32

Sunlight played over Jedediah’s face, and for a moment he thought Patience was blowing kisses to him. He jerked awake, looked at the clock, and realized he’d slept much longer than usual. As he dressed and prepared for the day, Patience’s face and her “Yes!” response that would make him a husband played across his mind. He smiled into the mirror. “See, there is someone who cares, who loves this face, ” he said aloud. Thank you, Lord, for bringing Patience here. He couldn’t help but grin as he shaved around his mustache.

He had no family to inform about the wedding and had happily left most of the details to Patience. He decided he’d wander over to the bakery and have some of Hannah’s biscuits. He had no inmates in cells presently, and hopefully his presence of authority around town was making any law-breaker types think twice.

He was soon headed toward Hannah’s, and she was waiting for him with a cheery “Mornin’, Almost-a-Bridegroom!” She walked over to him, and Jedediah grabbed her hands, began humming a tune, and waltzed her around the small shop while she laughed breathlessly. Folks having their morning coffee clapped in time to the beat, laughing along with them.

When they had finished, Jedediah and Hannah moved to the counter while she poured him a cup of coffee. He was surprised to see tears. “Oh, no—don’t you dare cry,” he ordered.

“I’m so happy for you both that I could bust!” She handed him the coffee, then dabbed her eyes with the corner of her apron. “You couldn’t have chosen a better woman to marry than Patience.”

“How right you are, Hannah. Now, how ’bout a biscuit or two to go along with my java,” he said with a wink.

He took his breakfast over to the only remaining table. As other customers were leaving, most of them offered, “Congratulations, Marshal,” as they passed.

When he was finished, he called over to Hannah, “Joe around?”

She nodded, went through the curtain into the kitchen, and soon had Joe seated across from Jed with his own cup of coffee and a refill for Jed.

Joe, in his white starched apron and flour-streaked face, leaned across to murmur he was “learnin’ how to make those biscuits you like.” Jed grinned but didn’t say anything. As if nobody would know just looking at you.

“Since you’re my deputy,” Jed told him, “I’ll need you to keep the law for me for a few days. Think you can do that along with your baking?”

“You know I can.” Joe grinned, patting his shiny new deputy badge showing above the apron.

“I have one more duty to ask of you, Joe. Would you be my best man?”

“Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat! Me? Well, I’d be downright honored to, Jed.” He turned his head and sniffed. “Uh-oh . . . I think my biscuits are burning,” he said, and rushed back to the kitchen.

Hannah walked over to the table, once more wiping her eyes with her apron. “Now I’m going to cry again,” she said. “Thank you for asking Joe. He’s trying so hard to get folks to think of him as an ordinary citizen rather than the town drunk. But that’s in his past now, and seeing him up in front with you and Patience will be a big help.”

“I pray it stays that way, Hannah.” He stood up, placed some coins on the table, and thanked her for the breakfast.

As he started out the door, he saw Patience and Emily across the street, their heads together, looking over what seemed like a list. They were really out early. The two then separated, Emily going into the general store and Patience heading toward the bakery.

Jed opened the door for her and took her arm. “Good morning, my dearest,” he said, keeping his voice low. “A very nice way to begin the day, looking into your lovely face.” He wanted to kiss her, but he could imagine the buzz that would start across the town. “I’m surprised you are already out and about this morning so soon after breakfast. Hope you slept as well as I did.”

“Well, Emily and I worked too late last night—with wedding plans running through my head, I didn’t have such a good night.”

“Here, have a seat.” Jedediah pulled out a chair and helped her into it.

“I’m really here to see if Hannah could bake us a wedding cake,” she said as Jed sat down one more time.

“Did I hear someone speak my name?” Hannah called over as she and Joe walked out of the kitchen carrying a pan of fresh biscuits. She hurried over to give Patience a kiss on the top of her head. “I’ve already said my congratulations, but you can’t imagine how happy I am that you found each other.”

Patience blushed prettily and murmured her thanks. Jedediah was surprised at this unusually shy side of Patience.

“Help yerself,” Joe said, bringing over a plate of biscuits. “Made ’em myself this morning—with a little help from Hannah.”

Hannah laughed. “We had to throw out the first batch, Jed—it got burned while you and Joe were jawin’, but I guarantee these are good.”

“Hannah, have you ever baked a wedding cake before?” Patience asked.

“Only once or twice. Why? Are you asking me to bake yours? You know I will—”

“Oh, that would be wonderful!”

“You let me know what kind and how big, and I’ll make you a cake that’ll knock that straw hat off your pretty head.”

They all laughed. It felt awfully good to Jedediah that he had managed to find some really nice folks as friends . . . and even nicer, a woman to be his wife.

By the time Patience and Emily met up again that morning, they were pleased to discover they’d completed quite a few things on their list. The cake was ordered and Emily had found decorative paper for the handwritten invitations to be given to the small group of friends the couple wanted to invite. Patience’s mother’s wedding gown and veil were airing out in her room. Hopefully most of the wrinkles will fall out, she thought once again.

“I’m so glad your mother’s dress needed only a little alteration,” Emily was saying. “It won’t take me long to finish it up, with you telling me exactly what to do.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without your help, Emily. I knew the dress would be tight.” She sighed. “I’d better not have any sweets from now till the wedding.”

Emily said, “By the way, will Reverend King from Virginia City marry you and Jed?”

“Oh my goodness—I never thought about that!” Patience exclaimed. “I’ll talk to Jed this very afternoon and see who he knows. On second thought, I’ll do that now. I won’t be long. I’ll see you back at the boardinghouse.”

She didn’t have to go very far to find Jedediah standing outside the mercantile talking to the store’s owner, Benny Foster. Jedediah saw her coming and greeted her with a welcoming smile. “I thought you were busy with wedding plans,” he said, holding out a hand toward her.

“Hello, Benny,” she said as she joined the two men.

“Congratulations, Patience. I hope you’ll both be very happy.”

“Thank you.” She looked up at Jedediah. “May I speak with you, Jed—privately?”

Benny picked up his broom. “I’ll leave you two alone. I’ve got plenty of work to do. Patience, if you need anything at all to help with your wedding, let me know.”

“That’s very kind of you, Benny.”

After the man had disappeared inside, Jedediah asked what was on her mind.

“We need someone to marry us, Jed, and Nevada City doesn’t have a preacher. Do you think Reverend King will marry us here?” Her voice sounded as worried as she felt.

“Mmm . . . I guess I’m the only one in town that’s licensed to do the marrying.” Patience felt her heart drop till she saw the twinkle in Jed’s eyes. “We’ll figure out something, Patience,” he said with a pat on her arm. “In our excitement we seem to have forgotten that small detail. But I’m sure Reverend King will perform the ceremony.” He thought a moment, then snapped his fingers. “I’ll ride over to Virginia City and ask him right now.”

“Thank you. That would be one less thing to worry about. I do hope he’s free next Saturday.”

“Don’t worry. If not him, I’ll think of someone else. I’ll stop in later and let you know what he says.”

Jed’s going to take care of this! She wanted to hug him, but didn’t dare in public. “I’m sure you’re right.” She gave his arm a firm squeeze, then whirled around, picked up her skirts, and hurried back to Creekside, Jedediah’s chuckles following her down the boardwalk.

“That didn’t take long,” Emily said. “I need you to slip on your gown. I baste-stitched it together like you showed me, and I want you to see if it’s right before I do the final stitching.”

“All right. Let’s go do that right now before I write the invitations. Hannah said Joe’s going to hand them out for me. What a sweetheart he’s turned out to be.”

Emily laughed. “He surely is, though I don’t know if he’d like being called that to his face. On second thought, maybe Hannah does when nobody’s listening.” They both laughed at the thought.

“See? That’s what I keep trying to tell you, Emily. Those two found each other—patience is a virtue.” Emily giggled. “I wasn’t trying to be amusing,” Patience said, but she smiled.

“I know what you mean,” Emily said, turning serious. “I think it’s only a matter of time before Joe will ask Hannah to marry him.”

They climbed the stairs to Patience’s room, Buttercup at their heels. Moments later, Patience had slipped on her mother’s wedding gown and veil, and she felt transformed once again. “It fits perfectly now, thanks to you, Emily,” she said, looking down at herself and smoothing the gathers around the waistline.

“I wish we had a full-length mirror—you’re going to be a very beautiful bride.” Emily had tears in her eyes. “Here, let me hold the mirror so you can see more of the dress.” She soon had it positioned, and Patience gazed at the stranger in the lovely gown looking back at her.

“With the gown, somehow I can see myself as pretty,” she mused. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way. It almost seems like a spiritual experience. Does that make any sense?”

“It does to me. You’ll be the bride of Jedediah, and marriage is a sacred ceremony.”

Patience almost didn’t want to take the gown off, but eventually with Emily’s help she had removed it and was back in her regular clothing. “I so appreciate you doing this altering for me. And I’m sure you’ll make the stitches tight and close together. I don’t want to burst out the sides during the ceremony.”

Emily shook her head. “You talk as though you’re the size of a horse—which of course you are not. So please quit saying those kinds of things about yourself.”

She shook her head in chagrin. “You’re so right. I have a man who believes I’m beautiful, and good friends, and the love of God. That’s all that matters.”

The doorbell from downstairs caught their attention. Emily laid the gown across the bed and offered to answer it.

“I’ll come down too,” Patience told her. “I have many things to do before fixing supper.”

As they started down the stairs, she said, “We soon must get the house cleaned for the wedding and the reception, so I’m not all worn out that day.”

“I know what that means—shaking the rugs, cleaning the floors, dusting, washing windows. Maybe I can find a couple of girls to help us,” Emily said. “By the way, where will you live once you’re married? Surely not the room above the jailhouse.”

They shared a chuckle, and Patience said, “No, we’ll live here for a while.” They were at the door by then, and opened it to find Hannah carrying several flowers.

“Please come in, Hannah dear!” Patience greeted her, pulling the woman inside the foyer. “We’ve just had a fitting with my mother’s wedding gown. Emily is going to make it work for me.”

“I wanted to see if you might like something like this to carry as your bouquet, Patience. They bloom till summer’s end.” Hannah held out lavender flowers framed with two darker purple ones.

“Oh, Hannah, they are lovely. I know the lavender ones are bitterroot, but what is the other one?” Patience asked, examining the delicate blooms. With only a week to prepare, it would be very difficult to find fresh flowers in a mining town. These would do nicely.

“They’re lupine. We could mix the two, making a pretty nosegay. Joe and I went out searching for what we could find in the woods this morning.”

“I think they will be beautiful, Hannah. Don’t you, Emily?”

“Oh, yes. Hannah, you’re a genius,” Emily exclaimed.

“Good, then leave that to me. It’s one less thing you have to worry about—along with the cake.” Hannah turned to leave. “I’ll get out of your way—I know you have plenty on your minds.”

“What an endearing woman,” Emily commented as Hannah walked away.

“She surely has been good to me,” Patience said, “and gave me good advice when I really needed it.” She took a deep breath. “What next, Emily? Oh, yes, I must write the invitations.”

“And I’m going to go finish your dress alterations,” Emily said, already on her way back upstairs. “I’ll leave your gown hanging up,” she added over her shoulder, “then later, before the wedding, I’ll press whatever wrinkles remain.”

With a bubble of excitement filling her chest, Patience went to her desk, pulling paper and pen out, anxious to get the invitations to the guests.

Patience wrote, Please come to witness the marriage of Jedediah Jones and Patience Cavanaugh. She stopped and smiled softly to herself as she picked up her pen once again.