Chapter One
Gale Murphy stood defiantly before Jason Bolt arguing her point. The Brides stood behind her in support, while all the men of Seattle took Jason's side in the town's square.
"Bolt, I beat your man fair and square and you told me I could join the camp if I did..."
"B...But," Jason stammered wondering briefly if Jeremy's malady was catching. "I had no idea you would win. Listen to reason..."
That simple statement started a cacophony amongst the brides, Candy Pruitt leading the charge.
"Jason Bolt," she raged. "You promised Gale that she could join the camp if she could beat Big Swede at all your silly contests and she did. She out-ran, out-chopped, out-carried and log-rolled the pants off him!"
The fore mentioned sat miserably on the ground where he had stumbled by the finishing line for the race. He groaned inconsolably over the fact that a little girl bested him.
"Candy," Biddy Cloom her best friend cautioned. "Remember we are ladies..."
"Precisely my point," Jason interrupted. "Thank you Biddie for reminding us all of the differences between us. Ladies do not become Lumber-men, and I'm afraid that's final."
"Right Bolt," The raven hair Irish rose in bloom jabbed a finger into his chest. "And Gentlemen don't go back on a bet and that's what you've done! You back out on this, and I'll tell the whole of Washington what a cheat and a liar you are!"
"Listen to reason, Miss Murphy. I'll settle this by giving you fifty dollars for winning the contest and well deserved at that, but understand me clearly and this is the last time I will say this, you are not going to come to work for the Bolt Brothers now, or ever."
The men began to laugh at the thought of Gale Murphy trudging up the mountain in her britches and father's flannel shirt hanging to her knees, trying to keep up with the men. Sure she might have done it just this once, but she didn't have what it took day in and day out to cut it and though Big Swede failed to teach her, Jason Bolt was setting her straight right now.
Jason reached into his pocket and pulled out some bills. He figured this was the best way to end this farce and to quiet the young Lady. He couldn't have her stirring up the town like this. It was one thing to create a diversion for the residents of Seattle by this little contest, but it was another thing to have the women getting ideas about crossing lines where they shouldn't. And besides which, the idea of a female at camp would mean absolutely no work would get done. He had no doubt that she couldn't do the job and better than some of his crew. But to allow her to work along side the men would cause complications that he couldn't allow.
Gale looked at the money offered and took it from Jason's fist, causing the Brides to groan collectively in defeat. They all thought she was giving in too easily. But, they didn't know Gale as well as they thought. The sixteen-year old curled the money in her fist and then landed it with a loud smack against Jason's chin. The result of the surprise attack sent the elder Bolt brother flying backward into a puddle of mud, splashing several near. Gale Murphy stomped through the liquid sludge and stood over Jason who was shaking his head wiping his eyes free to glare at her.
"You can't buy me Bolt!" she threw the bills at him, angrily. "I am not for sell."
"You're right," he acquiesced with a sigh. "You won the contest. So you deserve your prize."
Before Gale knew what was happening, Jason swept an arm out and caught her at the back of the knees, instantly toppling her face first into the same puddle. If she was mad before, the young woman was furious now. She sputtered her outrage, calling him names, that made most of the Brides cover their ears at such language.
"You are a sodding son of a Biscuit seller!" she threw a fist full of mud at him.
"And you are a spoiled brat who should have been turned over your father's knee long ago!"
With that, Jason grabbed the girl-woman and pulled her over his lap planning to give her the spanking she was overdue. That was until the sound of a loud bang broke his hand from falling on the girl's backside. Everyone turned in start to see Connor Murphy striding toward the fracas with a shotgun in hand.
"Jason Bolt," the big man thundered. "I'll thank you to take your hands off me daughter unless your prepared to announce the bans!"
Just the threat of such a thing caused Jason to release Gale and quickly. Gale pushed away from him, and hurried through the crowd, not even stopping to look at her father. She left so fast that Jason was the only one who saw her emerald eyes filling with tears of humiliation for his public reprimand. For a moment he felt guilty over the incident cursing himself for even allowing it to happen.
"You've got some explaining to do," Mr. Murphy demanded of Bolt and while trying to explain his position to the older man, Jason felt a very large headache coming upon him. Incidents such as this were beginning to make him regret bringing the Brides to Seattle.
Gale Murphy made camp at the little cave by the lake on Bridle Veil mountain. She had been there two days now and didn't care to return home because she couldn't face her Father, or the whole town for that matter. Not after the Bolt Banshee threatened to beat her in public. And for what, she wondered, defending her honor in public and the rights as the winner of the contest? It wasn't fair. She came to Seattle for adventure and to do the things she couldn't in New Bedford. She figured that coming west would give her the chance to be free from the constraints always put upon her by society. There was so much she couldn't do because of her sex and she was sick of it! She wanted to be a Physician like her Father used to be in Ireland until the English chased him from practice. But no medical school would have her, even when she knew more than most who practiced medicine did. And then she wanted to become a Lawyer, but sadly no school would have her for the same reason, she was a female. So, when the Bolt Brothers came to New Bedford with the promise of the untamed wilds of Seattle, which needed the softness of women to tame it, she eagerly signed on. Gale was fourteen and a half at the time but managed to sneak by Jason's watchful gaze for she looked much older than she really was. She was the thirteenth bride to sign the list.
Yet Gale had no intention of becoming some man's bride. She wanted to experience the freedom of land where you could write your own rules, be your own person, and do what you wanted to do... But she was sadly mistaken. Jason rode a tight reign on the Brides and didn't allow them to be anything other than ladies! It was too irritating! Gale couldn't go anywhere without a chaperone of some sort as no decent Lady would be seen alone anywhere, as the other ladies would always tell her. She was almost glad when her Father and older sister had come to find their errant runaway. Jason was furious with Gale for tricking him with her age and thought he had lost the bet he had made with Arron Stempel. That was until her sister Jessica, who was nineteen and unmarried, offered to take Gale's place in the Dormitory, therefore saving Jason's mountain as he would then not be short a bride. In fact, Jessica married within the year, to a young carpenter named Peter Grigs who was traveling through. They settled in San Francisco near her Father's Cousin Grace.
Connor Murphy however didn't fallow suit insisting upon staying in Seattle, to keep an eye upon his youngest child. Yet it was not much of a sacrifice for he loved Seattle, seeing Ireland in the constancy of the inclement weather and the green of the fields. He set up a small partnership with Aaron Stempel, investing in the mill as a silent partner. Not even Jason knew of this deal, though the town did wonder how Connor could afford the keep his youngest daughter in some luxury, having the nicest cabin built near Aaron's.
Yet all that was a memory. Gale wished now she had never seen Jason Bolt or Seattle. She would never forget the day she asked him to be of some use up at the camp, and he tried very hard to contain his amusement at her offer. He talked to her like she was a little girl, very slowly and with small words. She then tried to intimidate the man and calmly sat about answering him with an argument Plato had with a student, questioning his wisdom upon the matters at hand. She smiled remembering the shock upon his face as she finished and then Jason questioned Gale further upon her knowledge of Plato.
"I know a great deal more than those blatherscythes you've got housed at the dormitory!" she informed him. "I swear, if I hear one more conversation about a dress pattern, I'll go starkers!"
That's when they became friends, shortly after they had all arrived in Seattle. She would walk the few miles everyday to the camp to bring him his lunch from Lottie and they would have the most wonderful talks about books and things. She even thought for a moment that they could be one day more than friends, but wrong she was. When her Da arrived, was when things changed between them. Jason found out her age and started treating her like a little girl again. He stopped letting her come to camp and refused to talk to her about books. So, Gale got it into her head, that if she could prove herself as good as the lumbermen, then she could work in the camp and have a reason for being there and with Ja... No, she thought. That's not true. She just wanted to prove she was as good as they were. That's all. But now, she didn't care. And she didn't ever want to see Jason Bolt again! Gale was certain she hated him!
Gale scrubbed the tears from her eyes and stirred the fire to keep it warm. The snow was falling outside and she didn't want to catch cold.
Jason Bolt awakened to hear what sounded like the world pounding upon the Cabin that he shared with Josh and Jeremy. The Bolt Brothers collectively stumbled from their bunks and to the door where the pounding threatened to take the door from its hinges. As the door was opened, they were welcomed by a very distraught Connor Murphy, looking like Father Christmas what with the fresh snowfall sticking to his hair and beard.
"She hasn't been home for three days and it's your fault, so you find her!" he charged Jason, who sighed in irritation.
"Gale," Jason called out silently cursing under his breath, as he rode his horse into the snowstorm. He couldn't believe that he had to leave the warmth of his bed to look for this runaway child who could survive better than most trappers did. Jason had no doubt that she was off somewhere pouting. Somewhere warm, like Lottie's storehouse or in someone's root cellar having a laugh at his expense. She wasn't out in weather like this, of that he was certain.
"Gale Murphy," he called again, wishing he hadn't insisted that his brothers stay home. He could have used some company.
Satan, Jason's horse nickered nervously and shied backward, near the ice covered lake.
"Easy boy," he tried to steady the horse, but to no avail as the crack of a branch heralded its dangerous descent down upon them, weighted heavily by the snow. It struck Jason squarely and knocked him off the horse and into a soft bank of snow. The horse started in fear and galloped off, leaving Jason behind.
Gale cautiously looked out of the cave's entrance, having heard the sound of a horse chuffing nearby. She recognized Satan horse instantly and was at first afraid that Jason had come for her, but then she realized he loved this animal and wouldn't go anywhere without him. So where was he?
The horse led Gale to Jason, where he lay half-covered in snow and unconscious. Gale called to him and when he didn't stir, she knew he was hurt. She fought panic seeing the blood from the small gash wound on his head and quickly went to work and set about saving his life.
It was an hour and a half later when she had Jason and his horse, comfortably ensconced in the cave. Gale had rigged a dray from the branch, which fell on Jason and managed with effort to tie him to it, then used the horse to drag him into the cave. Blizzard conditions were present and she knew that they needed to get to shelter as soon as possible. The cave was her only alternative because she couldn't get Jason down the mountain without the risk of being lost in the storm and both of them dying of exposure.
Once in the cave, Gale tied the horse in the back and covered him with a blanket, where he calmed from his exertions. Then she stoked the fire and set about looking after her unwanted guest. She bathed his wound and dressed it with a strip of a pillowslip that she had used to carry her clothes. The bleeding had stopped so there was no danger of it being serious. However, the danger now was the cold. How long had he been lying out in the snow? She knew the dangers of men freezing to death and from her father's medical books and so she had to do the only thing she could do in such matters.
Gale quickly examined his nail beds and saw they were pale blue in color, as were his lips. Though he was still breathing, he would die if he didn't get warm. Gale sighed and covered Jason with all the clothes and blankets she had. And then she added more wood to the fire and banked it at a safe distance from her uninvited guest. She knew what she had to do next and that was to make the man warm. The only way that could be done is to lie down next to him. It was written in her Father's books. So, she gulped nervously and slid herself under the mound of blankets. Gale scooted as close to him as possible, pulled her coat around herself tightly and said a prayer that she would not fall asleep. She couldn't bare the added humiliation of Jason waking up before her and having to explain to him the reason for their sleeping arrangements.
"There's smoke coming from that cave!" Josh called to his brother.
Jeremy nodded and followed Josh with Corky in tow. The whole of Seattle was looking now for the missing two residents on what was the coldest day of the year.
In sleep, Gale was dreaming of being cradled in the arms of a man. Although she couldn't see his face, she smiled to herself, feeling safe and protected in his arms.
"Oh good Lord," she heard someone say, which broke her sleep, awakening her from such a nice dream. Gale opened her eyes slowly, not certain of where she was at first. She blinked a few times becoming aware of the slow rise and fall of a chest under her ear and the warmth of a body pressed to the length of hers. A large hand covered hers upon the chest where her head rested and she remembered whose it was. Gale raised herself up on an elbow and felt Jason's face. It was warm and dry. He was going to be all right.
"Ahem..." Gale turned in start, seeing three men at the foot of their make-shift bed highly amused and embarrassed by the predicament of the two.
"It appears we found them," Josh said to his companions.
"Th... The question is, did they want to be found?" Jeremy blushed.
"No," Gale unwrapped herself from the tangle of blankets and clothes and stood quickly. "It's not what you're thinking. Bolt was hurt and I brought him here to keep in warm or he'd freeze."
"Uh huh," Josh was skeptical.
"Fine, if you don't believe me but at least check for yourselves." She stepped aside and let the men look the sleeping elder Bolt over. Gale took advantage of their trying to rouse Jason from sleep, knowing they would never believe anything she said to scurry to the back of the cave, her only thought of escaping before Jason awakened and she had to face him. Gale knew what he would think of what she had done! So, she mounted his horse and rode out of the cave and past the surprised shouts from the men.
Jason started to come around and sat up wearily as his brothers and Corky quickly forgot the woman to come to his aid.
"Let her go, boys," Jason touched the sore spot on his head gingerly. "She saved my life."
"I'll bet," Josh snorted. "Jason, you shouldn't have taken advantage of her..."
"Joshua," he looked aghast at his brother. "You couldn't think that I would... With her? She's a child!"
"Well we d...d...did find the two of you lying under the blankets together," Jeremy was horribly embarrassed for his brother.
"Not you too, Jeremy! Listen, a branch fell on me and that's all I remember. I must have blacked out. If Gale hadn't brought me here, I would have frozen in the snow. She obviously saved my life."
"Why don't I believe you?" Josh teased, then noticed the blood seeping from the bandage around Jason's head. "You really are hurt."
"That's what I've been trying to tell you!"
"Corky, can you go ahead and tell the doctor to be ready for us? Corky?"
Corky was gone and Jason groaned. He knew that he had run back to town and would tell Biddie what he had seen and then the whole town would know what happened. Oh, there would be no peace for him with the Brides. They would demand that he marry the girl in order to do right by her. No one would believe him now that her act of heroism would be turned into an infamous indiscretion.