Betsy's Hope (Mail-Order Brides Of Prairie Meadow 2)

by Maggie McCloud

  “Well then I don’t see what difference it makes if I have some money and want to use it to help us,” insisted Betsy.

  “It’s just not right, Betsy. It’s a man’s responsibility to take care of his wife and family.”

  “You are so pig-headed John. All right, if it makes you feel any better, think about it like this. This is your farm, given to you by your parents. I don’t own any of it, right?”

  “So, what are you getting at?” John asked impatiently.

  “Well maybe I want to buy in and feel like I own part of this farm.”

  “That’s just plain silly, Betsy. You’re my wife and I’m going to take care of you. Why do you need to own part of the farm?”

  “I don’t, but you’re sharing your farm and everything you have with me, right?”

  John nodded with exasperation, ready to cut her off.

  “Let me finish, please. If you’re willing to share what you have with me, then why shouldn’t I be able to share what I have with you if I want to?”

  “You’re giving me a headache just listening to you, Betsy,” groaned John.

  Betsy gently took his hand. “I can be as stubborn as you, John Masterson. You better just get used to it and give up.”

  They drifted off to sleep then sitting side by side. It wasn’t long before the singing of the birds announced that dawn had broken. They’d talked throughout the long night. Looking outside they could see that the hail had melted and the air was warming up. It was going to be a sunny day.

  “If only that storm could have held off for one more day. At least we could have gotten some of the wheat in,” said John, leaning on the doorframe.

  “Let’s have some coffee and breakfast, John. Then we’ll take a walk together and see how things look,” said Betsy.

  It was hard to believe that a single storm could wreak so much havoc, but it was just as bad as John had anticipated. The wheat was crushed into the ground. The stocks that hadn’t been destroyed by the hail immediately had been pounded into the muddy ground and were beyond saving.

  “The only thing to do here is to plow the ground up and wait for next year to try again,” said John sadly. “And it was going to be such a bumper crop this year too. Would have brought in a good dollar.”

  Betsy could find no words of consolation for John. She walked along quietly beside him.

  “Well at least the rain will be good for the hay. We may be able to get another cutting out of it before winter, which will help. I may be able to trade some for grain for the horses and the cow.”

  Taking her hand he said, “Let’s go and take a look at the corn now.”

  “How does the corn look John?”

  “Oh it’ll be fine. We lost a few stalks and some cobs with the hail, but it can sit until it dries out before we need to harvest it.”

  “Let’s hitch up the wagon and go and check on Henry and Emily. At least we were able to get his wheat in before the storm hit.”

  “Look John, we’re going to share the proceeds from the wheat with you,” Henry explained, as he and John walked the fields checking for storm damage. “If you hadn’t been here helping me, you would have gotten some of your own wheat harvested and I wouldn’t have finished getting mine in.”

  “It’s only fair and I won’t take no for an answer,” Henry continued as John made to cut in.

  “That’s mighty fair of you, Henry. Could you keep this to yourself? Betsy and me, we’re still going to have to watch ourselves for the next year or so. But it might make it easier to tighten our belts if Betsy doesn’t think we have this extra money. You know what women are like,” John said laughing nervously. “Besides I’ve got my eye on something for Betsy for her birthday at the end of the month.”

  “Why sure John, I can do that. I’ll be sure to pass it along to Emily too, so she doesn’t spill the beans.”

  John berated himself for lying to his brother-in-law, but he had to figure out some way to put aside enough money to pay off the note on the farm before James Calder came around to collect on the debt.

  He still hadn’t had the courage to tell Betsy about their precarious situation and he hoped he would never have to. He just had to find a way to make enough money in time to buy back that note.

  For the next few weeks he was going to hire himself off at some neighboring farms to help with their harvest. He’d tell Betsy that he owed these men some time for helping build the cabin.

  Even his plan to go and cut trees in the winter to get lumber to add onto their cabin was not really true. Yes he was going to bring back some lumber, but mainly he planned to cut timber along the rail lines to sell to the train crews to fuel their steam engines. The money he made there was going to be added to the pot.

  Now that he had Betsy to share his life, he refused to give up without trying his best to save their home. He’d been such a fool to borrow against the farm in the hopes of striking it rich. If only he had married Betsy before his parents had died. He knew he would never have left home.

  He had grown to love the stubborn woman who was now his wife and he wanted Betsy to be proud of him. If he lost the farm, he just knew he would lose her respect and he wouldn’t be able to look his sister in the eye either. It didn’t bear thinking about.

  Before Henry had a chance to tell Emily what John had said about the wheat money, he learned that Emily had already shared the information with Betsy.

  “But don’t worry, Henry,” said Emily. “I swore her to secrecy. She promised to act surprised when John tells her.”

  “That’s a relief,” said Henry. But with him wanting to surprise her on her birthday, he’s probably not going to tell her anytime soon. Maybe you should mention something to her.”

  In the meantime, Henry decided he’d better tell John that Betsy knew about the money.

  “Oh no,” said John with dismay. “Now she’s gonna be wondering why I’m not saying anything about it.”

  “I don’t think you have to worry about that. Emily is going to smooth things over. Just make sure you have that surprise for her birthday and you won’t have a problem.”

  On the way home in his wagon, John let out a roar of frustration.

  “Every time I think I’m making progress, something else happens. Well I guess I better go to town and find a nice present for Betsy after all.”

  He pulled up the wagon and headed back towards town. Now that their bills had been paid in full, at least he could put her gift on credit. So maybe he could still keep the money from the wheat aside.

  When he walked into the general store, John had no idea what to get Betsy for her birthday. But as soon as he laid eyes on them, he knew there was nothing that would make her happier. He’d seen how Betsy had tried to make light of the fact that their cabin was so tiny, but he’d also seen that what really bothered her was the fact that there was not a single window in the whole place. So when he noticed those two windows leaning up against the back wall, he knew he had to buy them for her.

  “Hello James,” said John reaching across the counter and shaking hands with James. “I’d like to put those two windows I see at the back of the store on my account. They’re going to be for Betsy’s birthday so I’d like to leave them here for a couple more weeks if I can.”

  “That’s fine John. I see you cleared your bill up so I can put it on your account,” said Penny’s husband, James Stone.

  “By the way, if Betsy should happen to come into the store, don’t say anything to her about the windows. I want to surprise her.”

  “Putting windows in that cabin of yours is going to make winter a lot easier to get through,” said James writing the items in his account book.

  “I know what you mean. I was dreading when it would get too cold to keep the door open. Makes it so dark inside. And I’m not sure if Betsy could have put up with that, not being used to it and all.”

  Smiling to himself, John climbed back up into his wagon and started for home. He was glad things had worked out the wa
y they had. If not, he would never have considered getting windows for the cabin yet. But he knew it would make Betsy very happy and that was becoming more and more important to him.

  Chapter 7

  The week before Betsy’s birthday, John made another trip to town to pick up the windows. He planned to hide them in the hayloft until a day or so before her birthday. Then while Emily and Betsy went to town to shop and visit Mrs. Gregson, he and Henry were going to install the two windows. He couldn’t wait to see the look of surprise on Betsy’s face when she saw the windows.

  After loading them up in the back of his wagon, he stopped to pick up the mail. If there was a letter for Betsy he planned to hold onto it until her birthday and give it to her then. He really hoped Betsy’s ma would have written her a letter. She hid her feelings well, but John knew how disappointed she was not to have had any response to the three letters she had sent home so far.

  As luck would have it, a letter for Betsy had just come on the morning train and was on the counter waiting to be put in his mail slot. Grinning, he thanked Mary Timmons the clerk, and was just walking out the door when she called out to him, “Hold on a minute there, John. I’m sure I have something else for you. Marty has been rearranging things in here again.”

  Muttering to herself she said, “Now wherever did he put that mail?”

  John could hear the sounds of things being shifted around in the mailroom, until Mary finally emerged holding two more letters aloft in her hand.

  “Here we are. Sorry about that John. I knew I’d seen these, but you haven’t been in for a while so they got stacked under a few other things.”

  “Thanks Mary. Looks like Betsy got two letters from home. She’ll be delighted.”

  As he walked back to the wagon he glanced at the letters. Looking at the return addresses on the two letters for Betsy, John could see that one was from her mother and the other from her friend Martha.

  When he got to the last letter, his heart dropped. It had come from California. That could only mean one thing.

  Wanting to avoid meeting up with anyone else, John stuffed the letters into his pocket and quickly got the wagon moving. Once he was safely outside of town, he stopped to open the letter. As he expected, it was from James Calder, the man he had borrowed money from.

  In his letter, James told John that he was making his way East and would be stopping off in Prairie Meadow. He estimated that he would be arriving about the middle of October and would hire a wagon to come out to the farm to see John. Angrily, John crumpled the letter up in his hand, then flattened it out to finish reading it.

  The letter continued, “I know I originally told you that you would have about a year to come up with the money to buy back the note on your farm. But circumstances have forced me to change my plans so I am going East well ahead of time. However, I realize that it would be unfair to expect you come up with the entire amount owing at this point. Therefore, I am willing to accept half of what you owe now with the other half to be paid within six months.”

  The letter finished with, “I thought I would write you in advance of my arrival to give you time to consider this proposal. I hope we can work something out, as I really do not have any use for a farm in Kansas.”

  John breathed a sigh of relief. The news was not as bad as he expected. In fact, if not for that hailstorm destroying his wheat crop he probably could have come up with most of the first installment, by borrowing against next year’s crop.

  Oh, who was he kidding? There was no way he was ever going to be able to come up with that kind of money so quickly. All he could do was hope that he could persuade Mr. Calder to give him more time. Now he only had a few weeks left to figure it all out.

  When he arrived back at the farm, he pulled up to the barn. Before he took the windows out of the wagon to hide them, he wanted to see where Betsy was. Walking through the open door, he put a smile on his face, even though he felt anything but happy.

  “Something smells good in here,” he said cheerfully.

  “I’m trying out a recipe Emily gave me. I hope you like how it tastes as much as you like how it smells,” Betsy smiled. “What have you been up to this afternoon? I noticed you took the wagon when you left.”

  “Oh, I had to go and see the Robert Thompson. I’m going to start helping with his harvest and wanted to see when he would need me.”

  “I wish you would have told me. I would have gone along to say hello to Ruth.”

  “Sorry, but I didn’t want to stay long today and I knew if you came along for a visit, it would be hard to leave too quickly. Maybe you can drop me off one day next week and have a visit with Ruth then.”

  “How long until supper, Betsy?”

  “I’d say about an hour or so.”

  “All right, I have some things to take care of out in the barn, so I’ll see you later.”

  “I’ll ring the bell when it’s time, then,” replied Betsy.

  Once outside, John pulled the wagon as close to the door as possible. Taking a quick look back towards the house to be sure Betsy hadn’t come outside, John carefully carried the two windows up into the hayloft.

  I sure hope Betsy gets to enjoy these windows, he thought.

  ***

  As planned, the day before Betsy’s birthday Emily picked her for a girl’s day in town. She told Betsy she was treating her to lunch in the café and that Mrs. Gregson was going to join them.

  As they rode to town, Betsy asked Emily if she had noticed that John did not seem to be himself lately.

  “He is so distracted. I say something to him and he doesn’t seem to hear me. I’ve asked him if there is something wrong, but he says no,” Betsy said frowning.

  She looked over at Emily and asked, “You’d tell me if you knew something wouldn’t you?”

  “Of course I would. He may be my brother but we girls have to stick together,” Emily smiled.

  They rode in silence for a few minutes.

  “Do, do you think John regrets marrying me?” Betsy asked hesitantly.

  Emily pulled on the reins. She turned to look directly at Betsy.

  “Oh Betsy, absolutely not. My brother likes to keep his thoughts to himself but there is one thing I know for sure. He loves you and you make him happy. I’ve seen the way John looks at you and it’s love that I see.”

  “I have been so worried,” Betsy said. “Thanks for saying that.”

  “Well it’s true. I wouldn’t say it otherwise,” Emily replied. “Maybe he’s still down in the dumps about losing the wheat crop.”

  Betsy considered that for a moment and then said, “Yes, I’m sure you’re right Emily. John was really counting on that crop. I’ve told him not to worry, that we’ll be okay, but it’s like he thinks he’s let me down.”

  After that, the conversation turned to lighter things. The girls spent a nice day together in town, arriving back home in the late afternoon. Emily dropped off Betsy with a promise that she and Henry would be over with a picnic supper the next afternoon to celebrate Betsy’s birthday.

  John quickly hustled out to greet the girls. “Did you two have a nice day?”

  “We had a wonderful day, thanks to Emily.”

  John winked at Emily over Betsy’s shoulders, and said, “I have something for Henry. Want to come in for a minute while I fetch it?”

  He hurried ahead of the two so he could see Betsy’s reaction when she walked inside and saw the new windows.

  He wasn’t disappointed. Betsy had a look of pure joy on her face when she caught sight of the windows. With tears streaming down her face she threw her arms around John.

  “Happy birthday, sweetheart,” he said grinning at her.

  “Oh John, what a wonderful surprise! How did you do all of this without me knowing about it?”

  “Well, I had help. I saw the windows at the general store a month or so ago and knew I had to have them for you. So I had them put aside. I picked them up this week and smuggled them into the hayloft while you were
busy. Emily arranged to take you to town for the day while Henry and I installed the windows. And so here they are.”

  Betsy had tears in her eyes as she looked from John to Emily.

  “When I agreed to marry John I had no idea I was going to be marrying into such a wonderful family. You and Henry are the best, and I thank God every night for you two and for my wonderful husband.”

  “Hey now, it’s not all one-sided you know. You’ve been a pretty special sister-in-law too. And I’ve never seen my brother look so happy,” Emily said pulling Betsy into a hug.

  “Ok, I best be off for home now to get supper on the table for Henry. We’ll see you two tomorrow.”

  Arm in arm, John and Betsy waved to Emily and walked into the house. Betsy couldn’t stop smiling as she admired the windows.

  “This is the best present you could have gotten me. It brightens things up in here so much. Thank you for being so thoughtful, John.”

  “I’d do anything for you Betsy. I hope you know that.”

  As they embraced, all John could think about was how to keep from losing their farm. He said a silent prayer for help.

  ***

  Betsy’s birthday was a happy time. The picnic supper with Emily and Henry was fun, but the two letters that John had presented to her first thing in the morning made the day even more special.

  She excitedly read the letters to John stopping to add extra little tidbits of information here and there. She wanted him to know her mother and her best friend, and since they weren’t there with her, the next best thing was to tell him all about them. And she did just that.

  Finally John laughed and put up a hand to stop her.

  “I know so much about them, well it feels like I’ve already met them. I hope you speak as glowingly about your husband as you have about them,” he teased.

  “Of course John. In fact, I think I almost have Martha convinced to move out here and find herself a husband.”