Jasmine tried to settle in with a new routine, but it was hard to fit in with a group or men who already did things a certain way. She was used to making breakfast for her father much later in the morning, and it was hard getting up so early to get the stove to the right temperature.
The stove back home was a lot easier to work with, and she knew exactly how to handle its temperament to cook the food the way she wanted. This stove, on the other hand, seemed as wild as the West itself, and no matter how hard she tried, she consistently burned anything she put inside.
But the stove wasn't her only problem. Try as she may, Jasmine was having an increasingly difficult time getting to know her husband. At first, he had been so open, and so charming. But now, after only a couple days, he was reserved and quiet. He spent much of his time either out in the barn working or closed in his room.
Jasmine tried not to let him remind her of her father, and was thankful that Albert didn’t drink as her father had, but she still couldn’t help but wonder if she had made the right decision coming out here.
Though she had been there less than a week, Albert was already forming a habit of only seeing her at mealtimes. He would come in, but the conversation would be strained, then he would leave again.
I can’t imagine being married to Mr. Martin would have been any better, but I still didn’t think I would end up in a marriage like this. What was it Mother used to say to me when she was still alive? If you don’t like something… change it.
She didn’t know how, but Jasmine was determined to break through to her husband one way or another.
“Albert? Are you busy?” Jasmine gently knocked on his door, hoping he wasn’t. She could hear her husband moving around inside, but he didn’t reply. She tried again.
After a moment, the door opened, but Albert took a step out into the hall, closing his door behind him. Jasmine had to take a step back, and she tried to glance around him into the room, but she wasn’t quick enough.
“What do you need?” He asked, and Jasmine quickly drew her attention back to him.
“I was wondering if you might want to come out and have a cup of coffee with me?” She asked, knowing that she had to sound as nervous as she felt. He looked at her a moment, then shook his head.
“I have things to do.” He said, then opened his door and slipped back into his room, closing it behind him. Jasmine stood for a moment, trying not to feel hurt, but couldn’t help but acknowledge the twinge of pain that formed in her chest. She squared her shoulders then went back out to the kitchen.
Perhaps he’s shy. If he was married before he might be feeling awkward about this now. I’m not going to give up!
But the days to come were much the same. No matter what she did to spend time with him, he would always find a reason to keep to himself or leave her at home. Jasmine didn't mind being in the house, and she didn't mind being alone, but she didn't enjoy feeling that her husband didn't like her.
Jasmine decided the best thing to do would be to take every opportunity she could to spend time with him, even if it meant she would have to go out and be with him in the barn or the fields.
The first time she tried, all three men were surprised to see her come out.
“Wouldn’t you rather stay inside where it’s warm?” Eddie asked, but Jasmine shook her head.
“I’m fine. It gets lonely in the house all day by myself, so I thought I’d come out and see what you were up to.” She smiled at them all, but she saws Eddie and Frank exchange a look. Albert kept his eyes on the board he was pulling nails out of and didn't seem even to notice Jasmine standing there.
“Can I help?” She asked at last. Frank and Eddie had gone to the back of the barn to find more wood, and the silence between her and Albert was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
“I’m afraid not. You’re just a small thing, and these are in here deep. I wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself.” He dragged his sleeve across his forehead, leaving a trail of dirt.
"I can do it!" Jasmine insisted. She picked up a hammer and braced herself next to a board. She didn't want to argue with Albert, but she didn't want him to think of her as incapable, either. She placed her foot on the board and tried to yank a nail out, but nothing moved.
"Ugh! Come on!" She said through gritted teeth. Suddenly, a nail came loose and pulled free, much faster than she thought it would. In surprise, Jasmine dropped the hammer right on her foot and cried out in pain.
"You see now? What did I tell you? Perhaps you should listen next time!" Albert took the hammer from her and pointed her back in the direction of the house. Jasmine felt her cheeks burn with shame, and she walked back to the house slowly. It wasn't her foot that hurt, it was her pride.
She paused before she walked back inside, and turned suddenly to look over her shoulder. Albert had been standing in the doorway watching her, but as she turned he went back to pulling nails out of the boards himself.
He looked… amused. I don’t think he was angry with me… maybe he’s starting to like me! Oh, I hope he is!
Chapter 7 – The Trunk in the Barn
The next few days seemed to go better for Jasmine. Albert was more talkative, and he came out early for breakfast the next morning. He even stayed later and had a second cup of coffee with her after dinner.
She didn’t want to get her hopes up, but she thought she might have finally unlocked the secret to getting Albert's attention: she would do more things to help in the barn and around the yard.
“How’s your foot?” Albert asked, almost teasingly. Her foot had bruised from where the hammer had fallen. She didn’t limp, though her foot was still very sore.
“Fine. It’s not the first heavy thing I’ve dropped on myself.” Jasmine replied with a chuckle. Albert didn’t laugh, but he looked amused.
"I was going to head into town this morning, but if you like when I get back, I'll show you around the back pasture," Albert spoke as he spooned gravy over his biscuits, and Jasmine's heart skipped a beat.
“I would love to.” She said, masking her excitement.
“Have you ever ridden before?”
"Yes, my father had a couple of horses." Jasmine didn't think it was a complete lie. When she was much younger, her father did have a few horses, but he sold them soon after her mother had passed away. The truth was that she hadn’t ridden a horse in years, but she figured if she had done it once, she could do it again. Albert nodded approvingly.
"Good, then it's a plan." He took a bite of his biscuit, and Jasmine smiled as she filled her plate. She didn't know why pulling nails out of that board had worked so well, but she was so glad it did.
It seemed to Jasmine that the two of them had finally reached a point where they could grow close. There was still a lot of reserve with Albert, but Jasmine noticed he was more talkative overall, and he seemed to avoid her less. She greatly enjoyed their ride in the back pasture; Albert had a lot more land than she realized.
There was a fence that ran along one side of the field, but for as far as she could see toward the back there were no fences, and Albert told her one day he hoped to complete the fence on the other side.
"It's very important that you never come up here without me. This time of year blizzards can come up without warning, and if that happens, you could easily get lost. The fence there will lead you back to the house, but if you ended up on the other side… you'd be lost for sure."
Jasmine nodded solemnly. She had heard of blizzards before, but back in New York city, they hadn't had them as badly as she heard they could be. Wind blowing from all directions making it impossible to know which direction you were going… it sounded terrifying.
Now, as the days continued to pass by, Jasmine felt more comfortable around Albert. She wanted to spend more time with him to get to know him better, rather than trying to get his attention in the first place.
Jasmine looked out of the kitchen window. Snow was gently falling, but there were no footprints leading to the barn. She knew Albe
rt had gone outside a while ago, but she would have expected him to be back in by now as it was nearly dinnertime.
Unable to see him out any of the other windows, Jasmine decided to head out to the barn to see if he was out there herself. Pulling on her shawl, she checked the stew on the stove before covering the pot with a lid and heading outside.
The air was cold but still, and the snow fell straight down. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the fresh air, then she trudged over to the barn.
“Albert? Are you in here?” She looked around, not seeing anyone. The barn seemed so different when she was in there alone. The horses looked at her expectantly, but there was no one else around.
Suddenly, her eyes fell on a ladder in the corner. Jasmine had known there was a loft to the barn, but she hadn’t ever been up there. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she walked over to it. Hesitating for a moment, Jasmine looked around once more.
Finally, she decided to climb the ladder. She decided Albert probably wouldn’t mind, and she just wanted to see what was up there.
It was dusty in the loft, with straw scattered about. There were a few blankets and bales of hay, but her eyes settled on something interesting. There was a trunk in the corner. Jasmine hadn't seen it before and wondered who it might belong to.
Her better judgment told her to mind her own business, but she couldn't help herself. Albert had already mentioned being married before, and she wondered if this might be a clue to who his previous bride had been.
Carefully lifting the lid, Jasmine gasped. There, in the trunk, was the most beautiful porcelain doll she had ever seen. A beautiful angel with real feather wings, delicate lace on its dress and clothed in a silky white gown stared back at her.
Jasmine couldn’t help herself. She gently lifted the doll out of the trunk and admired its beauty, wondering how it could have gotten there or why it was packed away.
"What do you think you're doing?" A hoarse voice behind her caused her to whirl around, but she clutched the doll tightly to her chest so she wouldn't drop it. Albert stood behind her, looking as though he had seen a ghost. Jasmine was confused but felt terrible.
“I… I was looking for you when I saw this trunk. I just love these beautiful dolls and…”
“Get out! Get out of here this instant and don’t you go snooping in things that aren’t yours!” Albert yelled. It was the first time she had ever heard him raise his voice to anyone, and she stammered an apology.
Turning around to put the doll back, Jasmine felt sick.
“Don’t do that! Give her to me! Go on now!” Albert held his hands out, and Jasmine reluctantly handed over the doll, apologizing once again. She tried to ask him about it, but he quickly and carefully packed it back into the trunk and held his hand up.
“Don’t! Forget you ever saw this trunk or this doll, and you don’t ever come up here again! Do you understand me?” He looked at her fiercely, but there were tears in his eyes. Jasmine nodded, and with a final apology, she scrambled down the ladder and ran back into the house.
She closed the door behind herself as she ran into her room and threw herself on the bed, sobbing into the pillow.
Jasmine didn’t come out of her room for the rest of the day.
Chapter 8 – Dark Secrets
Jasmine hoped the interaction they had had in the barn wouldn’t change things between her and Albert. She had done her best to apologize for what had happened, but he had been so angry with her, she didn’t think he had listened to anything she said.
Now, she felt she saw Albert even less than before, and even when he did sit down at the table to eat a meal with her, there was even less to talk about. Jasmine would still do what she could to spend time with him out in the barn whenever she had the chance, but it appeared that he was spending more time further away from the house.
Albert was never unkind to her, and he still did the little things he had always done to make her life a little easier, but there was a distance between them that hadn’t been there before.
"I don't understand what I did wrong!" Jasmine finally blurted out to Frank. He was fixing the fence to the corral right outside the barn, and Jasmine wondered if Albert had Frank do it, so he didn't have to be near her. She was embarrassed that both Eddie and Frank were aware of what happened, but she hoped one of them might be able to shed some light on the situation.
"Oh, I don't think he's holding anything against you," Frank grunted through the nails he was holding in his mouth. Jasmine still wasn't convinced.
"I try to spend time with him, and I try to help out in more ways than just household chores. I want to be with him, but I get the impression he wants to be as far away from me as possible." She spoke lowly, thinking out loud more than she was talking to Frank, but he did his best to console her.
“He’s been through a lot, Missy. After what happened he just-“
“What? What happened?” Jasmine turned to look at him, and it was evident he wished he hadn’t said anything. But this time, Jasmine wasn’t going to let it go. She wanted to know what Albert’s secret was, and why he never mentioned it.
"He was so upset about that doll… I wasn't going to hurt it; I wasn't. It's just that I have always loved porcelain dolls, and that one was so pretty… but he's hardly looked at me since." She felt the tears forming in her eyes, and her voice caught in her throat.
Frank looked at her, then sighed. He took the nails out of his mouth and looked around. He could see they were alone, but he still didn't seem satisfied.
“I’ll tell you, but you keep it to yourself, you hear?” He shook his finger at her, and Jasmine nodded.
“Albert was married once, a few years ago, to a pretty young thing like you. She, too, loved dolls, and pestered and pestered for one to sit up on the mantle. Well, all her pestering finally paid off as he scrimped and saved to get her one for Christmas.
Then, one cold night in December, close to Christmas, Albert and her… Sadie was her name… anyway, they were out fixing fences on the range.
A blizzard blew up out of nowhere, blinding both of them and making it impossible to see where they were going. Albert had her holding on to a piece of rope, and he held onto the other as they tried to make it back to the house. Well, they got separated, and though Albert tried to find her, the prairie blizzards are blinding. I suppose you can guess the rest."
Jasmine leaned against the fence post, listening to the story and feeling sick. She had no idea Albert had been through so much. It suddenly made sense why he was so upset about her finding that porcelain doll.
"But I wouldn't feel too bad about it. Since you came, Albert's been happier than I've seen him in years." Frank propped up a rail on the corral and hammered it in place as he spoke, and Jasmine looked at him incredulously.
“I haven’t seen that man smile in days… the happiest I saw him was the day I arrived, but since then he’s been so distant.” She sighed, leaning back on the post once more, but Frank shook his head.
"No, really. Before you came along Eddie and I wouldn't see him for days or even a week at a time. He would stay in that house, keeping to himself all the time. Now he's out here, working again. Trust me; he's better off now that you're here."
Frank smiled up at her, and Jasmine gave him a half-hearted smile in return. She wasn't sure if he meant what he said, or if he was just trying to make her feel better, but either way, it did help.
"I guess I better go get supper started." She said as she stood to go, Frank nodded but said nothing and Jasmine walked back to the house, fully absorbed in her thoughts.
Chapter 9 – The Blizzard
Jasmine tried to think of ways to win Albert back over, but it seemed the damage was done. No matter how hard she tried, he was distant and didn't seem to want to open back up again.
She hadn’t said a word about her conversation with Frank, but she wished there was a way she could say something. She wanted to let him know she understood what he was going through, and
to assure him she was there for him.
She remembered how hard it was when her mother had passed. Though her father had been a much kinder man when her mother was alive, she had never enjoyed a close relationship with the man. She knew what it felt like to lose the one person you were closer to than anyone else, but she didn’t think Albert would want to discuss such things.
There has to be something I can do… it seemed to work so well when I showed him I wasn’t afraid to try using a hammer, perhaps if I were to show him that I could do other things.
Frank seemed to think part of the reason Albert likes me so much is because I’m ambitious like Sadie was… why not keep that ambition going?
Jasmine looked around the house for things she could do, but it seemed everything was where it should be. Sighing, she walked back out to the kitchen. Eddie was in the barn, but Frank and Albert had gone into town to pick up supplies.
Suddenly, two horses came running out of the barn, with Eddie chasing after them. Jasmine laughed to herself and threw on a shawl. Eddie was always having trouble with the horses getting out. She hurried outside, asking him if he needed any help.
"That durned bay lets himself out again, then Blackie got loose, too! You go for Blackie; I'll grab the bay." Eddie pointed at the coal black horse that was running toward the back field as he pursued the one running toward town. Jasmine agreed and hurried after the horse.
She liked Blackie. He was an old gelding that would tolerate anything. But, when he got the chance to run free, he would take it, every time. He was walking ahead of her now, following the fence line toward the back pasture. Jasmine remembered what Albert had said about her being up there herself, but she wanted to prove to him that she could help with the horses.
Picking up her pace, she followed him into the field. The wind was gently blowing back there, and the air felt chilly. Blackie had stopped a good distance from the fence, and was now grazing where he could find grass. Jasmine thought she saw an odd cloud in the distance, and worried snow might be coming, so she hurried to catch up with the horse.
The Thanksgiving Day Bride: Mail Order Bride Novels Page 11