Mail Order Minx: Fountain of Love (Brides of Beckham) (5 page)

She nodded.  "I can do that."
  At least she hoped she could.  She'd do her very best.

He took the bacon out of the pan while she took a spoon and carefully stirred the
eggs, just as he'd said.  He watched her a bit, but seemed satisfied that she was doing it right.  While she cooked the eggs, he mixed up a crust for a pie later.  "Do you know how to peel and core apples?" he asked.  He hoped there were some things she could do in the kitchen, because he needed her to help him even if it was just the little things.

"I've done that before."  She preferred to eat apples peeled and cored, and her mother hadn't let the cook do it for her, insisting that if she wouldn't eat the fruit in its natural state, then she should have to do it herself.

"All right.  I'll have you do that after breakfast."  He nodded to the eggs.  "They're done now.  Use your apron to shield your hand and move them off the stove onto that towel there."  He pointed to the towel he'd set down for her to use.  "That's perfect."  He handed her two plates.  "Divide the bacon between the plates and put half the eggs on each.  Pour us each a cup of coffee and set everything on the table there.  We'll eat."  He was pleased with her first lesson.  She'd done very well.

She noticed for the first time a small table for two in the corner of the kitchen.  "Is that where we'll eat all of our meals?" she asked.
  She was used to eating in a formal dining room with the family's cook serving them, but she could get used to eating at the small table.  It felt intimate to her, and she liked the idea of being so close to her new husband.

"Most of them anyway."  He watched as she did as she was told and walked over to sit across from her.  He took her hand in his as he prayed for them both, and then picked up his fork, taking a small amount of the egg and tasting it.  "That's good!"

She smiled, thankful she'd at least done that right.  She squeezed his hand before picking up her fork.  "Thank you for not getting angry with me."  She knew she didn't deserve his understanding, but she was thankful to have it.  Eventually, she'd help the whole town out, and he'd see that her lack of cooking skill was a minor flaw.

He took a sip of his coffee, watching her over it.  "I'm disappointed.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't.  It really hurts me that you'd lie to me, but there's not much either of us can do about it now other than make the best out of the situation." 
His words came out harsher than he'd intended them to, and he immediately felt badly.

When she looked down at her plate, he knew he had hurt her feelings, but she needed to know he wouldn't put up with lies.  "I care for you, and we're going to make things work out between us.  In a few weeks you won't be lying when you say you can cook.  In the mean time, you're going to have to do the little jobs around the restaurant that don't involve a great deal of cooking."  He shrugged.  "We'll make it work."
  He would make certain of it.

She nodded, still not able to meet his eyes.  She took a bite of the eggs and looked up in surprise.  "They
are
good.  I made eggs!"  She said the words as if she'd climbed a mountain or finished painting a masterpiece.

He smiled, enjoying her enthusiasm.  If she wanted to be able to cook as much as she seemed to, she'd be good at it in no time.  "I told you they were."
  He was thrilled to see her so pleased with herself. 

After breakfast, she washed the dishes, while he prepped food for the day.  When she was finished with the dishes, he gave her a huge basket of apples to peel and core.  "We also need them sliced, but I'll show you how I want that done when you're finished."
  He preferred thin slices of apple, almost as thin as a sheet of paper, because he felt it helped the other seasonings flavor the apples better.

They worked together mostly in silence as they prepped for their day.  He would have her watch when there was something he wanted her to be able to do. 
When she finished with the apples, he walked around behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.  "You're doing a great job," he said encouragingly.  He showed her how thin he wanted the apples sliced, and she went to work on that. 

He showed her how to put the apples into the crust and the right amount of sugar and spices to add.  "There, now you can mostly make an apple pie."  He added the top crust and popped the first of the pies into the oven. 

They worked well together, and he realized that she was more than capable of doing most of what he needed done in the restaurant as long as he was willing to keep cooking.  Of course, he had wanted her to take over all the cooking, so he could concentrate on baking and open a bakery as part of the restaurant, but that could be put off while she learned to cook.

By the time the restaurant opened, she already had a few tendrils of hair escaping from her bun, and he loved it.  He caught her face in his hands and kissed her quickly before walking to the front of the restaurant to flip the sign from closed to open
and unlock the door.  This would be the real test for her.  Would she be able to keep up with the customers if she couldn't keep up with the cooking?  He usually did both, because the restaurant was small.  They'd see.

Chapter Five

From the time they opened at half past ten to they closed again at two, they were swamped with customers.  Millie was in and out of the kitchen taking plates to people, but she never got an order wrong.  She introduced herself sweetly to every person who walked in, and offered them all apple pie at the end of their meal. "I made it myself," she told them all, stretching the truth a little.

Most of the customers were ranchers or their hands coming into town to get something or someone from the train.  Connor had been right about that.  Several times she was asked if she had a husband, so she finally started introducing herself as Millie O'Reilly.  The name sounded strange even to her. 
She wondered how long it would take for her to get used to the new name.

Just before they closed at two, she walked up to a table, taking her pencil from behind her ear where she'd tucked it.  "Hi, I'm Millie O'Reilly.  I'll be your waitress.  What can I get you today?"
  She smiled, asking the question sweetly.  She'd been surprised at the tips she was receiving from the customers.

The man looked her up and down as if she wore nothing, and she wanted to hide behind something.  "You marry Connor?"

Millie nodded.  "Just yesterday."  She was pleased to be able to say she was married, because the man made her feel very uncomfortable.  He obviously needed a wife, but it couldn't be her. 

"You don't need him.  Run away with me."

Millie couldn't believe he'd even suggested it.  "I believe in the sanctity of marriage."  She stared at him as if he were a rodent.  "What can I get you today?"  She refused to think about anything else.

He looked up at the chalk board where she had written the menu for the day.  "I'll take
the roast and a glass of iced tea." 

"I'll get it for you."  She walked into the kitchen and happily shut the door behind her. "There's a man out there, that's looking at me like he wants to eat me for lunch," she told Connor, shuddering.

Connor walked over to the door to the dining area, and looked out.  "That's John Bennett.  He's a rancher just outside of town; he's okay once you get to know him.  For now anytime he comes in here, you let me know, and I'll serve him."

She nodded, thankful for his answer.  "He wants
the roast and iced tea." 

"You plate it, and I'll take it out to him."  He'd been working with her on the correct way to plate meals for the customers throughout the morning.  At first, he'd done it for her, but gradually, he'd made her start doing it all herself.

She carefully put two pieces of meat, the amount of mashed potatoes he'd shown her, and a spoonful of carrots onto a plate, added two slices of the fresh bread, and poured a glass of iced tea.  She handed both to Connor.  "Thank you for taking care of him."

Connor kissed Millie over the food.  "You don't have to deal with people who make you uncomfortable."  He went out the swinging door and put the food down in front of the man, who was the only person left in the restaurant.  "Here you go."
  He stood over the rancher after setting his food on the table in front of him, waiting for the other man to ask him about Millie.

"What happened to your pretty little wife?  I thought she was going to bring me my food."
  John seemed annoyed that he'd been served by Connor instead of Millie.

"It's time for her lunch break."  Connor walked back toward the kitchen.  "You let me
know if you want anything else," he called over his shoulder.

"I'd rather have the pretty girl serve me."

"You'll need to go somewhere else for that.  I'm sure you can find a saloon somewhere.  My wife is eating her lunch."  He walked back into the kitchen.  "Eat."

"But I was going to wait for you.  I want to wash the dishes now so we can eat together."
  She hated the idea of eating without him.

"I told him you were taking your lunch break, so you need to eat."

She sighed.  "I guess I'm eating lunch then."  She looked at what was left, and served herself a huge bowl of the chicken and dumplings.  She hadn't eaten since early that morning and was starving.  She took two slices of bread and buttered them before walking to the table and sitting down.

She watched as Connor got a bowl of the chicken himself and added bread, walking to sit across from her.  "I'm not going to let you eat alone," he told her with a smile.

As soon as they were finished, Connor went to check on John.  "You want anything else?"

"What kind of pie you got today?"

"Apple." 

"I'll take a piece and a cup of coffee."

Millie heard the conversation and had the pie and coffee ready for him when he came in.  He nodded his thanks and took it back out to the other man.  "I'll have your bill ready in a minute."  He spent a minute on the bill and took it back out. 

"Now when I leave my tip today, I want that pretty wife of yours to get it and to know it's from me."

Connor nodded.  "I'll tell her."  When he walked back into the kitchen she was on her feet in front of the sink washing the last of the lunch dishes.  She'd done her best to keep up with them throughout the day.  He couldn't have been more pleased with her.  It was obvious she wasn't used to hard work, but she had jumped right in and done everything that needed to be done.  How could he complain about that?

Together they cleaned the kitchen from the lunch crowd and started preparing the food for supper.  "Supper's a bit harder," Connor explained.  "At lunch we have three meals for them to choose from, and they pick one.  It's that simple.  At supper, we have those same three meals, but we add steak, which we cook to order, and baked chicken."

Millie listened eagerly, nodding.  "So for supper, we'll do the chicken and dumplings, beef stew, and roast beef, but we'll also have steak and baked chicken.  Got it."  She would learn to do everything just the way he wanted it done so that she could please him.  Never in her life had she wanted to please anyone as much as she wanted to please Connor.

He smiled.  "We do mashed potatoes as a side with both the chicken and the steak.
"  He pointed to a small mountain of potatoes.  "Have you ever peeled potatoes?"  He'd done them that morning while having her do other tasks.  She'd watched as much as she could, but she'd needed to concentrate on what she was supposed to be doing.

She shook her head, staring at the huge pile.  "Is it much different from apples?"

"Not terribly.  Peel them, cut them into small chunks, and throw them in a pot of water.  Then we'll boil them."  He explained the process as succinctly as he could, knowing she would follow his directions after working with her for half a day already.

"Do we serve the same things every day?"  She hoped so, because she could learn to make the meals faster if they did.

He nodded.  "I change up the dessert every day, but that's about it."

She walked to the sink and grabbed a potato.  "Let's get started then."
  She was eager to do everything he needed her to do and do it right. 

They re-opened for supper at five and closed at seven.  She was amazed at how much work was involved in serving meals
for only five and a half hours per day.  The dinner crowd was much smaller than the lunch crowd had been, and Millie was thankful.  Her feet hurt by the time they closed, and they still had a small mountain of dishes to do. 

She went to the sink and washed them quickly, without a word, wanting to get done so she could go to sleep.  Nothing had ever sounded as good as sleep did in that moment.
She knew she'd eventually get used to the hard work, but just then, it didn't feel like it.

"You look exhausted," he said as he wrapped his arm around her to walk back up the stairs to their room.

She nodded.  "I've never worked so hard in my life."

He smiled, squeezing her tightly.  "Did you have a job at home?"
 

She shook her head.  "I was a wastrel.  I volunteered at the orphanage on occasion, but I just sat holding the babies.  I didn't do any real work."
  She hated admitting it, but she wasn't about to lie to him after the way he'd reacted to her not being able to cook.

"How old are you?"  He couldn't believe he didn't know how old his own wife was, but he had to ask. 

"Twenty-two."  She frowned, knowing it had sounded like she'd wasted a lot of time doing nothing.   "My parents didn't think women should work." 

"Really?"  He raised an eyebrow.  "What does your father do?"

"He owns a restaurant and hotel.  Just like you do."

"And he employed no women?"

Millie frowned.  "He had a lot of female employees.  I guess what he really meant is that he didn't think his daughters should work."  She'd never thought about his double standards before, but it was clear to her then that she should have.

Connor laughed, shaking his head.  "Did he know that you'd be working with me?"

"I left that out when I told him I was coming out here to marry you."  She rested her head on his shoulder.  "Oh, I almost forgot.  I'm supposed to write three letters as soon as I arrive so everyone knows I'm all right."  She hated that she hadn't done it the previous day.  She didn't want the people she cared about worrying about her.

"Tomorrow.   Tonight, you need to just get ready for bed.  We'll have an early day again tomorrow."  Watching her, he realized he may be asking too much from her.  She wasn't used to working at all, and he was suddenly asking her to work fourteen hour days.  He wasn't sure she was ready for it.  Of course, once they were working together better, the amount of time it took to prepare would be cut way down.

They both undressed quickly and climbed into bed.  He pulled her into his arms, and she put her head on his shoulder.  She was too tired to make love, and he knew it.  He sighed.  They always had tomorrow.  Maybe he'd need to start closing the restaurant one day a week to give her time to rest.

He watched her for a few minutes as she slept, wondering why he wasn't angrier with her for lying to him.  He guessed he understood in some ways why she'd done it, but it had certainly ruined his plans for the bakery.  Maybe that was a good thing though.  He closed his eyes, curled around her. 
Today had been rough, but it could only get better from there.  Right?