EMMA (Mail-Order Brides Club, #1) (6 page)

"Do you know your neighbor well? Can you check with them to see if they've seen your cattle?"

"Unfortunately, I do know my neighbor and he's a real piece of work. It's exactly the kind of thing he might try and he's clever enough to get away with it, too. There's rumors that he's done things like this before, to other people. But no one has been able to prove it."

"That's awful." Emma thought for a moment, and then asked, "Do you brand your cattle? Wouldn't that be a way to prove they're not his?"

"Yes, we do, and it would be. But, there's ways around that, too. If he has a buyer already lined up and times it right, he could deliver our cattle before anyone suspected anything. The people he does business with aren't going to care whose brand is on the cattle if they get a good enough price."

"That's terrible."

"That's Russell Jones—terrible is his middle name."

"Russell Jones. I met him." She shivered at the mention of his name and did not like the fact that he was Ethan's next door neighbor. Even though his farm was many acres away, it was still too close for her liking. Especially if he did things like this.

"You met Russell Jones? Where?" Ethan clearly didn't like that she'd met the man and she couldn't blame him.

"He was in the general store the other day when Hannah was showing me around. I took an immediate dislike to him and Hannah told me he was bad news. I wasn't surprised to hear it. I have to admit, I'm not happy to hear he's your neighbor. How long has he lived there?"

"Not long, two years maybe. He's new to the area." He finished eating, and couldn't hold back a yawn. "I may be wrong, though. We'll investigate tomorrow and figure it out."

"We made an apple pie earlier. Emily helped. Do you have room for a slice?"

"I can't say no to pie." Ethan smiled as Emily brought the turnovers she made over for his inspection.

"You made these?"

"One for me and one for you."

"I'm impressed. You did a good job. I'll have mine for lunch tomorrow. Okay?"

"Ok. Story now?" Emily pulled on Ethan's shirt and he rustled her hair.

"I'm going to eat my pie, and you need to get into your pajamas, and then we can read a story."

Emily obediently went into her bedroom to get changed and Emma followed along to help. Soon after, Ethan was half-way through the story that Emily had picked out when her eyes started to close and he put her to bed. When he came back, Emma was sitting at the kitchen table, writing her first letter back home, to Julia.

"She wasn't too much for you? Everything really went okay today?" Ethan asked. He looked tired, and Emma sensed that he had a lot on his mind.

"She's a good girl. Your mother suggested we stop by again the day after tomorrow."

"That sounds like a good plan."

"I thought that we might take a ride into town tomorrow. I want to mail this letter to my friend, Julia, in Boston and I thought maybe we'd stop and visit Hannah on the way home. If that's okay with you?"

"That should be fine. Just stay on the main road, it will take you all the way in. I'll leave some money for you on the counter. We could probably use a few things if you want to stop by the general store." He paused for a moment and then added, "If it's okay with you, I'm going to head to bed myself."

E
than rode out to the cemetery the next morning and placed another flower, a single white daisy, on Susan's grave this time. The pink rose was still there, looking almost perfect after several days. He didn't say anything this time, just dropped of the flower and stayed for a few minutes, enjoying the peace and quiet of the early morning. He'd stopped by again because he felt guilty and wasn't sure exactly why. He didn't expect Emma's first day to go so smoothly or for her to fit into their life so easily. 

She was easy to talk to and a good listener and Emily seemed to like her, which was important. It was also nice to come home to someone. To have another adult to talk to and to share a meal with. Especially a meal that he didn't prepare. She was also easy on the eyes. Who was he kidding? He was definitely attracted to Emma. Who wouldn't be? And he supposed that was why he felt guilty and was visiting his dead wife's grave. Even though logically he knew enough time had passed to move on if he wanted to, it still felt like a betrayal. And he didn't like that feeling.

He put the thought behind him as he rode out to the fields and met his brothers. They separated, so that they could cover more ground quickly, and rode off to count the cattle in each area. When they met up an hour or so later and compared notes, the combined count matched what Ethan had seen the day before. He was missing a dozen cows exactly. They decided the approach they'd take would be to pay a visit to Russell Jones farm and assume it was an accident and go find their cows and bring them back. They also decided to wait until the end of the day, when Russell would be more likely to be back at the house and they could easily talk to him.

***

A
fter lunch, Emma hitched the horses to the buggy and she and Emily took a ride into town. She had made a list of things she needed. They were almost out of coffee and sugar and she wanted to get some bacon and oyster crackers so that the next time Ethan went fishing, she could make a fish chowder.

Josh was ringing up her purchases when she sensed someone behind her and then instinctively pulled Emily closer to her when she heard his voice.

"If it isn't the lovely Emma Byrne, or should I say Mrs. Donovan? Your husband is a lucky man." His tone was jovial but his smile didn't reach his eyes, which were calculating and swept up and down her body in a way that made her skin crawl.

"Hello, Mr. Russell."

"Nice to see you again, neighbor." He winked at her as she walked away, tugging Emily along behind her.

As she was helping Emily into the buggy, she noticed a bit of a commotion at the far end of the train. Several cowboys were loading cows into a stock car so they could be delivered to a processing plant. As they were about to drive away, Russell Jones walked out of the store and gave her a wave as they drove off. She pretended not to see him.

They stopped off at Hannah's on the way home and she seemed glad to see them.

"Come inside and visit a bit. I was about to go milk the cows, but that can wait."

"Could you show me how? I've never done that before and maybe it's something I can do as well." Emma wanted to be able to contribute and make herself useful as much as possible.

"You've never milked a cow before?" Hannah looked truly surprised.

"We didn't have any in Beacon Hill," Emma explained and told her about city life in Boston.

"Come on, then, Emily can learn, too." They followed her out to the barns and watched closely as Hannah demonstrated how to tell when the cow was ready to be milked and how to hold the udder so that the milk poured out in a steady stream. It didn't look too hard. Emma gave it a try and promptly shot herself in the face with warm milk. She jumped back and laughed.

"What did I do wrong?"

"Just adjust your angle a little. Let a small amount out at first so you make sure it's positioned right."

Emma tried again and got it right. Fresh milk poured into the basin below and once it was full, they moved on to the next cow and an empty basin. After that, they brought the milk into the house and then washed up.

"I have time for a quick cup of tea if you want to relax for a few minutes before heading home." Hannah asked as she set filled her teakettle with water.

"I'd love that."

They sat sipping their tea at the kitchen table while Emily played outside with the dog. Benji was a sweet golden retriever and Hannah assured her that he was good with children.

"So, how's it going with Ethan and Emily?"

"I think okay, so far." Emma told her about Emily's tantrum the day before and how she'd handled it.

"That was a good idea, bribing her with a visit in the afternoon if she behaved in the morning. I'll have to remember that when I have kids." Then a dark cloud came over her face and she added, "If I have kids."

Emma wasn't sure what to say to that, so she just smiled sympathetically and took a sip of her tea. After a moment, Hannah spoke again. "We've been trying for almost five years now and it hasn't happened yet."

"Don't give up, it still could happen. Maybe if you stop trying." At Hannah's perplexed expression, she tried to explain. "I mean, maybe if you don't focus and worry about it so much, it might just happen. I've heard that's often the case. Like when people give up and decide to adopt and then get pregnant soon after."

"I suppose. Though that's easier said than done. The not worrying, that is."

"I'll keep you both in my prayers," Emma said with a smile.

"Thank you. So, onto happier things. How was your trip into town?"

Emma told her about running into Russell as she was leaving and her dismay at learning he was their neighbor.

"He wouldn't be my first choice for a next-door neighbor, that is for sure," Hannah said.

"Ethan thinks he might be up to something. He repaired a fence that looked as though it may have been tampered with, and noticed that some of his cattle were missing. He and a few of his brothers were going to look into it today."

"I wouldn't put it past him. There have been rumors that he is into some shady stuff." Hannah was quiet for a moment, thinking.

"What time did you see him in town?" she asked.

"About twenty minutes before we arrived here."

"There's a train that leaves around that time that has two stock cars in the back. If they're going to move cattle, that's the train they'd take."

Emma's heart sank. "There were some cattle being loaded into the cars. I don't know if they were Russell's though."

"Josh will know. I'll ask him when he gets home."

***

E
than and his brothers, Paul and David, met up at the end of the day to head to Russell Jones’ farm and ask him about the missing cattle.

When they arrived, one of Russell's men came out to meet them. Like Russell, the men who worked for him had a shady look about them, too. He hired mostly out-of-towners, transients who needed work and didn't ask questions. He paid them well and they were fiercely loyal.

Ethan explained why they were there. The cowboy was quiet and then said sullenly, "I haven't seen any of your cows. Russell is inside. Go on in and talk to him if you want."

They did. Russell was sitting inside, sipping a dark liquor of some kind. He rose when they stepped inside

"Well, hello, neighbor. Is this a social call? Can I offer you gentleman a drink?" He chuckled and Ethan felt his fist clench. He couldn't stand the guy and it was difficult to keep his tone civil.

"I had to repair a fence yesterday and am missing about a dozen cattle. If you don't mind, we thought we'd take a ride around and see if maybe they may have slipped through to your side."

"I haven't noticed anything, but by all means, ride around as much as you like." He raised his glass then and took a long, slow sip.

"Thank you, we'll be on our way."

"I hope you find them," Russell said, without an ounce of sincerity.

***

E
than arrived home later than usual and after a quick wash up, they sat down to dinner and he filled her in.

"We were sure that the cows must be on Russell's property but there wasn't a sign of them. We rode around for well over an hour looking."

"He may have been one step ahead of you." Emma told him then about running into Russell in town and seeing cattle being loaded into a stock car.

"I don't know for sure if the two are connected, but it sure seems suspicious."

"If that's what he did, it's quite clever. Moving stolen cattle out as soon as he gets them makes it harder to catch him. I'd bet money that's what happened. Cattle don't just disappear."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll have to think about that. It's too late to prove anything now. If it happens again, I'll have to go to his farm immediately before he moves them out."

Ethan was quiet for a few minutes and Emma could see that he was thinking about the situation.

"I don't think he'd be stupid enough to do it again anytime soon. He'll know that we're on guard. The thing to do if he pulls this again, though, will be to wait at the train station and catch him as he's putting the cows on the train. He won't be able to explain that away."

"He scares me," Emma admitted.

"If he ever comes here and I'm not here, don't let him in. Lock the door behind you. I don't trust him."

Emma shivered, picturing Russell's cold, calculating eyes.

"I will."

W
eeks passed without incident and eventually Emma let her guard down a bit and was able to relax when Ethan wasn't there, to not jump at the smallest sounds. Still, a strange sense of foreboding seemed to hang in the air and she was always relieved when Ethan came home each night and all was well.

She and Ethan and Emily had settled into a nice routine. As she'd grown more comfortable with farm life, Emma started taking on more duties such as feeding the animals, tending the garden behind the house and ever since Hannah had shown her how, she took over the daily milking, which Ethan appreciated. Two or three times a week, she and Emily paid an afternoon visit to Naomi and Emma looked forward to the visits as much as Emily did. Emma had never had a mother figure in her life and Naomi took her under her wing, offering guidance and support, which Emma gratefully accepted.

Hannah had grown to be a good friend, too. She didn't see her as often as Hannah was busy helping at the store or around the farm, but they got together every week or two for a few hours in the afternoon and caught up. Emma had always looked forward to her days off and spending them with her girlfriends from the orphanage. She still missed them terribly, but was growing more comfortable in her new life. She loved getting their letters and hearing what they were all up to and they all asked her questions about what it was like to be married. She couldn't answer all of their questions, though, because truthfully, she didn't feel fully married. She wasn't a true wife to Ethan and though it hadn't bothered her a bit in the beginning, she was starting to feel differently now.