“I don’t think any man would.”
He pulled out some celery from the garden and placed it in the basket. “You know, if that pie is as good as the rest of the meals you make, I’m going to have to tell Joel that Mary Larson isn’t the only one who makes the best pies around these parts.”
Angela knelt beside him and put more celery in his basket. “I have yet to meet this Mary Larson, but I feel like I know her. It seems that every time you eat something I make, you bring her up.”
“That’s because the Larson family keeps bragging about what a good cook she is.”
“Have you tasted any of her meals?”
“I have.”
“And?”
“I’d say that you just might win a cooking contest if you two were to compete.”
She looked pleased. “I spent a lot of time learning how to cook when I was growing up. I had hoped that if word got out that I was a good cook, the men in town would be more likely to marry me.”
Eyes twinkling, he asked, “You were hoping to marry all of the available men in town?”
She stopped pulling up a couple of carrots and gave him a playful shove on the arm. “Stop being silly. You know exactly what I meant. Just like you knew what I meant when I was talking about making a pie.”
He reached out and brought her into his arms and kissed her. “Did any of those men actually try your food?”
“They did at church potlucks.”
“And they still didn’t want to marry you?”
“I never received a proposal, much less an offer to be courted.”
He didn’t understand it. What was wrong with those men in Indiana? The scars were easy to overlook. He hardly even noticed them anymore. Couldn’t the men get past them? Not only was she a fantastic cook, but she was very pleasant to be around, too.
“I should probably send those men all a missive and thank them. I like having you here with me.”
And then, since he was still a bit uncomfortable coming out and expressing such sentiments, he lowered his head and kissed her again.
He would have continued kissing her if Fred hadn’t wiggled between them. Laughing, Sep pulled back from her and petted the dog.
“Fred,” he playfully admonished. “I thought you weren’t the jealous type. I thought that you had no trouble with Angela being here.” He gave her an apologetic look. “Apparently, I’m supposed to wait until we’re in bed before I kiss you.”
She giggled and petted Fred. “Well, I did steal the bed from him. He’s been generous enough as it is.”
“I’m sure if you give him a taste of that apple pie tonight, he’ll forgive you for taking advantage of me in the garden.”
As he hoped, she chuckled at his joke. “You have a bit of a mischievous streak in you, Sep.”
He shrugged. “Laughing is better than crying.” He took the basket and rose to his feet. “I think that’s all for today. Think you can make good use of these?” He showed her the vegetables he had collected.
“I was thinking of making stew. Those will be perfect.”
As they headed out of the garden, Fred joined them, wagging his tail in contentment. All it took was a little attention and Fred was happy. That was one of the things Sep liked most about his dog. He wasn’t hard to please.
As they went down the path from the garden to the house, his steps slowed. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw an unfamiliar set of footprints in the dirt. He stopped walking and followed the direction that the tracks were going in. If he was right, the tracks seemed to be heading south of his property.
Sometimes men came through the area as they were hunting deer. Most of the time, they would let him know they were coming, just so he was aware they were on his land. But that didn’t always happen. Once in a while, they would just travel on through. He supposed this was one of those situations.
Angela stopped walking and turned toward him. “Is something wrong?”
With a shake of his head, Sep started walking again. “No, nothing’s wrong.”
“Do you want to have dinner rolls or bread with the stew?” she asked.
“I think I’ll go with the bread. I like to cut up the pieces of bread and dip it into the stew.”
“I’m glad to hear that because I’ve already started on a loaf of bread.”
“Then it’s a good thing I picked bread.”
“I would’ve made dinner rolls if that’s what you wanted.”
Deciding to risk making Fred jealous again, he drew her closer to him and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “That’s very sweet of you, Angela, but I don’t want you to go through all that trouble just for me. I’m happy with whatever you make. I’m just like Fred. Easy to please.”
Noting her smile, he smiled, too, and they walked the rest of the way home in silence.
Chapter Eleven
Another week later, Angela and Sep were getting ready to go into town to visit his sister and her family. Now that Angela had met his family, she didn’t experience the same nervous tension that she had before. In fact, she had found April and the children to be very friendly, which made her anticipate seeing them again.
“Are you ready to go?” Sep called out from the kitchen downstairs.
Angela finished brushing her hair and replied, “Almost. I’ll be down there in a minute.”
She thought about pulling her hair back into a bun or perhaps a ponytail. She had gotten into the habit of doing that during the day because of the heat. At night, she would wear her hair down because Sep liked it that way. After a moment, she decided to wear it down. Not necessarily because Sep liked it, though that was a benefit. No. Her primary concern was hiding as much of her scars as possible. Yes, she knew that his family didn’t mind her imperfections, but she still preferred to hide them, if for no other reason than to ward off the onlookers who would be in town. She had already decided she wasn’t going to wear the veil. That was a bigger accomplishment than she thought anyone would ever realize. But she had Sep with her, and because of that, she hoped the stares and whispers wouldn’t bother her today.
She put the brush down on the dresser, smoothed her hair over her shoulders, and then headed downstairs.
When she reached the kitchen, Sep looked over at her from where he was pouring water into Fred’s bowl. He smiled. “You look really nice. I didn’t think you would wear your hair down.”
“I wasn’t going to at first, but I figured since I’m not going to be stuck inside cooking in a hot kitchen, I would go ahead and do it.”
“I’m glad you did. You look really pretty when your hair is down.”
He placed Fred’s water bowl on the table and went over to kiss her. More than anything, Angela enjoyed how affectionate Sep was. He was always finding ways to touch her or kiss her, even though Fred would get jealous from time to time.
“Aren’t you worried that Fred will catch us and demand that we pet him?” she teased.
“I was smarter than him today. He’s outside. He won’t catch us kissing.”
Then he brought her into his arms and deepened the kiss. She melted against him. It was such a wonderful feeling to be caught up in the swirling emotions of love and desire.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and parted her lips, inviting him into her mouth. He accepted her invitation and interlaced her tongue with his. A tingle swept straight from her head to the tips of her toes. When she had answered the mail-order bride ad, she’d thought she would be lucky if her husband could bear to look at her. But things were much better than she’d hoped. Not only did Sep like to look at her, but he was affectionate toward her as well.
When the kiss ended, she tried not to express her disappointment, but he noticed it. “If I keep on going,” he began, “I will be hauling you right back up to the bedroom. And then my sister will get upset because we will be late. Believe me, we don’t want to worry my sister by being late. I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“But your sister seems like such a swe
et person.”
“She is but she thinks something bad happens to me whenever I am late.”
“In that case, we won’t keep your poor sister waiting.”
He gave her a quick kiss and then picked up Fred’s water bowl.
As they walked onto the porch, she asked, “Were you really tempted to take me back up to the bedroom?” She probably shouldn’t ask the question. It was a very bold thing for her to do. But there was something about him that made her feel safe enough to ask whatever was on her mind.
And she was glad that she had asked the question when he answered, “You bet I was. Making love to you is my favorite activity. Don’t get me wrong. I love my sister and her family, but you’re a lot more exciting to be around, especially when we’re alone.”
He winked at her, and she blushed with pleasure.
He set down the water bowl by the front steps and called out for Fred. Within seconds, the dog came running from the barn and bounded up the steps. Sep patted his head and gestured to the bowl. “That should keep you satisfied until we get back.” He glanced over at Angela. “I think you fed him enough to keep him full for the whole day during breakfast.”
She shrugged. “I suppose I overdid it when I fed him all that bacon. But he was being so sweet, and who could resist those large puppy dog eyes?”
He laughed. “Now you know why I fed him as well as I did when I was a bachelor. Sometimes I forget he’s a dog. He seems almost like a brother to me.”
“I can’t blame you for that. He is a good companion. I wish I’d had a dog like this when I was growing up.”
“I think all kids should have a dog. They make the best kind of friends.” He gave Fred one more pat as the dog drank some of the water in his bowl. “I can’t think of anything better than having you and Fred in my life.”
Touched by his comment, tears welled up in her eyes. She blinked them away before he could notice. When she could trust herself to speak, she replied, “I feel the same way, Sep.”
Their gazes met for a long moment before he took her hand in his and squeezed it. After he gave her another kiss, he led her to the barn so they could get ready to go into town.
***
On the way to his sister’s home, Sep pulled up to the post office. “We might as well see if your parents’ reply has come yet,” he told Angela.
Angela had wished she’d known that he was going to stop over at the post office. If she had, she would’ve put the veil into her pocket. Now would be a good time to use it since she was going to be up close with a lot of strangers who were going in and out of the small building.
No, that wasn’t the right attitude to have. She had to learn to overcome her insecurities, and the only way she was going to do that was by forcing herself to be in public without the veil. Sep didn’t mind her scars and neither should she. This was easier said than done, so she had to keep repeating this to herself as he helped her down from the wagon and took her into the post office.
The post office wasn’t much bigger than the one back in her hometown even though it had about three times as many people. While they waited in one of the three lines, one of the women in the line to her right glanced over in her direction, which just so happened to be the side Angela’s scars were on. The woman leaned toward the woman standing next to her and whispered something in her ear. The other woman, in turn, glanced over at Angela.
Doing her best to pretend she hadn’t noticed, Angela turned away from them. She knew this was going to be uncomfortable. She knew someone in the crowded place was going to notice her. So she wasn’t surprised, but it still made her uncomfortable all the same.
She and Sep moved forward in the line, and she was thankful that they were behind her.
They were probably whispering things like, “How did she get those scars? They make her look ugly. Thank goodness I don’t look like that.”
She’d heard those kinds of comments many times before. Sometimes, she wished that people would take into consideration the kinds of things they were talking about. Many times, she wished more people would just mind their own business. Didn’t they have better things to do than to talk about her?
“Are you alright?” Sep whispered.
The last thing she wanted him to know was that she had attracted the wrong kind of attention, so she replied, “I’m fine. It’s just stuffy in here.”
Then, just because it would put her out of the women’s view, she moved around him so that she was on his other side. He was tall enough to block her from them.
They took another step forward, making them now the second people in the line.
“I know it’s busy in here,” Sep whispered, “but things move along pretty fast. We’ll be out of here soon.”
Other than the two women, the others didn’t pay her any mind. Well, there was a young boy who tugged on his mother’s hand and pointed to her, but that didn’t bother her. He was just a child. He didn’t know any better. But other than that, the people were polite enough to either pretend they didn’t notice her scars or they were too busy to notice. Most of them were in a hurry to get whatever they wanted and then head right back out.
“Maybe I should get a post office box,” Sep said. “You’ll be wanting to write more letters to your parents, and they’ll be wanting to write back. I should do that while I’m here.”
“Do you think that would be easier?” she asked.
“If we got a box, then we won’t have to wait in line to see if a missive has come in. We can just go straight to the box and see if something is there. It’s up to you. I brought some money in so we can pay the fee today if you want. If you don’t mind waiting in line, then I suppose we don’t need one. I just thought it might be easier, that’s all.”
That would make her a lot less uncomfortable. “I like that idea. I would like to get the box.”
The person in front of them retrieved their package and headed on out of the building, making them the next people in line.
“How can I help you?” the worker asked.
“We’d like to do a few things today,” Sep replied. “One, we would like to get a post office box. And two, we’d like to know if anything has come in for Sep and Angela Wilson.”
The man handed Sep a form to fill out while he went to the back to check on the missives that had come in. To Angela’s delight, her parents had already sent a response. While Sep filled out the form, she took the paper out of the envelope and started to read it.
As she had expected, her parents were horrified to learn that Mr. Dodson had turned out to be such a horrible person. They then expressed relief that Sep had come along when he did and helped rescue her so that she didn’t end up being auctioned off. And after that, they expressed how happy they were that things had worked out. They also said they were glad Sep had written them something and that he sounded like a nice young man, and they told her things that were happening back in Indiana. And as for the ending, they wished her and Sep happiness as they started on their married lives together and encouraged her and Sep to write back soon.
By the time she was done reading the letter, Sep had finished paying for the post office box.
As he went to check the box to make sure the combination worked, he asked, “Was it a good letter?”
“It was,” she said. “They like you.”
He opened the box and then shut it. “I don’t see how they can say that since they don’t know me.”
“They read what I said about you, and they read your part of the missive. It was enough to let them know I was in good hands.” She held out the letter for him to read. “You can see it for yourself if you want.”
He chuckled. “I shouldn’t give you such a hard time. I believe you. But it will be good to see what they wrote.”
Since the same two women were still in the post office and still looking at her, she asked, “Can you do that later? I would like to be on our way so we can visit with your sister and her family.”
“Sure.” H
e folded the missive and tucked it into his pocket. Then he slipped his arm around her waist and led her back out to the wagon.
Chapter Twelve
By the time Sep and Angela returned from his sister’s, the sun was starting to set. He didn’t make it a habit of spending so much time at his sister’s, but April and Angela really got along well together. Joel’s sister, Sally, even stopped by to say hi and see how things were going between Angela and Sep.
Sep was only briefly acquainted with Sally. After Joel and April married, Sally had come out from time to time to the farm to spend the day with April. Since they discussed things that only interested women, Sep often went to another room or went outside to do his chores. Today he had chosen to focus on his nieces and nephew, who told him more than he ever wanted to know about the circus that was in town.
But it was nice to see Angela enjoying herself as much as she did, so he hadn’t minded the talk of acrobats, wild animals, and clowns. As he pulled the wagon up to the barn, he glanced over at Angela who was smiling.
“I thought you and my sister would become friends,” he said.
“Your sister is easy to like,” she replied.
He got down from the wagon and went over to her side to help her down. “You’re easy to like, too.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up against him. “I’m glad I picked you to marry. I don’t think I would’ve been happy with anyone other than you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. “I’m glad you picked me, too. I don’t know if any other man would’ve accepted my scars.”
“If he was smart, he would. But I realize how stupid some people can be. Well, their loss is my gain.”
He brought his lips to hers and returned her kiss. The best part about today was knowing that when he came home with her, he would get to spend the night making love to her. That was a nice side benefit to being married, and better yet, she seemed to enjoy their times together. And it wasn’t just the physical act that made it so wonderful, though there was no denying that was the best part for him.
The Bride Price Page 9