Mail-Order Christmas Brides Boxed Set (73 page)

“Thank you, Mother,” Adam said politely. “I’ll keep it for church.”

Eleanor knew white would not wear well around here, but it was a handsome hat. There was no time to voice her admiration for the gift though because Hannah had opened her box.

“Ohhhhh,” the girl screamed as she reached in and pulled out a beautiful china doll with long blond ringlets and a blue silk dress. Hannah looked up at her grandmother. “She’s for me? I’ve never seen such a pretty doll.”

“Of course it’s for you. Come give me a hug, then,” her grandmother suggested in an indulgent voice.

Hannah did just that, holding on to the older woman long enough to make tears form in the woman’s eyes.

“And now it’s Eleanor’s turn,” Adam said.

She nodded shyly and stood to walk over to the tree. Her handmade gifts didn’t seem so grand when compared to the ones Mrs. Martin had given. But they came from her heart, she told herself.

She hadn’t had paper or a box to wrap her gifts, so she folded her skirt around the one for Hannah as she walked over to where the little girl sat on the older woman’s lap.

“This is for you, Hannah,” she said as she brought the gift out and held it out to the girl.

“Ohhh.” Hannah set her doll down on her grandmother’s lap and reached for the black stuffed lamb Eleanor had hand-stitched for her last night. “For me?”

The girl clutched the lamb to her chest, and now the tears were in her eyes. “I’ve never had a lamb before. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Eleanor said.

Just then a horse neighed and some bells rang nearby.

“That must be the Hargroves,” Jake said as he stood up.

“The girls?” Hannah asked although no one had time to answer because there was a knock at the door and, before anyone could think, the small cabin was bursting with Christmas greetings.

“My wife wanted us to come in caroling,” Jake said, as he stood grinning in the doorway with his family behind him.

“Come in. Come in,” Eleanor invited them.

“Of course, we couldn’t agree on which song to sing so we thought we’d wait and get warm first.” As Adam spoke he stepped to the side and, a pleasant-faced woman and toddler entered, followed by two brown-skinned girls, with their shiny black hair pulled
back into long center braids and their brown eyes bright with eagerness.

“My word,” Adam’s mother gasped loudly. She stood up from the stool and gawked at them. “They’re Indians.”

Everything went silent. Even the cat stopped walking across the floor.

“I’m—I’m sorry,” Adam finally breathed out as his stricken eyes sought out those of his guests. “I forgot to mention anything to my mother. That is, she’s from back East and—”

Jake and his wife looked around the cabin cautiously.

“We’ve been so excited that you were coming,” Eleanor rushed to say as she took a step toward the family in the doorway. “Please come in. You must be cold. I’ve made some of my special Christmas tea and I can’t wait for all of you to taste it.”

She was talking too fast. She knew that. But no one moved.

“Please,” Eleanor said again as she slowed her voice and opened her hand, hoping the gesture would show them they were indeed welcome.

Jake’s wife looked at her husband for a second, and then took a step into the cabin.

She met Eleanor’s eyes. “Jake told me you knew how to make wonderful teas. Coffee is so expensive we don’t often have it so I was hoping you could tell me what you use.”

“I would be delighted.” Eleanor led the Hargroves over to the table.

“Here, sit on the trunks,” she said as everyone gathered around the table.

Jake dug into a cloth bag he’d been carrying over his shoulder and produced six tin cups, one after another. “I noticed you weren’t set up for housekeeping yet so we brought a few things with us.”

“Thank you,” Eleanor said.

It wasn’t until she started placing all of the cups around that she noticed Adam’s mother had left. She must have gone into the back room.

For the next few hours, laughter and good will filled the small cabin.

Finally, Adam looked around. The smell of the trout mingled with the aroma from the wild onions. They both mixed with the smell of the peppermint tea that they had all declared to be the best Christmas drink ever made.

Hannah and the two girls were giggling in the corner, making up stories about the adventures of that black lamb and petting the kitten when he got jealous and meowed for attention. The porcelain doll his mother had given Hannah was lying forgotten in front of the Christmas tree.

Adam had tried to apologize for his mother, but Jake refused to hear it, saying he was not responsible for anyone else’s prejudices. So he didn’t mention it again. He had gone into the back room several times to ask his mother to come out, but she had refused.

Even with that difficulty, the day was more satisfying than any he’d had in years. Eleanor and Jake’s wife were sitting at the table and, from the words he
could hear, they were talking about what could be used around here to dye wool. Jake had spoken about the cattle coming up from Texas in a few months and he’d quietly told him about the gift he had for Eleanor. The other man had nodded and said he approved and could be of some help.

“This has been a good Christmas,” Adam said when he pulled his attention back to his friend. “Thanks for bringing Eleanor home from the train station.”

“We need wives like her here,” the other man said as he patted his stomach. “That’s the best trout I’ve had in a long time. I’m planning on you inviting us to the wedding.”

“If there is a wedding,” Adam said with a look over at Eleanor. “I’m not sure she will agree to take me with the way my mother is acting toward her.”

Jake nodded at that. “That could be a problem. I’ll pray for all of you.”

“Please,” Adam said.

Soon after that the sun started to go down and Jake called to his family, saying it was time for them to leave.

The cabin felt empty when they were gone.

Then Eleanor looked over at the cook stove.

“I didn’t make any beans for supper,” she said, almost in surprise.

“I’ll go around back and get the rest of the potatoes,” Jake said. “We can fry them up with the leftover onions. That’ll be fine.”

“I saved a piece of the trout for your mother,” Elea
nor said as she lifted a lid on the skillet. “I hope she’s feeling better now.”

Adam started to correct her.

But he saw by the look in Eleanor’s eyes that she wasn’t going to force his mother to acknowledge her rudeness to their guests. And when she went over to the curtains and talked with his mother, inviting her to come have something to eat, she did it in a respectful voice that told him the incident would not be mentioned unless his mother brought it up.

He couldn’t fault Eleanor for showing his mother more courtesy than she deserved. He only nodded, though when his mother left the table after she had eaten, saying she was going to lie down.

“We haven’t got all the presents yet, though.” Hannah spoke up before his mother reached the doorway. “Aren’t you going to see what’s left?”

“You look for me, child,” his mother said, her voice more kind than it had been all day. Then she went into the back room.

Hannah went over to stand by the tree waiting for everyone else to come.

“We got interrupted when you were giving out your gifts,” Adam said to Eleanor when the three of them were sitting around the tree. “Are there more?”

Eleanor nodded shyly. “I have something for your mother. Just a handkerchief, but it has lace around it that’s nice. I’ll give it to her later.”

Then she reached under the branches to pull out something covered with a large white handkerchief.
“This isn’t finished so it’s more of a promise than a gift.”

With that, she passed what she had in her hands to him.

He removed the handkerchief and saw a ball of beautiful black yarn with her knitting needles sticking out of it and a dozen or so rows of yarn already knit.

“It’s going to be a scarf for around your neck,” she said. “It’s the best yarn that I have. It’s pure so it’ll never fade. I collected from the black sheep for several years to get enough.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Adam said as he held the two inches up that she had managed to knit. “It looks like the night sky.”

The yarn shined until he thought he could see stars in the blackness.

“What else?” Hannah demanded as she came over and leaned against him.

“You’re wondering what I got you?” he asked with a grin.

His daughter nodded.

“Your gift is hanging on a peg in the back room,” he said. “I put it there earlier today when you were out here.”

With that Hannah rushed to the other room.

“She’s excited,” Eleanor said as she watched the girl open the curtains and squeal.

“I wanted to give you your present while she’s not around, anyway,” Adam said as he moved over closer to Eleanor and handed up a rolled piece of paper.

“For me?” Eleanor said with what he thought was some trepidation.

He nodded as he kept holding it out to her.

She accepted it finally and unrolled the paper.

“What?” she gasped as she saw his drawing.

“I couldn’t get them right,” he said. “I tried to use the horses as examples, but they’re too large and—”

“They’re sheep,” Eleanor said, her face vulnerable in its longing.

“How could you tell?”

She smiled, blinking her eyes. “It was the black one in the middle.”

“I knew he was your favorite so I figure we can get some of them as lambs this spring. Jake said he’d help me find what I need to buy. He knows a man who has sheep down south of here a few hundred miles—black and white.”

“But—”

He winced, knowing what was coming.

“They’re yours whether you decide to stay or not. If you go back East, I’ll see that you have your own flock there.”

Her tears started in earnest then, and he opened his arm to pull her close to his side.

They sat that way for a minute until Hannah came out of the back room, wearing her new coat.

“Daddy, Daddy,” she called when she got close enough to see Eleanor’s tears. “Your new handkerchief. Use your handkerchief.”

Adam started to chuckle as he pulled his Christmas gift out of his pocket and offered it to Eleanor with a
gallant nod of his head. That made Eleanor laugh a little, as well. Which made Hannah giggle. And soon they were all three rolled up on the floor in a joyous tangle of Christmas merriment.

He didn’t hear his mother come into the room until she was standing almost on top of them.

“Whatever is going on?” Her voice indignant. “I thought someone was hurt with all of this noise.”

Adam wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes. “No, Mother, we’re all fine.”

“I see that,” his mother said.

There was no longer any censure in her voice. She seemed tired and confused. All of the laughter left his heart. Something was wrong.

“I give up,” his mother said then. She turned to look at Eleanor. “I have never seen my son laugh. Not like this. It seems you can make him happy in a way—well, I’ll be leaving tomorrow on the train if you will be so kind as to take me to the station.”

With that, his mother walked slowly to the other room. And he just sat there.

Hannah stared at where her grandmother had been.

“You can’t let her go tomorrow,” Eleanor whispered to him as she stood up. “Not like this. I’m going to go talk to her.”

“Not alone, you’re not.”

“Yes, just me,” Eleanor said softly as she began to walk to the back room.

The room was cold and Eleanor hesitated at the doorway. Enough light was coming through the cracks that she could see the older woman as she lay on the
bed. The woman didn’t turn to look at her as she stepped into the room.

“I—” Eleanor began.

“Did you come here to gloat?” the older woman asked as she finally turned to face her.

“Of course not.”

“Well, it wouldn’t surprise me if you did. You won.”

“What exactly did I win?” Eleanor said with some anger now. “We’re not talking about some game here. This is your son and granddaughter.”

“I know who they are,” the woman responded fiercely as she swung her legs around and stood up. “I’ve raised them both.”

“And they love you for it.”

Eleanor watched as the woman’s steps faltered and her shoulders slumped. “Do you think so?” Then she looked at Eleanor fully. “I honestly have never seen them happier.”

“So why are you leaving like this, then? There’s no need to go so soon.”

Adam’s mother looked astonished. “But I treated you horribly.”

“Yes,” Eleanor said as she stepped close enough to the older woman to put her arm around her, “and I plan on forgiving you for all of it if you’ll give me away at my wedding.”

“Me?”

“You’re the one who brought Adam and me together,” Eleanor said with a smile. “You picked me out of all the letters you received.”

It was silent for a moment.

“I did, didn’t I?” the older woman finally said.

Eleanor nodded as she started walking with her arm around Mrs. Martin.

Hannah and Adam sat on the floor staring as the two women came into the main room.

“Your mother is going to give me away,” Eleanor announced and then, lest there be any confusion, “At our wedding.” And then she looked at Adam. “If you still want—”

Hannah started to squeal and Adam stood up only to walk over to Eleanor and drop down on one knee. “I love you, Eleanor Hamilton McBride. Will you be my wife?”

Eleanor nodded, “I’d love to, but my name—”

“I know. It’s only McBride, but someday maybe we’ll see about uniting your family, too.”

With that Adam stood and opened his arms to embrace her. She was the one to reach out to draw his mother into the circle. Hannah, clutching her lamb, was already beside her father so the four of them came together.

“Oh,” Adam’s mother said once the circle was complete, her voice filled with delight and hope.

Then she grabbed Hannah’s hand and suggested they go to bed early.

Adam and Eleanor sat by the fireplace for the next hour, talking about their dreams for their life together. Then, seeing how clear the sky was, they called Hannah from her bed and took her outside to see the Christmas stars that were sparkling in the night sky.