A Problem Like Maria (Mint River Book 2) by Jade Behr & Blue Huxley

Author:Jade Behr & Blue Huxley [Behr, Jade & Huxley, Blue]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

President Grant’s Thanksgiving Day proclamation that all Americans should “meet in their respective places of worship and there make their acknowledgments to God for His kindness and bounty” had been printed in newspapers across the country.

So at noon the men gathered inside the ranch house and the women emerged from the kitchen, and while Mr. Hendricks preached on Divine Providence, Maria sat on a bench with nine children who were all so glad not to be sitting with their parents that they were not fidgeting much at all.

After the final chorus of amens, the noise level in the building rose abruptly and crowds of cowpunchers swarmed the tables of food. Maria rose and shook out her skirts, smiling inwardly at the feel of the velvet, and went to check that Baby Clara was still sleeping on the pallet on the floor of Stella’s bedroom.

“Can you get me some pie, Maria?” Maggie asked, when she returned.

“Of course; anything besides pie?”

“Mashed potatoes, and a biscuit,” Maggie instructed.

“And for you, Polly Mae?”

“The same,” Polly Mae said hopefully.

“And where will we rendezvous, when I have the goods?”

The girls looked around the crowded room.

“Let’s meet in the spare room,” Maria suggested. “Stella won’t mind if you girls sit on the floor in there.”

“You’re the best, Maria,” Polly Mae informed her with feeling.

“Of course she is,” Maggie retorted loyally. “Let’s tell Candace and Rebecca where we’re eating.”

The swarm was beginning to resemble a more orderly queue, and Maria found herself standing in line behind Ephraim Hale, who insisted that she move in front of him.

“Thank you! It’s good to see you again, Mr. Hale.”

“Ephraim. May I call you Maria?”

“Please do,” she invited.

“I couldn’t remember your last name, and Andrews said you went by Maria Karlovna, but not Miss Karlovna.”

“Karlovna is more like my middle name,” she explained. “But you should call me Maria.”

“I will, then. Quite a crush, isn’t it?”

“Yes, quite,” she laughed. “But knowing Mrs. Wright, there will be leftovers.”

“She seems like an extremely competent woman. Andrews said you know her from back home in Missouri.”

She was a little surprised that he and the captain had discussed her so thoroughly, but she said, “Yes, she and my grandmother were neighbors, and my grandmother sent me to visit her to keep me out of trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?” he asked with interest.

“Bank robbing,” she replied, and he laughed.

They had reached the food, and when she explained her errand he offered to fill a plate for her in addition to his own.

She would have preferred to dine with Luka Romanovich, but she doubted that he would seek her out, so she thanked Ephraim for his kindness, and a few minutes later was seated across from Ruth Hale, who gave her brother a highly annoyed look but said nothing.

Mr. Jonah Hale, she thought, seemed to like her well enough, and his wife spoke little but seemed on the whole improved from the first time Maria had met her. Ephraim was a good conversationalist and ignored the occasional quelling remark from his sister, and dinner passed pleasantly enough.

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