Three Frontier Husbands #1

Her mother didn’t speak until they were all in the sitting room. All four fathers arranged themselves around the perimeter like sentries, while Freya stood in the center of the room like a prisoner awaiting judgment.

“Do you understand what you’ve done?” The Stirling-Mother’s voice could have cut glass.

“I kissed him,” Freya said. “Why did you call the sheriff? I could have just explained—”

“Explained?” Her mother’s retort was sharp and bitter. “Explained to whom? The Harris-Mother, who saw you sprawled across that boy’s lap? The dozen festival-goers who came running at the commotion? Explained that you grabbed a man’s cock because you were curious what one felt like?”

Freya flinched at the crude language.

“There were witnesses, Freya. Once there’s an audience, there’s no such thing as private explanation. There’s only damage control.” Her mother’s voice was hard. “There’s only two versions of the story being told tonight: either you’re a wild, reckless harlot with no self-control, or you’re a respectable daughter who was taken advantage of by a man who should have known better. Which story do you think serves this family?”

“But it’s not true—”

The Stirling-Mother moved to the window, looking out at the dark street. “If I’d let Daniel Goss walk away tonight, do you know what tomorrow would bring? Whispers that the Stirlings can’t control their own daughter. Questions about what other lapses in judgment you might display. Mothers pulling their sons from consideration because who wants to marry into a household that tolerates that kind of behavior?”

She turned back to face Freya.

“Worse, it leaves Daniel free to make claims. His mother could argue that you compromised him, that you owe him consideration now. He and his brothers have cause to press for marriage because you initiated contact.” Her mother’s eyes were cold. “Arresting him ends that conversation before it starts. He has no standing to claim anything.”

“So you’re protecting me by destroying him? Even though everyone knows I started it?”

“Right now, the official story is that Daniel Goss put his hands on a Stirling daughter. That he showed an animalisticlack of self-control and respect for proper conduct. That story protects you.”

“And ruins him.”

“Yes.” Her mother’s acknowledgement was matter-of-fact. “A sensible man knows that. You walk away, because the consequences fall on YOU, not her. He knew this. He failed to act on it. And sadly dear, yes, he pays the price.”

Freya felt tears burning in her eyes. “That’s not fair.”

The Stirling-Mother looked at her for a long moment, her expression unreadable.

“Fair has nothing to do with it,” she said. “This family survives because we make decisions others can’t afford to.”

She turned toward the door.

“You’ll learn to carry that weight, Freya. Or you won’t. Either way, it’s yours now.”

She opened the door without another glance.

“Thomas. You wanted a moment with our daughter.” She left, the other fathers following. The door closed with a soft click.

Papa Thomas didn’t move from his spot. He studied Freya with the careful eyes that had always seen more of her, more of her character than her other papas did.

“You understand what your mother said is true,” he said at last.

Freya nodded, her throat too tight to trust herself to answer.

“Daniel Goss is in jail because your mother did her job. She protected this family.” He paused. “But you should also understand the cost.”

He swallowed.

“Three men won’t marry now. Any woman who might have considered them will think twice. Not because of what you did,” he added softly, “but because of what people will believe they did.”

He exhaled, slow and weary. “You will weather the scandal,” he said quietly. “Daniel Goss and his brothers will not.”

Freya’s voice cracked. “I didn’t mean to—”

“That’s the terrible thing, child,” he said. “You don’t have to mean to hurt someone for the hurt to be real.”

She looked up at him. “What do I do, Papa?”

Papa Thomas cocked his head at her. “Time’s long passed for asking your papas what you should do. Your mother, she’s made her choice clear. But I wonder, what’s yours?”

He shrugged slightly. “I won’t tell you what to do. But any daughter of age can offer marriage. Your fathers can witness it. That would stand, whatever your mother thinks.”

He left.

Freya stood alone in the parlour, heart hammering.

She should do what her mother wanted. Marry well. Let the Goss brothers fade into the distance. Forget Daniel’s face in the torchlight, and the way he’d apologized even as they dragged him away. Forget Mattias stony faced and stoic. Forget Edwin looking like his whole future had just been stolen from him. It made the most sense. It was for the best. It really was.

Freya opened the door.

All four fathers stood in the hallway. Papa Thomas raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll want to leave early in the morning,” she said.

Papa Thomas nodded once. “Then we’ll be ready.”

Daniel sat on the narrow cot, elbows on his knees, hands hanging loose between them. His gaze was unfocused, staring at the wooden floor. Mattias occupied the single chair outside the bars. One hand rested on the arm, the other traced the iron lock of Daniel’s cell in an absent motion.Edwin leaned against the wall near the door, shoulders rounded, eyes lowered.

“I spoke to the Commander,” Mattias said at last. Daniel didn’t’ look up. “You’ll be remanded to garrison custody later this morning. After that, an official reprimand. Then transfer.”

“Where,” Daniel asked quietly.

“Fort Charles or Fort Bleriott.”

“Well, it’s better than hanging, I suppose,” Daniel said without humour.

Mattias stopped touching the lock.

Edwin cleared his throat. “Well, Fort Charles is rough, but Bleriott’s not a death sentence,” he offered. “Prentice came back. After his stint there.”

Mattias stared at him numbly for a moment. He didn’t bother to mention Prentice came back missing an eye and half his right arm. He puffed out his breath. “You touched Stirling daughter. In public. With witnesses.” His voice was flat. “Hard to imagine how you could have fucked up worse if you’d planned for it.”

“I know,” muttered Daniel.

“Do you?” Mattias said. “Because this beyond a mere mistake. It’s a complete failure to think rationally.”

Edwin shifted. “Ma’s beside herself.”

Daniel nodded once. He accepted that as a fact, not an accusation.

Silence settled again. Outside, the town was just beginning to wake. A wagon rattled past. Voices carried faintly through the walls. Carbon was going about its day, unconcerned about the Goss-brothers' ruined future.

Mattias stood and tilted his head toward the window.

“What is it,” Daniel asked.

“Looks like the Stirling-fathers, all four of them, come to demand frontier justice.”

Daniel scrubbed his hands wearily over his face. “Oh Christ. Do you think they’re going to shoot me or just beat me?”

Edwin peered over Mattias’s shoulder, confirming the Stirling-fathers were approaching in the dim light. “I’m not sure that makes any practical difference.” He muttered, “There’s four of them.”

There was a sound of heavy boots on wooden planks. Voices in the front office. A muffled discussion and protests from the sheriff. A louder voice cut the sheriff off.

“Enough, sheriff! We will see the prisoner now!”

The door swung open.

The Stirling-fathers filled the doorway, broad-shouldered and grim-faced. Behind them, barely visible, was Freya.

Daniel pushed himself to his feet. Edwin straightened.

Papa John stepped forward, hands on his belt. “Freya Stirling has come to make an offer to the Goss brothers.” The words hung heavy in the air.

“An offer?” Mattias said carefully. His eyes tracked Papa John, Papa Thomas, then the other fathers. “What kind of offer?”

“Let me speak it, father.” Freya pushed past Father Thomas. Her hands were fists at her sides, knuckles white. She stepped right up to the bars, close to Mattias.

“I offer marriage to the Goss brothers, Mattias, Daniel, and Edwin.” Her words came out fast, like she needed to same them quickly before her nerve faltered. “To bind our families in honourable marriage.

Silence. Daniel’s hands closed around the bars, gripping hard. Edwin made a choked sound, half indrawn breath, half disbelief. Mattias said nothing and studied the reckless idiot who’d gotten tangled with his brother and properly destroyed his life in the process.

She looked like an unmade bed. Pale, with puffy eyes and shadows under them. Her hair was pulled back severe, but pieces had escaped. She’d dressed carefully though, clean shirt, clean pants, everything buttoned proper.

This girl had walked into a jail, past the sheriff, with four armed fathers to witness, to offer marriage to three broke soldiers with nothing to offer her but scandal and hard labour. Against sense, reason and her mother’s wishes. Mattias didn’t know if that made her brave or stupid. But she’d come. That counted for something.

“Your mother know you’re doing this?”

She shook head, once. “No.”

The Stirling-fathers didn’t contradict her.

Well then.

“And when she finds out?”

Freya held his eyes. “My offer stands.”

Papa Thomas, the Stirling Fox as he was known, nodded curtly.

Mattias studied her. This reckless girl had detonated his brother’s life the night before. Now she stood in a jail cell offering to tie her future to the wreckage. She was as foolhardy as Daniel and then some, apparently.

“Give us a minute,” Mattias said.

Papa John, the best shot in all of Carbon, unconsciously moved his hand to his belt. “You’ll decide now, I think.”

Mattias turned to his brothers.

“Daniel.”

Daniels’s voice was rough. “I don’t deserve this.”

“I didn’t ask what you think you deserve,” Mattias replied. “I’m asking if you can you live with it.”

Daniel looked at Freya through the bars. Then away. “Yes.”

“Edwin.”

Edwin swallowed. “I can live with it.”

Mattias turned back to Freya. She was still looking at him, still hadn’t dropped her eyes. Waiting.

Three capable brothers, soldiers. One woman, skilled, if reckless. A homestead ten miles into zombie country and a hard-scrabble future none of them had chosen.

He’d faced worse odds.

“The Goss brothers accept your offer.”

Freya’s face shifted. Maybe relief. Maybe terror. Hard to say which.

Father John’s hand landed on her shoulder. “Then its agreed.”

The Stirling fathers closed around her like a wall and turned her toward the door. She twisted back, caught Mattias’s eyes one more time.

He nodded once. Acknowledgement. Agreement.

Promise, maybe.

Then she was gone, her fathers shepherding her out. The door swung shut.

Daniel’s breath whooshed out. Edwin slid down the wall until he was sitting on the dusty floor, head in his hands.

“Did that just happen?”

“Yes.” Mattias sat heavily in the chair. His hands had gone cold and his bones felt like lead. He looked at Daniel, still gripping the bars, and staring open-mouthed at the closed door.

“Congratulations,” he said. You got us a wife.