CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

After the ceremony everyone made their way to Grace's Café for the wedding breakfast. Several of the picnic tables had been moved together to make one long trestle and Grace served up roast beef, potatoes, vegetables and rich thick gravy, followed by blueberry crumble.

Jake made a toast to Hank and Georgia, mercifully while he was still sober and managed to refrain from embarrassing Hank too much in his short speech. After the meal several of the men began to play dancing music and everyone watched as Hank and Georgia had their first dance together as a married couple.

When the dance ended, Hank grasped Georgia's hand and began to head towards her aunt where she stood at the edge of the dancing area with Michaela and Colleen.

"Better introduce me to your aunt," he said.

"Yes, I suppose so." Georgia approached Aunt Elizabeth with some trepidation and introduced her to Hank. He took the lady's hand, bowed slightly and kissed her knuckles.

"Pleased to meet you, Mrs Quinn. As Georgia's guardian, perhaps you'd allow me the next dance?"

"Well." Aunt Elizabeth glanced from Hank to Georgia and back again. "I'd be delighted, Mr Lawson," she said eventually.

"Hank, please. I guess I'm your nephew now," he said.

Much to everyone's surprise, Aunt Elizabeth smiled as she took Hank's arm and walked away.

"Don't know how he does it," Sully said from behind Georgia.

"Does what?"

"Charms women." Sully snorted. "Gonna dance with me, Georgia?"

"Sure, Sully."

By the middle of the afternoon, Georgia was exhausted from dancing and her feet aching. Jake fetched Hank's wagon from the saloon, which had been decorated with ribbons and clusters of rattling cans tied to the back. Hank lifted Georgia up onto the seat and then sprang up beside her.

"Any of you folks who don't know, and that includes…my wife," Hank said, grinning broadly. "We'll be off on our honeymoon Monday mornin'."

"Honeymoon?" gasped Georgia. She noticed Michaela, Sully and the children were all smiling and didn't look in the least bit surprised.

"I'm takin' ya to San Francisco," Hank said.

"Oh, my!" Georgia's eyes widened. "How wonderful!"

"In the meantime," Hank went on, looking down at everyone else. "We're gonna be spendin' the rest of the weekend at the farm, so we ain't gonna be wantin' disturbin'!"

Most people laughed and cheered now and Georgia felt herself blushing. She gripped the side of the wagon seat with one hand and Hank's arm with the other as he urged the horse forward and turned it in the direction of the farm. As they trotted away, the townsfolk ran alongside the wagon, shouting good wishes and throwing rice and rose petals until the horse picked up speed and left them behind.

"I can't believe you arranged a honeymoon without me knowin' anything about it," Georgia said.

"Wanted to do everythin' proper," Hank said. "Horace wired an hotel in San Francisco and booked us a room. Michaela gave me the name of a doc there too, just in case, y'know with the baby an' all."

"You've thought of everything," Georgia said.

"I want ya to be happy."

"I am." She reached up and kissed his cheek. "I love you. I'm gonna love spendin' my life with you."

At the farm, Georgia waited on the porch while Hank unhitched the horse and turned it into a corral where Hurricane and Sirius were already installed. In the distance, in a newly fenced paddock, she could see Raven, the black stallion Hank had bought from Loren.

Hank left the corral and hurried towards her, scooping her up into his arms to carry her over the threshold. He didn't stop there, but continued up the new wooden stairs to the main bedroom, which was dominated by a large and beautiful bed covered with a bedspread made by the quilting circle and with matching curtains at the window. He lowered Georgia carefully onto the mattress and then crouched down to take her shoes off. She removed her veil and the satin buds from her hair as Hank kicked off his boots and threw his coat onto the chair in the corner. Then he joined her on the bed and drew her into his arms.

"How're ya feelin'?" he asked.

"Happy. Excited."

"Me too. I love ya, Mrs Lawson." Hank bent to kiss her and she slid her arms around his neck, finally allowing the long-restrained tears of happiness to roll down her cheeks as they began to make love.

Sunday at the farmhouse raced by as Hank and Georgia flew around organising things before they left for their honeymoon the following day. Hank collected the new mare from the saloon and introduced her to Raven, then leaving the horses in the care of the new manager whom he briefly introduced to Georgia as Stephen Clarence, a widowed man who had recently moved into Colorado Springs.

Georgia discovered that Michaela and Colleen had already packed a trunk with her clothes and personal items for the trip to San Francisco and Grace had placed meatloaf, fresh bread, cheese and a fruit pie in the pantry off the kitchen so that Georgia wouldn't need to worry about cooking for that one day.

Georgia spent some time rearranging things in the kitchen cupboards to her liking and daydreamed over the beautiful baby's crib in the second bedroom, which Sully had made. She wondered whether her baby would be a boy or a girl and what they would name it. She hoped for a boy and imagined he would look just like Hank, with blond hair and blue eyes; a cheeky little boy, getting into scrapes at every opportunity.

On Monday morning, Sully drove over in his wagon to take Hank and Georgia to the station to catch their train. He had left the rest of the family in town, including Aunt Elizabeth who had decided to stay for a week or two to spend time with her daughter. They all waited at the clinic to see the couple off on their trip.

Hank helped Georgia up the steps onto the train and they stood on the platform at the end of the carriage as it moved off, waving to the family and a crowd of the townsfolk who had turned out to see them off. As the train left the town behind, they entered the plush carriage and sat down to enjoy the journey.

They changed trains in Denver and the main part of the journey then took a further three days, it being not so far away as Boston. Georgia briefly remembered her last train journey when she left Boston, ill and afraid, unsure of what was going to happen to her, longing to see Hank despite her worry that he didn't care for her.

"What're ya thinkin'?" he asked suddenly, taking hold of her hand.

"I was just rememberin' the last time I was on a train." She smiled up at him. "When I left Boston. I thought the journey would never end."

"You scared the hell outta me, collapsin' on Horace," Hank said. "I was desperate to get to ya, but I was too damned drunk to make any sense. Jake dragged me back to the barber's shop and made me take a bath and drink about two pints of coffee."

Georgia giggled. "Mike said you weren't fit to be seen. I wanted to see you, but I was terrified you'd run away when I said I was pregnant."

"I wish I'd waited longer," Hank said. "In Boston. I'd've waited all day, but I kept tellin' myself if ya hadn't come in two hours, ya weren't gonna. It was harder to wait and be disappointed than to leave."

"I almost came to the railway station," Georgia admitted, squeezing his hand tighter. "It was twelve-forty-five. The Maitre D' told me you left at twelve so I knew there wasn't really time to get there. I talked myself out of it. Later I wished I'd run after you and just got on the next train if I missed it."

"Ah well, at least we got it together in the end," said Hank. "I'm never gonna let ya down, Georgia."

"I know." She kissed his cheek and then smiled. "I miss your beard."

"That's a relief," grinned Hank. "Least I won't have to let Jake near me again with that razor of his. The amount he drinks, it's a wonder he ain't cut no one's throat yet!"

The train arrived in San Francisco on Friday afternoon and Georgia gazed about her in delight as they rode in a carriage to the seafront hotel Hank had arranged for them to stay in. Their beautifully decorated room was on the third floor overlooking the ocean.

Most mornings they ordered breakfast to their room and sat looking out at the turquoise sea and the bright blue sky above as they ate. They spent the ten-day vacation taking carriage rides around the city and a couple of short sailing trips from the harbour, visiting the theatre and eating dinner in either the hotel or other fine restaurants.

Hank had never really spoken much about his family, the Lausenstroms, but on one occasion told Georgia about his early life in Denver with a rich father and two elder brothers, his mother having died when he was too young to remember her. He had grown up as Hans Lausenstrom, used to fancy restaurants and dancing and had hated every minute of it.

Georgia found it curious that if he came from such a family he was unable to read, but she didn't think it wise to ask. However, Hank went on to tell her he had resented his two elder brothers with their fine manners and good grades in school, sucking up to their father and taking all his attention away from Hans, so he had rebelled and caused trouble. He had been expelled from one school aged eight and a second a year later. He drew pictures rather than paid attention to the lessons and preferred to play pranks on his classmates and learn how to fight.

At twelve his father gave up trying to make him go to school and sent him to work on a ranch to save the family the embarrassment of the wayward child. The only one who took any interest in what he was doing was his father's mother, Ilse Lausenstrom, who lived in a village not far from Denver. She visited often and when Hank, who had changed his name at eighteen to distance himself further from the family, began working in a saloon, he did his best to avoid her rather than shame her with his behaviour.

Two years later he left Denver altogether for Colorado Springs, realising he could quite easily make money in a small frontier town if he set up a saloon there himself – something passing cowboys and other travellers would be looking for. It was also far enough from Denver to avoid having Ilse, whom he called 'Nana', dropping in and finding out exactly what her beloved grandson was doing for a living. Since then he'd had no contact with his father and brothers at all and his only regret about the past was that he had to ask someone to write to Nana on his behalf, since he wasn't able to do it himself.

"I could always do that if you wanted," Georgia offered.

"Trouble with that is, I told her some stuff that ain't true," Hank admitted, looking shame-faced. "I thought she'd rather I be the town taylor than a saloon keeper."

Georgia smiled. "Well, now you could tell her you married a lady from Boston and you run a stud farm," she said.

Hank grinned. "Yeah, now I got somethin' real for her to be proud of."

All too soon it was time to leave the hotel and return to Colorado. Georgia had loved every minute of the vacation and was blooming; there had been no need for the doctor that Michaela had recommended, only a need to shop for even larger skirts!

With five hours to wait in Denver for the connecting train home, Hank took Georgia to meet his son Zach at the art school where he lived. The boy was delighted to see his father and although shy of Georgia, he greeted her politely and gave her a picture he had drawn of Hank. It showed Hank standing outside the saloon, leaning on the railing and smoking a cigar, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"This is beautiful!" exclaimed Georgia. "Thank you, Zach. You're a wonderful artist."

The boy beamed at her. They stayed with him for a couple of hours before it was time to return to the railway station to catch the train back to Colorado Springs. Hank promised Zach that he would fetch him for the Christmas holidays to stay with them at the farm and the boy waved them off reluctantly as they left the school.

"He's a lovely boy," Georgia said. "And so talented."

Hank grinned. "Not sure where he gets that from; sure ain't from me or his Ma. I think I got an uncle in Norway who can draw; maybe it just skipped a generation."

"You said you used to draw in school," Georgia remembered.

"Not well!" snorted Hank. "I'd just rather do that than listen to the teacher. That fella spent so much time thrashin' me, I don't know how he had time to teach the other kids anythin'. Holier than thou, he was too, and a hypocrite. Imagine my pleasure when he turned up in the saloon I worked at years later, wantin' some time with one of the girls." He laughed wickedly. "I let half the town know what he was up to before I left Denver. Figured he deserved it for the times he tanned my hide."

Georgia couldn't help giggling. There was still so much she didn't know about Hank, but she was enjoying finding out.