Page 23 of A Groom for Millie
“I want to say you have a lovely farm, but I can’t see anything.”
Regina followed Millie into the house. Millie had been around the home multiple times in the dark, so navigating to her bedroom wasn’t difficult at all. She heard her mother thud as she ran into the kitchen table.
“Are you alright?” Millie asked, shifting Mary Rose a little higher on her hip.
“I’m alright. I just caught my hip on the corner of the table.” Millie heard the sound of Regina’s carpetbag hitting the floor. “Where do you keep your lanterns?”
“Right by the door. There is one on a hook and the match safe is right next to it.” There was another thud and then the sound of Regina knocking the metal lamp into the wall. She’d let her mother deal with lighting the oil lamp while she put Mary Rose to bed.
Millie walked into the bedroom she had shared with George. Mary Rose normally slept in her own bed, but Millie had set it up the room for Regina to stay in. Placing Mary Rose on the bed, Millie unfastened the jacket and rolled Mary Rose from side to side to remove it. The little girl slept through the entire process. Once she was out of her jacket and dress, Millie lifted her slightly to pull a nightshirt over Mary Rose’s head. When she was done changing her daughter, she tucked Mary Rose under the covers and placed a kiss against her cool forehead.
Mary Rose flung her arm out, nearly hitting Millie in the face. She rolled away from Millie taking the covers with her. Soon her daughter’s light snores filled the room. With one more kiss, Millie went out to check on her mother.
Regina had managed to light the lantern in the window as well as the oil lamp in the middle of the table. Her mother was now at the stove admiring it.
“What a fancy stove for this far west.”
“George bought it for me.” Millie opened the wood box and tossed in a few pieces of wood from the basket on the floor. She added several dried cow patties between the kindling and then set it on fire. Soon the stove was giving off heat. “Do you want some coffee?”
“I’d like to get my trunk in first.”
Millie quickly placed several teaspoons of coffee in the large enamel coffee pot. She added water from a bucket next to the oven and placed the pot over a burner. “This is your room,” she said, moving to open a door.
“Doesn’t Mary Rose sleep here?”
“She’ll sleep with me while you’re visiting.” Millie went to light the lamp on the dresser. “Let’s get your trunk and then I need to quickly check on the animals.” With both of them lifting the trunk, it didn’t take long to move it to Regina’s room.
“I’ll finish making the coffee,” Regina said, shooing Millie from the kitchen. “You go do what you need to do.”
“Cups are in the cupboard.”
“Do you have milk?” Regina asked. “I can’t drink coffee without milk.”
“There’s a pitcher under a napkin in the cupboard. I’ll be back shortly.”
Millie left Regina in the kitchen as she took her horse and wagon to the little barn. There was a lean-to against the barn that was open on both sides. Millie rode the wagon through until the wagon bed was under the shelter. She quickly hopped down and unhitched her horse. Grabbing her rifle from underneath the wagon seat, she walked towards the barn door.
As she approached the door she noticed that it was opened further than she had left it that morning. She always left the door slightly open so the animals could get inside if the weather changed. She hesitantly leaned through the barn door, hitching her rifle under her arm.
“Hello?” she said cautiously. There was no sound coming from inside the barn. Deciding that her imagination was getting the best of her, she silently chastised herself for being silly. Perhaps it was the excitement of the afternoon.
She placed her rifle on the workbench and grabbed a match to light a lamp. She raised the wick slightly so the glow would fill the barn, before replacing the glass globe over the flame.
“Come on, boy,” she said, tugging on her horse’s lead and guiding the animal into the first stall. The chickens roosting on the railings clucked their displeasure as Millie refilled the horse’s bucket with feed. She heard something move at the far end of the barn. It was so light, Millie thought she imagined it. But then she heard it again. Where was it coming from?
Millie froze. She strained her ears to hear the sound again.
There! It was coming from the last stall.
Millie swallowed. Her throat was thick with fear as she gently walked to the workbench to retrieve her rifle. “Hello?” she asked again. She heard a new sound; almost as if something was sliding across the floor. Walking gingerly, she laid her cheek against the rifle stock and moved closer to the last pen.
Just as she was about to peek behind the wall, Freckles jumped out of the hay and bleated.
Millie gave a little shriek and put her hand against her chest. “You stupid goat,” she said, leaning down to stroke Mary Rose’s pet. “You gave me the fright of my life. I thought you might be that outlaw.” She peeked around the wall and didn’t see anything but the blankets that had fallen from the chair and several goats cuddled in the hay.
Taking a deep breath, she walked over and blew out the lamp. Closing the barn door behind her, she headed back to the house for a cup of coffee.
Chapter Eight
