Mail Order Mix Up (15 page)

Patrick came into the kitchen then already dressed for work.  “I wondered where you’d
disappeared to!”
  He leaned down and brushed a kiss against her cheek.

Ellen smiled up at him shyly.  “Do you have anything you need me to do today?”
 
Please think of something that needs to be done
. 

He looked at her in confusion.  “Like what?”

She sighed.  “That’s what I was afraid of.  I’m going to go visit Malinda after breakfast.”
  He didn’t even understand she needed more to do with her time than sit around his
house.

He nodded.  “That sounds like fun.  I need to go into work a little early this morning.”

She tried to hide her disappointment. “Will you have time for breakfast first?”

He looked at the clock on the wall obviously torn.  “If we hurry, I will.”

Alice scooped some fried potatoes and eggs on two plates and added bacon.  She handed
both plates to Ellen.  “Here you go.  I’ll bring coffee in.”

Ellen carried the plates through to the dining room and sat in her regular spot at
Patrick’s right.  “What time do you think you’ll be home tonight?”

He shrugged.  “I should be home on time, which is around six or six-thirty.  If I’m
not, go ahead and eat without me.”  His mind was obviously already on the day ahead
of him.

Ellen picked up a piece of bacon and bit into it.  “Could I bring you lunch to the
bank and we could eat together?”
  She knew she was grasping at straws, but she didn’t want to spend the day alone,
and she was sure Malinda didn’t want her underfoot all day.

He thought about it for a moment, but the shook his head.  “I have lunch plans with
a client.  Maybe tomorrow we can do that.”

She nodded, trying to keep her resentment inside.  Why had he sent off for a wife,
when he obviously didn’t want or need one?  “That’s fine.  Maybe I’ll invite Malinda
over here for lunch.”

“Sounds like a fine idea.  I’m glad your sister is here in town.  She’ll be good company
until you have time to make friends with some of the other ladies in town.”

Ellen took a bite of her eggs.  She shouldn’t be upset, she knew.  Most of the men
she knew worked all day and spent only an hour or two with their wives in the evenings. 
Why had she expected anything different?

He finished his last bite and stood, leaning down to briefly kiss her on the cheek. 
“Have a good day.”

“You too.”
  She watched him leave and picked up her plate of breakfast that was only half gone. 
How could she eat when her marriage was already falling apart after only one day? 
Shouldn’t they be doing their best to spend every waking moment together, instead
of each of them rushing off to their own activities?
  Not that she had any activities to rush off to.

She took both plates into the kitchen for Alice, and then went upstairs and made the
bed.  Mrs. Smith had told her last week that she didn’t mind if she kept her own room
clean, so she was going to continue on that way.  She glanced at the clock and saw
that it was a little after seven.  Surely if she walked over to Malinda’s she’d be
awake by the time she got there.

She went into the kitchen to let Alice know she was leaving.  Alice glanced at the
clock and gave her a look.  “Malinda isn’t going to like it if you wake her.”

“I’m sure she’s up by now.  She has to get Wesley’s breakfast now!”
  At least she hoped she was.  If her sister was still in bed at this hour after the
rocky start their marriage had, she deserved to be horsewhipped.

Alice just nodded skeptically.  “Have a nice visit.  Will you be back for lunch?”

“I’m not sure.  If I am, I can make something for myself.”
  She shrugged, not really worried about what she’d eat.  She’d barely eaten anything
for two days anyway.  She was certain her appetite wasn’t going to suddenly come back
while she was with her sister.

Alice shook her head.  “What are we going to do with you, Ellen?  You’re going to
have to get used to others doing for you.”

Ellen shrugged.  “I’m not sure if that’s possible.”  She grinned and waved as she
went out the door.

She took her time walking across the small town, trying to give Malinda a little extra
time to wake up.  She hoped her sister had relented and apologized to Wesley, but
was relatively certain she hadn’t.  Malinda was never good about admitting when she
was wrong.

She knocked softly on the door of the sheriff’s house, just in case her sister was
still asleep.  Malinda came to the door immediately.  She threw her arms around Ellen. 
“I’m so glad you’re here!”  Malinda grabbed Ellen’s hand and pulled her into the house
and back to the kitchen.
 
“He wants me to make fried chicken for lunch, and I have no clue how to fry a chicken. 
You always did it at home.”

Ellen laughed.  “It’s good to be needed for something!”  She looked at the whole chicken
lying on the counter and the mess from breakfast still scattered everywhere.  And
were those dishes from last night’s dinner in the sink?  How had her sister been raised
in the same house she had?  “We need to start by getting the kitchen cleaned.  I’ll
wash and you dry.”  She happily warmed some water on the stove to do the dishes with. 
“So how are things going?”

Malinda burst into tears.  “He hates me.  I told him I was sorry I asked for time
before we consummated the marriage, and he said if he was that repulsive to me, then
he didn’t want to touch me.”

Ellen shook her head.  She wanted to tell her sister she’d brought it on herself,
but she knew the words would do no good.  “Well, let’s make him the best lunch he’s
ever eaten, and you can beg his forgiveness.”

“You think it’s all my fault, don’t you!”

Ellen shrugged.  She did think the problems were her sister’s fault, but she wasn’t
going to tell her that.  As the younger sister, she’d been cossetted more than she
should have, and she needed to figure out what her husband ne
eded and get things going well.  She stuck her hands into the hot water and began
scrubbing the dishes clean.  As
Ellen
handed each dish to
her sister
,
Malinda
dried it and put it away. 

Once they were done with the dishes, she showed her sister how to cut up a chicken
and how to make the batter for it.  “Fried chicken is really very simple.  It’s a
flour based coating and we’ll just add a few spices to season it.” Once the chicken
was coated, she asked, “Are you going to make potatoes with it?”

Malinda’s eyes widened.  “I have to make something with it?”

Ellen laughed.  “Where have you been all these years while we cooked together?”
  She stared at her sister in amazement.  “Have we ever served only meat for a meal
with no side dishes?”

“I’ve been doing whatever you told me to do.  I’ve never really planned a meal or
done it on my own.  You were always there telling me what to do every single step
of the way.”

“I’m sorry.  I should have made sure you knew how to do more things around the house.”
  Ellen hadn’t really considered that.  Her sister had always done everything she’d
told her to do, but she’d never taken the initiative to do things on her own.  Was
it simply because she had no idea what to do?

Malinda shrugged.  “I’ll make mashed potatoes.  I know how to do that.”

“Do you have any vegetables in the cellar?”
  Ellen looked around for the trap door for the cellar she was certain was around
somewhere.

“Cellar?”

Ellen put her hand on her sister’s shoulder.  “I’ll go look.  Where are the potatoes?”
 

“I don’t know!”

“They’re probably in the cellar too.  Let’s go down and see what’s there.”   Ellen
moved the small rug on the floor, and just as she’d thought, there was the trap door
to the cellar.  “Grab a lantern.”

Malinda got a lantern and they went down into the dark cellar together.  Ellen looked
around her and smiled.  “Good.  You have a lot of foods down here.  Alice told me
she sent canned goods home with Wesley every fall and wasn’t certain if he’d eaten
them.”
  There were shelves piled full of fruits and vegetables that had been canned and
several bins with vegetables in them.

Ellen went through and looked at each of the jars, noting that each had
the
date when they were canned written on them.  She picked up a jar of green beans that
had been canned the previous fall and handed it to her sister.  Then she found a large
bin of potatoes and picked out five large ones.  “This will be enough
for just the two of you
.”

Ellen had borrowed an apron before starting the dishes, so she carried the potatoes
up the stairs in the skirt of her apron as her mother had taught her to do as a small
girl.  When they reached the top, she started peeling the potatoes while carefully
explaining to Malinda how to fry
a
chicken.  It would have been easier to do it herself, but she wanted Malinda to be
able to do it
the
next time.

Once the potatoes were on to boil, she put the green beans on the stove, and then
walked through the small house, looking for other ways to help her sister.  While
Malinda fried the chicken, Ellen made both of the beds and picked up the dirty clothes
both of them had just tossed on the floor.  She was so happy to have something to
do she didn’t even scold Malinda for leaving the house in such a sorry state.

She walked back into the kitchen just as Malinda was removing the last of the chicken
from the frying pan.  “Now all you need to do is mash the potatoes, and make some
gravy.”

Malinda stared at her in horror.  “Gravy?”

Ellen showed her how to make a simple gravy using the grease that was still in the
frying pan.  “Now you have a feast,” Ellen told Malinda as she poured the prepared
gravy into a bowl.  “I’m going to go home now.  You make things right with your husband.”
  She hugged her sister tightly.  “Make sure he knows that you care about him.  It’s
important.”

“Will you come back after lunch?”  Malinda looked at the clock.  “Say around two? 
I might need more help.”

Ellen nodded slowly.  “I’d be happy to, but only to show you how to do things.  Neither
of our husbands will be happy if I come over here every day to cook and clean when
you’re supposed to be doing it.”

Ellen had a spring in her step as she walked home.  At least for a little while she
had something she could do to fill her days.

Patrick was late for dinner again that evening, but she didn’t mind as much, because
she’d had something to fill her day.  Once Malinda had figured out what to do around
her own house, it was going to be frustrating that he was always gone.

They sat down to eat at eight-thirty, and he reminded her again she didn’t have to
wait for him to eat.  “You can always start without me.  I feel bad that you wait
for me every night.”

She shrugged.  “I’d rather eat with you than eat alone.  I’m used to having family
around at mealtimes.”
  She really hated the idea of eating alone, but she wasn’t sure why.  She could read
a book while she ate to keep herself occupied, but she had a hard time doing it. 
She had eaten lunch in the kitchen so she could talk to Alice while she ate.

“Speaking of meals, I need to h
ost
a small dinner party on Friday night.  I’m trying to make an arrangement with a bank
in Denver that would allow our clients to do business there, and theirs to do business
here.  I want to have the president and vice-president of their bank, as well as the
vice president of mine and
all
their wives for dinner.  It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate, and Alice will
be able to help you, but I’ll need you to plan it.”

Ellen nodded slowly.  “I’ve never done anything like that, but I’ll do my best.”
  She was suddenly nervous thinking about her first real job as his hostess.

He squeezed her hand.  “I’ll never ask for anything more.”

“Are you working tonight?”
  She held her breath while she waited for his answer, expecting him to spend all
night in his office just as he had the evening before.

He shook his head.  “Not tonight.  I got everything I needed to do done at the bank
today.”

She smiled, relieved.  It would be nice to have his undivided attention for a change. 
“Would you like to sit on the back porch?”
  She hoped they could remember how much they cared about one another if they went
back to the situation they’d been in so often while they were courting.

He nodded his eyes weary.  “I’d like that.”

“You’re not too tired?”
  She eyed him worriedly.  He looked exhausted, and she realized he’d been up late
working, and had risen early to go into work again.  Should she just suggest he go
off to bed?

“I’ll be fine.”  He pushed away from the table and took her hand, leading her out
to the porch.  “What did you do today?”