Percy twisted his hat in his hands as his cheeks colored and he looked from Mrs. Stanton to Olivia. “I didn’t see who the thieves were and couldn’t help much that way. I did see them re-brand the inventory and hide the branding irons, though, before they left me for dead and I passed out,” he said as he smiled at Olivia. “I wouldn’t have been able to bring them back if Joe and Olivia hadn’t found me when they did. I’d been trying to get back to town for days, and I think I might have met my maker under that tree if they hadn’t come along.”
“Oh, don’t be silly. You’re a strapping young man, still. You would have made it,” Mrs. Stanton said as she held out a plate of cookies to Percy, who took one shyly as his ears turned pink.
“Must be something in the water,” Suzanne whispered to Olivia as she headed into the parlor at the sounds of Lily and Lucy arguing over something.
Olivia set the last fork on the table and turned the flowered dish that held her scalloped potatoes a bit to make sure the porcelain flowers on the lid shone just right by the light of the lanterns. She sighed as Joe came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on top of her head.
“You all right?” he asked softly.
She closed her eyes and patted his hands. She turned and crossed over to the window, parting the curtains and craning her neck to see out to the garden. “I think I will be, yes. Do you think she will?” she said as she pointed to his mother, in her customary place pulling weeds from amongst her flowers. Will and Carol sat on the porch, glasses of lemonade in their hands as Mrs. Stanton worked.
He looked over her shoulder as his eyes clouded. “I don’t know. I think it was a pretty big shock, the whole thing.”
“Being held at gunpoint? I should certainly think so,” Olivia said, one eyebrow cocked.
Joe laughed. “Well, that, and finding out that Grandma owned this house, not her, and Grandma giving it to us as a wedding present.”
Olivia shook her head. “You certainly could have knocked me over with a feather. And when she agreed to sell the shop to you and Will and we had the money to buy it after getting the inventory back and selling it to Suzanne...I’m still not certain what to make of it all.”
“It’s all wonderful. We’re now partners in the shop. And we have our own home. And looks like Ma might be coming around as you saved the day.”
“I didn’t really save the day. I didn’t even have my gun with me,” Olivia said. She straightened the floral plates on the table and stood back to take a look.
“Sure, you did. Mrs. Allen made a crack shot, but she wouldn’t have been able to if you hadn’t fixed her gun. Ma knows it. We all know it.”
Olivia looked up at Joe, her brows furrowed. “I never thought about it that way, but I suppose you’re right. Although she hasn’t said a word to me since.”
I think it’s a good idea that she leave to visit her other sister for a while. A trip to Canada could be just the thing she needs. At least she’s talking to Will again. It may take a while for her to talk to you and Carol, though.”
“Hopefully, that horrid Dorothy Samson won’t exert any further negative influence on her while she’s gone. You’d think she’d be grateful, after what you both and Mrs. Allen did for her,” Joe’s grandmother said as she brought the rolls into the dining room, placing them beside the potatoes. She crossed to look out the window and sighed. “You know, there was a time when she was happy. She and your father were very much in love, Joe. I am hopeful she’ll remember that, and all will be well.”
She placed her hand on Olivia’s cheek and looked into her eyes. “I think you’re a very good addition to this family, Olivia, and I for one am thrilled that you’re here.”
“Make that two,” Joe said as he rested his arm on Olivia’s shoulder.
“Well, I suppose, then, that I would make three,” she said as she turned toward Joe and lifted her chin. She rested her hand on his cheek, his deep, dark eyes calming her nerves that had been ablaze as she’d readied for the wedding celebration in her own home.
“The shawl looks lovely on you, dear. I’m pleased I could pass it along to someone worthy,” Joe’s grandmother said as she headed back into the kitchen.
“Can I steal a moment? Everyone will be arriving soon.” Joe grabbed Olivia’s hand and pulled her out of the dining room and into the parlor.
“Looks as though it’s starting already,” Olivia said as she parted the lace curtains to see the doctor help Sage down from the buggy. He never had shown up when Sadie and Tripp had called for him. Olivia didn’t know him well, but Joe’s grandmother had called him a dimwit. You would wouldn’t know it from the way Sage stared up at him with so much admiration and awe.
Joe’s warm hand caressed her arm and she leaned back into him, her head resting on his shoulders. He’d said he loved her at the river, and she’d never forget the way it set her heart aflutter. Now that they were truly man and wife, she felt the same way every single day, every time she laid eyes on him. His strong arms around her felt natural, and she wondered how she’d been able to breathe a single moment before she knew. Knew what true love was.
As he rested his cheek against hers, Olivia looked out the window at the horizon, toward the ranch where so much had happened. It was hard to believe she’d been homeless and penniless not long ago, and now she felt safer than she ever had in her life.
She tugged the shawl around her more tightly—the golds, reds and blues that she’d come to love every time she saw Joe’s grandmother—her grandmother. Her new family and her new home, that was even better than the ranch, because Joe was here with her. And always would be.
The End
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If you enjoyed this book and want to read more like it, Michelle: Bride of Mississippi, part of the unprecedented, 50-book, 50-state American Mail Order Brides series, is available to you to read for free. Download it here:
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Also by Cindy Caldwell
Wild West Frontier Brides Series
The Chef’s Mail Order Bride (1)
The Wrangler’s Mail Order Bride (2)
The Bartender’s Mail Order Bride (3)
The Teacher’s Mail Order Bride (4)
The Blacksmith’s Mail Order Bride (5)
Brides of Archer Ranch
Saffron: Bride of Archer Ranch (1)
Carol: Bride of Archer Ranch (2)
The following Cindy Caldwell books are part of the unprecedented, 50-author American Mail Order Brides series.
50 days, 50 books, 50 states.
Michelle, Bride of Mississippi
Josephine, Bride of Louisiana
Download a free copy of Michelle, Bride of Mississippi here:
Michelle, Bride of Mississippi
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The Blacksmith’s Mail Order Bride is a work of fiction. Characters and events in this novel are the product of the author’s imagination. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
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The Blacksmith's Mail Order Bride: A Sweet Western Historical Romance (Wild West Frontier Brides Book 5) Page 17