“I tend to be straight-forward about most things. I’m twenty-five and I want a home and family to call my own. That hadn’t happened yet back in Lawrence.”
He set the brake and climbed down, then came around to help her off the wagon.
They entered the courthouse and the warmth was immediate. Just being out of the wind was wonderful. She glanced around, brushed a hand down her lapel and followed Stuart to the judge’s office.
A skinny young man seated at the light wood desk outside the door marked Judge Matthew Marin, looked up as they approached.
“Please tell the judge that Stuart MacDonnell is here.”
“Yes, sir. Please be seated.”
He waved toward a row of straight back wooden chairs against the wall across from his desk.
Stuart shook his head. “Thank you we’re fine.”
Genny was actually quite happy not to sit on the hard seat. She’d already determined that riding to her new home would be a painful experience on the plain wooden seat in the buckboard. She was neither thin nor fat, but now she wished she had more padding on her behind.
The young man returned through the door he’d left ajar.
“The judge will see you now. Congratulations on your marriage.”
They entered the judge’s chambers where a man of about fifty or so rose from sitting behind a large dark wood desk that had been polished until it gleamed.
“Matt, how are you?” asked Stuart as he walked forward and the two men shook hands.
“I’m mean as a snake per usual,” answered the judge with a smile.
Stuart laughed before turning and motioning for Genny.
“This is Genevieve, Genny, Copeland. She’s come all the way from Massachusetts to marry me. I guess the least I can do is accommodate her.”
“Good. I’ve got the papers all ready. I just need both of your signatures on the marriage application and then, after the ceremony on the marriage certificate.”
Waiting until Stuart signed, Genny then stepped forward and added her signature to the document the judge placed on a corner of his desk.
The ceremony itself took only a few minutes, and then the judge was saying “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride.”
Genny looked up at Stuart.
After a short pause, he bent and kissed her on the lips.
A short, but quite nice kiss. His lips were firm and felt wonderful on hers. She’d have to figure a way to have more of those.
Stuart smiled and held out his hand to the judge. “Thanks, Matt. Appreciate it.”
“I’d say anytime, but I don’t want to be marrying you again.” The judge turned to her and nodded. “Look after him, Genny.”
“I aim to.” She looked up at Stuart, his smile, but she instantly held her breath. His smile showing straight, white teeth, had faded. “If he’ll let me.”
CHAPTER 2
As they left the courthouse, Stuart remained stiff and aloof.
“So, do you regret marrying me yet?”
She smiled up at him. “Not yet. You?”
He didn’t smile. “Not yet.”
She wanted to crawl inside herself and escape his stern countenance but she forced herself to talk. “I hope I don’t give you reason to regret your actions today. I’ll be a good wife to you, Stuart.”
“Just care for my children. They’re my only concern.”
Genny nodded. “I intend to. I can’t wait to meet them. Do I remember correctly that the trip to the ranch will take three hours?”
He nodded. “After I get the supplies loaded we will have about a three-hour ride.” He paused. “You’ll be sore, riding that long in the buckboard for the first time. I’m sorry about that, but you’ll get used to it. We come into town every couple of weeks.”
They went to the mercantile and the feed store before heading out of town. There were more buildings than she saw from the train station. A white church with a small cross on the top of the eve, stood at the end of the street. She saw a newspaper office painted light blue, two-story hotel painted pale yellow, a gunsmith, two more saloons and a butcher.
Stuart didn’t ask for her help buying supplies. She supposed that next time she would have some input because she’d know what was already there. At home in Lawrence, she’d gotten her milk from the milk man, her meat from the butcher, bread from the bakery. Being able to buy everything from one store was new to her.
Genny was happy to be standing and not waiting on the wagon. She still had about three hours to go and already her behind was screaming with pain.
Clara had all their purchases ready to load. Stuart helped pack all the grain and the groceries into the back of the wagon. With a lurch they started the trip home. A strange word to her but she really had a home now. One she could call hers and a family she was a part of.
“Who cares for your children now?”
“Nettie Johnson. She’s my housekeeper and married to my foreman, Pete.”
“Why get married if you already have someone to care for your children?”
“Nettie said she can’t do it anymore. As much as she loves my kids, she’s not a young woman and the workload is just too much to cook, clean and take care of Billy and Lucy.”
“I can understand that. How many people do you have on your ranch?”
“If you include Billy and Lucy twelve of us live there. Thirteen including you. There is Joe, my brother and half-owner of the ranch, Nettie and Pete, the cowboys, Tom, Cookie, he does the cooking on trail drives, Slim, Smokey, Dude and Bub.”
Having grown up in the orphanage she’d learned to be friendly with strangers, always hoping that one of the couples that came in would want an older girl. But they always wanted the babies and toddlers. “Goodness, I’ll try to remember them all. I’m not generally very good with names, but I do recognize faces.”
The horses walked on, trying to stop and graze every once and a while. Stuart slapped the reins on their butts to keep them moving.
The country they traveled through was some of the prettiest Genny could ever have imagined. Grass-covered land with colorful late autumn wild flowers breaking through all over the place. A riot of color surrounded them, even this late in the year. The mountains surrounding them had their first dusting of snow, the tops a vivid white against the bluest sky she’d ever seen. This was definitely God’s country.
They rode in silence and Genny soaked in the landscape. She decided then and there that she would live here no matter what happened. If her marriage didn’t work out and she had to scrub floors in the local hotel to make a living she would do it to stay here.
They approached the ranch from the west. It sat in the middle of the valley they’d entered a while back. The surrounding land was lush with lots of grass and a river on the north side of the valley. She couldn’t see the river through the line of trees, but she could hear it. Lots of buildings were loosely grouped together. She’d have to learn what each one was. She recognized the barn right away as it was the largest building and was painted red. The house, which looked to be the second largest of the structures, was white as were the rest of the buildings.
“Your home is lovely. What are all the different buildings for?”
“Thank you.”
He smiled at the compliment.
“Joe and I are proud of what our family has accomplished here. We raise cattle, but we also have horses, pigs, chickens and milk cows. Do you know how to milk a cow?”
Genny stifled a laugh at the question and shook her head. “No. We had our milk delivered by the milk man twice a week.”
“You really are a city girl aren’t you? Well, you’ll have to learn. I imagine there are a lot of things that you’ll need to learn.”
“Yes. I’m a city girl and I know there will be much to learn, but I’m willing and a hard worker. I don’t know about animals. We got our meat from the butcher, when we could afford it, and bread from the bakery.”
He shook his head.
“Here
we make everything we need. I slaughter a pig twice a year and we smoke the meat or keep it in the ice house. You’ll have to kill the chickens and pluck them to cook.”
“No. Absolutely not.” Genny jerked upright and shook her head vigorously. “I won’t be killing anything. You want chicken, you better kill it yourself or have someone else do it. I won’t.” Her stomach turned at just the thought of having to kill a bird.
Stuart chuckled. “You have strong feelings about that. I guess I can manage that task. You let me know in the morning that you want to fix chicken for dinner, and I’ll see you get the birds—ready to cook.”
“Thank you.” She thought of the recipe for sloppy chicken she’d made before. Julia and Katie always asked for it when they had chicken. It was such a simple thing to do. Fry the chicken until just brown but not completely cooked, make cream gravy from the drippings, pour the gravy over the chicken and heat it all together in the oven for an hour.
“Nettie will teach you what you need to know.”
“I’m a willing student in most everything.”
Stuart cocked an eyebrow and looked over at her. “Even in the bedroom. Are you a willing student there?”
Heat invaded Genny’s cheeks, but she would not let this man embarrass her. She straightened. “I thought that wasn’t something to worry about.”
“We’ll be sleeping together. That could easily become something to worry about. I’m not a monk, but I’ll leave you alone. For now.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything. Inside, her heart rejoiced. A chance existed she could still have her own children.
He pulled up to the side of the two-story house.
A mangy looking dog slept on the small covered porch that sheltered a door she thought must lead to the kitchen. Stuart climbed down and came around to help her which was a good thing. Negotiating the steps up and down the buckboard was no easy task for someone not used to it. Or for someone who’s every muscle from the neck down screamed in pain.
She’d no sooner touched the ground when a tall man wearing a black hat and sheepskin coat just like Stuarts, came striding around the house and up to them. He had brown hair and deep blue eyes, just like Stuart.
“You must be Genevieve.” His gravelly voice was so unlike Stuart’s silky one, yet she knew at once who he was.
“I am. Call me Genny. And you must be Joe.”
She held out her hand but he pulled her into a hug.
“Genny, don’t let him scare you away,” he whispered in her ear before letting her go. “Were family now.”
He said the last by way of explanation for the hug.
The door opened and a stout, gray-haired woman came out, followed by a little boy with blond curls.
Billy. He’s so little. I’d forgotten how small children are.
“Daddy!” he yelled and ran to his father as fast as his chubby legs would let him. When he reached Stuart, he bounced and held up his arms.
Stuart picked up his son and hugged him tightly.
She could tell that even a short trip to town caused the green-eyed child anxiety.
Holding his son, Stuart smiled wide. “Billy, this is Genny. She’s here to take care of you and Lucy.”
Billy put his thumb in his mouth and laid his head on his father’s shoulder.
Stuart patted his son gently on the back. “He’s being a little shy. He gets that way with strangers sometimes. It won’t be long before he’s talking your ear off.”
Genny smiled at the little boy. “I’m sure we’ll be great friends soon.” She turned to the woman behind her. “And you must be Nettie. I’m pleased to meet you.”
Nettie took Genny’s hand with both of hers.
“We’re mighty glad to have you here. Welcome. Come in now. I’ve baked a batch of cookies and a fresh pot of coffee is on the stove.”
Her stomach rumbled at just the thought of cookies and coffee. She placed her hands on her stomach. “Forgive me. That sounds wonderful. I haven’t eaten since I got on the train in Salt Lake City yesterday.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Stuart shook his head with a sigh. “We could have had dinner before we set off from town.”
She looked over at her new husband. “You seemed like you were in kind of a hurry, and I was too nervous to eat anyway. Salt Lake City was the last time my stomach didn’t tie itself in knots just at the thought of food.”
Nettie put her arm around Genny’s shoulders.
“You come inside now, and I’ll make you a sandwich. That’ll hold you until supper. I made a special pork roast just for the occasion.”
“Well, you must be special,” said Joe. He leaned his shoulder against the side of the wagon. “She doesn’t make pork roast for just anybody.”
Genny laughed. She liked her new brother-in-law. He was friendly where her husband was stoic. Genny looked over at Stuart and something about his gaze, its intensity, gave her the feeling he wasn’t immune to her at all.
*****
When Genny met Lucy, she saw the baby sitting up playing in her crib. A prettier baby girl Genny had never seen. Her heart melted at the sight of the sweet baby. Lucy had soft brown curls covering her little head and the same deep blue eyes as her father and uncle.
“Well, hello Lucy.”
The baby looked up at Genny and grinned, revealing the cutest dimples.
“She’s just learned to sit up by herself,” Nettie said as she stood beside Genny.
No sooner had Nettie spoken than Lucy fell over.
Genny gasped.
“She’s still wobbly and can’t sit up for long but when she falls over, she just gets back up and sits again. She’s a very good baby. Aren’t you my sweet, Lucy?”
At the sound of her name the baby rolled on to her back and kicked and grinned.
Genny couldn’t stand it any longer. She had to have this baby in her arms. She reached over the top of the crib and picked her up.
“You are the sweetest little thing.”
She cuddled the baby and kissed her soft curls.
When she looked up she was surprised to see Stuart leaning against the door jamb, arms crossed over his chest. She hadn’t heard him come to the door. A soft expression covered his face as he watched Genny with Lucy. Was he thinking about how his wife would have looked holding their baby?
When his gaze connected with hers he straightened, the hard planes of his face returned. He pushed away from the door to stand with his thumbs hooked in his pockets.
“I’ve just met Lucy.” Genny walked his way, hugging the baby to her chest. “She’s absolutely the sweetest baby I’ve ever seen.”
His eyes softened again.
“She really is, isn’t she? I sometimes think it’s just because I’m her father that I think she’s so special.”
“No, you’re not the only one.” Genny glanced down at Lucy who caught sight of her father and started bouncing in Genny’s arms. “Looks like she wants you.”
Stuart met Genny halfway and Lucy put out her arms toward her father. He lifted her from Genny.
“Hello, sweet baby girl. How’s my Lucy today?”
“Babababa,” said Lucy, then she grinned and laughed like she’d just told him a funny story. Which, in her language, maybe she had.
Stuart lifted her away from him.
“She needs a dry diaper.” He held with his arms straight out in front of his body.
“Where are the diapers? I’ll change her.”
“Top drawer of that chest of drawers. The dirty diaper pail is next to the dresser.”
He nodded toward the piece of wooden furniture.
Genny walked over to the chest and found two stacks of neatly folded diapers, Vaseline, safety pins and talcum powder. From the bureau, she poured water onto one of the wash cloths next to the pitcher, and then she walked back to Stuart.
“Would you put her on the bed there, please?”
She pointed to the small bed in the corner of the room. Both children must
share this room and that was Billy’s bed.
Stuart lay down Lucy and stepped back.
The baby started to kick.
Genny took over, just as she remembered in the orphanage. She unfastened the diaper pin and removed the wet cloth, cleaned Lucy and put on a new diaper. She dropped the dirty diaper in the pail and then picked up the dry baby, gave her a kiss on the cheek and held her out to her father.
“No, you keep her. I have to go back to work.”
“That’s fine by me. I’ll get to know Billy a little bit today. Maybe he’ll be, less shy without you there.”
“It’s possible. I’ll see you at supper time.”
Stuart smiled at Lucy, gave her a kiss on the forehead, then turned and left the room. His scent remained. Leather, sandlewood and man. Stuart didn’t say goodbye, which was fine, as least he said he’d see her later.
Genny went back to the kitchen and found Nettie.
“I see you’ve got our little princess.”
“Yes, and she’s all clean and dry.”
Lucy started to fuss.
“Ah, I wondered when she’d be letting us know she’s hungry. I’ve got her bottle ready here.”
Nettie handed Genny the flat glass bottle with a black rubber nipple. She hadn’t used one before and took a moment to figure out how to hold it, but soon she had it comfortable in her hand and Lucy was sucking greedily to get the milk within.
“After she finishes, I’ll give you a tour of the house.”
“I’d like that.”
Lucy emptied the bottle in no time and Genny put a towel on her shoulder before she put the baby up there to burp her. Lucy gave a loud burp and spit up just a little. Genny was glad of the towel.
Genny loved the house. As soon as she’d walked in, she fell in love. The structure was two stories and had three bedrooms. Stuart and Joe both had big bedrooms and then the children had a smaller room that they shared. There was a fourth bedroom but it was full of furniture and other things that were in use only irregularly and needed to be stored in between uses.
The lower floor had the kitchen, with a bedroom off of it for Nettie and Pete, dining room, parlor and a large office with two desks, one for Stuart and one for Joe. They shared everything in the house. Genny couldn’t help but wonder what would happen when Joe married. She thought that a new house would be built for one of the brothers and the other would stay in this house. If Genny had her way, she’d choose to live here. She liked the way the house was set up and it just felt…like home. She’d never had a place that she could call home. The feeling of contentment rose through her, like roses growing in a garden. Slow and steady.
Genevieve: Bride of Nevada (American Mail-Order Bride 36) Page 2