The Convenient Mail Order Bride (12 page)

P
hoebe couldn’t stop the butterflies in her stomach as Abe led
the wagon through the small town. Though she sat between Abe and
her mother, she couldn’t help feeling vulnerable, especially when
they passed the general store. She caught sight of a movement from
within and saw that a different man was managing the place in
Benny’s absence.

Maybe that should have made her feel better.
It meant Benny and Enoch were still in jail. But it didn’t make her
feel better. It only reminded her of how quickly she’d gone from
feeling safe to realizing she’d been in danger.

More than that, she caught sight of a woman,
who made it a point to tell her young son not to make eye contact
with “that sort” before she picked him up and hurried away from
them.

Phoebe frowned. Just what did the woman
think she, her mother, and Abe were going to do to them?

Her gaze went from the woman to a couple of
men on the other side of the street. One nudged his friend in the
side and nodded in Abe’s direction. The other shook his head, and
she read his lips as he told his friend, “Half breed and his
whore.”

Whore? She thought Eric had taken her and
her mother to Abe to protect them so she wouldn’t get that kind of
reputation. Was that why Enoch felt he had every right to treat her
the way he did? Was it why Benny didn’t do anything about it? They
really and truly saw her as no better than a prostitute at the
saloon?

She didn’t notice she was squeezing both
Abe’s and her mother’s arms until Abe whispered, “Focus on the path
in front of you. Don’t let any of them know they can upset you. If
you let them know they can bother you, you give them power.”

Clasping her hands in her lap, she directed
her gaze forward. This technique of ignoring people wasn’t an easy
one. Her mother had raised her to be polite, always smiling and
greeting those they passed by, but in this town, the rules were
different.

As they passed one of the houses, she
noticed her mother waving to someone and turned her attention to an
elderly woman sitting on her front porch. The woman was smiling and
waving. Surprised, Phoebe followed her mother’s lead and returned
the gesture. At least there was one kind person in town besides
Eric.

In short time, Abe led the wagon out of town
and up a winding path lined with trees. The path had several sharp
turns in it. Phoebe had to hold onto Abe’s arm in order to avoid
bumping into her mother. If she hadn’t done so, her poor mother
would have ended up falling off the wagon.

“I think Travis made the road up to his
house this way to dissuade anyone from coming here,” he told Phoebe
and her mother.

It was on the tip of Phoebe’s tongue to ask
him if he wished he’d thought to do the same thing to his property,
but then thought better of it. From the sound of it, he hadn’t had
any control over that.

When the path came to an end, there was a
small cottage tucked among a group of trees. In a larger area was a
large building, and next to that was a barn. Weeds and vines had
popped up along both the building and the barn. Paint was chipping
on the barn and building, and it looked like there were some
repairs needed on them. For all she knew, the same was true for the
cottage. It was just too hard to tell with all the trees in the
way. Had it not been for the garden by the cottage and the few
animals surrounding the barn, she would have believed the place had
been abandoned.

Abe set the brake and turned to her and her
mother. “I’ll be back. You better wait here. If he sees you two,
he’ll probably take off running and hide.”

“Women really do intimidate him?” Phoebe
asked, still unable to believe it.

“They do when they’re pretty.”

He said it so matter-of-factly, he couldn’t
have realized he was paying them a compliment. He just hopped off
the wagon and went to the large building as if he’d said nothing
out of the ordinary.

“That’s the second time he’s called you
pretty,” her mother whispered.

Heat rose up into her face. “He included you
in that comment.”

“Yes, and I know he meant it, but it has a
special meaning for you. You’re the one he’s going to marry.”

Phoebe’s gaze went to Abe as he knocked on
the door to the building. “I don’t know, Ma,” she softly said.

“You’re not sure you want to marry him?” her
mother asked.

“No, it’s not that,” she replied, choosing
her words carefully. “It’s…well…I’m not sure he’s convinced it’s
safe for us to be here. You know, after what happened
yesterday.”

“No one can blame him for worrying. I can
tell he feels like it was partly his fault since he left you in the
general store alone.”

“It shouldn’t have made any difference if
he’d been there or not. That should never have happened. It wasn’t
like I went into the saloon.”

“I know.” Her mother patted her hand in the
familiar, comforting gesture she’d used when Phoebe was little.
“Neither one of you did anything wrong.”

The door to the building opened, and though
Phoebe caught a glimpse of Travis, she couldn’t get a good look at
him. He was taller and wider than Abe. He looked like a tower of a
man. Not fat, but definitely husky. As for his face, she couldn’t
tell what he looked like since he wore a hat and looked down at
Abe.

She saw him shift to the side, further
hiding himself from her view. Abe glanced back at her and her
mother before turning back to him. She wasn’t sure, but she
suspected Travis intentionally shifted away so she and her mother
couldn’t see him.

“The preacher’s due out soon,” Phoebe said,
turning her attention back to her mother. “What if Abe’s still
worried? I don’t have much time to reassure him everything will be
alright if he marries me.” And she couldn’t guarantee it to
herself, either. It was only by faith she was willing to make the
leap.

“What is your alternative?” her mother
asked.

“The stagecoach comes again in three weeks.”
She couldn’t bring herself to voice the rest.

“Is that what you want to do? Because,
Phoebe,” her mother patted her hand again, “if you want to go back
to Ohio, you know I’ll agree to it. I don’t want you to be
unhappy.”

“I like him. I admit, at first, he scared me
somewhat. I thought there was no way I could ever be comfortable
with him.”

Her mother’s eyes grew wide. “When did this
happen?”

“While I was helping him with the roof.”
Before her mother could ask for details, she said, “He’s
half-Indian and half-white. He’s got a lot of bitterness about the
wrongs done to him. I can’t blame him. Not after what happened in
town. People don’t think too well of me because I’m with him. Their
opinion of him seems to have become their opinion of me.”

“That can be a difficult thing to overcome.”
After a long pause, her mother said, “Phoebe, don’t stay here
because of me. I’m willing to go back to Ohio.”

She had no doubt her mother would be willing
to make the trip, but she didn’t know if her mother was strong
enough to handle it. It had taken a lot out of both of them. She
glanced at Abe again. He was a strong man. He was a good man. He
was the kind of man who would defend those he loved to the point of
sacrifice. She’d be hard pressed to find anyone better. And more
than that, she did have a growing attraction for him.

“I want to marry him,” Phoebe said. “I think
I could love him.”

“Then treat him as you would treat a white
man. Let him know you consider him to be your equal.”

“I already do. When I look at him, I don’t
see someone who’s a half-breed. I see Abe Thomas.”

“Then I expect the rest will fall into place
as you two get to know each other better.”

Phoebe nodded, hoping her mother was
right.

***

“You don’t need to pay me for the metal
scraps,” Travis told Abe. “They’re worthless junk. I can’t do
anything with them.”

“I want to,” Abe said. “It’s important I pay
for what I get.”

“I understand. Well, let me think.”

As Travis thought over a fair amount, he
lifted his hat and ran his hand through his dark blonde hair,
something that must have been an unconscious habit since he
immediately put the hat back on his head. His face turned red, and
he hurried over to the pile of discarded metal pieces in the corner
of the building.

It was on the tip of Abe’s tongue to tell
him he wasn’t as ugly as he believed himself to be, but he kept his
mouth closed. He didn’t need to tell a grown man what to think.
People in town talked way too much, and they’d made Travis seem
more like a monster than an actual man.

So what if he had some scars on his face and
body from a childhood bout of varicella? He couldn’t help that any
more than he could help the fact that he was six-foot-five with a
heavy build. Some things were out of his control, just as Abe had
had no choice in who his father was. But both were still cast
aside. Of all the white men Abe had dealt with, he figured only
Travis could really understand him.

“How many scraps do you need?” Travis called
out.

“You got thirty?” Abe asked.

“I do.”

“How much for them?”

Travis set his hands on his hips. “How does
twenty cents sound?”

Abe shook his head. “You’ve got to be the
only white man who sells things at a price lower than they’re
worth. Fifty cents.”

“They’re junk, Abe.”

“Not for what I need them for.”

“Fine. Fifty cents. Want to come over? You
can pick the sizes you want, and we’ll load them up in the
wheelbarrow.”

Abe went over to help him, careful not to
nick himself as he placed the scraps in a pile. He picked the
larger pieces, thinking the lower the pitch they’d produce when
struck together, the easier it’d be to hear them.

When the wheelbarrow was full, Travis said,
“Take them out to your wagon. I’ll continue gathering the largest
pieces I can find while you’re gone.”

“Alright.”

Abe took the wheelbarrow out to the wagon,
not the least bit surprised when Phoebe asked, “Where’s
Travis?”

“Gathering more pieces for me,” he replied
as he started putting the metal into the back of the wagon. Before
she could ask anything else, he added, “I told you he doesn’t want
to show himself to ladies, especially pretty ones. If you were
covered in warts and had three arms instead of two, he might
venture out here. But since that’s not the case, he’s staying
put.”

He finished unloading the wheelbarrow and
went back to the building.

As promised, Travis had collected the rest
of the scraps. “I have twenty more pieces if you want to take more
with you. No extra charge,” he added.

“I think thirty will be enough, but if I
need more, I’ll be back.”

It wasn’t until they were halfway into
filling up the wheelbarrow that Abe noticed Travis’ gaze going to
the window where there was a good view of the wagon.

With a chuckle, Abe asked, “Didn’t you hear
about Carl posting that mail-order bride ad on my behalf?”

Travis almost dropped the scrap he was
holding. “Carl did what?”

“I thought everyone knew.”

“Well, no one told me about it.” He
shrugged. “Not that I would have believed it if they had. I would
have thought even someone like Carl would have better sense than to
mess with you. You can be a force to be reckoned with. Word is you
came within an inch of setting his no good behind on fire when he
tried to get your cabin.”

Despite the grim reminder that Carl had
tried to kick him off his property, Abe chuckled. “I barely missed
with that flaming arrow. All people like him know how to do is
take.”

Abe thought back to the dispute over the
stream lining his property. Carl only wanted it because he thought
there might be gold there. He had no concern over the value of the
water in itself, nor did he care Abe had to either dig a new well
or dig his current one deeper when he ran out of water. All the
while, Carl had a good well that never went dry.

With a sigh, Abe let his gaze go to Phoebe,
who was talking to her mother. Did Carl honestly believe if he had
a wife, he’d give up on the stream? Didn’t it ever occur to him
that having a wife was an even greater reason to have a reliable
water source?

“I know your uncle had set up lodging for
you and your mother by that stream before your father came along
and found it,” Travis said.

Abe thought he detected a hint of compassion
in Travis’ voice, but when he looked back at Travis, Travis was
putting more scraps in the wheelbarrow, so it was hard to know if
he’d been imagining it.

Abe picked up the rest of the large pieces
and said, “I’ll get it back. It’s just a matter of how I’m going to
do it.”

Travis nodded. Whether he was nodding to
indicate he wished Abe luck or if he believed Abe would do it, it
didn’t matter. At least he was showing support, something most
people wouldn’t do. And for that, Abe appreciated having Travis in
the town. He and Eric were probably the only two redeeming
qualities of the place.

Once the wheelbarrow was full, Abe took it
out to the wagon. After he loaded it with the rest of the metal
pieces, he returned to Travis and paid him.

The ride back to his place was as quiet as
it’d been on the way to Travis’. He tried not to dwell too much on
the fact that Phoebe struggled with keeping her gaze forward.
Despite his suggestion, he noticed she’d glance around them from
time to time. Worse, she stiffened a couple of times, which made
him also look at the townsfolk, though he kept willing himself not
to give into that temptation. It was bad enough to know the people
either warned their children to stay away from them or shook their
heads in disapproval. He didn’t need to see it.