A Rancher Of Convenience. Regina Scott
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Waco, not with all the bad memories of his father and Mary Ellen, but maybe Little Horn could be home.
“I can settle,” he told her.
She didn’t look as if she believed him, fork once more rearranging the food on her plate.
“I must ask one more thing of you,” she murmured, gaze following the movement of the silver. “If we marry, we would put this ranch in trust for the baby. You and I would have to agree to any changes in that trust.”
He nodded. “That’s as it should be. A man wants his children to inherit what he built.” If that man could believe in his children. His father never had.
She drew in a deep breath. “Very well, then, Hank. We can talk to the lawyer in town, set up the papers to be signed the day of our marriage.”
Hank stared at her, feeling as if the stew had multiplied in his stomach. “Our marriage?”
She nodded, laying down her fork at last. “Yes, Hank. I am agreeing to your proposal. I will marry you.”
Hank wandered back to the barn after dinner, steps still decidedly wobbly. Nancy had agreed to marry him. He was going to be a husband and a father. He wasn’t sure what to do, what to think.
Upkins caught his shoulder as Hank stepped into the bunk room.
“Whoa there, son,” he said, frowning into Hank’s face. “What happened?”
Jenks shifted away from his belongings. “Did Widder Bennett toss you out?”
Hank shook his head, more to clear it than to answer their questions. “She’s going to marry me.”
Upkins released him so fast, Hank nearly fell.
“What!” the veteran demanded, stepping back.
Jenks scrambled off his bunk, sending a cat dashing out the door beside Hank. “Why’d you go and do something so low-down?”
“Low-down?” Hank frowned at him. “I offered her my name, my protection. You know she can’t run this place by herself.”
“We can.” Upkins widened his stance, though his six-guns were safely in their holsters by his bunk. “And I thought we were doing a good job of it too. No reason for you to push yourself forward.”
“Taking advantage of a lady in her time of need,” Jenks agreed, coming to join the older cowhand.
“It’s not like that,” Hank told them. “I’ll be her husband in name only.”
Jenks looked from him to Upkins. “What’s that mean?”
Upkins shrugged, clearly as puzzled.
“It means I’m bunking with you and riding out like always,” Hank explained. “But as far as the Empire Bank is concerned, Mrs. Bennett has a man running the ranch.”
Jenks scratched his ear as if he couldn’t have heard right. “So what’s she calling you? Mr. Bennett number two?”
Not while he lived. “She’ll be Mrs. Snowden now.”
Upkins shook his grizzled head. “Makes no sense. Wives rely on husbands for more than the change of name, as far as I can see.”
Jenks nodded. “Spiritual leadership and genteel companionship as the years go by.”
Hank started laughing. “Well, guess I won’t make much of a husband, then. Seriously, boys, nothing’s going to change.”
Upkins still didn’t look convinced. “You really going to settle for my cooking when you have the right to sit at her table?”
Dinner hadn’t been all that comfortable tonight, but the food had been far tastier than the cowboy’s. Hank could imagine sitting next to Nancy after a long day, sharing stories, planning for the future. She’d smile, and he’d know that all was right with the world. He wouldn’t have been surprised if he wasn’t smiling just thinking about it. He put on a somber face.
“We didn’t agree on specifics,” he admitted.
“Then I reckon you ought to,” Upkins told him. “Are you obliged to drive her to services every Sunday? Is she going to expect you to take on chores around the house? Who’s giving the orders to ride, you or her?”
Hank shook his head. “Maybe you should have offered to marry her. Seems you have it all figured out.”
“I’ve got the questions, son,” Upkins retorted. “That don’t mean I got the answers.”
“Neither do I,” Hank said. “But there’s something you should know. She’s carrying Bennett’s child.”
Jenks’s brows rose so high they disappeared under his thatch of red hair. Upkins let out a low whistle, then narrowed his eyes at Hank.
“You aim to be its pa?”
“Yes,” Hank said. “You have a problem with that, best you ride on now.”
For a moment, Upkins held his gaze, and Jenks seemed to be holding his breath. Then Upkins nodded.
“We’ll all help,” he declared with a look to Jenks, who nodded so fast Hank thought the boy’s head might rattle.
“You’ll make the babe a good pa,” Jenks agreed.
Hank didn’t know how Jenks could be so sure. He wasn’t. He didn’t even have a good example to follow, unless it was to do what his father hadn’t.
“I intend to try,” he told them both.
Once more Jenks glanced between Hank and Upkins. “So, we’re going to have a wedding.”
Hank laughed. “I reckon we are, and as soon as possible. I guess I better talk to Pastor Stillwater.”
* * *
As it turned out, the local minister wasn’t the only one Hank had to talk to about his and Nancy’s wedding. Hoping for a word with the pastor, Hank took Nancy into Little Horn that Sunday for services in the old revival tent the town used while the first church building and parsonage were being constructed nearby.
He hadn’t had a chance to attend services very often in the past. Cattle didn’t know much about keeping the Lord’s day, so Hank had generally been working. Besides, back in Waco only the fine folk went to services, and he was no longer part of that company.
Now, as he escorted Nancy into the shelter of the tent, he couldn’t deny the peace that flowed over him. He’d grown up worshipping among polished wood pews to the bellow of a massive pipe organ. The little tent with its packed dirt floor, rough wood benches and rickety piano felt more like home. After all, it hadn’t been in the fancy church he’d come to know his God but in the simple cathedral of a cowboy’s saddle.
Still, sitting with Nancy, holding the hymnal for her, his spirits rose. How could he not feel proud to have her beside him, pretty and sweet as she was?
Easy now, cowboy. Pride goeth before a fall. He’d felt the same way about Mary Ellen, and his feelings had been built on nothing more substantial than air. Nancy wasn’t here vowing undying devotion. She stood with him because she needed his help to save the Windy Diamond. And he was here to atone.
As the others listened to Pastor Stillwater’s message, Hank bowed his head.
I know You forgive easily, Lord. The Bible talks about a lost son being welcomed home and You eating with sinners. I know You won’t hold Lucas Bennett’s death against me. Help me help Nancy so I won’t hold it against myself.
Nancy shifted beside him, hand going to her back, and he stepped closer, offering his arm to lean on. Her smile was his reward.
After services, he left her with some of