“Looks to me like you two have a little talking to do,” his ma said, her arms crossed. When she stood in that pose, she was set on something, and this time she didn’t beat around the bush about it. “I’ll have your pa milk and Edith and I can split up the rest of the chores. You can sit right here on the porch and have a little chat.”
“We can help with the chores,” Moriah offered.
What caught Tex’s attention was the we. Did she feel close enough to him to think of them together?
“I won’t hear of it,” his ma said.
“Neither will I.” Edith picked up the egg basket. “Let’s go see if those geese laid any eggs.”
“I could use a golden egg, that’s for sure.” Grace giggled and picked up the bucket. “I’ll take this to Morgan. I’m sure he’ll be delighted with the milking duty this evening.”
As they left the porch, Edith told them, “Supper’s at six. We’re having stew and biscuits, and everything’s made so there’s not a thing for you to do.”
Moriah gazed in his eyes. “I do believe they’re helping us along.”
Helping Moriah along, maybe. As far as she was concerned, he’d been hers for the taking since the day he first rode into the barnyard.
* * *
“I think I’d rather go in the house and sat at the kitchen table,” Moriah told Tex. “Coffee would go good with our chocolate.”
“I’ll go anywhere you want me to,” Tex said, giving her waist a little squeeze. “I think you know that by now.”
“I had a suspicion.”
When they got into the kitchen, two cookies were left on a plate on the table with crumbs strewn all around.
Tex laughed. “Looks like Arthur ate the cookies before he asked permission.”
“And he wasn’t too neat about it, either. Go ahead and sit.” Moriah put some coffee on to boil, then wiped off the table. Suddenly she felt nervous about what was to come, for they both needed to bare their souls. The prospect of that was nearly as unsettling as facing down a rattler. “Where do we start?”
“I’d ask you to marry me but maybe we should court first. You pick.”
“How did you get so good with horses when you were raised to be a carpenter?”
“I hung around the livery down the street in Tyler and did odd jobs, which included exercising the horses. Quite a few of them were green broke and I learned early on to understand how horses think in order not to get trounced. They’re a lot smarter than most people give them credit for.”
“From the way your father talked, I thought he kept you pretty busy in the shop.”
“He did, but I was never slave labor. If I wanted to do something else and he didn’t have big projects that he needed help with, then I could do as I pleased. Thinking back on it, Pa was a better father than most. I sure do hope I can be that kind of father to Arthur.”
“I think Morgan is a wonderful man and a good father and certainly a good grandfather. My papa would have liked him, too.”
Once the coffee was ready, Tex stood. “You want a large cup or a small cup?”
“Large, with cream.”
He brought two cups of coffee to the table and sat. “All right, it’s time for me ask you a question. Why don’t you believe in fairytales?”
She really didn’t want to answer that but he needed to know. “I was once engaged to a man named William. He was very handsome—as handsome as you are. All the girls vied for his attention, including me. Then he asked permission from Papa to court me. I was in seventh heaven. I honestly thought I was in love with him but looking back, I now realize that I was more thrilled that he picked me over all the other girls.”
“Then why did you break it off with him?”
“I didn’t. My parents spent a lot of money on a big wedding at the church in Silver City. We invited all our friends, Papa’s business associates, Mama’s quilting bee friends, my schoolmates, our church friends—everyone. The church was stuffed full of people dressed in their finest. Mama had spent over a month making my dress and it was beautiful. I felt like a princess in it.”
“I bet you look like a princess, too.”
“Nobody but mama and the bridesmaids ever saw that dress because the pastor never did knock on the dressing room door saying that everyone was in place. It turned out everyone was in place except for William. We waited an hour but he didn’t show up. Papa told everyone to leave for the reception because we had it all set up, so people might as well enjoy the food and music.”
“That must’ve hurt you really bad.”
“Not right then, because I didn’t believe he’d left me like that—that he’d come back any minute. We went to the reception but I just couldn’t stay and see all of those sympathetic expressions. The pity. Besides, I just knew there was a good reason why William didn’t show up. Turns out there was a good reason—he’d taken the stagecoach out of town with another one of my friends. They were married in Boise City the next day.”
“That would be hard to swallow.”
“Yes, and the end of my belief in fairytales.”
“So you became a schoolteacher and signed your life away in a contract?”
“That’s about it, but it didn’t happen until after Papa died a couple weeks later. His heart gave out on him. We knew he tired easily but he never gave us any indication that he was seriously ill, so it was quite a shock to Mama and me.”
“Moriah, I want you to know that I will never leave you. Ever. Well, unless I die.”
“I believe you.”
“Will you be my wife and Arthur’s mother?”
“Yes, I will.”
* * *
Moriah fussed with dusting the furniture while Edith and Grace made a big production of planning the engagement party. The festivities made her queasy—it’d be better to not say anything and then marry when she was free to do so.
“Did you get that letter written, Moriah?” Mama called from the kitchen.
Daisy Richards had told her that she was more than certain that the school board would release Moriah from the contract if they had another teacher coming, and maybe even if they didn’t. Moriah had told her that she’d be happy to teach after the wedding if the parents would tolerate a married schoolteacher. Daisy couldn’t vouch for them, but said she didn’t see anything abhorrent about the situation.
Everyone needed a friend like Daisy. Even with morning sickness, she always had a sunny disposition.
“No, I’ll write it now.” Moriah put down the dust cloth and opened the secretary—but no stationery.
“Where’s the good stationery? It’s not in the secretary.”
“I got it out to write a letter to your aunt. Look in my room.”
Mama’s sister lived in San Francisco. She’d come up for the previous wedding that didn’t happen, and Moriah wasn’t sure she wanted to tell her aunt that she was engaged—best to write her after the marriage.
Moriah found the stationery and mulled over exactly what it was she wanted to say. Letter writing wasn’t her best talent.
Dear Lucy,
We met in Silver City, Idaho Territory, last year. I hope this letter finds you and your family well. I certainly enjoyed the time we spent together at the school with other teachers of like mind.
I'm writing to inquire as to whether you or one of your friends at the school you attend would be interested in a teaching position where I currently live, Oreana, which is only a two-hour ride from Silver City. The community is friendly and the pay is competitive. We currently have a dozen students from first to tenth grades. The position could start immediately or, if the new teacher prefers, at the start of the new school year next September.
The circumstances are a bit strange, as I have found a wonderful man to wed, but of course a teacher cannot be married. The school board will release me from my three-year contract (two years remaining) if I find a suitable replacement; thus, my inquiry to you, which I dearly hope is not an imposition on your good nature. They'
ve agreed to write a new contract for whoever takes my place.
My mother and I are doing well (as you can imagine!), and I hope you can find similar happiness.
Yours Truly,
Moriah Jensen
“I’m finished, Mama. I’ll send it in the morning when I go to school.”
“Good job, dear. Now come in here and have a biscuit. You can look over the arrangements for the engagement party that Grace and I just worked out.”
“Are you sure we have to have a big party?” Moriah said when she got to the kitchen. “Can’t we let it slide until I can set a wedding date?”
“Nonsense.” She shoved a paper in front of Moriah after she sat. “I’ll pour you some coffee.”
Chapter 18
During the six weeks that had passed from the snake incident, Moriah had grown much closer to Tex. In fact, it seemed that love was in the air all over the Jensen place. Wilbur was no longer afraid of his harem and in fact, all six geese had started laying eggs. Edith had decided to let these first eggs hatch, and as a result, they had at least a dozen miniature Wilburs running around. Prince was no fan of the new goslings but after a little convincing, left them alone.
Even with all the amorous goose activity going on while Moriah herself fell madly in love with Tex, she had her doubts about fairytale endings. And she wasn’t at all enthused about having an engagement party, especially when her mother and Daisy had decided to hold it in conjunction with the Halloween costume party. Since Moriah showed little interest for the party or in creating a costume for herself, her mother and Grace made her a princess gown, complete with wings, out of her old wedding dress.
“It all seems like asking for bad luck,” Moriah told her mother. “Halloween simply isn’t a romantic day—the ancients believed it was the day when the dead returned to the living world to cause trouble. And the dress sure didn’t give me good luck the first time I wore it, so I don’t see why I should hope for any better now.”
“You’re acting as silly as those goslings outside that keep messing on my porch,” Edith mumbled through the straight pins she held between her lips as she marked the hem on Moriah’s dress. “We used the fabric—this is a whole new gown. Now hold still. I have a lot of hemming to do, and we need to leave here in a couple hours.”
“Do I have time for a bath?”
“I think so, if you hurry. Better stoke up the stove first so you can dry your hair.”
Three hours later, Tex hadn’t shown up.
“Get in the wagon,” Morgan said. “He’ll have to meet us in town.” He helped his wife onto the passenger’s seat, then assisted Moriah and her mama into the back where they’d put benches padded with straw and covered with blankets. Arthur scrambled in, with Prince following.
“No, you don’t,” Morgan said to the dog. “You’re staying in the barn tonight.”
Morgan drove into Oreana and stopped the team in front of the livery, where Jonas had cleared the center and laid planks for the barn dance.
But Tex wasn’t there.
“He’ll be along shortly,” Morgan told her. “He left before dawn for Silver City and he said he’d be back by five or six o’clock. He’s just a little late, is all.”
A lot late, Moriah thought, for by then it was seven o’clock. They all got out of the wagon with Morgan’s help.
Edith fluffed up Moriah’s fairy princess gown, then straightened her wings. “All right, let’s go in. Put on your masks.”
“This is gonna be fun,” Arthur, dressed as a knight in King Arthur’s court, said as he waved his wooden sword. “But I don’t have to dance with girls, do I?”
“Knights must always be chivalrous,” Grace said. “Of course you do.”
“I’d rather slay dragons.”
The band struck up the first set, starting with a rousing polka. Moriah was in no mood to dance for she feared she’d be stranded again. Unfortunately, everyone in town already knew they’d be announcing their engagement at the dance. Her disappointment was even more acute this time since she had truly believed that Tex would never let her down.
Don’t worry,” Grace said. “He said he’d be here and he will be. Just be patient.”
Her words only made Moriah more upset. She’d faced humiliation at the party after her fancy wedding that didn’t happen, and she never wanted to go through that again.
Eight o’clock came and went without any sign of Tex. She danced with Cy, then Jonas, but begged off the others’ offers.
Nine o’clock came and went. No Tex. Morgan talked her into one last dance but she sat out the rest, preferring to be a wallflower lest she be noticed. The party-goers all seemed to be having a lot of fun dancing and drinking the designated punch laced with a good dose of whiskey. On occasion, some of the men would go out back where Mr. Mueller had brought a keg of his home-brew beer.
At ten o’clock, her mother had planned to make the engagement announcement. Moriah wouldn’t have any part of it.
“No, you can’t announce something that may very well not happen. In fact, most likely not. He won’t be riding in the dark—he thinks too much of Dancer to put his legs at risk. And obviously I’ve been swayed by sweet talk again. I must be the most gullible woman ever to set foot in Idaho Territory.”
“Just because you stumbled onto a bit of bad luck doesn’t make you gullible. But all right, dear. We’ll wait until Tex shows up.”
“He won’t.”
“He will,” Grace said, overhearing. “He’s crazy about you. But I’m getting a mite worried that he’s had an accident, for he always keeps his word.”
Ten-thirty came and went. The mighty dragon-slaying knight and his friends had fallen asleep on the straw in one of the stalls. Some of the couples with young children had already left.
When Jonas deposited Edith beside Moriah after a vigorous two-step, Moriah said, “Mama, I can’t go through with this. People are starting to avert their eyes because they know I’ve been jilted once again.” She dabbed a tear with her hankie. “I’m going home in fifteen minutes even if I have to walk.”
Ten minutes later, she fetched her wrap and parasol. When Daisy tried to talk her out of leaving, she said, “Looks like you won’t have to look for a new schoolteacher after all.”
“I wouldn’t be too hasty.” Daisy gave her a little hug. “He’ll be here.”
“But he’s not here.”
Edith intercepted her at the door. “Morgan said he’ll drive us home, but you have to give Grace time to collect Arthur, plus I have to fetch our dishes.”
“I’ll be sitting in the wagon, then, but I’ll not stay here a minute longer.”
The October night air chilled her to the bone. Mama and the Dillons should’ve been out long ago, but cold as Moriah was, she refused to even consider going back inside. Several families left, passing by her—some noticing her and the rest pretending not to see her. She’d completely soaked all five hankies that she’d brought and was now using the fairy princess wings to dab her tears.
What a fool she’d been! Her dreams of a family and children, both boys and girls with Tex’s dark hair and mischievous eyes, had been dashed. She cursed herself for allowing herself to fall into his trap. She’d known better.
More people left. Daisy and Cole stood outside the door talking to her parents. Moriah couldn’t hear the conversation but she hoped they were discussing something other than her botched engagement. Anything but that.
Finally, her mother and the Dillons emerged from the livery. Morgan carried Arthur, who was sound asleep but still held his sword, and the ladies carried various dishes—now empty.
Then a rider approached carrying a lantern. As the horse approached, she recognized Compass and she carried a man. Could it be Tex? Who else would be riding her mare. And why would he be riding her?”
She fixed her face as best she could and schooled her features, for if it indeed was him, she didn’t want him to know how upset she’d been. She refused to give him the satisfactio
n of knowing how overwrought she was.
It was Tex. He rode to the wagon. “Why aren’t you inside?”
“I’m presuming you think it’s pleasant to attend an engagement party without your fiancé. Besides, nearly everyone has gone home.”
“I’m more sorry than you can know that I was late but it couldn’t be helped.” He dismounted.
“Why are you riding my horse?” she said, more sharply than she’d intended.
“Dancer was done in so I had to brush him down and stable him. I didn’t think you’d mind if I borrowed Compass.”
She couldn’t think of a thing to say, nor did she know whether to be relieved that he showed up at all, or angry for subjecting her to humiliation once again.
“You look very pretty tonight,” he offered.
“I look like a stupid insipid girl, costumed by her mother and forced to go to an engagement party—with no prospective groom in sight. How silly.”
Tex dismounted, tied Compass to the wagon, then took off his hat. “Moriah, I’m sorry, but I happened onto an overturned stagecoach on Silver City Road as I was coming home—about halfway home, in fact. One man died. Several others were hurt including a mother and her two daughters, one of whom had a broken leg.”
Moriah began to relax and tears no longer threatened. “So what did you do?”
“I led Dancer and he carried the woman and her girls back to Silver, for Doc Mabry’s there this week, not in Oreana.” He climbed into the wagon and sat on the bench beside her. “Plus, I had to inform Sheriff Adler, then take some men and wagons to the accident site. On top of that, a reporter from The Owyhee Avalanche wanted to know what had happened, so that took another fifteen minutes.”
“And then you left Silver for home?”
“Yep. Dancer had been working all afternoon but I rode him home anyway even though it was hard on him. But we took it slow, and I walked part of the time to give him some rest. When I got to the barn, I’d planned to saddle up one of the team horses but Compass seemed to be a better choice.”
“So you spent all afternoon helping the accident victims?”
Idaho Fairytale Bride (Rocky Mountain Romances Book 2) Page 11