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  Jasmine

  Book Five in Suitors of Seattle

  By Kirsten Osbourne

  Copyright 2014 Kirsten Osbourne

  Kindle Edition, License Notes

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  Take a girl with a flower name and add in a sweet widower, twin boys, a pet pig and what do you get? A fun-filled romance sure to delight any lover of historical romance.

  The fifth of the Sullivan girls , Jasmine stays with her sister Daisy to help her while she’s pregnant and for a time after her sweet niece Dinah is born. While she’s there, she catches the eye of widower, Lee Fields, who has his hands full with the most rambunctious twin boys Jasmine has ever had the fortune to meet. She’s certain he’s the man she needs to fulfill all her dreams, and the boys? They’re just icing on the cake. How could anyone complain about such sweet little things? Of course, she only felt that way until they started playing the type of pranks on her she’d always considered her specialty. Could she fight through the nonsense to find love with her new husband? Or had she made a terrible mistake marrying this man?

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  Chapter One

  Jasmine stood at the back of the church making sure all the hymnals were put into the back of the pews like they should be. She hated to walk in and find the hymnals scattered everywhere. She didn’t know why it was a pet peeve, but it was. Besides, she was hoping that Lee Fields would stop and talk to her on his way out. That was the real reason she was obsessing over hymnals. She wanted a chance to be close to Lee.

  Lee was a widower who had a ranch very close to where Jasmine lived with her sister, Daisy. She was only going to stay for a couple more months until Daisy got into a routine with the housework, cooking, and the baby before she went back to Seattle to her mother. If Jasmine got her way, though, she would be married before that happened. Married to Lee and mother to his adorable seven year old twin boys. Daisy was ready to handle things herself now, but she’d agreed that she could use the help for another month or two.

  Jasmine had long red hair that reached almost to her knees, and her eyes were a dark brown. She was the fifth of eight sisters, all of them named after flowers, so it made her happy to be away from Seattle where she’d been raised. You couldn’t swing a dead cat in Seattle without hitting one of the Sullivan girls.

  She knew she was only eighteen, but she knew she could handle the boys. They were sweet most of the time. Honestly, though, they reminded her of herself when she was small. She knew that not everyone had considered her lovable when she was little, but she had been, and so were Lee’s boys. They made her smile every time she talked to them.

  Joseph and Jacob ran over to her and smiled up at her angelically. She knew that look. She’d perfected that look. “What are you two up to now?” she asked, trying to keep her voice stern in hopes she’d be their mother soon.

  Joseph shrugged innocently, while Jacob covered his mouth. A scream went up from across the church, and Jasmine crossed her arms over her chest. “Your handiwork?” She shook her head as if she was disappointed in them. The truth was she wanted to know which prank they’d pulled. She’d pulled them all at one time or another.

  “We put a frog in Mrs. Kyle’s purse.” Joseph let out a little giggle.

  Within seconds Lee was standing behind the boys with a hand on each shoulder. “I have a feeling I know where that frog came from,” he said in a low, gravelly voice. He obviously knew his boys were the cause of most of the mischief that happened when they were around and was doing his best to prevent it.

  Jasmine bit her lip to keep from laughing. That was the type of prank she’d played for years, and she still found them funny. She didn’t do things like that any longer, because she’d turned over a new leaf, but could she help it that it amused her?

  Lee gave her a look that told her he wasn’t amused by her laughter. “I’ll be back to deal with you in a moment.” He had each boy gripped by their upper arm and dragged them out of the church and into the churchyard.

  Jasmine stayed where she was, waiting for him to scold the boys. She talked to several people before Lee came back inside, the whole time knowing very well what Lee would be saying to the boys. She’d heard it all. “Did you have to laugh?”

  Jasmine grinned up at Lee. “I couldn’t help it! It was funny.” She wasn’t the least bit repentant and wouldn’t pretend to be. His boys were precious and if he couldn’t see that, she’d be happy to point it out to him.

  Lee shook his head. “If they were playing those jokes on you, it wouldn’t be so funny.”

  “But the boys love me. They’d never do anything like that.” She wondered if she could teach them some of her better jokes. It was fun to teach others the ways of practical jokes. At least the jokes that were just funny and not harmful. Giving them up was one thing, but teaching them to others? It would be pure joy for her. Of course, if she wanted to be a mother figure to them, she needed to get rid of that idea. No matter how much fun it would be.

  Lee shook his head. “I wouldn’t be so sure.” He offered her his arm to leave the church. “Would you like to go for a Sunday drive with the boys and me this afternoon?” He said the words quickly as if he were nervous and trying to get them out.

  “I’d love that!” Jasmine had been hoping for an invitation to do something, anything, with him for months. She wasn’t certain if she wanted to be his wife or the boys’ mother more. She liked the idea of being both.

  Lee walked her to the wagon where Daisy and Eli were talking to their mother, Mary, and their aunt Harriett. Daisy’s eyes grew wide as she saw Jasmine approaching on Lee’s arm. “Are you ready to go, Jasmine?” Daisy’s eyes met Jasmine’s and Jasmine could see her sister was trying to tell her something.

  “Just about.” She smiled up at Lee. “Since Mama and Aunt Harriett are here to help you today, I was wondering if you’d mind if I went on a drive with Lee and the boys this afternoon.” Jasmine knew her sister wouldn’t tell her ‘no,’ because she worked so hard around the house helping her out.

  Aunt Harriett smiled at Lee. “Hi, I’m Harriett Farmer.” She held her hand out to shake his. Harriett would be the one to decide if Lee was good husband material, and she would let Jasmine know if she should marry him or not. Jasmine desperately wanted Aunt Harriett to like Lee.

  Lee shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am. I’m Lee Fields. I have a ranch a few miles from here.”

  “How old are your boys, Lee?” Harriett asked.

  “I have seven year old twins. They’re a handful.” Lee looked over at the boys, as if to make certain they hadn’t set anything on fire since he’d seen them thirty seconds before.

  Harriett smiled. “All seven year old boys are handfuls.” She looked at Jasmine for a moment. “Why don’t we keep the boys so the two of you can make the drive alone? I’m sure it would be nicer without two squirmy boys trying to get in between the two of you.”

  Lee looked at Jasmine. “I’d like that a lot.” Lee was a tall man with dark hair and eyes. He wore his cowboy hat every moment he wasn’t in the church.

  Jasmine nodded. “Thank you, Aunt Harriett.” She knew that her aunt’s investigations of Lee would begin immediately, but that was a good thing for her. It meant she could agree to marry him sooner, and she really wanted to marry him bef
ore it was time for her to return home.

  Jasmine turned back to Lee with a smile. “I’ll see you this afternoon then?”

  “I’ll be by around two,” he told her. “I’ll tell the boys to be on their best behavior.”

  Mary, Jasmine’s mother, shook her head. “If we could deal with Jasmine, we can deal with anything.” She gave her fifth daughter a look that spoke volumes. Jasmine knew she’d been a handful in ways the other girls hadn’t. She’d enjoyed teasing and playing pranks more than your average ten year old boy from the time she was three until about a year before. When she’d realized there was no way she was going to be able to marry because of her reputation, she’d tried to tone things down a bit. She wouldn’t have if she hadn’t wanted to at least have a shot at marrying, though. She liked having fun and joking with people. It made life more interesting.

  Jasmine blushed a little, hoping that Lee wouldn’t think anything of her mother’s words. “I’ll see you at two, Lee.” She couldn’t wait. Living in a house with a newlywed couple for several months, and realizing how in love her sister was, made her want to marry herself.

  Lee nodded. “I’ll be there.” He strode off toward his wagon, and Jasmine watched him go, thinking just how much she already cared for him, even though they’d never seen one another outside of church. Of course, he was handsome enough to make her heart stop beating, and that didn’t hurt anything at all.

  Jasmine climbed into the buggy with her family, feeling starry eyed. Lee was a good looking, successful rancher. She knew her aunt would have nothing against him.

  As soon as they sat down, Daisy turned to her, her arms free for once as Mary held her granddaughter, Dinah, snuggling her close. “Jasmine, Lee’s boys are absolute terrors. They’re worse than you were! You can’t be thinking of marrying him.” Daisy’s face was covered with concern. She truly wanted the best for her sister, even though they’d just learned to get along.

  Jasmine made a face. “If any woman can handle those two boys, it’s me. I know how they think.” She wasn’t going to listen to any arguments. Lee was the man for her, and she couldn’t wait to be a mother to his delightful boys.

  Daisy shook her head. “I can see by the look on your face that you’re not going to listen to me, but I think you’re making a huge mistake.” She turned back around, making it clear she’d given the warning she felt the need to give, but she’d say nothing else on the subject.

  Harriett patted Jasmine. “Do you want me to start the investigation immediately?” she asked. “I feel like I need to since we leave in a week.”

  Jasmine nodded eagerly. “I really want to marry him, Aunt Harriett.” She loved the idea of being able to marry before the two of them left for Seattle. Her mother would insist on bringing the entire family back out for the wedding otherwise.

  Mary shook her head adamantly. “I don’t want two of my daughters living here! You need to come back to Seattle, Jasmine. You don’t know this man. Listen to your sister.” Mary was obviously grasping at straws and trying to come up with any argument she could to get Jasmine back to Seattle. She wanted her daughters all to live on the same street she did in Seattle, so she would be surrounded by her grandchildren at all times.

  Jasmine sighed. “Mama, there’s not a man in Seattle who would marry me, and we both know it. They would expect to wake up to a snake in their boots or something.” She’d had a great deal of fun with her pranks in the past, but she now wished she hadn’t been so public with them. Putting honey on the teachers chair and a snake in her desk drawer were things she probably never should have done.

  “That’s your own fault, Jasmine,” Mary told her daughter. “Don’t punish me by moving away.”

  “I’m not trying to punish anyone, Mama. Lee is the man I want to marry. Is that so hard to believe?” Jasmine couldn’t believe her mother thought she was trying to punish her. Why was it so wrong that she fell for a man in another state?

  Mary sighed. “Well, I suppose he is handsome.”

  Jasmine smiled, patting her mother’s arm. “Yes, he is. He’ll be a good husband to me.”

  “What happened to his first wife?” Harriett asked, needing to know so she could start her investigation.

  Eli was the only one with the answer to that. “Right after the twins were born, there was a blizzard. She wandered out into it and was found days later. She’d frozen to death. Her entire body had been mutilated by a wild animal. They were barely able to identify her.”

  Jasmine put her hand to her mouth in surprise. She’d had no idea. “Why did she wander out?” Why would anyone go anywhere in a storm like that?

  Eli shrugged. “No one knows. She may have had to use the outhouse or get something from the barn. Lee was sleeping at the time. She did it in the middle of the night after feeding one of the boys.”

  Jasmine shook her head. “Those poor boys have been motherless for seven years? That’s so sad.” Hearing the story made Jasmine want to be the boys’ mother even more.

  Harriett and Mary exchanged looks. Jasmine was definitely going to be difficult if she didn’t get to marry Lee.

  *****

  Lee lectured the boys the entire way home. “No more frogs! You scared the dickens out of Mrs. Kyle!” Why couldn’t his boys go to church and sit still and behave like other children? Was he so lacking as a father?

  Joseph folded his arms over his chest. “She deserved it. She said mean things.” Joseph was the more hardheaded of the twins. He was a red head verses Jacob’s blond hair, so that explained a lot in Lee’s mind.

  Lee sighed. “What did she say?” He was almost afraid to know. Many of the ladies at church complained about his boys and his parenting, but with good reason.

  “She said we were hellions and you were a terrible father,” Jacob answered. He was obviously offended by the woman’s words. “I don’t even know what a hellion is!”

  Lee was inclined to agree with the older woman, but he couldn’t say that to the boys. He decided to ignore the unspoken question about the meaning of the word ‘hellion.’ “That’s no reason to scare her.” That’s just proving her point.

  “We don’t like her! We don’t like anyone but you! And sometimes Miss Sullivan.” Jacob was never afraid to say what he thought, which was both good and bad in Lee’s opinion.

  Raising the two boys on his own had been more than a little difficult. He’d tried for years to find a mother for them, but as they’d gotten older, their reputation as pranksters had gotten worse and worse. He smiled as he thought about Jasmine. He didn’t know her well, but she was a pretty little thing and didn’t seem to be afraid of his boys. Good enough for him. He’d ask her to marry that afternoon if she seemed at all interested. She was related to Daisy King, and Daisy was the picture of perfection in his mind.

  “I’m glad you like Miss Sullivan,” Lee said. “I’m going to take her for a drive this afternoon to get to know her better. You two have got to be on your best behavior.” He knew it was a lot to ask his boys, but maybe, if they knew they could get Jasmine for a mother, they’d do it just this once.

  Jacob looked at his father excitedly. “Is she going to be our new ma?” It was obvious he wanted her to be his new mother. Both boys had really taken a liking to her in a way they never had any other woman.

  Lee shrugged. “I’d like her to be, but you two had better not make it so her family won’t let her marry me. Both her mother and her aunt will be there. You’ve got to be on your very best behavior. No pranks. No running in the house. No loud noises.” There were other things he should tell them not to do, he knew, but he couldn’t think of any just then. Hopefully they’d understand it encompassed all bad behavior and not just the things he’d mentioned.

  Joseph turned to Lee with a smirk. “We know how to behave, Papa. We just don’t choose to most of the time.”

  Lee knew that was true. The boys could be absolute angels when they wanted something. “So you’ll behave properly today? Because you want Miss Sulliva
n to be your new ma?” He said a silent prayer that they’d do what they were told for a change.

  Joseph seemed to think about it for a moment before finally nodding. “We can do that.”

  Jacob agreed. “We’ll do our very best.”

  Lee breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe, for once, they’d do what they were told and not try to take over whatever corner of the world they happened to be in.

  *****

  Jasmine was dressed and waiting for Lee at quarter before two, watching out the window for him. She couldn’t wait to finally be able to be alone with the man and talk to him. Maybe he’d even kiss her. Having four older sisters, she’d seen a lot of kisses, and they’d always seemed a little too…intense for her tastes. Now that she had a man in her sights, she liked the idea of intensity.

  Harriett had spent the afternoon asking Eli everything he knew about the man, whom he’d known for years. Jasmine had ignored it all as she helped out with the chores before dressing for her drive. She wore her best bonnet, and a dress that he hadn’t seen yet. Her mother had brought her a new dress from Seattle, and she’d almost worn it that morning, but had decided she’d rather wait for a special occasion. A drive with Lee was just what she’d been thinking about.

  She saw Lee pull up into the yard and set the brake. He got down and talked to the boys for a moment. She could just hear him. She was certain he was lecturing them both to be on their best behavior. If they were like she’d been, their best behavior didn’t reach other children’s worst, and she knew very well how much they were like her.

  She opened the door for the boys and they traipsed inside. She patiently introduced them to her mother and aunt, even though she badly wanted to be on her way. “Mama, Aunt Harriett, these are Jacob and Joey. Joey has the red hair and Jacob is the towhead.” She added the second part so the boys wouldn’t decide to pretend to be each other. She’d known a lot of twins who had done that.