Royce looked at the woman standing beside him. He’d started the day mourning his beloved Lucy and trying to take care of his children, and now he was about to marry a complete stranger who thought she could take better care of his family than he could. Trouble was, she probably could. He’d managed to keep them fed for the last two months since Lucy had passed, but they were getting tired of beans and bacon sandwiches. It was the only two things he knew how to cook, and he could only do the sandwiches if he had gone to the mercantile and bought bread.

Marta had told him she grew up in an orphanage. He knew that most orphanages taught the young girls to do domestic chores. It was one way they helped keep the cost of caring for the kids low. So she could probably cook and clean. She’d also worked as a nanny for a society family back east which meant she’d know how to care for the children. He’d thank God tonight for the good luck that had come his way today. A simple phrase spoken in anger had been an answer to the prayer he wouldn’t even allow himself to pray, someone to make his life a little easier by caring for his house and children. He’d have hired someone but there weren’t any older women in Creede that he’d trust with his kids all day. That God had dropped Marta in his path seemed like a wonderful thing 

She wasn’t bad looking, either. A little larger than his Lucy had been and her curves were more pronounced. Nevertheless, Marta wasn’t unpleasant to look at. She just wasn’t Lucy. Therein lay his only concern. He was about to vow to love, honor, and cherish this woman. While he was sure he would honor and cherish her, he wasn’t sure his heart could ever come to love her. She just wasn’t Lucy. 

Reverend Bing cleared his throat and Royce realized he was supposed to be responding. “Oh! Umm… I do.” 

“Then I now pronounce you man and wife. You can kiss your bride.” 

Everyone laughed when Randy cried out, “Eww, don’t do it, Pa!” 

Marta blushed, and he realized that she was very pretty. Not a classic beauty like Lucy but very pleasant to look at. The blush caused the smattering of freckles across her checks to stand out. He quickly lowered his head to hers and brushed her lips in a chaste but sweet kiss. He pulled back a bit quickly and saw that his children were all watching them closely. Rachel had her arms crossed and was scowling so hard he thought she’d combust from the anger obvious on her face. RJ just looked confused, and Randy was making a face like he’d been asked to eat some kind of green vegetable. Rose and Raeann were the only ones not affected by the impromptu wedding they’d just had. Both were too young to know what was going on. 

The people who had stayed to witness their vows were gathering around Marta and him and congratulating them. He smiled and accepted the handshakes of the men, and Marta was drawn away by the women and hugged. She didn’t let them pull her too far away and the first thing she did was take both Rose and Raeann in her arms, Rose on her left hip and Raeann in the crook of her right arm held against her body. She looked like she’d been taking care of them all her life. She saw him heading toward the entrance of the church, and she called out to the children. “Rachel, will you please get your brothers and the three of you go get in the wagon; your Pa is ready to go.” 

Rachel looked at Marta and snarled, “Don’t tell me what to do. You aren’t my ma. I don’t have to listen to you.” 

Royce turned and looked at his daughter, shocked that she would use that tone with any adult. “Rachel Clark, you know better than to speak to a grownup like that! You will listen to Marta. She may not be your ma, but she is the woman who will be taking care of you from this day forward. You will obey her just like you did your ma or you and I will go have a discussion behind the woodpile. Do you understand me, young lady?” 

She clenched her jaw, and her blue eyes sparked with anger. “Yes, sir.” 

“Good, now do as you were told.” 

She grabbed RJ and Randy by the hands and jerked them toward the door. “Come on; we have to do what that lady says. Let’s get in the wagon.” 

Royce started to say something when Marta quietly called his name. He turned, and she shook her head. “Let her be. She is upset. She obeyed, so leave her be. Let me handle her attitude my way. She just needs some time and space to get used to me.” 

“She’s being disrespectful; that isn’t right.” 

Marta smiled at him. “I know, but for now let me deal with her disrespect my way. If she disobeys me, I will allow you to handle it. Otherwise, please allow me to take care of it.” 

He stared at the woman he’d just married, and even though he didn’t know her well yet, he could see the concern and determination in her face. Concern for his daughter and determination that she would handle the situation her own way. He nodded. “Fine, you deal with Rachel your way. However, I will expect you to inform me if she refuses to obey you. I won’t tolerate that. I won’t allow the disrespect for long, either, so get it fixed quickly.” 

Marta nodded and smiled at him. “Thank you. We should get to the wagon, too. I expect we still have a way to go to reach your ranch. I’d like to be there before dark and see what all I need to start doing tomorrow.” 

Royce held out his hands and took Rose from her and settled her on his hip just like Marta had been carrying her. Then he held out his arm for Marta to take and escorted her to the wagon. He sat Rose up in the back with her sister and brothers and helped Marta up onto the bench seat. He went around and climbed up, and saw that Marta lifted Rose up to sit between them on the bench. The toddler had scooted up against his new wife who had placed her arm around the little girl. Raeann was nestled snug in her arms and Royce’s heart skipped a little at how much like his new wife his two younger children looked. He figured that both girls would only know Marta as their mother. Rose was too young and the memory of Lucy would fade from her mind. Raeann would only ever know Marta as her mother. That thought saddened him but, at the same time, it gave him a feeling of peace that they would at least know a mother's care. Even if she wasn’t the woman who gave them birth. 

They rode to the ranch with Marta talking mostly over her shoulder to the children sitting behind them. Royce listened as she asked them about chores they had, what they liked to eat, and other things that she would want to know as the person looking after them. Rachel answered her, but grudgingly. RJ and Randy seemed happy she was talking to them. Royce sat listening as he drove them home. He was impressed with how Marta treated each of his three older children. She asked questions and allowed them to ask her questions. She answered each one. She was obviously determined to make this marriage work, at least as far as the children were concerned. He thanked God again for the blessing of this woman who had been dropped into their lives. 

Then Rachel raised her voice and spoke, not to Marta, but to Royce. “Pa, where’s she gonna sleep?” 

“She’s my wife; she’ll sleep with me.” 

“No! That’s Ma’s place. You can’t let her sleep in Ma’s place. She isn’t even one of us.” 

Royce looked back at his oldest daughter. “She is one of us, Rachel. When the preacher said we were man and wife, Marta became a Clark. That’s what it means to get married. If she doesn’t sleep with me, where will she sleep? We don’t have any other beds she can use.” 

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest. “Let her sleep in the barn.” 

“Rachel, she can’t sleep in the barn. She isn’t an animal.” 

Marta touched his shoulder. Then she looked at Rachel. “Where does Raeann sleep, Rachel?” 

Rachel glared at her stepmother. “She sleeps in her cradle in Pa’s room.” 

“Well then, I’ll have to sleep there, too. Raeann will need her diapers changed and food at least once during the night.” 

Rachel crossed her arms again. “Pa’s been doing it. He don’t need you to do it.” 

“Your pa needs to sleep, Rachel. He has to work on the ranch. Taking care of Raeann is part of what I’m supposed to be doing. So I need to sleep where she is. Now if you would prefer, I will move Raeann to your room, and I will sleep in there with you. But that means when she gets fussy in the night, she will wake you up.” 

“I don’t want you sleeping in my room, either. Besides, I already have Rose sleeping in my room.” 

Marta put her finger to her lips like she was thinking. “I figure your brothers share a room, too?” 

“Yes.” 

“Then from what I can tell, there are two people in each room. Since I need to take care of Raeann at night and there is only one person sleeping in your Pa’s room, I’ll just have to sleep there.” 

Rachel sighed and didn’t say anything else all the way home. Royce hid his smile. He could see that Marta did have a plan for dealing with Rachel and he’d give her time to do so. He sighed; he’d have to make sure that Marta understood that, for now, he wouldn’t require any more of her than she take care of his children and his home. Her other duties didn’t actually appeal to him right now. He knew that eventually he’d want to make her his wife in truth, but Lucy’s death was just too fresh right now. He couldn’t even think about being intimate with anyone else. 

Yet Royce knew his eyes were drawn to the curves of his new wife. She wasn’t the delicate little woman his Lucy had been, but there was something about her that appealed to him. Marta was taller and a bit rounder, more full-figured with bigger hips and other womanly attributes. Almost in direct violation to the thought he’d just had, he couldn’t seem to help but wonder what his new wife would be like out of those matronly, rather drab clothes she wore. He had no trouble believing she had spent her years in an orphanage and then as a nanny. She dressed just like a schoolmarm or governess. He suddenly wanted to see her in lighter, brighter dresses. Or better yet …. No, he couldn’t think like that. She was here to take care of the kids and the house, not his personal needs. He loved Lucy and while Marta may look good, he wouldn’t cheapen his love for his dead wife by falling for his current one. Especially when the understanding was that she was here to take care of the kids. 

He was pulled out of his current thoughts by the turnoff to his ranch. He made the turn and then took a quick look over at Marta. “We’re now on our land. You’ll be able to see the house and barn when we top the next rise.” 

Marta nodded at him. “How much land do you have?” 

“We have sixty-five thousand acres. But only about fifty thousand of those are grazing land. The rest is in the foothills and covered in timber. I haven’t really done anything with the timber. I’m a rancher, not a lumberjack. However, Mr. Anders has discussed a partnership where he’d harvest the timber and split the profits with me. I haven’t taken him up on it because I’m not sure if it would interfere with my ranching.” 

Marta nodded at him. “So how many cows do you have?” 

Royce laughed. “Not cows, cattle. I only have one cow. She's in the barn and she’s just for milk. Cattle are for beef, not milk. We have around a thousand head of cattle. I’ll have a more exact count in a few months when we start the fall roundup.” 

“I don’t know much about ranching. Is that a lot of cattle?” 

Royce shook his head. “Not really, some of the larger ranches can have up to twenty times that much. But it’s enough for me. I make enough to keep my family taken care of, and that is all I really care about. I’d have to expand and purchase more land to go any bigger, and that would mean hiring more men and spending less time at home.” He looked back at the kids in the back of the wagon. “That’s never seemed like something I wanted to do. Maybe as the children get older. Especially as the boys get old enough to start working the ranch with me. But for now, Lucy and I made the decision that my being able to come home most nights was more important than growing the ranch.” 

Marta smiled at him and again his body reacted to her. “That sounds like a very good decision. I’m sure that the children are happy to have you home with them most nights.” 

“Yes, the only time that changes is during roundups, which happen twice a year, spring and fall. The spring roundup is when we count the new calves and make sure they’re branded with the Circle C brand. Then in the fall, we round them up and decide which ones we’ll drive to market. I’m gone for the cattle drive as well, and that is the longest time. It takes about a month to drive them up to Denver and sell them, then return. Roundup takes about a week. But for the most part, I’m home every evening. We sell a good amount to the mines here, too.” 

Marta nodded as she took in what he was saying. “How many men do you have working for you?” 

Royce looked at her, trying to figure out if she was just trying to get to know him and the ranch, or if she had another motive. He really only had her word that she was heading to San Francisco to be a nanny. The rumor was that the women had all been set to go to Durango as soiled doves. What if he’d just married a Calico Queen and brought her into his house? “Why?” 

She looked shocked at his question. “I’m trying to figure out what duties I’ll have besides watching the children and keeping house. Will I need to cook for your ranch hands? Clean for them? Do their laundry?” 

Her reasoning seemed sound, but it still left him leery. What did he really know about this woman he’d married? Nothing, that’s what he knew. “I have eight men and a foreman here all year round. They have their own bunkhouse. They have a cook who sees to their food, and they deal with their individual laundry and needs. We will have more during roundups, but they are all temporary, and they also stay at the bunkhouse and take care of their own needs. So there are ten men besides me on the ranch at any time, but you won’t see them all that much.” 

“So I don’t have to worry about them. Thank you for telling me.” 

“I do have my foreman eat breakfast with me. It's when we talk about what needs to be done and who is going to do it that day. Will that be a problem for you?” 

Marta shook her head. “Not at all. What time does that happen?” 

“Five am. We start early on the ranch.” 

“I will make sure to have a good breakfast for the two of you by five, complete with coffee. I won’t cook the children's food till later, but if it’s alright with you I’ll eat with you and your foreman.” 

“That’s fine.” They topped the rise, and Royce pulled the team to a stop. He motioned down below where the house, barn, bunkhouse, and chicken coop were spread out before them. “Welcome to the Circle C, Mrs. Clark.” 

Pride filled his voice as he welcomed her to her new home. He’d worked hard to make the place what it was, and he was proud of his ranch.  

His smile grew as she gasped, “How beautiful. It’s a lovely place, Royce.” 

“We like it.” 

With that, he snapped the reins and got the team heading down into the homestead. He knew she’d not be as happy when she saw the condition inside the house. It was a mess, but he’d done what he could since Lucy’s death. The house would show how overwhelmed he truly had been. He just hoped she didn’t demand he take her back to the Jacobs when she saw how much work there was to do. He really wouldn’t be able to blame her if she did. Well, he’d know soon enough, he thought as they came to a stop. Rachel and the boys climbed down and disappeared into the house. He’d see Marta and the little ones inside, then he’d unload the supplies and get the wagon put away. At some point, he’d need to tell his hands about his new wife, but that could wait until everything else was taken care of. 

Royce helped Marta down from the wagon and then picked up Rose. He followed his wife into the house. Time to see what Marta was made of.