photograph as Tara's finger darted from one man's face to the next.

  "There might be similarities in some of them though. Why are you pointing that out?"