Chapter 2

Melony Jameson paced the porch in nervous agitation. Ian was late.  He’d promised her father that he’d come for dinner.  She’d spent days scheming for ways to hint marriage to him and finally came up with a viable plan.  Her friend, Sally Conway just got engaged to the eldest son of the Bar X ranch.  It was the perfect bit of news to lead into a conversation that would hint on him asking her for since she’d returned home from school in the east.  It was time to take things further.  She’d worked it all out in her head, but how could she put it into motion if he didn’t show up?

With summer on the horizon, the sun was setting later and later.  For a young woman who came from means with time on her hands, this wasn’t always a good thing.  Life could prove lonely. Any man worth a grain of salt would take advantage of the extra daylight to squeeze in a bit more work.  For most ranchers, days were long and filled with chores that were seldom accomplished before the darkness of night forced them to quit and wait until daylight returned.  She understood this, but Ian wasn’t most ranchers.  He was one of the few ranch owners who was successful enough to be able to hire men to do the chores so that he could sit back and enjoy life, even for just a bit. 

It annoyed her to no end that he still insisted on working right alongside of his men.  Now, with this new venture with sheep farming, she questioned when she’d have an opportunity to corner him for a proposal again.  It would surely be winter before it happened. 

He just had to come to dinner.  She simply had to find a way to squeeze that proposal out of him that night.  Her biological clock was ticking.  If she managed to get him to marry her right away, she could be settled into his beautiful big house with a belly full of baby by winter.

Adam Jameson stepped out onto the porch and placed the side of his hand at the rim of his thick, black brows to shade his eyes as he looked down the crowded street.  “You’re either going to wear a path on that porch or wear down the soles of your shoes, girl.”

“He’s not coming, is he Father?”   She pushed at a strand of silken, ebony hair that had escaped her carefully crafted pompadour and teased the side of her temple while her lavender eyes searched the street for a sign of Ian.

“I expect he’ll be along.  The man has a lot on his plate these days.  Are you sure that you want to set your sights on a rancher?  Young George Appleby seems to be doing right well with his feed store.  I hear tell he’s ready to settle down.  He’s handsome enough and closer to you in age.  Ian’s a good enough man, but he’s more my age than yours.”

“He’s also got your kind of money. It’s at least twice the money that George Appleby has.  His house is as big and beautiful as ours, Father. George lives in a little one room hut that he threw together five years ago and has made no effort to improve upon since.  How could you even think of pairing me with a man who wants to take a wife and place her in that shack he calls a home?  Ian may be older and not as handsome, but he did things right.  He took the time to create a paradise to bring his bride home to. You should consider that for your daughter.  Most fathers would.”

Although it wasn’t the least bit hot or sticky, Melody pulled at the collar of her blouse while she briskly fanned herself with the delicate fan her father recently purchased for her on his recent trip to Billings.  He’d told her it was all the rage with the fine ladies there.

“I feel like I might faint if we do not have our dinner soon, Father.”

“Go have Julia loosen your stays,” he drawled as he lowered his lean, five-feet-ten-inch frame into his favorite rocking chair and lit a cigar. His dark eyes joined her in the search for signs of Ian.  “I won’t be rude.  We’ll wait until one hour after the sun sets before we put him down as a no show and eat dinner.”

Although she would have preferred to stamp her feet in protest as she entered the house in search of their maid, she was ever mindful of appearances.  So, with the grace of the lady she thought herself to be, she summoned a sweet smile for her father as she glided, gracefully, through the front door.

The house was built in the popular Victorian style that lined the streets of most eastern cities.  Her father built it to mirror the one her mother grew up in as a gift to reward her for agreeing to move so far away from the civilization that’d she known and loved.  Not that Fort Benton wasn’t growing every day, but it certainly couldn’t compare with Boston.

They’d sent Melody east to a finishing school. Mary was also insistent that her daughter experience the hustle and bustle of the east before she made her decision about where to settle down. She had enough relatives in the Boston area to care for her, should she wish to stay and find a husband.

She’d returned only the year earlier, a mirror of her mother’s petite, dark beauty with solid ideas of what she wanted in life.  Unlike her mother, she preferred the expansive and picturesque scenery that only the west could provide.  This surprised her mother and pleased her father, who felt the same.

He considered his daughter’s words.  She’d proven to be far more level headed than he’d expected from a spoiled socialite moved west.  She knew what she wanted in life and was prepared to go after it.  He thought about her mother, his wife. Melody was the image of her mother, but that’s where it ended.  Mary proved to be far more frivolous than her daughter.  She’d grown up pampered and spoiled at a school for young ladies.  When Adam approached her father, he was but a young doctor fresh out of school.  Fortunately, he was heir to a considerable family fortune that he used to back their eventual settling in the west where he hoped his skills as a physician would make a difference.  Had Mary been more like her daughter, Melody, he doubted she’d have accepted the match and blindly made the move when he complained just five years after their marriage that he felt like he was lost in the crowd of healers and wanted to go where his talents would be more needed and appreciated.

With four-year-old Melody at her hip and three-month-old Thomas on her teat, his ever-faithful wife followed him on board a train that took them as far west as possible and, without complaint, traveled by wagon the rest of the way.  When he tried to imagine his daughter being so faithful and obliging, he could only chuckle.   May the good lord watch over the man Melody ended up with and bless him with the patience of a saint because he’d need it.  He’d also need deep pockets.  He guessed Ian Murry was one of the few men for miles around who fit the mold his daughter had formed when she thought about what she required in a husband.  He’d managed to tolerate her ways, and even enjoy them, for a year now.  If he did propose, it was probably for the best.  It was certainly time.

The sight of Ian approaching on foot caught his attention and he stood to greet him.  With a smile on his face, he extended his hand in greeting.  “We were just wondering if you got tied up or waylaid into not making it.”

Ian could hear Melody’s nearly angelic voice singing to the music she played on the piano as he climbed the steps and accepted his host’s vigorous handshake. He enjoyed her singing.  It never failed to ease the tension of the day from his muscles.  More than once, he’d thought what it would be like to have that lovely voice lulling him into a state of heaven on a regular basis.

After being directed to the second rocker on the porch, he joined Adam for a smoke.  Instead of a cigar, he opted for a hand-rolled cigarette.

“Melody will be happy to see you,” Adam said with a chuckle.  “I’m going to warn you. The girl’s just itching for a proposal.  I suppose she’d have my head if she heard me mentioning it to you, but I’m far too hungry to let my dinner be ruined by her damn fool hints and frivolous gossip.”

“Gossip?” Ian wondered if they’d heard grumbling of the other ranchers.

“One of her friends got engaged to the oldest boy over at the Bar X.  Now she’s hell bent on getting married.”

Ian chuckled. “I see.” 

He’d been considering marriage to Melody for some time now.   He’d spent his years building an empire fit to bring a wife home to.  Now that he’d accomplished that, it was time to marry and start a family.  He’d developed a strong love for her over the last year, but was it strong enough to hold up under the strain of her not being happy as a rancher’s wife?  She seemed far too headstrong, pampered, and accustomed to the conveniences and pleasures living in a community offered.  Would she really be able to live as the wife of a rancher whose nearest neighbor was a twenty-minute buggy ride away?  He decided to voice this doubt and see what his good friend had to say about it. “I can’t see the daughter of a popular physician of good social standing living so far away from the bustling society she loves so much as the wife of a rancher.”

“I have my doubts about that too, but she’s hell bent on snaring you.  The isolation factor, that is. You come from fine Irish stock and are certainly just as socially elevated as I am, so there’s no worries there.” Adam leaned forward to better get Ian’s attention.  “Tell you what.  Why don’t you two have a long engagement?  Say, a year or two. That will give you some time to bring her out to the ranch for extended visits and see how she handles it.”

“She’s been to the ranch.”

“Only while accompanying me and never for more than an overnight night stay. She needs to experience what it would be like to stay away from society for several days. Maybe even a week at a time or a month, even, to get the full effect of ranch living.”

“She’d go along with that?”   Knowing how impatient Melody seemed, Ian questioned the suggestion.

“If she wants to marry you, she damned well better.”

“Well,” Ian mused.  “She is a pretty young thing who has managed to steal my heart.  She presents herself well, too.  I never asked her age.  I know she’s young next to me, but just how old is she?”

“She’ll be eighteen next month.”

“She’d still be young enough to have a few kids if we waited a few years,” Ian said, thoughtfully.  “I’m thirty-nine, you know.”

“I told her you were past your prime, but she doesn’t care.  Her sights are set on you and that’s that.”

“Well, alright then.  If she’ll agree to at least a year’s engagement and come to the ranch for long stays during that time, I’ll make the proposal.”

With an enormous smile that openly displayed his pleasure, Adam assured him that his daughter would agree and extended his hand for Ian to shake on the matter.

The music stopped.   They were still smiling, chatting, and shaking hands when Melody sauntered back onto the porch.  She wore the usual serene smile she’d stood before the mirror over the years to practice and perfect.  “Why, Mr. Murray, what a delight.”

Ian freed his hand from Adam’s as he lept from the rocker.  Removing his hat from his head, he bowed low.  “Miss Jameson.  You are as lovely as ever this evening.”

Although he’d left Ireland twenty years earlier, Ian’s speech still told of his origins.  Melody found it soothing and melodic to listen to.  “I trust our little dinner invitation did not prevent you from concluding your day’s business?”

Ian flashed a warm smile.  He remembered his departed father’s words when he was just a boy; Son.  If you find yourself a woman who shows an interest in a man’s livelihood, treasure her.

Adam stood. “I’ll go tell the cook we’re ready for dinner.”

Melody was about to follow her father into the house when Ian asked her to stay behind because he had a very important topic he wished to discuss that just couldn’t wait.  She spread her fan wide and held it close to her bosom in hopes of covering any hint of how wildly her heart was beating.  It felt as if it was about to break a few bones in her rib cage as she struggled to maintain steady, relaxed breathing.

Her legs barely supported her as she listened to his proposal. Disappointment mixed with elation at his insistence of a long engagement for the assurance that she fully understood what the life of a rancher entailed.  With a few flirtatious battings of her long, black eye lashes that perfectly matched her thick, black hair -followed by the widening of her lavender eyes to impress upon him her virgin innocence- she agreed to his terms.