An Angel in the Mail (19 page)

Furious, and without hesitation, Angel strode up to the couple. She regarded Lucy with narrowed eyes and held the sleeping Julia-Rose out to Nate. She flashed the redhead a bright smile. “Julia-Rose loves dancing with her papa.”

Nate’s eyes glinted with mirth as he quickly took the baby in his one arm, and putting his other arm around Lucy’s shoulder, attempted to dance. The position rendered it impossible for them to get close with Julia-Rose in between. Angel sauntered back to her place, hips swaying, and looked across to Mrs. Darby. The older woman winked.

Midway through the dance, Julia-Rose awoke and let out a loud cry. Angel covered her mouth with her hand and laughed as Lucy jumped back and crashed into another couple. The baby wiggled and fussed. Lucy’s face flushed, and she said something to Nate before she left him on the dance floor.

Angel joined him, and took Julia-Rose from his arms. Nate wrapped his arms around his wife and daughter and finished the dance.

As she snuggled into his embrace, her gaze slid to a fuming Lucy. Angel shivered at the cold, hateful eyes that glared back at her. She pulled Nate closer and shut her eyes.

Chapter 12

Nate snapped the last piece of Mr. Miller’s Baker rifle together and set it on the counter. His thoughts drifted to last night. He chuckled to recall the determined look on his wife’s face as she handed Julia-Rose to him on the dance floor. Lucy had been livid, and a thwarted Lucy was not pleasant thing to behold. But holding Angel’s warm, soft body against his, her scent of lemons drifting to his nose, with the baby cuddled between them as they finished the dance, had been a great way to end the night.

They’d returned to the wagon where the four boys slept in the back, all curled together like a litter of puppies. Sticky fingers and dirty faces attested to their good time. Once they arrived home, he put Julia-Rose in her crib, and Angel led the boys to their beds, sticky hands and all. Within minutes the two of them met in the bedroom, stripped their clothes off, and collapsed into bed. He turned to her, and she went eagerly into his arms. She couldn’t cook worth a darn. Ah, but she had other talents.

The next day, the bell over the shop door jingled, and Lucy Benson sailed in. Nate groaned to himself as she entered.

“Mornin’, Nate.”

“Mornin’, Lucy,” Nate said without looking up. “What can I do for you?”

She snapped her parasol closed. “Do I have to have a reason to visit a friend?”

“I would say so, if the friend is working.” He finally looked up, watching her carefully.

“Can’t you take a minute out of your day to visit?” She pouted. “I wanted to apologize for slapping you yesterday. I was so surprised to find you married! And to that woman. So unrefined. What were you thinking?”

Nate wiped his hands on the cloth next to his work, and sat back. “I’m not going to discuss my wife with you. But I guess I can spare a minute or so to visit. Did you enjoy your trip to Europe?”

Lucy prattled on for a good ten minutes, going on about all the new wardrobe items she acquired, all the men who were ‘fresh’ with her, and how sophisticated she found Europe to be compared to Oregon City.

“Sounds like you had a good time,” he said when she finally took a breath.

“Yes, I did. But, Nate,” she offered another pout, “I have to be honest and tell you again how upset I was to discover you’d married in my absence.” Lucy daintily dabbed her eyes with the edge of her lace handkerchief.

“It was time.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

Lucy took a huge breath, pushing her bosom out. “I’ve heard Angel−is that her name?−is a mail order bride.” She shivered.

“Yes, I met my wife through the Bride Agency.” He could have bit the words back. Continuing this conversation was not a good idea.

She smirked. “Certainly an interesting name for it. I guess I’m confused, because who knows what kind of a background she came from? Why, it’s well known some of these brides through the mail already have husbands, or they’re running from the law. You can’t let any strange woman into your house, around your precious children. I mean, these type of women lie all the time.”

“What type is that?” Nate’s voice came out as cold as bubbling spring water. “And where are you getting your information?”

Lucy waved her hand in dismissal. “Oh, everyone knows about your mail order bride. Any woman who has to contact an agency, and travel thousands of miles to get a husband, must have major problems, or certainly something to hide.” She fluffed the ruffle on her blouse.

Nate stood, anger twisting his gut. “I suggest you refrain from repeating anything with regard to my wife. Our marriage is private, and I don’t appreciate hearing nasty gossip.” He moved around the counter and walked to the door, opening it. “Now if our ‘visit’ is over, I need to get back to work.”

Lucy’s eyes filled up, and her lower lip trembled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. Can’t we still be friends?” She reached out and touched his sleeve, blinking wildly so a couple tears tracked down her silken, rosy cheeks.

Nate took a deep breath. “As long as any conversations about my personal affairs are off limits. But I do have to get back to work now.”

Lucy leaned over, kissed him briefly on the lips, and turned to the door. Snapping her parasol open, she looked over her shoulder, and smiled. “Have a good day, Nate.” She opened the door with a flourish, and head held high, she left the shop.

Lucy continued to smile as she sauntered down the boardwalk. With a sky full of clouds, she didn’t need the parasol, but it looked so pretty with her outfit. She couldn’t resist carrying it, and twirled it as she strolled along.

She would break him down, of that she was certain. No one could resist her. With her looks, clothes, education, and Papa’s money, she could get anything she wanted, and she wanted Nathan Hale. And she’d already gone through enough to get him.

Never in her wildest imaginings would she guess he’d take a wife while she was gone. The drab, plain woman he married had to have a history. All she needed to do was uncover it, and lay it all out for Nate. Then he’d put her aside and they could be together.

Happiness descended on Lucy as she entered the milliner’s shop, wanting to treat herself. For an hour, she terrorized Mlle. LeGrande by trying on every hat in the store, before she purchased one.

“Have it delivered. I don’t wish to carry it with me.” It always felt good to put common workers in their place.

Angel retrieved the small jar she kept above the sink that jingled with coins. She was proud of her little cache of money. After word got around the community she successfully tutored Mark, several mothers had come to her and asked if she could help their children. With school out for the summer, she scheduled her tutoring sessions at various times during the day when it fit into her daily routine.

Her lesson over, Mary Jane Emmons dropped her money in the container. The clink as it hit the other coins sounded wonderful. She contributed to the family. So far her money had bought material to make a new dress for Julia-Rose, although Nate scolded her for not using it for a dress for herself. Mrs. Darby spent time with her every day to help with the dress, and she couldn’t wait to finish it so she could proudly show the pretty yellow gingham pinafore to Nate.

Humming, she started dinner. Most days, Nate came home at noontime to eat with the family.

“Matt, come here, please,” she called from the back door to where he hoed her garden, another endeavor that filled her with pride. The boys had helped her prepare the ground, and then took turns keeping the weeds at bay. Currently she had onions, snap peas, pole beans, tomatoes, squash, and corn growing. When harvest time came, Mrs. Darby had promised to show her how to preserve the excess for winter.

Having had everything handed to her without any effort most of her life, she felt a great deal of satisfaction in doing things for herself, despite the difficulties. Every day she felt more confident, and gained stronger skills. She would never be so bold as to claim things ran smoothly, but at least the fiascos were now at a minimum. Unfortunately, she never really got the knack of cooking, but no one starved.

Matt came bounding up the stairs. “Here.” She dropped a coin into his hand. “Please go to the baker and buy a loaf of fresh bread for dinner.” That was another advantage of her tutoring. She could purchase the things she couldn’t do herself, instead of watching Nate cringe when he eyed her pitiful efforts. He was patient with her, but at times she knew she fell short of his expectations.

“Sure, can Mark go with me?”

“Has he finished his chores?”

“Yep. He was going to help me with the hoeing.”

“All right, you can both go. But don’t dawdle. Your papa will be home for dinner soon.”

Deciding a cold meal would be better in the July heat, she had prepared hard-boiled eggs, cold ham, chunks of cheese, and canned peaches for dinner. The fresh bread would round it out nicely. Since everything was ready, she picked Julia-Rose up from her play area Nate had blocked off in the parlor with small crates. She covered the baby’s curly hair with kisses and went outside to the porch and settled on the rocking chair.

She breathed deeply of the perfumed summer scents. The sun warmed her, but the air remained pleasantly cool, a rare thing for Oregon City. A slight breeze lifted the blonde curls on the little girl’s head.

When Nate walked up, Angel and Julia-Rose clapped their hands together, singing a silly baby song.

“Papa!” Julia-Rose squealed, reaching her hands out. She seemed to be saying more words every day. Nate took the baby, and smiling broadly, leaned over to give Angel a kiss.

“Well, you certainly seem happy to see us.”

He grinned, and sat alongside her. “Honey, you have no idea.”

Lucy slammed the front door of her house. Glancing in the mirror that hung over the small hall table, she removed her hat and tossed her parasol on the table.

“Bella!” Lucy shouted from where she stood. A young girl dressed in a maid’s uniform hurried down the stairs at her mistress’s call.

“Yes, miss,” Bella said.

“Where’s my papa?” Lucy pulled off her gloves.

“I think he’s in the library, miss.”

“Good. Draw me a bath. I’ll be up in a few minutes.” She dropped the gloves on top of the parasol and made her way to the library.

Lucy studied her father as she stood in the doorway. His head bent over the papers on his desk, he didn’t notice her presence. Many evenings, over expensive brandy at the dinner table, he’d told the story of how, after a poverty stricken childhood, he arrived in Oregon City as a young man of twenty-one with no more than the clothes on his back. He cleaned stalls at the livery, sleeping upstairs in the loft, while he washed dishes at the restaurant. The pay wasn’t much, but he received free meals. With a place to sleep and free food, he’d saved every dime he’d made.

With the money he’d squirreled away, he entered into a high stakes poker game one night, and walked away with over a thousand dollars, along with the deed to a lumber mill. With the way Oregon City grew, the lumber mill proved a moneymaker. He used his profits to buy more land and businesses, and soon owned the saloon, hotel, two restaurants and the livery where he’d started out.

Her gaze drifted to the portrait hanging over the fireplace, of Josephine Majors Benson, her mother. Done by one of the best artists in the country, it depicted a young, sweet girl, several years younger than Lucy’s age of twenty-three. The mother she never knew married Eli at the insistence of her family, bore him one daughter and died a few hours later. Eli was left with no wife, and a new baby, who he promptly turned over to nursemaids.

“Papa, you work entirely too hard.” Lucy entered the library, not her favorite room, since it contained a large amount of books.

He glanced at her, and smiled as he leaned back in his chair. “Back from your visits so soon?” He pushed his spectacles to his forehead, and re-lighted the stump of a cigar sitting alongside him.

“It was boring, Papa. Nobody wanted to hear about my trip, or the wonderful clothes I brought back with me. All they could talk about was local gossip, and other stupid things.”

“I hear Nate got himself a new wife.” He blew a circle of smoke in the air.

Lucy flushed. “That’s a mistake. She’ll be going back to where she came from soon.”

“What are you talking about? They’ve been married for months now.”

“I don’t want to talk about her. I want to talk about a party I want to have.”

“A party? You only just returned from Europe.”

“So what?” She shrugged. “The trip is over, and now I want a party, so I can wear one of the beautiful gowns I had made in Europe.” She fiddled with the papers on his desk. “Planning a party would be so much fun. Please say yes.” She managed to squeeze out a few tears, which wasn’t hard when she tried to get her way. She’d had a lot of practice over the years.

“Well, if that makes my little girl happy, then you will have your party. I assume you’ll take care of everything? I have no interest in all that foolishness.”

“Oh yes, Papa, I’ll take care of everything.” She kissed him on his slightly bald head, and added, “Your job is to pay the bills.” Laughing, she ran from the room, leaving him bent over his papers again before she even closed the door.