by Sky Winters
Once they were done with their meal, Alexander gathered up some warm blankets and took them out to his barn. She watched him from the back doorway of the house. He placed the blankets on top of a big, square bale of hay as the cows and sheep looked on, wondering what was going on.
He came back inside when he had determined that the bed he made would be good enough for her to sleep on. “I’m sorry that it’s not warmer, but it’s better than out on the street,” he said.
“Oh, you are very kind even to be housing me,” Eleanor said, smiling a little. “I will get to work right away tomorrow morning, with whatever you need me to help with. I can milk your cows, collect any eggs, I am great at sewing…”
Alexander chuckled, waving his hands at her a little to cut her off. “That’s okay, don’t trouble yourself with that right now. You just go in there and try to get some sleep.”
She took his hand and shook it gently. He brought her hand up to his lips and gave it a quick, polite kiss. “Sweet dreams,” he said.
“And to you, Mr. Montoya,” she replied.
“Please, call me Alexander,” he said. “I’m your friend now.”
That was true. He was currently the only friend she had in the world.
As soon as she went into the barn, he tutted a little and went to his own bedroom, wondering what kind of ruthless individual would trick a girl like Eleanor into coming all this way just to steal her luggage. He did not know what the world was coming to, and he wondered if all of the girls who responded to men via the mail order bride service could be trusted.
CHAPTER TWO
A Feminine Touch
Eleanor rose early with the sun the following day and went to work checking on the chickens in Alexander’s henhouse to see if any of them had laid eggs. She collected them in a carefully folded sheet and carried them back to the house. Alexander was awake, too, standing in the kitchen and drinking a mug of coffee. He smiled at the sight of her, almost as if he had been wondering if he had dreamed their meeting from the night before.
“Good morning,” she said to him brightly. “I took the liberty of checking in on your chickens. I collected their eggs here.” She gestured to the sheet. “I hope that’s all right.”
He nodded to her over his mug, smiling back at her. She was a welcome sight. “That is wonderful. Thank you. Now I know what we can have for breakfast.”
As he cooked some of the eggs for them, she marveled at how skilled he was at taking care of himself. The men she had known were all interested in trades that took them away from the house, and yet here was a man who did not mind and, in fact, seemed to enjoy the homestead life. Eleanor wondered if this pioneer spirit had something to do with the location. People on the northeast coast were so industrialized now. To them, it was all about business and having the little man do all of the work. By contrast, California had men who worked out in nature and could appreciate the things that Mother Earth had to offer.
“So I was thinking about it, and I think the most helpful way that I would be able to pay you back is by getting a job somewhere in town. I’m not quite sure what yet, but I am skilled at making things.”
“Nonsense,” Alexander said. “You should just work here on my farm. There’s plenty of work here. You don’t need to give me money. A farm needs workers… Are you able to make clothing? That would be something new that you can do for me. I’ve only been able to buy my clothes.”
Eleanor bit her lip. “If you’re sure, I would be happy to make clothing for you. I used to work in a factory making clothing… It was shirts, mostly.” Part of the reason why she felt a little bit uncomfortable at not earning her keep was because she had felt a certain sort of pride and accomplishment at having a job, though she had only earned a small amount of money for her labors.
“Shirts are good,” Alexander said, chuckling. He placed a plate of eggs in front of her. “Now dig in. We’ve got a lot of work to do today. Have you ever milked a cow before?”
She hungrily began eating her eggs, shaking her head a bit. “I’ve never done it, but I’m sure I could. How hard could it be?”
Alexander laughed harder at that, sitting down beside her at the table with his own plate of eggs. “Oh, you have never met Eustice.”
Eleanor raised an eyebrow at him. “Who’s Eustice?”
“My cow.”
Lighting the lantern in the barn, Alexander showed Eleanor around the stalls where his three sheep and one cow lived. His was a modest barn, but he had all of the animals necessary for making at least some small profit. “Stella, Shirley and Sally shouldn’t give you any trouble when it comes to sheering them, or trying to sleep. They’re docile and easily herded. But Eustice…” He stopped walking when he came to the large, brown and white cow’s paddock.
The cow looked at Eleanor with her big, black eyes. She did not seem at all threatening, except for her size. Eleanor could imagine that one kick from this bovine would send a person directly to the hospital, if not to the mortician.
“I bought her for cheap, and it’s has become evident to me why. She is fine when she is out grazing, but if you try and milk her, she gets rather hostile. She doesn’t know it’s for her own good. Of course she doesn’t. But all the time, it’s like we’re trying to kill her whenever we set a bucket under her. You’ll see.”
Eleanor looked from the cow to him, gaping. “Has she ever hurt you?”
Alexander tutted a little. “Oh, all the time. Mostly my ego, though.” He smiled at her. “Anyway, I will show you how it’s done and, if you’re afraid of her or you think you can’t handle it, just let me know. You are a lady and my guest. I’ll not risk your life any more than it already was.”
She blushed and he got himself a stool, sitting down in the paddock beside Eustice. The cow looked over at him, giving him a look that suggested, Stay back, don’t you touch me!
Eleanor watched in awe and fascination as Alexander reached out and touched the cow’s udders, slowly at first and then finding his way down them so that he could begin squeezing and getting the milk into the bucket. He made it look like something she could handle, but she was not sure. She was rarely quite as sure of herself as perhaps she should let herself be.
“I don’t know if I could do this,” she said softly. “Her size intimidates me a little.”
Alexander smiled down at the bucket, concentrating on what he was doing and the mood of the cow, but amused at Eleanor’s concern. He was not going to let her get hurt, and he wanted her to be comfortable at his place if she was going to be staying there, so he would not press this chore on her. There were plenty of other things she could do around the barn and around the house.
“That’s okay,” he said, keeping his voice calm and quiet so Eustice would not get startled. “Why don’t you carefully go back to the sheep and get to know them. They’re friendly and a great deal smaller.”
Eleanor was relieved to be given a different task and went to the sheep stall. She held her hand out so that the three sheep could sniff her through the gate, if they wanted to. They happily let out some soft ‘baa’s, so she felt like she could work with them. “If I sheer them, might I turn their fur into wool for making things?”
He nodded. “That’s the idea. I’ve usually just sold their wool in town, but maybe you could use it to make us each a sweater or something. It does get awfully cold down in these mountains at night.”
She petted Stella’s head as Sally took an interest in chewing at the hem of her dress.
Eleanor was disappointed in the state of her attire. Now that she was left with none of the other clothing that she had packed along with her, she only had the one dress and it was starting to be dirty and a bit tattered. She had no money to buy anything else, though, so she figured that she would have to make do with the wool from the sheep and any other scraps of cloth that she might find around the farm.
She certainly was not planning to ask Mr. Montoya for money. She was earning her keep at his farm; she was not earning
any pay. She did not want to burden him anymore than she already had. Imagining the clothing that she could make for them made her smile. That would be one easy way for her to prove her worth to him.
After several hours in the barn, him milking the cow and her cutting the wool from Stella the sheep, Alexander wiped his forehead and held up the full bucket of milk. “I would call that a success,” he said. “Well, it’s part of a success. There’s still a lot to do. I will make a list for you of the things I shall need help with, okay? Right now, I need to go into town and see to a few things. I’ll be back in about an hour.”
Eleanor nodded and gathered up the wool. She was going to need to send this in to have it turned into yarn. For the time being, she would be content simply for having the necessary wool. With Alexander gone, she went back into the house and tidied up, starting with the kitchen. After making and eating breakfast, he had not exactly bothered to clean the mess that was left, so it fell to her. She tossed the egg shells into a trash bucket and cleaned the counters and the table with some soap, marveling at it. She would have to ask him what his soap was made from because it smelled absolutely divine to her.
After she cleaned the kitchen, she moved onto the living room, straightening up a stack of newspapers that sat on the table. The newspapers reminded her of the place where she and Alexander had met. She wondered if he had sent in an advertisement for a mail order bride. Oh, she hoped that he would be successful! The experience had been unfortunate for her, but that did not mean that it should be for him as well.
She wondered what sort of girl he fancied for a wife. He was probably interested in someone who would be able to help him with the farm and keep the home looking nice. He needed someone like Eleanor but more experienced. She was not going to flatter herself for one second and think that he could find what he wanted with her. They were only friends, and he had to show her much of what was needed to be done around the barn. A farmer obviously wanted a farmer wife. That went without saying.
But then she thought about his dimple and the sweet, pleasant way he spoke with her. Maybe she was not the sort of woman that he wanted, but he was the sort of man she could learn to love. She could respect a man who worked as hard as he, while remaining perfectly kind and courteous. Eleanor daydreamed about such a man. She had sent off a letter in hopes of marrying a wealthy gold miner, but now she found herself standing in the middle of Alexander’s living room, clutching a rag to her face and sighing wistfully as she thought about him.
Alexander returned from the town after an hour, clutching a stack of mail in one hand and a little, brown-wrapped package in the other. He smiled as he looked around his farmhouse. “Eleanor?” he called. He set the letters down on the coffee table in the living room, glancing at the newspapers in the process. They reminded him of the way that he and Eleanor had met. Last night had been humiliating for a number of reasons, but he was grateful that it had ended up leading her to that sweet, shy girl. If she was a little older, maybe, and a little more used to farm life, she might have fit his description of the ideal bride and made him run back and cancel his advertisement. But he supposed that it did not matter if she was his ideal woman. She was his ideal friend.
Right now, he could not find his ideal friend, though. “Eleanor?” he called again, more urgently this time. He searched around the kitchen and looked out the window at the barn, but there was no lantern that was lit. She had left no note…
He went into his bedroom as one last place to look and found her lying on the bed, sleeping soundly with a rag clutched to her breast and a smile on her face.
CHAPTER THREE
Turnbull Strikes Again
Gently, Alexander shook Eleanor’s shoulder. “Eleanor,” he said. “Wake up. You’ve fallen asleep.”
She yawned and sat up, looking at him, embarrassed. “So I have… I’m so sorry. I came in here to clean and must have gotten drowsy.”
He chuckled. “It’s all right. I could not find you for a while, so I am glad that you were safe this whole time.” Smiling as Eleanor got off the bed and tidied up her dress, he handed her the brown package. “This is for you,” he said.
Eleanor took the present, surprised and blushing. “Thank you. What is it? You didn’t have to get me anything!”
“I saw it and I thought of you,” Alexander said. “Open it.”
She pulled at the twine on it, and then carefully pulled back the paper to reveal a lovely purple dress. It was much nicer than the one she was currently wearing, because she mostly made her clothing or had it made for her by one of her textile coworker friends. She grinned at the dress and tears came to her eyes. “It’s beautiful,” she said, gasping. “Oh, but I shan’t wear this when I’m working. It’s too pretty. I don’t want to wreck it.”
Alexander chuckled again and nodded a little. “You don’t have to wear it when working. You can save it for when we go into town together.”
“You want to go into town with me?”
He found her amazement that he would want to spend time with her endearing. “Yes,” he said. “I haven’t just brought you back to my home with the intention of making you my slave. You are my guest and my friend. While you’re in Grass Valley, I want you to enjoy it.”
Touched, Eleanor took the dress and, after thanking him several times again, she brought it to the barn to safely tuck it away by her bed. After such a terrible arrival the night before, she was beginning to feel more at home. She was so grateful that she had found Alexander and had had not been totally thrown off by her awkward introduction to him.
After the dress was carefully put away, she went back to work, cleaning out the barn and feeding the animals. Meanwhile, Alexander set to work going through his mail. He had a lot of bills to pay. He wished that his mail included some letters from prospective brides, but he knew that something like that would take time.
He wondered if the lady that he found through the mail order bride service would be quite as touched by little gifts as Eleanor was. He smiled, thinking about how happy he had made his new friend. Thinking about how much she had obviously struggled, he vowed that he would make life on the farm with him a much happier existence.
When all the work was done for the day, Alexander went out to the barn. “If you are not too exhausted, would you like to come along with me into town for dinner?”
She did her best to hide her excitement at the invitation. After all, they were friends so it made sense that he would want to spend time with her outside of working on the farm. She was pleased that he wanted to be seen in public with her. “I would like that very much,” she said.
Since going out to dine was not a part of work, Eleanor took a bath and put on her new dress. Alexander grinned at her when he saw her in it. “I should buy you dresses more often,” he said. “I was not sure at first, but that really suits you.”
Smiling back at him, she twirled so he could get an even better look at it. He offered his arm to her and they went out to catch a carriage and ride to town like a proper couple of friends. Friends, she emphasized to herself. Don’t you dare get used to this. As soon as the bride offers come in, he will not be so willing to spend time with you.
The option was there for her to put in an advertisement for a husband as well, but she did not trust that service anymore. She wondered if it would be better for her to try her luck at meeting someone in person, organically.
Before they went into a restaurant, Alexander ended up taking her into a dress shop. She gazed in wonder at all of the different styles and colors, feeling too bashful to just help herself to any of them. “I can’t ask you to keep buying things like this for me,” she said. “I appreciate it, I really do, but I really would be happy making my own clothing as well as yours. I can practice making things for myself.”
He bought her a yard of cloth instead, for the purpose of making some clothes. It was a plain linen color, but they would be able to dye it later if they so chose. She thanked him for listening to her thoughts and
being receptive to her wishes.
Then, they went to a nice tavern that served some hot meats and soups. She felt a bit overdressed for the restaurant that largely catered to ranchers and miners, but she also felt pretty and she told herself that she deserved to feel that way.
“I feel like I am the only girl in town,” she told Alexander with a smile.
He laughed softly. “You’re not far off. That’s why there is a mail order office in town. So many men around here are looking to start a family, but most of the women who are not already married are on the other side of the country.”
That made her feel kind of bad. She thought that it must be lonely if you were living out there entirely by yourself, with no one to love and share in your affection. She wished more than anything that her response had been to a man like that, who was desperately seeking someone to have a family with, not some horrid man who was only after the money that could be found.