Lone Pine Bride (The Brides of Lone Pine #1)(34)

Seth helped Wilfred into the wagon, lifted the children up after him and hitched the horses to it while Monica and Hannah climbed up, Hannah on the front and Monica inside with her family and the dogs.

“I’m sorry,” Hannah whispered as Seth lifted the reins.

“For what?”

“The ring. We should have taken them off.”

“We’ll sort it out later,” Seth said.”But we’d better keep them on for the moment, if that’s alright with you.”

“Yes, we’d better. The timing of all this was a real miracle.”

“I think we’ve had a lot of miracles today. Hold tight. Are you used to driving on the front of wagons?”

“I do it every day.”

He grinned, they pulled off and a mile later arrived at Seth’s farm.





Chapter 8


“My farm,” Seth said as they drove towards some wide gates, an unconscious note of pride in his tone.

“Impressive.” Hannah jumped from the front of the wagon as he stopped. “I’ll open the gates”

“I could have done that.” But she was already swinging them back and he liked that. Not demanding to be treated like a lady. No putting on airs. Which, of course, Rachel would be like too even if she wasn’t as strong as Hannah. He had to keep his mind on her because soon he would be married to her. He drove the wagon through the gates and Hannah shut them and climbed up beside him again. A few hundred yards ahead of them was a large barn and a smaller house, all apparently intact.

Hannah looked at the house with interest. It was attractive, with wooden walls and a slanting roof. It was sizeable and in front were pretty flowers and shrubs, with a path leading to the door. The garden was surrounded by a wooden fence and the gate was painted white, as was the fence round the house. It was not half as big as her Seth said his was but altogether it was a homely and welcoming building.

“It looks pretty solid,” she said, jumping from the cart.

“I thought that before. Now I’m not sure of anything.” Seth walked round to stand next to her.

“And you built it all?”

“Yes. It took quite a while but I couldn’t afford builders.” He opened the back of the wagon. “I’ll just check everything is alright so hold on for a few minutes. Let the dogs out but keep them in the garden until they get used to the place.”

“If you give me two sticks I could use them to hold me up and come with you,” Wilfred said.

“We’ll organise something in a minute. I’ll just have a quick look at everything.”

He circled the house and there was no obvious damage. His house had two floors which many others did not. That was a good thing, he thought as he examined everywhere, because otherwise people would have been buried deeper. Wilfred and Monica’s house had two floors and if it had collapsed even a few seconds before it did it would have been disastrous, not only for them but also for Hannah.

He looked at Hannah as he walked out of the house and gave an involuntary shiver. If she had got out a few seconds later she would have been killed. If she hadn’t done what she did so would this family.

But she was alive and so were they and he mustn’t think of what ifs. Would she like his house? She would like her Seth’s, he was sure, because it was bigger and more elaborate, though Seth had only seen it from the outside. He also had a couple of smaller houses for his farmhands and their families. Altogether he was a wealthy man and had done very well for himself. Any woman would be pleased to be married to him.

Hannah would be pleased because to her this house must be very small after living in a big one all her life. She was used to servants. She had never had to work. But here she was doing everything though, of course, that would be temporary. Hannah walked up the path and the children followed her.

“You need to carry Hannah over the threshold,” Lucille said.

Seth looked at Lucille. Carry Hannah over the threshold and the thought was quite a nice one though it had something to do with superstition, he knew from his mother. But that wouldn’t apply to him because he wasn’t superstitious, except that it should be Rachel and where was this farce going to end? He took Hannah’s hand, walked to the door with her and whispered.

“I’m sorry. I think we’re going to have to do it.”

“Yes. I’m no light weight.”

He swung her up and bounced her. “I carried you before so I can manage now. You can deal with my broken back later.”

“Not, of course you’re light?”

He smiled widely, went to put his foot over the threshold and Lucille ran after them. “Kiss her,” she said.

He looked at her with a deadpan expression. “Kiss her?”

She sighed deeply. “Is there no romance anywhere apart from books?”

“I’m romantic,” Seth said. He lowered his face and kissed Hannah on the cheek, lifted his leg and Lucille spoke again.

“On the lips.”

“Lucille!” her mother remonstrated.

“On the lips?” Seth looked into Hannah’s face. Just a few inches away and for some reason his heartbeat seemed to be travelling at top speed. Natural, of course, because she was, after all, a woman. He bent his head, placed his lips on hers and the feeling which shot down his spine was almost unbearable.