Page 38 of My Heart Will Find You

“I didn’t know marriage was like this.” He didn’t realize he’d said it aloud until they started laughing.

He climbed up to the seat and headed home, and frowned all the way there.

When he got to his house, the two women wisely jumped out before he fully stopped. He tossed the reins to Hank, then turned to the women. But they had disappeared. “Herding cats,” he muttered.

He caught sight of Freida’s purple skirt turning a corner and went after her. “Where do you think you’re going?”

She put her hands on her hips in defiance. “I’m going to get some of the men I know.” She wiggled her brows at him. “To help me clear up the front. Since you’re one of them, you wanna join us?”

Max opened his mouth to speak, closed it, then said, “Only three of them. And not Hank.”

“Deal,” she said, then hurried to the barn.

Inside the house, he was startled to see that it was already clean. It looked like an army had gone through it and straightened and washed everything.

“Isn’t it lovely?” Alice asked from behind him.

“How did this happen?”

“Etta had the men do it. You should have seen her. A general leading an army can’t command troops as well as she can.”

When he turned, he saw that Sally was beside her. In her hand was some sheet music.

“Your wife wants me to sing.” Sally’s eyes were wide in wonder. “How did she know that I sing? Only my family knows.”

“Don’t ask me anything about her,” Max said, then looked at his sister. “Where is she?”

“Max,” Alice said, “if you start a fight with her and ruin tonight, I’ll never forgive you. Is he coming?”

“Yes,” Max said. “I got the lawyer, hired the preacher, fought off Cornelia, and made an enemy of John Kecklin. And now I’m here with a couple of saloon girls. I’ve done itall.”

Alice was unperturbed by her brother’s outburst. “That’s good. Etta is in the back. She’s trying for a cooking prize. I don’t know what she gets if she wins.”

Max had no reply to that. He stormed out of the house.

She was easy to find as all the men who were supposed to be working had abandoned their jobs and were crowded around the chuck wagon. It’s what they used when they were away from the house and the men had to be fed. Why was it here now?

Suddenly, a shout went out from all the men, and they raised their arms in triumph.

Some of the men saw Max, but they didn’t scurry back to work as they should have. Rufus, a man who’d worked for him for years, was grinning. “She won!” He slapped his hat on his leg. “By golly, shewon!”

Max had an idea who “she” was, but he hoped it wasn’t true.

The men parted and sure enough, Max’s wife came through. In her hand was a fan of greenbacks.

“I beat him,” she said to Max.

“She did,” three men said in pride.

The men were looking at him in anticipation, waiting for his response. “You won what?”

“Your cook smirked at me,” Etta said. “He told me that no lady could cook in a wagon. He said he had to do things really fast and little ole me couldn’t possibly do that. I told him he hadn’t met Lester. Then I challenged him.” She held up the money.

“So you showed him,” Max said.

“I did.” She waved the money about. “I’ll spend this on a feast for all of you. One thatIwill cook.”

Again, the men cheered.

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