The Blue Ribbon Brides Collection

by AlLee, Jennifer L. ; Breidenbach, Angela; Franklin, Darlene

  “My parents agreed to give us their bedroom,” he said, “and they would take one of the rooms on the second floor. They adore you. They want to do whatever they need to make you feel welcome.”

  At the sound of a rumble rumble rumble pop pop, Reba looked out the open door to the street. A blue automobile drove past, and two horse-drawn wagons followed. The trolley should pass by soon, too. On the other side of Phillips Avenue, people were walking along the sidewalk. A group of men passed by her shop door.

  She met Levi’s gaze. “I don’t want to live with your parents. I don’t want to leave this life I’ve started here in Sioux Falls. This is where my customers are.”

  A little muscle under his eye twitched. She’d never known him to lose his temper. In fact, Levi was the mellowest, most patient, take-it-all-in-stride person she knew. But when that muscle twitched, she knew he was irritated.

  “Why are you doing this?” he snapped.

  “Making hats brings me joy.”

  “You can make them at home.”

  “For whom?” she said, losing her patience. “I’ve sold a hat to every lady I know in Turner County. Farmers’ wives have no need to own lots of hats, so I must find more customers. I need women who will buy multiple hats.”

  “Why?”

  She scowled at him. “Because I love making hats! No matter what I do, my mind goes back to a new idea I have. I have to make it. I have to. Drawing a picture of it isn’t enough. I have to see it come to life. Don’t you have anything you can’t not do? Or is accounting and managing a farm what brings you joy? It’s all right if it is. God made us all different. We’re not obligated to love doing the same things.”

  He didn’t answer.

  She didn’t mind. He was considering her words. She liked his willingness to hear a different perspective and even to change his mind when he realized he was wrong. Were it not for his predilection to farming, he would make a good husband for her.

  She gave him a few moments to think before she said, “Just because you planned for us to marry doesn’t mean that’s how it’s supposed to be. And don’t you dare tell me us marrying is God’s will for our lives, because if it were what God wanted, don’t you think He would tell both of us and not just you?”

  A glimmer of something—anger, sadness, or maybe disappointment—flashed in his eyes. She didn’t think he was going to respond until he said, “So your answer is no.”

  Reba nodded. “I want a man who is willing to move mountains for me. We both know you aren’t him, and that’s all right. Maybe we could make each other happy in marriage, but maybe there’s someone better for you and for me. Maybe you should go look for her.”

  “Understood.” He slapped his cap on his head. “Good-bye, Reba. I wish you well.”

  Before she could say, “And I wish you well,” he was out the door.

  Her heart didn’t tighten, nor did she feel any need to chase after him. Instead, she looked to her clipboard. She stared at the numbers she’d written down.

  For a long, long time she stared.

  She hadn’t wanted to hurt him. Grandmother used to say, “The blunt truth sometimes can be the kindest words.” She wanted Levi to be happy and to be loved.

  He’d made a list of eight girls?

  She was still standing there, staring at the clipboard, when Father returned.

  “I have food.” He strolled up to her, carrying a paper sack. “Where’s Levi?”

  “He returned home.”

  “I see.” Father rested his straw hat and the paper sack on the counter. “Do you want to talk?”

  She shook her head. “I need to focus on the future, not the past.”

  Chapter 5

  “When a hat is larger in the head than the wearer finds comfortable, the size can be quickly reduced by stitching a round bandeau into the crown of it.”

  —Practical Millinery

  Great Northern Railway Depot

  Levi found a seat at the back of the passenger train, several rows away from the nearest person. He tossed the bagged lunch he’d bought inside the depot onto the bench.

  How could Reba say he didn’t love her? He wouldn’t have come all the way to Sioux Falls to ask her to marry him if he didn’t love her. He wanted to marry her because of who she was, not because he’d gotten used to the idea of marrying her.

  “You only want to marry me because I’m comfortable and convenient.”

  Levi winced. That wasn’t a fair statement for her to make. She didn’t know his heart. When a man loved a woman, he knew. He just knew. When he imagined his future, he could see her there. He could see her reading to their children. He could see her serving them dinner and sitting by the fire darning his shirt. His mother did those things and never complained. Why didn’t Reba want that?

  He rested his head against the window.

  “I’m comfortable and convenient.”

  She believed that’s how he saw her.

  Levi released a frustrated breath. His relationship with Reba was comfortable. She was comfortable. She was easy to be around. That comfortableness about her wasn’t a flaw. Knowing he had a great girl back home while he was at school had kept him from wasting his time, finances, and emotions on courting, like many of his friends had. He’d been able to focus on studies and have extra time to conduct horticulture experiments at the Extension Office.

  Convenient wasn’t a flaw, either. When the fruit you’d picked tasted good, why go sampling other fruit? Reba was a kindhearted, good-natured, God-fearing woman. He knew it. He knew her. How many girls would he have to court before he found one he liked being around as much as he liked being around Reba?

  “I want a man who is willing to move mountains for me. We both know you aren’t him….”

  He struggled to find an argument in response. If there was a mountain needing moved, Reba would do it herself. No obstacle intimidated her.

  The whistle blew and the train started into motion to take him home and away from Reba. Amazing how the tracks took a person to and from something at the same time.

  Levi straightened in his seat, an epiphany dawning.

  He was a train on tracks. He could, move on from Reba, continue his life as planned, and find another girl to marry, or, move to Sioux Falls, let her get the millinery out of her system, and do whatever necessary to convince her she was ready to be a wife. His wife.

  Reba had such a knack for succeeding at anything she tried, the odds were she would succeed. But if she didn’t succeed, if her business failed—he wouldn’t rub salt in the wound. No, he’d comfort her. He’d help her find a better outlet for her creativity.

  The key was convincing her to marry him and move home before she spent all the money she’d made from selling her grandmother’s land. Tomorrow he would talk to his father and brothers. Surely there was an acre of Webber land along Baseline Road, just outside of town, that he and Reba could buy. Granted, Parker wasn’t Sioux Falls. It was town.

  Three months should be all the time he’d need to win Reba back. This was mid-October. That meant they could have a St. Valentine’s Day wedding.

  Perfect.

  With a satisfied grin and a restored appetite, Levi grabbed the paper sack with his food.

  Webber Farm, north of Parker, South Dakota Five days later

  Levi stood at the head of the table that Ma continued to cover with her favorite white crocheted tablecloth even though his brother Daniel could be counted on to spill whatever he was drinking. His parents and four older brothers sat in silence, clearly mulling over the seven-point plan he’d revealed about how to convince his girl she loved him more than her business. A nice Saturday morning breeze blew through the double windows, fluttering the lace curtains and cooling the room.

  Levi hooked his thumbs around his suspenders. “Please keep in mind this will only be for three months, and I won’t leave the farm until I’ve finished up what I need to do here.”

  Pa nodded. “We can manage without you for three mo
nths.” He looked to Solomon, Ruben, Daniel, and Israel. “Are you four good with this? Solomon, this means you’ll have to go back to doing the accounting.”

  One by one, his brothers nodded.

  “Where are you going to get a job?” Ruben asked, being the firstborn he was.

  Levi shrugged. “I don’t know yet.”

  Solomon and Israel exchanged glances.

  Daniel sipped his coffee.

  “He’ll find something,” Pa said, grinning. “He graduated from South Dakota State University. Everyone will want him to work for them.”

  Levi’s cheeks warmed. “I thought I’d apply first at the John Deere Plow Company. It would give me opportunity to study that new cornstalk chopper they have.”

  “Ask them to pay you in tractor parts,” Ruben suggested.

  Solomon and Israel grunted their agreement.

  Daniel pulled the plate of pastries to him. He dunked one in his coffee then took a bite.

  “While you’re in Sioux Falls, your mother can make wedding preparations.” Pa looked to Ma. “Do you think you can handle that, or were you going to go stay with Martha after the baby arrives like you did with the last one?”

  Ma ran a finger around the rim of her coffee cup, her gaze absent.

  Levi sat next to his mother. “You look troubled. What are you thinking?”

  She focused on him. “What are you going to do when Reba doesn’t agree to marry you and return home?”

  Levi drew a blank.

  She would agree. His plan was solid. Logical.

  Reasonable.

  Ma rested her palms on each side of his face. “I love you dearly, you know that?”

  Levi nodded as best he could with her grip still on him.

  “There is a time in every mother’s life when she looks at her son”—she gave a pointed look to Solomon, to Daniel, to Ruben, and to Israel, and then smiled at Levi—“and thinks, ‘I have raised an idiot.’ Fortunately, your older brothers developed sense. I am sure you will, too.”

  Keeping his face even to hide his annoyance, Levi removed her hands from his face. “Reba will come home.”

  “So you expect her business to fail.” Ma scowled at him. “Or are you just hoping it will? Because for your plan to work out, that’s what will have to happen. Levi, that girl isn’t going to fall in love with someone who thinks her dreams aren’t important. She will fall in love with a man who supports and encourages her.”

  Levi flinched. He wasn’t hoping Reba would fail. He merely recognized her business failing as a possibility, because he was a realist.

  Ma continued to stare at him, knowingly, as if she could see what he wasn’t admitting to himself. What kind of man hoped his girl’s dreams failed?

  That’s not what he was doing.

  He jolted to his feet. “I’m going to Sioux Falls to win back my girl. We’ll be back in three months. Ma, any help you can provide with wedding plans is appreciated.”

  “Excellent,” Pa said with a slap to the table. “Now that we have that settled … While you’re in Sioux Falls, I want you to talk to the bank about a loan so we can look at expanding. I’d like to start building in the spring.”

  As his brothers argued about where best to build the larger milk barn, Levi watched his mother. She circled her finger along the rim of her coffee cup, lost again in her own thoughts. He could tell her his plan would work. He could list all the sound, sensible reasons. He could say he was doing this because of his love for Reba. Or—

  He could prove it.

  Chapter 6

  “In tying a flower, extreme lightness must be exercised in the handling, and, if necessary, the cotton should be left rather loose in order to avoid pulling the flower in at all.”

  —Practical Millinery

  Sioux Falls

  Monday morning, October 26

  Reba stopped counting electric trolley poles as she reached the intersection of Ninth and Phillips. She inhaled slowly to steady her breathing then checked her wristwatch. While she’d probably walked quicker than she would on a regular basis, she’d cut four minutes off her best time while walking from the boardinghouse to the millinery. That she didn’t have Father with her lessened her time, too.

  She sighed. Him being here to help her set up the boutique had been the best two weeks of her life. And all they’d done was work in her millinery during the day and return to the boardinghouse for supper and sleep. No theater visits. No trips to the park. The only shopping they’d done was to buy things for the store.

  But he couldn’t stay forever.

  He needed to go home to the farm and to Mother.

  “You won’t be alone,” Father had said before boarding the train yesterday. “God is with you. He will never leave you or forsake you.”

  She knew it. She believed it. But that hadn’t stopped her from crying her way from the train depot to the boardinghouse.

  A trio of young women strolled past, dressed in the style Reba had quickly adopted—white shirt and matching ankle-length skirt, thin black tie, black stockings and shoes. Instead of a simple straw hat, she wore a more elaborate one with feathers and silk flowers. Until she opened the boutique, there was no need to wear her nicer dresses.

  With a firm grip on her tapestry bag, Reba hurried across Ninth Street. She reached the front of Huss Bakery when she noticed someone was standing in front of her millinery. She took a hesitant step forward. Then another. And another. A man in a black suit leaned against the door, legs crossed at the ankles, arms folded across his chest, a flat tweed cap over his face to shield his eyes from the morning sun.

  Reba placed her foot on the bottom step. “Levi, what are you doing here?”

  He slid his cap off his face. “I’m here for you.”

  A loud groan escaped before Reba could stop it. “I told you—I’m not leaving.”

  “Then I’ll have to convince you.”

  Reba hurried up the steps. “No! I’m not convincible.”

  “We’ll see.” He cocked an eyebrow, his lips easing up in a mischievous grin. He was flirting with her, and the worst part was—some little part of her wanted to flirt back.

  “Levi, don’t look at me like that.”

  “I can’t help it,” he said, his tone serious. “I love you, Reba Diehl, and I’m not leaving. You were right about me never courting you like a suitor should. I’m going to now. I’m going to prove to you that my love for you is real.”

  A little pain grew in her chest. She must have taxed herself too much in walking so quickly to the millinery. “Don’t do this. Don’t make this hard on either of us. Your family needs you at home.”

  “They can manage a little while without me.”

  He moved closer … much closer. So close that her breath caught in panic over his nearness. Her heart began to beat a little faster. He wouldn’t draw her to him and kiss her. He just wouldn’t. He was Levi Webber. He wasn’t some rogue in a dime novel. His father was a deacon. His grandfather had been a deacon. His great-grandfather … well, she had no idea, but she did know Levi was a decade from becoming a deacon himself. If the man had believed they were engaged and not kissed her, then he certainly wouldn’t now when he knew full well they weren’t engaged. Or even courting.

  Yet—

  He took her hand, the one not clenching her tapestry bag, and raised it to his lips. “I’m not leaving without you.” His kiss brushed against her skin with aching tenderness.

  She nodded, unable to think of another argument, unable to look away from his lovely green eyes. Dozens of people could be on the street watching them, and she didn’t care. She wanted to relish this moment—this feeling she was about to float away—as long as possible. She liked this confident, romantic man standing in front of her. Since he was willing to leave the farm to woo her, then maybe he would be willing to leave the farm forever to win her love.

  Levi cleared his throat. He took a step back. “I took a room at the Cataract, and I have a job interview later this we
ek at the John Deere Plow Company.”

  “How … uhh …” Reba gave her head a little shake to clear the muddle he’d made of it. “How could you have arranged all that this morning? It’s only eight o’clock.”

  He shrugged. “I arrived on Friday.”

  “What? Why didn’t you come by?”

  “I had plans to make.”

  “What plans?”

  He winked. “Courting-you plans.”

  Reba nipped at her bottom lip, accepting that nothing she could say could convince him to move on with his life. “All right.”

  “All right?”

  “You may court me.” Ignoring the pleasure she felt in saying those words, Reba reached inside her tapestry bag for the key to the boutique. She tapped the key on his chest. “You’d better believe me when I say I’m not going to fall in love with you. I promise, I’m not going to live on a farm ever again. Sioux Falls is my home.”

  Grinning, he took the key from her. “What can I do to help?”

  The next morning Reba arrived at her boutique to see Levi sitting on the front step, using a folded newspaper to shield his eyes from the sun. “There’s my girl looking pretty as a penny.”

  Her heart increased its beat, yet she responded, “I’m not your girl.”

  A smile curled one side of his mouth. His handsome face said it all—“You’ll always be my girl.”

  “Levi, please go. You have other things you can do,” she said as she climbed the steps.

  He followed. “Not really.”

  “I’m just making hats today.”

  Levi took the keys from her. “What can I do to help?”

  She eyed him. “Don’t you have a job interview?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Shouldn’t you be preparing for it?”

  He gave her a bemused look.

  “Oh, good gracious.” Reba slid between him and the door, blocking the lock. “Is this going to be a habit for you?”

  He looked heavenward and frowned, as if he was giving her words some serious thought. “Takes three weeks of repeat behavior to make something habitual.”