Tully's Faith (Grooms with Honor Book 11) Read online

  “You don’t want to travel with me? I thought you’d love seeing the new parks,” Tully interrupted her.

  “Tully, I love you and want to explore beside you as your wife, but we have the problem of Horace Westin to settle first.”

  “Why? We could already be married,” Tully pointed out.

  “Because my parents are old-fashioned about protocol. Westin asked my father for my hand in marriage, and he agreed. Did you talk to my father about marrying me?”

  Tully’s crestfallen expression said it all. The Reagan brothers had been taught, almost drilled about commitment, honoring promises and vows.

  “And I blew it again!” Tully turned away and threw up his hands.

  “No, you didn’t. We just…said our vows before your proposal?”

  “And talking to your parents.”

  “Well, Pastor Reagan, what is your advice to this young couple in love?”

  “As a pastor, I’d say to confess all your secrets and wishes to your parents and beg for their forgiveness and understanding.”

  Tully took a deep breath and held out his hand to Violet.

  “Ready to become adults and talk to our parents, Violet?”

  “I’m ready, Tully. Let’s find our parents and ask for a meeting at the parsonage right now. We need to let Westin know about our decision right away.”

  “All right. And after that, we’re going to check into the Paulson Hotel. The Chicago Tribune already gave me money for my travel expenses. We can finally start our life as husband and wife,” Tully said as he pulled Violet close and gave her a heart-melting kiss.

  Violet wished she could be giddy with love and excitement because she and Tully finally professed their love to each other and agreed to become man and wife. But something about her father’s reaction to Violet not wanting to marry Westin was…off.

  Chapter 7

  “You what?” Rusty gasped as he stared at Violet, and then at Tully.

  He and Violet had found their parents visiting among the crowd in the café and had asked to talk to them privately. Tully’s parents smiled at each other, and congratulated them, apparently not surprised when Tully announced to the group that he’d asked Violet to marry him.

  Faye squealed with excitement, jumping out of her chair in the parsonage’s parlor to hug her daughter.

  Of course, they hadn’t gotten to the part of possibly already being married and traveling to Wyoming soon. His parents’ dispositions might mirror Rusty’s in a minute.

  “I asked Violet to marry me, and she said yes, Mr. Tucker. I’m sorry I didn’t ask your permission first, but we’re both adults and—”

  “But I already gave Mr. Westin permission to marry Violet,” Rusty argued.

  “Rusty, I think it’s wonderful that Tully is marrying our daughter. She’ll be a respected pastor’s wife,” Faye grinned, happy about the outcome for her child.

  “I agree Tully didn’t follow the usual steps, Rusty, but they’ve been away at school together, and I’m not surprised by this. I’m sure they would have told us right away at the depot if not for the situation of Dan’s death. I sprung that news on them before they’d been home two minutes.”

  Tully glanced at Violet. They hadn’t discussed the coordination of when he’d asked her to marry. His parents thought it took place in Chicago, not five minutes ago in the alley behind the café.

  “Actually,” Violet bravely said as she opened her reticule, took out the certificate, and handed it to her father, “we’re already married.”

  Tully’s jaw dropped along with their four parents before he glanced around at their reaction. The certificate drifted to the floor when Rusty let go of it in his shock of Violet’s announcement.

  Of course, Tully’s parents raised their eyebrows at each other in silent communication before his father reached for the certificate Rusty had dropped to the floor.

  If Rusty had a rope in his hand, Tully would be caught and hogtied for his offense in three seconds flat.

  Faye looked disappointed. “But I looked forward to planning your wedding with you, Violet.”

  “Violet, I gave Mr. Westin permission to marry you. You can’t marry Tully,” Rusty brought up again.

  “I already showed the certificate to Mr. Westin, Papa. He knows Tully and I are married. I don’t know why he sent you a telegraph that he’s coming here,” Violet argued.

  Tully watched his father study the piece of paper, even turning it over to look at the back. He wished he was alone with his father to ask if it was legitimate.

  “Where’d you get married, son?” Tully’s father asked in a low voice.

  Tully told a slightly different version—as if it was planned—of being married at the student’s reception by one of their newly ordained friends.

  His father gave Rusty a glance before turning to stare at Tully.

  “Faye and your mother would really like to host a wedding and reception for you.”

  Wedding and reception, not just a reception? Oh, Chronicles. Did that mean they weren’t legally married?

  Violet’s hand was squeezing his so hard she was about to break a finger.

  “How about I marry you, again, in the next week or two? Give Violet and your mothers time to arrange everything?”

  “Yes, we need to pick out your dress, flowers, and…. And talk to Helen Paulson about booking their event room,” Faye was ticking off a mental list on her fingers as she thought of things to do for the perfect wedding for her daughter.

  “No, Violet will be marrying Westin this Sunday!” Rusty blurted out.

  “What? No! I’m married to Tully! Why do you keep bringing it up, Papa?”

  Rusty shot out of his chair and walked around the room as if to control his anger. Tully had never seen the man act this way.

  “Rusty. What is wrong with you?” Faye stammered, just as surprised as the rest of the group.

  Rusty sighed as he sat back down in his chair and wiped his face with his hand.

  “I…promised Westin could marry Violet in exchange for a loan from his bank.”

  “What?” Faye stared at her husband in shock. “Why would we need a loan? And how dare you promise Violet to a man for that!”

  “Papa? I can’t believe you did that. I was conceived in a brothel. How can you sell me like…I still lived and worked in one?”

  The shocked look on Rusty’s face meant he’d never thought of it that way.

  “No, Violet. I never considered that. The way Mr. Westin wrote, it sounded as if you were in favor of his courting…and I took advantage of it.”

  “Why do we need a loan, Rusty? And if we did, why not ask our local banker for one?” Faye asked again.

  “Would you like to talk privately, Rusty and Faye?” His father, always the pastor asked. Why didn’t Tully think of that too? Because he was still stunned by the situations revealed in mere minutes. And Tully hadn’t announced the biggest shock to his parents yet.

  Rusty ignored the rest of them as he answered his wife. “I planned to buy the Harrison place for you, Faye. You deserve a bigger home than the tiny cabin you’ve had to live in for almost twenty years. It’s only a mile from the Cross C and my job. The small homestead has a lean-to building to shelter a horse, cow, and a few chickens. You can have your own garden spot too.”

  Faye stared at her husband a minute before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close for a kiss, right in front of all of them.

  “Thank you, Rusty. I adore you for thinking of buying the house for me, but I don’t want to move. Our daughter has married, and the boys have moved into the bunkhouse. Now we have a cozy home, just the right size for the two of us.”

  The red flush creeping up Rusty’s face was embarrassing, but Tully knew what the man was feeling. Tully wanted to be alone with his wife too.

  “All right. I’ll send Westin a telegraph right now to say he is not to come here. I don’t need the loan and Violet has already married Tully,” Rusty stood up again wi
th a mission.

  “But we also want to tell you my job before you leave, Rusty,” Tully said as he squeezed Violet’s hand again for reassurance.

  “I’m sorry. I guess in Dan’s passing and my worry, I didn’t ask what church you’d be at. I hope it’s close by so we can see you and Violet often,” Rusty answered, finally calm again.

  “We’re traveling to Wyoming,” Tully announced, cringing at the gasps of all four parents.

  “Why so far away? Surely there’s a church closer than that,” Faye asked, worried she’d never see her grandchildren?

  “Well, I’m surprised, but then we moved from Ireland to Kansas,” his father patted his mother’s knee. “Maybe we can take a train trip to Wyoming next year, Kaitlyn.”

  “I’d like that, Patrick. Now that all our children are grown,” his mother grinned.

  Wait until they hear the rest of my news.

  Tully said a silent prayer first.

  “Except for occasional ceremonies I might do by happenstance, I am not going to serve at a church.”

  Tully could have dropped a sewing pin on the floor, and it would have loudly echoed in the silent room.

  "I’ve been hired by the Chicago Tribune to be their travel writer. My first assignment is to travel to the new hotels in Yellowstone. Later in the year I’ll travel to the national parks in California, explore them, and send articles and photographs back to the newspaper.”

  “Excellent! Congratulations on your job, Tully. It’s perfect for you,” his father beamed, totally knocking Tully off balance.

  “Excuse me? That’s not what I thought you’d say. I’m not following in your profession. Why aren’t you upset?” Tully asked.

  “You weren’t happy training horses at the ranch. Isaac offered you the chance to go to the seminary, to get you away from here. Then you’d either decide to use your training or find something else that really interested you.”

  “You wrote an excellent eulogy, Tully, but I can’t wait to read about your adventures. This job of travel and writing is perfect for you,” his mother added, surprising Tully.

  But maybe not. His parents had always been supportive of all six of their sons, whether they were born to them or adopted.

  “Is this what you want, Violet, to travel with Tully as he explores parks?” Rusty asked.

  Violet laughed. “Between all the Tucker and Brenner kids, I was always the most excited when the Cross C sold cattle to other ranches, and we’d trail the cattle to their new home. I loved camping out, no matter how many days, so I look forward to Tully’s trips.”

  “Will you have a home somewhere or are you going to live out of your tent…and carpet bags all the time?” Faye asked, still in shock from Tully’s news.

  “We thought Clear Creek would be a good place to visit between trips,” Tully explained.

  “Will the job pay enough to support you, especially if you have time off between trips?” Rusty asked, concerned if Tully could provide for his daughter.

  “Yes, the newspaper will pay me a salary besides my living expenses while on assignments. The only expenses we’ll have are Violet’s transportation tickets and any extra clothing we’ll need for our travels.”

  “And when you get tired of traveling, or you start your family and want to settle down?” Rusty still had questions.

  “I have my training as a pastor to fall back on, or I may want to write for a living, be it for a newspaper or a book publisher,” Tully was finally confident he could provide for Violet and their children.

  Rusty turned to his wife. “Faye, any other questions for the newlyweds before I send a telegraph to Mr. Westin?”

  “No questions, but we do owe them an apology for separating them overnight. We pulled the ‘bride’ away from the ‘groom’ yesterday, Rusty. You can imagine how you would have felt if that was us, even if it was nineteen years ago,” Faye said in her blunt way.

  Was his or Rusty’s face redder? Probably Tully’s since their parents didn’t know the real story of their wedding night—or lack of it—given they didn’t know if they were indeed married or not.

  “As an apology, please let me pay for your room at the Paulson Hotel while you are home,” Rusty quickly threw out the suggestion.

  Tully was thrown off balance. They didn’t know if their marriage was valid, so neither he or Violet had mentioned sharing a room at the hotel, or the parsonage while they were home. And there was no way he’d stay in Violet’s childhood cabin with the lack of privacy there.

  “If you’re serious about maintaining a home base here, you might check with Nolan Clancy about the furnished apartment above the café. No one is renting it at the moment. It would be small but inexpensive,” Tully’s father suggested.

  “The apartment would be perfect. At this point in your marriage, you only need a place to stay while you’re visiting, and a little space to store what belongings you won’t take with you on your trips,” Tully’s mother added.

  Tully had been in the apartment multiple times when Cully lived there. It had been improved over the years when it was first an open storage area above the café.

  How had they gone from just talking on the apartment steps about marriage to the place possibly becoming their home?

  Chapter 8

  “What do you think, Da? Are we married or not?” Tully asked his father as Violet and Tully sat in his church office.

  Violet’s parents had finally agreed to travel home, leaving her with Tully after Violet said they’d come out to the ranch for supper to talk more about their surprise announcement.

  But first they needed to figure out if the signed certificate was official.

  Pastor Reagan blew out a breath and rubbed his forehead. “You have a marriage certificate signed by all parties. The state in which a couple is married holds the record of that marriage. After the ceremony, did you, or your friend, go to Chicago’s City Hall to record your marriage?”

  “We didn’t before we left for Clear Creek,” Tully answered his father, “and I doubt Rollie did either.”

  “And I assume it wasn’t recorded at the Chicago church you attended either?”

  “No reason to. Pastor Bonner of the First Methodist Church had nothing to do with the ceremony,” Tully said.

  Pastor Reagan sat up in his chair and looked at Tully, and then at Violet.

  Violet’s heart sank, knowing what the pastor was going to say.

  “Well, your marriage needs to be recorded in Chicago, within the length of time they require, or you need to repeat your vows, with the proper filing this time, be it Kansas or elsewhere.”

  Tully blew out a breath, rubbed his neck, but didn’t reply to his father.

  Oh, dear. Was he rethinking his hasty marriage proposal to her now? If they weren’t married, he could travel without her tagging along.

  “Tully and Violet, you need to start over. Have a serious talk about what you see yourselves doing in a month, a year, ten and twenty years in the future. Think about the wedding vows and how that affects both of you if Tully plans to travel, for a while, or for years.

  “When your children are school age, will you settle in a town for their education or teach them yourselves wherever you’re living, be it in a cabin or tent?

  “Tully, would it be best if you travel alone part, or all of the time? Violet, what would you think of raising your children by yourself while Tully is states away?”

  “Maybe I better get a church job then,” Tully sighed, looking downright deflated, at the thought.

  Although that would be better for their future family if Tully gave up his dream profession, would he eventually resent her?

  “Maybe I should marry Horace instead,” Violet tested Tully.

  Tully rubbed his face and didn’t look at her. Was that his way of agreeing with her?

  Violet quickly stood up, needing to get away from the tension in the room.

  “I’m going back to the ranch, Tully. If you feel like discussing this matter an
y further, ride out tomorrow and we can talk then,” Violet said, trying not to scream and cry at the same time.

  But Tully stayed in his chair rather than trying to stop her.

  “Violet, I’m sorry. I…don’t know what to do right at this very moment.”

  “It’s been an emotional day with Dan’s funeral and all the other revelations,” Pastor announced. “I think it would be good for you both to spend time with your families for a day or two, and then plan to meet after that. You are making a lifetime decision, so you need to carefully consider what is best for both of you.”

  Violet stood with her hand on the door handle, pausing a second, hoping Tully would jump out of his chair and pull her in his arms, professing his love.

  “I’ll ride out tomorrow,” Tully muttered, with barely a glance at her over his shoulder.

  “If you wish,” Violet said in her best-schooled voice. She straightened her back and left the room with as much dignity as she could. How could things go so wrong with a few questions from Pastor Reagan?

  Because she and Tully hadn’t discussed those important decisions in their silly haste to declare themselves married to their parents and take off for Wyoming.

  Chapter 9

  Tully left the church office shortly after Violet. He wasn’t in the mood to hear additional advice—or lecturing—from his father about the mess he’d made of his and Violet’s return to Clear Creek or their hasty futures.

  He was an adult, but no one thought of him as grown up. Okay, he was feeling like the youngest preacher’s kid again, and right now, all he wanted to do was sulk about it.

  Where could he hide for a while? He didn’t want to go home to hear his mother’s advice—or scolding— depending on her thoughts on his situation’, and he was sure she had several.

  As a kid in trouble, he’d head to the café. Washing dishes for Dan and getting the reward of cookies, and a few words of wisdom from the man, always set the world right again. But Dan was gone now.

  But as Tully mulled his problems, his feet had automatically taken him to the back door of the café. The back door was open, with the screen door in place to let the breeze into the usually hot kitchen. Other than Nolan, the place seemed to be empty now. Nolan was sitting at the table with probably his fourth or fifth cup of coffee for the day, mulling over the rapid events that had happened in less than two days.