Page 20 of Mail-Order Bride Runaway
“Why should it matter to me?” Della rushed back to the kitchen to stir the pot of soup. Only affection? That was how Trudy saw things? Had she at least let Andy down kindly? He was a young man with deep, tender feelings. She clamped her teeth together and stared at the potholder in her hand. How could she possibly know that about the man?
She placed the lid back on the pot of soup, covered the biscuits with a clean tea towel, and looked at the cake without seeing it. Reluctant to rejoin Trudy at the doorway, she tidied the already-tidy kitchen. Spying the trunk along the wall, she thought of distracting Trudy to look at the baby clothes but doubted the woman could be enticed to leave her post.
What was it Pa used to say? Sometimes a person needs someone to sit beside them in their time of need. She’d asked him what she should do while she sat with someone. He said being there was often enough.
At her pa’s reminder, Della drew a chair to Trudy’s side and watched out the doorway with her.
Neither of them spoke. The sun grew warm and bright… brittle. Remembering the warning about fires, Della scanned the horizon. Nothing. Wait. Dust or smoke rose in the distance and gyrated, moving toward them. She drew in a sharp breath. When it was closer, she saw it was a swirling dust cloud and her breath released in a gust. Shortly after, it died away.
The sun reached its zenith. Neither of the women moved. Della nodded in the warmth. Jolted upright. Yawned. “There’s soup ready to eat.”
Trudy jerked like she’d slammed into a wall. “I’ll wait for Bart to get home.”
And Andy, Della silently added. Her legs cramped. She had to move and bolted to her feet. “I’ll be back in a bit.” She rushed from the house. Out of Trudy’s sight she slowed her steps. Andy’s horses grazed in a pasture beside the barn. She leaned on the fence and watched them. The tension in her neck wouldn’t release and she turned so she could study the trail. Nothing but wisps of dust blown up by the wind.
The loneliness of her surroundings tugged at her thoughts.What if? What if?
A fire? An intruder? She shook off the question. Not enjoying her solitude, she went back to the house, set the soup to the side to keep warm without burning, and then returned to the chair beside Trudy.
They were still there, silent and anxious when the sun drifted to the west. And still with no sign of anyone riding toward them. A million fears rushed to Della’s head. What if the men didn’t return? What if the women were stranded there... alone? Without a neighbor in sight? Worse, what if Mr. Hartman found her?
Della choked back a whimper.
6
Andy settled into the saddle for the ride to the mine, his gaze roving the sides of the trail for any sign that a wagon might have broken down or a horse fallen lame. All things that might have reasonably delayed Bart’s return.
Andy had hoped to find Trudy and Bart together, happy in each other and anticipating the long-awaited child. But Trudy was alone, anxious about her husband’s absence. She’d welcomed Andy with open arms. Literally. She was the same as he remembered, apart from the rounded tummy. Dark hair worn up, pinned in place. Brown eyes full of concern. Beside Della with her bright hair and brighter eyes, Trudy was a bit colorless.
He sat straighter at the disloyal thought but as the miles passed with no sign of Bart and his wagon load of coal, he examined the idea more thoroughly. Trudy was calm. Even with Bart missing she did nothing more than wring her hands and stare out the door, her face wreathed in worry lines.
An unexpected chuckle escaped him. Della was fiery and passionate about things. He’d never think of her colorless.
A wagon approached but as it drew closer, he saw it wasn’t Bart.
“Howdy,” he called. The driver stopped. The wagon was full of coal. “You’ve come from the mine.”
“Yup.”
“Did you see a man by the name of Bart there? A big man?”
“Well now. He mighta been one of them in the mine.”
The words didn’t make sense to Andy. Bart had gone to get coal, not to mine coal. “Why would he be in the mine?”
“Well now, there was a cave-in, see—”
Andy didn’t wait to hear more. At his urging, the horse beneath him stretched out, eating up the miles. He raced past the office without stopping and went directly to the tunnel opening. Having never been to a coal mine before, he grimaced at the piles of black dirt consuming the landscape.
An unfamiliar man leaned into the yawn of the opening.
“What happened?” Andy called as he jumped from the horse.
The man didn’t look at Andy as he answered, “A wall collapsed. Couple of men trapped. Others trying to dig them out. If they still be alive.”
A cart moved toward them loaded with rocks, some as big as bushel baskets. Andy helped dump the wagon and watched it descend again.
He leaned against the wooden uprights. “You know if there is a man by name of Bart down there? A big man.”
