Alma's Mail Order Husband (Texas Brides Book 1) (13 page)

“What do ya say to cuttin’ a steer from the
herd today?” she asked. “We’re running low on meat, and we’ve been
surviving on salt tack for months now. I don’t know about you, but
I’m ready for some fresh meat for a change.”

“You always liked salt tack before,” Alma
pointed out. “It’s not like you to splash out on fresh meat. You’ve
always prided yourself on getting by on the rough stuff.”

“A body can only get by on the rough stuff
for so long,” Allegra replied. “Maybe I’m just seeing things
differently since Jude came. We don’t have to serve him on the
rough stuff right from the start. We could have a feast of fresh
meat and honey candy to celebrate your marriage.”

Jude glanced sideways at Allegra. “You don’t
have to go out of your way on my account.”

“Why not?” Allegra asked. “You’re married to
my sister, aren’t you? That entitles you to a celebration, if
nothing else does. You don’t have to keep a stiff upper lip all the
time, you know. I saw the way you handled the food that first night
you came home. It wasn’t exactly what you’re used to, but you sure
minded your manners about it. That was well done, and I’m sure all
of us appreciate it.”

“It wasn’t anything worth mentioning,” Jude
muttered. “And your father didn’t seem all that impressed with
me.”

Allegra waved her hand. “Don’t give him a
second thought. He can blow a lot of hot air, but it’s nothing but
a big noise signifying nothing.”

“That’s exactly what I told him,” Alma put
in.

“Papa’s not exactly the man he used to be
before his accident,” Allegra went on. “He spends more and more of
his time in the past, in the war and in his married life with my
mother. He doesn’t think so clearly about the present.”

“That’s exactly what I told him,” Alma said
again.

Jude glanced at the sleeping form in the bed
closest to the door. “Should you really be talking about him like
that with him right over there across the room?”

“I’d tell him the same thing straight to his
face,” Allegra replied. “All of us think the same thing. And all of
us think you handled that first supper well, too. No one said so,
but you could tell just from the way they acted. You deserve a
break, and I don’t think I’m stepping out of line by offering to
give it to you.”

“What are you suggesting?” Jude asked.

“Just what I said before,” Allegra returned.
“We don’t have to eat boiled salt tack and grilled prickly-pears,
breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We can put on the good food when we
want to, and you’ve earned it. Hoots, we all deserve it! Don’t you
think so, Alma?”

Alma sniffed. “I think it’s a wonderful idea.
Thank you, Allegra. That means a lot coming from you.”

“You’re darn tootin’ it’s a wonderful idea,”
Allegra declared. “We haven’t had any kind of celebration in years.
You didn’t think you could just go off and get married without one,
did ya? Shucks, it’s practically mandatory around here. Some of the
families around here spend a week after the wedding drinking and
fighting and making idiots of themselves in the streets of the
town. A big meal with a bunch of fancy, expensive food is the least
we can do for the two of you.”

Her voice rose in pitch in the excitement of
her plans, and Amelia rolled over in her bed.

“Just wait until we tell Amelia and Papa!”
Allegra exclaimed. “Jude, you can help me rope the steer and dress
it out. What do ya say? That will break up the day a little.”

“I’ll say,” Jude replied. “Are you really
sure you want to sacrifice one of your prime steers for this? It
seems awfully extravagant.”

“You bet it’s extravagant!” Allegra shot
back. “That’s the whole idea. It wouldn’t be a wedding celebration
if it wasn’t extravagant.” She clapped her hands and jumped up.
“Come on, Alma. Get breakfast made so we can get out and get
started.”

Alma laughed. “Alright. I haven’t seen you
this excited in a long time. You weren’t as excited as this when I
got married.”

“This is different,” Allegra replied. “I
couldn’t really do anything for your wedding. This is something I
can do, and it’s something I enjoy doing.”

She tripped out the door without waiting for
breakfast.

Alma watched her go and laughed.

“What’s got into her?” Jude asked. “I thought
she had it in for me.”

“I don’t think she ever had it in for you,”
Alma returned. “And, anyway, this celebration she’s planning is as
much for her as it is for us. She’s always on the look-out for
anything to break the monotony. She usually comes up with some wild
idea every day just to occupy her interest.”

“Still,” Jude continued. “I wouldn’t expect
her to come up with a way to celebrate our marriage, no matter how
much it occupied her interest. I’d sooner expect her to organize a
wake or something.”

Alma gasped. “What? No! She isn’t in mourning
over us getting married, and she doesn’t dislike you. You know, I
think she feels the same way about you that you feel about
her.”

“And what is that?” he asked. “How do I feel
about her?”

“You don’t know how to take her. You haven’t
had to deal with anyone like her before. You don’t know whether to
like her or hate her. As a matter of fact,” Alma pointed her finger
at him. “If you and Allegra decide to hate each other, it’s because
you’re so much alike.”

“What?” Jude exclaimed. “We are not alike!
I’m nothing like her.”

“Sure, you are,” Alma maintained. “You like
the same things, you react to things the same way, you find the
same things interesting. You even walk and talk the same way.”

“You’re makin’ that up,” Jude declared. “I’m
nothing like her.”

“You see what I mean?” Alma pointed at him
again. “You don’t want to admit you’re anything like her. That’s
why you would dislike her, and she feels the same way about you. I
think if you both made up your minds to like each other, you could
be good friends.”

“I couldn’t be friends with a woman who
dresses like a man,” Jude growled.

“But you could marry one?” Alma shot
back.

Jude grumbled something inarticulate, but
they cut their conversation short when Amelia got up and came
across the room. At the same time, Alma put the plate of tortillas
on the table, and they got through their breakfast without any
confrontation between the menfolk.

Allegra didn’t come back for breakfast, and
they didn’t find her in the barn, either.

“Should we wait for her?” Jude asked as they
got their horses saddled.

“No,” Alma told him. “She’ll be out on the
range already, picking out which steer to cut. She’s probably
waiting for you to show up to help her.”

“Why doesn’t she get one of you to help her
cut it?” Jude asked. “Why the sudden interest in me?”

“She probably just got the idea that this is
something you two could do together,” Alma told him. “If you want
to know the truth, I think she wanted you to go shooting with her
yesterday. She’s trying to find a way to be friends with you by
coming up with ways for you to do things together—things that
interest both of you.”

“Cutting and butchering steers doesn’t
particularly interest me,” Jude replied. “If it has to be done,
I’ll do it. But it’s not something I do for fun.”

Alma chuckled. “Living out here so far away
from everything and everyone else, just about anything that breaks
the daily routine gets to be fun. Just think about it. Allegra
wants to do things with you so you two will be friends. She hasn’t
had many friends in her life. Just give her a chance. I think you
might like each other if you try.”

“I’ll think about it,” Jude muttered.

They saddled their horses and led them out of
the barn into the crisp morning. The cool of night had already
passed, and the warmth of the day settled over the landscape.
Amelia rode out first, with Jude and Alma riding side by side a
little way behind her.

“If you want me to,” Alma offered. “I can
explain to Allegra that you aren’t holding back from doing things
with her to slight her. I can explain to her that you’re still
trying to settle in here, and that you might be more interested in
doing things with her later on, after you two get to know each
other better.”

“Don’t tell her anything!” Jude shot back. “I
don’t want to get to know her, and I don’t want to do things with
her, and I don’t want to be friends with her.”

Alma regarded him without answering for a
moment. “Alright. I won’t say anything to her about it. But I think
you ought to help her cut the steer.  She’d be very offended
if you didn’t. You might not want to be friends with her, but you
don’t want to make an enemy of her, either.”

“Yeah, I was planning on helping her,” Jude
told her. “I wouldn’t let her do it alone. That’s a job for several
people at the best of times.”

“She’ll be happy for your help,” Alma
replied.

They mounted the crest of the hill and pulled
their horses up next to Amelia. “There she is.” Amelia pointed down
into the plain. A tiny black dot trotted around the periphery of
the herd, driving some of the stock toward the hill and others away
from it.

“It looks like she has her eye on something,”
Alma remarked.

“What’s she after?” Jude asked.

“It looks like she’s going after that brown
and white speckled steer there under the trees,” Amelia replied.
“He’s a mean one, but he’s good and fat. He’ll make a good
roast.”

Jude chuckled to himself. “Let’s go. Let’s go
cut him out.”

“Just wait a minute,” Amelia told him. “Wait
until Allegra brings him a little closer. She’ll signal us when
she’s ready.”

“Once she brings him closer to the hill,”
Alma added. “We’ll cut him from the herd and rope him. Then we’ll
walk him back to the house and tie him up. We’ll leave him there
and come back here to take the rest of the herd down to the
river.”

“Why don’t you butcher him here?” Jude asked.
“Why do you have to take him all the way back to the house?”

“All the gear is there,” Amelia explained.
“It just saves us hauling all the meat back home when the
butchering’s done. And there’s a water supply there for cleaning
up. There’s no water here except down at the river. Wherever we
butcher him, we’d have to haul the water there. It’s easier to do
it at the house where the water’s already nearby, and all our
knives and buckets and salt barrel are there.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Jude replied.
“You people have done this more often than I have, so we’ll do it
your way.”

Alma’s eyes widened. “You must have cut out
cattle and butchered them before. Don’t tell me you haven’t.”

“Of course I have,” Jude replied. “But I
haven’t done it here. You know better than I do what works, where
the water is, and what’s the easiest way to do everything. I’m
happy with that.”

Alma flashed him a glorious smile.

Amelia shifted in her saddle and turned back
to watch Allegra driving their steer toward them. She moved at an
easy pace, carefully moving the other cattle away from him and
steadily moving him in the direction she wanted him to go without
alarming him or the rest of the animals.

Jude and Alma watched her work. “She’s really
good, isn’t she?” Jude remarked. “This is the first time I’ve had a
chance to watch her. She’s top notch. She could work on any of the
big ranches if she wanted to. But I guess she wouldn’t want
to.”

“What makes you say that?” Alma asked.

Jude made a face. “Well, for one thing, she’s
a woman. They probably wouldn’t hire her, and even if they did, she
would have to put up with some pretty rough treatment from the
other cowboys. That’s the way it usually is with anyone who’s
different. They make it as hard as they can for the new man—I mean,
the new person—until they get to know them.”

Alma and Amelia listened to him in silence.
Allegra’s whistle pierced the still air from the distance.

“And then,” Jude continued. “There are
cowboys who just flat wouldn’t ride with her. They wouldn’t even
talk to her, and they would refuse to ride at all until the boss
got rid of her. The end. They wouldn’t work with her for a million
dollars. That’s the way some a’ the old fellers are. It’s a shame,
too, because anyone can see from the way she’s workin’ that steer
that she’s blame good—almost like she was born to it. You don’t see
a cattle puncher like that every day of the week.”

Alma looked back from Jude’s face to her
sister, weaving in and out of the cattle and always pointing her
steer toward the base of the hill. Her heart laughed and cried and
sang and danced all at once in her chest.

Here was her new husband, the man who so
recently snubbed Allegra for her appearance, speaking so highly of
her. He might not be friends with her, but he couldn’t help but
notice her skill and her value to the ranch.

Poor Allegra! Would she ever find happiness?
Would she ever overcome her pain to find love? Or would she
flounder in agony and unfulfilled dreams for the rest of her life?
Would she grow old on the Goodkind ranch, driving cattle down to
the river and back, without love, without companionship, and
without any hope for anything different?

In the end, Alma lifted her face in silent
thanks to heaven that she’d gotten herself married. As much as she
loved Allegra, she dreaded living the way her younger sister did.
Alma shuddered to think of herself growing old in her father’s
house with nothing to look forward to but one day after another
just like the one she just finished.

She stole a sidelong glance at Amelia. Did
she think about these things? Did she cherish any secret dreams for
her future? Did she long for the love of a man in the silent
darkness of their house after her father and her sisters went to
sleep?