by Sky Winters
"Don't fret. You'll like it there. It's the best place I've ever worked. The land is beautiful and wild and Liam is a good man," he said knowingly as he lifted a trunk and began to load it on his wagon.
As they road toward the ranch, Hank told her all about the land they were crossing. It was beautiful and she knew that she could be happy in such a place. When they finally arrived and Vista Roja, she was even more impressed. The ranch was sprawling, with cattle and horses everywhere. Hank pointed out to her the bunk houses where the ranch hands lived and the river that bordered the property. He even drove her by the impressive coral that had just been finished. All she really wants to see, though, was he man that would be her husband.
Soon though, they arrived at the main house. She was surprised at how large it was and how fine the details were. It was a lovely home and much finer than she had expected. Why would a man with so much land and such a fine house need to choose a bride through a mail order service. It was not until they entered the front door that she realized the entirety of the situation. Though the exterior of the home was lovely, the inside was right and unfinished and clearly in need on a woman's touch. To build such a fine home and then not care for it seemed so odd. It made her even more curious about the man who called the place home.
Chapter 2
Hank led her through the main room to a library that was like nothing she had ever seen. While the rest of the inside of the home was in disarray, the library was immaculate. He shelves were lined with leather bound books. She was so distracted by the amazing room she found herself in that it took her a moment to notice the man sitting at the desk, pouring over ledgers. She had never in her life been in a room so elegant. He did not look up when she entered the room. In fact, Hank had to clear his throat to her his employer's attention.
Once Liam McNeil looked up, he was shocked to see the lovely woman before him. He had expected the widow he had chosen from the local mail order agency's book to be older and more worn by the life she had led as a farmer's wife in West Virginia. There was a sadness to her that he could not deny, but there was something pure and bittersweet about her presence in his library. Her dark brown hair was swept up atop her head but no amount of pins could hide the natural curl of it. Her skin was darker than most ladies allowed their complexion to get because of her time working outside, but her dark complexion made her bright blue eyes all the more lovely. She wore a plane brown dress, smart and sensible. She was not what he had expected at all and it unsettled him.
Anna was also quite surprised at the man before her. He was young and strong. He was also very attractive. His dark black hair and green eyes were not at all like Robert's blond hair and pale features so it shocked her to find him so appealing. His hair was mussed and his sleeves were rolled up. He had clearly been in the middle of work and he the stern expression on his face made her think that he did not appreciate the interruption.
“Ms. Plamer,” he said as he rose from the desk and crossed the room to shake her hand.
“Mr. McNeil,” she said, suddenly feeling very unsure of exactly how one should act around a man who you had never met before but would soon be your husband.
“I trust Hank gave you the lay of the land as you drove in together,” he said stiffly as he looked her over with no effort to hide is appraisal.
“Yes, he was a fine guide,” she said with an awkward nod.
“Then you know what Vista Roja has to offer. I'm will not beat around the bush. I have no time for or need of love in my life. What I need to a partner who will manage the household here and who can help with minor tasks when called upon. I will not waste funds that could improve the ranch on a maid or a cook. When I read your advertisement, it said that you were recently widowed. I thought perhaps that would make you agreeable to my offer. It will be a marriage in name alone, for the sake of propriety at having you live here. You will have your own room at the back of the house and we will not share any of the other aspects of a traditional marriage. If his is not agreeable to you, I will have hank take you back to the train station and purchase you a ticket home,” he explained in such a matter of fact way that it put her at ease. His frankness at least told her where she stood and she was glad to know that he did not expect her to love him or be his true wife. He wanted only someone willing to work by his side and hard work had never scared her.
“That is ideal to me. I will keep your home in top shape and I will keep to myself otherwise,” she said, relieved at the role she would be playing at the ranch.
“I knew when you walked in here that you were a woman of sense. Hank will take your things to your new room. I have the preacher waiting for us in the parlor. He will marry us now and then you can settle in. I will not expect anything of you for the rest of the day. That will give you time to get settled in and explore the place a bit. Starting tomorrow, you will be responsible for making breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the men and getting this place in order. You'll also do laundry and keep the kitchen garden,” he added, walking towards the door without another glance at her.
“Yes sir,” she said as she turned to leave as well.
“Follow me,” he said over his shoulder as he led her down the hall and in to her new life.
Chapter 3
They were married in a quiet ceremony with only Hank as the witness. After it was done, her husband dispatched Hank to show her to her room. She did as he suggests and got settled before exploring the ranch house. It was just as large as she had thought, but in even greater disarray. Still, she had never encountered a difficult circumstance in her life that could not be made better with hard work. Though her husband had given her a reprieve from her duties for the rest of the day, she soon found herself in the kitchen, taking stock of what she might make for supper. Hard work had always comforted her. The cupboards were full enough but the place was a mess. It was clear to her that the men had been cooking for themselves and cared very little for cleanliness. Once she got a kettle clean enough that she would even consider cooking in it, she started a stew and then moved on to biscuits and roasted beef to go with it. She wants to make a good impression on her new husband and his men.
After she got the food started, she turns her efforts to cleaning the kitchen. Dirty plates and pot pots were stacked as high as could be. She was surprised that rodents had not taken over the entire palace before her arrival. However, by the time they all came in for dinner she had cleaned at least enough to be able to set a proper table for them in the dining room. Liam looked surprised to see all the work that she had accomplished, but Hank shot her a quick wink of approval as the men all piled in, grinning at the thought of a proper meal. The dinner arrangements at the ranch were odd compared to other places she had known. All the workers and Liam took all their meals together in the large dining room. Most places she had experience with had different meals for the owners and the staff. It did not bother her though. Indeed, it made things easier. With the arrangement as it was, she only had to make one meal.
“Mrs. McNeil, this is the best looking meal we have had in all my years here,” Hank said as he settled in to his seat.
“Thank you Hank,” she said as she spooned an extra helping on to his plate.
“Yes Anna,” Liam said from the end of the table. His happiness at seeing her set herself to work so quickly only grew as he saw how happy his men looked at the delicious feast in front of them.
“Thank you. I will leave you all to it then,” she answered as she filled the plate of the last man at the table.
“You are not eating dinner with us?” Hank asked her, looking a little disappointed. While his employer openly admitted that he did not desire her to be his wife in anything more than name, his right hand man seemed to be intent on trying to see that something more had the opportunity to develop.
“No, I have more work to do in the kitchen to get things tidied up. When you finish I will be back to gather your plates,” she answered, as she gathered the empty serving vessels to prepare t
o leave the room. Hank looked at Liam, expecting him to intervene. He did exactly the opposite.
“Get to it then,” Liam said as he dismissed her with a quick gesture of his hand. He seemed as eager for her to go as she was to leave the room. After all, she had much work to do and it would not do for her to waste time at the table. The men had worked all day. Her work had just begun.
With that, she excused herself to the kitchen. She ate her own bit of stew and beef quickly, saving a biscuit to eat later after her work was done. She then hauled more water from the well and continued her scrubbing. It was well past dark when she finally concluded for the day, knowing that there was still much to do the next day, including making breakfast bright and early for the men.
Chapter 4
After that, they all fell in to an easy rhythm. She cooked for the men and worked to get the once great home back in top shape. The men respected her and treated her as one of them while Liam was kind enough, complimenting her work when he was pleased and providing direction when he was not. He never treats her much like a wife, but she did not mind. She much preferred her role as housekeeper.
The real joy of her work at the ranch was her garden. She worked hard to grow as many vegetables and herbs as she could so that she could keep making the men new and differs meals. She had always enjoyed feeding people and bringing them happiness and nourishment with her food. Since her arrival, the garden had been thriving and she intended to keep it that way so that she could put up quite a few canned things for the men to eat over winter.
It was in her garden one afternoon that Liam found her. He had come to deeply respect her work ethic but had been trying very hard to keep his distance from his lovely wife. It was clear to him that any man who spent more than a moment with her was at risk of falling in love with the woman. She was obviously the kind of woman that a man could trick himself in to thinking was different from all the rest.
He had no desire to develop feelings for her beyond those he had for any of his other workers. However, none of his other workers had eyes that danced when they laughed or a smile that warmed his heart. Her easy smile and calm presence had already made a difference at the ranch house. He knew he was in danger of allowing the comfort and convenience that she brought in to his life to convince him that he felt more than he did and that was not something he was willing to allow. He had made a promise to himself that no woman would ever touch his heart again and he had no intention of breaking that promise. However, his intentions and his desires seemed to be at odds with each other. On that day, he caught site of her in the garden singing to herself and could not keep himself away. Against his better judgment, he road towards her instead of the stable.
She had been so lost in her work that she did not realize who it was that had ridden towards her. She looked up to see Liam staring down at her; she nearly dropped the rake in her hand. He had worked so ahead to limit their time alone together that she was still not entirely comfortable in his presence. He cut a handsome figure on the back of his horse, so handsome that he nearly took her breath away.
“The garden looks to be thriving,” he said as he dismounted his horse in one fluid motion. He looped the reigns around his hand and leaned against the fence as he took in the sight of all the hard work she had put in to making the sad little garden the men had begun in to a bountiful resource.
“Yes, I am quite happy with it. I will be able to cook a more varied menu for you and the men as soon as more of the vegetables ripen,” she answered, unable to hide her pride at what she had been able to accomplish with her little patch of earth.
“They will appreciate it. They were feeding themselves nothing but potatoes before you got here,” he said with a laugh. He had warned them again and again to try and cook something, anything, different but they had refused.
“Well, at least they were eating,” she smirked, though by the state of the kitchen when she had arrived she thought that it was a miracle they had even managed to cook potatoes for themselves without coming down with food poisoning.
“Yes, I suppose so. Still, you are very good at feeding so many. I thought that it might take you some time to adjust,” he admitted, watching her closely for any kind of reaction to his words. He had thought about it often while watching her manage his boisterous ranch hands with such skill and ease.
“I grew up in an orphanage. When I got older, I took over the gardening and cooking to make sure that the younger children ate good food and went to sleep with full bellies,” she said, smiling fondly at the thoughts of the smiles on those tiny faces when she had cooked for them each night and cared for them. Even the most unruly of boys had come to love her deeply as she cared for all of them. She had been happy to be a maternal figure to all of them. The old woman who ran the orphanage had always been well meaning, but she was too elderly to do the cooking and cleaning that she had done in her early days there but she could find no help willing to work for the meager wages that she could offer. Instead, Anna had stepped up to the role and it had bonded them all closely.
“Admirable,” he said with a nod. He was not sure what else to say after her admission. He knew that it was his own fault for not making an effort to know her better before that day, but it still surprised him to learn how she had grown up.
“Thank you,” she said, turning back to the garden, sure that he would be leaving now that they had had a superficial conversation. He had yet to speak to her at any further length and she was sure he had no intention of changing that, based on their conversation on her first day at the ranch.
“May I ask you a question?” he asked, looking hesitant as he spoke.
“Of course,” she replied, a bit shocked that he was interested in continuing their conversation but glad of it. She had been feeling quite lonely since her arrival at the ranch. She was constantly surrounded by the ranch hands, but few besides Hank made much of an effort to get to know her, though they were all polite to her.
“You are very young to be a widow,” he observed, though he words were not a question. Still, she knew exactly where he was planning to go with this conversation. She sighed and braced herself for the painful memories that she knew that she was about to relive.
“Yes I am,” she said, walking towards him and leaning against the fence herself for support.
“Will you tell me about your first marriage?” he requested. The fact that he asked her instead of commanding her to tell him made it easier for her to begin her story. He was, after all, her husband and he would have had the authority to do so, but he did not. Instead he asked her and it gave her a glimpse passed the façade that he so often showed her.
“I see no reason not to. His name was Robert. We grew up in the orphanage together. He was my best friend. When we came of age, we married so that we could have a life beyond the loneliness of what we had known our whole lives. We both worked hard to get enough money to make a down payment on land of our own so that we could live in the peace and quiet of the country and farm. After all the noise and chaos of the orphanage, the Idea seemed like heaven. It was our dream from the time we were very young children. We had to get a loan of the rest but we got it. Things were going well enough. We were never going to be rich but we were covering our loan payment and we were happy. Then Robert fell off his horse and everything changed. He lingered for a few weeks and I used all of our savings to pay the doctors who were trying to save him. In the end, though, his internal injuries were too much. He died and I was alone in the world again. I couldn't keep up with the loan payments or the farm work on my own so I lost it to the bank. That is when I decided to become a mail order bride. I could not be so close to the life that I had. I needed to start fresh,” she concluded, her eyes looking off at the distant horizon. She was not sure how he would react to her tale. Really, she was not even sure how she wanted him to react. He had wanted to know, though, so she had told him.
“I am sorry that you have endured so much at such a young age,” he finally said, with
out looking directly at her. There was something in the air between them that told her that he knew what it felt like to lose someone that you loved dearly. He did not say more than that, but he made no move to leave her and the garden.
“That is a lovely horse,” she said gently, trying to move the conversation in a different direction. She had shared her story and there was no good that could come from either of them dwelling on past sadness.
“Yes, he is,” he said with a proud smile. He was clearly proud of the stallion. “I’ve had him for years. We have been through quite a lot together,” he added as he patted the horse affectionately.
“I have never ridden one before. I never learned as a child and I never tried once we moved to the farm,” admitted shyly. She did not want him to judge her for it but the words just slipped out as she saw how comfortable he was with the beast.
“Would you like to?” he offered, not at all judgmental of her admission.
“Oh I could never handle such a powerful creature,” she gasped, unable to believe that he actually thought that she could do such a thing.
“You would be surprised. Let me go saddle up another horse and we will go for a ride,” he said, patting her on the shoulder as he spoke. The gesture comforted her and she decided right then to do it. She had chosen this life for a fresh start and she could not be afraid of what her new life had to offer.
“Alright,” she smiled shyly as he wanted off towards the stable. He returned a few moments later leading a pretty little mare beside his own stallion. As he helped up on to her mount, she felt something in their relationship shift.
After that day, he began to take her riding regularly. He told himself that it was because riding was such an important skill for anyone on the ranch to have, but really he just enjoyed spending time with her. Anna enjoyed it too. For the first time since she lost Robert, she felt close to another person. Despite the defenses that he put up, Liam turned out to be as intelligent and kind a man as she had ever known.