The Handsomest Man in the Country by Nancy Radke

Author:Nancy Radke [Nancy Radke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 16180011
Publisher: Bedrock Distribution LLC
Published: 2012-11-12T13:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

As I walked up to the group, I got my first look at the stranger.

Trahern was propped up by Axel's wagon, unshaven and dressed in some of Uncle Dem's clothes. He looked like a paddy stuffed with straw to chase the crows away from the corn. Was Web right? Was this the best there was?

His gaunt face was still marked from the trouble he'd been through. His gray eyes were deeply sunk under black craggy brows. Long, dark hair that tended to wave slightly. Enough beard to cover his chin and mouth effectively so that I couldn't see anything.

He was a big man...tall and rawboned, carrying his weight in his shoulders and chest. Uncle Dem's clothes were a shade too short for him, and Uncle Dem had not been a short man.

What was I getting into? The reality of all that marriage entailed was beginning to rear up and scare me.

"Who you want to stand up with you? Axel?" Burt Hayes asked, and I looked at Web meaningfully. He had played matchmaker, let him do it. He backed away, but I pointed, insistent. "Web."

"Web?" Hayes didn't know the connection and I wasn't a-going to tell him. "All rightee, then. Let's get on with it. Time's a-wasting." He pointed towards the group of young men standing silently by, a puzzled look on all their faces. "Which one is it to be?"

"None of them." His face darkened and as he began to sputter, I looked over to Trahern. Axel had been standing in front of him, effectively screening him from Mr. Hayes, and now he stepped aside. Trahern stood up and walked slowly over to take his place beside me. "I'm marrying Trahern."

You could see Burt Hayes didn't like it, not at all. A murmur went through the gathered group. No one knew Trahern and my action was totally unexpected.

"Now look here—"

I interrupted him, something I'm not given to do, but I didn't want him tying a knot in my plans. "Trahern is my choice, Mr. Hayes. Now let's get on with it."

He looked at the tall man beside me, quietly observing the goings on, and asked him, "You willing to marry this girl and support her? She's been orphaned twice; she's going to need somebody steady, not some drifter."

"I take care of my own." They were simple words, but boldly stated, and they steadied me a lot. He hadn't denied being a drifter nor had he challenged Mr. Hayes' right to question him.

Besides, I was eighteen now. Yesterday had been my birthday. I was a girl no longer. I looked at Mr. Hayes defiantly and he must have decided that I would cause trouble if I came into his family—which I would have. I would take orders from my husband, but not any father-in-law unless I wanted to.

Burt Hayes shook his head as if to be shut of the both of us. "Well, then. Let's get on with it." Web stepped up beside me and the ceremony began.

Mr. Van de Meyer knew the words by heart and ran through them quickly.

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