Ruby (Orlan Orphans Book 2) (5 page)

She nodded.  "So ready!"

He began moving inside her, and soon she felt as if whatever was building inside her broke, and she groaned.

Lewis kissed her again, rolling to her side.  He gathered her to him, and cradled her head against his shoulder.  "I had a feeling it would be that good with you," he whispered.

She sighed contentedly.  "That was nice."

He just laughed.  Yes, he'd found the bride he was looking for.  She'd be wild in bed and a lady during the day.  Perfect for a wife and mother.  Finally, things were looking up for him.

Chapter Six

Lewis and Ruby went to get the boys after church on Sunday. They waited until they knew the family would be done eating before arriving to find an exhausted Opal and two very happy boys. 

"Did they cause problems for you?" Ruby asked while Lewis and the boys carried her things down the stairs and out to the buggy.

"Not really," Opal responded.  "They were just everywhere, and I swear there were fifteen of them at times.  They wanted to play outside in the rain last night, and it was too cold.  They didn't want to have to wear their Sunday best two days in a row, because the clothes are too itchy.  I'm just tired."

Ruby smiled.  "Hopefully they'll be less of a handful in their own home."  She had always been a bit of an optimist.

"I wouldn't count on it. How's married life?  Are you happy?"

Ruby blushed.  "I am.  Lewis is a good man.  I made the right choice.  I didn't marry for love, but I think love will come."

"I'm happy for you.  I'm sad for me, because I've lost my sister and my roommate, but I'm happy for you."

Ruby smiled.  "Won't it be nice to not have anyone to argue with me about what time the lamp should be turned down?"  Ruby liked to stay up late reading, while Opal preferred to go to bed early.  They'd fought about it often.

Opal shrugged.  "I'd rather fight with you than miss you!"

"It's not like I'm going to be a long distance away.  You can see me whenever you want."  She certainly hoped her sister would visit often.  They'd also see each other at church every week, which would help.

"It just won't be the same."

"No, it won't.  But that's okay, isn't it?"

"I suppose so.  I'll miss you, though."

Ruby hugged her sister tightly.  "Come visit me anytime.  Don't give me a chance to miss you!"

Opal laughed.  "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Someone should have told David that.
"Out of sight, out of mind."

Lewis came down with a small box of Ruby's belongings, and each boy carried a few dresses.  Ruby had few possessions, because she'd saved every dime she'd made, knowing she and David would struggle when they married.

"Is this everything?" Lewis asked with a frown.

Ruby nodded.  "Yes, it is."

He looked at the meager dresses.  "You'll need to make yourself some more clothes.  We can't have you running around in rags when you're the wife of the mercantile owner."

She frowned at him.  "I don't wear rags. I've been saving my money for more important things."

"Dresses are the most important thing to spend your money on now."  He turned and walked away at that, opening the front door to put her things in the buggy.

Ruby looked at Opal.  "He's a good man, but I already want to strangle him at times."  Wasn't her desire to murder her husband supposed to wait until they'd been married at least a month?  It was odd that he could make her so angry, when David had inspired very few emotions in her.  He'd been more of a comfortable shoe she was used to wearing.  Lewis pinched her toes.

Opal tried to hide a smile, but she didn't fool Ruby for a moment.  "Isn't it a little soon for that?"

"Apparently not."  With one last hug, she hurried from the house to go out and join her new family. 

Lewis gave her a hand up into the buggy, and she was pleased to see the boys were sitting quietly in the back.  She turned to them.  "Did you enjoy your time with your aunt?"

"Yes, ma'am," Robert said.  "I really like Aunt Opal.  She's fun.  But she wouldn't let us play in the rain."

"Of course she wouldn't!  It was almost cold enough for that rain to turn to ice.  If she had let you play in the rain, you'd both be sick as dogs today, and I'd have left you with her to take care of."

"You don't like sick kids?" James asked, looking confused.

"I don't like when children are allowed to do something that will make them ill.  Children have parents, or other adults watching over them for a reason."

Robert sighed.  "So you won't let us play in the rain either?"

"When it's hot outside, and you're not sick, you're welcome to play in the rain just as much as you want.  When it's cold out, you'll be smart and stay inside."  Ruby wanted the boys to like her, but Cassie had told her to start out strict.  She could always get less strict, but if she started out too soft, she couldn't get stricter with any real results.

"Yes, ma'am."  Robert looked at Lewis.  "You could have found us a less strict new ma."

Lewis had to fight not to laugh over the disgruntled tone of Robert's voice.  "You wouldn't have wanted a stupid ma.  That's what one who let you play in cold rain would have been: stupid."

"Sometimes stupid is fun," Robert mumbled.

Ruby refused to answer that.  They could think she was boring and strict all they wanted as long as they didn't play in the cold rain. 

"Are you planning on going into the store to work tomorrow?" Lewis asked, feeling a change of subject was necessary.

She nodded.  "I have twenty or so outstanding orders.  I'll need to work every day, at least half days, until I'm caught up."  She realized then that she hadn't yet talked to him about Penny working in the store.  "Oh, how would you feel about one of the other girls, Penny, coming in to work after school?  She is a much better seamstress than I am, and she'd like to earn some money."

"I don't mind that at all.  Maybe she can finish the shirt orders so you can make yourself some more dresses." 

"Oh, stop complaining about my dresses.  You know as well as I do that orphans don't have the most elaborate wardrobes."  She was already annoyed with him for calling her dresses rags.  They were fine while she was working in his store, but now that they were married, he said she wore rags.  If he was embarrassed of her clothes, then he shouldn't have married her.

"Well, you're not an orphan any longer, but instead, you're my wife.  You'll dress better."

She nodded.  "I'll make some dresses, but I need to finish the shirt orders first."

"Fine.  But have Penny do as many of them as she will.  I don't need you to make money."  He hadn't realized until just then that he really didn't want his wife working.  It felt wrong to him.  Helping in the store was one thing, but making money on her own was something else entirely.

"I know that.  I'm used to earning a wage, though, so it will seem strange to not work at all."

"I'll need help in the store occasionally, and there's plenty to do keeping house for our family.  And cooking.  The boys are sick of my cooking."

"We are!" Robert agreed.  "Pa's the worst cook alive."

Ruby sighed.  She could see that her new family would be demanding.  She'd be required to do what they wanted her to do.  She'd somehow thought getting married would give her more freedom.  She'd been wrong.

*****

Ruby decided to compromise with Lewis, spending the mornings working on the shirt orders she had yet to finish, and the afternoons cooking, cleaning, and making a new dress.  When the boys came in from school every afternoon, she had a snack waiting for them.  She was surprised at how much she enjoyed taking care of her new family.

Penny worked in the store in the afternoons, working on the shirt orders as well.  Occasionally, she'd come to the house after she finished. 

"Do you want to stay for supper?" Ruby asked on Friday evening when Penny had stopped by to visit.

"Oh, I couldn't.  Edna Petunia would worry."

Ruby laughed.  "Edna Petunia always worries.  She's probably still worried when I don't come home for dinner, and I don't even live there any longer."

"She asked me to stop in after I finished working tonight to make sure you were all right.  She hasn't seen you since Sunday, so she's certain Lewis has killed you and buried you somewhere in the woods outside town."  Penny's voice was filled with humor as she told Ruby about the old woman's worries.

"Tell her I'm alive and doing well, and you know it was me, because I look nothing like my twin sister."

Penny giggled.  "I'm going to tell her that.  You know Edna Petunia; she'll love that!"  She crunched into an apple while she watched Ruby cook.  "She wants to know if she can have her sweet bastard grandbabies for a visit this weekend."

Ruby sighed.  "They're not bastards.  Why does she want everyone to be a bastard?"  The question was rhetorical.  She was certain she knew why, even though the reason didn't make any kind of sense.

"I don't think there's a reason for anything she does, but that's okay, because she's lovable."

"She is lovable."  Ruby thought about it for a moment.  She knew Lewis would like some time alone.  "How long does she want them for?"

"She said if you were agreeable, I should take them home tonight, and you could pick them up from church on Sunday.  She feels slighted, because she has two beautiful grandsons, and she barely knows them.  That's your fault, by the way."

"Oh, I'm sure it is.  Let me go ask the boys if they'd like to go."

Penny took a seat at the kitchen table.  "I'll wait here."

Ruby went up the stairs.  She could hear arguing coming from Robert's bedroom.  "I don't care what you say!  Our new ma is lots prettier than our old ma who doesn't love us anyway!" Robert exclaimed.

"We're supposed to love our real ma best, no matter who's prettiest," James argued.

"Well, how can we love a ma who doesn't want us or care about us?  I can't." 

Ruby knocked softly on the door, feeling like she was being a bad person by eavesdropping.  "Edna Petunia wants to have her new grandsons over for the weekend.  You'd get to stay two nights.  Do you want to go?"  She wasn't sure if letting them go was a good idea with the argument she'd just heard, but she knew she needed more time alone with Lewis as they learned to adjust to married life.

Robert jumped up excitedly.  "Yes, please!" 

James nodded.  "I'd like to go!  Edna Petunia is crazy!"

Ruby smiled at that.  "I don't know that spending the weekend with a crazy woman is what you should want to do, but I won't say anything."  She packed a small carpet bag with their freshly laundered clothes.  "You're going to be good for Edna Petunia right?"

Both boys nodded, James nodding so hard his hair flopped.  "Do you boys want to give her a special surprise that will make her very happy?"

Robert eyed her skeptically.  He was not a trusting boy.  "What do we have to do?"

"Call her 'Grandma.'"

The boys exchanged looks.  "Would she really like that?" Robert asked.

"I can't think of anything she'd like more."  Well, Edna would like it more if she found out the boys really were bastards, but Ruby kept that to herself.

"We'll do it!" James told her.  "We want her to be happy.  She's nice.  She always lets us eat peppermint sticks that she keeps there."  He pointed to Ruby's cleavage.  "Why does she keep peppermint sticks there?"

Ruby thought about how to answer that for a moment.  "You know, Edna Petunia is a mysterious lady.  No one is quite sure why she does the things she does.  We just smile at her and pretend it's all normal."

Robert nodded.  "That sounds like a really good idea.  We'll do that."

"Good.  She'll be happy."

"We want her to be happy," James said.

Chapter Seven

By the time Lewis came in from the store that evening, Ruby had dinner on the table.  He frowned when he saw only two place settings.  "Did you already feed the boys?"

Ruby shook her head.  "Edna Petunia wanted them to spend the weekend with her, so I sent them home with Penny.  I hope that's all right."

Lewis smiled.  "A weekend home alone with my new bride?  I won't complain about that
too
much."  He grabbed her to him, kissing her softly.  "I missed you while I was working."

"I was there half the day. You didn't have time to miss me."  She laughed, her palms flat against his chest.  "You missed making love with me maybe."  She pointed at the table.  "Dinner's ready.  Wash your hands."

Lewis complied, and they had a quiet supper.  It was nice for them both not to have to correct table manners or break up the boys' constant arguing. 

"The boys are worried they're being disloyal to their mother by liking me," Ruby blurted out.  She knew instinctively that it would need to be Lewis who dealt with the problem, not her.

"What do you mean?"  Lewis frowned.  Roberta hadn't been in the boys' lives for nearly two years.  They never spoke of her, and he'd hoped they'd forgotten about her.

Ruby relayed the argument she'd heard earlier.  "I pretended I didn't hear them."

"That's probably for the best.  I'll have a talk with them this weekend.  Maybe I can take them fishing after church on Sunday."  The boys liked to fish, and it seemed to be when they were willing to talk about anything and everything.  Put fishing poles in their hands, and they'd spill secrets to anyone.

"That sounds like a good idea.  I wouldn't mind talking to them about it, but I think it would be better coming from you."

"No, I'll handle it."  He toyed with his food for a moment.  "Do you want to go for a drive after supper?  Or we could go to the ice cream parlor?"

"I'd rather just go for a drive if you don't mind.  I've always liked being outdoors."

While she did the supper dishes, he went down and hitched up the buggy.  As soon as she was finished she went outside, and he helped her up.  He covered them both with a heavy quilt to ward off the cold night air as they drove out toward the Sanders' house.  "Are you planning to stop?" she asked, eyeing the house in the distance.

"No, this was just the way I drove.  No desire to see the boys when we have a weekend away from them."  He hadn't had a weekend away from his boys in the two years since Roberta had left.  His arm was around her shoulders, and he drove with just his left hand.  He drove them to the spot where they'd first kissed, stopping the wagon before tilting her face up to his.  "Do you have any idea how much I wanted to make love to you the night I brought you out here?"

Ruby laughed softly.  "I didn't then, but I have a better idea of how randy you are now."

"Randy, am I?" he asked.  "I'll show you randy!"  He grasped her waist, maneuvering her off the seat beside him and onto his lap, one knee on either side of his thighs. 

She squealed.  "No.  This cannot end well!"  What was he thinking?  Surely he didn't think they would make love right there in the woods for anyone to see.

"Oh, it'll end very well..."  He pulled her head down to his, kissing her passionately. 

"Lewis, no.  This isn't a good idea.  We need to go home if we want to make love."

"Why?  There's no one here."

Ruby couldn't let loose of her inhibitions enough to let him do anything more than kiss her on the open road.  "What if someone comes by?  Please, Lewis.  Let's just go home.  We have a nice bed waiting for us there."

He sighed.  "How long is it going to take you to get over your inhibitions?"

She shook her head as she climbed off his lap and back onto the seat beside him, snuggling into his side.  "I don't think I'll ever be
that
uninhibited.  I'm sorry.  It's just not in me."

"That's too bad."  Lewis wasn't truly angry with her, but he
was
frustrated.  He wanted her, and she was his wife.  "I guess we're going home then."

"Sounds lovely," she said, meaning it.  She enjoyed making love every bit as much as he did. 

He pulled the horses back onto the quiet country road and drove them toward town a great deal faster than they'd left.  Randy didn't even begin to describe him.

*****

Lewis worked on inventory the next day while Ruby watched the counter and helped customers with their purchases.  It was the first time she'd worked the cash register for more than an hour, so it was a strange experience for her. 

Penny sat in Ruby's usual corner, working the sewing machine and talking to the cowboys who wanted shirts made.  When the stage coach driver brought in the mail and dropped it in a big bag on the counter, Ruby immediately sorted through it, startled to find a letter from David in with the rest. 

She traced her name on the envelope before slipping it into her apron, unread.  She had no time to mess with letters from old beaux while she was supposed to be working.

She looked up to find Tino Hayes standing in front of her.  "Any mail for us?"

Ruby flipped through the letters.  "Here's one from Fort Worth."  She handed him the letter with a smile.

"It's from my brother."  He tapped it against his leg.  "You doing all right, Ruby?  Cassie's been worried about you.  I think being pregnant is making her worry about all her little chicks more than usual."

She smiled.  "I'm doing really well.  Lewis is a good husband."

"I'll tell Cassie that when I get home this evening.  It'll make her happy."

"I'd appreciate that, Mr. Hayes.  Tell her I miss her.  How's she been feeling?"

"Ornery," he said without missing a beat.  "She's ready for that baby to come."

"I'm sure she is!  She must feel like she's got a kicking watermelon inside of her."  Ruby had never really been around pregnant women, but she'd heard enough stories that she had an idea of what it would be like.

He laughed.  "I think that's a pretty apt description.  We're both ready for that baby to make an appearance."

"I'm happy for both of you," Ruby said softly, wondering idly when her turn to be a mother would be.  She could be carrying right that moment.  It was the first time she'd really thought about the consequences of her nights with Lewis.  She smiled, liking the idea of having a baby soon.  One that looked just like his papa.  She was startled to realize she had real feelings for Lewis.  She wasn't sure it was real love yet, but it was definitely growing.  He was good to her.

"Thank you!  I'll give Cassie your best."

"I appreciate that."  She was still staring off into space, dreaming about a tiny little version of Lewis when Penny waved her hand in front of her face. 

"We need to eat some lunch.  I'm starving."

Ruby grinned at her friend.  "You're always starving."

"I know.  Can we eat?  Edna Petunia packed some fried chicken, and it's all I've been able to think about for hours."

"Of course.  I need to figure out what to make for Lewis and me."  Ruby thought about what she had on hand that would be quick to fix.  It would probably have to be a sandwich so they could both get back to work quickly.

"Oh, Edna Petunia packed lunch for all three of us.  She said you were probably about to waste away to nothing since you were only eating your own cooking."  Penny winked at Ruby.

Ruby sighed.  "I'm not a bad cook.  I simply don't enjoy it like she and Sarah Jane do.  Robert and James are thrilled with my cooking, compared to what Lewis used to make."

"I'm sure you're an excellent cook when you're compared with Lewis."

Ruby refused to be baited.  "Let me go get Lewis so we can all eat together."  She hurried to the back room.  "Edna Petunia sent lunch with Penny for all three of us.  Are you ready to take your lunch break?"

He nodded.  "Let's lock the door for thirty minutes and have a real lunch.  I need the break."

Ruby rushed to the front door to do his bidding.  Usually they took turns eating lunch, but it would be nice to have a break together. 

By the time she turned from locking the door, Penny had spread a quilt on the floor of the store, and she and Lewis were sitting on it, digging through the picnic basket.  "That smells delicious," Lewis said.

Ruby joined the others on the quilt, taking out the lemonade and glasses the old woman had kindly packed.  "Make sure you tell Edna Petunia that I'm doing just fine without her shoving food in my face every fifteen minutes.  I won't see her until church tomorrow, and we don't need her to worry about me all that time."

Penny laughed.  "I'll tell her."

They talked about how the boys were doing with their new grandmother while they ate.  "Edna Petunia has those boys spoiled rotten.  She told me that bastards need extra spoiling."

Lewis grew rigid.  "My boys aren't bastards."

"Of course they're not," Penny returned.  "Edna Petunia thinks all children should be bastards."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because she thinks bastards deserve extra love, and when it comes right down to it, she wants to shower all children with extra love.  So she calls them all bastards," Ruby said.  She'd finally put it together, and she was thrilled to understand the old woman for the first time.

"Why do bastards deserve extra love?" Lewis asked, truly confused.

Ruby shrugged.  "I have no idea.  That's a question only Edna Petunia can answer.  She wants to think all of us are bastards too.  I corrected her for the longest time, but then I finally realized that she
wants
us to be bastards.  If it makes her happy, I'll be anything.  She's been good to us."

He shook his head.  "That's crazy."

Penny laughed at that.  "No one ever claimed Edna Petunia was the least bit sane.  She's lovable, though."

"She is that!"

As soon as lunch was over, Penny cleaned up their mess while Ruby unlocked the door, and Lewis got back to work.  It was nice to take a real lunch for a change, but it was just as nice to get back to work.  There was a lot to be done.

*****

Ruby forgot all about the letter from David until she was baking the following afternoon.  She put her hand into her apron pocket and pulled the letter out.  She briefly considered throwing it away, but she felt like she should at least read what he had to say.  She'd spent a lot of years thinking she was in love with him, after all.  She knew now she'd had no idea what love was, but she'd believed it then.

She slid the two loaves of bread into the oven before sitting at the kitchen table and opening the letter.  Why would he have written her again?  Wouldn't Maggie object to that?

"Dearest Ruby,

The last letter I sent was premature.  It only took me three days to realize I was making a big mistake.  It's you I love, and I always have.  Maggie is nothing in comparison to you, and I won't have anything else to do with her.  Please say that you'll forgive me.  I've saved enough money for your train ticket home, and will send it as soon as I hear you still want to come home to me.  Please, Ruby, forgive me.

All my love,

David"

Ruby stared at the letter in her hands for a moment, before sitting back in her chair, staring straight ahead.  She couldn't go to him.  She was married, and she had two boys.  Even if she hadn't already married, though, knowing he was so fickle with his emotions wouldn't have allowed her to go back.  What was he thinking?

She allowed her mind to compare her feelings for the two men for a moment, something she hadn't really done before.  As much as she had thought she loved David, she realized that it had been nothing but a schoolgirl crush.  No, she was in love with her husband, someone who provided her with constant emotional and physical support.  Someone who had rescued her from the embarrassment of being jilted, and was a good father and provider.  Not to mention he made her blood sing.

David was a boy, and Lewis was a man.  She didn't need to marry a boy and start a family with him.  If things had turned out differently, and she'd never received the letter saying David was marrying Maggie, she would have married him without qualms.  She knew now, though, that her life would have been much more difficult as David's wife. 

She belonged in Texas, where her sister, Mrs. Hayes, and Edna Petunia were available when she needed them for long talks.  There was nothing left for her in New York except a boy who couldn't decide if he was in love with her or someone else. 

She got up and whipped up the batter for a cake.  The boys would be hungry when they got home, and as their new mother, it was her job to see to it that they were fed.