Beulah's Brains: A McClain Story (The Alphabet Mail-Order Brides Book 2)

by Kirsten Osbourne

  “Well, hang in there, son. You’re going to do just fine as long as you both keep in mind that you’re meant to be together.” His father held up one hand. “And before you deny you were meant to be together, I will remind you that I saw you right after you picked her up from the train station. You had a look on your face that told me you would never be the same—after less than an hour with her. You two belong together, and that’s that. Now, you just have to figure out how you can live together.” With those words, Jack’s father left the stable, and Jack stood leaning against one of the stalls.

  “I guess my father is right whether I want him to be or not. What is it about the people around me being right all of a sudden? I want to be right. I think it’s my turn, don’t you?” His gelding just stared at him, and Jack shrugged. “I guess you don’t know anything more than I do.”

  He walked back into the house and was startled by the silence. Mrs. Buchanan had worked all day, and she left the food in the oven. She didn’t stay to do dishes on Saturday nights, but that was all well and good. He needed the time with his bride, so they could talk their issues out. Her not quitting her job to stay home and be pregnant shouldn’t be enough to destroy their marriage, no matter how much it upset him.

  He sat down at the table, and he picked up a piece of paper that she’d written on. It was a letter to someone named Catalina, and he knew he shouldn’t, but he read through the letter. He needed to know what she was feeling and what she was telling others.

  Dear Catalina,

  I cannot begin to express how much I miss you. I remember that you used to annoy me when you’d make sounds in the middle of the night while you were sleeping, but now I would give anything to hear those sounds instead of the snores that fill my ears as I’m trying to sleep.

  I have just found out that I’m expecting my first child. My mother-in-law insists that it will be the first of seven boys. Apparently, I’ve married into a family who only gives birth to sons and always seven of them. So that seems to be my destiny.

  Jack is unhappy that I’m not willing to immediately quit teaching and stay home, just watching my belly grow. I know it will grow, and I’m willing for it to grow to gestate the child within me, but I have no desire to sit around and watch it happen. My students need me. I’m not sure what you found when you started your school, but here in Texas, more than half of my students didn’t know how to read. Even if I’m unable to continue teaching for years and years, they will be able to read and do basic arithmetic before I’m finished with them.

  I just want to kick Jack at the moment. He thinks I should not work after this year, if I do finish the year out, but we had talked about me hiring a nanny, so the nanny can watch the children. When I’m ready to stop working I will, but he has to understand that I’m a thinking intelligent woman, and he doesn’t get to make decisions for me. I told him that on our wedding day, and I will tell him that every day for the rest of our lives. Just because he has a penis does not mean that he gets to control me.

  Anyway, I hope you are well and enjoying your new husband. Please write soon so I know you are safe. It occurred to me after I left New York that moving across the country to marry an absolute stranger might not be the safest course of action. Why it didn’t occur to me before that, I’ll never know.

  I look forward to your correspondence.

  All my love,

  Beulah

  Jack read through the letter once more. He knew that Catalina was the girl that Beulah had roomed with from the time they were both babies, and he was happy they were staying in touch. And he was even happier that he had read her letter to her old friend because it told him how to go from there. He would need to acknowledge her intelligence and her right to have a say in the decisions he made for her. That should appease her.

  He set the letter back the way it had been and wandered into the kitchen for something to drink. Yes, he was going to be able to make his wife happy, now that he knew how she was feeling. He should probably feel guilty for reading her correspondence to her friend, but he didn’t. He only felt elated that he now had a course of action to follow.

  He picked up the book he’d begun reading earlier with a smile. Before she knew it, she’d be eating out of his hand like a well-trained animal. No, he wasn’t calling his wife an animal, but he could see the similarities. Just a short while, and they would be seeing eye to eye once again.

  Hopefully before they went to bed that night, because he didn’t want her to send him to the spare room, and with as headstrong as his beautiful wife was, she might do just that.

  Chapter Eight

  Supper was a silent affair that evening since Beulah didn’t respond with much more than a yes or no to any questions Jack asked. When she got up to clear the table and start the dishes, he caught her hand. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” Beulah asked, her eyes narrowing. She knew he had no idea what he was sorry for because he didn’t know why she was upset in the first place. He was apologizing because he didn’t want to be sent to sleep in the barn, and he knew she was just the woman to do that very thing.

  Jack frowned. “For upsetting you.”

  “And how exactly did you upset me? Why am I upset? Do you even know?”

  “Because I think you should listen to me and obey me like our marriage vows state?” he asked, immediately regretting his words.

  “You knew the day we married that I had no intention of ever obeying you. I told you that then.” Beulah refused to stand there and argue. She walked straight into the kitchen with the dishes she carried and set them on the counter in preparation for washing them.

  Jack followed her into the kitchen, refusing to let things stand as they were. “I should have known that an intelligent woman like you would never follow me blindly. I’m sorry I ever expected it of you.”

  “And yet, you’re standing there still expecting it of me. Don’t apologize for something you have no intention of changing. Go do whatever you’re going to do. I need to finish up these dishes, and then I need to study. I haven’t done any of my studying today, and you know how important that is to me.”

  “I wish spending time with me was half as important!” He knew he was being unfair even as he said the words, but he stormed out of the kitchen anyway. The woman could make him angrier than anyone else on the face of the earth.

  Beulah heard the front door slam, and she was happy. She didn’t want to be around him at that moment anyway. He was going to make her say or do something she’d regret, and that wasn’t what she wanted. She needed to remain calm because she was growing a baby. A stupid son, apparently.

  As soon as the dishes were done, she sat down at the table with one of her anatomy books and looked through to find the section on pregnancy. She wanted to understand exactly what was happening within her body from a clinical standpoint.

  With every word she read, she felt her heart growing softer and softer. Boy or girl, the baby growing within her was something she would love and cherish. Before she knew what was happening, she was crying, full alligator tears running down her face as she thought about the child that grew within her.

  She truly didn’t care if it was a boy or a girl. She was having a baby. A real live little human for her to hold and nurse and shape into the person he was destined to be. Whether he became a doctor or a rancher like his father, she wanted this baby with every fiber of her being.

  She glanced at the clock on the mantle and saw that it was only seven thirty, but she was exhausted. Every bone in her body ached, and she never wanted to have to be awake again. She got up and walked up the stairs to bed, not even thinking about where Jack was. He was angry with her, and maybe he deserved to be, but she deserved to be angry as well. He was a pigheaded goat of a man who needed to be taught a lesson. Right after she’d slept for twenty hours or so.

  She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

  Jack went to his parents’ house, and his mother let him have a big piece of the cak
e she’d made that day. “Are you still fighting with Beulah?” she asked.

  He shrugged, tucking into the cake and trying not to feel guilty about making his pregnant wife unhappy. “Maybe a little.”

  “Jack, you know you’re in the wrong here. Everyone knows you’re in the wrong here. You cannot expect a woman with a brain in her head to follow everything you say blindly. There is nothing that’s going to happen at school that will hurt her any more than would happen at home. If she quit her job, you’d no longer need Mrs. Buchanan, right?”

  Jack nodded, not sure where she was headed with this, but the cake was awfully good, and she would probably take it from him if he didn’t respond appropriately.

  “Well, if Mrs. Buchanan was no longer working for you, then Beulah would be doing harder, more difficult work at home than she does at school. Why not let her continue to teach?”

  “But that’s work she should be doing. Because we’re married and she’s supposed to do the laundry and fix the meals. Not some woman we pay to do it!”

  His mother took the cake from him. There was only half of it left, but she grabbed the plate and put it out of his reach. Just like he’d suspected she would. “Why? Why is it her job to do it and not yours? Don’t you think she should be allowed to teach if teaching makes her happy?”

  He shrugged. “I guess.”

  “Are you just agreeing with me so I’ll give you the cake back?” she asked, her eyes narrowed.

  “Well, yes. I want my cake!” Jack sighed. “Mother, I don’t know why you’re upset about this. I told her that I wanted her to stop working now that she’s having a baby. She got to teach an entire month!”

  “And her goal is to start a school where all children would be included. She wants this school to go on and on. One month doesn’t begin to be enough. Neither is one year. This will be her legacy and the legacy of the woman who raised her. You need to keep that in your head. What if you were told you could only be a rancher for one month? Or one year, and then you had to stay home with the children?”

  “But I’m a man. Of course I can’t stay home with the children.”

  She shook her head. “You weren’t beaten enough as a child. Obviously. Maybe I’ll have your father rectify that now!”

  His father looked over at his wife and youngest son. “I’m willing.”

  “Just give me my cake back.” Jack knew they’d never beat him. They’d hardly ever spanked any of their boys.

  “This cake?” his mother asked, holding it toward him. When Jack reached for it, she snatched it back. “You’re going to go home and tell your wife she has the right to teach just as long as she wants to teach. Aren’t you?”

  Jack glared at her. “You’re trying to bribe me with cake?”

  “Is it working?”

  Jack sighed. “Yeah, it’s working. I’ll talk to her in the morning after she’s had time to sleep off a little bit of her mad. That woman gets angrier than anyone I’ve ever met!”

  She slid the cake back to him. “I’d better hear that you talked to her and told her she doesn’t need to stop teaching.”

  Jack said nothing as he continued eating. He didn’t lie. He never had. His power made him understand the importance of truth too much.

  When he had finished the cake, he and his father sat and played a card game for a while before he decided to go home. He wasn’t looking forward to his reception there.

  When he got home, he found his wife curled on one side, her hand covering her stomach. She was sound asleep, obviously not agonizing over their fight that day as he was.

  He undressed and got into bed beside her, pulling her close. She was the most infuriating woman alive, but he loved her anyway. Hopefully they’d be able to move past all of this.

  When Beulah woke on Sunday morning, her limbs were entangled with Jack’s. She stared at him for a moment, wondering when he’d come home. The man made her crazy, but he was only doing what most men thought they should do.

  She slipped from the bed, thankful her stomach wasn’t in an uproar that morning, and she went downstairs to cook breakfast.

  When Jack came down to join her, she was putting their food on the table. “Are you still angry with me?” he asked.

  She shrugged, more hurt than angry. Sleeping for as long as she had did wonders for her temper. “I’ll be all right.”

  “I’m not going to fight with you about continuing teaching for the rest of the schoolyear.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “And next year?”

  He walked toward her, folding his arms around her. “One fight at a time. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

  She nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. “Where did you go last night?”

  “To my parents’ house. You’ll be happy to know that my mother thinks I’m wrong, and she told me I wasn’t beaten enough as a child.”

  Beulah hid a giggle. She didn’t believe in corporal punishment, but in his case, it may have been necessary.

  “You think that’s funny?” Jack asked, not truly upset with her. “You think it’s funny that my mother is considering beating me over this?”

  She shrugged. “Well, I think you were wrong, and I’m glad she agrees with me.”

  Jack closed his eyes, fighting down his anger. Whether he’d been wrong or not, she shouldn’t be telling him he was. She was his wife after all. “I’ll try not to take exception to that.”

  “Good.” She yawned. “Are you still planning to invite your brother and his family over for supper tonight?” She had no idea what she would make if she did.

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so. After the way we lost an entire Saturday fighting with each other, I just want to spend the time alone with you.”

  She smiled, resting her forehead against his shoulder. “I think that’s a wonderful idea. It’s still nice out, and we could go for a walk. Or for a buggy ride. Do you know I haven’t been farther from this house than the church since we moved here? Are there no neighboring towns? Nothing to go see?”

  “We’ll go for a buggy ride then. That sounds like a good way for us to spend the day. Do you need to do any work today?”

  Beulah thought about the papers that still needed to be graded, but he was right. They needed to have a day together with nothing between them. “Nothing that won’t wait.”

  “Really?” Jack’s face lit up. “You’re going to put off some work for me?”

  She laughed. “Well, you are my husband. I can ignore grading papers until tomorrow morning if it gets me a little more time alone with you.”

  “Pack a picnic then. We’ll go for that drive after church, and we’ll picnic while we’re out.”

  “That sounds lovely.” And it did. The two of them were both always so busy—her with teaching and him with running the ranch—that they rarely had much time to spend together. She was going to enjoy today, because it meant that for now, their marriage was all right again. It might not be after their son was born, but hopefully by then he’d see reason.

  He grinned, feeling like a little boy. “A whole day with nothing to do but church. I’m not sure I can handle the excitement.”

  “I’m not sure you can either. But you should try.” She hurried into the kitchen and packed them a quick and easy lunch consisting of ham slices, cheese, and bread. If that wasn’t good enough, then he could eat grass. She was glad they weren’t fighting any longer, but she wasn’t going to bend over backward to please him either.

  Soon they were ready for church, and he hitched up the buggy. Normally they just drove the wagon, but the buggy was so much nicer for a long drive. She put the picnic basket on the back seat, and they drove to church.

  His mother came over to her as soon as they arrived. “Did you two talk?”

  Beulah nodded, blushing a little. How many people knew about her fight with Jack? “Yes, we talked first thing this morning.”

  “Good. I’m glad things are settled between you.” Mary smiled and kissed Beulah’s
cheek. “You’re everything I could ask for in a wife for my Jack.”

  “I do believe he’s my Jack now,” Beulah responded, her eyes twinkling.

  “I think you may be right about that.” Mary moved on then, knowing that many of the parents of Beulah’s pupils would want to speak with her.

  As Beulah talked to all the parents one after the other, she was always aware of where Jack was in the church. The man could make her spitting mad, but he could also make her purr like a kitten. Perhaps that was what was meant by love.

  After church, Jack took Beulah’s hand and rushed her out of the building, hoping they would be able to escape before she was once again surrounded by the children she taught and their parents. Why she was suddenly the most popular woman in church, he would never know. As soon as they were to the buggy, he gave her a winning smile. “We did it!”

  Beulah frowned. “What exactly did we just do?”

  “We got away before you were forced to tell parents for two hours straight about their little darlings’ behavior during school. We got out, and now we get to spend our day together.”

  She laughed softly. “Did you ever think that maybe I had a parent I still needed to talk to?”

  “Doesn’t matter. We’re going for a drive.” He flicked the reins, and they headed in the direction of Nowhere, one of his favorite places. The town was small, about the same size as Bagley, but there was something special about it. “Did you have someone you needed to talk to?”

  “No, I didn’t. I just wondered what you would do if I had. Would you have turned around?”

  “Not on your life. You’d have had to send the parent a note home. I’m not lollygagging for anyone. Not today.” He grinned over at her. “This drive today is going to have to serve as our honeymoon.”

  She laughed. “We can’t have a honeymoon when I’m already expecting. Silly man.” She realized he’d gone from a pigheaded goat to a silly man in the space of eighteen hours. She grinned to herself as she contemplated telling him about his elevation in the world.