Mera pulled her thumb out of her mouth just long enough to pronounce, “You got dat wight!” and then popped it right back in.
Victoria covered her laughter with a pretended sneeze as she pulled the little girl onto her lap. And Rocky hurried to the back of the wagon and busied himself checking out something with the wheel. But she could see his shoulders shaking in silent mirth over the top of the wagon box, and when he finally climbed up beside her he was wiping moisture from his face.
“Get up, now!” He flipped the reins and didn’t meet her gaze. The persistent twitch of his lip gave evidence to his continuing battle.
Several families that didn’t normally come to church were pulling into the lot as they arrived and Victoria felt a little thrill at that. She hoped a lot of money would be raised today for the school.
She stopped Rocky by the side of the wagon as the children scurried on inside ahead of them. “I have a little something for you.”
His eyebrows lifted speculatively and he cocked his head.
She pulled a baby yellow rose bud from her pocket and stepped closer to him. With trembling fingers she pinned the bud to his lapel and moved back.
Chin tipped down, the brim of his hat hiding his face, he studied the flower for several long moments, then cleared his throat as he lifted his gaze to hers. “Listen. I appreciate the gesture and all, but…” He darted a look toward the church, then pushed his hat back on his head. “I can’t walk in there with a flower on my jacket. I’ll never be able to walk into Samuelson’s Feed again without being the laughing stock of the whole place.”
“Oh.” She hoped he couldn’t hear the disappointment in her tone.
While they obviously couldn’t tell their men what their baskets looked like, for that just wouldn’t be proper, the women had all planned to pin a flower matching their baskets to the lapel of their husbands and hope he would get the hint when the time for bidding came.
But, of course the men wouldn’t want to wear flowers. What had they been thinking?
“Of course. You don’t have to wear it. Here…” She stepped forward and worked it free.
She started to put it back in her pocket, but as she pulled away Rocky’s fingers closed around her wrist.
“I have a better idea for it.” He took the rose from her and held her gaze, his thumb caressing the rushing pulse point in her wrist.
She held her breath.
After what seemed an eternity he glanced up and carefully tucked the flower into her upswept curls. He smiled softly. “Thanks for understanding, and…” He bent closer and tapped her on the end of her nose, a smirk thinning his lips. “I’ll look forward to a slice of your delicious apple pie at lunch.”
She sighed. Maybe he had gotten the message.
They made their way inside and squeezed onto an available pew toward the back. Rocky took one girl on each leg, and she scooted in close to Jimmy so they wouldn’t crowd the family down the row from them. No one stood for the singing. They were all packed in like pickled-pig’s-feet with hardly a spare space between them.
After the singing, Pastor Hollybough stepped to his place behind the podium. A bright red poppy stood out in stark contrast to his black lapel. A titter of laughter traversed the room and Victoria began to glance around.
Doc and Mama were just one row ahead and off to one side and Mama had a pink geranium tucked behind her ear. Doc was fingering his lapel and staring at the pastor’s floral décor with something close to horror on his face.
Sky Jordan sat next to Brooke in the same row as theirs but across the aisle. He sported a pink rose, pinned carefully to his jacket. Sky leaned forward and caught Rocky’s eye. He pushed the rose forward with a quirk of one eyebrow, as if to ask where his was.
Rocky only grinned and gave his older brother a dismissive hitch of his shoulder.
Mr. Halvorson, sitting up front and to the left, was the only other man she could see wearing a flower and he had a red rose stuffed into the top button hole of his black coat.
The congregation never really did settle down and Pastor Hollybough kept his sermon short.
As she exited and fell into place beside Brooke, Victoria took a deep breath, happy to be free of the stuffy interior of the church.
Just past the church, a long slope stretched down to Green Gulch Creek and the auctioneer’s table had been set up in a small flat spot about midway down the hill.
The children ran on ahead to play by the creek with their new friends from school. “Stay out of the water, please!” Victoria called after them.
Brooke chuckled. “I’ll have to be hollering that before we know it.”
Victoria glanced ahead to see Sierra leaning against her Daddy’s shoulder and slobbering happily on her tiny fist. She smiled. “She’s such a doll.”
“Thank you,” Brooke returned her smile. “We feel pretty blessed.”
Victoria glanced over to Rocky, the errant wonder of whether they would ever have children of their own washing over her. Her eyes widened at the sudden course-change in her thoughts and she felt her face pale.
Brooke caught the direction of her glance and took in her face. Bending down she pulled a long stem of grass as they sauntered toward the auction area and Victoria eased out a breath of relief when she let the situation pass without comment.
“I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry I haven’t been out to visit you. I’ve been meaning to get to it. But Sierra was sick for the first couple days of the week and I didn’t want to take her out. And then I seemed to come down with something. I just felt wiped out and I didn’t want to come and make you all sick. I’ve been thinking of you, though. And I’m so glad we’ll be sisters.” A faraway look pooled in her eyes but she seemed to shake it off.
“I’m glad too. I guess I could have come to visit you as well, but things have been a little hectic at our place.”
“Oh please,” Brooke brushed the thought away with a flick of her wrist, “you have the three children and a new husband. You have no time to be running around town visiting anyone for the time being.”
“I’m glad you understand.”
“I absolutely understand, but one of these days we’ll have to get together, just us girls. You, me and maybe Sharyah. I think that would be fun.”
Victoria smiled. “I’d love that.”
Rocky stepped up beside her and she gave him a sly look then turned back to Brooke. So…” she angled her head toward Sky who still walked a few paces ahead of them, “how’d you get Sky to wear that flower on his lapel?”
Brooke’s face turned red and she pressed her palms together with a little nervous laugh. She cleared her throat and glanced ahead. “Speaking of Sky, I’d better catch up to him and get Sierra so he can concentrate on his bidding.”
For a moment Victoria drew a blank as to why she hadn’t answered the question. Then as realization hit, warmth washed her face in a crimson cascade.
Rocky cupped a hand around her waist and leaned in. His voice was low and warm against her ear. “Wish I’d thought of that.”
18
Victoria smacked Rocky and shared a laugh with Brooke who turned to catch her eye as she took the baby from Sky.
“Think we can renegotiate?”
She gave him a little push. “Go bid on the baskets. And,” she lowered her voice, “make sure to win the one with red roses on it.”
Victoria watched Rocky saunter over to join the men, his hands shoved into his back pockets, as she sat down next to Brooke on the grass.
Brooke smiled at her. “Sorry.”
Victoria smiled shyly and concentrated on a blade of grass by her side without comment.
Glancing around, Brooke said, “Looks like a good turnout. I hope the school is able to get all the new text books and desks they need for next year.”
She released a breath, thankful for the change in subject. “Yes. I was glad to see so many other families in church this morning.”
Mr. Reed, who was to serve as t
he auctioneer, stepped up to the wooden podium and banged his gavel three times. “Ladies and gentlemen, as chairman of the school board I’d like to thank you all for coming out today. It is an honor to have so many of the fine folks from Shiloh turn out in support of our school. I’d like to say a blessing over the food and then we’ll have a short word from Miss Jordan… Miss Jordan, where are you?”
“Here.”
The crowd parted and Sharyah walked forward to stand by Mr. Reed.
Victoria’s gaze flitted to Cade. He rubbed one hand over his cheek and down his neck, his attention fixed on Sharyah. She did look very nice today. Her dress was a shimmery shade of pale purple that complimented her skin tone and made her dark eyes seem even larger than usual. She’d twisted her golden-blonde hair up into a loose bun, but curls fell in a beguiling frame about her face. Cade’s feet shifted and Victoria felt a stab of joy at his discomfort. Perhaps the man had finally developed a brain.
Mr. Reed said “Amen,” and she realized she’d missed his entire prayer. She cast a guilty look around and caught Rocky studying her. He raised one finger and shook it back and forth, chastising her for her inattentiveness.
She arched her eyebrows and repeated the gesture back to him.
He merely grinned and folded his arms, fixing his attention back on his little sister at the front.
Sharyah’s voice was soft but it still carried well across the crowd. “I want to thank everyone for turning out today. Men,” she swept a gesture that included the section where most of the men stood, “I wish you luck with determining which basket your wife packed.” A ripple of laughter filtered across the field, for everyone knew about the secret code by now. “Women,” Sharyah turned her attention toward the section where the women sat. “I also want to thank you for your contribution to this cause. Without your willingness to cook for the occasion, there would be nothing to auction.”
“We could pay for the privilege of a dance with you!” Jay Olson called from the back of the crowd.
Several men in the crowd stiffened and Rocky and Sky folded their arms and drilled the man with hard looks. But Cade actually jolted and Victoria watched his hands fist and unfist by his sides.
Sharyah fixed a good-humored smile on her face. “And that only adds emphasis to my thanks, ladies. Because, Jay Olson, my feet are still recovering from dancing with you in the sixth grade!”
Everyone roared with laughter, even Jay, who did a little jig and pretended to stomp on the foot of the man next to him.
Sharyah stepped back from the podium and turned the event over to Mr. Reed once more. A few moments later she sank onto the grass by Victoria’s side.
Victoria did a double take. Sharyah, her face so pale that her lips were gray, looked like she was about to be sick.. “Are you okay?”
Mr. Reed set the first basket up on the podium and started the bidding at two bits.
Sharyah bent forward and planted her face into her hands. “Oh, I’m so nervous! I hate this!” she groaned.
Victoria patted her back. “You did great. You handled Jay with humor and your own touch of sass. It was fine.”
“Not about that! It never bothers me to get up in front of people. It’s about the basket!”
“What about it?”
“I wasn’t going to make one. But then all the children told me it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t make one and they talked me into it. I know this is all for a good cause, but I just hate this! It wouldn’t be so bad if I were married and my husband was fighting for my basket. But every time all the single men gather round and bid each other up like I’m some sort of prize possession and it is just… oh, and that sounds so vain! I give up.”
Victoria chuckled at her discomfiture even as she remembered that last year Rocky had bid for the privilege of joining her for lunch, and won. They’d shared a quiet meal and she had been relieved and sad when he’d left without asking if he could see her again.
“It could be worse. You could be ugly as a pig’s snout and have no one bidding on yours at all.”
Sharyah giggled through her fingers. “Yes, I guess you are right.”
They both turned their attention back to the auction. Sheriff Jordan – Victoria swallowed – her father-in-law, had already bid on and won his wife’s basket, as had Mr. Samuelson.
As the families won their baskets they all sat back down on the grass and waited for the auction to conclude before digging into their food. It soon became apparent that poor Mr. Halvorson was bidding to win everyone’s lunch but his own. The husband’s groused, counted their money and raised him another time. Finally he would give up.
Mr. Reed set another contribution atop the podium. This one with red roses decorating it.
Mr. Halvorson pinched his lips together and heaved a sigh.
“Who will give me two-bits for this beautiful basket?” Mr. Reed called.
From the corner of her eye Victoria noticed Mrs. Halvorson shift as silence stretched taut over the men. Victoria’s heart went out to the woman. She glanced back at the crowd of bidders and saw Rocky give Sky a nudge as he called out, “Two bits!”
“I’ll give you three!” Sky hollered.
A ripple of awareness filtered across the hillside and when Mr. Halvorson’s call of a dollar was raised by another man, it turned into full-out laughter. Mr. Halvorson finally won his wife’s basket for three dollars and seventy-five cents, the highest price any had fetched yet.
Victoria’s basket with the yellow roses was lifted to the podium next. A prickle of apprehension danced along her spine. Had Rocky really gotten her message, earlier?
“This looks like a mighty fine basket, gentlemen. Who will start the bidding?”
Jay Olson raised his hand. “Three bits!”
Mr. Reed chuckled nervously. “These are still the married women’s baskets, Jay. You are playing with fire there.”
Rocky pinned Jay with a glare. “Yes, Jay, you are.” He returned his attention to the podium. “Four dollars!”
Four dollars? Victoria’s stomach rolled. That was an outrageous price for him to pay.
Beside him, Sky grinned. “Make that four and a quarter.”
Rocky jutted his jaw to one side, a glimmer of humor dancing in his expression. “You already won your wife’s basket.”
Sky clapped him on the shoulder. “True. But it’s for a really good cause, little brother. And for a really good cause, I’m willing to eat two lunches.”
Laughter erupted across the hillside and Victoria met Rachel Jordan’s amused gaze from down the way.
Rocky joined in the good humor with a chuckle. “Four and two bits.” He arched his eyebrows at Sky who raised the price to four and three quarters without a moment’s hesitation.
Holding out his finger to the auctioneer, Rocky strode their way.
Victoria watched, curious as he bent down and whispered something in Brooke’s far ear.
Brooke leapt to her feet and covered her face as she rushed back toward the church.
Victoria gasped in unison with several in the crowd. What could he have said to make her react so?
Sky frowned and glanced from where his wife had just disappeared behind a laurel bush, to Rocky, and back again. Then without another word, rushed off after her, baby Sierra still clutched in his arms.
A murmur of concern rose to a grumble until Rocky raised his hands to quiet everyone. “Don’t worry folks. I’m a good brother-in-law and Brooke just likes me, is all.” He grinned and turned back to Mr. Reed. “Now, where were we? I believe the bid is to me at five dollars.”
Victoria chuckled in amazement as realization dawned.
Mr. Reed did the same. “Five dollars it is. Going once… going twice… SOLD to Mr. Rocky Jordan!”
“Thank you!”
Those gathered burst into applause and Rocky gave a wave of acknowledgment. He had just lifted his prize down from the podium when Sky reappeared with Brooke by his side, both of them laughing. When Rocky approached them,
and said something quietly, Sky swung a friendly punch, but Rocky ducked under it.
He glanced over and dropped one lid in a sheepish wink as he made his way toward her.
She shook her head good naturedly and, when he sank down onto the grass behind her, she turned and asked, “What did you say to her?”
He jutted out his lower lip. “I simply asked her to come to the rescue of a man who only had five dollars and some change in his pocket.”
She laughed. “Five dollars really is an outrageous price to pay.”
He leaned toward her. “The company will be worth every last penny.”
She cocked one eyebrow. “You just didn’t want to give up your slice of apple pie.”
He threw back his head with a guffaw. “That too.”
Still smiling, she turned her attention back to the auction. Soon all the married women’s baskets had been auctioned off and it was time for the baskets from the single ladies.
All the married men went and sat with their families and waited for the fun to begin. Several of the family men had first met their wives by winning her offering in years gone by. So this part of the auction always elicited great interest from the community.
Victoria felt Sharyah stiffen by her side and reached over to give her arm a little squeeze of encouragement. Four baskets remained on the auctioneer’s table. Sharyah’s, Julia’s, and two others that belonged to the oldest Samuelson girls.
Rocky angled forward from his seat behind them. “Which one is yours, Shar?”
She sighed. “The blue one.”
“Looks nice.” Rocky’s voice was too casual and Victoria turned to look at him. With an arch of his brows and an innocent look, he tried to shrug off her scrutiny. But when she narrowed her eyes, he broke into a grin and laid a finger across his lips.
Mr. Reed started the bidding on a basket decorated with a bright pink spray of wild peas.
Cade angled his head and looked just past her. Rocky shifted behind her. There seemed to be no more communication between the two men but Cade held his silence through the bidding on the first three baskets until Mr. Reed placed Sharyah’s blue one up on the podium.
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