Page 13 of Sudden Mail-Order Bride (Frontier Brides #1)

When we’re married.

Caroline held the words to her heart as she and Jeremy joined his family for dinner. Perhaps it had been a slip of the tongue, but clearly Jeremy was thinking about a future together. And that’s what mattered most.

Ned had returned from his jaunt and took his place beside Joanna, though Jane and Jason were missing. They were out watching the cattle, and Mrs. Willets had put aside food for them to eat later.

“Now that the painting is done,”

Jack said after Mr. Willets had said the blessing and they were passing around the roast, carrots, and potatoes, “we need to prepare the kitchen garden for the spring. I want to start planting as soon as we can after the last frost. Jacob and Jeremy, I could use your help.”

Jacob nodded, but their mother pointed a wooden spoon at Jack. “None of that now. I said Jeremy’s one job is courting, and I meant it.”

Ned chuckled. “Must be nice, having courting be your job.”

He nudged Joanna, who sent him a look under her lashes.

Caroline waited for Mrs. Willets to comment on the sly glances. Surely she’d noticed the way Ned and Joanna were behaving.

Instead, she focused on Jeremy. “And how is courting going?”

Now she and Jeremy were the center of attention.

“Rather well, if I do say so myself,”

Jeremy replied with a grin before popping a slice of carrot into his mouth.

His mother waited while he took his time chewing. So did Caroline. This was his chance to declare his intentions in front of his whole family.

“And?”

his mother prompted when he finally had to swallow.

Jeremy took Caroline’s hand, fingers warm and strong. “A courtship is between the gentleman and the lady. I’m sure you can understand.”

Caroline held back a sigh.

His mother shook her head and returned to her dinner. “Fine. Perhaps the two of you can wash the dishes tonight. That will give you more time together.”

“Nothing like soap suds to further romance,”

Jeremy joked.

Caroline couldn’t help her giggle, but she couldn’t leave it at that.

“Your mother isn’t going to give up,”

she warned him as they stood side by side at the porcelain sink, a tub of sudsy water in front of him and a tub of fresh water in front of her. Jenny had popped several loaves of bread into the oven to bake for the morning, and the yeasty smell vied with the fresh scent of soap.

“I’ve been fending her off all my life,”

he replied, handing Caroline a plate to rinse and dry. “I’ve become an expert. But if you’re worried, we could escape tomorrow after breakfast.”

She peered up at him. “How?”

His shoulder brushed hers. “As soon as the rain stops, we’ll go for a ride. We could go to the, er, drop.”

He said the word casually, but she understood what he was suggesting.

They could ride to the drop and share another kiss.

She fluttered her lashes and nodded agreement, afraid of what might pop out of her mouth if she spoke.

Maybe tomorrow, Jeremy would propose.

Just the possibility made it hard to sleep that night, and she was unaccountably jittery when Joanna came to help her with her hair the next morning. At least Ned was already downstairs, so she didn’t have to contend with her brother.

“He’s a hard worker,”

Joanna said as she braided Caroline’s hair into two plaits down her back, “always willing to lend a hand, like you.”

“And that’s a welcome surprise,”

Caroline assured her.

Joanna smiled as she tied the ends off with a pink ribbon, then turned to give Caroline access to her fiery hair. “Do mine the same way. And your influence on Jeremy is a welcome surprise too. He always seemed to laugh things off and go his own way before you arrived.”

Caroline cocked her head, working on making Joanna’s thick curls behave. “He does like to joke. But I see how hard he works.”

“Sometimes I think he fends people off because he isn’t sure of them,”

his sister said, shifting on the bed. “He was the littlest boy for a while when Jesse and Jack were young. They didn’t always include him, Jane told me. Jane just forced her way into the thick of things. Still does. But Jeremy made jokes, and that usually got their attention.”

Hard to think of Jack or any of Jeremy’s siblings thinking less of him, but she could see how Jeremy might have had to work to fit in as a child. His mother and father included all their children in the running of the ranch and family games. Perhaps Jeremy had still felt like an outsider.

She knew the feeling.

She tried not to study him as they ate breakfast that morning, but her jitters returned in full force as Mrs. Willets reminded everyone of their tasks for the day.

A ride to the drop. A look at the glorious view. A proposal of marriage.

Perhaps an even more glorious kiss?

“Ready to go?”

Jeremy asked with a smile as they rose from breakfast.

She nodded eagerly.

Mrs. Willets rose as well. “I need Caroline for a bit this morning. I’d like to make sure I have her measurements correct for that riding skirt.”

Jeremy’s shoulders slumped.

“Of course, Mrs. Willets,”

Caroline said, resigned to being helpful. His mother was taking the time to sew her a skirt, after all. She followed the lady from the room.

Mr. and Mrs. Willets’s bedchamber was at the back of the house, across the corridor from the kitchen. It was papered in tiny pink rosebuds, and the four-poster bed held pride of place in the center. Mrs. Willets positioned Caroline in front of a tall standing mirror.

“What do you think?”

she asked, draping a length of navy serge across Caroline’s arm. “Will this do for a riding skirt?”

“It’s lovely,”

Caroline assured her. “Thank you!”

Mrs. Willets smiled as she turned to set the material down on the colorful quilt that covered her bed. “It will go nicely with your dark coloring. My girls look better in greens and browns.”

She took a length of cord knotted at various internals from her apron pocket and wrapped it around Caroline’s waist. Caroline lifted her arms to keep them out of the way.

“Commendable,”

Mrs. Willets said as she counted the knots. She glanced at Caroline’s face. “Are your stays comfortable?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Caroline told her. “I don’t over-lace.”

She’d never gone along with the idea that ladies needed to cinch themselves tight to fit some fashion.

“Very wise,”

Mrs. Willets agreed. “Hold this at your waist.”

Caroline accepted the end of the measuring cord while Jeremy’s mother dropped the other end to the floor and bent to count the number of knots. “And are you satisfied with my son’s courtship?”

Caroline jerked, and his mother tsked. “Hold still, dear.”

She froze, though she couldn’t help drawing in a breath along with a prayer for wisdom. Surely no man wanted a bride who ran telling tales to his mother!

“Jeremy is very attentive,”

she said. “I appreciate his patience in teaching me about riding and such.”

“Attention and patience, two qualities I don’t generally associate with my third son. What made you decide to answer his ad? That’s how these things go, isn’t it? A gentleman places an ad for a mail-order bride? Or did you place the advertisement?”

“It was his,”

Caroline said as his mother straightened. “I decided to apply to be a mail-order bride because I felt out of place in Cincinnati. So many of the girls I’d gone to school with were married and having children. Those that weren’t were very focused on finding a husband. And I never ended up meeting a gentleman who touched my heart.”

His mother regarded her as she straightened. “And Jeremy’s letters, they touched your heart?”

“Very much so,”

Caroline told her. “He didn’t drone on about his own accomplishments like men tend to do when they’re trying to impress. He shared stories about his family, and his love for you all shone through. I thought a man who could love like that might be able to love me.”

She had to drop her gaze. She’d never confessed that to anyone else. And Jeremy had never claimed to love her.

“I’m glad you were the one who answered his ad,”

Mrs. Willets said softly, her hand coming to touch Caroline’s. “Those are the most important things in life, in the end—finding your own family, where you are loved and appreciated. You both deserve that.”

She pulled back, and Caroline raised her head in surprise.

Mrs. Willets had returned to her usual bustling. “Now, I’ve kept you too long. I believe you and Jeremy were intending to go for a ride.”

She winked at Caroline. “I wouldn’t want to keep you from the drop.”

Cheeks heating, Caroline thanked her and hurried back to the kitchen.

Jenny was there, making another batch of bread dough. She smiled at Caroline as she stirred the ingredients together, flour speckling one cheek. “Jeremy said to tell you he’ll wait for you in the barn.”

She too winked.

Did everyone know they were going to the drop?

She hurried out to the barn under a sky that grew lower every moment. She didn’t see Jeremy, though both Calico and Quicksilver stood saddled in the fenced area, so she strode into the shadows of the big building. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim light. Then she spotted Ned in one of the stalls.

He was kissing Joanna.

“Ned!”

His name broke past her lips before she could think better of it.

Joanna yanked herself out of his arms. One look at Caroline, and her cheeks darkened. She picked up her skirts and dashed out of the barn.

Ned stomped out of the stall to glare at Caroline. “What? At least I’m brave enough to show a woman how I feel.”

He stalked after Joanna.

Caroline shook her head to clear it. What had the world come to? Her little brother, claiming to have feelings for a woman after knowing her only a few days? Worse, implying Jeremy was a coward?

Jeremy was brave. Look how he went out at night to tend the cattle. Look at how he stood up to his mother! Look how he rode, all confidence and skill.

And yet, he hadn’t proposed yet, his offer to visit the drop notwithstanding.

Could he be afraid of her?

***

Jeremy wasn’t sure why Caroline kept glancing at him as they rode away from the barn. By the way she’d blushed and nodded at his suggestion about riding to the drop last night, she must have some idea of his intentions.

He’d answered a question from Jack, who was gathering the spades to start work on the garden, and returned to find Caroline waiting by the paddock, fingers pleating the riding skirt Jenny had loaned her. This time he lifted her into the sidesaddle, relishing the feel of her, then stepped back as she adjusted her skirts.

Today was the day. Today, he’d propose. Today, he’d become an engaged man.

The sky didn’t seem to think much of his chances as he and Caroline followed the track leading east. Clouds obscured the horizon in a mass of boiling black. No sight of the mountain. They’d have rain again soon.

They passed the garden where his family grew the crops for the dining table. Jack, Jacob, and Ned were bending their backs to overturn the rich, black earth.

“Your brother’s certainly trying to prove himself,”

Jeremy mused.

“He’s certainly trying,”

Caroline said tartly. “That much we can agree on.”

Jeremy chuckled. “Well, Jack won’t let him get away with much.”

“Too bad Jack can’t be everywhere,”

she muttered.

From behind them came a yell, and he swiveled in the saddle to find Joy waving a dish towel at them. He reined in Quicksilver, and Caroline stopped Calico to glance back as well.

“Were we supposed to help with the washing or something?”

she asked him.

Jeremy shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

Once, he might have been tempted to ignore his little sister’s call. After all, he was about to propose! But something in him urged caution. His parents had enough to contend with. Best he help where he could.

But that didn’t mean he and Caroline couldn’t have a little fun on the way.

He gathered the reins. “Let’s see what she wants. You wanted to gallop. Are you ready?”

Her grin made the grim day brighter. Then she bent over Calico’s ears. “You can beat him to the barn, can’t you, sweet girl? Go!”

She clapped her heels to the paint’s side, and Calico trotted obediently forward, picking up speed with each step.

Jeremy shook his head as Quicksilver danced in anticipation. “Let’s give them a little head start.”

Quicksilver snorted as if much put out.

Jeremy waited until Caroline was halfway to the barn, then dug his heels in. Quicksilver bolted.

He bent low, the cool, moist wind whipping past. They were close, closer, almost there…

And Caroline managed to reach the barn a good length ahead. By the way her eyes lit, he couldn’t mind in the slightest.

“I did it!”

she crowed. Immediately, she patted Calico on the shoulder. “We did it, I should say.”

“You did indeed,”

Jeremy said, dismounting. “I own myself conquered.”

He came around and lifted his arms, and Caroline slid down into them. For a moment, he stood, watching the light shine in her eyes, the color blaze across her cheeks. He was bending his head when Joy came running up, and Quicksilver shied.

“Hurry, Jeremy! Mr. Dalrymple is here, and he’s asking for Caroline.”

Caroline stepped away from him. “Why would your minister want to talk to me?”

She glanced at Jeremy as if sure he’d had something to do with it.

He spread his hands. “I have no idea.”

When they reached the parlor, Mr. Dalrymple rose from where he had been seated near Ma and came toward Caroline to take both her hands in his, forcing Jeremy to step back.

“Miss Cadhill,”

he said, eyes shining, “you have my everlasting thanks.”

Caroline looked around him to Ma, who had her fingers pressed to her lips. Joy wiggled onto the sofa beside her, smile huge.

“For what?”

Caroline asked, refocusing on Mr. Dalrymple.

“For your generous donation,”

he said. “I imagine you preferred it to remain anonymous, but I had to come thank you personally. Because of you, we can buy that land and build the church!”