Christmas Bride, page 1
Christmas Bride
Linda Ford
Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
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Dear Reader
Also by Linda Ford
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The story of the Kinsley family begins long before they take up residence in Glory, Montana Territory. It begins with a young woman, married to a preacher man. Both of them desire to serve God and have a large family. But their lives aren’t the dream they’d imagined. There are disappointments that threaten their hearts. Will their faith endure and their love survive?
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1
Montana Territory, 1884
It wasn’t time. He wasn’t properly prepared. To leave now would be foolhardy. But Joshua Kinsley knew he couldn’t delay even one more day. Not when a beautiful, vulnerable, defenseless young lady had been brought to the camp. Not to the part of the camp where Josh and four others were kept under constant guard. She’d likely have been safer with them. Weary and weak from being forced to work in the mine, they had little energy left for anything but sleep. No, she was in the cabin where their captor lived.
Josh lay on the cold ground of the cave where they spent the few short hours of the night. To all appearances, he slept. But his mind whirled. It had to be tonight. He rehearsed the plans in his head.
Uproarious laughter came from the cabin where Bull and his friends drank.
Josh shifted. He couldn’t see much through the distant, dirty window, but his imagination filled in the details. They’d be wanting to get their hands on the female visitor. Even if she had come of her own free will, it would be frightening to be in that company. But he knew she hadn’t come freely. She’d kicked and screamed as Bull dragged her to the house.
He had to get her away tonight. Snores came from the others sharing his quarters. He tipped his head back and snored gently. He half guessed the guard would sneak away for a visit to the house and waited for it to happen. They called the guard Toad because he so eagerly jumped to do Bull’s bidding. Toad was a little simple and after two drinks would be passed out.
Toad trotted over to the cabin.
Josh waited, knowing the guard would have one drink immediately and the second in fifteen minutes. It wasn’t long before he heard raucous laughter and guessed Toad had slid from his chair in a stupor.
Now all he needed was for the gal to make a trip to the outhouse.
Lord, could you make it happen soon? Guide our steps as we flee. Provide our every need.
His pa would be proud of how he called upon the Lord. It was the way he’d been raised, what with his pa being a preacher. But his current situation had driven the roots of his faith into bedrock.
The door to the cabin opened.
Josh stiffened, waiting to see if the guard would return or…
The wide-skirted silhouette informed him it was the young lady. She looked to have put on her winter coat. Good. That made things easier. Marginally.
One of Bull’s friends stood at the doorway watching and waiting.
Knowing he would be invisible in the darkness, Josh slipped from the cave. Keeping to the deep shadows, he eased toward the outhouse. The supplies he’d been squirreling away were in a secret hollow under a rock. He tied them into a bundle and slipped it over one shoulder. The fur robe, he draped around his neck. Then he waited for the outhouse door to open.
It did. The young lady came out slowly, not in a hurry to return to the house.
At that moment, someone inside the house laughed uproariously and the man watching the outhouse left his post.
Josh couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity. He poised behind the door. As soon as she closed it, he caught her around the waist and clamped a hand to her mouth.
She fought like a wildcat.
He dragged her into the bushes behind the outhouse. “Don’t be frightened. I’m going to help you get away,” he whispered.
“Mmfff.” She kicked backwards, bruising his shins. She tried to bite his palm, forcing him to press his hand tighter to her mouth.
“My name is Josh. I’m a prisoner here too. I’ve made plans to escape. When I saw them bring you in, I decided to help you get away.”
She slowed her struggles.
“I mean you no harm, but I expect you know Bull and the others have no such reservations.”
At that, she fought even more fiercely.
He continued to move them deeper into the woods, but his struggles left a wide trail to follow. He stopped. “I’m going to let you go. When I do, you will have to make a choice. You can scream and bring them out. You can go back as if you’ve only been about your business. Or you can come with me. I promise I will do you no harm, but I can’t promise it will be easy.” He released his grip around her waist, tensed, ready to run if she screamed, then uncovered her mouth.
She backed as far away as the trees allowed and stared at him.
He couldn’t make out her coloring in the silvery moonlight, but her eyes were wide, her mouth a furious frown.
“What’s your choice?”
“I will not go back there. Two of them have already passed out, but that Bull man was drunk and making lewd remarks.” She shuddered. “I’d sooner die in the woods.”
“I hope that won’t happen. I won’t promise anything, but we’ll do our best.”
“I care not for promises. Of late, I’ve heard many and only seen them broken. I will never again trust a man.”
“I consider myself duly warned. Now let’s get going.” He led the way through the trees. Every minute he wasn’t lifting rocks he had spent studying the area around the mine and knew there was a narrow path behind the outhouse. Late at night he’d often seen wildlife tiptoe along it to the river. He followed that trail.
She came at his heels. “Where are we going?”
“Can’t say as I rightly know.” They kept their voices low so they wouldn’t alert anyone to their presence. Or more correctly, to their absence. “As far and as fast as we can though.” He ran headlong into the trees. She padded after him.
Branches caught at his shoulder, and he pushed them aside, held them back for the gal to pass. “Guess I need to know your name.” He gave his.
“Katherine. Katie Weber.”
“Pleased to meet you.” He hurried on, anxious to put as much distance between him and Bull’s camp as possible before their absence was discovered.
Snow crunched under their feet. Old snow, crusted over. His breathing grew ragged from exertion. They broke into a little clearing and he stopped to study his options. He looked up and found the North Star. He wanted to go south and east, toward any sort of town. But wasn’t that what Bull would expect him to do? So, he decided to go north and west. Deeper into the woods, higher up the mountain.
“We’ll go that way.” He pointed.
“There’s nothing but trees.”
“There must be a trail of some sort.” He walked along the perimeter. “Yup. Here it is.” There were tracks indicating it had been used since the last snowfall.
“At least it isn’t snowing,” she murmured.
“It would be to our advantage if it was. It would cover our tracks.” Without thinking to do otherwise, he prayed aloud. “Lord God, hide our tracks. Guide us to safety.”
“You think God will hear you?”
“I know He hears me.”
“I suppose that’s right. The real question is, will He answer?”
The trail was too narrow for conversation, so he didn’t answer.
Bull roared, the sound muted by distance and trees. “Where are you, pretty lady?”
Katie pushed at Josh’s back. “Hurry up.”
He raced through the trees, ducking under branches, hoping they wouldn’t slap her and knock her off her feet. The ground fell away at his feet, and he slid down a slope. She tumbled after him. They scrambled to their feet and looked around. A narrow stream, now frozen over, led through the trees.
“We’ll follow that.” He caught Katie’s hand and they ran along the edge. The ground was rough, and they stumbled repeatedly, but righted themselves and carried on. He didn’t know how long they’d been running, but his breath wheezed in and out. A stitch grabbed his side. His lungs begged for relief. But he couldn’t stop.
Katie fell. Rather than get up, she knelt there. “I have to rest.”
He bent over his knees and sucked in air. In a minute, his lungs functioning better, he straightened and strained for indication of followers. He heard nothing. Dare he hope Bull was too inebriated to follow their tracks? Whether or not he was, he would sober up fast when he discovered the two of them were missing.
Josh looked back on their path. Even Toad could have followed the trail.
Apart from fresh snow, their only hope was to keep going, keep ahead of their pursuers.
He offered her the canteen. He’d stolen it weeks ago and meant to fill it with fresh water before he ran away. Instead, it had stale water in it. He warned her. “Don’t spit it out. It’s all we have.”
She took a mouthful. “Blah. That’s terrible.”
He reached into his pack and pulled out two dry biscuits and handed one to Katie. “Eat it. It will give you strength.”
She gnawed on it. He chomped the second one. It was hard. But it was food. Of which he had barely enough for one person. And for two? He wouldn’t worry about that at the moment.
“Ready?” He held out his hand to her.
She took it only long enough to get to her feet, and they proceeded on, trotting as they followed the little stream. They came to a tangle of fallen trees.
He looked for a way under. There wasn’t one.
Climbing over was impossible. And dangerous to try.
“We’ll have to go around.” The underbrush made the way difficult and slow, but they forged onward. Branches scratched his face and caught his feet, almost tripping him. Snow sifted over him as they made their way through the tangled brush. “Are you all right? It’s rough going.”
“I’d sooner have a few scratches than what Bull has in mind.”
Josh tried to get a bearing on his direction. If he followed the creek at least they wouldn’t be going in circles nor would they be lost in the deep woods. He paused, looking skyward. The moon shone overhead, lighting the way. Following the creek was the safest and easiest. They had gone to the right, so he reasoned it was time to go to the left and led them that direction.
They went on and on. Shouldn’t they have reached the stream again by now?
* * *
Katie stumbled after the man. A stranger who might be offering her escape. Or something worse. But she was willing to risk her life to escape Bull. If the escape turned out to be as bad as what she fled….
Well, after the last few days, she wouldn’t be surprised at anything that happened to her.
Her feet tangled in the undergrowth, and she fell flat on her face. She lay there, too weak and spent to get up.
Josh pulled at her. “We have to keep going.”
“I know. Give me a minute.” Her limbs shook with fatigue. How long had they been running?
Josh straightened. “They might have trouble following us through the trees.”
She sat up and looked at their back trail, glistening silver in the moonlight. She doubted anyone would have trouble seeing the bare branches where they had passed. Fear fueled her with fresh energy, and she scrambled to her feet. “Let’s go.”
They rushed onward. She followed Josh blindly. All that mattered was to keep going, getting far ahead of Bull and his associates.
Josh stopped. She bumped into his back.
She strained for any sound of pursuers. Heard nothing but her own ragged breath. She sucked in air and held it. Her heart thudded so loud she still couldn’t hear anything else. She let her breath out in a gust.
Josh still hadn’t moved.
“What’s the matter?”
“I’m trying to find the stream so we can follow it. We should be back to it by now.”
“Are we lost?”
His chuckle was mocking. “Let’s just say I don’t know where we are or where we are going. But I figure we’ll sooner or later reach a town, a homestead, or some sort of shelter. Or…” His voice trailed off.
Katie swallowed hard. She understood what he didn’t say. Or die trying. Then she stiffened her trembling limbs. “I’d sooner die out here than face Bull and his friends. Let’s keep going.”
“I agree. We’ll go until we drop.”
Katie wouldn’t admit she was close to that state now. She had lost all sense of time, but it felt like hours since Josh had grabbed her and offered her some very limited options. “How long do you think we’ve been running?”
“Maybe two hours. But it’s only a guess.” He pushed forward through the bushes.
She followed. One more step. One more minute. Another step and another minute until…
“We found it.”
Whatever he’d found, he seemed relieved.
He stepped aside so she could join him. “It’s the creek.”
“So, we aren’t lost any more?” She chuckled, understanding he still had no idea where they were.
“At least we aren’t going in circles.” They walked along the bank of the stream. She wished it was smooth and grassy, not lumpy and rocky, but it was preferable to beating their way through the trees. Formerly, the moon had cast sharp silhouettes of them against the snow, but the shadows had disappeared. She glanced skyward. “It’s clouding over.”
Josh grunted.
The missing moonlight forced her to concentrate more closely on her footing.
Something tickled her nose, and she swiped it away. It happened again. She realized what it was. “Snow. It’s snowing.”
He stopped and lifted his face. “So it is. Thank you, God.”
His faith came so effortlessly. Hers had once too. When her parents were alive. There was something comforting about hearing the prayer.
“Now they won’t find it so easy to follow us,” he said.
The snow fell softly like a blessing from heaven. No longer anxious about being tracked, they slowed their steps.
The snow grew heavier. Soon they couldn’t see ahead.
“We’ll hunker down until it ends.” He drew aside some bushes, pushed some of them to the side, and broke others until he’d created a hollow. “This will do. It will help us keep warm.”
He backed into the shelter and spread the fur robe he wore. “Come and share the warmth.”
She hesitated. The last thing she wanted was to share the tiny space with him. Correction. That was the second last thing she wanted. Avoiding Bull was number one. Still, she had learned her lesson about trusting a man. Never, ever again would it happen.
But now that she had stopped moving, she was growing cold. Swallowing back her fear and suspicion, she crawled in beside him. He drew the fur around her shoulders. It didn’t reach around them both, but it was warm from his body. She wasn’t comfortable by any means, but she could survive.
He opened the sack he carried and pulled out something. Handed it to her. “Eat it.”
“What is it?”
“Pemmican.”
She’d heard of pemmican—a traditional native food made by combining dried fruit, dried meat pounded to a powder, and fat. When she’d learned how it was made, she wondered how it tasted. She bit into it. It was cold and a little like biting into a candle. As it warmed in her mouth, she decided it was a lot like eating a candle and quite disgusting. “How did you get it?”
“A couple months ago Bull traded for it. He gives us rations so we can keep working. I’ve been saving some of mine.”
“How much?” She hoped he had something else in that pack of his.
He chuckled. “It’s the best food I have. And will give us lots of energy. Help keep us warm.”
“I understand it’s good for us. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“You might wish I had more before we get to someplace.”
She didn’t want to think how vague his ‘someplace’ was, so she changed the subject. “Why are you here with Bull? You don’t seem his type.”
“I’m not. I’ll tell you all about it later, but we need to rest while we can. Get some sleep.”
She didn’t argue but vowed she would not close her eyes until she had reached safety. Please, God, protect me and get me to such a place.
A smile curved her mouth. Here she was, praying as easily as she once had. It felt good and right. What was it her father had said to her on more than one occasion? Something about faith being strongest when circumstances were hardest. That was certainly the situation at the moment.
Snow continued to fall, covering the hollow.
She might as well close her eyes, as there was nothing to see. The only sound was Josh’s slow breathing. He must have fallen asleep.
