by Sarah Banks
“That’s not true!” Thea defended her brother. “It was both of our ideas.”
“What was?”
Silence.
“Thea?”
She forced her eyes up from her lap. “Getting you a mail order bride.”
“And you didn’t think this was something I should know about? I mean did you two think through your plan at all? Bringing this woman here without my knowledge. Locking me in the cellar. You had to know this wasn’t going to end well, right? Tell me you’re smarter than that.”
“We asked you to get a wife! After mama…” Thea’s lower lip wobbled. Jane patted her hands sympathetically and looked up at him with a frown. Thea continued, “We’ve been asking you every year since and you’ve never even considered it. We thought maybe if she just came…”
“That I’d change my mind and get married?”
“Right.”
“Wrong.”
Thea started to cry and Gabriel felt it like a punch in the gut. He hadn’t seen her cry, not in six years, not since her mother…
Jane wrapped her arms around Thea, pressing the girl’s head to her shoulder. “Hush now, there’s no need for tears. Your intentions, however misguided, were good. Your brother can’t fault you for that,” she said giving him a reproving look over her shoulder.
Gabriel took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. He vaguely remembered Thea asking him to marry now and again. He never paid much attention to the subject. It was obviously more important to her than he realized. She was a twelve-year-old girl, of course she missed her mother.
She wasn’t entirely correct though. Gabriel had briefly entertained the idea of marriage a few years back although he had never shared that information with either of them. It was for the best since it hadn’t worked out anyway. He had attended a town dance three years ago back when he was twenty-one. A scene he would go to all costs to avoid now but he was younger and stupider then. He remembered falling head over heels for a girl there and for the first time considered marriage. He could use the help raising a pair of nine-year olds and of course the companionship would be nice. Christina had been receptive, and he had quietly and persistently courted her with flowers and trinkets he couldn’t really afford. He had been such an idiot. But they eventually parted ways when she realized that Brandon and Thea were part of a package deal. She had absolutely no interest in helping him raise his siblings and when Christina realized he wouldn’t be giving them up, not for nothing, she had moved on. She had gotten married the following year to the mercantile owner’s eldest son. First Gabriel had felt resentment toward the other man but eventually he realized that he had dodged a bullet and now only felt sorry for him. He realized he had been blinded by Christina’s beauty, not seeing how selfish and shallow she really was. Just last year Gabriel somehow found himself alone with her in the mercantile. She had put herself between him and the door and started carrying on, saying she had made a mistake marrying someone else and that she was unhappy. Once she had started making advances, he realized that on top of everything else, she was capable of being unfaithful. He couldn’t get out of their fast enough. He avoided the mercantile now, sending Brandon there whenever he needed something.
That had been the first and the last time he considered marriage. Marriage was for others, not for him. He didn’t remember much of his own mother, and his stepmother and father’s relationship had been nothing to envy. Gabriel didn’t need a wife. He didn’t want a wife. What he wanted was to build up his horse ranch in a way that his father never had. Although Gabriel had been working at it for more than six years now, it was still getting up off the ground. It would be years before he realized the success he was aiming for. Someday his name would be recognized a hundred miles away and his pockets would be deep. That wasn’t now, but someday it would be. He was a mostly patient man. He knew it would take time, but he had a plan and it didn’t include her.
“I just can’t understand how this all came about.” He finally looked at Jane. It was her turn to share some of the blame. “I mean the kids are twelve years old. Their handwriting is atrocious. How could they possibly fool anybody with a lick of sense?”
For some reason Gabriel had hoped to prod Jane’s temper. Instead, she threw back her head and gave a deep throated laugh. For a second he flashed back to that dance three years ago. If she had been there and he had seen her across the makeshift dancefloor he most certainly would have asked her to dance. It was dangerous territory, dangling the carrot so close. He had to get her to go back wherever she came from as soon as possible.
She reached down and rifled through the carpet bag at her feet pulling out a small stack of papers neatly tied with a ribbon and held it out to him.
He grudgingly came forward and took it from her. Leaving the ribbon at the table he resumed his spot leaning against the counter and first read a carefully cut section of newspaper advertising for a mail order bride.
Successful horse farmer seeking young, pretty bride who can cook, keep house, sing and laugh.
He looked up. “That’s it?”
“You had to pay per word,” Thea mumbled.
“I see.” He scanned the brief paragraph again knowing that it was written by his brother and sister. They were supposedly seeking him a bride but since he knew who placed the ad, it read more as if they were searching for a mother. Someone to give them what he hadn’t been able to.
He glanced up at Brandon whose jaw was set. Gabriel set the newspaper clipping aside and held up the two letters. “These are the letters I supposedly wrote?”
Jane nodded.
“May I?”
She nodded again. “You may.”
He noticed something right away. “Who’s handwriting is this?” He asked. Brandon’s handwriting bore closer resemblance to chicken scratch and Thea’s had more loops than letter. The writing inside was nice and neat.
“We paid someone at school to write them,” Thea admitted, casting a nervous glance over her shoulder at Brandon.
Gabriel shook his head. This just got better and better. He quickly read through the letters that he apparently wrote. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was expecting but he was starting to get the idea.
Finishing the letters, he glanced between Brandon and Thea. “You make our life here sound a lot grander than it is.”
Neither one replied. Thea looked at her lap. Brandon’s arms tightened across his chest and he tilted up his chin. Gabriel sighed.
“I took it with a grain of salt,” Jane answered instead. “I figured if it was half as good as it sounded I was better off here than where I was.”
Gabriel felt a hint of remorse as he refolded the letters along with the newspaper clipping and handed them back to her.
“Well I’m sorry you came all the way out here for nothing. But as you can see, I had nothing to do with this. I don’t need a wife. Just last month I hired my first employee after six years of working this ranch alone. I can barely afford his wages. I can’t afford a wife.”
She stiffened and said primly, “I wasn’t aware a wife cost a great deal of money.”
“It’s another mouth to feed and frankly I can’t afford another.”
“Maybe I can help,” she interjected softly.
His eyes immediately went to her leg and she stiffened.
“You can’t,” he said flatly. And then the final nail in the coffin. “No offense Jane but you could barely walk here.” Gabriel felt like a complete and utter ass. But it was no less than the truth and he had to make her see that there was no future for her here.
“Gabriel!” Thea cried out in horror.
“I see.” Jane nodded once resolutely and pushed back from the table. She struggled to get to her feet and her cheeks pinkened. Thea made a grab to help Jane steady herself but Jane pulled away.
Thea’s hands fisted at her side and she stomped her foot. “Gabriel, you’re being needlessly cruel!”
“Me?! I’m being cruel? I’m not the one w
ho brought a woman cross country under false pretenses, probably from the only home she’s ever known when you knew darn well that I’d never marry her! I’m not being cruel. What I am being is brutally honest!”
Jane calmly picked up her bag and made her way to the door, her limp even more pronounced than it had been on the short walk from the cellar into the house. She turned at the door ignoring him altogether and gave the children a half-wave along with a half-smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes and then she was gone.
Chapter Four
“Jane, wait!”
She didn’t of course. Seems his surprise bride was just as stubborn as he was.
“I’m fine,” she insisted over her shoulder.
Gabriel jogged forward, quickly catching up to her. He stopped in front of her so that she was forced to stop as well. She tried to side-step him one way which he blocked and then the other, which he also countered. She tried to hide her wince of pain. Finally, she stood still before him with a huff.
She met his eyes with her own flashing. “What?” She asked exasperated.
“It’ll be dark soon.”
Jane set down her bag and crossed her arms. “So.”
She wasn’t going to make this easy on him. “So, you won’t make it to town before dark.”
“Don’t you mean I won’t make it to town at all I’m apparently so pathetic?”
“I didn’t say that.” He dragged his hand through his hair. He had no idea where he’d lost his hat. Probably the cellar. “Listen, the return stagecoach won’t come through for another three days. You might as well stay with us.”
She snorted. “No thank you.” She reached for her bag, but he got there first. It was lighter than he expected for someone who traveled cross-country with all of their worldly possessions.
“Please. The children will worry about you. Thea already hates me.”
After he had taken her bag, she had recrossed her arms only to drop them to her sides again with a sigh. “She doesn’t.”
“Oh, I assure you she pronounced it quite loudly a half second before she slammed her bedroom door hard enough to rattle the windows.”
Jane let out a small laugh. “She’ll get over it.”
Gabriel wasn’t so sure. “Look, I’m sorry I was so abrupt earlier. I said some things I shouldn’t have. I just didn’t know when I woke up this morning quite what the day had in store for me. I suppose I didn’t handle it as well as I could have. First time I’ve been locked in a cellar,” he said with a crooked smile.
“And had a mail order bride,” she added, a smile of her own softening her features. She sighed. “I accept your apology. I realize you didn’t ask for any of this. They had good intentions you know. They obviously care about you very much and whether you realize it or not, you are incredibly lucky to have not one but two people in your life who do.”
He was silent for a moment before clearing his throat. “You’re right.” He knew he shouldn’t ask. He couldn’t afford to care but he found himself asking anyway, “Does that mean you don’t have anyone waiting for you back in Tumbury?”
He didn’t expect her to look up at him and smile. “You remembered the name,” she said softly.
He nodded.
She looked past him for a moment before refocusing her gaze on his. He tried not to notice how beautiful her dark blue eyes were, fringed with thick lashes. His eyes traced her nose and then dropped to her lips.
“You’ll take me to town in the morning?”
He cleared his throat and met her eyes again. “Thursday morning, I promise. That way you don’t have to pay for a room, and we’ll pay for your return ticket. It’s the least we can do.”
“Okay.”
Side by side they slowly walked back toward the house. Gabriel realized she had neatly avoided answering his question on whether or not there was anybody waiting for her back in Tumbury and he supposed that itself was answer enough.
∞∞∞
“I’m so glad you’re staying!” Thea exclaimed excitedly as she bounced on the bed next to where Jane was unpacking.
Jane looked up from her bag. She had already made the bed and tucked her nightgown underneath the single pillow. She had added her toothbrush, tooth powder and hairbrush to the washstand that held Gabriel’s own toothbrush and tooth powder, hairbrush and shaving supplies. There wasn’t much else to unpack. She didn’t have many belongings to begin with. Besides, she was only to be here for three days, two and a half really. She closed her bag and set it on the floor next to the dresser. “Only until the stage comes back through,” Jane warned her.
“I know,” Thea insisted but her expression remained hopeful.
“Thea, I’m not marrying your brother,” Jane said firmly. But he had given up his room for her, insisting on sleeping in the barn and her taking his bed. It was a nondescript room containing a bed topped with a worn, dark blue coverlet, a scuffed-up dresser with more clothes on top than inside as she inspected the drawers, a mismatched nightstand and a washstand. Other than his clothes and the personal belongings crowding the washstand there was nothing else. No books, no pictures.
“I know.” She repeated, but Thea wouldn’t meet her eyes. Instead, she nudged a recently escaped dust bunny back under the bed with the heel of her boot.
They had just finished supper. After Gabriel insisted she stay until the stage came back through, he returned to the barn to finish the repairs to the wagon wheel while Brandon fed the animals and Thea milked the cows and collected the eggs.
Jane offered to help but they took pity on her, obviously avoiding looking at her leg which was paining her more than she could ever remember. She had done too much today and she dreaded tomorrow thinking it would stiffen up even more overnight. She sighed. Well, there was nothing to be done about it now other than rubbing liniment on it before bed. That would help some.
She wandered around the house while everyone else tended to their chores. She wondered if she should start supper but didn’t venture back to the cellar. Besides, there weren’t many clean dishes. She started water to heat and washed a good half of them before they returned. She was grateful for the work. It calmed her.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Gabriel told her before crowding her out of the kitchen area. She sat helplessly and watched as he made a supper of bacon, eggs and biscuits. It was…edible. The eggs were underdone, the bacon burnt and the biscuits tasted as if they had been made the week before.
It was a mostly quiet affair with Thea doing most of the talking. Both Gabriel and Brandon shoveled their food into their mouths as if they were in a race to see who would finish first. Despite being starving herself, Jane only managed to eat half. Afterwards she helped Thea with the supper dishes including the remaining ones from earlier she hadn’t managed to finish. She surveyed the kitchen after drying the last dish. It wasn’t sparkling clean but at least there were clean dishes now and room to prepare meals.
Gabriel left to sleep in the barn with a grumbled goodnight and Brandon flopped down on the raggedy sofa in front of the fireplace where he apparently slept. Thea had followed her into her room where she helped her make the bed and watched Jane unpack a few belongings.
“I guess I ought to go to bed,” Thea said reluctantly. “I have school tomorrow.”
“It is getting late,” Jane agreed.
“Goodnight Jane.”
“Goodnight Thea,” Jane replied following her back into the main room. “Goodnight Brandon.”
Brandon didn’t answer.
“Oh, he’s already asleep. He always falls asleep the second his head hits the pillow. Never fails.”
“So a guilty conscience doesn’t keep him awake at night then?”
“Apparently not,” Thea said with a giggle before disappearing into her room and closing the door.
Jane returned to Gabriel’s room and looked around. It was after eight PM and dark out except for the light cast by the nearly full moon. She was exhausted but knew she wouldn’t
be able to sleep. The past few days had been so eventful, especially the past few hours. She thought she was to be a bride but it turned out not to be. She couldn’t be mad at the children. They obviously wanted a mother-figure in their lives again and Jane couldn’t fault them for that. She knew the feeling. She had grown up without a mother but thankfully had her loving grandmother until she died the previous year. Gabriel had asked her if she had anyone to return home to and she had changed the subject. The truth was she didn’t have anyone to return home to. She would have no choice but to return to Tumbury and beg for her job back. But she wouldn’t think about that now. She needed to use the privy and then she would see if she could find a book or newspaper somewhere in this house to read until her mind slowed down enough that she could fall asleep. She had no idea how she would occupy herself for the next three days but that too she would think about tomorrow.
Jane bypassed the lantern, the moon should light her way to the privy well enough, and slowly made her way outside.
The night air was cool compared to the beating sun they had walked in this afternoon and a breeze teased the hair escaping the knot at the back of her neck. She probably looked afright. She was used to keeping a tidy appearance in her position back in the Tumbury household but hadn’t stopped by a mirror, window or any silver in the past few hours to check her appearance. Oh well, there was nothing to do about it now.
She made quick use of the privy before slowly heading back toward the house. It was beautiful here, she thought. Even at night with the giant, dark trees surrounded by twinkling stars. And it was even quieter than the sleepy town of Tumbury. Jane jumped as a twig snapped behind her and she stumbled around. She squeaked as Gabriel caught and held her before she tumbled to the ground.
There was nothing but dark woods behind him. “Where did you come from?” She asked. His hair was wet and slicked back, making him look even more handsome. His shirt was untucked and half-buttoned and he smelled clean and fresh. Not that he smelled bad earlier.