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arms.
    "Oh, Ma, I'm so happy! I'm a married lady now," Anna said, hugging her mother tightly.
    Martha gave her a quick kiss, reaching up to stroke a hand down her cheek. "You're such a beautiful bride, and your Pa and I are so happy for you."
    Anna couldn't stop smiling, even though she also knew that her parents—especially her mother—were trying to hide their sadness. Richard and she were moving west, farther west than anyone she knew had been before. While the women had been preparing for the wedding, Richard and his brothers, her Pa and her brothers had been working hard to make final preparations for the long trip ahead of the newly wedded couple. The wagon was almost loaded, the oxen in the barn waiting for the heavy yoke. Richard had told her the herd had already been moved by his hands, to mingle with the other cattle that were going to be driven alongside the train of settlers. She would meet the man he'd hired to be his foreman the next day. Excitement warred with worry in the pit of her stomach. Anna was anxious to explore what seemed to be endless possibilities for her and Richard's future, and yet she was leaving the only place she had ever known. Eighteen years had passed since her birth in the bed that dominated her parents' bedroom. Her childhood had been spent with a familiarity and routine that allowed her the freedom of doing pretty much whatever she wanted, never really considering the fact that life would change so dramatically with adulthood.
    As she had grown older, she'd found it far too easy to ignore her Ma's warnings that no man would want to marry her if she didn't settle down and begin acting more like a lady and less like a ruffian. The words had never meant much to Anna, as she'd had no such concerns. There wasn't a single boy within miles of their ranch that had ever held any interest for her.
    Looking over to where Richard was speaking with her Pa, she felt her face flush with the surge of desire she felt for her new husband. Richard had left boyhood behind a long time ago. She wondered if he could even remember being a boy, as he was a decade her senior. No, she hadn't been interested in the boys that were her childhood companions, but the moment that this man had joined her behind the tree and taken her hand, she had been unable to ignore the way her heart had stuttered and all thoughts of climbing trees or playing cowboys and Indians had fled her mind. Richard was not a boy; he was a man—one she had just pledged to love, honor and obey until the day she died.
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter Four
     
     
    Richard beamed as the afternoon wore on. He watched his new bride laugh and smile as she was congratulated on her marriage by both her family and his. Most of the residents of Crooked Creek were in attendance. Mary Beth and Margaret had served as Anna's bridesmaids. He couldn't help but notice that Cassidy had made it a point to congratulate Anna, and had been very proud when his wife had graciously accepted the girl's blessings
    On the afternoon when the Johnsons' wagon had pulled up at Anna's house, his fiancée had been far less mature. Cassidy and Jacob had made their apologies, owning up to everything they had done. Richard had almost grinned when he saw Cassidy giving quick looks over her shoulder to her Pa, as if to make sure he both knew she was apologizing and that he didn't have the strap he'd promised she'd feel in his hand. Anna had stood, her hands on her hips, as she announced that if she had her way, the two would be slung into jail for trespassing and theft. When John made no move towards his daughter, Richard understood that, as her future husband, he was basically being tested to see what he would do. Accepting the challenge, he stood next to Anna and bent down, whispering that she should be the better person and accept the apology. Instead of following his suggestion, she had whipped her head around and glared at him.
    " You were the one who said it was a malicious thing