Page 15 of Conveniently Wed
When she remained silent, and the taciturn man beside her pulled the horses to a stop halfway between the barn and house.
He left her to get out of the wagon herself. She missed one of the spokes on the wheel and nearly toppled. At least he helped Emma climb down from the back.
He thrust a basket of food into her hands. The last farmer’s wife had insisted they take it. “There’ll be some bread and eggs in the kitchen for your breakfast. You can bunk down in my sister’s bedroom. Should be a quilt on the bed. Don’t be messing with any of her personal stuff.”
She frowned at him. “Of course not. But what about your sister? Will we displace her?”
“She’s in Philadelphia with my folks. She’s adopted, like the rest of us older boys.”
Adopted. Everything clicked into place. It explained the differences in their appearance. And temperaments. Seb seemed sweet, if a bit ornery. Matty and Ricky had been kind, but a bit distracted. And Edgar…well, she didn’t really know him, did she? But he certainly seemed upset that his plans had been derailed as much as the train had.
“Anyway, my parents have custody over her, but she got a notion to go back to Philadelphia and see where her birth family hails from. It must be a girl thing, I don’t know.”
The unspoken meaning to his words was that he had no interest in knowing more about his own birth family.
For a moment, he stared off into the darkness.
Emma shifted beside Fran. She’d remained quiet all throughout the wedding and while the girls had been allowed a short break to eat the supper Matty had provided. Fran knew her sister must be as tired as she was from the long days of travel and fear.
“Where will you stay?” Fran asked softly.
“In the bunkhouse with the rest of the boys. There’s five of us brothers plus another hired hand, so if you try to make off with any horseflesh, someone will hear.”
He looked pointedly at her.
She bristled. “I already told you, I don’t know how to ride a horse.”
He shrugged.
“I’ve got to get the cattle delivered to Tuck’s Station. That’s forty-five miles west of here. I’ll be leaving shortly after first light. Be back in a few days.”
He narrowed his eyes at her.
“My brother Davy will be here watching over you until I get back. We’ll talk about living arrangements then.”
The way he spoke almost seemed like a threat. She could tell him she didn’t want more from him than the protection of his name, but she knew he wouldn’t believe her. She didn’t truly expect him to stand between her and Mr. Underhill if it came to that. Why would he?
“Thank you for today,” she said instead.
He appeared flabbergasted.
“And I’m sorry to have inconvenienced you.”
His brows crinkled as he looked down on her.
Then he stalked away into the darkness without another word.
I’m sorry to have inconvenienced you.
Edgar mouthed the words, mocking their speaker as he shoved the last of the provisions in the back of the covered wagon and slammed the tailgate. The contraption with its extranooks and crannies for their food items had been nicknamed a chuck wagon by some long-ago cowboy.
Inconveniencedhim?
Was she kidding?
Not only had she put a kink in his plans to get his pa’s cattle where they needed to go, but she’d forced him into a situation that would require some doing to take care of.
But she’d seemed genuine in her remorse.
