“Why are you taking his side?”
Maude stood up. “That’s it! I’m going back to the sisters. I’d rather walk around town with a book on my head than keep talking in circles here.” She walked over to the door and stopped, then looked back at Tonya. “But I do have one more thing to ask you, Tonya Woodson. There are a bunch of women in this town still looking for a man to help them, to fill in and protect them, and you just took one with a college education that wants to help the town and set him free for any of them to snatch up. One you whispered to us last night whose kisses made your heart race. What are you going to do when one of them ends up Mrs. Watts and you have to watch her kiss the man who makes your heart race? What then?”
She turned and walked out the door, leaving Tonya staring after her. She looked at Betsy. Surely Betsy understood. Betsy who started this whole mess by sending for Alexzander. Betsy sat and stroked her hair and held her and finally sighed. “She has a good question, Tonya, because he’s a good catch and one of the others will claim him and quick.”
She sat up and looked at her friend. “You think I overreacted?”
“I think you got scared because he wanted to do the one thing you fought so hard against. But I don’t think he really was fighting to close your mill. I think he has plans; you had to know he’d have plans. He mentions them in his letter that his whole reason was because he had new ideas he wanted to try and his father wouldn’t listen. Neither did you. Only you went even further and threatened to shoot him for them out of fear and anger. You went to bed with his kisses on your lips and got up and tossed him out at gunpoint. Yes, you overreacted because that, Tonya Woodson, my red-haired friend, is what you do when your emotions get too big for you. You blow up. So the question is, what are you going to do about it? If it had been your papa, you would be apologizing and baking him his favorite pie right now, not sitting here feeling sorry for yourself. I’m going to leave you but you need to decide: did you send for a husband or a miller? Because, Tonya, you just lost both. Right now you can survive without a miller because you got those three brothers but look at you. I mean really look at you. You haven’t even gone to the mill today. You’ve sat in the floor and cried because you’re scared you lost another person you care about. Maybe even are starting to love.”
Tonya thought about what her friends had said and realized they were right. She’d worked herself into this fear before Braylon had ever opened his mouth this morning. She was so used to being afraid that she’d looked for a reason to return there. In doing so, she may have ruined whatever chance she had to be happy with a man who had the potential to be the love of her life. If nothing else, a man who excited her and made her feel alive for the first time since the disasters. She got up and went upstairs to wash her face. She had to go and find her husband-to-be and make this right.
Braylon spent the rest of the morning walking around Silverpines. Everywhere he looked he could see two things. People either surviving, just existing, trying to put one foot in front of the other, still suffering from the devastation that had changed their world so much six months ago. He also saw people thriving, pushing past the nightmare, and trying to rebuild their lives. He met the Cutlers who ran the mercantile, a widow of the disaster and the widower she’d sent for and married and their horde of children. Yet together they were climbing out of the devastation and building a life. He met the blacksmith and his wife, another family that was together rebuilding their life and helping to rebuild the town. He met the gunsmith and his family; again people rebuilding together. And that’s when it really began to hit him, the difference between those that were stuck in the nightmare of six months ago and those thriving and moving on: they were all doing it together. As he’d met people and talked to them, he’d made a list of the lumber they needed to move forward to rebuild or even to just recover.
The more people he talked to the more he understood Antonia and her response today to his suggestion to close for several months. Yes, it would be nice to be able to bring electricity to Silverpines but if your house was still leaning because it had been shaken off its foundation, was electric lights really going to help you? He’d come here with a preconceived idea of what he was supposed to do and hadn’t listened to the woman he was supposed to love, cherish, nurture, and protect when she tried to explain his idea wasn’t needed or even useful yet. He was here but he was still trying to prove to himself that his way was better than his father’s. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, but right now it wasn’t what his bride needed, it wasn’t what her friends and neighbors needed. They needed lumber and a helping hand.
Antonia needed a husband who put her needs and those of her friends above his own desires. He just had to find a way to get her to allow him to do that. He could only think of one way and it might even get him shot but he had to try.
He headed toward the mill. It was time to learn how to make lumber and he only knew one person besides his ex-fiancée who could teach him. So he headed to the mill and a man named Bunyan.
Tonya was hot and tired. Everywhere she’d gone she’d been told Braylon had already been and left. He’d talked to every shopkeeper and several of the widows and women in town. Yet no one seemed to know where he was. She knew he hadn’t left town because once she calmed down she realized there wasn’t another train till Friday. At the hotel, she’d been told he’d asked about a pub and so she’d bit the bullet and gone to the saloon where they’d not seen him. Alexzander said he’d seen him earlier and left him wandering downtown. Yet now at almost suppertime, she was hot and tired and still hadn’t found him. She didn’t know what else to do so she had headed home. At least she could have supper with the brothers and figure out what to do tomorrow.
As she drew near, she saw Paul and James out with a wagon, loading up more logs. She wondered about that because they’d already brought all the logs that Peter would have been able to cut that day. Yet as she drew close, she could tell that the saw was running and it sounded like it was running faster than normal. What in the world? How was the saw moving faster? The wheel turned at one speed making the blade work at one speed. She turned into the mill; sure enough the blade was moving up and down faster and the log on the feeder was moving through the teeth quicker. “Peter, how did you get the blade and feeder to move faster?”
The young lumberjack looked up at the second floor. “I didn’t, Miss Tonya.”
“What do you mean, you didn’t? It’s obviously moving faster.”
“Yes miss, it is.”
“But how?”
He cleared his throat. “You’d have to ask Mister Watts, miss. He had me cut a couple boards and then he went upstairs and about half an hour later they just was moving quicker.”
“He’s here?”
“Um…no, miss. He was earlier; asked a bunch of questions, cut some lumber, then went out and talked with Paul and James for a while. Then went in the back and started writing on some papers. He left about half an hour ago. Said he needed to go see the blacksmith again.”
“But he did something that made the saw faster?”
“Yes, miss. Like I said, he took some boards and a hammer upstairs. I heard him cutting and hammering and then about ten minutes later the whole thing got faster.”
“Well, finish up that cut and then shut it down for the night. I’m sure cook has supper ready to go on the table. If you see Mr. Watt’s tell him come to supper, too.”
“Yes, Miss Tonya. Um…miss?”
“What is it, Peter?”
“I don’t think he is planning on closing us down anymore. I mean, why make us faster if he’s going to shut us down?”
She thought about that. “I don’t want you to worry about that right now. We’ve got work and that’s the main thing. Mister Watts and I will figure the rest out.”
“Yes, ma’am. I just don’t want y’all to be mad at each other. It was obvious yesterday he cares for ya. I ain’t seen a man look at a lady like that since my Pa and Ma when I was little.”<
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Tonya knew she was blushing. “Well, don’t worry about that either, Peter. We’ll work it out. It’s all part of learning each other, isn’t it?”
He smiled. “Reckon it is. Me and Paul and James, we might fight on occasion but we’re still family and we would fight for each other no matter what.”
“Exactly.”
Tonya walked out of the mill and headed to where Paul and James were loading the last log on a wagon to pull over to the mill. “You fella’s get that load over to the mill and then unhook the mules. We’re done for the day; you can unload that one in the morning.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Paul, when you see Mister Watts again, please tell him I need to talk to him.”
The big man nodded. “He said he’d be here after breakfast in the morning. He wants to help me load tomorrow and have James help Peter in the mill. He said with the two of them in there and the blade moving at the new speed, there should be enough work to keep them both busy.”
“Do you know what he needed to see Mister Clayborne about?”
“Said he had a couple of more ideas that would let us do the work of eight men but only use the energy we’re using now. Reckon when he figures it out he’ll show ya.”
“Yes, I reckon he will.”
Chapter Five
Tonya sat in her father’s study. After supper, the Bunyan brothers wished her a good evening and retired to their space above the mill and she was left sitting here alone in this big house thinking over the day. That was part of her problem she realized. Since the disasters she’d sat in this big house all by herself night after night, staring into space, remembering what had been but doing nothing to change anything. So what was she going to do to change things? Before the disaster, if she felt restless she’d wander up to Timber Town and play with some of the children or visit some of the wives and mothers. But now they were gone. She thought of those babies and the mud that had wiped them right out of her life. She thought of that young mother she had been right there with when Hattie had delivered her baby and handed it to Tonya to clean while she’d finished with the mother. Of Big John who’d cried without shame as she put his daughter into his big rough hands for the first time. Now covered somewhere up the hillside under the dirt. All three of them. She thought of those twins that had always been so eager to see her when she’d come around the bend and run down to take her hand and pull her to their tent cabin to listen to her tell them a story. At least they’d survived even if their mama had taken them back east to be with her family.
Betsy and Maude were right; she’d blown up at Braylon because she was scared. Scared to change and scared to move forward. Yet there wasn’t anything left to hold on to but memories and that mill. Papa buried under a ton of rock and his own timbers in the mine. Everyone she’d considered family gone or buried under that mud. Yet she had a chance with Braylon, a chance to create a new family and she’d chased him off. No, she shouldn’t have let him shut down the mill but she should have listened to his idea. She should have explained better what all this meant to her. She should have let herself dream of something more.
She wiped at the tears that fell from her face. Tears for those children that would never grow up. For those mothers and wives who would never experience another hug or kiss or know the love of their husbands again. She cried for her own loss of a father’s love and people who were more family than employees. She let the tears fall without shame and felt the pain loosen its hold on her heart as she saw their faces and told them goodbye. She didn’t know how yet, but she would find a way to let Braylon know she’d been wrong to run him off. She’d take a chance on love because it was time. Time to wake from the nightmare of the disasters and face a future together.
Just then there was a knock at the door followed by Mrs. Carlson shuffling into the room. “Tonya honey, your handsome young gentleman is at the door. Shall I let him in?”
“Yes, please, Mrs. Carlson and could you make us some tea or coffee?”
“I’ll put on a pot. I reckon you two have a bit to talk about but, girl, not too late; my old bones need sleep and I can’t keep an eye on you and get the rest I need.”
Tonya smiled. “Thank you. We do need to talk and figure some things out.”
“Yes, you do. I ain’t said nothing but, girl, you gotta stop trying to shoot that boy. He’s too fine to waste.”
Tonya turned red. “Mrs. Carlson!”
“What?? I’m a widow, I ain’t dead and that’s a fine looking man you caught. And putting a bullet in him ain’t smart; you might want him whole after Sunday. Which by the way, you and me need to have a chat afore them old biddies get to ya and tell ya wrong about a wedding night.”
Tonya blushed again. “Thank you, Mrs. Carlson. You’ve always looked out for me.”
“Yes, and just so you know, I took all the bullets outa your papa’s guns while you were out running around today. I for one ain’t taking a chance on your red-haired temper again.”
Tonya laughed as the old cook went and told Braylon where she was. He came into the room carrying a notebook with papers sticking out of it everywhere. As soon as he saw her standing by the desk, he dropped them and rushed up to her. “I’m sorry, Antonia. I was a fool.”
He swept her into his arms and kissed her like they’d been apart for months instead of hours. “I didn’t realize.”
She kissed him and then pulled back. “I’m sorry, too. I overreacted. I…um…well, I tend to do that a lot I guess.”
He shook his head. “No, you were right. Alexzander showed me a few things today. He told me what you’d been through and how scary what I was suggesting was. I realized I had let my frustrations with my father dictate what I wanted to do here instead of seeing what you needed, what your friends needed. So I went around town today to see what people need from Woodson Lumber and you were right; they don’t need electricity right now, they need lumber. I have a list of what is needed. It’s like ten pages long.”
He started flipping through the pages sticking out of the notebook in his hand.
“Braylon, you weren’t the only one wrong. I asked you here to be my husband but to also run the mill. Then I didn’t want to let you do either. I’m scared, or I was. Things were changing and fast. Speaking of fast, what did you do to the mill? How did you get the saw to go quicker?”
“I restricted the water flow on the wheel.”
“I don’t understand.”
Braylon kissed her again, pulled her to the desk and pulled the two chairs close to each other, spread out a clean sheet of paper from his notebook and drew the water flume and wheel. “See, in the original mill the way it was this morning, the flume and the wheel are the same size, right?”
“Yes of course, so the water fills the paddles and pushed the wheel.”
“Yes, but a large flume lets the water flow slow and the wheel turns slow. I built a restrictor,” and he drew a diagram making the water flow into a small space. “By restricting the water till it only hits the center of the wheel, the pressure builds up and makes the water flow faster onto the wheel causing the wheel to speed up. So by building this restrictor I sped the wheel up by about twenty percent making the blade twenty percent faster letting us cut more lumber in the same time.”
She looked at him “That’s amazing! You really just took three boards we cut and used a hand saw and hammer and in a few minutes increased our production by 20 percent?”
“Yes, it’s simple physics.”
“This is one of those changes you wanted to make for your father?”
He shrugged and nodded. “Yes, that and the electric thing but that’s not going to happen here for a while.”
She looked at him. Wasn’t there some way to make his dream come true without shutting down her mill? She bet there was; he just hadn’t thought of it yet. She’d listen and maybe together they could figure it out. “Paul said you had some other ideas but you wanted to work with him and talk to the blacksmith.”
She looked at this wonderful man. “You think you could double our production with one more man?”
“Yes, after some modifications to the wagons and the mill. Nothing we’d have to shut down for. I’d have to have a few things crafted by the blacksmith and use a bit of lumber, but yes, I think so. I’ll know for sure tomorrow after working with Paul.”
She looked at him. “Why are you doing this? After the way I treated you this morning, you should be looking for a new bride or a ride out of town. Why are you here kissing me? Telling me how you can make my mill a better place?”
He stopped and took both of her hands in his. “Antonia, my lovely, precious Antonia, don’t you understand? It wasn’t about taking your mill away from you. It wasn’t even about bringing electricity to Silverpines. Since the day I saw your photograph it’s been about making your life better. I want to take away your pain, your fear; not make it worse. I know it’s crazy and I know it makes no logical sense but I sincerely believe I’m in love with you, my dear red-haired, hot-tempered beauty.”
She looked in his eyes for the joke, the lie to trick her into giving him her mill, and realized he truly believed every word he’d just said. “You love me?”
“Yes. I love you.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and sank into his kisses realizing that maybe, just maybe, she could be in love with him, too.
Braylon walked back to the hotel. He’d decided to stay there for the time being. After all, he’d already paid and he needed the time to cool off after spending time with Antonia in his arms. He couldn’t believe he’d come right out and told her he loved her. He should have been more cautious but he just couldn’t. He did love her; he realized while wandering around town that his heart was hers. As he heard stories of how she had always been the one who bridged the staunch businessman that was her father with the need of his workers, neighbors, friends, and family, he realized this was an amazing young woman any man would be proud to marry. As for passion, her kisses about set him on fire, as did her temper. Two sides of the same coin he figured. One thing was certain; his life with her would never be boring.
Wanted: Miller (Silverpines Series Book 10) Page 5