Owen whooped at the table. Oliver stood and grabbed Owen’s hand, slapping him on the shoulder.
Ellie watched as Owen’s face completely transformed. His eyes twinkled and his cheeks pushed up when he smiled. Ellie could see his white teeth peek from beneath his scruff.
“Congratulations,” Ellie said. “That is wonderful for all of you.” A feeling of disappointment washed over her. So this is what planning a family empire actually meant. Frank had mentioned it in his letters to her. This joy was the feeling she should have been having with Frank, instead of celebrating the same thing with complete strangers.
“Why are you doing this, Pa?” Alice said.
Weston pointed a fork at his wife. “It’s ‘bout time you kids take over and let your Ma and I rest for a while. I was thinking we could go fishin’, expand the garden. Maybe we might even have some grandbabies to spoil in the future.”
“Oh, Weston,” Marmee said. “That sounds wonderful.”
“Caleb, you’ll need to head for Texas in two days to make it in time for the purchase. When you are down there find a cook and head on back. You might need more than one.”
“What about Tot?”
“You can’t take the wagon from here to there, it would take too much time. Talk to him. If he wants to go, then you go by horseback. Buy what you need when you get to Texas.”
“What about the men?” Penny asked. “They depend on Tot.”
“I’ll put an ad in town for a temporary cook until Tot gets back. I’m sure there is someone there sober enough for work.”
“You should see Marmee’s garden, Ellie,” Alice said softly. “It is just beautiful.”
“It isn’t quite blooming yet, but in the summer I must say it is pretty spectacular,” Marmee responded. “Perhaps Owen can show you around.”
Ellie saw Owen’s gaze snap to his mother. “Oh. I’m sure he's very busy, I wouldn’t want to take him away from his horses.”
“I’ll take you, Miss Ellie,” Everett offered.
Ellie was sure he was a sweet boy, but he was younger than she was and she didn’t want to lead him on with her affections.
“I’ll take her,” Owen said, his mask slipping back in place. “I’ll make time later this evening or tomorrow to do it.”
“Did you get all your laundry done today, Marmee?” Ellie asked.
Marmee’s fork stopped halfway to her mouth. “Laundry?”
“Alice said today was your laundry day.” Ellie heard Penny snicker. “When they did laundry in Atlanta it was an all-day affair. And we only had three people in the house.”
“Oh yes. I’ve done what I needed to do. I have a system. But thank you for asking.”
Oliver let out another snicker.
Weston looked confused. “What am I missing? Do you need help, my love?”
Oliver laughed louder, and soon Caleb and Penny joined in.
“What is going on that I don’t know about?”
“Ask Marmee about her system, Pa,” Penny asked, wiping her eyes with the napkin.
“There is so much laundry. I don’t know how you get it done every week. How do you do it?”
Marmee laid her fork down. “Oh. I have a system.”
“System?”
Marmee nodded. “I gather everything up and then I take it to Widow Baker down the road.”
Oliver and Penny howled with glee.
“The one with ten children?” Everett asked.
Marmee nodded. “She needed the work and she has many more hands, so it worked out beautifully.”
“How long has this been going on?” Weston asked.
Marmee put a finger against her cheek. “Nearly a year.”
“How did I not know this?” Weston demand.
“Oh, Weston, the house is mine to worry about. This way your nicely folded laundry magically appears in your wardrobe.”
“I can hire someone for here if you needed the help. All you had to do was ask.”
“Why? She needs the work and she has all those children to feed.” Widow Baker’s husband was killed in a farming accident. She picked up several laundry clients to make ends meet.
“She’s probably going to lose that land. I’ll talk to Mr. Arnold at the bank tomorrow. I have to go see him about the funds transfer for the cattle. If we can work the land, then she won’t have to worry about losing her house.”
Ellie wanted to cry. She had never seen a kinder or more loving family than those sitting around her. They were the complete opposite of the Hartmans. She lifted her hand and rubbed her chest, willing herself not to sob.
“Ellie?”
Ellie jumped as Marmee’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
“I’m sorry, I was just thinking.”
“About Frank?”
Ellie nodded.
“It will be alright,” she said softly. “God always has a plan. I asked if you wanted coffee with dessert.”
“Oh,” Ellie said pushing back from the table. “Let me help you clean up and make it.”
“Nonsense. You are a guest here. Everyone can take their own dishes to the washtub.”
“Thank you, but I prefer to earn my keep just the same.”
Marmee paused and then nodded. “Of course.” She turned from the table. “Let’s have some dessert and coffee before you head back to work. I made a chocolate cake. This is a reason to celebrate.”
Chapter Eleven
So, Miss Brooks,” Weston said, wiping his mouth with a napkin, after finishing a thick slice of cake. “What are your plans now?”
Ellie nearly choked on the cake she was chewing. The chocolate pan frosting caught in her throat. She reached for the glass of milk at the edge of her plate and took a sip while forming her answer. “I honestly don’t know.”
“Pa, it isn’t like you have a backup plan when you come out here,” Penny said.
“You were a mail-order bride?”
“Don’t ask questions, Everett,” Alice reprimanded him.
“Why not. Pa….”
“It’s rude,” Alice retorted as if that explained everything.
Everett harumphed and went back to his cake.
“I don’t mind answering at all.” Ellie put her fork down and placed her hands in her lap. “Yes. I came out here as a mail-order bride.”
“How did you find Frank?” Owen asked, softly.
Ellie felt shivers as he looked at her with those brown eyes. It was as if he could see right into her soul and knew all of her deepest secrets without her saying a word.
“Yes, how?” Alice asked.
Ellie paused and looked around the table at the faces eager for her to tell her story. She cleared her throat. “I found him in a newspaper.”
“A newspaper?” Caleb asked.
“Yes. I had just canceled my wedding in Atlanta. You see, I found out my intended was a cad.”
“You were engaged once before?” Owen asked.
Shame flooded Ellie’s cheeks. They were going to think she had no morals. He was going to think that. A twice engaged woman! Why she worried what Owen thought, she didn’t know. But the thought of disappointing the family that had taken her in as their own was too much. They could cast her out and she’d be lost.
She needed to explain things quickly. “As I said, he was a cad. When I broke the engagement, my best friend in the entire world, Polly came to cheer me up. Polly found a letter in the newspaper asking for a wife.”
“So he just up and put an advertisement in the paper, looking for a wife?” Owen asked.
Ellie nodded.
“Just like what you’d do when you are looking for a plow or a new wagon wheel, I guess,” Everett said. “Who’da thunk it. Advertising for a wife?”
“Think your friend Polly might come out and visit?” Everett asked, shoving another piece of cake in his mouth.
“Everett!” Penny exclaimed. “Why would you ask something like that?”
“Seems everyone around here is related some way to e
veryone else. I might put me an advertisement in the newspaper.”
“When have you ever wanted to get married, Ev?” Oliver asked.
Everett shrugged. “I just thought it’um might be easier if I knew someone, instead of going through a bunch of responses.”
“So what did you do next?” Alice asked.
“I answered the advertisement and we started writing back and forth. For nearly a year.” She brushed away a tear from her cheek. “He sent for me two weeks ago.”
“That sounds so romantic,” Alice said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Leaving everything behind to go somewhere new.”
“Alice…,” Oliver said in a low tone.
“I just said it sounds romantic. I didn’t say it actually was. Gosh, Ollie…”
Weston cleared his throat and sent a glance Alice’s way. She huffed and sat back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.
Ellie wondered what that interaction meant, but she didn’t have time to ask before Owen interrupted the conversation.
“That kinda makes sense now.”
“What does?” Penny asked.
“When Frank’s brothers came around here looking for him, Chat was implying that something had happened at home that caused him to leave. I guess it must have been around the same time he got the telegram saying you were coming.”
“Why’s that significant?” Ellie asked.
“He must have told his family he sent for a wife and they were none too happy. I think he went up into the hills to get away,” Everett said. “I know I would if they were my kin.”
“Everett, hush,” Marmee scolded. “Verna was my dearest friend.”
“That woman is downright mean,” Penny said.
“Penelope Ann!” Marmee looked around the table. “I will not have you mention one more word about the Hartman family. They are mourning their son and brother.” She leaned over and patted Ellie’s arm.
“They have had a hard run of it. Beneath that tough exterior is a heart of gold.”
“Well I didn’t see it,” Ellie responded. “She hated me without even knowing me.”
“That’s just the hurt talking, honey.” Marmee patted her hand. Ellie felt better when Marmee did that. She loved her own mother immensely, but Momma was not an affectionate type. “Life out here is hard and I’m sure that if she had the chance to know you, there is no doubt that she would have loved you.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because, dear, as a mother, it is my responsibility to love my children’s husbands or wives as my own. What makes them happy, makes me happy.”
Ellie simply nodded, not sure what to say.
“I’ve got to get back to the stable,” Owen said, pushing his chair back from the table. He walked over and gave Marmee a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you later.”
Ellie watched Owen walk out of the great room and disappear around the corner. When she turned back to the table, she noticed Caleb was staring at her intently.
“Do I have chocolate on my face?” she asked, touching her cheek with her napkin.
Caleb laughed. “You just might do the trick.”
“What trick?”
“Just thinkin’ out loud. I have to get back to the pasture and I need to speak to Tot. Would you like to take a ride, Miss Ellie?”
“Oh, I’ve never ridden a horse before. I don’t know what to wear.”
“There might be a split skirt in Marianne’s wardrobe. You are about the same size as she is,” Penny volunteered.
“Then meet me by the barn in fifteen minutes.”
Ten minutes later Ellie was standing in front of the looking glass admiring the borrowed riding outfit.
It was a deep green with silver trim. The jacket had toggles for closing and it had a pair of pants that were made from the softest fabric Ellie had ever seen.
She gave a little giggle as she thought about her mother. Momma would be mortified. Real ladies didn’t wear pants or skirts that looked like pants. She stood in front of the looking glass admiring the pants. From a distance it looked like a skirt, but when Ellie lifted her leg you could see it was split in the middle.
She raised and lowered her leg, giggling as the fabric split and then gathered again.
“These are brilliant!” she said, looking at Penny. “I may never go back to a regular skirt.” She gave one last giggle and returned to the mirror.
“You look like a stockwoman for sure.”
“Stockwoman?” Ellie had never heard the term.
“Someone who takes care of livestock.”
“Oh,” Ellie said, standing tall in front of the mirror and pressing the jacket down with her fingers. “Stockwoman. I like the sound of that.”
They walked over to the barn but Caleb was nowhere to be found. Instead, they met one of the cowhands. The man was a foot taller than Ellie, wiry thin and had skin that looked tougher than old shoe leather. His hair was as black as ink and peppered with white. His bushy eyebrows looked like caterpillars above light blue eyes. This was the first real cowboy Ellie had ever met.
“Where’s Caleb, Poke?” Penny asked. Ellie didn’t want to know how he got his name. “It’s short for Poker,” Penny explained. “He apparently plays a mean game of cards.”
“That’s encouraging,” Ellie said.
“He’s a little hard of hearing. Where’s Caleb?” Penny asked again.
“Oh, there were complications with a calving. Caleb had to go out there to make sure the mama cow was alright.”
“What’s wrong with the baby?” Ellie asked.
“Breech.”
“That means it’s backward, isn’t it?”
Poke nodded. Ellie noticed he had a piece of straw between his leathered lips. He moved it from side to side as he talked.
“Yup. The cord is around the neck. Means the calf ain’t getting no air.”
“What are they going to do?”
“Calf might already be dead.”
“That’s terrible!”
Poke shrugged. “Way things is on a ranch.”
“Tell Caleb we stopped by, please?” Penny said, pulling Ellie from the barn. “I need to go write a letter, so we might as well head back to the house.”
“Would it be alright if I just walked around? I still feel like I’ve been riding on that coach.”
“Of course. There’s a nice bench Pa made down by the river. Just avoid the men if at all feasible and stay out of the barns. And watch out for rattlesnakes.”
“Rattlesnakes?”
“They’ll make a sound before they strike, but their reach is quite long.”
“Maybe I’ll just stay inside the house.”
“You’ll be fine. Just listen for the rattle and go in the opposite direction. It is more likely afraid of you than you are of it.”
“I will,” she said. She followed Penny back to the house and returned to the room she was staying in. She grabbed one of the small pulp novels and her pack of letters that were wrapped in the hair-ribbon. She placed both in her waistband. Even though she had read the novel on the train and she knew Frank’s letters by heart, she could read them again.
Ellie went outside through the door from the great room and found herself in a garden filled with rows of vegetable plants. Was this the garden that Owen was going to show her? It was nice, but it certainly wasn’t the masterpiece alluded to at lunchtime.
She walked past rows of beans climbing strings, and squash plants starting to flower. There were markers to identify each type of plant: pumpkins, cabbages, beets, carrots, onions, lettuce, greens, strawberries, and peppers.
Her family had a garden in Atlanta, but it was mostly for her mother’s amusement and only consisted of a few items. Rows upon rows of green plants popped from the soil. It was unlike anything Ellie had ever seen. It appeared to be enough food to feed a small town, but then she remembered that there were nine people in the Chapman family, so it made sense.
At the end of the garden, the
re was a small orchard that consisted of apple and pear trees and rows upon rows of thorny berries. Ellie decided then and there that she wanted to have a garden just like this and as many children as she needed to have so food wouldn’t go to waste.
The only problem was, she wasn’t getting any younger, and she was no longer getting married. She brushed a tear from her cheek and continued until the garden opened up into the most beautiful pasture land she had ever seen.
The fields were lush and green and animals dotted the landscape. She saw a wagon with a fire next to it and men riding horses.
At that moment, Ellie decided she never wanted to leave Nebraska and go home. If Frank sent for a wife, it must mean there are more eligible men in the area that would be looking for one. She just needed to find them.
Pleased with that thought, she walked through the pasture, careful to avoid any cow pies she passed. There was a fenced area with a wooden step crossing the wires. It must have been put there so people could cut through the field.
On the furthest corner of the pasture, she could see a lone cow. Was there something wrong with it that it needed to be separated? Maybe it was sick and that is why it was out here?
Ellie could see the river area on the other side of the field and a bench sitting beneath a tree, just as Penny had said. She lifted her split skirt and climbed on top of the rickety structure spanning the two fields.
As she proceeded across she saw Owen’s barn and training paddock in her line of sight. Two men were standing on the rails, while another was inside the ring with a horse.
She took a deep breath, inhaling the air, and wrinkling her nose. Air definitely did not smell like that in Atlanta. They had farms to be sure, but they were further on the outside of town.
One of the men spied her and waved his hat. Ellie put her hand up in greeting but kept walking. Folks sure were friendly in Flat River. Why couldn’t the Hartmans be like that?
A sharp whistle drew her attention back to the barn. As she was turning to see what it was about she heard the sound of thundering hooves coming her way. The cow looked much larger now as it ran towards her.
Ellie held her hands out towards the racing animal. “Nice cow,” she said. “Nice cow.”
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