The Wives of Bowie Stone by Maggie OsborneMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.7 stars
I wasn't planning on writing a review for this but I must talk about it.
"I'm not going to help you destroy yourself." He drew a breath and looked at her, trying to recall how she looked and smelled when she was fresh out of a bath. "Getting drunk won't change the past. It's time to forget the past, clean up your life and move on."
"I am so sick of your lectures! Stop drinking, stop smoking, stop swearing, stop remembering … I might as well stop living!" She stared at his tight jawline. "You just don't understand, do you? There's nothing in this whole miserable world I'd like better than to forget what he did to me! And I could forget if only I'd had the chance to say my piece and shoot the bastard. Everything would be different!"
"It's too late for revenge. You've got this crazy idea that Frank Blevins can still see you and hear you. He's dead, Rosie. Blevins has been dead for three years. I'm sorry you didn't get to say your piece, and I'm sorry that life isn't fair; but it's too late to change that. It's over now."
I highlighted the hell out of this story, there were so many quotes and scenes that hit me in the feels. This was published in 1994 but has the tone I've been crying for in newer published books. First off, the title is magnificent in it's simplicity. The Wives of Bowie Stone. It's so apt because this is basically two connected novellas melded into one book.
Considering that Rosie was about as loveable as a stink bug, he didn't understand why he liked her; but he liked her more the longer he knew her. She was generous to bastards who did not deserve her generosity. She was fiercely loyal to Lodisha, John Hawkins, and even to him. No roustabout had ever worked harder than Rosie did. She groused about little things that didn't matter but didn't complain about the things that did. On those rare occasions when something tickled her, her laugh was light and infectious and transformed her scowl into something lovely that could steal a man's breath away. Fresh out of the bath, she was the most beautiful and most desirable woman he had ever seen. And sometimes she was so painfully vulnerable that a child could have crushed her. Shaking his head, he led Ivanhoe toward his stall and a rubdown. When he thought about Rosie blurting, "But I thought you liked me a little," a painful tightening stretched across his chest. This strange wounded woman whom he'd had no right to marry was beginning to get under his skin.
It starts in a small farming town in Kansas where Bowie Stone is about to be hung. He's a disgraced former Union Officer who supposedly disobeyed a direct order to participate in the slaughtering of Native Americans and then later supposedly shot his commanding officer in the back. Out west though, men are needed and this town has a law that if any woman picks a condemned man to marry, he's free. Rosie Mulvehey claims Bowie and he's saved from the noose. Rosie is dressed like a man, the town drunk, and besides labor, wants nothing to do with Bowie. We learn fairly quickly that she wants Bowie to help her with planting wheat and is determined to turn the first profit the farm has ever seen. She's so determined because her stepfather never had a profitable year and she wants to prove that she isn't all the names he called her and “beat” him and “win”. Her alcoholism and attitude become even more clear during an explosive scene when she reveals that she was raped by the stepfather for years.
"Just because you look pretty doesn't mean I'm going to attack you or make unwelcome advances."
"That's what it usually means. The only time a woman is safe from poking is when she's ugly."
Rosie's character had an uncontrollable immaturity that was frustrating at times but so understandable as we know that kids can remain trapped in the age they were when their trauma occurred. It's mostly rooted in her wanting to be “ugly”, not bathing, wearing baggy clothes, drinking, and cursing. Right away you can see how Bowie is going to be good for her, he doesn't give into her temper tantrums and he also doesn't try to control her actions or judges, he makes her want to change because she wants to be better herself.
So Bowie and his new wife Rosie are the first novella and the companion novella follows Bowie's first wife. Yep, The Wives of Bowie Stone, remember?
"I am never going to marry you, Mrs. Stone," he said when they had traveled another mile in silence.
Bowie had an older brother but he ended up dying in a carriage accident but not before he begged Bowie to marry Susan, a woman who was about to be engaged to and who was pregnant with is baby. Bowie marries Susan but then joins the Union army and is off to fight but he makes his father promise to take care of Susan and the child. When Bowie's troubles reach D.C., his senator father is disturbed in a way that has him deteriorating physically and dies. Susan thinking Bowie was hung, finds herself without a man to rule and guide her life and for a society woman, she is lost. It turns out Bowie's father knew her child wasn't Bowie's but didn't know it was his older son's and he only leaves her forty dollars thinking she trapped Bowie into marriage. Then the lawyer says he can't release Bowie's estate money until they have a death certificate and body, which Kansas just keeps ignoring their requests for. So Susan finds herself penniless with a child to feed and society turning their back on her because of Bowie's reputation. She decides to answer a mail order bride ad and travel west.
She couldn't cook, couldn't wash or iron. She didn't know anything about building a house or fishing or livestock. He couldn't imagine her wringing a chicken's neck and preparing it for supper. But by God, Susan Stone had courage.
When she gets to Wyoming, Gresham, the man who placed the ad isn't impressed with her lack of stature and inability to cook, clean, or generally work, plus he doesn't want a kid. She finds herself almost penniless and no man to help. Gresham keeps saying he isn't responsible for her but feels bad and sets up an appointment for her to possibly be a teacher.
For the first time in her life, Susan Stone had won respect in her own right.
So, while this is romance, Rosie and Susan's battles and journeys are the highlights here. I loved the two sides of a coin theme, Rosie wasn't looking for a man to help her live but got one and Susan was looking for a man but had to help herself. It's the Rosie knew how to survive but didn't know how to live and Susan knew how to live but not survive. The way these two historical women took the challenges placed on them and conquered them was a thing of beauty. Because of the two stories in one, the novella feel of some quickness and at times wishing there was time to spend more time with, this had a just the bare bones feel to it. You're getting the emotion from Rosie learning her self-worth and moving to recovering alcoholic and Susan's fear from not having a man to take the responsibility and then courage and exhilaration as she is at the helm of her life. It's not cloaked in ridiculous over-the-top and was all the better for it.
"I can speak for most of them. The most important thing is, you aren't to blame for what Blevins did to you. He didn't hurt you because you wore a skirt or because you dressed your hair a certain way or walked a certain way or because you looked pretty. Blevins hurt you because he was weak and brutal. He was a coward and sick inside. Maybe he was evil. But he was to blame for what happened, Rosie. Not you. It was never your fault."
************
“You're not to blame for being victimized. You have nothing to be ashamed of; you can hold your head as high as any woman in this county. You're not dirty or ugly or anything else you might be thinking. You're fine and strong and decent. You're a worthwhile person, Rose Mary Mulvehey. You deserve respect and admiration."
Again, those quotes are from a book published in 1994, don't spend all your time in newer releases, there are some wonderful hidden gems out there. Anyway, the men take a little bit of a backseat because of how emotional the women's journeys are. However, in his quiet but steadfast way, Bowie Stone cemented his nomination for my end of year Romancies awards. Gresham definitely plays second fiddle to all the characters but he flashes beautifully at times, especially as he goes from refusing to admit feeling bad for Susan to not leaving her side and crying with her after a horrible moment. <spoiler>*****Her son dies and it didn't quite have the big impact it was supposed to have on me because we just don't get to spend quite enough time with them and then it felt rushed*****<end spoiler>
"If you want to kill yourself with drink, fine. That's your choice. If I prefer to make love to a woman who will remember it in the morning, that's my choice."
Much is made about Rosie having to give up liquor in order to live but to her alcoholic persona, Bowie matches with his ghost. His story is always lingering in the background with his guilt over killing his commanding officer, his will to live is about as strong as Rosie's. I loved how the author mirrored Rosie having to be able to be in the saloon without drinking with Bowie having to fight a second attempt at hanging, they both ultimately have to save themselves but they also have that foundation of previously growing love and strength from the other and I think some books miss that part.
"Needing someone is as much a part of life as breathing. When we no longer need someone, we're alone, the worst kind of alone there is. You are long past needing a man to survive. Don't mistake that kind of need with needing a man—a certain man—to be fulfilled and happy. It isn't the same thing. Time is shorter than we think it is. Don't delay doing something you know in your heart is right."
When I read that above quote, I thought “Yes!”, I want my heroines to stand on their own but in romance I also want them to stand supporting and supported by the hero.
"You were magnificent out there," he said softly. Taking her wrists, he raised her hands to his lips and kissed her bandaged fingers. "I don't know another woman who could have done what you did. I'm proud to know you, Rose Mary Mulvehey. I hope to hell that you get the crop you deserve."
He thought she was magnificent. He felt proud to know her. Hot tears pricked at her eyelids and she couldn't breathe. No one had ever said anything like that about her. The sentiments and the sincerity in his eyes made her feel strange and almost sick inside. Joy and pain and disbelief built a searing pressure behind her chest.
There were times that I got some The Prince of Midnight by Laura Kinsale vibes, with the heroine in so much pain that accepting any form of love could shatter her.
Loving and being loved, that was the most powerful revenge of all.
I could go all day quoting this story, Bowie Stone was a quiet hero, a hell of a one, but this wasn't his story, this was all about Rosie and Susan for me. The novella format with it's two sides of a coin heroines worked beautifully but it also kept the page count too low for both romances. A definite hidden gem, read this one and then come talk to me about it!
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