Mail Order Mix Up (12 page)

She buttoned as many buttons as she could on her own and ran down the stairs to the
kitchen.  “Alice?”

Alice turned and immediately saw the problem.  She rushed around behind Ellen and
buttoned the rest of her buttons and then turned her around to study her.  “You look
beautiful.”

Ellen sighed with relief.  “Do you think Patrick will be pleased?”

Alice laughed.  “I think Patrick would be pleased with anything you wore, but he’ll
really like th
is
dress.  Did you make it yourself?”  She walked in a slow circle around Ellen inspecting
the dress from every angle. 

It was a long white dress with lace that came up to her chin.  It had a white satin
bodice and skirt, but was covered with lace and had lace over her arms. 

Ellen nodded.  “I did.  My sister helped.  We made our dresses together.  Malinda
is an excellent seamstress.”
  Her sister was better at making tiny stitches that looked good on formal dresses
than Ellen was.  Ellen was fast, but her stitches weren’t nearly as pretty.

“It’s wonderful.  You could make some money in a town like this with those skills. 
Of course, you don’t need the money, but your sister might be able to make some extra
to add to the sheriff’s salary.”

Ellen decided to bring that up to her sister when she had the chance.  It would relieve
Malinda’s mind to know there was something she could do to help her household’s finances
and maybe even support herself if anything ever happened to Wesley.

She went back up the stairs and put on her pretty white shoes she’d purchased just
for the wedding. They were uncomfortable and impractical, but she wanted to look just
right for her wedding day.  It was the only frivolous purchase she’d ever really made.

Once she was ready, she sat on the edge of her bed, and breathed slowly to calm her
nerves.  As thrilled as she was to be marrying Patrick, she was still nervous, wondering
how things would go once they were actually married.  Glancing at the clock on the
mantle, she saw it was quarter before nine.  He’d be there any minute to take her
and Malinda to the wedding.

She slowly walked down the stairs and saw him waiting at the foot.  He was wearing
a black suit and looked more handsome than she’d ever seen him.  She smiled at him,
not noticing that Wesley was standing right beside him, because she had eyes only
for Patrick. 

“Is your sister coming?” Patrick asked after kissing her hand.

She nodded.  “She’s getting her hair fixed.”

They heard a door at the top of the stairs open, and she watched with the others as
her sister came down the stairs.  She looked like a princess in her beautiful white
gown.  Ellen hoped Wesley and Malinda would be able to sort things out in time to
have a double wedding.

They all went to the buggy and she sat in the front with Patrick as she had when
the men had
first picked them up in Denver.  It seemed like months since they’d stepped off the
train instead of the four days it had actually been. 

She could hear Malinda and Wesley talking in the back, but she couldn’t make out their
words.  When they reached the small church, Patrick put his hands on Ellen’s waist
and lifted her down, making her feel as if she weighed nothing.  Wesley helped Malinda
down and kept his hand at the small of her back as he led her to the others.  He looked
annoyed, so Ellen assumed they’d decided not to marry right away.

“We’re going to get married as well, and make it a double wedding,” Wesley said his
tone biting.

Ellen looked at Malinda, but her sister avoided her gaze.  She probably didn’t want
to know what their little fight was about anyway. 

The two couples walked into the church together, and Ellen was surprised to see the
number of people waiting for them.  She’d expected a quiet ceremony with just the
preacher, but there were at least fifty people there filling the pews.   She and Malinda
waited at the back of the church while the men took their places and walked to the
front arm in arm. 
“Best wishes,” Ellen whispered in Malinda’s ear.
They hugged one another before going to stand with their respective men. 

The ceremony was brief, but the preacher seemed kind.  He was an older man, around
sixty, with silver hair. 

Ellen was surprised at how steady her voice was as she repeated her vows.  She was
agreeing to spend the rest of her life with a man she’d known f
or only a few days, and felt no
conflict for doing it.  She stared into Patrick’s eyes as she promised to love, honor
and obey him for the rest of her life.

Patrick held both of her hands in his as he repeated the vows back to her. 
His warm brown eyes made her feel as if she could sink into them.

When it was time for Malinda and Wesley to repeat their vows, she stood with her back
to Patrick’s front and listened to them.  Malinda sounded almost frightened, and Ellen
felt as if she’d done something wrong to ask her to speed up the wedding.
 

When they finished their vows, she turned back around to face Patrick.  The minister
pronounced them men and wives and invited them to all kiss.  Ellen felt shy about
kissing Patrick in front of the people watching, but she raised her lips to his. 
He kept the kiss brief, but sweet, and then she was facing the onlookers.

They were immediately flooded with well-wishers, and Ellen was introduced to more
people than she cared to count.  Patrick kept his arm firmly around her waist, and
she was thrilled by that.  It was much easier to face meeting all those new people
knowing that he supported her. 

During a lull in the crowd, she turned her head to look at Malinda.  Her sister looked
miserable. 
What on Earth happened between them?

Patrick caught her look and turned to her with one eyebrow raised.  His lips were
against her ear as he asked, “What happened?”

She shook her head as the next people came to meet her.

Malinda and Wesley rode with them back to Patrick’s house for their wedding lunch,
and several of the people who had been at the wedding joined them as well.  Ellen
hadn’t expected so many people and hoped Alice had anticipated this type of crowd. 
Once she was in the house, she knew the older woman had done her job to perfection.

There were several extra maids on hand to help serve, and she was thrilled with the
turnout as she took her seat on Patrick’s right hand side.  Wesley sat at the foot
of the table with Malinda to his right, although the two seemed to be avoiding looking
at one another.

The house had been decorated with flower bouquets strewn everywhere.  The hall simply
exploded with color, and the dining room had bowls of roses in pinks reds and whites
throughout.  
The quality of the meal served amazed Ellen, because there had been so little time
to prepare.  There was an excellent vegetable filled chicken soup with a rich broth,
followed by
baked fish with au gratin potatoes.  For dessert was the huge wedding cake. 

Once the meal was over, Ellen talked to various people she’d met, always anchored
to Patrick’s side by his arm around her waist.  She saw that Wesley and Malinda were
standing apart and not even speaking with the same group of people.

It was late afternoon before the guests cleared out, leaving only the two newlywed
couples in the big house, along with a small army of servants who were clearing up
the mess made by the group.  Ellen turned to Patrick.  “Would you excuse me for a
moment?”

Patrick nodded, though he removed his arm from around her waist with obvious reluctance. 
She went back to the kitchen and surprised Alice with a big hug.  “Thank you so much
for making everything so perfect.  It was so much more than I ever dreamed it could
be!”

Alice returned the hug with a grin.  “I’m glad you enjoyed everything.”

“I can’t believe you were able to do so much in so little time.”
  Ellen truly was thrilled with the work the older woman had done. 

“I’m just doing my job.”

“You do so much more than your job!”  Ellen turned toward the door.  “I have to get
back, but I needed you to know how much I appreciate everything you did to make today
special.”

She walked out to the dining room and saw the other couple was still there.  “Do you
need some help packing your things, Malinda?”  She could see her sister needed to
talk, but she wasn’t sure how to get her alone.

Malinda nodded slowly and they went up the stairs to the room she’d used for the past
few days.  “He’s mad at me,” Malinda said as soon as they’d shut the door behind them.

“I can see that.  What happened between you two?”

“He’s mad that I suggested we wait to have our wedding night.”
  Malinda turned away as she started putting her things into the trunk they’d brought
with them from Massachusetts.

“Well, of course, he is!  I told you not to do that.  What exactly did he say?”
  Ellen wanted to yell at her sister.  What had she been thinking to even bring up
the topic?

Malinda shook her head as the tears squeezed out of her eyes.  “I’d rather not even
say.  He was really ugly
about it
.”

Ellen sighed as she
helped
gather up Malinda’s clothes and carefully packed them into the trunk.  “You need to
do what you can to fix the situation as soon as you get to his house.”

Malinda shrugged, but didn’t say anything. 

Ellen wanted to shake some sense into her little sister but knew it wouldn’t do any
good.  Malinda was one of the most headstrong people she’d ever met, and once she’d
made up her mind, there was no going back.

Once the trunk was packed, she looked at Malinda one last time.  “Are you going to
be okay?”

“Sure.”

Ellen shook her head and walked to the door, calling down that they needed help getting
the trunk.

Both of the men went up the stairs and carried it out leaving the sisters alone again. 
Ellen looked at her sister and hugged her tightly.  “We’ve never lived apart.  This
is going to be strange.  We need to make sure we see each other often.”

Malinda nodded, the tears still threatening.  “I’m going to miss you so much!”

“You’ll only live a
fifteen
minute walk away.  We can see each other every day if we want to.”

They walked down the stairs to the front door, and once the trunk was loaded into
the buggy, Wesley drove them both home.  “I’ll return the buggy and horse tomorrow.”
  He stared straight ahead as he said he words, not willing to look at his brother,
because it would mean seeing Malinda.

Patrick nodded, watching them drive away with a contemplative look on his face.  “What
happened between them?”

“Malinda said something stupid and I think she hurt Wesley’s feelings.”  She sighed. 
“We have to let them figure it out for themselves.”

He looked at the clock and saw that it was only five in the evening.  “Are you hungry?”

She swallowed hard, suddenly nervous now that they were home alone for the first time. 
“A little.”  They went to the kitchen and found a small casserole left to warm in
the oven.  “Your staff is amazing.”

“Our staff.  Our home.  Our lives.”
  Patrick smiled as he said the words, thrilled that he could finally say them to
her.

She smiled and nodded.  “I love that.”  She took a towel and removed the hot dish
from the oven and pulled down plates from the cupboard.  She set the table in the
kitchen and fixed their plates for their first meal alone together. 

They ate slowly without saying much.  She couldn’t stop worrying about her sister. 
She just hoped she did the right thing and was able to fix things with her husband.

She stood up to do the dishes after they finished eating, but he stopped her.  “We’ll
just put them in the sink for Alice to do
on Monday
.”

She looked at him in shock.  “I can’t just put the dishes in the sink!  They’ll only
take a minute.”
  She’d never left dishes overnight in her life. 

He stilled her hands when she went to fill the sink with water.  “They’ll keep.”

She sighed.  “At least let me soak them so they’ll be easier to clean.”

He just leaned against the counter watching her, his dark eyes filled with heat. 
When she was finished, he took her hand and led her out to the back porch, and they
settled on the swing.  “This is my favorite place in your house.  And my favorite
time of day.  I love sitting out here with you.”

“Our house,” he reminded her as he dropped a kiss on top of her head. 

She leaned back against him happily, staring out at the quiet garden.  “I’m so glad
we decided not to wait any longer.”
  Even though it had obviously made Malinda very unhappy.

He ran his hand up and down her arm.  “I am too.  And not just because I couldn’t
handle another night in that lumpy bed.”

She stifled a yawn.  She’d gotten up earlier than usual that morning to get ready
for the wedding and make sure everything was going right in the kitchen.  “It’s only
seven-thirty
and I’m already tired.”