It’s not my problem. Once the weather gets better, I’m finding a way out of here.
Joel watched as April sat in her rocking chair by the window and started mending a dress. Nora giggled and walked around the room, seeming to be fascinated with everything she came across. Joel gave a slight shake of his head and went over to the shelf with a stack of dime novels on it. There was no sense in noticing everything that needed fixing around the place. They’d have to find another man to force into marriage and let him take care of the house. With nothing else to do, he picked up one of the dime novels and sat on the couch to read it.
Chapter Five
April looked over at Joel as she worked on mending her dress. He was hunched over on the couch with one hand on his forehead while he read a dime novel. At least, he appeared to be reading it. For all she knew, he was pretending just so he wouldn’t have to talk to her. And who could blame him? If it hadn’t been for Lou, she wouldn’t want to keep Joel with them as much as she did. Harvey was bad enough. Who knew just how bad Lou was?
Glancing at Nora who was trying to pull down the curtains, she got up and went over to her. “Don’t do that, honey. Come on over here and sit with Mama.”
She took Nora’s hand and led her to her chair where some blocks and a doll were, but Nora shook her head and went back to the curtains. Sighing, April put her dress on the chair and went back to the window.
“No, honey,” she whispered and picked Nora up. “Would you like something to drink?”
Nora wrapped her arms around her neck and said, “Drink.”
With a tentative look in Joel’s direction, April asked, “Would you like me to get you something to drink? We got more coffee. I could make tea if you prefer.” She waited for him to answer, but he didn’t look up from the dime novel. Taking her chances, she added, “I can also get you a snack. I can make whatever you’re in the mood for.” Or she could make a close approximation to it. She didn’t exactly have a whole kitchen’s worth of groceries, but she could make what she had go a long way.
After a full minute, he finally let out a heavy sigh and looked at her. “I want to go home.”
She blinked at his bitter tone. Of course, he was bitter. He had every right to be. She and her brother were keeping him here against his will. Swaying from side to side so Nora wouldn’t get impatient with her, she quietly said, “I’m sorry. I can’t let you go.”
“So you keep saying.”
“Well, it’s the truth. If you knew what Lou was like, you’d understand.”
“I get it. Some old and disgusting man wants to marry you, so you decided to kidnap a handsome, young man to fill in for him.”
She blinked, surprised that he should refer to himself in such a lofty way. Even if he was handsome, she didn’t think he had a right to brag about it.
“Look, I’m not interested in getting married. I’ve decided long ago that I will not be tied down to a wife. So you’re wasting your time.”
Taking in the smug expression on his face, she snapped, “You’re not good looking.” Sure, it was an outright lie, but the haughty air he had about him rubbed her the wrong way.
He stared at her for a long moment as if he thought she was referring to someone else. Then he asked, “Do you mean me?”
“Is there another man in this room?”
Narrowing his eyes at her, he said, “I’ll have you know women flirt with me all the time. I could have a wife. I just don’t want one.”
“That only shows what bad taste some women have.”
With a knowing smirk, he said, “You were flirting with me yesterday.”
She gasped. “I was not!”
“And today when I came here, you have your brother hold me at gunpoint to force me to marry you.”
“For your information, it wasn’t my idea to keep you here. Sep thought of that one all by himself.”
“Probably because he saw how you were flirting with me.”
“You’re a real blowhard, aren’t you?” Before he could answer, she continued, “It’s not that I want to marry you. It’s that I have to. I assure you if there was anyone else who was available, he’d be the one I’d be marrying. But as luck would have it, I’m stuck with you. I suppose all I can do is make the best of it for my child and Sep’s sakes. I’d do anything to keep them safe, even if it means bearing with the likes of you.”
He threw down the dime novel and stood up. “Nice try, but I know better. There are plenty of men in town, and yet you chose me.”
“I didn’t choose you. The doctor did.” When he frowned in a way that indicated he realized she had a valid point, she added, “I will suffer, but it can’t be any worse than what I went through with my first husband.”
She stormed out of the parlor, her cheeks warm with anger. The nerve of him! Telling her she was flirting with him and then acting as if women fell at their feet all the time to be with him! And to think she believed he was a nice person. She was so wrong. But then, she’d been wrong about Harvey and look at where that got her. As she entered the kitchen, she wondered if she should reconsider marrying Joel. She gritted her teeth and set Nora down on the floor. Who else could she marry? She and Sep didn’t know anyone. They’d been isolated for so long. Harvey had pushed away the friends they used to have. There was no one else. She was trapped. Horribly and truly trapped.
***
Joel stirred on the couch and yawned. For a moment, he didn’t know where he was, but as he came out of the blissful ignorance of sleep, he recalled everything that happened to him that morning. He grimaced. He didn’t care what April and Sep thought. There was no way he was going to marry her. It didn’t matter if she was pretty or that they seemed to need a man to step in and take care of the place. He was not interested.
With a weary sigh, he sat up and stretched to work out the kinks in his muscles. His body was stiff, but he’d live. Scanning the parlor, he noticed the fire wasn’t as strong as before, so he stood up and threw a piece of wood into the pile. He told himself he did it for his own comfort, not because he wanted to help out. The last thing he wanted to do, after all, was make himself useful.
His stomach growled and he glanced at the clock on the wall. It was half past two. Frowning, he went to the kitchen and saw that lunch was officially over. He rolled his eyes. Apparently, his ploy worked a little too well. He knew April was upset, but letting him go hungry was overdoing it. This was exactly why he didn’t want to get married. Women were far too emotional, and no man could figure out what would upset them. Like he needed this hassle for the rest of his life!
Well, he wasn’t going to let this deter him. Little did his captors know he could actually fend for himself in the kitchen, and since they were determined to keep him here for as long as possible, he’d get his own meals if he had to. Pausing on his way to the shelves, he peered out the window and groaned. He wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. The snow might have stopped, but the wind was howling and blowing the snow into high drifts.
“Just my luck,” he muttered.
Standing still, he suddenly wondered where April, Sep, and Nora were. They couldn’t be too far. He noticed the sounds of someone scooting furniture upstairs. Relieved, he turned back to the shelves. He told himself the only reason he was relieved was because being stuck in an old, rundown house with floorboards that creaked was a creepy sensation.
After checking out his options, he settled on making a sandwich. He ate at the table, aware that someone was moving around quite a bit up there. He wondered if it was Sep or April. It couldn’t be Nora. Her footsteps would be too light. Perhaps they decided to prepare that third bedroom for him. Now that would be interesting. Then he’d find out what was in there that bothered April so much.
When he finished his sandwich, he thought about cleaning up but then decided April might like that and left the mess. The more of a pest he was, the better. For good measure, he spilled some coffee on the table and left several pieces of broken up bread in a trail o
n the floor. He glanced at the kitchen door and decided to open it so some snow would blow in. There. His mother hated it when he tracked snow through the house when he was growing up, and this would make an even bigger mess for April to clean up.
Satisfied, he shut the door, slipped on his boots, and walked over the snow, tracking it down the hallway. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and wondered if he should go up there. Who was he kidding? He had nothing to say to these people until they agreed to let him go. When he returned to the parlor, he plopped back down on the couch and picked up the dime novel he’d been reading when he fell asleep.
He read three pages when footsteps coming down the stairs alerted him that April, Sep and Nora were about to bother him. Putting his wet boots on the couch, he pretended he was engrossed in the novel.
“What the…?” came April’s astonished unfinished question.
“Snow!” Nora called out in excitement.
“Nora, don’t,” April said.
“I’ll get the mop,” Sep replied.
Grinning, Joel rubbed his feet on the couch, making sure they saw the wet seat when they came into the parlor.
April stormed into the room, holding Nora’s hand. “If you think letting snow into the house is getting you out of marriage, you have another thing coming.”
“What snow?” Joel asked, not bothering to look up from the dime novel in his hands.
She swatted at his feet. “Get those boots off my couch!”
“I’m making myself comfortable.” He yawned and rubbed the soles of the boots on the couch. “If I’m getting married, I’m going to make this house my castle. Last time I checked, the head of the house can do whatever he wants.” That wasn’t totally true. His mother, after all, had given his father an earful on occasion, but why let April know that?
She set Nora down on her rocking chair and stomped back over to him. “You are being disrespectful. We can’t afford another couch.”
Shrugging, he yawned and kept his eyes on the novel in front of him. “The best kind of wife is one who knows how to keep her trap shut. Just like a kid. Best seen and not heard.”
She gasped.
Looking up at her, he frowned. “I heard you. That’s not permissible.”
She grunted and left the parlor.
He smirked. It was only a matter of time before she tossed him out.
Nora rocked back and forth in the chair and squealed in delight.
With a glance over his shoulder, he darted over to the rocker and stilled it. “Not so fast,” he whispered. “You don’t want to fall out and get hurt.”
Then he returned to the couch, making sure his feet were back on it since it bothered April. Seeing that Nora was rocking softly in the chair, he turned his attention back to the dime novel and pretended to read it.
Angry footsteps came back from the kitchen and he hid his laughter. She must have seen the mess in that room, too. Keeping his eyes on the novel, he wasn’t prepared for the bucket of cold water that descended upon him. He bolted from the couch, his hair and shirt dripping wet.
“What are you doing?” he yelled, wiping his eyes.
April placed the empty bucket on her hip and gave him a satisfied smile. “I thought since you wanted to get the place wet, I’d help.”
From where she sat in the rocking chair, Nora giggled.
Figures. Leave it to a child to think this was amusing. “That’s just great,” he told April as he rubbed his arms in an effort to keep warm. “What am I supposed to do in wet clothes?”
“I don’t care. Why don’t you track more snow into the house and roll around in it?”
“Oh, so now you’re funny?”
“Not as funny as you,” April said with a smirk. “You’re forming an icicle on the end of your nose.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I am not.” To be sure, he rubbed his nose.
“You’re not getting out of this marriage. It’s going to happen, no matter what you spill or track into the house or how important you think you are.”
“You think Sep is the only one in this house who knows how to use a gun? I can, too. He might have caught me off guard, but as soon as I can manage it, I’m out of here.”
Not seeming the least bit disturbed, she turned to Nora. “You want to help mama make supper?”
“Gee, do I get any or must I fend for myself?”
She made a big show of looking him up and down. “I don’t think I got a highchair big enough for you.”
“Ha ha.” Shivering, he rolled his eyes. “So, am I going to find some dry clothes around here or am I going to freeze to death?”
With a loud sigh, she said, “Unfortunately, you’re no good to me dead. Follow me and I’ll take you to your room and see about getting you something dry to wear.” She held her hand to Nora. “Come on, sweetie.”
Nora waddled over to April and took her hand.
Interest piqued, he followed them down the hallway. “My room? You mean the third bedroom upstairs?”
Helping Nora up the steps, April shook her head. “You’ll be staying in Sep’s room. He got Pa’s old bed in there, so you’re all set. And for all I care, you can stay there after we get married.”
“I don’t think so. If I’m going to be miserable, you’re going to be miserable, too. And that means we’re sharing a bed.”
“Wouldn’t be any worse than what I’ve gone through with my first husband.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her what she meant by that, but on second thought, he figured he already understood her meaning. Granted, he didn’t know the specifics of what happened between a husband and wife in the bedroom, but he got the gist of it and if the wife didn’t enjoy it, then it probably meant the husband wasn’t considerate. And if he wasn’t considerate in the bedroom, it was doubtful he was considerate outside the bedroom. Pushing aside the urge to be sympathetic, he turned his attention to the hallway at the top of the steps.
“Sep’s bedroom is over there,” she said, pointing to the room across from hers. “After we get married, we’ll get your clothes and other belongings to bring back here. In the meantime, you can wear either Sep’s clothes or our pa’s.”
“You don’t have any from your first husband?”
“Those are what I use for cleaning.”
Joel’s eyebrows rose in interest, but he kept his thoughts to himself. A woman who made rags out of her husband’s clothes definitely wasn’t sorry to see her husband gone.
“Pa’s clothes are in the trunk in the corner of Sep’s room,” April said, “and your bed is the one closest to the door. There’s not much room, but you two will manage.” Nora whimpered, so April picked her up. “I’ll leave you to get dressed. I don’t need to tell you what I’ll do if you so much as put one foot in my bedroom, do I?”
Picking up on the challenge, he looked squarely at her. “Actually, you do.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I won’t let you move in there on the wedding night.”
At that, he laughed. “You’ll have to do better than that. You have to deny me something I actually want.”
“You just said you were going to be in my bedroom when we married so you could make me miserable.”
“Oh, that’s so you can be kept up all night with my snoring. My brothers assured me that I’m unpleasant to listen to at night. Why, they got used to stuffing up their ears with all kinds of odd things to get some peace and quiet. Too bad nothing worked. I’m as loud as a train rolling right on by. Right now, you’re punishing Sep, which is fine with me since he’s the one who held me at gunpoint. I’m not exactly happy with either one of you. Nora, however, is a sweet little girl. It’s not her fault the people in her life belong to the loony bin.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sep can sleep through anything, and I’ll take obnoxious snoring over the horrible smell of moonshine any day of the week.”
He groaned. If her life hadn’t been so awful before he met her, then his attempts to get her to give up on
this horrible idea of a marriage might work.
She turned to head down the stairs but paused. “You want supper? Stay out of my room. Fair?”
He grudgingly indicated his agreement and went into Sep’s room. After a look out the window which showed him he had no chance of getting into town that night, he went to the trunk and opened it. The few clothes in there were neatly folded, evidence that even if April hadn’t loved her husband, she’d loved her father. Joel chose a pair of denim pants and a faded plaid red and black shirt.
Once he was dressed in dry clothes, he took his wet clothes and draped them around the room to air dry. It wasn’t an ideal setup, but it’d work for now.
Joel left the bedroom and couldn’t resist checking out the third bedroom. The door was still closed. He listened for the sound of April’s and Sep’s voices and was assured the two were in the kitchen. Nora squealed and giggled. Good. He was alone. Careful to not attract attention, he tiptoed to the door. Wrapping his hand around the doorknob, he tried to turn it, but it was locked. Disappointed, he stepped back from the door and wondered what kind of door that was inside a house had the lock on the outside of the room?
Upon closer inspection, he realized the doorknob was newer than the door. So someone switched the doorknob with the intent of locking the door from the outside. Why would someone do that? The answer was obvious. Whoever did it wanted to keep someone in the room. That explained why Sep was ready to toss him in there. And maybe it explained something about April’s husband and why she didn’t miss him.
A slight chill crawled up his spine. Alright. He got it. The man who married April was a jerk, and the room scared her because he used it. From what she said about the moonshine, Joel guessed her husband used to get drunk. Maybe he used the room when he was drunk?
Joel shook his head. Forget it. Whatever happened, it had nothing to do with him. Her husband was dead, which meant he wasn’t coming back. And since he wasn’t coming back, April and Sep had nothing to worry about. So there was no reason Joel needed to stick around to make sure no one used the room for whatever it had been used for.
Shotgun Groom Page 4