She folded her arms in front of her. “Exactly what are you comparing me to?”
He shook his head. “I’m not comparing you to anything. But you’re a woman. And women need. . .need. . .” he stopped and stared.
“Women need. . .a man to take care of them? Make all their decisions for them? Is that what you were going to say?”
He shrugged. “Well. . I don’t know–”
She interrupted. “Women are not all helpless little creatures waiting to be rescued by some knight in shining armor. We have minds, you know. . .and someday we’re going to have a say in things, influence how things are done. As soon as we get the vote!”
His eyebrows arched high and disbelief sounded in his words. “Women voting?”
She laughed. “You should see your face. Does it bother you so much that women should have the same rights as men to decide what happens in their community, their country?”
He shook his head and offered a grim smile. “I’ve heard about these groups of women going around the country causing trouble instead of staying home and taking care of their families.”
She hesitated. She could never condone women abandoning their husbands and children. “I wasn’t speaking about them, exactly. I’m just making the point that a woman can make up her own mind about some things without having to be controlled.” She set her jaw and continued. “And if you still won’t take me to town, I’ll ask Seth.”
With that she turned and headed back to the house. She would have the last word in this discussion.
***
“He’ll do no such thing,” he shouted after her. The woman made a head-strong mule look positively even-tempered. Not that she wasn’t a lot more attractive to look at, he admitted to himself with a half-smile, his eyes on her retreating form. At least the noisy exchange had let off some of the steam building inside of him.
Still, she had no idea what sort of man Lloyd was, what a man like him was capable of. And somewhere along her thinking, she’d forgotten that someone had tried to kill her a week ago. If the man was still in the area and saw her in town, she could be in a great deal of danger.
Dusk setting in, he turned and picked up the axe again. For some reason, God had made it his duty to take care of her. As if he didn’t already have enough responsibility.
Setting another log on the stump, he paused and stared at the horizon. For a second he thought he saw lightning. But it was just his imagination.
Chapter 10
Halfway to the house, Missy stopped and tried to breathe through the hot rage that burned deep inside. He would not be giving her orders. How dare he talk to her as if she were a child. Jared Murphy was a domineering, woman-hating, overbearing. . .man.
His house, he had said, like he was some sort of sovereign ruler. Well, she wouldn’t be taking up space in his precious home for long. If no one would give her a ride, she would walk to town. Once she found out where it was.
Seth, leaning against a porch post, greeted her with a smile. “Nice evening, isn’t it?”
His curious expression told her he was wondering about the sudden abandonment of supper by her and his brother. Taking a deep breath to cool the resentment clouding her mind, she gave him a smile. “Yes, very pretty.”
His eyes narrowed in concern. “Is everything all right? You look a little pale. Maybe you’d better come sit down,” he indicated one of the several wooden chairs on the porch.
Words sticking in her throat, she stepped up and sat in a rocking chair, Seth taking the one next to her.
“You’re not sick or anything, are you?” He asked.
She kept her vision on the old boards, gray and worn, beneath her feet. They were starting to splinter in places from exposure to the weather. Jared would have to replace several of them.
“Missy?”
She jerked back to attention. If she was going to ask, Seth would be the best to question. With his friendly attitude and sweet disposition, she could always count on him to be sympathetic. Ignoring his question, she went right to the core of her curiosity. “Why does your brother hate me?”
His eyebrows shot up in surprise and he shook his head. “Jared hate you? Whatever gave you that idea?”
She looked down at her hands, folded in her lap. “The way he looks at me, talks to me. He always seems. . .disgusted.” She glanced up at his young face. “You must know what I mean.”
Seth sighed and stood, walking to the edge of the porch, his back to her. “It’s kind of a long story.”
Long story? She’d only known him a week. “I’m not sure I understand.”
He turned back to her and motioned for her to stand beside him in the fast falling darkness. “See that light way over toward the east?”
She nodded and stared at the tiny glimmer that must be shining inside a farmhouse several miles away.
“That place belongs to Hugh Ward. Big ranch. Hugh has lots of money. And he married Victoria Barker.”
Missy waited. The boy must have a point in the conversation somewhere, but she was getting lost. “I don’t think I understand what you mean.”
He cleared his throat and shoved his hands in his pocket. “Victoria’s from back east. She wrote to Jared for over a year. He sent her money to come out here and marry him. But after she got here, she decided Hugh was the better deal, I guess.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “How could she do that to him?” No wonder the man was bitter and cold. He had been betrayed right before his eyes by the woman he loved. And everyone in Chance, Texas knew it.
Seth shrugged. “She’s a real pretty lady. Jared was so happy when she got here. All he could talk about was the wedding. He wanted to get married right away, but she thought they ought to wait a couple of weeks. Kinda get used to each other, I guess.”
Missy felt her anger toward the man melting away. “I can’t imagine how much it must have hurt him when she married Mr. Ward.”
Seth turned to her in the darkness. “I know he seems hard to live with, but a couple of years ago it was impossible to hold a civil conversation with him. Folks around here felt sorry for him. I think he’d rather have them think he was a fool. It’s been hard for him to take all that sympathy and live with it. And, of course, some were laughing at him behind his back. That doesn‘t even go into all the busybody ladies in town that kept trying to fix him up with some relative or daughter they were tryin’ to marry off.”
She swallowed back the pity that she was working up for him. It would be hard to take, everyone feeling sorry for you. It was Victoria that they should have been thinking something about. Instead, it seemed the woman had come out of the whole thing with admiration and respect.
“Believe me, Missy, he’s made a lot of progress since then. Aunt Della says we gotta keep praying that God will finish healing the hole that woman put in his heart.”
She shook her head. Everything was beginning to make sense; his attitude, the way he looked at her. Maybe even the house. “Seth, the room that I’m staying in. . .”
He snorted. “Yeah. It was for her. Jared spent a lot of money on it. Did without a few things so she would have something nice. I think he worried that he or the house wouldn’t be good enough for her once she got here. Guess he was right. Or Victoria thought so, anyway.”
***
Aunt Della, busy in the kitchen, gave her a questioning look as she stepped inside. Missy stacked the rest of the empty serving bowls from the table and took them to her. “Let me finish. You look tired.”
The older woman gave her a soft smile. “I’ll let you. And then, I think we need to talk.”
The anger burning inside had calmed to ashes by the time she was finished with the kitchen chores. Dreading the conversation ahead, she sat in the rocker opposite Della and took up her unfinished quilt square from the night before. Placing a new scrap on the foundation backing, she began to stitch.
“Now what is all of this about?” Della asked, threading the needle she held in her hand.
Della Murphy listened silently to the tale, nodding occasionally.
Missy put the cloth in her lap and met the eyes of her host. “And I mean what I said to him, Aunt Della. I’m going into town to get a job. I’ve cost your family much more than any of you ever intended. If Jared wasn’t so stubborn he would see why–”
The needle, stuck half-way in the material, pierced her thumb and she quickly brought it to her mouth. If only the pain in her heart could be staunched so easily.
Della finished her own square before she spoke. Putting the fabric scrap in the basket, she reached over and put her hand over Missy’s. Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper that echoed in the room. “Jared is right. He’s just trying to protect you. Purvis Lloyd is not a man for a young woman to contend with. He can only mean you harm.”
Missy shook her head and tried to stop the sob that rushed up her throat. “But it’s not fair to all of you. I’ve ruined everything for your family. There must be a way to get the money back.”
Della sat back and folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t pretend to know everything that’s going on here, but I do know that God sent you into our lives for the good of all of us. Everything He does works for good. He tells us that in his Word. Let’s just wait and see what He has planned for this situation.”
Chapter 11
Breakfast Sunday morning was early and hurried. The boys grabbed hot biscuits and headed out to hitch up the wagon and saddle their horses.
“We don’t get to go to preachin’ much, with no settled church in town, so this is a real treat for us,” Aunt Della exclaimed, tying her bonnet strings under her chin.
Missy stood behind, feeling self-conscious in Della’s borrowed dress and shoes. Try as she might, the mud was not coming out of the clothes she’d been wearing when she almost drowned. She might as well count them as a loss.
“Do I look all right?” The words sounded vain, as if she was begging for a compliment. She bit her lip and stood very still as Della turned a critical eye on her.
“You look right pretty, if I do say so. And once I get this straw bonnet fixed on your head, there won’t be a woman there to outshine you.”
“Oh, no. I didn’t mean that,” Missy interrupted, embarrassed. “I just. . .I guess I’m nervous about meeting a lot of people.”
Della gave a slight chuckle and picked up her Bible and reticule. “I’m sure they’ll be glad to finally meet you. A young, pretty, mysterious woman just doesn’t turn up around here very often,” she chuckled.
Missy felt a blush rush to her cheeks as she remembered the sheriff’s words about the ladies gossip circle. No doubt, they would all be curious to see the woman that almost drowned in Chance Creek.
***
Seth and Mark urged their horses far ahead of the wagon, joining with a group of friends riding further on. The dust from their horses barely settled as the wagon plodded in their trail at a safe distance.
“No telling what that bunch is talking about,” Della smiled, watching Seth swat one of the other fellows with his hat. “But I imagine it might be the Chance Day race next month. I’ve heard them making plans for that, lately.”
Jared nodded. “They both intend to ride. Probably to impress a couple of girls, I’d guess.”
Missy glanced at him. He didn’t join in their conversations very often. “I guess they both have special girls in town?” she asked.
Aunt Della laughed. “I’ve seen ‘em making eyes at a couple, but there’s been no talk of ‘em around the house.”
Jared grinned and slowed the horses again as the wind picked up and dust swirled in front of them. “I don’t imagine they’ll be speaking names to us till they’re ready to make some sort of commitment. And at their ages, I hope that’s not for a good while.”
“Well, I don’t know,” Della said. “The Lord sends the right person along early to some. Me and your Uncle Abe were barely seventeen and eighteen when we tied the knot.”
“I guess I can be thankful we didn’t have to deal with them getting married that early,” Jared conceded.
“I doubt they’re ready to settle down, just yet, anyway.” Della continued. “Right now, they seem satisfied with making plans for the competition. I’ve heard more than one snatch of a conversation about the fastest horse in the race.”
Missy straightened her bonnet and wiped the dust from her mouth with a small white handkerchief she pulled from her sleeve. “What is the Chance Day race? Is it just a day for racing?”
“Oh more than that!” Della exclaimed. “We have it every year to celebrate the founding of the town. There’ll be a big hog roast, free lemonade, games for the children. The ladies will be showing off their best pickles and jams. . .there’s always lots to see and do.”
“You forgot the tobacco spitting and the arm wrestling contests,” Jared grinned. “Those are both a lot of fun.”
Della folded her arms. “Humph! Spitting is disgusting and arm wrestling is just plain old uncivilized. Just a chance for the men to try and show off, in my opinion.”
Missy laughed. She had never seen Jared be such a tease with his aunt. A side of him she hadn’t guessed. Maybe there was more to this man than a grumpy disposition.
Jared lifted his arm and waved. “There’s Tad Wilton. Looks like he’s finally replaced that old wagon of his.”
Missy’s heart gave an unexpected flutter as she caught sight of a black buggy approaching from the south. She shook her head a little and blinked hard. It was just like. . . .like what? She kept her eyes on the buggy as they passed it, Mr. Wilton returning the greeting as he waited to pull onto the main road.
“You all right, honey?” Aunt Della asked.
Missy turned and met her eyes. “I. . .yes. I’m fine. I just thought that I remembered something.”
“Oh my.” Della’s hand clutched her arm. “What was it?”
Jared pulled the reins a little tighter and leaned around his aunt, his eyes watching her.
Missy swallowed hard and shook her head. “Nothing I guess. Just something about the buggy. I must have known. . .know someone with one like it.”
“Well don’t you fret any about it,” the older woman assured her, patting her hand. “Like as not, you’ll be remembering everything real soon.”
Missy smiled and nodded. “I hope so.”
But did she? What if she remembered that she was dishonest, running away from a crime, or something even worse? Maybe it was best God kept her in the dark.
***
Missy stared as they rounded the curve. Main Street lay in front of them, where horses lined the hitching posts and wagons pulled alongside the sidewalks on both sides.
“Looks like a lot of folks have come for the preaching,” Della said. “I heard we’ll be meeting in the livery stable, as the schoolhouse will never hold everyone.”
“I had no idea Chance was so big,” Missy said, taking in the Post Office, Bank, and Stone’s General Mercantile. She turned her head away and shivered as they passed Lloyd‘s Dry Goods. On ahead, she could see Milton’s Law Office, The Chance Review newspaper, as well as a sign announcing Ada’s Millinery. She stared at the hat display in the window, a white straw bonnet with bright pink flowers catching her eye.
Piano music from the saloon filled the air as they passed. A rather drunken cowboy, his hat pulled low on his head, stepped out the swinging doors and headed toward a skinny horse tied to one of the posts. Missy stared above the doorway. Welcome to Luna’s. She sighed. “I don’t understand why saloons are open on a day set aside for worship.”
Jared was quick to answer. “I guess we’re not quite civilized enough in this town to take the Lord’s day off.”
“Not for much longer. The ladies society is working on that problem. We’ll have it closed down on Sunday mornings befor
e the year is over,” his aunt countered. “Why it’s hardly safe for folks on their way to meeting to drive down Main Street without having to worry about running over one of those intoxicated patrons of Mr. Luna’s.”
Missy smiled and sat up straighter. “I’d be glad to help out with that cause, Aunt Della.”
“Good luck with that,” Jared grimaced, easing the wagon between two others as they approached the livery. “Between closing down saloons and women getting the vote, you two aren’t going to have much time for your regular chores.”
“Just don’t you be so sure young man,” Della Murphy laughed and gave Missy’s hand a squeeze. “In my opinion, men underestimate what women can accomplish when they set their minds to it. If they’d let women on the town council, we‘d have already have the new ordinance passed.”
Chapter 12
Missy put her palm on Jared’s shoulder as his hands encircled her waist and he swung her down from the wagon. “Thank you,” she said, her eyes looking up into his as her feet touched the ground. She ignored the sudden spurt in her heart rate and took the Bible that Della handed to her as they turned to enter the stable.
The air was warm, with tiny bits of straw and dust floating in the rays of sunlight that shone through the door and openings in the loft above. Missy breathed in the smell of hay and grain. Only a whiff of manure remained in the cleaned Livery Barn. The floor had been raked and fresh hay spread over the dirt, muffling the sound of their shoes and stirring up dust as they walked across the room .
Rough hewn benches, arranged in rows were already beginning to fill with townspeople. Missy squelched the embarrassment that mounted in her chest and stood a little straighter as many heads turned, anxious to see the newcomers to the service. Aunt Della waved to several women, then pointed to an empty bench near the middle.
Chance Creek Brides (Volumes 1-3 & the Stagecoach Bride) Page 5