Chapter 9 - A Marriage Ridgewater Never Expected
The fire destroyed half the hay before they stopped it.
No animals died.
No one was injured.
But the message remained.
Martha stared at the black letters while smoke drifted into the snowy morning.
SELL THE NORTH RIDGE OR BURY RUTH.
Ethan wanted revenge.
Martha wanted strategy.
Ruth wanted breakfast.
“I’m not dying hungry,” she announced.
They sat around the kitchen table while the barn still smoldered.
Ethan barely touched his food.
“We move Ma to Denver.”
“No,” Ruth said.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Somebody threatened your life.”
“They’ve been poisoning me for nearly a year. I’m aware.”
“You’re impossible.”
“You came from somewhere.”
Martha hid a smile.
Ethan pointed at her.
“Don’t encourage her.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You smiled.”
“I can’t control your interpretation of my face.”
Ruth put down her spoon.
“Stop.”
Both obeyed.
The older woman looked at Martha.
“The north ridge belongs legally to you.”
“Part of it.”
“Enough.”
Then she looked at Ethan.
“Which means threatening me is pressure on Martha.”
Ethan understood.
“They think she’ll sell to protect you.”
“Would you?” Ruth asked.
Martha answered without hesitation.
“Yes.”
Ethan swore.
Ruth smiled.
“That is why you won’t.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You don’t reward men for threatening family.”
The word stopped Martha.
Family.
Ruth continued calmly.
“We need to make the land impossible to steal quietly.”
“How?” Ethan asked.
Ruth looked between him and Martha.
Then she said, “Marriage.”
Ethan choked on coffee.
Martha nearly laughed.
“No.”
Ruth ignored them.
“If Martha marries into the Callaway family, her claim and ours become legally tied.”
Ethan stared.
“Ma.”
“The town knows you’ve been searching for a wife.”
“I was not—”
“You advertised.”
“You wrote the advertisements.”
“And you agreed.”
“Because you wouldn’t stop.”
Ruth turned to Martha.
“You’d be protected by the Callaway name.”
Martha found her voice.
“I’m capable of protecting myself.”
“I know.”
Ruth smiled gently.
“But nobody said marriage has to be about rescue.”
Martha looked at Ethan.
He looked absolutely horrified.
Not by her.
By the idea of Ruth arranging yet another bride.
That distinction mattered more than Martha wanted it to.
Ethan stood.
“No.”
He walked outside.
Ruth calmly buttered bread.
Martha stared.
“That went well.”
“He’s thinking.”
“He’s fleeing.”
“Same thing with men like Ethan.”
Martha found him near the burned barn.
“You can stop looking like somebody proposed hanging.”
He turned.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“My mother.”
“I like your mother.”
“She has no boundaries.”
“Neither do you.”
“Fair.”
They stood quietly.
Ethan looked toward the mountains.
“I don’t want you thinking I’d marry you for land.”
Martha’s chest tightened.
“I don’t.”
“I also don’t want you thinking I wouldn’t marry you because of how Ridgewater talks about you.”
That hurt unexpectedly.
She looked away.
“I wasn’t thinking about marrying you at all.”
“Neither was I.”
“Excellent.”
“Excellent.”
Silence.
Neither moved.
Finally Ethan said, “That sounded rude.”
“It was.”
“I meant—”
“I know.”
He removed his hat.
“Martha, when those women came here, I sent them away because every one of them came expecting a house, money, or some mountain fantasy.”
Martha listened.
“I needed someone who could stand beside me when things were ugly.”
“You didn’t know things would become this ugly.”
“No.”
His eyes met hers.
“But you came when they already were.”
Martha stopped breathing for a second.
He continued.
“You rode through snow at four in the morning because you thought my mother was in danger.”
“That wasn’t about you.”
“I know.”
“You barely knew me.”
“I know that too.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Ethan struggled.
Martha almost felt sorry for him.
Then he said, “I’m saying if I ever asked you, it wouldn’t be because of land.”
Something inside her softened.
She protected it immediately.
“Well, you haven’t asked.”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Yes.”
They stood there like fools.
Ruth called from the porch.
“Are you two finished not proposing?”
Martha laughed so hard she had to turn away.
Ethan covered his face.
That afternoon the federal marshal brought news.
Charles Vale had been spotted near Briar Ridge.
The abandoned mining offices were apparently not abandoned.
Someone had been maintaining them.
Ethan and the marshal planned to ride there the next morning.
Martha insisted on coming.
This time Ethan said nothing.
She smiled.
“You’re learning.”
“I’m tired.”
“That too.”
That night a storm rolled over the mountains.
Wind rattled the shutters.
Ruth slept peacefully for the first time in weeks.
Martha sat beside the downstairs fire reading Naomi’s journal.
Ethan entered carrying blankets.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I’m guarding the house.”
“So am I.”
He sat across from her.
For a long time only the fire spoke.
Then Ethan asked, “Did you ever want to marry?”
Martha looked up.
“That’s a dangerous question.”
“Forget it.”
“No.”
She closed the book.
“I did once.”
“What happened?”
“He married a thinner woman.”
Ethan winced.
Martha shrugged.
“It was a long time ago.”
“You loved him?”
“I thought I did.”
“And since?”
“I got busy.”
“Doing laundry?”
“Living.”
He smiled faintly.
Martha looked at him.
“And you?”
“Never got close.”
“Six brides disagree.”
“They weren’t mine.”
“No?”
“They were applications.”
Martha laughed.
“That might be the least romantic statement ever made.”
“I wasn’t trying to be romantic.”
“I noticed.”
The wind screamed outside.
Then the front door slammed open.
Ethan stood instantly.
A ranch hand stumbled inside.
“Riders!”
“How many?”
“Maybe eight.”
“Coming here?”
The man shook his head.
“Heading north.”
Ethan looked at Martha.
“Briar Ridge.”
They were moving.
Whatever evidence remained there might disappear before morning.
Ethan grabbed his rifle.
Martha stood.
“I’m coming.”
He looked at her.
Then nodded.
No argument.
No command.
Trust.
They rode into the storm together.
Neither knew that before sunrise they would discover why six women had been sent to Callaway Ranch.
Nor that by the time they returned, all of Ridgewater would believe Ethan Callaway and Martha Boone were engaged.
May you like
And the strangest part would be that neither of them would rush to deny it.
---
