Page 4 of Montana Bride By Christmas
He had the grace to look embarrassed. “I’m grateful and desperate.”
She had the grace to overlook his predicament. “Grandfather, we need to return to the ranch and get our things.” She studied the weary old man. “Actually, why don’t you stay here and get to know Evan while I go?”
Grandfather gave her a grateful smile. “Don’t mind saying that’s the best offer I’ve had in a long time. That cold is bitter.”
“I’ll be back.” She looked around her at the unwashed dishes Mrs. Ross had left in her hurry to escape the frightened boy in the corner. “I’ll take care of things when I return.” She hurried outside. Winter afternoons were short, and she had to pack up enough to last her and Grandfather a few weeks and get back to town before the cold deepened as darkness settled in. She couldarrange for her other things to be delivered after she and Hugh were married.
Her jaw muscles twitched. She liked the preacher just fine. A marriage to him would suit her: a home and a family of her own without the risk of opening her heart.
She ignored the blaring warning that it might prove more difficult to guard her heart than she imagined, especially with a little boy who needed a wagonload of patience and understanding.
Heavenly Father, give me wisdom and patience to deal with little Evan.
She’d gone into the parsonage wearing a stylish red woolen cape but now pulled on a heavy winter coat that her brother Logan had outgrown, wrapped a buffalo robe around her legs, and turned the wagon toward home. Wanting to spare the horses, she kept them to a slow trot. By the time she’d covered the four miles to the ranch, her hands were numb, and her face ached from the cold.
Her brothers Conner and Dawson both ran out as she drove up as if they’d been waiting and watching for her return. Her brothers did their best to take care of her even though she didn’t need it. Besides, they now had wives. Dawson, the eldest at twenty-six, had married beautiful Isabelle Redfield, and they made a home with his daughter, six-year-old Mattie, in a house to one side of the main house.
Conner, twenty-four, had married the doctor’s daughter Kate. They had recently left a cold cabin and moved into the main house with little Ellie.
The youngest brother, Logan, at twenty-two and three years older than Annie, had married Sadie, the schoolteacher, and they lived in town with the three children they’d rescued and adopted.
The family had changed. Like Pa had said when Ma died, You can’t hang on to things. They don’t last. But life goes on. Her brothers had moved on as they should. It was time for her to do so as well.
Dawson lifted her from the wagon and hollered at one of the cowboys to take the outfit to the barn.
“Don’t unhitch,” Annie said. “I’m going back to town.”
Conner and Dawson rushed her indoors, pulled the heavy coat off her, and faced her like two defending soldiers.
“Where’s Grandfather? Is he sick?”
“What’s this about going back to town?”
Kate came to the doorway. “You look half frozen. You two let her come in and have a hot drink before you cross-examine her.”
Her brothers stepped aside and allowed her to follow Kate to the kitchen. Little Ellie smiled at her from the highchair, where she ate bits of bread.
“Hey, pumpkin,” she said to the baby before she sat at the table and took the tea Kate offered.
“Grandfather and I are going to live in town.” She explained about Hugh and little Evan. “They need someone.”
Both brothers spoke at once, making their opinions clear. They didn’t like the idea. They didn’t think she should settle for such an arrangement. She had no reason to pack up and leave.
On and on they went. Annie ignored them, grateful Logan wasn’t there to add to the ruckus.
She finished her tea and pushed to her feet. “I’d like to get back before dark. Anyone going to help pack things for Grandfather and me?” She didn’t wait for their answer but left the kitchen, crossed the big dining room and smaller sitting room to Grandfather’s bedroom, pulled out a satchel and began filling it.
Conner followed. “I don’t like this.”
“I think he’d like some of his books. There’s a crate in the closet off the sitting room,” she said.
Still protesting, Conner went to get the box and filled it with books.
If Annie thought that was the end of it, Dawson soon cleared up that notion. “You belong here with the rest of us.”
She didn’t point out that the rest of us had spouses and homes. “I’d like to take Grandfather’s armchair. Do you think you and Conner could load it in the wagon?”
Making a sound of exasperation, Dawson went to do her bidding.
