Gabe's Pledge (Grooms With Honor Book 3) Page 6

  ***

  Isaac’s words of marriage being a life of difficulties made sense to Gabe now. Iva Mae was spitting mad at her kids just moments ago, then upset about the bar of soap, and now kissing him with passion. Of course, he liked the latter the best, but knew to expect a mixture in their future.

  He’d propose right now if he had a home ready for them. Luckily, he had the money to provide a nice house and furnishings for Iva Mae, so he needed to start spending it.

  A lump formed in Gabe’s throat as he thought of Reginald, who he thought was his father until after the man’s death. They had a close relationship because Reginald had raised him, and shielded him as much as possible from his mother’s rage and imbalance.

  Gabe’s relationship with Reuben, his real father, was rocky at first because of being reintroduced when Gabe was fourteen. His father remembered him from birth to a toddler, but Gabe had no memory of him.

  Well, he’d honor Reginald by using his money to provide for his wife and future children. It would have made the man proud.

  Gabe kept his arms around Iva Mae but pulled back so he could talk to her. “Did you and Maridell pick out the paint colors for the house Mack’s working on?”

  “Yes, we did, except we ordered wallpaper for the parlor. Why?”

  “Just wondering. I told Mack I’d come over in the evenings to paint if he and Jasper needed help.”

  “Oh. Well, I’m sure the bank wants it done so they can sell it.”

  “Do you like the house, Iva Mae?” Gabe wanted to be sure that she’d like it for their future home.

  “Yes, I do. Although I’m not sure it’s big enough for a large family, since it only has three small bedrooms.”

  “Maybe Mack could build on someday. The lot is big enough to add on to the house and still have room for a large garden, and a chicken house beside it.” Gabe leaned down to kiss her.

  “Starting to dream a little about the future, Gabe?” She kissed him next.

  “Maybe.” Gabe answered without lifting his lips from hers. He could kiss Iva Mae all day now that they started doing it.

  “Mail call!” Gabe jumped away from Iva Mae when Cullen sauntered into the room.

  “Interrupting anything?” Cullen asked as he studied Iva Mae, then him.

  “Nope. Why?” Gabe asked, knowing his reddened face proved he was lying.

  Cullen walked to Iva Mae and handed her a letter. “Just wondering if Iva Mae needed to keep corresponding with her prospective grooms or if you’d stepped up to claim her.”

  Gabe wanted to punch Cullen for being so brash, and for delivering a letter to Iva Mae.

  And why was Iva Mae already reading the letter while he was standing right by her? Didn’t he make himself clear with his kisses and hints that she didn’t need to find a husband elsewhere?

  “The paint has arrived for the Johnston house. You helping tonight?” Cullen’s question pulled Gabe away from Iva Mae, who had turned her back on them to read the letter.

  “I promised Mack, so yeah; I’ll be over after supper tonight. I assume he’ll have enough lanterns lit so we can see what we’re doing.”

  “He will.” Cullen glanced at Iva Mae, then slid his stare to Gabe and lifted one eyebrow, silently asking him what was going on between him and Iva Mae.

  All Gabe could do was shrug his shoulders because everything changed between him and Iva Mae with the delivery of that stupid letter.

  Cullen touched the brim of his hat and left without another word. Gabe stayed rooted in his spot, scared to go, yet scared to stay.

  “Who’s the letter from?” Gabe finally got up the nerve to ask.

  “A, uh, man from Wilson I’ve been corresponding with.” She folded and slid the letter back in the envelope before turning back to Gabe. She stayed by the desk instead of returning to his side.

  “What’s he do?” Gabe wanted to know whom he was up against.

  “He owns a boarding house.”

  Really? Just the type of living she said she wanted to get away from, having to live and work in a hotel, and yet she was still writing to him?

  “Didn’t think that would appeal to you,” Gabe tried not to sound like he was accusing her of fraud, but it still came out that way to his ears, and hers by the stare she gave him.

  Was this where a husband was supposed to start chanting “for better, for worse” in his head? Because Iva Mae looked as if she was ready for the “till death do us part”.

  Should he try to give her a kiss or slowly back out of the schoolhouse?

  He put a hand to his chest and realized he still had the bookmark in his pocket. Should he give it to her now, or wait? Maybe it would ease her horrible day if he gave it as a parting gift.

  “Actually, I stopped by to give you something, but we got sidetracked.” Gabe cleared his throat instead of saying by “what”.

  Gabe pulled the leather bookmark out of his pocket and held it out to Iva Mae without stepping toward her. He’d stamped her name, roses, and a fancy border on the six by nine inch strip of leather.

  The anger in her green eyes defused as she stepped forward and accepted it.

  “Oh, that’s lovely, Gabe.” She traced the leatherwork with her index finger, swirling twice over the rose below her name.

  Her smile was back, and so were her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Gabe. You don’t know how much I needed this gift and gesture after the day I’ve had with the students.”

  She gave him a quick kiss, but then backed away. “Well, I need to finish my day here and you need to eat supper before helping Mack and Jasper.”

  Gabe knew he was being dismissed, much as she did her students at the end of the school day. He put his hat on and touched the brim before he turned around to leave.

  Then he saw Iva Mae place his bookmark on the other man’s letter. The fight for her hand in marriage wasn’t over, plus it was her decision who she’d choose anyway. Suddenly Gabe felt like the shy man everyone claimed he was. Could he be brave enough to fight for Iva Mae?

  He thought of Isaac’s advice.

  “Don’t hesitate and put it off like I did with Cate. You’ll regret it now and for years to come.”

  Well, a bar of soap and a bookmark wasn’t enough to win a woman’s heart anyway. He had money to buy a house and furnishings, so he had better start planning their future, before she settled for the other man and his boarding house.

  Chapter 8

  “Thanks for your help last night, Gabe. I appreciate it. Jasper and I have another project we need to start on, so I’m glad to finish this renovation.” Mack always thanked him for his help, even if he didn’t pay more than a free meal now and then.

  Gabe joined the Reagan brothers for their Saturday morning breakfast at the café. He invited Tate and his father to join them, but both had early plans for this morning. His father promised a rancher he could pick up his repaired harness at seven o’clock. Tate was good friends with the oldest twin Hamner boys, so he rode out early to the Bar E Ranch to spend the day riding horses with them.

  Angus pulled out the wooden chair across from Gabe and plunked down on the seat.

  “Be warned, Gabe. A man got off the train this morning asking where he could find Miss Iva Mae Paulson.”

  Gabe dropped the forkful of scrambled eggs that he was about to shove in his mouth. The fork clattered on the plate, splattering the sticky egg on his vest and shirt.

  “Who? Which train?” Gabe’s throat tightened and his stomach thought about sending his last forkful of food back up.

  “The short train coming from the west.” Angus answered before taking a sip from the coffee Linnea sat down on the table in front of him.

  No. Surely, the man wouldn’t come visit...unless Iva Mae invited him.

  “Iva Mae’s been writing to a man in Wilson. Think that’s him? What’s he look like?”

  Questions were roaring through Gabe’s brain as fast as his racing pulse.

  “Could be him. He’s in his mi
d-twenties, average height and looks. Had on his Sunday suit.”

  “Did you send him over to the hotel?” Gabe felt like Angus was siding with his enemy.

  “Well, yes. That’s where he’d find Iva Mae.”

  “The Paulson’s are coming over to the studio today at two o’clock for a sitting though.” Fergus finally spoke after listening to the rest of their banter. “Surely they wouldn’t have invited company if they had other plans.”

  “Unless the new son-in-law is going to be in the portrait,” Cullen quirked.

  Gabe pushed his plate to the middle of the table because he was no longer hungry.

  “Don’t want your bacon?” Mack eyed Gabe’s plate.

  “Nope. I can’t eat now that Iva Mae has company.”

  Mack and Cullen’s forks stabbed at Gabe’s plate at the same time, wrestling each other for the bacon.

  “Whoa, fellas! Watch where you’re stabbing! What if I had reached for my cup of coffee?”

  “Sorry,” Mack grinned. “I can’t pass up free bacon.” He raised his fork with the prize strip of bacon speared on it and waved it to torment Cullen. The next instant Cullen’s fork slashed through the air, knocking the bacon off Mack’s fork and back on to Gabe’s plate.

  “Boys!” Pastor Reagan’s raised voice stopped the fight which was about to erupt on Gabe’s plate. Then Pastor reached over with his own fork to stab the bacon and put it on his own plate to end the food fight.

  “So what do you know about this man, Gabe?” Pastor asked before cutting the slice of bacon in half and sticking half of it in his mouth.

  “Not much, except he owns and runs a boarding house in Wilson,” Gabe answered while shrugging his worry.

  “His name is Frank Dolecek. Came from Bohemia in ‘74 with his parents and two brothers. Has a ten-room boarding house he’s managed for five years. Never married.” Cullen answered while swiping the toast off Gabe’s plate.

  “How do you know these things?” Gabe asked, exasperated that Cullen knew more than he did.

  “I listen,” Cullen answered as he spread a thick layer of strawberry jam on the toast. “You’d be surprised what I hear from the front room of the post office.”

  “Prove it. Tell us something we don’t know. I bet a dollar you can’t surprise us.” Mack reached in his vest pocket, withdrew a silver dollar coin, and slapped it on the table in front of his plate.

  “Johnston’s house sold.” Cullen smugly answered before reaching for the coin.

  Thank goodness, Gabe didn’t have his coffee cup up in the air because he would have dropped it.

  “When did it sell? And why wasn’t I told?” Mack challenged Cullen.

  “Yesterday. No reason for the bank to tell you I guess.”

  Gabe was too late! He’d stalled on walking down the street to talk to the bank manager, and now the house was gone.

  All eyes turned to stare at Gabe.

  “So, you sly dog! You finally bought the house but didn’t tell us,” Mack grinned thinking he’d guessed the new owner of the Johnston house.

  Sweat beaded on Gabe’s forehead as panic set in. Why did I put it off? Now what do I do?

  “Gabe, there will be other options for housing in town,” Pastor quietly said, realizing what Gabe’s silence meant.

  “You didn’t buy it? Then who did?” Mack looked at Cullen again.

  “I heard it had sold, but not to whom.” Cullen chucked the last square of toast in his mouth and didn’t say anymore.

  He should have talked to the bank when the house went up for sale, but no, he kept putting it off as he did everything else. He still lived at home because he’d never had the gumption to move out on his own. Iva Mae wasn’t his wife because he’d been chicken to court her.

  Now the man she’d written to was in Clear Creek, ready to ask for her hand in marriage.

  Gabe pushed away from the table and stood to leave. “Thanks for breakfast, Mack.”

  He needed to get out of the café before he exploded.

  “Gabriel.” Pastor’s call to him stopped Gabe in his tracks, but he didn’t turn back to the table. “Think before you act, but it’s time to plan for your future, and carry out your plan. Remember God is with you, and we’re all standing by to help you in any way we can.”

  Gabe turned back to nod to Pastor and his friends. He felt calmer and surer of his decision after his pastor’s advice. He’d find a home for him and his bride.

  ***

  “Iva Mae! He’s here!” Maridell ran into their apartment squealing with excitement and jumping up and down as if she was an excited five-year-old again.

  Iva Mae was ironing her little sister’s dresses for this afternoon’s appointment at the photography studio. Ethan was surprising their mother with a portrait of the whole family for his Valentine’s gift to her.

  “Who’s here?” Iva Mae moved a new section of skirt on the ironing board to press next.

  “Frank Dolecek! He just walked into the hotel and asked for you!”

  Iva Mae froze with Maridell’s announcement. The man she’d written one letter to…was here? At eight o’clock in the morning?

  “Hurry up and get dressed so you can meet him. I’ll keep him occupied until you come downstairs.”

  Iva Mae still had on her wrapper and her hair was still in its night braid. She wasn’t ready for company, especially with a man she didn’t know.

  “He is so handsome. He’s about six feet tall, with broad shoulders and a trim waist.” Maridell’s hands fluttered around her as she described Mr. Dolecek. “When he took off his hat I couldn’t help notice his shiny coal black hair, which has just a touch of wave across his forehead. His face is tan and smooth without any pock marks.”

  Her sister gave a dramatic sigh. “And he has the cutest dimple in his right cheek when he smiles.”

  Iva Mae sighed, not excited about meeting a man she didn’t intend to marry—if Gabe would propose soon.

  “All right. I’ll finish Phoebe’s dress, and then make myself presentable. But you or Luella are going to have to iron the rest of the dresses then.”

  “I’ll get Luella to press them so I can be your chaperone.” Maridell twirled around to find their sister so she could return downstairs to the uninvited guest.

  *

  Well. Mr. Dolecek had made himself at home. He sat on the lobby settee with Phoebe on his lap and her three younger sisters crowded around him. Maridell sat on the edge of the upholstered wing chair across from the settee, hanging on every word the man said.

  Ethan stood behind the other chair where her mother sat, engaging in the banter between the family.

  Too bad Avalee and Luella weren’t there to be charmed by the man too.

  “Ah, here’s Iva Mae,” Ethan announced as she slowly descended the steps, waiting for the first glimpse of Mr. Dolecek’s face.

  The man whispered something to Phoebe who giggled and slid off his lap. Mr. Dolecek stood and walked over to the foot of the stairs to greet her.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Paulson. I’m Frank Dolecek and I’ve been anxiously waiting to meet you since I received your letter.”

  Iva Mae reached for his extended hand, ready to shake it but he raised her hand to give the back of it a light kiss instead.

  “It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Dolecek, although I didn’t expect to meet you so soon.”

  As in never, since she wrote to the matrimonial agency just to prod Gabe.

  “Since Clear Creek was so close to Wilson, I had to meet you in person. If one is going to spend their life together, I think it’s best to get to know each other first if possible. Don’t you agree?”

  At least the man was sensible, and good-looking, although it didn’t affect her in the least.

  “I think that is very wise, Mr. Dolecek. Thank you for thinking of it.” Iva Mae nodded and stepped down the last step of the stairs, pulling her hand out of his, pretending to need it to touch the newel post to steady her step.


  “I see you’ve met most of my family. Two sisters are busy with their household duties, but I’m sure you’ll meet them soon.”

  “And I’m sure they are as delightful as the rest of your family. I only have two brothers, so it’s been a pleasure to visit with your sisters.”

  Okay. He was polite, made good conversation, and seemed educated. Better than she feared he might be.

  “Why don’t we all move into the dining room for coffee and cinnamon rolls?” Her gracious mother saved her from having to talk to Mr. Dolecek by herself yet.

  “Thank you for your suggestion, Mrs. Paulson. The cinnamon smell wafting from the dining room has been tempting me.” Mr. Dolecek’s broad smile showed perfect white teeth.

  So far, the only problem with the man was that he wasn’t Gabe.

  Iva Mae remembered her manners as Mr. Dolecek pulled out a chair to seat her. Then he continued around the table to seat her sisters. Her mother raised an eyebrow at Iva Mae, apparently approving of his manners.

  “So tell us about yourself and your family,” Ethan started the inquisition.

  Mr. Dolecek smiled instead of cringing, as many young men would do when a prospective father-in-law asked that question.

  “My parents, Joseph and Barbara, my two older brothers and I sailed to America in 1874. We were part of the Bohemian group who homesteaded around Wilson.”

  “So your father farms?” Iva Mae’s mother asked the next question.

  “Yes, in partnership with Henry, my oldest brother. Besides raising cattle, they plant corn and winter wheat.”

  “What does your other brother do for a living?”

  “He manages a farm for a widowed neighbor who is crippled. Victor is a bachelor, living with the old man.”

  “Is your other brother married?” Maridell’s question startled Iva Mae. Was she hoping he was available?

  “Yes, with two young sons. Henry and Margarete built a house about a quarter mile down the road from our parents.”

  “How did you become a boarding house owner with your farming background?” Iva Mae wanted to keep him talking so she didn’t have to.

  “I like people, and living out in the country can be lonely. When the couple who ran Wilson’s boarding house wanted to sell and retire, I jumped at the chance to move to town. The couple stayed on for four months to help me learn the business while their new house was being built.”