Mail Order Mistake (11 page)

While Wesley put the horses and buggy away, she changed into a work dress and put
on
an apron that covered the entire front of her dress
.  She set out the food Alice had sent with them, since it was already dinner time. 

During the meal, she tried again to convince him of how sorry she was and that she
would happily spend the night in his bed with him, but he wouldn’t hear it.  Once
supper was over, he went into the small parlor that consisted of a worn looking sofa
and an arm chair.  He sat down on the sofa and read the paper while she did the dishes. 

When she was finished, she sat beside him in the parlor.  Maybe she could get him
to kiss her and forget about what she’d said.
  Just as she moved to snuggle into his side, he glared at her and
moved to the chair.  He wouldn’t even sit with her.  She stood and ran from the room
with tears streaming down her face.  In her bedroom, she l
ay
down on the bed and cried herself to sleep.

Wesley watched her go and had to force himself to remain in his chair.  He wanted
to follow her and apologize for being so surly, but he couldn’
t.  Why was she afraid of him touching her?  He’d been touching her and kissing her
since she’d gotten off the train.  Making love was a natural thing she should have
been happy they’d be able to do now they w
ere together again, but instead
she wanted to spend the long night alone in his lumpy spare bed. 

He stood and went to his front porch staring up at the stars.  Their marriage had
not started well.  He needed to find a way past his anger with her, but at that moment
,
he was afraid if he touched her
,
he’d do so in anger and that wasn’t the way he wanted to touch his wife.

He was certain Sunday would be better.  It had to be, didn’t it?

*****

Wesley’s anger was still going strong as they walked to church on Sunday.  When Malinda
saw Ellen, she wanted to run into her sister’s arms.  Wesley saw her start in Ellen’s
direction, and took hold of her arm.  “You don’t need to spend all your time with
her now.  You’re a married woman.”

Malinda stared up at him in dismay.  “But she’s my sister.  You’re not going to keep
me from her, are you?”
  What would she do if he kept her from the only family she had ever known because
he was angry with her?  She’d have to head straight back to Beckham.

He shook his head.  “I just want you to take some time to get to know some of the
other ladies here at the church.  There are some that are more of our social standing.”

“Social standing?  I’m not going to be allowed to spend all my time with my sister
because she’s of a different social standing?”
  He couldn’t mean that, could he?

“You will make other friends.  You can still see her all you want, but you’ll at least
try to make friends with other women at church today.”  He wasn’t sure why he was
insisting she make other friends, but he really thought it would be good for her. 
She seemed to want to spend all her time with her sister and that wasn’t healthy. 
She needed other friends as well. 

Patrick and Ellen would be going to the restaurant and doing a lot of things that
he and Malinda wouldn’t be able to afford to do.  Malinda was going to have to get
used to being a sheriff’s wife and having the limited salary that came with being
his wife.  She couldn’t do that if she spent all of her time with her sister and his
brother.  They didn’t have any budgetary limits.

He watched as Malinda stood quietly beside him, not approaching other women. 
Did she think she was too good for the women in their church?

One of the older women walked over and held out her hand to introduce herself.  “I’m
Mary Pickering.”

Malinda smiled and shook the woman’s hand.  “I’m Malinda  ….er Harris.” 
She stumbled over the last name, realizing it was the first time she’d used it in
conjunction with her own name.

She smiled at Wesley, and he put his hand in the small of her back.  Why did she seem
to need courage to talk to others?

“I’m part of the women’s ministry here and we try to make all the new women feel welcome.” 
She paused as she smiled at Malinda.  “Would you care to come to my house for tea
one day this week?  I could introduce you to the other women.”

Malinda bit back the automatic
‘
no
’
that threatened her lips.  She didn’t want to agree, but with Wesley standing watching,
she knew he’d be angry if she didn’t.  “Yes, that would be nice.”
  She could handle an afternoon with strangers.  She’d have to.

“Why don’t we make it Friday afternoon?  That will give you time to get settled into
your new home.”

“I don’t know how to get there.”
  She
knew she was grasping at straws
and she wouldn’t be able to get out of going, but she had to try.

Mary laughed.  “The sheriff can draw you a map
,
I’m sure.  Why don’t you come around one?  That gives all the ladies time to get
home afterward and get supper cooked.”

“I’ll be there,” Malinda promised, regretting it immediately.  Maybe she could find
a way to send word she was sick on Friday morning.   She loathed the idea of me
eting so many new women at once
because it was hard for her to meet new people.  She was great one on one if she’d
met them before, but the first time she met someone, she had no idea what to say.
  In groups, she never felt like she had the right words.

After church, they went home and she heated up some of the food Alice had sent over. 
She had yet to cook a full meal for him herself, and she was dreading the time when
she’d have to.

Wesley didn’t seem as angry, so after lunch, she moved to sit by him on the sofa again. 
He looked at her, his eyes filled with hurt.  “What exactly do you want from me, Malinda?”

She bit her lip, trying to figure out how to answer.  “I want you to forgive me more
than anything.  I did
n’t mean to hurt your feelings.  I’d take back the entire conversation if I could.” 
She would do anything to make things right between them if she just had an idea what
the right thing would be.

“But you meant you didn’t want to consummate the marriage right away, right?”

She nodded sadly.  “I did.  I shouldn’t have, but I did.  Please
, I’m willing to make it right.  Just tell me what to do.”

He folded his newspaper
,
put it on the table and stood up.  “I need to take Patrick’s horses and buggy back. 
I’ll be home later.”

Malinda watched him go, wondering how she could make what she’d done right.  He was
a good man, and she wanted to have a good marriage with him.  How could she make it
happen, though?  How long would he be angry with her?

Chapter
Six

Malinda woke up as early as she could on Monday morning.  She’d never been an early
riser like Ellen, but she was determined to make her first week as a married woman
a good one.  She dressed quickly in the early morning light and stumbled into the
kitchen.  The only breakfast food
s
she knew how to make
were
scrambled eggs
and pancakes
, so she quic
kly started a fire in the stove
and set the frying pan on it, before whipping several eggs with milk.  There were
fresh eggs and milk on the work table, though she wasn’t sure where they’d come from. 
Did they have egg and milk delivery here?

She made a pot of coffee while the eggs and toast were cooking, hoping that he was
a coffee drinker.  She really had no idea of many of his personal habits, because
they’d known each other for such a short period of time.

She put
six
slices of bread into the oven to toast while she watched over the eggs.   They came
out fluffy and perfect, and she was buttering the toast when Wesley came in from outside. 
She poured him a cup of coffee and set it on the table for him.  Soon after, she had
both plates with eggs and toast on the table and sank into the chair opposite him. 
She was pleased with how the first meal she’d cooked for him had come out.

“Will you come home for lunch?” she asked softly as he was chewing his first bite
of eggs.
  She couldn’t decide if she wanted him home or not.  If he came home, she’d have
to cook for him and she had no idea what she’d fix.  If he didn’t, she’d be home alone
in the big house all day.

“I plan on it.  I’ll go to the mercantile and get you a chicken to fry before I go
to work this morning.  Fried chicken is one of my favorite foods.” 

“I can get it myself if you need me to.”
  She was willing to do anything to make his life easier and make him happy with her.

He shook his head.  “I have time, and I don’t think you’ve been to the mercantile
yet.  It would be good if you could go out and explore town a little in the afternoons
so you learn where everything is quickly.  It’s a small town, so it should be easy
to do.”

“I’ll do that.”
  Whether she wanted to or not, if it would make him happy, she would do it.

He finished his breakfast and pushed away from the table.  “Breakfast was good.” 
He didn’t say another word as he put his hat on his head and left the house. 

Within twenty minutes he was back with a whole chicken.  “Lunch” was all he said before
he
put it on the work table and
left for work for the day.

He hadn’t told her what time to have it ready, so she guessed noon would work.  Now,
how to cook a chicken?  She’d helped Ellen do it more times than she could count,
but never having done it herself, she wasn’t sure exactly what spices to use or even
how to cut up the chicken.  She stared down at it for a minute. 
What would he think if he came home to a raw chicken still lying on the work counter
while she was off reading a book?

She was suddenly inspired.  Maybe there were cookbooks somewhere.  She looked through
every corner of the kitchen and rushed down the hall to
the bedrooms.  There were no books at all, let alone any cookbooks.  Well
,
now what could she do?  She stood for a moment staring at the chicken again, wishing
she’d paid more attention when Ellen was cooking.

There was a knock at the front door, so Malinda hurried to open it. 
Please let it be someone who can cook
fried
chicken.
When she saw Ellen standing on her doorstep, she grabbed her arm and pulled her inside. 
“I’m so glad you’re here!”  She threw her arms around her older sister.  “He wants
me to make fried chicken for lunch, and I have no clue how to fry a chicken.  You
always did it at home.”
  She looked at Ellen expectantly.

“It’s good to be needed for something!”  Ellen wrinkled her nose as she looked around
the kitchen.  It was just then that Malinda realized she hadn’t done the breakfast
dishes yet.  For that matter, there were still a few dishes from the previous evening
she’d put in the sink but never washed.  “We need to start by getting the kitchen
cleaned.  I’ll wash and you dry.  So how are things going?”

“He hates me.  I told him I was sorry I asked for time before we consummated the marriage,
and he said if he was that repulsive to me, then he didn’t want to touch me.”
  She wrinkled her nose in distaste at the food stuck to the plates from dinner the
night before.  She really should have done them before going to bed.

“Well, let’s make him the best lunch he’s ever eaten, and you can beg his forgiveness.”

Malinda eyed her sister.  She knew she’d
made a mistake, but she didn’t
need her to rub it in.  “You think it’s all my fault, don’t you!”
  It was all her fault, but her sister definitely didn’t need to be telling her that! 
Shouldn’t she be on my side all the time?

Once they were done with the dishes, Ellen showed her how to cut up the chicken and
season it.  “Fried chicken is really very simple.  It’s a flour based coating and
we’ll just add a few spices to season it.  Are you going to make potatoes with it?”

Malinda hadn’t thought of that.  “I have to make something with it?”  How could she
be so stupid?  She knew they had to make something with it.  What was wrong with her?

“Where have you been all these years while we cooked together?  Have we ever served
only meat for a meal with no side dishes?”

Malinda wanted to throw something at Ellen, but was afraid her sister would leave
and stop helping her.  “I’ve been doing whatever you told me to do.  I’ve never really
planned a meal or done it on my own.  You were always there telling me what to do
every single step of the way.”
  Did Ellen really think she knew how to cook and be the perfect homemaker?

“I’m sorry.  I should have made sure you knew how to do more things around the house.”