Page 3 of Sudden Mail-Order Bride (Frontier Brides #1)

They finished moving Jeremy’s and his brother’s things to the other room in time to come downstairs for dinner. The sound of voices greeted Caroline before she even stepped into the room.

After their mother’s death, it had been just her and Ned. Their father might join them for dinner, but, more often than not, he worked late or brought ledgers home with him. She’d told herself he was just being conscientious, but some at the bank had insisted that this had been his opportunity to change the numbers in the books to hide his misdeeds.

Her father might have been overly generous in his donations to help those in need, but he would not have stolen money to support others. She hadn’t been allowed in the courtroom, but Ned had reported the evidence of his guilt was spotty at best. Still, money was missing, and the most likely suspect was her father. Someone else must have been involved, but who? The riddle had gone around and around in her mind as she’d traveled West, and it still made her head spin.

So did trying to keep up with Jeremy’s family.

His father was standing at the head of the table, hands braced on the back of the hardwood chair as Jeremy led her and Joy in. His brothers and sisters were filling in the sides, and there seemed to be some confusion as to the seating arrangements, because they kept bumping into each other and looking at their mother as they moved about.

In the end, Caroline found herself seated next to Mrs. Willets near the foot of the table. At least Jeremy was beside her. She wasn’t sure what was expected of her, but she was beginning to realize she could count on him to intervene if anything became too trying.

His father said the blessing, and everyone began passing dishes around: a porcelain tureen of stew, a pewter platter with squares of cornbread, and a bowl of something purple, shiny, and lumpy. Would they think her a glutton if she loaded her plate?

“Serve your sweetheart, Jeremy,”

his mother directed as he started to pass her the tureen.

“I hardly think we all want a taste of Caroline, Mother,”

he said with a wink to Caroline. “And I’m not sure Joy could lift her to pass her on to Jane.”

Joy giggled at his silliness, but his mother shook her head.

He bent closer to Caroline. “I suppose I should be a gentleman and spoon you up portions, but I have a feeling you know better than I do what you’d prefer.”

“All of it,”

she told him. “It looks delicious.”

His brows went up as if impressed, and he proceeded to fill her plate.

Some girls at the academy had picked at their food, claiming that eating little made them appear daintier, more refined. His mother and sisters seemed to be eating heartily, so Caroline did too.

Oh, how nice to have butter for the cornbread again! To sink her teeth into the stew meat and not have to chew for minutes to get through the tough parts. The lumpy material turned out to be a berry preserve, but she didn’t recognize the type. It was sweet and tangy at the same time. She was enjoying every bite when the questions started.

“Where are you from, Miss Cadhill?”

his mother asked as she spooned up another mouthful of stew.

Caroline hastily swallowed. “Cincinnati, ma’am. Near the foot of Mount Adams, until recently.”

She wasn’t sure if the burgeoning neighborhood would mean anything to his family, but she might as well impress as much as she could.

His mother seized on the last word instead. “Recently? Had you moved?”

“Caroline moved out of her father’s home to a lodging house,”

Jeremy put in smoothly. “And I, for one, commend her for her courage and fortitude.”

Jane lifted her glass and toasted Caroline with it. “Hear, hear. We should all aim to be more independent.”

“Speak for yourself,”

Joshua said. Jeremy’s youngest brother had a lock of red hair that persisted in falling down over his forehead. “I like living at home. Everyone knows what I prefer.”

“And aims to please,”

his father agreed with a smile.

“Because we know what a fuss he’ll put up if we don’t,”

his brother Jason grumbled.

Joshua elbowed him in the gut. Jason glared at him.

“Manners,”

their mother said, and they quickly returned to their food.

Mrs. Willets refocused on Caroline, and she felt the gaze to her toes. She steeled herself for questions about her father. How long before Joy blurted out all she’d heard?

She glanced at the girl, but Joy was busy eating.

“Did you attend school there, dear?”

Jeremy’s mother asked.

Relief coursed through her along with the excellent stew. “I am a graduate of Miss Wilmont’s Academy for Young Ladies. I received high marks for reading and memorization.”

All of his sisters sighed in unison.

“Another scholar,”

his mother said with an arch look to Jeremy. “Perhaps she should talk more with Jacob.”

Jacob was only a couple years younger than Jeremy. She located him across the table. Behind his wire-rimmed spectacles, his gray eyes were serious, as if he hoped to learn more about her.

“I’d be happy to exchange thoughts on our favorite books,”

he offered, leaning forward so that the candlelight glinted on his russet hair. “What are yours?”

Caroline licked the butter off her lips. When it came to reading, the other girls at the academy had preferred adventure or dime novels.

“History books,”

she said, waiting for the groan that that admittance usually generated. “The founding of our country especially. Thomas Jefferson had a great many things to say that are simply fascinating.”

His lean face lit up.

“She’s patriotic too,”

their mother said with another look to Jeremy. “How commendable.”

Too late she realized the lady’s ploy. This wasn’t about making Caroline squirm. This was about showing Jeremy all her finer points. She could have told the dear woman that they’d already covered this in their letters. She’d held nothing back. If she was going to marry a fellow, she’d figured, he ought to know what he was getting.

“I find many things commendable about Caroline,”

Jeremy said, reaching for the tureen again. “The way she kept her father’s house after her mother passed. How she all-but-raised her younger brother in her mother’s place. The time she spent soliciting businesses to donate coats and mufflers to protect the poor in the winter.”

Oh, right. She had nattered on about all those things. Nevertheless, she felt her cheeks heating as ten more gazes trained her way.

“It didn’t seem all that hard at the time,”

she demurred. “May I have some more of the preserves?”

Jason and Joshua reached for the bowl at the same time, then stopped and narrowed their eyes at each other. Jenny rescued the preserves and passed them to her, a twinkle in her blue eyes.

“Boys,” she said.

“Will be boys,”

Caroline and Jeremy said in unison. She grinned at him, and he grinned back.

Something zinged through her, faster than a bumblebee and sweeter than its honey. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she had no intention of questioning it.

***

He’d known they’d liked her. From the first, her letters had brimmed with enthusiasm and earnestness. She was exactly the sort of girl his mother would appreciate—unafraid of chipping in wherever she was needed. The only mark against her was that he didn’t love her.

Yet.

The word hung in his mind as they finished dinner, and he couldn’t decide whether it was accompanied by hope or concern. Only Jacob knew of Jeremy’s last disastrous attempt at courting. His brother had been there when he’d proposed and been summarily dismissed. He’d thought he had moved past the hurt, but he found the moment still stung.

“Jane and Jacob, you’re milking tonight,”

Ma said, looking at each of them in turn. “Joanna and Joshua have the morning. Jack, who’s on duty for the watch?”

“Jeremy and Jason,”

his brother had said with a look down the table to them.

“Jenny and Joy, I’ll need your help in the kitchen tonight and in the morning,”

his mother continued. “Jane can gather the eggs. Joy can feed the chickens, and Jacob can slop the pigs and let the other stock out to graze. Jack can tell you the rest of your assignments at breakfast, but I expect Joy, Joshua, and Jason for lessons by mid-morning.”

A chorus of “Yes, ma’am”

rang out around the table.

“Could I help?”

Caroline asked, smile tentative. “I’ve always enjoyed cooking, and I’d like to learn to take care of the animals.”

His mother reached out to pat her hand. “How kind, dear, but completely unnecessary. I want you and Jeremy focused on courting.”

So much so that when he rose and started to help clear the table, his mother shooed him out. “See to your bride.”

She nodded to Caroline. “The stars are out tonight. Should be a good view from the front porch.”

In the dark, alone? Oh, his mother was determined to match them up. Next thing he knew, Caroline would be hogtied into marriage like his brother Jesse. She deserved the right to make her own choice.

“Jacob,”

he called as his brother started down the corridor for the kitchen door. “Come show Caroline the constellations.”

A few moments later, Jeremy leaned against one of the porch supports as his brother stood on the edge of the planks and pointed to the stars. Caroline stood dutifully beside Jeremy, gazing up as directed. The candlelight from the parlor window set her black hair to gleaming, and he caught the scent of lavender.

“There must be stars over Cincinnati,”

he said with a smile.

“Not like here,”

she corrected him as Jacob stepped down onto the grass. “The city has so much smoke and steam, with lights blazing at all hours, that we often can’t see the sky at night.”

She looked back into the dark. “Here, the stars are everywhere!”

Even in her eyes.

“Technically, the stars are everywhere, everywhere,”

his literal brother pointed out. “But the ranch has a more unobstructed view than many towns. All those fields.”

He nodded out across the land.

In the distance, a Ruby Red lowed. Other cows answered. The music of his world.

“Do you need to see to them?”

she asked as if she’d heard the sound too.

“Not right now,”

he answered, turning away from the sparkling view. “We generally let them range, but a few of the other ranchers have spotted rustlers, so we take things in shifts to watch them all night.”

“And I should help Jane with the milking,”

Jacob said. He nodded to Caroline. “I owe you a discussion on literature, Miss Cadhill. Jeremy, remember our lesson.”

Jeremy gritted his teeth but managed a nod as his brother continued around the house for the barns.

“Lesson?”

Caroline asked.

One of the hardest of his life, but sharing his previous failure at courting wouldn’t make this attempt any more successful.

“He’s our scholar,”

Jeremy said instead. “Everything is a lesson to Jacob.”

He turned for the door in time to see three shapes dart back from the parlor window. So much for privacy!

Caroline must have seen them too, for she shook her head. “Are they all going to play matchmaker?”

“Every last one,”

Jeremy said. “If you had any ideas of cutting and running, now might be a good time.”

Part of him tensed, as if she’d flounce off, but she merely followed him back into the house.

“I like them,”

she said. “I never had a big family growing up. My father and mother didn’t have any siblings, and neither did their parents. For most of my life, it was just me, my father, and Ned.”

That sad look was creeping onto her face again, puckering her brow. Jeremy nudged her with his shoulder. “What’s mine is yours. Take my sisters, my brothers, whichever you want. Though I might keep Joy. She’s too much fun to let go.”

She pursed her lips. “Oh, but I like Joy too. Choices, choices!”

He chuckled and nodded up the stairs, which were lit by an oil lamp at the top. “I need to head for bed. I’m scheduled to take the early morning shift with Jack watching the cows.”

“Then I’ll head up too.”

They climbed the stairs together, and he couldn’t help remembering the many times he’d seen his parents do the same. They had slept upstairs before Joshua and Joy had come along, and his father would put his arm around his mother’s waist. She’d lean her head against his shoulder. That tenderness and care spoke of a shared love, a commitment.

He slipped an arm about Caroline’s waist. She started, but she didn’t pull away. It felt right, good.

Like this was where she was meant to be.

She sent him a smile before going into his old bedroom, and he had to force his feet down to the one he’d be sharing with most of his brothers.

They had two cots they used when they had men working at the ranch, like during branding and roundup. Some of his brothers must have brought the cots up, for he found them squeezed into the corners of the room and spread with blankets. His nightshirt was draped conspicuously over one.

He shook his head. He might be the oldest among the brothers still living in the house, but the others were letting him know that that didn’t mean he could take one of their beds.

He managed a few hours’ sleep on the cot—he’d have to tell Pa they needed better for their workers—then slipped out of the room to help Jack. Jacob grunted in his sleep and tried to turn on the other cot.

“Thought you might have forgotten, what with you courting and all,”

Jack said when Jeremy rode out to meet him.

“I can watch and court too,”

Jeremy said. The night was like a velvet cloak about him, soft and dark. The moon had set, but enough starlight trickled down to allow him to spot cattle here and there among the grasses. “Everything looks quiet.”

“It always does,”

Jack said, “until it doesn’t. Start the circuit, and I’ll meet you on the other side.”

With a nod, Jeremy set his horse around the edge of the pastures. Some of his brothers hated the night work, complaining it cut into their sleep. He liked it. With the crickets chirping and the forest whispering, it was a good time to think about his present, about the future.

About Caroline.

She was very much as she’d portrayed herself in her letters, yet he couldn’t help wondering about the differences between them. She had only her brother; he was used to a houseful. She’d graduated from a school. They didn’t have a school; every claim did its best to teach its own children. They didn’t have a church, either, though everyone was hoping the new minister would be able to build one.

“I like your gal,”

Jack said when they met near the trees on the far side of the pasture. “She seems sensible.”

“High praise, brother,”

Jeremy teased. “Watch out, or I might be jealous.”

“You’ll have no challenge from me,”

Jack promised. “When I decide to court a gal, it’s going to be one born and raised to ranching.”

“Then I wish you luck,”

Jeremy said. “From what I’ve seen, the only daughters of ranchers in these parts are younger than Joy, and I’m pretty sure their fathers would disapprove of them starting a courtship.”

Jack held up his hand, head cocked. “Do you smell that?”

Jeremy sniffed the air, half afraid of what he might smell, considering the number of cows in the fields around them. But something else drifted from the woods.

“Smoke,”

he said, tensing. “It’s too damp for a wildfire.”

“Someone’s camping on our land,”

Jack said, tone darker than the night.

“Might be someone traveling through,”

Jeremy said, trying to catch sight of the campfire through the trees. “But only a madman would ride into the forest in the dead of night without knowing what he was facing.”

Jack settled back in the saddle with a frustrated sigh. “You’re right. We’ll catch our camper at first light.”

That didn’t make the next few hours any easier. So much for having time to think. He studied the forest every time he rode past. Jack’s head swiveled at any noise. At least the cows didn’t seem troubled. Neither did the owl that hooted from the wood every once in a while.

Dawn was a faint glow on the horizon when Jack met up with him, dismounted, and drew his revolver.

“You really think that’s necessary?”

Jeremy asked as he swung down as well. Their horses moved off to graze.

“You heard the rumors of rustlers,”

Jack reminded him. “Better safe than sorry.”

As the sky lightened, they stepped into the forest. The trees were thick enough here that brush didn’t grow easily. The carpet of fir needles muffled their steps, but the small noises fell silent, as if everything tensed to watch them pass. The tang of fir replaced the earthy scent of the cattle, but still, the smoke lingered. Jack seemed to follow it unerringly.

Jeremy’s muscles tightened with each step. They should have gone for reinforcements, but Jack always had to handle everything himself. Normally, he could, but if there really was a gang of rustlers waiting around that next tree…

They came out in a clearing. The charred remains of a fire were scattered among blackened clumps of moss, the smoke twisting up like a silver snake. Jeremy put his back to his brother’s, gaze sweeping the area. Nothing moved.

“Gone,”

Jack said, holstering his gun and moving away from Jeremy. “Must have lit out before dawn.”

He crouched and studied the ground. “Looks like a bedroll was laid out here.”

“Only one,”

Jeremy said, walking about his side of the campfire. “And those hoof prints are shod.”

“Not a native, then,”

Jack said, rising. “And anyone local would know to build a fire circle to keep the wood dry and the fire from spreading.”

“Still might have been someone new passing through,”

Jeremy insisted as his brother stared into the trees as if he could spot the intruder’s retreating back. “Heading for Puget City, maybe? Or west to Olympia?”

“Wouldn’t have taken them long to reach Puget City,”

Jack pointed out. “Why stop here? And if they were heading away, they would have made it farther than the ranch before having to settle for the night.”

He shook his head. “I don’t like it.”

“One man a rustling gang does not make,”

Jeremy countered.

“But one man could be a scout,”

Jack replied, turning away from the fire. “Best we be on the lookout for trouble.”

As if he didn’t have enough trouble with his mother and his courtship with Caroline.