Not Quite A Mail Order Bride (Mail Order Brides) (6 page)

She started the coffee brewing and sat in one of the kitchen after asking if there was anything else she could do. Jimmy came over and held out his arms, asking to be picked up. Martha obliged and was sitting there rocking him back and forth and Jimmy had fallen asleep in her arms.

“Would you look at that?” Luke said as he strode into the room after doing some chores in the barn. “He seems to have taken a shine to you.”

Martha said, “He’s a nice little boy, You have two fine boys, Luke.”

“Ah, I see the coffee is ready. Thank you, Hetty,” Luke said.

“Thank Miss Martha. She made the coffee,” Hetty replied.

“Well, thank you Martha for the coffee,” said a smiling Luke.

“I looked outside. It looks as if we had nearly a foot of snow last night. Will the road be passable this morning?” she asked.

“It should be. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it where you couldn’t get through. I’ll check it out before you give it a try though.” He said.

Martha asked Hetty. “Are you about ready for the children?”

“I will be by the time they get in here,” she said. She had several pans on the stove, with eggs, potatoes and slabs of bacon cooking.

“I’ll go get them stirring”. She stood, and asked, “Where should I deposit Jimmy?”

“Here, I’ll take him,” Luke said. He stood and moved to slide his hands under the sleeping little boy. His hands brushed across the fabric covering her breasts. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“What is it with you that you feel a necessity to apologize for everything,?” Martha asked.

He had no answer for her.

As the children finished, the first of their parents arrived to take them home. Jake Vintner was one of the last to arrive. “I thankee for taking care of my boy yesterday. I surely do appreciate it. Hidee do, Miss Martha. Clayton’s been telling me how much he likes your teaching.”

“Why thank you, Mr Vintner. He’s doing really well in class.” Jake Vintner beamed. “Come on, boy. Let’s get on home. We have to see to the stock.”

“Well done, he can be a real pain sometimes,” said Luke.

“He just wants the best for his son and so do I, so we have common ground. I think his wife must have passed away,” Martha said.

“Life out here is hard for a woman. If a husband is to make a go at ranching, his wife has to run the household, do the garden and help out with some of the other chores,” Luke replied. “ I like this woman,” he thought to himself. “If it weren’t for Clara…”

“Sarah and Jed make it work,” she said.

“Clara and I made it work until she was killed. Since we were able to hire help for the house and kids, and hands to help with the ranching, life is easier. Most of the smaller ranchers don’t have that resource, so they have to do all the work by themselves.”

“I agree with you on the resource bit, but if the man and woman love and care for each other, that makes all of the hard work worthwhile. The hard part comes trying to find the right person. Both you and Jed were lucky enough to find the right person on your first try. I hope I am so lucky,” she said wistfully.

A knock at the door interrupted the conversation. It was the parent of the last child to be picked up. Luke talked with them while Martha fetched the little girl.

After the girl and her parents left, Martha said, “It seems as if the trails are okay. I’m going to go on home. Since tomorrow is Saturday, I’ll be ready for class on Monday. I’ll get my things.” She turned to leave.

“Martha?” Luke said.

“Yes?”

“I’ll hitch up your buggy. You have gloves and a cap I guess? If not, there are some here you can use,” he said.

“That’s okay, but I’m good. Thank you for the offer. It was thoughtful of you,” she answered.

After getting her things together, she went through the kitchen door. Luke had the buggy waiting for her. It was cold and her breath was visible as she exhaled. Fortunately, there was no wind. Luke put his hand on her elbow to help her into the buggy. “Don’t take any chances, Martha. If the trail is drifted over, don’t try to go through it. Come back and wait until the sun has been out for a while and melts it down.”

“I will, and thank you again. The hospitality was appreciated.” She flicked the reins, the buggy jerked and she was on her way.

* * *

When she arrived home, she unhitched the buggy, rubbed the horse down and put him in a stall. She gave him water and fresh hay, gathered her things and went into the house. There was no one in the kitchen so she went on into her room. While she was putting things away, Sarah came into the room. “Well, how did you like your first taste of a Wyoming winter?”

“It was an adventure,” Martha replied. “The wind was blowing so hard it was almost a white-out. Luke took all of us to his house, fed us and put us up for the night. The children enjoyed it. Luke tried to get me to stay, but you know stubborn me, I started home, but it was so bad, I decided I had better not try and so I joined the refugees.”

“Did you and Luke have a chance to talk?” Sarah asked.

“After the children went to bed, we sat and talked about the classes, Jake Vintner and such.”

Sarah asked, “Did anything happen?”

“He is the most frustrating man I’ve seen. Every time he touches my shoulder or hand or whatever, he apologizes. When I started to go to my room, he kissed me. It really surprised me. He immediately started to apologize, but I told him if he did, I was going to hit him. I realize he and Clara had something very special, but she has been gone over six months. He hasn’t moved any of her things. It’s as if he thinks she is coming back. He’s really close to his boys. Will is a special little boy, polite and quite intelligent. I just adore Jimmy. He climbed into my lap at the breakfast table this morning. He was still there when Luke came in from his chores in the bar..

I wasn’t going to say anything to you yet, but I put an ad in The Matrimonial News. When we picked up the mail the other day, I had my first response, Based on the description, it wasn’t somebody I would consider.”

“I had several letters after my ad, but Jed’s letter just appealed to me,” Sarah said. “The thoughtfulness he showed touched me. I knew he was the right one.”

Jed was in the barn mending some worn harnesses when Luke rode up. “Morning neighbor. What brings you out this cold morning?” he asked.

“I was getting cabin fever and needed to get out,” Luke answered. “I spent the morning mending harness, and my horse needed the exercise. What’s going on over here?”

“I had some rust on a harrow, and some plows that need sharpening. Just odds and ends that you save for when you have nothing else to do.
Martha was telling me about all of your guests the other night. It must have been a noisy evening.”

“Actually, they were quite well behaved. Hetty took good care of them and Will and Jimmy enjoyed having the company.”

“We appreciate you taking Martha in,” Jed said. “We were concerned about her trying to make it home.”

“By the time she started, it was really howling, staying was the smart thing to do,” Luke replied.

“Did you know she has placed an ad in The Matrimonial News?”

Luke was surprised. “No, she never mentioned it, but then I guess I wouldn’t have expected her to tell me about it.”

“This is embarrassing. I wonder what do she would think if I asked her if I could court her?” Luke asked.

“Why is it embarrassing. Both of you have lost a spouse,” Jed said. She wants a husband, you need a wife and your boys could use a mother. I’m sure they love Hetty, but it isn’t the same. Hetty has her own family.”

“I’m probably too old for her,” Luke thought aloud.

“Do you think you are? There’s six, maybe seven years in your ages. Do you think that’s too big a difference? I don’t, but you are the only one that can decide. You know her sister, you’ve met her parents. You knew nothing about Clara when you met her.” Jed saw Luke’s face change when he mentioned Clara’s name. “Luke, Clara has been gone over six months. Do you think she would want or expect you to stay unmarried? The Clara I knew would not.

Martha’s husband has been gone about a month longer than Clara. She has her sister as a post to lean on. You don’t have anyone. I’ll tell you one thing, if you don’t ask her someone else will and you will lose a fine woman. To paraphrase the Bible, if you don’t ask, you won’t receive. You’ve heard enough of my lectures for today. Why don’t you come in for a cup of coffee?” Jed led the way into the kitchen, where Sarah was working on dinner. She poured them a cup of coffee, they exchanged pleasantries and he and Jed went into the living room. Martha was sitting in the chair by the window, using the bright light from the nice day outside. She laid the book and the papers in her hands on the table beside her.

“Hello, Luke. Have a seat. I was just finishing up some lessons for next week. Quite a difference in the weather today compared to yesterday, huh?” she asked

“It certainly is,” he said. “That one caught us by surprise. The first storm of the season doesn’t usually come along for another month. I hope it isn’t an omen of things to come.”

She said, “I do too. I usually don’t mind winter, but I like to have enough time to get prepared. It seemed like we had warnings of what was to come back in New York, but I guess that’s just a matter of being in a familiar place.”

Jed stood and said, “I’m going to try to sniff out what we’re having for dinner. Martha, can I get you anything? Luke, more coffee?” Both shook their heads and he left the room.

“Would you mind… I mean would you like… Look at me. I’m acting like one of your students,” he said.

“What is it, Luke,” she asked softly, looking him directly in the eye.

Luke was stuck for a minute. He looked into her dark brown eyes, and felt as if he could lose himself in them. With her long, shiny brown hair framing her face, he became very aware, this was a beautiful woman sitting here. “Martha, the Laramie Cattlemen’s Association is having its annual dance next Saturday. Would you like to go with me?” A relieved look crossed his face now that he said it.

“Why, I would love to,” she said, her eyes sparkling. Her smile lit the room. “I can’t even remember the last time I went dancing. I think it will be fun and thank you so much for asking me.”

“I look forward to it, then,” he said. “I guess I’d better be getting home. I didn’t tell anyone where I was going and the boys get anxious.”

She also stood and moved over and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you,” she said simply.

They went into the kitchen together. “I’ve got to be going,” Luke told Sarah, thanks for the coffee.”

“Anytime, you know you’re always welcome here.” He pulled on his coat, and pulled the door closed behind him.

Sarah turned to her sister, who had a pleased look on her face. “Well, don’t you look like the cat who just ate the canary. Come on, tell me all about it.”

Martha smiled and told her sister, “He asked me to the Cattlemen’s Association dance next Saturday.”

“Yes,” said Sarah enthusiastically. “I thought for sure I was going to have to do something.” Jed was sitting at the table watching the sisters. He had a smug look on his face, but no one noticed.

He took his wife by the hand and asked, “Would you do me the honor of allowing me to escort you to the dance, milady?”

“I thought you would never ask,” his lovely wife said. “Why don’t we all plan to stay the night at the hotel? Mattie will be fine with John Lucas and Sarah Catherine.

Should we tell Luke our plans? He might want to do the same, then we could all go to church Sunday morning.”

That sounds like a plan to me. I’ll get word to Luke. It will be nice to stay in the new hotel, I hear they have water in very room. I just hope space isn’t a problem. We’ll need two rooms and Luke would need one.”

Luke agreed the idea of staying in Laramie overnight following the dance was best, however, he decided to leave his boys at the ranch with Hetty.