Page 5 of Mail-Order Bride Secret
“Otis, Ivy, cover up and keep warm. We’ll soon be home.” The gentleness in his tone brought a sting of tears to Madeline’s eyes and a burning sensation to her heart. She wanted to trust him. Wanted him to be all that she hoped he was. But trust wasn’t easy.
A few minutes later he pointed to distant buildings. “You can see the Shannon ranch now.”
She studied the scene. It seemed almost familiar. “Just as you described it.”
For a moment he didn’t respond then said in a voice quiet and firm, “Everything I wrote you is just as I said.”
She understood he referred to her reaction to hiskiss. He’d made it clear he wanted a real marriage. Not one in name only. He wanted a home and family.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured past the tightness in her throat. “I guess I wasn’t prepared.” She’d had many days to get ‘prepared’ so it was a poor excuse.
“Things will get easier.” His words surprised her. Comforted her.
She drew in air, rich with the scent of damp earth. He turned off the road toward the barn towering over the other buildings.
“Beyond the barn,”—he pointed—“you have a glimpse of the big house where Andy, Della, and her mother live. The others are behind that, out of sight from here.”
She repeated the information from his letters. “Riley and Olivia in the first house and then Matt and Gwen with Lindy.” The little girl was four years old. “Beyond them, on a viewpoint overlooking Shannon Valley lives Matt’s twin, Luke and his wife, Honor. Their little guy, Kit, is six.” She glanced back to the twins. They’d be the oldest of the youngsters on the ranch. The other two children were also orphans taken in by the Shannons which gave her hope that Otis and Ivy would be accepted as well.
Wally smiled at her. “I see you remember.”
Her eyes warmed with pleasure at the approval in his voice. She could have told him she’d memorized every one of his letters. Her gaze returned to thebuildings. “I see the bunkhouse and cookhouse. But I can’t see the storage sheds.”
“You won’t unless we pass the barn.” He pointed. “There’s our house.”
Her heart stalled. The skin on her cheeks grew taut. Life was about to become very real. It was what she wanted. It was why she’d come, but she couldn’t quench the fear and uncertainty that flung across her thoughts. She swallowed hard. “Home.” She hoped her tone indicated joy and anticipation as they drew to a halt in front of a low cottage. She wished for those feelings and nothing less…nothing more. But questions and doubts raced through her head. What if he learned the truth about Jonathan? Her arms tightened around the sleeping child. What if her fears from the past refused to release her? What if? A hundred what-ifs?
The cabin as he’d called it in his letters lay before them and she focused on the weathered siding, the flash of red in the windows, the darker color of unfaded wood just below the roof line… anything but what was behind the door.
Wally had written that the Shannon family lived in it when they first arrived in Montana. From his description, she understood it was roomy. Would it be big enough for her uncertainty?
“Home,” he echoed, and she heard his hopes and dreams filling that one word. In his letters, he’d beenclear about what he wanted. And she intended to fulfill her part in that agreement. Home. Family. He’d hinted at love but that might never happen. Still, it was possible to live in harmony without love. And sleep together? Could she dismiss the past so she could do so willingly? She shoved her concerns away, locking them into the deepest, darkest corner of her heart.
“Welcome to your new home.” Wally’s voice calmed her worries.
Her smile was genuine as she thanked him. This was her chance to provide a good life for Jonny. And now the twins. And herself?
He helped her from the wagon. Otis and Ivy jumped down and pressed close to her. Jonny fussed at being disturbed.
“Hush, baby,” she murmured. Now was not the time for him to be cranky and unsettled though they were all weary from travel and facing unfamiliarity.
Wally held the door open for them to enter. She crossed the threshold and stepped into a room that embraced her with warmth and welcome. It truly felt the way she expected home to feel. She would not do anything to spoil this opportunity.
She drew in a steadying breath and looked around. They were in a generous-sized kitchen. Red-checked curtains hung at the windows. Open cupboards beside a polished cookstove. Doors hid the contents of a larger cupboard on the other side and more next to aworn butcher-block table. A smile curved Madeline’s lips and soothed her heart to see the evidence of life at that spot.
Six chairs circled the wooden table upon which there were a number of pots and dishes from which came the aroma of food.
Her stomach ached to be fed.
Otis and Ivy stood at her side. Otis took in the room with a quick glance, his gaze stopping at the table. The boy had not complained at the short rations on the journey but he must be famished.
Ivy twisted her hands into a knot and stared at the stove. What was going through the girl’s mind? She’d said little about her past but had mentioned remembering her mother. And once, when she watched Miz Allie stirring a pot, she’d said in low, aching tones, “Mama used to make potato soup. Sometimes she let me help.” The child had been five when their parents died so she likely had many sweet memories of happier days. Before life with her uncle had been less than ideal.
Madeline’s trunk thumped to the floor. She turned in time to see a man duck from the house, leaving Wally dusting his hands as the wagon rattled away.
Wally shifted his gaze from one to the other. “What do you want to do first? See the rest of your new home or eat?”
“Eat, please,” the twins answered in unison.
