Sweet Newlywed

  Copyright © 20122 by Eliza Ester

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

  * * *

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. Olivia

  2. Ethan

  3. Olivia

  4. Ethan

  5. Olivai

  6. Ethan

  7. Olivia

  8. Ethan

  9. Olivia

  10. Ethan

  About the Author

  One

  Olivia

  When the coach arrived in Carson Valley and the driver opened the door, Olivia Cooper was the first to step out onto the dusty road. She had heard so much about Carson Valley it already felt like home, but no amount of words or letters could do justice to the beauty of the Wyoming countryside.

  Olivia had grown up in New York state, where the land was more developed and the population a little bigger. After all, the East had been cultivated long before the masses started moving west.

  Carson Valley had been established some thirty years earlier, but there was still something raw and wild about the town that defined it to Olivia as freedom.

  When Olivia had signed up to be a mail order bride, she had had her doubts. Going to a brand-new world where you knew no one and didn’t know what awaited you was nerve-wracking. But Olivia hadn’t wanted to go to New York City and become a governess or a teacher and this had been her only other option.

  Olivia was here to meet Ethan Simmons, the man she was to marry. At thirty years old, he was seven years her senior, but that didn’t matter. They had been exchanging letters for six months and he was a stranger only by sight. Olivia felt that she knew his heart and his mind already and it was the goodness inside him that she had fallen in love with.

  Olivia walked toward the people gathered in front of the hotel, sure that Ethan would be there for her. The driver climbed into his seat after offloading the trunks and smiled down at Olivia. He clicked his tongue and the horses leaped forward, and suddenly they were almost right on top of Olivia.

  She froze, terror washing over her body. She was a child again, lying on the ground, unable to escape the charging hooves that trampled her again and again.

  She screamed.

  “Miss, miss! It’s okay.” A deep voice finally pierced through the panic. “It’s okay.”

  Olivia stopped screaming. Her blood rushed in her ears and she could taste her heart in her throat. The coach had ridden off a short distance, the horses far enough away that she felt safe again, and she took a moment to relearn how to breathe.

  “Are you all right, ma’am?” the man next to her asked, and she turned to him, finally noticing him.

  “You saved me,” she said in a thin voice.

  He chuckled. Olivia looked at him and was met with drowning deep eyes. “Just helping a lady in distress,” he said and let go of her. He took a step back and tipped his hat. “Ethan Simmons, at your service.”

  “Well, Mr. Simmons, I believe this is fate,” Olivia said. She started to recover and Ethan’s dark eyes were a distraction from her terrible fear of horses.

  He frowned slightly.

  “I’m Olivia Cooper,” she said and held out her hand.

  Ethan took only a moment to register before he smiled.

  “I think you’re right,” he said. “That my first encounter with my bride would be to help her in her time of need is more than fitting.”

  Olivia smiled and looked Ethan up and down. She had known before setting out on her journey to Carson Valley that she would be happy with her choice. He had been everything on paper that she would want in a man.

  Now, in real life, he was even more so. Ethan Simmons was a handsome man. Dark hair that flopped over his forehead the moment he removed his hat and gray eyes that looked like stormy skies. Muscles rippled under his shirt and he had an easy smile. Yes, Ethan was a visual representation of everything he had been in his letters.

  Ethan took her hand and kissed her knuckles. His eyes smiled as he looked at her and she felt her cheeks warm as a blush crept over her face.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” Ethan asked when they were properly introduced.

  Olivia nodded, feeling silly for her reaction to the horses. “I’m fine. They were closer than I expected.”

  It was a lot more than that but Olivia didn’t want to admit it to Ethan. He was a dapper man, a gentleman who had rushed to her aid. She didn’t want to confess her weakness to him just after they met.

  Olivia had been terrified of horses for a long time. She’d grown up around them, but when she was ten, a stallion had trampled her. She’d been in a field with the horse, alone, and no one had been around to save her. It was only because the stallion lost interest that she’d survived.

  Her father had always referred to the animal as the demon horse but the memory had stuck with Olivia and she had developed an unnatural fear of all horses.

  She was aware that it held her back in a world where horses were a part of their daily lives, and she was aware that the fear had grown larger than it needed to be, but so far she hadn’t been able to do anything about it.

  “Now that you’re here,” Ethan said, distracting her from her thoughts, “I believe we have an appointment with Reverend Shreve.”

  Olivia smiled and blushed again. She had agreed with Ethan when he’d suggested they get married the moment she arrived. They had both developed affection for each other through their letters, and seeing that Olivia was a mail order bride and was committed to a wedding, there was no reason to wait.

  Now that Olivia had seen Ethan, she was more convinced than ever. He was handsome, well-mannered, and kind, on top of everything else she had come to know about him.

  Ethan was her future husband.

  Olivia left her trunk with the hotel keeper, Shamus. They would return for it after the wedding. She had only taken the time to change into her best dress, a beautiful frock made of sky-blue material with black lace and ruffles along the bodice.

  When she emerged from the hotel, Ethan looked her up and down and smiled at her.

  “You’re beautiful,” he said.

  He held out his arm and escorted Olivia to Reverend Shreve’s home.

  The reverend had been the one to put them in touch and Olivia liked him right away. He was a thin man with almost-white hair. His face was littered with wrinkles as if he smiled often, and his watery eyes were full of humor and kindness.

  “I am so happy for the both of you,” he said before they started with their vows. “I watch the men in this town find their wives and it makes my heart sing. With time, their love grows for each other and it’s a beautiful thing. Seeing the two of you and how serious you already are about each other makes me happy as can be.”

  “Thank you, Reverend,” Ethan said, looking at Olivia. He smiled at her and she knew she would never get tired of that smile.

  They said their vows with Mrs. Shreve and a woman named Katrina Warner present. The latter had been in town doing errands and agreed to be a witness. She was a mail order bride herself and more than happy to oblige the new couple.

  After they were married, Katrina told Olivia she could come to her any time. Olivia thanked her, then left with her new husband to the home he had prepared for her.

  Two

  Ethan

  Ethan wa
s the foreman at the coal mine just outside Carson Valley. He’d been working there for a few years now. It was hard work, dangerous, but Ethan felt a loyalty to the men who worked for him and he would do what he needed to see to it that they were safe and taken care of.

  Coal mining was a dangerous business. The men dug tunnels into the hillside with spades and pickaxes. It was hard labor. The deeper they went into the earth, the hotter and more hazardous it became.

  Every few feet they stabilized the tunnels with wooden beams to prevent the earth from collapsing, but it was never for certain that the beams would hold.

  Working in such dangerous conditions had a lot to do with trust in their own abilities and faith that the Good Lord would pull them through and spare them another day.

  Ethan often left home at sunrise and he seldom left the mine before sunset, but lately he’d been trying to change that. He’d known he would be married soon. Now that it had happened, he couldn’t spend all his waking hours at the mine.

  When the sun hung low in the sky, Ethan called his men out of the tunnels. They had managed to retrieve a good amount of coal for the day. He called them together and paid them according to his payroll book.

  Once the men were taken care of and on their way home, Ethan went into the tunnels himself. He carried a lamp and inspected the tunnels, taking note of the distance they had covered, the amount of coal they had unearthed, and guessed at how much they could do the next day.

  By the time he emerged, Ethan was happy. His men worked hard, they produced a good amount of coal, and Mr. Roy Fox—his boss and the owner of the mine—had no reason to be unhappy about the work they completed daily.

  When Ethan stepped out into the dimming light day, he felt rather than heard the tremble of a horse’s hooves. A moment later, a black horse rounded the bend, carrying none other than Mr. Roy Fox himself.

  Speak of the devil.

  The man pulled his black stallion up in front of Ethan and slid down the side of the saddle. He wore a dark business suit with a black hat that made him appear ominous. When he stood in front of Ethan, only his financial power was intimidating.

  Roy Fox himself wasn’t a scary man. He was shorter than most men by a full head. His hair was thinning and he had a narrow face with dark, piggish eyes. When he smiled it looked smug, at best.

  “Mr. Simmons,” Fox said. “I was hoping you would still be here.”

  Ethan nodded. He was always here before the men in the mornings and left only after they did.

  “What can I do for you, Mr. Fox?” Ethan asked.

  Fox looked toward the mine. He would never go into the tunnels. It was his mine but he left the dirty work to those he deemed beneath him.

  “I’m going to cut right to the chase, Simmons,” he said. Didn’t he always? “I need more coal.”

  Ethan blinked at the man. “More? My men are working at full capacity as it is.”

  Fox shook his head. “Not with the hours you’re sticking to. They can work longer hours. It’s not like they need the light of day—it’s always dark in those tunnels.”

  How would he know? Ethan wondered.

  “I can’t push my men that hard, Mr. Fox,” Ethan said. “It’s dangerous.”

  “I hear what you’re saying, but I trust your ability to tell when it’s too much. You can push them a little harder, surely? I’m not asking for a lot, Simmons.”

  Ethan shook his head. He didn’t even have to think about it.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Fox. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  Fox sighed, rubbing his palms on his pants as if they were sweaty.

  “You’ve been a good foreman, Simmons. I’d hate for you to lose your job over something small like this,” he said.

  Ethan frowned. “Are you threatening to let me go if I don’t do this?”

  Fox shook his head. “It’s not personal. It’s the simple idea that if someone won’t work hard, they can be replaced by someone that will.”

  He would walk, he thought. Ethan would walk away, leave it all behind. He didn’t need threats like this.

  Except, he’d just gotten married. He couldn’t do that to Olivia—promise her a life only to tell her that it didn’t exist anymore. He needed to support her.

  Finally, he nodded.

  “All right, I see what you’re saying. I can’t make a solid promise but I’ll see what I can do.”

  Fox smiled, showing yellowed teeth. Chewing tobacco would do that to a man.

  “I knew you were a sensible man,” he said. “I’ll check in on you in about a week’s time.”

  Fox mounted his horse again and rode off. Ethan watched the man’s back as he shrunk into the distance. He was driven by his greed and cared nothing for others.

  If Ethan had his own way, he wouldn’t be in the mining industry at all. He had dreams of opening a restaurant, of going into the food business. He didn’t know if it would work in a small town like Carson Valley, which already had a good restaurant at the hotel, but it was a dream he’d always had.

  One day, he would make it a reality. Until then, he would have to jump when his superiors snapped their fingers.

  He rode home in the pending dusk to Olivia, his new wife. He was distracted, though. His men would have to work harder. They were all honest, hardworking men and it felt wrong to push them this hard, but Ethan couldn’t afford to lose his job. Besides, if he did, Fox would only employ someone who would push the men harder than was good for them. Ethan couldn’t let that happen.

  Making them work harder while under his supervision—ensuring that he kept them as safe as he was able—was the lesser of two evils. Sometimes that was all a man could do.

  By the time he arrived home Olivia had supper ready. When Ethan sat down he felt his aching bones and was relieved to have a wife like Olivia be there for him and take care of him. In the next few weeks he would have to neglect her a little. Again, it was the lesser evil.

  Ethan didn’t like that it was what it came to so early in his marriage, but Fox had left him little choice. He would just push through until he could make a change.

  Three

  Olivia

  Since Ethan had started to work longer hours at the mine, Olivia had taken over some of his chores. She didn’t like what happened but Ethan had explained the situation to her and she agreed with him that there was no other way out.

  It didn’t matter how much she disliked it, she was more than happy to jump in and do extra work. It was what made them a team. She hadn’t come out here to be selfish. She was going to be there for Ethan, no matter what he was going through, the same way she knew he would be there for her.

  She hadn’t considered how everything might affect her. She’d always been a hardworking woman and she wasn’t scared to get her hands dirty.

  But one of Ethan’s chores was to feed the horses, and he was barely home now to take care of that. And Olivia was terrified.

  Olivia had known her whole life that her fear of horses would stand in her way. After all, horses were part of everything people did. There were horses everywhere. The only reason she’d been able to avoid them until now was because there had always been someone else willing to do the chores involving them.

  That wasn’t the case anymore.

  Olivia spent the whole day working herself up toward it. In theory, it was simple. She had to find the oats, put it in buckets, and pour them in the troughs in the horses’ stables.

  In practice, it was a lot harder. The troughs were two steps in front the stable doors, which meant Olivia would have to go into the stalls with the horses to feed them.

  She could do this, she told herself. If she could travel across the country to a town she’d never visited, to marry a man she’d never met, she could surely feed a couple of horses. She’d seen her dad do it so many times, she knew how it was done. She just had to swallow her fear and do it.

  The closer it came to sundown, the more nervous Olivia felt and the hungrier she knew the horses we
re getting. She really, really didn’t want to feed them. She was terrified. She considered asking someone else in town, finding someone to help, but decided against it.

  After all, she didn’t want to look like a coward. Carson Valley was a town where everyone did what they needed to do. It was filled with people who got down and dirty to work for a living and they all did what they had to, no matter what.

  Olivia didn’t want to be the person who didn’t have what it took to take care of her own, to do her chores, to stand by her husband.

  There was no way out of it.

  When it was time to go out there, Olivia held her head high and marched to the barn. She filled the buckets with oats and carried them to the stalls. She put the buckets down near the first stall and smoothed her skirts down. She was struggling to breathe.

  Calm, she had to stay calm. She took a deep breath and picked up one bucket, nearing the stall. She opened the stall door and glanced inside.

  The horse was a pale gold with a lighter mane, and its head hung low. Was it sleeping? Olivia wasn’t sure.

  When she stepped a foot into the stall the horse lifted its head, ears forward. Olivia’s heart beat in her throat. The horse pulled its ears back and bared its teeth but it didn’t come closer. Olivia reached the trough and emptied the oats into it before backing out as quickly as she could.

  When the stall door was shut she breathed out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. That hadn’t been too bad, right? She could do this. The horse hadn’t come too close to her, and the oats were in the trough. Olivia looked into the stall again to see the horse chewing away peacefully.

  She took another deep breath. That wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought it would be. She picked up the second bucket and took it to the next stall. When she peered in, she swallowed hard.