Rustlers and Ribbons

by Kirsten Osbourne

  Gretchen frowned. “Sounds like another Salmon mother is trying to control the lives of her children. I had a feeling it was happening. I didn’t know Gloria was so bright, though. She was a few grades behind me in school.”

  “I’m going to talk to her mother, and I hope it will help, but I have this horrible feeling it won’t. I don’t want to go to school on Monday morning to find out my best student has been forced to marry a man she doesn’t like so she can help him raise a houseful of children. She’s too young! She has too much promise!” Rica felt tears of frustration pop into her eyes. How could she change the world one student at a time when their parents were always fighting against her?

  “You have to at least try,” Doris responded. “You care too much to do anything else.”

  “I do. I wish I didn’t, but how do I stop myself from caring about every single student?”

  Chapter 8

  Darryl stopped on his way home from work that day to pick some of the wildflowers growing in the meadow where they’d picnicked. He knew his Rica would love them, and he needed her to be happy. He wondered just how much longer they would be in the courting portion of their relationship. He didn’t know about her, but he was more than ready to move on.

  When he walked in the door with a bouquet of flowers in his hand, he put his lunch pail on the counter and walked over to where she was stirring a soup on the stove. “I thought of you today,” he said as he planted a kiss on the side of her neck.

  Rica smiled at him, but the smile was distant. “I thought of you, too!”

  “Are you all right? You look like something’s wrong.”

  She thought about talking to him about Gloria and Mr. Jackson, but she wasn’t sure if she should be bringing her troubles home. They were barely married. Shouldn’t she be trying to keep things light and positive at home? “I’m fine. Just a little tired. The children are very excited about making the decorations for the dance.”

  He frowned, knowing there was more to it, but not sure how to get her to talk to him about whatever it was. “I brought you these.” He handed her the flowers with a flourish, and Rica took them with a big smile. Whatever had been bothering her seemed to disappear the instant she saw the flowers.

  “Thank you!” Tears popped into her eyes, and she felt silly as she found a glass to put the flowers in.

  “What’s wrong? Why did flowers make you cry?” He had never been able to understand why women seemed to cry at the littlest things, but he wanted to make sure his Rica wasn’t sad.

  “No one has ever brought me flowers. I thought they’d look beautiful in a vase, but then I realized I didn’t have a vase because no one has ever brought me flowers. It makes me sad that no one has ever thought to do something so sweet for me before, and then I think of all the women in the world who have never had anyone bring them flowers, and it makes me cry for them. Because everyone should have that single moment of sheer delight when they’re handed flowers by someone who is special to them.”

  “You thought all that in the three seconds from when I handed you the flowers until you turned?” He was utterly amazed that anyone could think all of that so fast. His wife was awfully special.

  She nodded. “It’s a curse.”

  “I’d call it a blessing. It means you have a huge heart, and you have a capacity to care about others that most people have no idea about. I think it makes me care about you even more.”

  Care. Not love. She loved him. Did he not love her in return? She turned her back on him and continued stirring the soup. It didn’t need to be stirred any longer, but she needed a moment with him unable to see her face.

  When she put their supper on the table, he filled their glasses with milk, feeling like he was walking on eggshells. He’d upset her tonight, but he wasn’t sure how. He didn’t want her to be sad. He wanted to only fill her life with love and goodness.

  “How was work today?” she asked softly. She needed to get her mind back to the present and quit worrying about whether or not he loved her. She also had to get Gloria out of her mind. Worrying would never solve anything.

  “It was good. Busy as busy can be. I was able to free up Harv to sit down and actually get some invoices written out. He’s been so busy with the next project, he hadn’t been able to do that for a while. I honestly think we still need a third man to help us, but we’re holding our own. Not catching up, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

  “Are you enjoying the work?”

  “I really am. I know it’s not sitting around and thinking all day like what you do, but I was able to work with my hands, and I felt good at the end of the day. I like to put in a hard day’s work.” Darryl knew he should probably aspire to be more, but he did what made him happy. He hoped she didn’t think less of him for that.

  “I’m glad it’s working out for you. I was a little afraid you’d hate it. You took quite a risk leaving everything you knew to move here and take on a job doing something you’d never done before.”

  “I needed to take a risk. I’ve done the same thing every day of my life. Well, since I got out of school, but I only went to school for a few months out of the year as well. I hope that makes sense.”

  She nodded emphatically. “I have never in my life done anything impulsively until I met you. Everything was always thought about and considered, and every risk was measured. I feel so good about doing something that was out of my comfort zone.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes! I even wrote to my parents. I was supposed to go home this coming weekend, but with the dance, I thought I needed to stay. So I wrote to them and told them I’d married and my husband works Saturdays, so they’d know that I wouldn’t be heading back home any weekend soon.”

  He frowned at her. “I want to meet your family.”

  “Don’t worry. You will. I know my father is going to love you. He’s a carpenter, and he thinks men are only real men if they work with their hands.” Rica grinned. “My mother will just be happy that I found someone who makes me happy.”

  He took her hand in his. “Do I make you happy, Rica?”

  “After a full seventy-two hours of marriage, I can honestly say you do. Now in a month or two that answer might change . . .” Her eyes twinkled as she teased him.

  “What happened today to make you sad?” he asked, determined to know why she’d looked so unhappy when he’d come in the door. He knew she was a great deal more serious than he was, but he was used to her being a bit more upbeat.

  She sighed. “One of my students came to me today and told me that her mother is making her allow an older man in the community to court her. He’s a widower with six small children, and her mother thinks she should be open to marrying him. According to Gretchen, he smells bad.”

  Darryl frowned. “Why would her mother do that? My parents had fourteen children, and my mother cried when every one of us moved out. She tried to hide it, but she’d have red-rimmed eyes for days.” He smiled for a moment. “I bet she secretly rejoices when the youngest Ida Mae finally leaves.”

  “This girl is very intelligent. In fact, I think she has a good chance at getting a college scholarship if she wants one. Her mother thinks she’s too studious and she will never find a man if she doesn’t marry this one. You’d be surprised at how much mothers tend to worry about girls who don’t spend all their time worried about their appearance and which beau will take them out on Saturday night.”

  “Now I understand. There are different expectations for boys and girls. If a boy studies hard, he can be anything he wants. A doctor, a lawyer, even a banker. If a girl does the same, people worry that she’ll never marry. A woman is judged by the man she marries. A man is only judged on his own merit. It’s wrong, but it’s how our world is.”

  “So if we have a daughter who walks around reading all the time and never pays any attention to what she wears, you’ll let her be? If she wants to be a doctor, you’ll help her reach that goal?”

  “Yes, I will. I
’d love to go talk to this girl’s mother because someone needs to talk some sense into her. How could she really think that her daughter would be better off with a man that much older than her who would expect her to raise his children?”

  “You know, if she had seen him at church, and they’d started up a flirtation, and she was interested in him, I’d still have reservations, but I wouldn’t try to stop it. But this situation is totally different. The girl told me that she spoke to her mother and told her that she didn’t want to let this man court her, and her mother told her she had no choice.” Rica shook her head. “In this day and age, we’re beyond arranged marriages! Women should be able to choose who they want to marry, not agree to marry whoever their mother finds for them.” She stood up, starting to clear the table. She hadn’t eaten more than a few bites, but she was too upset to do so.

  Darryl watched her for a few minutes, realizing how genuinely upset she was with the situation. She wanted to help, but really all she could do was talk to the other woman, and if she was told to mind her own business, then that’s what she’d have to do. She deeply cared about her students and more than just academically.

  He wanted badly to fix the situation for her, but there was truly nothing he could do. He was simply the husband of the schoolteacher, and he had no say and no clout in the community. It wasn’t as bad as Beckham, but it was still not what he wanted from life.

  He walked to the sofa and watched her work. When she’d finished, she walked over to sit with him, her head on his shoulder. He’d just put in an eleven-hour day at work, and she’d complained to him when he came home at the end of the day. “I’m really sorry I talked to you about the situation. You shouldn’t have to hear about my petty troubles at the end of your day.”

  Darryl cupped her face in his hands. “I wish I could fix all of your troubles for you. You have the right to tell me anything bad that happens. I’m here to listen. We’re partners in life. Everything we do should be to help build that partnership. If you don’t talk to me about your troubles, I won’t have a real place in your life.”

  She blinked at him, still having a hard time believing this caring man was her husband. “You really feel that way?”

  “I really do.” He leaned down to brush his lips across hers, and she felt the familiar spark start in her stomach.

  His fingers went to her hair, and the next thing she knew her hair was down around her shoulders again. “I’m so sorry!”

  He frowned. “What are you sorry about?” She hadn’t done anything to apologize for.

  “I was planning on making sure my hair was down before you came home from work every night. I didn’t, and I should have.” Rica shook her head.

  “Why should you have?”

  “Because you like it down. It’s something simple enough I can do for you to make you happy, so I should do it.”

  He frowned. “Only if it makes you happy, too. I love your hair down, but you have a choice in how you wear it. I just like pulling the pins out and watching it fall around your shoulders.”

  Rica sighed. “I should have remembered, but I was too wrapped up in my own troubles. I’ll be a better wife in the future.”

  “Then I’ll die. Because if you get to be a better wife, I’m sure it will kill me,” Darryl told her. How could she not see what she already meant to him?

  Chapter 9

  Gloria brought Rica a note first thing Tuesday morning and, after dropping it off, went back outside without another word. Rica read the note, wondering why Gloria had acted so strangely.

  The note promised that Gloria’s mother, Mrs. Sternum, would be there as soon as school was out for the day to discuss matters with her. Rica took a deep breath. She wasn’t quite prepared for what she wanted to say to the woman, but she’d figure it out as she went.

  At lunchtime that day, Darryl surprised her by bringing his lunch to school and eating it with her. He brought a spare chair up to her desk, and the two of them ate together, with many of the children grinning at them.

  After he was gone, Rica felt like she had a better idea what she would say to Mrs. Sternum. Somehow the meal with him had made her feel more confident about the entire situation. She herself had waited until many considered her an old maid before marrying. Surely, she could explain the rightness of the action to Gloria’s mother.

  When she dismissed her students, she waited at her desk, hoping that she would be able to speak clearly of her worries.

  Mrs. Sternum walked into the schoolhouse, looking very confident. She sat down in a chair near Rica’s desk. “I understand you want to see me.”

  “Yes, I’m concerned about Gloria. She’s such a bright girl, and I think she has a real chance at getting a college scholarship. She needs to stay in school, though, and she needs to keep working on the things that interest her.”

  Mrs. Sternum shook her head. “My daughter has absolutely no interest in going to college. She’s going to get married this weekend.”

  Rica’s jaw dropped. “She is?”

  “Yes, her beau asked me for her hand last night. I told her at breakfast this morning that she would marry on Saturday. I do hope you’ll come to the wedding, Miss Hughes. I know Gloria thinks a lot of you.”

  “Mrs. Miller,” Rica corrected automatically. She’d been correcting the children about her name for two days, and it just popped out of her mouth. Obviously, the engagement was why Gloria had not spoken that morning. She was upset, and she didn’t know what to say. “How does Gloria feel about marrying Mr. Jackson?”

  “Oh, she’s told you about him? That’s wonderful!”

  “Actually, it’s not. She told me she doesn’t like him, and she has no desire to even let him court her. You’re condemning your daughter to a lifetime of unhappiness if you force this on her.”

  Mrs. Sternum frowned. “She’s a child. How can she possibly know what she wants?”

  “That’s my point exactly.”

  “What’s your point?”

  Rica smiled. “She’s a child. A child has no business marrying and taking care of other children. A child should be in school with other children her age, learning everything she can before she’s forced to face life as an adult. It isn’t the right thing to do to force her to marry at sixteen. I know she’s your daughter and not mine, but please at least consider what I’m saying.”

  “I don’t understand her reservations with Mr. Jackson. Does she have a beau here at school? Is that the problem?” Mrs. Sternum genuinely seemed perplexed by her daughter’s misgivings.

  “No, ma’am. She doesn’t have a beau here at school. She’s very attentive to her studies. She simply doesn’t want to marry a man twice her age and be an instant mother to his six children. She has a right not to want those things.” Rica leaned forward, hoping the other woman was listening to her. She needed her to understand that she really would be ruining her daughter’s chance to have a future she wanted.

  Mrs. Sternum sighed heavily. “I’ll talk to her about it. I think she should be grateful I’ve arranged something like this for her, though. I do it because I care for her, not because I want to ruin her life.”

  “I do understand that. But your vision for her future is different than hers is. Don’t you think a young lady should have a say in her own life?”

  Mrs. Sternum got to her feet. “Thank you for your time, Mrs. Miller. I hadn’t heard you got married. Best wishes.”

  “Thank you.” Rica watched as the other woman left the building, unsure if what she’d said had made the difference she wanted, but she had tried her very hardest. It’s all she’d ever asked from her students, and it was all she could ask of herself.

  Instead of going to spend time with her friends, she went straight home and started supper. She had lingered longer than usual, and she didn’t want Darryl to have to wait for his meal, though he’d given no indication that he minded waiting. He really was a good husband to her, and she wondered what she’d done to deserve to have a man treat her so we
ll.

  She walked to the table and looked at the flowers in the glass there in the middle of the table, and she thought about how sweetly he’d brought them to her. She wasn’t a woman who needed riches. She only needed a man who would be thoughtful at the end of his work day. And she’d found the most thoughtful man on the entire West Coast.

  Rica was putting supper on the table when the door opened and Darryl walked in. He had another fistful of flowers, but when he set his lunch pail on the counter, he pulled a vase out of it. “I thought it would make you happier if I got you a vase for today’s flowers,” he said, grinning at her.

  She immediately teared up again, taking the flowers and the vase and arranging the flowers fussily. Then she walked into his arms, wrapping hers tightly around him. “You have got to be the most thoughtful man on God’s green earth.”

  “Only on Earth? There are other planets, you know!” He leaned down and buried his face in her hair, which she’d left down. He knew it was for him, and he was thrilled. She thought to accommodate his preferences, and that pleased him more than it probably should.

  She laughed. “I haven’t been to other planets, but there’s a good chance the men there are more considerate than you are. Face the facts, Jack.”

  He put his wrist against his forehead in a dramatic motion. “Jack? She doesn’t even remember my real name!”

  Rica stepped toward him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled his head down for her kiss. It was the first time she’d initiated a kiss, and she tried to put all she felt for him into it. When she pulled away, his eyes seemed to be glazed over, and she knew she’d done well. “I’m going to serve supper now. I hope you’re hungry!”