Page 14 of Mail-Order Tess (A Mail-Order Mystery #2)

Fourteen

W ade hadn’t meant for the kiss to last as long as it did. But with Tess in his arms and the danger finally behind them, he couldn’t help it. Unfortunately, their glorious kiss was interrupted.

“ Whoooee! I see ‘em!” someone shouted.

More shouts came up the trail like a bucket of cold water. Wade broke the kiss just as Sheriff Walker rounded the bend in the tunnel with half the town’s men at his back.

Mayor Vander led the charge, puffing like a steam engine. “ Fletcher! There you are!” he boomed. “And why, in the name of all that’s holy, is Betsy here holding a frying pan like a sword, no less? You’ve got a lot of explaining to do!”

Betsy swung her frying pan back and forth with a smirk. “What can I say, Mr. Vander? Good cast iron works like a charm when dealing with outlaws.”

Fletcher stepped out from behind the large rock separating them from the other outlaws, cheeks smudged with dirt, his shirt torn. Wade hadn’t considered his appearance until now. “I’m okay, Grandpa.”

Mr. Vander took one look at him and rushed the boy, drawing him into his arms. “Fletcher, lad are you sure? Did they hurt you? What happened?”

“I’ll tell you all about it,” Fletcher grinned. “It wasquiteexciting, Grandfather. Wait until you hear!”

More men poured into the cave in a flurry of boots and dust. Wade kept a steady hand on Tess’s back as he gave the sheriff the short version and purposefully leaving out any mention of his assignment from the president or Henry Bonner’s diary. That conversation would come later.

Outlaws had been hiding out in the cave, he explained. They’d taken Fletcher and planned to use him to get to someone.

“ Ransom! ” Mr. Vander huffed. “That’s awful. Poor Ammy and Garrett.”

Wade eyed the outlaw gang, now trussed up and sitting along the cave wall. “Yes, abduction is a serious charge. Who knows what else they’ve been up to?”

One of the outlaws growled.

Betsy casually raised her frying pan. He shut up.

“Anyway,” Wade continued, “Betsy, Tess, and I got to Fletcher first and rescued him.”

Mayor Vander gave Wade a long, appraising look. “So let me get this straight,” he said slowly. “ You, the quiet man who built my wife’s pantry shelves, just took down a gang of outlaws?”

“I think they’re more than that, sir,” Wade said with a small shrug. “And I guess I’m handier than I look.”

That earned a laugh from the sheriff and a few of the other men.

“Well then,” Mayor Vander said, clapping Wade on the shoulder.

“After saving Fletcher, and seeing as how you’re handy with more than just a hammer, I’d say it’s high time to give you some real work to show off your skills.

” He turned toward the rest of the group.

“We need help building the new gazebo and podium for our Fourth of July celebration, and I want this young manto head it up.”

The posse clapped their approval.

Wade blinked. “A gazebo?”

“You bet!” the mayor grinned. “If you can hammer as well as you fight, that gazebo’ll be done in no time!”

Wade chuckled as the mayor put an arm around Fletcher and began leading him out of the cave. He turned to Tess, only to find her watching him with a thoughtful look in her eyes. “So...I’m handy with a hammer,” he said.

She smiled and stepped closer, tugging lightly on his sleeve. “Can we talk for a minute?”

He grew serious and nodded, guiding her a little farther down the tunnel, away from the crowd. Their voices became nothing more than muffled background noise, likely still recounting Betsy’s heroics.

“You said you’d take care of all this,” Tess said, her voice low. “And you did.”

Wade brushed a lock of hair from her face. “I said I would. And I also said I’d keep you safe.”

Her eyes searched his. “So...does that mean you’re staying? In Independence?”

He didn’t hesitate. “ We’re staying, sweetheart. I might have to be gone now and then because assignments will still come, but I can make this work. I want to make it work.”

Her breath caught. “But Wade...what if something…”

He put a finger to her lips. And then he stepped back. And dropped to one knee. “I’m gonna ask you something,” he said softly.

Tess stared down at Wade as everything else faded away. The posse. The low groaning of trussed-up outlaws cursing their luck. Fletcher already regaling his grandfather with every detail of what had happened.

None of it mattered in that moment. Not when Wade was on one knee, his voice steady, his eyes sure and the words “will you marry me,” escaping his lips.

Her heart squeezed so tight she thought it might burst. “You…you want to marry me ?” she whispered, breathless.

“Oh, sweetheart,” he said, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, “I don’t just want to. I’ve never wanted anything more.”

She blinked as a rush of tears welled in her eyes. All her old fears tried to push through. Whispers of her father’s gambling, and how it had meant more to him than she ever did. It left her feeling like she’d never be good enough for anyone , let alone someone like Wade.

But none of those fears could stand against the warmth in his eyes, the steadiness in his voice, or the way he’d fought for her and Fletcher like it was second nature.

Wade smiled up at her. “So, Tess Pendergrass…I’m asking you to marry me.

I know you understand what a life with me might look like.

But if you’ll have me, I’ll protect you with my dying breath, provide for you, keep you safe…

and love you to the end of your days. What do you say, sweetheart? Will you marry me?”

Tess dropped to her knees and cupped his face between her hands. “Yes,” she breathed. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

A cheer went up from somewhere behind them, probably Betsy and a few of the posse.

A moment later, one of the outlaws scoffed. “I can’t believe he just proposed in agrimy cave.Real classy there, sunny boy.”

Clang.

Tess looked past Wade just in time to see Betsy wallop the man with her frying pan. “Don’t ruin the moment, you rotten turnip.”

Wade laughed, pulled Tess into his arms, and got to his feet. He spun her once, then kissed her as the cave erupted in cheers.

“I knew it!” came a very loud shout from Fletcher Vander. “I knew he was sweet on her!”

Tess smiled at the remark and pressed her cheek to Wade’s chest, her heart soaring.

The posse began leading the outlaws toward the cave entrance. Fletcher grinned at them as his grandfather slung an arm around his shoulders and steered him outside again.

“I guess we better go, honey,” Wade said, his voice gentle.

He cupped her cheek in his hand, looked into her eyes, and kissed her one more time.

“I love you, Tess Pendergrass. I know it didn’t take long, and I never thought I’d fall like this.

But here I am, standing before you as your future husband. ”

She returned his look and kissed him back.

When she pulled away, she smiled. “And I love you, Wade Atwood. I know I came to Independence as a mail-order bride, ready to marry practically the moment I stepped off the train. All I could do was hope for love. But here it is—ripening between us—and I couldn’t be happier. ”

Betsy smiled at them both, arms crossed. “Mm-hm, yeah…love’s a powerful thing, no matter how long or short the amount of time it takes it to bloom. Now, are you two coming, or are you just gonna stand there staring at each other like a couple of lovesick owls?”

Tess laughed as Betsy walked off, her frying pan resting on her shoulder like a knight’s sword. She turned her attention back to Wade. “So…about that gazebo.”

He smiled then asked in a low voice. “Are you really going to be happy marrying a carpenter who’s occasionally a spy?”

She grinned. “Only if the gazebo has a swing. Think you can manage that? I’ll need somewhere to sit while I wait for you to return.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Tess Pendergrass,” he said with a smile, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “Let’s go get Magpie and ride home.”

Home.

Tess breathed in the word. Finally, at long last, she would have a home of her own. And someone to love.

The wedding—thanks to Martha, Mercy, Maude, and Mahulda—turned into the social event of the season.

Garlands were wound around the lamp posts throughout town. The church overflowed with flowers and lace, and the reception boasted pies stacked to the heavens, with enough ribbon and bunting to outfit the entire population of Independence twice over.

Tess and Wade didn’t mind in the least.

It was good the town had something else to focus on. Something bright and beautiful to distract everyone from what had happened in the caves. Lemonade and cake would keep everyone occupied and questions about Fletcher’s disappearance to a minimum.

Of course, the truth had to be told tosomeone. And that someone turned out to be Sheriff Walker.

He’d met with Wade and Tess just that morning, less than an hour before the wedding. They spoke behind closed doors, the sheriff’s voice low and serious as Tess watched from across the room. To his credit, Sheriff Walker kept things quiet the rest of the day.

The smugglers were shipped off to Portland under heavy guard, and their ties to the larger criminal network were carefully documented, far away from the curious eyes and eager ears of small-town gossips. Especially the ones belonging to Mercy, Martha, Maude, and Mahulda.

Only one more person needed to be brought in. Garrett Vander, Fletcher’s father and the town’s sharpest legal mind, took the news with a stiff jaw and a calculating stare. But in the end, he shook Wade’s hand and gave him something far more valuable than legal counsel. His trust.

That meant the world to Tess and Wade. And with that final piece in place, they could proceed with the wedding without worry. Now, here she stood before Pastor Adams, Wade at her side, saying her vows.

She glanced at Wade now and then, trying to see him clearly through the heavy lace veil Mercy had insisted on.

It wasn’t easy, but she wasn’t about to argue.

She’d never seen a wedding dress made so quickly or a wedding assembled with such precision.

She had no idea the matrons were so good at pulling off miracles.

“And do you, Tess Pendergrass, take Wade Atwood to be your lawfully wedded husband?” Pastor Adams asked, drawing her attention.

She repeated the vows he gave her, and at last, said the words she’d dreamed of for so long: “I do.”

She turned to Wade as Pastor Adams grinned. “Wade, you may kiss your bride.”

Wade lifted her veil, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her soundly. The church erupted in cheers.

Tess smiled against his lips as he chuckled. “Well, Mrs. Atwood ,” he said when he pulled back. “How does it feel to be married?”

“It feelsfine, Mr. Atwood. So long as you’re not sent away in the middle of the night. Especially not on our wedding night.”

He winked. “No chance of that. If I was going to be, I’d have gotten the word by now. And since no one’s showed up, and my report probably hasn’t reached a certain someone in Washington yet...we’re safe. We might even be able to sneak off to Portland or Salem for a few days.”

“Really?” she asked, hopeful.

“Anything you want, sweetheart.”

She looked into his eyes as the cheering continued behind them. “All I want is you, Wade. My husband. And the life we have before us.”

He took her hand as Pastor Adams turned them to face the congregation. “May I present,” the pastor announced, “Mr. and Mrs. Wade Atwood.”

Wade gave her hand a warm squeeze. “Then you shall have it, sweetheart. And so much more.”

The End