Page 10 of A Secret Heart
A gentle laugh escaped her friend. “It was. At first.”
“Once you were married though…” Rebekah felt her neck heat at the questions she wanted to ask about love and marriage.
As Kaitlyn’s brows rose, Rebekah stuffed her questions away. She hadn’t decided whether she’d even respond to Isaac’s ad. They hadn’t spoken in months. The fact he almost never came to town added to the mystery. She didn’t even know where he fit in his own family anymore, much less the community, since he’d left his job with the marshals.
Her brain muddled. “What I mean is, married life has been wonderful, hasn’t it? Everything worked out fine?”
“Wonderful, yes. Trying at times too. All roses have thorns.”
Wonderful…
A love like Drew and Kaitlyn’s existed for her. Had to. As a young girl back east, before her father had died, she’d sit on a chair next to his desk while he read his dime novels aloud to her as he wrote them. The heroic cowboy had always won his lady’s hand. Always. How Rebekah had longed for a romance like the ones she’d found between the pages of his novels. A valiant hero who couldn’t live without her.
From her first sight of Isaac McGraw when she’d moved to Wyoming at eleven, he’d filled that role in her daydreams. But it seemed as if Isaac wasn’t going to come courting her—or any other lady in Calvin, for that matter. Not if he planned to get a mail-order bride. How could she catch his attention before he did if he never left the McGraw homestead?
“Ed mentioned Quade was here when he dropped you off yesterday. Are you all right?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
Kaitlyn’s face tightened in concern. “He’s a dangerous man?—”
“Nothing to worry about, I’m sure.” Her words sounded more sure than she was. She’d heard all the same rumors as everyone else in these parts.
“Can I help?” Tillie had left her doll behind to wander over to the stove. She pulled at Kaitlyn’s apron.
“Of course. Hold the papers for us until it’s time,” Kaitlyn said.
Rebekah drummed her fingers as she stirred. Her friend’s concern made it harder to brush off Quade’s visit. Or Ed’s concern. But she didn’t want to think about Quade or Ed right now. She wanted answers about Isaac. And having Tillie interrupt only distracted Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn turned to explain to Tillie what she needed to do.
“Let’s test the jam.” Kaitlyn stepped closer with Tillie at her heels.
Rebekah spooned a bit of the jam above the pot and tilted the spoon. The jam trailed in a thick stream. “I think it’s ready.”
Rebekah reached for the ladle, filled it with jam, then placed it inside the jar that Kaitlyn set beside the large pot. Tillie shifted back and forth on her feet, growing impatient. With careful motions, Rebekah scooped and filled.
The whole time she worked, the ads she’d brought home with her pushed to the front of her mind, especially one in particular. Did she dare to answer Isaac’s ad? “You and Drew seem very happy.”
“We are.” Kaitlyn paused after placing another empty jar beside the pot. “Why haven’t you married yet? Have you thought about it?”
Thought about it? She’d written a story about getting married to her hero at twelve. When asked to read it aloud to the class, all she’d gotten were heartless snickers and a heap of humiliation. Now the mail-order ad for the man who’d filled her thoughts for so long sat amongst the others on the table in the front room.
“I have considered it. Like any other girl.” She let her answer fade as she filled the last jar. “Tillie, hand us the papers. One by one.”
“Like this.” Kaitlyn bent to help Tillie separate the papers before focusing back on Rebekah. “If there’s no one around here that suits you, you could always run an ad yourself.”
“I suppose.” Rebekah angled a glance at Kaitlyn in expectation. Did she know of Isaac’s ad? “Or I could answer one.”
Kaitlyn studied her for a moment, as if contemplating. “Now that I think about it, most mail-order brides move to be with their husbands. I know you’d never want to leave the paper.”
But Rebekah knew exactly where she’d be if she wrote an answer to Isaac’s ad. It wasn’t like when she’d written to her aunt after her father had died. That letter had taken her from her home in the East to the wide-open spaces of Wyoming. A letter to Isaac might be the means to help her stay.
“This jam will set in no time.” Rebekah wiped a damp cloth across the rim of the jar before reaching out to Tillie for a paper to seal it with. “Tillie?”
The little girl fumbled, dropping the paper to the ground, then bending to retrieve it.
Rebekah reached for the stack. “Here. Maybe it’s better if you let me do it.”
