RNWMP: Bride for Theodore (Mail Order Mounties)(29)

She was walking toward the train, and she heard her name being called as if from a distance. She looked at Miss Hazel questioningly before she turned. There was Teddy, riding toward her. “Jessica, wait!”

Jess put her suitcase down, worried she’d miss her train. When he was close, he all but vaulted off his horse, stopping in front of her. “Don’t go.”

“Don’t go? But I thought you wanted me to go.” Jess studied his face, trying to understand what he wanted from her. Two days ago, his words would have made all the difference. “Where have you been?” She couldn’t just agree to stay without knowing why he’d disappeared, though she wanted to scream she’d stay with him forever.

“He was looking for me,” came another voice from behind Teddy. She hadn’t looked at anything but him, her eyes trying to memorize every line of his face. She’d draw him and exorcise him from her mind. It might keep her from going insane with missing him.

Jess looked at the man behind him, at first not recognizing him, but then she realized who he was. The pastor who had preached on Sunday. “Why was he looking for you, Pastor?” Her brows were drawn together in confusion.

Teddy took her hand, pulling her off the platform. “I’ll bring her right back, Mom.”

Miss Hazel was grinning from ear to ear. “Oh, I have a feeling you need her a great deal more than I do, son.”

Jess followed him around the side of the train station before she dug in her heels. “Exactly where are you taking me?” He was dragging her around like she was a rag doll, and he had to know that wouldn’t set well with her.

“I guess this is good enough.” He cleared his throat, thinking of all the speeches he’d practiced for the past twenty-four hours as he’d searched all three towns before finding the pastor in his home, which was near the first town he’d searched. “I realized yesterday that I had to stop being noble. I’ve given you every reason in the world to think that I don’t want you here, but the truth is, I need you, Jessica. Please stay here with me as my wife.”

Jess blinked a couple of times. “Why?” She knew it wasn’t the right answer to a marriage proposal, but her mind was spinning. Did he only want her to cook for him? Why the sudden change of mind?

“Because I love you. I go to bed at night, and I see your face as I close my eyes. I wake up in the morning, and you’re the first thought that enters my mind. I want you to be happy, and with no women around for friendship, I know that may be hard. A Mountie’s hours can be long and you may be alone more than you’d like.” He closed his eyes. “I’m giving you all the reasons you should say no, and that’s not very bright of me. I love you, and I want to wake up with your head on the pillow next to mine every single morning. Please, say you’ll stay and marry me.”

Jess watched absently as her train pulled out of the station. A slow smile crossed her face. “Well, I guess I have to stay now, because I just missed my train.”

He grinned, pulling her into his arms and kissing her. “I could lie to you and promise I’ll make sure you get on next week’s train, but…I’m keeping you.”

Her arms wound around his neck, and she looked into his eyes. “I want you to keep me. There’s nothing more I want in this entire world.”

He crushed his lips to hers, holding her close. “There’s a pastor over there, probably wondering if we’re ever going to come back. Will you marry me? Right now?”

Jess nodded emphatically. “I thought you’d never ask!”

“I thought you wanted to go back to Ottawa after you saw there were no women here!”

“I told you that I would be happy as long as I could spend the rest of my life with you!” Did he ever listen to anything she said?

“I can see there were misunderstandings. But you’ll marry me now?”

“Of course, I will. Let’s go talk to the pastor. What’s his name, anyway?”

Teddy wrapped his arm around her shoulders and steered her back toward the train platform where his mother and the pastor waited for him. “Where’s your mom going to stay for the next week?” she asked.

“I’m sure Kendall and Elijah will share a cabin for a week. Or something like that. I haven’t thought that far ahead. I just needed to get the preacher here so I could marry you, and you wouldn’t leave me.”

“You could have asked me to marry you and then gone for the pastor. That would have been all right.” Jess couldn’t believe he’d let her worry for an extra twenty-four hours when he could have put her mind at ease.

He shrugged. “It seemed smarter this way.”

“What would you have done if I’d said no?”

“I guess I’d have taken him back to his house. I’m glad I don’t have to figure it out.”

The pastor looked between Jess and Theodore. “Are you ready to marry now?”

Jess frowned. “I brought a dress to marry in, and I’d like for the other Mounties to be there. Can we get married this evening?”

Theodore nodded, seeming reluctant. “You’re not asking me to wait so you can run away, are you?” He was so afraid she was going to leave him there alone.

She laughed. “No, that’s not what I’m doing at all. I just have a pretty dress that will need to be pressed before I can wear it, and I’d really like for your friends to be there. I feel like they’re my friends now too.”