Adventure For A Bride: A clean historical mail order bride romance (Montana Passion Book 3) (12 page)

“I said, I’ll be staying here and I’ll be needing my things. I paid you for your trouble in bringing me all this way, now I expect my trunks to be placed on the porch.” She turned around and headed for the house, stomping across the yard in her dainty buttoned up boots, ignoring the dangers that mud and little boys’ excavation efforts may cause. She threw herself down in one of the rocking chairs on the cabin’s spacious porch and waited.

“Pa! She’s not leaving!” Luke cried loudly from inside the house before his older brother could shush him. “What? All I said was she’s still out there!”

“Pa don’t want her here, Luke, so hush!” Micah insisted, looking to the corner where Wyatt sat with his head down and Millie stood by him, nervous but silent. She wanted to ask him what was going on, but he was withdrawing again, she could tell. He looked half ready to bolt for the barn and shut himself inside, and the last thing she wanted to do was pester him with accusing questions. Finally, though, the sound of the last of Corrine’s trunks hitting the wooden boards of the porch echoed through the cabin. She had no choice but to inquire.

“Mr. Flynn? I mean, Wyatt? Please tell me what that woman wants from you. How can I help you?” she asked, dropping down to sit on her heels and look up at his distraught face, one gentle, reassuring hand on his knee.

“It’s Anna Mae’s sister,” he whispered. “We wrote to her when Anna Mae first took sick, but we never suggested that she come all the way to Montana. She just told me, though… she’s here to take her sister’s place. She said it’s only right that the family stay together and the children grow up knowing who their ma was.”

“Well, there’s no law requiring you to let her stay. You know that, right?” Millie asked gently.

“I don’t know what to do. I told her she could visit with the boys and meet the baby, but that you and I were… betrothed. She said she won’t hear of such a thing as a stranger raising her sister’s children. I swear I didn’t ask her to come, Miss— I mean, Millie. But I don’t know how to send her away without hurting her, or hurting Anna Mae.”

“I see. Then we’ll just have to make her visit a pleasant one, and then see to it that she goes on about her way. If that’s what you want, of course,” she added at the end, trying to keep her words from sounding as accusing as they felt in her heart.

“Of course it’s what I want!” Wyatt shouted without thinking. He fumed for only a second before recovering himself and apologizing to the woman who’d already tolerated so much. “I’m so sorry, Millie. None of this is your fault, and for the hundredth time since you stepped off that train, you’ve been kinder than any one of us deserves.”

“It’s good to hear, thank you. Shall I speak to Miss Ellison, and explain?” Millie asked firmly. Wyatt didn’t look up, but gestured with his open hand toward the door for her to be his guest.

“Good luck to you. Remember, I’ve known her since we were all children. She can be stubborn.”

So can I
, Millie thought grimly to herself.

“And?” Wyatt asked directly from he stood stirring a pot of stew for their supper. “What did she say?”

Millie stepped inside and closed the door, careful to pull in the latch string first. She looked out the front window briefly to where Corrine still sat in the chair, rocking furiously. The rhythm of the rockers beat a pattern in the walls, shaking all of them slightly.

“For starters, she called me a harlot and an interloper. I’m not very certain of her intelligence and education, seeing as how she must not know what those words mean if she’s applying them to me.” Wyatt looked enraged for a moment, but Millie put up her hands to stop him, closing her eyes briefly. “Now, don’t take it out on her. I’m sure this must be hard on her, too. She came all this way not even knowing if her sister was still alive or not, only to find out in town that Anna Mae had passed and that you had another woman, one you’re not married to, living out at your farm. What would you expect her to think? Of course she must assume she’s tasked with rescuing you and the children from my evil, tainted clutches.”

“That doesn’t give her a right to speak to you that way!” Wyatt insisted, keeping his voice down only so the little ones didn’t know he was angry. The last thing he wanted to do was explain all of this to them, imagining their bright, round eyes as he did so.

“You’re right, of course, but I’ve overlooked it and forgotten it already. It does no good to keep revisiting a hurt feeling. But the real problem now is what we shall do with her. Jorgenson turned tail and headed back to New Hope, not that I blame him, and the sun is already setting. She’ll just have to stay here until we can figure something out.”

“She can stay right where she sits, for all that I care! She’ll leave when she gets hungry!” Wyatt hissed. Millie shook her head.

“For as long as I’ve wanted you to hurry up and make an honest woman of me, I have to say that I’m right proud I’m not your wife just yet. It means I don’t have to do as you say!” she argued with a forced smile.

“Not that you plan to be all that obedient once we’re married, I suspect,” Wyatt said in a dark voice, his eyebrows knitting menacingly. If it weren’t for the hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth, Millie would be worried that she’d angered him.

“Good, then we already see eye to eye on the subject of obedience!” Millie reached for a tin bowl and a mug. “In the meantime, I’m sure she’s hungry. I’ll take her some supper, and then offer her the house to come in, wash up, and rest. I’ll be keeping to my little cabin until this mess is all cleared up.”

“And where am I to sleep?” he demanded, already knowing what his future wife would say.

“I’m afraid it’s the barn for you!” she said with a sympathetic smile. Wyatt shook his head.

“No. I’m telling you, you don’t know her like I do. Once she sets foot in this house, she will not ever leave it. So she can sleep just fine in the barn!” Millie looked horrified at the mere suggestion of putting a lady up where the animals were bedded down, but Wyatt crossed his arms and looked resolute.

“Fine. But only because you know her as well as you do, and I believe you!” Millie patted his arm and served up a dish of the stew, then poured a glass of buttermilk from the pitcher in the pie safe. She left them on the table while she told the children goodnight, kissing each one on the cheek in turn and reminding them to wash their faces and clean their teeth. “And all of you mind your pa at bedtime, remember!”

They promised her they would, and she bid them goodnight. Millie told Wyatt goodnight as well, accepting his chaste and half-hearted kiss on the cheek before carrying the supper outside to Corrine.

“I’ve brought you something to eat,” she began, but Corrine only turned to look away, refusing to acknowledge the woman who surely must be of poor reputation. “I’ll just set it here on the porch rail. I’m off to my cabin for the evening, but Mr. Flynn will be fixing you a bed in the barn shortly so you can get some rest.”

Her words had the desired effect. Corrine turned to look at her sharply, her nostrils flaring slightly in her fury.

“The barn? I’m expected to share my quarters with the animals after traveling all this way?” she demanded in a shrill voice. Her tone made it hard to imagine any resemblance to the wonderful Anna Mae who Millie had heard so much about.

“I’m afraid that’s all Mr. Flynn has to offer you. He’ll need to be near his children during the night in case they need anything, and with you being a stranger to them, he didn’t wish to be far. And since Mr. Flynn and I are not yet married, I stay in my cabin when the children don’t need me,” Millie explained, pointing to the small living quarters across the yard. “Therefore, the only other space to offer you, a space that would be proper, of course, is the barn. I’m sure you’ll be quite comfortable.”

“Maybe the likes of you would be comfortable in a barn, but not I! I assure you, Mr. Flynn will come to his senses and invite me in immediately, especially once you’re out of his sight. I’ve come to marry him and put his family to rights again, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.” She spit those last words at Millie and resumed her petulant rocking, turning her face away once again to show Millie she’d effectively been dismissed.

Wish I’d thought to spit on her plate
, Millie thought angrily as she crossed the yard to her own quarters.
Surely this is an imposter, and not an actual relative of the saintly Anna Mae Flynn!

Millie retired to her cabin but was far from settling down. New doubts swirled in her mind. Would Wyatt have a change of heart in the morning and let this woman stay? Was Corrine right, and would Wyatt let her in the house, and therefore, into his bed, once Millie was out of sight?

No. She’d only known Wyatt for a few weeks, and knew him even less during their time of corresponding. Those letters didn’t count, since they were so barely full of truth as to almost be full of lies. But would the kind of man who would mislead a woman about his wife and children be as easily misled himself?

Millie caught herself alternating between wishing the cabin had a window so she could spy on Miss Ellison, and being grateful that its future as a smokehouse meant there was no window. She desperately wanted to watch Miss Ellison and see if she’d managed to snake her way into the house like she’d threatened, but on the other hand, she knew better than to think these kinds of thoughts. They only led to trouble. She finally managed to clear her head and get ready for bed, forcing herself through no small amount of effort to ignore this latest fiasco and fall asleep. Hopefully by morning, this would all be an unfortunate event that they could put behind them.

Instead, the sun rose to shine on Corrine’s empty chair. Her trunks were still outside but had obviously been opened. Millie stepped out of her cabin to go to the children just as Corrine opened the front door to Wyatt’s cabin, still in her nightgown, her hair still in a long braid hanging down over one shoulder. She didn’t even wear shoes on her feet.

Corrine took one look at Millie crossing the yard toward the house and smiled proudly, having obviously won out. She’d come to Montana with a mission, and she’d accomplished it. Millie’s heart only sank further when the door opened a second time and Wyatt stepped out, his shirt half-tucked into his work pants, his own shoes nowhere to be seen. He put a hand on Corrine’s shoulder and turned her around to face him, but caught sight of Millie’s horror-stricken face and immediately took his hand away.

She couldn’t face them right now, not with the evidence of where she stood so plain in front of her. She walked quickly around the side of the house and headed to the barn instead, stepping around patches of mud that had oozed up from under the grass during a light rain overnight. She reached the barn and had just saddled one of the horses when Wyatt came running, calling her name.

“Don’t you dare, Mr. Flynn! You back away from me right now or so help me, I’ll scream until your ears pop! You have no right to even look at me, let alone speak to me!” Millie stormed.

“Miss Carter, please, would you just hear me out?” he asked, but the look of triumph on his face was more than she could tolerate.

“I don’t want to hear another word from you, especially now that I know nothing you’ve ever said to me has been the honest truth! Save your breath, Mr. Flynn—you’ll need it for your new wife.”

The fight went out of her when overwhelming heartbreak took its place, leaving her to turn wordlessly and climb up on the horse. She nudged it with her heels until she was outside, Wyatt watching her in confusion. She heard him yelling her name as she kicked the horse into a dead run, intent on putting as much distance between her and Flynn’s farm as she could.

*****

Pryor had never been comfortable around tears, so the sight of a distressed woman riding at breakneck speed until she came to a sudden stop in his yard sent him practically running for Moira. He apprised her of the presence of the newcomer, filled her in a little on her apparent state, then bolted for the barn, where he set to work sharpening his tools at the whetstone.

“Miss Carter? Whatever is the matter?” Moira cried, racing out in the direction Pryor had told her. She helped Millie slide down from the horse, tied it to the hitching post in front of the house, then carefully led her inside as the young woman gave way to sobbing.

“It’s awful! I don’t even know what to say!” Millie said through her tears. She tried to explain everything, but her crying prevented her from being clear. Moira still nodded sympathetically, even though she only understood every third word or so.

She brushed Millie’s hair back into place where the wind during her wild ride had torn it loose from her bun, then got up to fix her some soothing tea. Pryor came to the back porch once or twice to peer through windows, but decided it still wasn’t safe when he saw them sitting together at the table.

“Miss Carter—” she began, but Millie interrupted her in desperation.

“Oh please, can we stop with this formality? I left my home and everyone I ever knew to come here, and I expected to belong here by now. Instead, I’m a jilted woman with nary a friend of my own! If someone doesn’t call me Millie and become my dearest friend soon, I don’t know what I shall do!” She sniffled into the linen handkerchief Moira had brought her, then quickly apologized. “I’m so sorry, that was horrid of me. I’m just so… so… upended!”

“Of course you are, dear. Millie, that is. Now start over, and tell me what’s wrong. You said Mr. Flynn’s sister has come?”

“No, his sister-in-law! She says she’s come to marry him and raise the children, and last night, we both thought that was preposterous, but this morning, I woke up to find her coming out of his cabin in just her gown, and with him following behind her only barely dressed himself! I don’t know what to think, but it seems clear… he’s chosen her after all! He admitted he’d written to her, but how do I know he didn’t write to her after I showed up and he didn’t approve of me?”

“Did he tell you as such?” Moira asked, horrified at the thought that even Mr. Flynn could be so awful. It wasn’t the behavior of the man she thought him to be, but then again, neither was writing off for a wife in the first place and then casting her aside as he’d practically done to Millie.

“Not in those words, no. But it all makes sense now. He didn’t want me here, but let me stay and cook and clean and care for his family, all until his new wife could arrive. It’s obvious, and I feel so stupid for it. He got to get his crops planted and get his fence up while I worked myself into a lather with the little ones. But even worse, he let me care about those children. They’ve stolen my heart, and now I’ll be leaving them behind!” She cried all over again, but Moira could only sit frozen in place, stunned by what she was hearing.

“Millie, my dear, tell me what I can do,” she finally pleaded. Millie shook her head.

“There’s nothing anyone can do, I just had to get away from him. I’ve been patient while he decided to come around to the idea of my being here, but I had no idea he was only waiting for his real wife!”

“Oh dear, poor, poor Millie! I can tell you that this will naw stand! My own husband won’t hear of this, and I can assure that you Sheriff O’Conner will have Mr. Flynn’s hide for it!”

Millie shook her head again. “Now, I’ve been disgraced enough at being so ill-used and ill-treated. I just want to leave. I don’t want the spectacle of having all this dragged out into the open for everyone in New Hope to enjoy! If he’s chosen that woman, all I can do is pray for the children’s happiness because Mr. Flynn’s and Miss Ellison’s happiness means nothing to me!”

She finally dried her tears and finished her tea, then looked imploringly at Moira. “Please, can I trouble you to help me?”

“Of course, Millie! You can ask me for anything, anything at all!” Moira said vehemently, grabbing Millie’s hand and pressing it between her own.

“It’s actually your husband. If he could just fetch my things from the smokehouse and take me to town, I’ll be out of everyone’s way and you won’t have to trouble yourself with me ever again. I just… I can’t face him, and if I see those children’s little faces again, my heart will break in two, I know it.” She sniffled again, and Moira felt so bad for her wretched condition that she reached her arms around Millie’s neck and held her close.

“Of course, dear, we’ll see to it straightaway. But don’t you think it best to wait here for a day or two to get your wits about you? You shouldn’t make any rash decisions, not with your sorrow such as it is.”

“I appreciate you, you can’t know how much I do. But I don’t want to take advantage of your hospitality. Retrieving my things so I can get out of Montana is far more than I’m comfortable asking for as it is.”

Moira nodded reluctantly, then led Millie from the table to her chair by the fireplace. She helped her sit, then brought her a quilt and another cup of tea.

“Poor, poor Millie. I’m so sorry for what’s befallen you. I’ll go now and speak to Pryor so we can make this right by you.”

Moira left her sitting and staring morosely into the nearly black coals, although she wasn’t sure Millie’s eyes were even focusing on the fire. She stepped out back and sought out Pryor where she knew he’d be hiding, finding him still bent over his whetstone. He sat up when he saw her and put his tools aside, eager to sort through the problem.

As Moira explained, his expression turned from perplexed to animalistic rage. He threw his tools out of the way and headed straight to his horse, saddling and bridling the animal in spite of the day’s work that still awaited them.

“If you’re going after her belongings, won’t you be needing the wagon?” Moira asked hesitantly, not wanting to intrude on his anger. He answered her without even looking up, not trusting himself to speak pleasantly in his state but knowing none of the fault was with his wife.

“I won’t need the wagon, because Flynn will be carrying her things to her. And I do mean carrying them… in his hands… and he’ll be walking here with them on foot.” Pryor flung himself up in the saddle and rode off in the direction of a friend he only thought he knew.