Page 12 of Sudden Mail-Order Bride (Frontier Brides #1)

Ned came down as the last of the family was seated. Jeremy noticed that he hadn’t taken the time to shave, and golden stubble speckled his chin and cheeks. He wore the same clothes from the day before too, as if he hadn’t bothered to pull another set from his valise. Then again, maybe he’d escaped Cincinnati with whatever he had had on hand.

They all set in to the porridge and sourdough toast with peach preserves after Pa had said the blessing, though Caroline watched her brother as closely as Jeremy did.

“Was the bed to your liking, Ned?”

Ma asked as she buttered her toast.

“Never slept so soundly in my life, ma’am,”

he told her, accepting the preserves Joanna offered him. Their fingers brushed, and she blushed.

So did Ned.

Jeremy caught Jack’s look from near the top of the table. His brother had seen the exchange too. Funny. They both understood that their sisters would fall in love someday. But Jeremy had never realized until that moment how few men could be worthy of them.

“I’m glad to hear it,”

Ma said to Ned before turning to her youngest son. “Joshua, you can help your father this morning as we planned, but I’ve decided to spare you from your lessons this afternoon. Mrs. Abercromby and I are organizing an auction after Easter to help raise money for the new church. Take two of my quilts to her, and then deliver her inventory of the items she’s received so far to Reverend Dalrymple.”

“Two quilts, very generous,”

Pa said, porridge on his spoon. “I know a few fellows who would gladly bid on those.”

“New church?”

Ned asked, glancing around.

“We don’t have a church building,”

Jane told him. “One of the local farmers intends to move on, and he offered to sell our minister the house and land if he could raise sufficient funds in time.”

“That’s the greatest obstacle,”

Pa added. “Time. Henshaw wants to move on by June. I don’t know if we can raise the money before then, even the low amount he agreed as the price.”

Jenny looked across the table. “Maybe Caroline and I can bake some pies. Those always go over well.”

“I’d be happy to help,”

Caroline said. “And those apple preserves might make good cobblers.”

“Let’s talk after breakfast,”

Jenny said.

“And I’ll talk with Mr. Dalrymple on Sunday,”

Jack added. “Maybe there’s something the boys and I can offer that he could auction.”

“Strong backs and burly shoulders?”

Jane teased him.

Jacob adjusted his spectacles. “I certainly hope we can offer more than that.”

“A great deal more,”

Pa assured him. “And all of it is wanted today to finish the painting.”

A chorus of groans rose.

“Maybe I could help with that,”

Ned said as the sound faded.

Jack’s eyes narrowed, but Pa nodded. “I’ll take you up on that offer.”

Caroline puffed out a sigh. Jeremy thought he knew why. The busier her brother kept, the less opportunity she’d have to quiz him.

But the more opportunity he and Jack would have to watch him.

***

What a delight to use her cooking skills for such a good cause! Caroline and Jenny did their own inventory of the family’s baking supplies while Jane and Joy finished washing and putting away the breakfast dishes.

“Enough supplies for two apple cobblers, three rhubarb pies, and four dozen gingersnaps,”

Jenny said, stepping back. “That’s a lot of cooking, Miss Cadhill.”

“It is indeed, Miss Willets,”

Caroline said with a grin. “But I think we’re up to it.”

Joy turned from the big porcelain sink, drying a plate. “Can I help?”

“Of course,”

Jenny said. “But this time, listen to what I say about the salt.”

Joy nodded, curls bobbing. “I will. I promise! And Caroline, I know just what you should do about your wedding.”

Caroline blinked. Was Jeremy’s youngest sister offering to intercede in their courtship? She looked so eager, smile lighting her round face, that Caroline didn’t have the heart to tell her she and Jeremy must figure that out on their own.

“Oh?”

she said instead.

Joy set the plate and towel aside and hurried forward. “Yes. We should hold it in the pasture, when all the wildflowers are blooming.”

Jane turned from the washing, hands covered in suds. “There are a few things in the pasture besides the wildflowers, Joy. Like cows and what they leave behind.”

Joy ignored her, clearly warming to her theme. Her hands were clasped in front of her again, as if she were about to give a great oration. “It must be a sunny day, so the light shines on your hair. And I can weave a crown from wildflowers to cover your veil. You’ll look like a princess!”

“If she’s wearing a veil, the sunlight isn’t going to shine on her hair,”

Jenny pointed out. “Maybe we should wait until the new church is built.”

Joy sighed, deflating. “Oh, I suppose.”

“It was a lovely idea,”

Caroline assured her. “And if Jeremy and I get married when the wildflowers are blooming, there is no one else I would trust to make me a crown.”

She brightened again. “I can’t wait.”

Neither could Caroline.

They finished in the kitchen a short time later, and Caroline and Jenny carried out water and cups for the painters. Caroline was glad for the chance to see Jeremy and to check on her brother. Mr. Willets had apparently paired Ned with Jack to take on the big wall to the left of the door Caroline and Jeremy had painted. Her brother seemed to be stroking on the paint as carefully as Jack did, even though he’d never painted anything before.

“Pies planned?”

Jeremy asked as she poured him a cup of water.

“Pies, cobblers, and cookies,”

she answered. She leaned closer and lowered her voice. “How’s Ned been behaving?”

“Like a tenderfoot,”

Jeremy confided. “He has no experience, but at least he seems eager to learn.”

They might have said the same of her. She continued to watch her brother as they all took a break for water. He joked with each of Jeremy’s siblings, setting Joanna to blushing again. He even climbed into the loft to examine Joshua’s work on the upper part of the barn and praised him for it before falling into a conversation with the youngest lad. Joshua headed off to see Mrs. Abercromby and the minister a short while later with a pleased smile on his face.

“You have anything else you want done, Mr. Willets?”

Ned asked Jeremy’s father, pausing to wipe a drop of water off his mouth with the back of his hand as they all prepared to resume work. Jenny collected the empty pitchers and cups to take to the house, and Caroline donned an apron to help with the painting.

“Tired of painting already?”

Mr. Willets asked her brother with an amused look.

“No, sir. I could probably paint for hours yet.”

He stretched as if to prove it, and Jason snorted. “I just wanted to make sure you knew I was here to help.”

“Glad to hear it, son,”

Jeremy’s father said. “Jack knows more about what needs doing these days. I’m sure he could find a use for you.”

Jack had taken a drink of water, and it must have gone down wrong, for he choked, and Jane had to pat him on the back.

“Let’s finish the barn,”

he said when he could speak. “We can discuss other tasks later.”

“Rain’s supposed to come in tomorrow afternoon,”

Jacob offered with a look to the puffy clouds in the sky. “Best to get the whitewash on today so it has a little chance to dry.”

“I can stay and help,”

Jason volunteered. “I was supposed to pick up some pins and thread for Ma, but that can wait a day.”

Ned perked up. “I could get those for you. On my horse, Puget City’s only a short jaunt.”

Interesting. If her brother had ridden straight here, how had he known the distance to Puget City? Or had he stopped there first to ask directions? She’d certainly needed help to find the Jumping J.

Of course, leaving the ranch for at least part of the afternoon meant she would have no more opportunity to question him.

So she followed him into the barn as he went to saddle his horse. Coming in from the light, the shadows gathered closer along with the familiar musty scents. Ned was standing by a dainty black horse with soulful eyes, whose head bobbed. He reached out a hand.

“Where’d you get her?”

Caroline asked, peering over the top of the stall.

Ned started as if he hadn’t realized she was there, then busied himself with the blanket and saddle. “I bought her off a man who had moved to Cincinnati and didn’t have a place for her anymore.”

He smiled as he ran a hand down her shoulder. “Maria’s been a faithful friend.”

He sounded so happy, she almost didn’t ask, but she had to know. “Why did those men come to you asking about the bank’s money?”

He kept cinching and buckling, his actions not nearly as smooth as Jeremy’s. But then, Jeremy had been doing it his whole life. “They thought Father was guilty. No one ever found the money, so they assumed he’d given it to me.”

Of course they had. She should have realized that. “Well, we’re shed of them now. I don’t see how they could find us here.”

He shot her a grin. “The blessings of living in the wilderness.”

Blessings indeed. The work here was unending, but so was the camaraderie. Her father had toiled for years with little to show for it. Jeremy’s family grew and raised what they needed, and they still helped others. And every day, the land changed with the seasons. Now it was ripening with spring. What would it be like in summer? Fall? Winter?

“How did you find the Jumping J?”

she asked as he led Maria out of the stall.

He frowned at her. “The Jumping J?”

“That’s what Joy named the ranch,”

she explained. “Were you here earlier, camping in the woods to make sure you had the right ranch?”

“No,”

he said, lower lip out as if he wondered why she’d ask. “Your note said you were going to stay with the Willets family near Puget City, Washington Territory. I went there and asked, and someone pointed me in this direction.”

Very much like how she’d found the place, only she’d asked in Olympia.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here,”

Caroline said, walking with him toward the barn door. “Maybe we’ve both found a home.”

“You’re going to marry him, then?”

he asked, pausing just inside the shadows.

Caroline raised her chin. “If we decide we suit.”

“You still trying to figure that out?”

Ned shook his head. “I can tell within minutes whether a gal is going to suit me or not.”

He swung up into the saddle. “I’ll be back in time for dinner.” He clucked to Maria and rode off.

Minutes to know whether to marry a person? An important decision like that shouldn’t be made on an impulse! Then again, Jeremy’s parents had fallen in love at first sight, and they seemed very happy together.

She and Jeremy just needed to find some middle ground!

He edged closer to her as she went to retrieve a brush to help him. “Any luck with Ned?”

“He has an answer for every question,”

she allowed, smacking her brush against the wood.

Jeremy stepped back as if to avoid the spray. “Answers you can live with?”

“For the most part,”

she said. “I don’t think he was your camper, Jeremy. I know that doesn’t help much.”

“More than you might think,”

Jack said from farther down the wall, proving he had been listening to every word.

Jeremy frowned at him, but his brother moved to join them. “Jason saw someone at the edge of the forest this morning while he was watching the cows. When he rode closer, the fellow disappeared into the woods.”

“Tell me he was smart enough not to go after him alone,”

Jeremy demanded.

“He didn’t,”

Jack assured him. “But it’s all the more reason to think this has nothing to do with Caroline’s brother and more to do with rustlers.”

Jeremy held up his brush like a sword. “You are not doubling the watch again. We don’t have any sisters or brothers left!”

“Could I help?”

Caroline asked, glancing between them.

“No,”

Jeremy said, dropping his brush into the bucket. “It’s not safe.”

“But if Jane can ride watch…”

she started.

“Jane has been riding watch since she was twelve,”

Jeremy told her, face hard. “Jane can shoot a knot out of a plank of wood at twenty paces.”

His words stung. Just when she was fitting in, it seemed she wasn’t. Back in Cincinnati, it had been her lack of wealth and connections that held her back. Here, it appeared to be her ability to ride a horse and shoot a gun!

Jack put a hand on Caroline’s shoulder, but his gaze was on Jeremy. “No one expects you to ride or shoot like Jane, Caroline. Even Joanna and Jenny can’t match her there. But we need experienced folks to watch the cows if there are rustlers in the area. You help in other ways. That’s good enough for me. What about you, brother?”

***

Of course it was good enough for him. He’d already decided Caroline might be a little too good for him. It wasn’t a matter of ability. It was a matter of safety. The idea of putting her in danger knotted his gut.

“Caroline’s proven she’s an asset to any family she cares to join,”

he told them both. “But cooking is a lot safer than riding herd.”

“Then perhaps I should just stay in the kitchen,”

she said. She dropped her brush in the bucket and headed for the kitchen door, head down and skirts swishing in her hurry.

“You hurt her feelings,”

Jack said, watching her.

“Because you know so much about feelings,”

Jeremy retorted, ache growing inside.

“I know pain when I see it,”

he countered. “You want to marry that gal, best you talk to her about it.”

He wasn’t sure how, but he had to try. He took only long enough to wipe the whitewash from his fingers with a turpentine-soaked rag, then strode after Caroline.

Ma glanced up from checking the venison roast as he came through the kitchen, the rich scent filling the air. She shut the oven door and straightened. “What did you do?”

“Something I’m going to apologize for,”

he said, heading for the corridor. He was just thankful his mother didn’t follow him.

He found Caroline on the front porch, curled up on one of the chairs. She avoided his gaze as he came to take the chair beside hers.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,”

he said. “I didn’t agree with Jack at first that these strangers were rustlers, but I’m coming around to the idea. Rustlers aren’t nice people, Caroline. Sometimes, when they try to take a herd, people get shot, trampled, killed.”

She flinched. “Then we should send for the police.”

“We don’t have a police force,”

he told her. “We have a sheriff and a few deputies for all of Thurston County. We can’t send for them until we know what we’re dealing with, and we won’t know what we’re dealing with until someone strikes.”

He reached out a hand and rested it on hers. “If something should happen to you, I’d never forgive myself.”

“I took care of myself, mostly, in Cincinnati,”

she said softly.

“You must have faced things in the city I’ll never face here,”

he agreed. “But I doubt you had to worry about bears wandering into the yard, a cougar going after a calf, or rustlers trying to steal your livelihood.”

She sighed. “No, only thieves at the bank sending my father to prison.”

He squeezed her hand. “That’s bad enough. I just don’t want you to have come all this way only to meet something worse. Won’t you let me protect you?”

“Of course,”

she said readily, but she still didn’t look at him. She’d had too many examples of men who hadn’t fulfilled their vows of protection. He couldn’t blame her for doubting his.

“I’m sorry if I made it sound as if I expected you to stay inside at all times,”

he tried again. “I thought that was how you’d lived in Cincinnati, and I got the impression from your letters that you liked cooking and cleaning.”

She regarded him. “I’m not sure anyone enjoys cleaning, although I will own to a certain satisfaction when I see things tidy and sparkling. And I do enjoy cooking. Back home, it was a challenge to find the best foods on our budget. But here?”

She waved a hand at the fields. “You have a bounty in easy reach!”

“Not necessarily easy,”

Jeremy said, leaning back in the chair. “Things are already starting to grow, so you haven’t seen the worst of winter. We slaughter a few pigs, maybe a sheep, and a cow or two every fall and smoke the meat or make sausages or jerky. Ma puts up fruit and vegetable preserves. But meals get a little thin around January when it’s hard to hunt in the cold and nothing much is growing. Someone else who knows how to economize would come in handy.”

Finally, she smiled, and it was like the first sight of sun in February. “Well, then, I’m your gal.”

And there it was, his opportunity.

Yes, you are my gal, the only one I’ll ever need. Will you do me the honor of marrying me?

It was a good proposal, one that would likely please her, but no words came out of his mouth. Maybe if he eased into it instead, he could get the words out.

“Well, then,”

he said, every muscle tensing as if she’d pulled a pistol on him, “when we’re married, would you prefer to tend the house or work more on the ranch?”

She stared at him, and his heart shriveled. She licked her lips. She was going to refuse!

“When we’re married,”

she said slowly, as if waiting for him to correct her, “will we have a home? Will you claim land? I think that’s what you call it in the territories.”

She hadn’t said no. Air filled his lungs, relief his chest. He nearly slumped in the chair.

“That’s the process. But most of the land in the area has been claimed. That’s why Mr. Dalrymple needed someone to sell or give him land to build a church. Besides, I don’t want to be too far from the family.”

He swiveled in the chair to face her more fully. She was watching him, brow furrowed, and he couldn’t tell if that was a sign that she was considering his words or getting ready to refute them.

“What I’ve been thinking is maybe a house of our own,”

he confessed. “Out by the drop.”

Her frown eased. “I can’t imagine anything finer than waking up each morning with that view.”

Unless it was waking up next to her.