The Convenient Mail Order Bride (19 page)

“Oh good heavens,” her mother said with a
chuckle. “He doesn’t expect you to do all that. There are things
women do and things men do. I can see gathering food if you need
to. Given what happened that day in town, I can even see learning
how to shoot a gun. But cleaning stalls and animals or fixing a
roof are things he’ll be doing.”

“I can do them as well as he can,” Phoebe
argued.

“How are you going to have time to take care
of the home and cook if you’re doing all those other chores?” her
mother asked, picking up a cup. “There’s only so many hours in a
day. Marriage is a partnership. The two work together, but they
have their own tasks to do.” She took a sip then chuckled. “Next
thing I know, you’ll be telling me he’ll start sewing clothes.”

Abe grimaced at the idea, and Phoebe
chuckled under her breath. Maybe she should challenge him for a
change. See if he could make a new shirt. But she didn’t have the
heart. Besides, he had some valid reasons to be concerned about
her. This was a harsher environment than the one she’d been used to
in Ohio. She had to learn how to fend for herself, just in case it
came to that. And she would. Before the year was up, she had no
doubt she’d be fully capable of doing everything he could.

She turned her attention back to her mother.
“When I get good at shooting, I’ll teach you how to do it.”

Her mother coughed on the food she’d been
swallowing. Just as Phoebe was ready to get up and pat her back,
her mother was back to normal. She took a drink of her coffee and
shook her head. “Did I hear you right? You expect me to shoot a
gun?”

“Why not?” Phoebe asked. “It’s not a bad
idea.”

“Well, I,” her mother paused then continued,
“I’m old.”

“You’re not too old to do this. Besides, you
came all the way out here with me. Shooting a gun isn’t as hard as
sitting in a train or getting tossed about a stagecoach for days on
end.”

“Tossed about?” Abe asked.

Phoebe nodded. “We thought we were going to
bump the ceiling when we hit the ruts in the road.”

“Thankfully, we were blessed with sturdy
stomachs,” her mother added. “The driver told us about a woman who
couldn’t stop throwing up for days.” She shivered. “We were
relieved we didn’t have to share it with her. The man and wife we
were with for most of the trip also had healthy constitutions.”

“Yes, we did luck out,” Phoebe agreed.

“I wouldn’t want to take a child on such a
trip,” her mother said. “It’s hard enough on adults.”

“Which is why we’re staying right where we
are.” Phoebe glanced at Abe then, and she wasn’t surprised when he
lifted his gaze heavenward. “Besides, we both like it here, don’t
we, Ma?”

“We do. Abe, you’ve been very kind to us.
Thank you.”

Abe turned his gaze to Phoebe, so Phoebe
offered him her most charming smile.

She thought she caught a flicker of pleasure
as he shook his head at her, but his expression quickly went
neutral. Abe had a way of being able to mask his feelings. She was
quickly learning she had to pay attention to his face right away
after she said or did something to gauge what he was trying to
hide. And she was sure she saw that little spark of pleasure. So
sure, in fact, she’d stake her life on it. With a smile, she got up
to give everyone a slice of pie.

Chapter Eighteen

T
he
next day after finding nothing in the animal trap, Abe figured he
might as well show Phoebe how to maintain the garden. The task was
simple enough. All she had to do was pull some weeds and get rid of
insects that could harm the growing plants. It wasn’t quite the
task that would have her running off for a stagecoach, but it was
part of living out here so she might as well get familiar with
it.

As she was watering the plants, he heard the
scraps of metal clinking together. Without hesitation, he bolted
for the barn. He shouldn’t have let his guard down. He should’ve
remembered it was important to carry a gun at all times. Phoebe was
far too distracting.

He grabbed the Colt and hurried out of the
barn. He would have peeked out the window had Phoebe not been
standing out there in plain sight for anyone to see. By the time he
made it to the garden, he saw old lady Lois bringing her well-used
buggy up the path to their house.

Relaxing, he set the gun at his side.

“Do you usually have dangerous people coming
out here during the day?” Phoebe asked, coming over to him.

“No.” He slipped the gun into his back
pocket. “But you can’t be too careful.”

“Lois and my mother got along really well
the other day in town,” Phoebe said, smiling as the old lady
continued leading the horse up the property. “It’s nice Ma finally
has someone her own age to talk to.”

“She didn’t have that in Ohio?”

“None she felt close to.”

Phoebe left his side and ran over to greet
Lois. Abe stood there for a moment, just watching as Phoebe talked
to Lois. The front door of the cabin opened, and her mother let out
an excited cry when she saw their visitor.

As mother and daughter helped Lois out of
the buggy, Abe shook his head. There was no way Phoebe was leaving
now. Not since they had befriended someone as nice as Lois, one of
the few white people who’d always looked Abe right in the eye and
said hi to him, no matter how many people in town saw her do it.
Lois was a gutsy lady, too. No doubt, she had a gun somewhere in
that buggy with her.

Her husband had been a tough man. Very
protective of her, but also fair to all he came across, including
Abe’s uncle. He’d taken it upon himself to bury his uncle and had
checked in on Abe and his mother from time to time. Abe still
missed him, though he’d often felt better knowing that dying in
one’s sleep was the best way a man could go.

“Well, Abe, don’t be a stranger,” Lois
called out to him as she turned from Phoebe and her mother. “Come
on over.”

He did as she wanted, and though it was
embarrassing to be hugged as if he were a child, he hugged Lois
back, knowing it would hurt the poor woman’s feelings if he
didn’t.

“It’s nice to see you taking a wife,” Lois
told him. “The preacher was grinning from ear to ear about it at
the sermon this morning.” She glanced at Phoebe and her mother. “I
know it’s not Sunday, but he likes to have a sermon every day he’s
here to make up for the Sundays we miss.”

“Oh, we didn’t realize that,” Phoebe’s
mother said. “He didn’t say a word to us about it yesterday while
he was here.”

“I’m sure you had more important things
going on, what with the wedding and all,” Lois replied.

“It was a lovely ceremony.” Her mother
gestured to the flowers. “We all stood over there. I’m telling you,
it was much nicer than being inside.”

“As long as it’s not too hot or cold or
windy, outside is always best.”

“I just finished making some tarts. Would
you like one?”

“That’d be lovely.”

Phoebe’s mother turned to Abe and Phoebe.
“You want to come, too?”

“No, I need to keep working,” Phoebe
said.

“Oh, we don’t need to bother them,” Lois
told Phoebe’s mother with a wink. “The two are newlyweds. They have
better things to do than hang around us old folk.”

Phoebe’s mother giggled and led Lois into
the cabin.

Despite the breeze, Abe could feel his face
warming as he considered what he could be doing with Phoebe instead
of showing her how to care for a garden.

Phoebe clasped her hands in front of her and
turned to face him. “Is it wise to have the gun ready for when
someone comes onto this property?”

Relieved she hadn’t been able to tell the
direction his thoughts had taken, he said, “I like to be prepared.
You never know what will happen.”

“Then should I wear a gun in the holster you
gave me?” When he furrowed his eyebrows, she added, “In case I’m
not near the barn, I can have it.”

“Now that you know how to shoot one, it’s
probably a good idea. But we have some in the house, too. I keep a
couple in the drawer in the nightstand.”

“I don’t recall seeing one when I put my
things in your bedroom.”

“They were on my side under my things.”

“Oh.” She nodded and let out a sigh. “Is
there anything else I should do with the garden?”

“No. We’re done with that for the day.”

“Good. Should we check the trap and see if I
caught an animal?”

“Yes.” It’d be nice to take a short walk. “I
suppose you can even practice shooting if there’s nothing in the
trap.”

“Sure. That’ll be fun.”

His eyebrow raised in surprise. “Fun?”

“It’s fun to see if I can shoot a bottle,”
she said.

“But it’s not fun to shoot someone.”

“I didn’t say it was. I hope I never have to
shoot anyone.”

He studied her and saw that
what she was saying was true. While she didn’t want to shoot
anyone, she understood there might come a day when she’d have to,
and she was fully prepared for it. Yes, she had the spirit of a
Cherokee in her. His uncle would be asking him why he insisted on
being so stubborn.
Just make her your wife
already,
his uncle would say if he was
alive.

Shoving the thought aside, Abe said, “I’ll
get your holster, and we’ll head out.”

Then he went to the barn.

***

That evening Abe sat in the barn loft. He
had waited until Phoebe’s mother went to bed before coming out
here. He didn’t want her mother to wonder why he wasn’t going to
bed with Phoebe. He couldn’t even explain it to himself. He was
making things more difficult than he had to. That, he understood.
But for the life of him, he didn’t know why.

After staring at the open doorway of the
barn for a while, he shook his head and got his blanket and pillow
to set out for the night. He didn’t know what he was waiting for.
Just what did he think was going to happen? Unless he went back to
the cabin, he wasn’t going to see Phoebe again.

He took off his boots and blew out the light
in the lantern hanging on the hook over his head. What was wrong
with him? Was he really pining away for some woman like a lovesick
schoolboy? The whole thing was ridiculous. Yes, she had spunk. Yes,
she managed to impress him. But that didn’t mean he had to fall at
her feet in adoration.

Letting her know she’d done a good job was
enough. She hadn’t run off when the gun had offered its kickback.
His mother had fired a gun once, and that was all it took for her
to say she didn’t care for it. Phoebe, on the other hand, not only
practiced more that day, but she’d shown patience in waiting for
the trap to yield an animal.

He must remember to tell her she did
admirably with the chores the next time he saw her. Feeling much
better, he closed his eyes and released his breath. This was his
favorite time of the day. The soothing sounds of the occasional
coyote, horse neighing, and crickets always had a calming effect on
him. He took a deep breath and released it again, feeling the day’s
tension easing from his muscles. He could finally rest.

“Are you awake?”

His eyes flew open, and he bolted up, his
head just barely missing the ceiling. In the dark, he barely made
out Phoebe’s face as she peered at him from the top of the ladder.
He put his hand over his heart and gulped a breath of fresh air.
How did he not hear her coming?

“You’re too quiet for my own good,” he told
her. “Aren’t you wearing anything on your feet?”

“I found a pair of your soft shoes and
slipped them on. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

He was ready to reassure her he was fine
when he remembered she mentioned wearing his shoes. “Aren’t my
moccasins too big for your feet?”

“All I was doing was coming out here. Have
you seen all the buttons on my boots? It’d take ten minutes to get
all those done up right.” After a moment, she asked, “Can I have a
pair of moccasins? It’d be nice to have something more comfortable
when I do the chores around here.”

“Did you come out here to ask me that?”

“No. I just thought of that question now. I
actually came out to ask if I can stay out here with you.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s hard to sleep alone. I got so
used to being with someone. Back in Ohio, the only time I slept by
myself was on a couch, and it was before my pa died. When Ma and I
moved in with Phillip, we had to sleep in the same bed.”

He was ready to suggest she sleep with her
ma tonight, but he already knew why she couldn’t. He let out a sigh
as he debated whether or not this was a good idea. Yes, they had
slept out here together before, but back then, she’d fallen asleep
without meaning to and they hadn’t been married. It’d been easier
to resist doing anything.

“You can’t sleep here,” he told her. “I’ll
talk with you for a while if that’s what you want, but I’m going to
take you back to the cabin when you get tired.”