Taking Chances
Gossamer
Whisper Always
A Hint of Heather
Once a Mistress
Ever a Princess
Always a Lady
Barely a Bride
Merely the Groom
Hardly a Husband
Truly a Wife
Twice Blessed (Homespun Mother’s Day anthology)
Clearly a Couple (Talk of the Ton anthology)
Coventry’s Chrismas (A Regency Holiday anthology)
Something Borrowed
Sneak Peek
Chapter One
Trail T Ranch, Wyoming Territory
April 1873
“Mary, Mrs. Russo is here for your fitting.”
Mary Alexander turned from the simple fractions she was copying on the blackboard to find her mother, Sarah, standing at the back entrance to the small one-room schoolhouse. “I’ll be there shortly. Let me finish this assignment and dismiss the children.”
Sarah nodded, then turned and walked back down the path around Mary’s cabin to the main house of the ranch.
The Trail T ranch had been purchased and the main house built by Mary’s uncle, Benjamin Jordan, her cousin Reese’s father, back in 1862. Reese, his wife, Faith, and their girls, Joy and Hope, lived in the main house now. Legally, Reese was the owner of the huge spread, having inherited the vast acreage and a fortune to operate it, from his father, but the Trail T was a family operation. Cabins around the main ranch housed Mary, her parents, Charlie and Sarah, and her younger brother Sam along with Mary and Reese’s mutual grandparents, Duncan and Elizabeth Alexander.
The Trail T was also home to Joe, a cousin by marriage, his children, Jimmy and Kate, and his second wife, Ruth, and her son, Daniel. Mary’s older brother, David, lived with his bride of four months, Tessa, and their adopted son, nine-year-old Coalie, several miles away in the small railroad town of Peaceable, Wyoming, where David practiced law.
She finished copying the last fraction, then walked to the open door and watched as her mother made her way back to the big house. Mary would miss having family nearby all the time. She would miss sharing the happy, noisy communal family meals with her parents and grandparents, and Reese and Faith—miss the ranch talk and Reese’s discussions of business. But she would miss teaching the children most of all.
Mary walked back into the classroom and faced her pupils—Joy, Jimmy, Kate, Daniel, and Coalie, who was spending the week at the ranch along with Tessa and David.
She lifted a wooden ruler from the top of her desk and gripped it tightly for strength. “Class,” she addressed her students, “as all of you know, I’ll be getting married Tuesday morning. This is my last day as your teacher.” The children groaned.
Kate raised her hand. “Aren’t you coming back after you get married?”
“No,” Mary answered. “I’ll be living in Cheyenne. Faith will continue your lessons until the end of the term.”
“Can’t you come back to the ranch to teach us?” Kate’s fifteen-year-old twin brother, Jimmy, asked. “We’re not that far from Cheyenne.”