Page 498 of Conveniently Wed
Mrs. Oleson turned toward Lorinda. “Just have a seat in the parlor, and we’ll bring the things in there.”
While they were gone, she watched them through the front windows. Each woman picked up a fairly large wooden crate and started toward the house. The things in there mustn’t be too heavy, because the women didn’t strain to pick them up. When they walked up the steps, Lorinda hurried to open the door for them.
“Why, thank you.” Mrs. Oleson flashed her a bright smile. “I was just starting to set this down when the door opened.” She headed into the parlor and put the crate beside the low table in front of the sofa.
Lorinda perched onto the front edge of one of the chairs on the other side of the table. She didn’t know what to say...or do. So she clutched her hands together and tried to hold them still. She’d always heard her father rant about accepting charity, even though they needed it. Now she felt awkward about this, but since everything she owned had burned in the fire, she and her baby needed whatever the woman brought.
The visitor dropped onto the cushioned couch. “If some of the other women out here hadn’t given me assistance when Rand and I married, I don’t know what I would’ve done. So I do the same for whomever I can.” Her brilliant smile beamed at Lorinda. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Stella and Rand own the RM ranch, which is our closest neighbor.” Mrs. Oleson sat beside the rancher’s wife. “And this is Lorinda, who owns property up on the mountain on the opposite side of our ranch.”
With twinkling eyes, Stella studied her. “May I call you Lorinda?” After she nodded, the other woman continued. “And you must call me Stella. I want us to become good friends.”
Lorinda wasn’t even sure she knew how to be friends with another woman. She felt overwhelmed by all of this, so she just sat and watched while Stella and Mrs. Oleson started unloading the crates.
“I think these clothes will fit you.” The dress Stella pulled from the box was a beautiful shade of dark blue. It looked like a soft woolen fabric...and it had a lace collar with matching cuffs. Along the bottom, a ruffle was edged with the same lace. “I wore this when I was carrying both of my boys.”
“I’m afraid something might happen to it.” But Lorinda wanted to wear that dress, more than she had ever desired a garment. “What if you need it again?”
“I may or may not need it again.” Stella held it out toward her. “But you do need the dress right now. I want you to have it.”
Finally, Lorinda took the garment and held the soft wool up to her cheek. “Thank you.”
“And that’s not all.”
Stella kept pulling things from the boxes. Four more dresses, one fancy like this one and the others plain. Unmentionables, some of them Lorinda had never seen before. She didn’t know how to wear them. A couple more nightdresses. Some thick stockings.
“I don’t know if these shoes will fit you. When I asked Franklin if your feet were about the same size as mine, he told me you had been wearing men’s heavy boots when he found you, so he couldn’t tell.” Stella held out a pair of dainty, button-up shoes. “See if they’ll fit.”
When Lorinda slipped her feet into the first one, the shoe fit as if it was made just for her. She held out her foot and turned it this way and that, trying to see how it looked.
A broad smile spread across Stella’s face. “They’re a perfect fit. How fortunate.”
Lorinda couldn’t do anything except return her smile.
By the time the boxes were empty, Lorinda had more clothing than she’d ever owned. And a pile of things for the baby spread around her. Tears filled her eyes. She tried to blink them away. No one in her family had ever let her cry about anything.But these were tears of joy, and she’d never experienced them before.
Stella got up and came to where she sat. “Out here in the west, we take care of each other.”
The hug from Stella matched the ones she’d received from Mrs. Oleson. Her life was a mess, but for the first time in her adult life, she had two friends. She was pretty sure they couldn’t have gone through all the terrible things she had.
She hoped she could keep her secrets hidden from them, so they would keep liking her.
7
Franklin was no closer to an answer to his problem than he was when he first clapped eyes on Lorinda Sullivan beside her burning cabin. He stood in his office staring into the evening duskiness, his hands clasped tight behind his back. A bright moon gave the snow a pearly sheen, and stars twinkled in the cloudless, inky sky.
His circuit of the nearby ranches hadn’t given him even the glimmer of an idea about what to do with the woman. At each house, the rancher had agreed with him about the need to stay alert and try to find the arsonist. And the wives opened their hearts to Mrs. Sullivan’s plight, gathering all kinds of things the woman needed. He almost had to bite his tongue to keep from blurting his desire to get her away from his house as quickly as possible. His emotions churned, feeling a tug toward the beautiful blonde, then erecting a barrier against those feelings.
He didn’t dare trust another woman. A second betrayal might put him in the grave. The first one almost did.
Each visit took so long that Franklin hadn’t made it back in time to attend church in Breckenridge. Probably a good thing. He wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on Brian Nelson’ssermon, even though the preacher usually kept his attention as he unfolded the truths of scripture.
Mrs. Oleson and their guest had already finished eating Sunday dinner before Franklin returned to the ranch. The housekeeper kept some food on the stove’s warming shelf, so he hadn’t gone hungry. At least Mrs. Sullivan was resting while he ate dinner. But although she was absent in person, she wasn’t absent from his thoughts, no matter how hard he tried to shake her away. After the lonely meal, he kept himself busy in the barn, only coming in for supper.
His housekeeper had fixed sandwiches using the left-over roast from the noon meal. Even though he always liked roast beef sandwiches, for some reason today, his tasted like straw and almost stuck in his throat. Maybe it was because he had so much on his mind. He really couldn’t remember taking a single bite, even though only bread crumbs remained on his plate when he left the table.
When he asked Mrs. Sullivan if he could talk with her in his office, she bristled, then agreed.
