Mail Order Madness (10 page)

Sadie rolled her eyes.  “I think the boys need a switch, but David feels like it’s
cruel.  His mother never used one, so he doesn’t think they’re good for boys.  His
boys would be much better behaved if he used one, though.”

Susan smiled, thrilled to have an ally.  “Would you let me know if they stop holding
hands?  I have a backup punishment in case they do.”

“I’ll let Mrs. Hackenshleimer know to watch for that.  I’ll be serving lunch.”

“That’s fine.  Thank you, Sadie.  Why don’t you start loading the table and I’ll call
everyone to eat when I see it’s mostly full
?
”
  Susan had never had a servant before, so it seemed strange to her to ask the older
woman to do things for her, but Sadie made it easy to work with her.

“That sounds good.  We’re not doing anything formal, j
ust
steak and
baked
potatoes
served with butter
.
  I made some beans and a wedding cake as well.
”

“It sounds delicious.  I’ll send the boys to the kitchen now.”

She walked to the corner where the boys were sitting with Mrs. Hackenshleimer.  Her
eyes drifted deliberately to the older boys’ joined hands, before she asked Mrs. Hackenshleimer
to eat with the boys in the kitchen.  “I won’t always have the boys eat in the kitchen,
but until I’ve had some time to teach them how they’re now expected to behave, I’d
rather keep them out of the way of humans.”

“I’d be happy to.”  Mrs. Hackenshleimer stood and took the twins by the hands to lead
them from the room.  The older boys followed automatically.

Once the four boys were out of the room, she announced that lunch would be served
in a few minutes, before rejoining David.  Another couple had joined their circle
and she was introduced to Anthony and Jane Vandergriff.  Jane had dark hair and pale
blue eyes.  She wore an ice blue silk dress that matched her eyes perfectly, and seemed
to think everyone in the room was beneath her.  Susan didn’t bother to try to strike
up a conversation as she had with Beverly.

David guided Susan to the foot of the table and pulled her chair out for her.  She
smiled as Beverly took the seat next to her.  David sat at the head of the table directly
opposite her, which thrilled her.  She wouldn’t have to make much conversation with
him that way, and she found she was still seething over his deception.

Susan barely picked at her meal, eating no more than a few bites.  The food was delicious,
but she simply didn’t have an appetite.  The four couples David had invited for the
meal obviously knew one another well and they all talked and joked while they ate. 
Susan spent most of her time observing them.

She already knew she liked Beverly, but Jane was someone she had no desire to get
to know.  One of the other women seemed to snub Beverly and only talked to Jane. 
Susan had yet to meet her, but she had dark hair and brown eyes. 
Susan made a mental note to avoid her.  The last woman of the group sat to Susan’s
left, and seemed very quiet.  She was in the same age group as all the others, around
her mid-twenties, but she was plump and plain.  Her mousy brown hair seemed to be
forever falling from her bun and her eyes were brown.

Susan smiled at her.   “I’m Susan.”

The woman seemed surprised to be singled out.  “I’m Wilma.”

“It’s nice to meet you.  Which of these men are you married to?” Wilma pointed out
the man Susan had seen her with earlier.  He was a tall blond with startling good
looks.  “Do you have any children?”

Wilma shook her head.  “Not yet.  We’ve only been married a few months, though.”

“How did you meet your husband?”
  Susan had always loved to hear stories of how couples met and married.  Each story
had filled her with a sense of hope for herself when she was single, and now it was
a habit to ask.

“I’ve known him all my life.  My father and his father were best friends.  I think
I’ve always known that I’d end up married to Ned.  He’s been off fighting the Indians
in New Mexico with the Cavalry
, but as soon as he came home, he started courting me.”

“We’ll have to get together sometime so you can tell me more about it,” Susan encouraged. 

“I’d like that.” 

Beverly smiled.  “You should join Susan on Wednesday and come to my house for coffee
around two.”

Wilma looked at Beverly with a surprised look.  “I’d love to.  Thank you.”

By the time the guests had left for the day, Susan was exhausted, but thrilled she’d
made two new friends.  She was finding the Texas women to be easy to get to know.
  Her mind drifted to Jane and the other woman she hadn’t bothered to get to know.

After they’d all gone, she looked at the two older boys.  “How many times did you
drop hands?  And remember.  I was watching.”

Albert and Lewis exchanged looks.  Finally, Albert said, “Just twice.”

She’d only seen it happen once, but was thrilled they told on themselves.  “Then you
know that before either of you go outside to play tomorrow, you’ll be sitting at the
table writing
forty
sentences for me, right?”

“But I don’t know how to spell,” Lewis whined. 

“I’ll write it for you once, and you can copy it.”  Susan didn’t think it would hurt
the boys to sit and write forty sentences before they went outside.

David walked up behind her.  “What’s this?”

Susan turned to him.  “I told the boys they had to hold hands the entire time the
guests were here today.  For every time they dropped each other’s hands they have
to write twenty sentences about loving their brother for me.”  Her eyes dared him
to argue.

David nodded slowly.  “That sounds like a fitting punishment for fighting.”

“Why were you boys chasing that cat anyway?” Susan asked.
  Not that it mattered to her punishment, but a reason for their behavior would help
her understand them better

Lewis shrugged.  “We wanted a cat.”

Susan sighed.  “Maybe if you asked your father, he’d get you a kitten.”

Albert looked at David in surprise.  “Would you, Pa?”

David thought it over for a moment.  “I don’t know why not.”

“The cat will be your responsibility, though.  You’ll feed it and give it water. 
I will not be taking care of a cat, when I have you four boys to take care of.”  Susan’s
voice was firm, and both boys nodded eagerly.

“We’ll do it!” Lewis said with excitement.

Sadie came into the room then.  “I’ve made sandwiches for supper.  I didn’t think
you’d want more after the big lunch.”

Susan nodded.  “That sounds lovely.”  She walked to the table and was surprised when
David seated her once again.  She’d thought he was only doing that to impress her
and their guests.  Maybe he really did have manners.

The boys all sat down and bowed their heads while David prayed over the food.  She
watched as the boys wolfed down their
meal
.  Shaking her head, she knew table manners would have to be one of the first things
she worked with them on.

After dinner, Sadie cleared the table while Susan got the twins ready for bed.  She
enjoyed the little boys and was happy to change them into their pajamas and tuck them
into their little beds.  She kissed each boy on the cheek and left their room quietly. 

The bigger boys were sitting in the family parlor talking to their father.  She waited
outside the door listening for a moment before going in. 

“We don’t want to have to write sentences,” Albert complained.

“I don’t care what you want.  You’ll do what your new mother says, and you’ll do it
when she says.  You’ve been running wild for too long, and you’ll obey her.  Do you
understand that?”

“Yes, Pa,” Lewis said.

“Yes, Pa, but I won’t like it.”  Susan stifled a giggle at Albert’s belligerent tone.

Susan walked into the room.  “Go on and get ready for bed,” she told the boys.  “You’ll
be writing your sentences before you do any playing tomorrow.”  She sat down on the
sofa and folded her hands in her lap.

The boys jumped up to go get ready for bed, obviously afraid of another punishment
coming their way.

“Thanks for backing me up.”

David nodded.  “I do know they’re monsters.  I just don’t know what to do about it,
short of beating them, which I’m not going to do.”

“Well, I honestly wish you’d let me use a switch on them, but since you won’t, I’ll
find another way to get them to behave.  I’m not going to have our lives in constant
chaos just because those boys don’t feel like behaving.  They obviously know how. 
Now it’s just a matter of enforcing some ground rules.”

David eyed her doubtfully.  “If you say so.”  He stood up stretching his neck.  “Would
you like to go for a short walk before bed?”

She looked at him skeptically, but then nodded.  “That sounds nice.”
  She did want to see the ranch.  The few times she’d been outside had been brief. 
She enjoyed being outdoors, and wanted to know what was out there.

He walked her around the yard, pointing out the different buildings and explaining
their functions.  “The ranch hands live there.  No women are allowed in there under
any circumstances.”

She nodded.  “Sounds like a good rule.  Do you let the boys go in there?”
 

He shook his head.  “Not without me.”

“You’ll have to let me know about rules like that.  I think I’m going to make up a
rule board for the boys and let them know what the punishment is for each thing. 
That way they know what they’re getting into if they break a rule.”

He took her hand in his.  “I appreciate you jumping in so quickly to help get the
boys under control.”

She sighed and shook her head.  “It’s my job now.  I don’t think the twins are going
to be a problem.  They’re still so young; they’ll just learn to obey me.  The older
two are the ones I’m worried about.”

“Don’t be worried about them.  I don’t think there’s going to be a problem.  You seem
to have it all under control.”  He stopped to lean against a wooden fence at the front
of the house pulling her to him with the hand he held.  “Would you consider making
our marriage a real one?”

She sighed staring up at him.  “I really don’t want to bring another child into this
situation.  I can’t imagine having a newborn and dealing with your hellions.”
  She wasn’t trying to be cruel with her words, but she needed him to know where she
stood.

He used his forefinger to tilt her face up to his.  “Our hellions.”

“Our hellions.”  She watched as he slowly lowered his head toward hers, brushing her
lips gently with a kiss.  Her hands moved up to his shoulders and she clung to him,
almost afraid she’d fall over.  There was something about his kisses that left her
week in the knees.

“We’ll have the boys under control well before a baby comes along,” he whispered against
her lips.

She shook her head, pulling away.  “My mother was always so sick with morning sickness
she neglected the discipline of my younger brothers and sisters.  That’s why I’m the
oldest member of a family whose children are referred to by the city of Beckham, Massachusetts
as ‘the demon horde.’”

He stifled a laugh. “I promise you, if you get pregnant, I’ll follow through on all
your rules and discipline the boys exactly how you think they should be disciplined. 
Without the switch, of course.  I won’t use a switch.”

“How about a belt?  Or paddle?”
  She grinned as she suggested the alternatives that would work just as well.

He grinned.  “No beating.  Any other punishment you can devise is fine.”

“Would you build a dungeon?”
  She tilted her head to the side to ask the question.  She would never put children
in a dungeon, but it was interesting to see just how far he’d go.

He laughed out loud.  “You really don’t like children, do you?”

“I love children.  Ill-behaved children need to dangle from trees by their toes until
they learn the correct behavior.”

He caught her hand and pulled her back into his arms.  “Fix my boys for me.”  He lowered
his head to hers, his tongue reaching out to trace her top lip.  “And go upstairs
with me and be my wife.”

Once again her hands clung to his shoulders.  She was his wife, and she knew as his
wife, it was her job to let him consummate the marriage.  Besides, she
liked the idea.  She’d enjoyed kissing him and wanted to see what came next
.  “Okay.”

Chapter Five

His head came up and he looked into her eyes.  “Really?”  She nodded slowly, and he
started tugging her toward the house as if he didn’t want to give her a chance to
change her mind. 

She laughed softly.  “Are you always in this kind of hurry?”

He didn’t stop as he answered, simply pulling her along toward the front door.  “It’s
been over two years.  You bet I’m in a hurry.”  He flung the door open and pulled
her up the stairs and into their bedroom. 
He quickly sat on the edge of the bed and removed his boots, and then knelt before
her,
untying her shoes and slipping them off her feet.