An Unexpected Mail Order Bride by Blythe Carver

Author:Blythe Carver
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BCP

15

The first thing the boys did when they arrived the creek was strip to their shorts and jump in. They splashed about, yelling and laughing while the adults set up blankets on the shore, placing baskets of food and canteens of drink all around the blankets to keep them in place.

There wasn’t a strong wind. In fact, the light breeze Theresa felt against her neck was quite comforting.

Theresa had never seen such a peaceful-looking place in her life. She watched as Aileen went to the edge of the water, taking off her shoes and putting her stocking feet in. She reacted as if it was ice, making the children in the water laugh.

“It’s warm, Miss Aileen.” Bo, who had quickly left his horse behind to play in the creek, called out to her.

Theresa was amazed at how quickly the children took to Aileen. It was as if they knew she was a safe and loving person to go to without even knowing her at all. She had a way about her. It was wonderful, and Theresa looked forward to Aileen taking care of her own children. One thing would be different, though. Aileen wouldn’t be their only caregiver. She planned to take her children in hand and raise them up right. Letting someone else do it wasn’t the way to be a good parent, in her opinion. She admired that Annie and Melissa were there for the children all day and night. That’s how she wanted to be with her own.

Nate decided he wanted to swim, too, and his sister encouraged him.

“It’s been ages since you’ve played with your sons here in the creek,” she said happily. “Go on out and have fun. You know you want to.”

“I do, as a matter of fact.” Nate took off his shirt under which he had another, just a thin white shirt with no sleeves. He ran out to the water, pulling his boots off and hopping along the way. He was calling out to his sons, telling them to beware, and they were screaming, splashing as if they were afraid of him. The smiles on their faces, however, gave away how they really felt.

Theresa watched with a full heart. “He loves those boys.”

“He does.” It was Melissa who answered.

Theresa detected a note of sadness in her tone and tore her eyes away from Nate to look at her.

She returned Theresa’s gaze. “He was really destroyed when Helen left almost two years ago, you see. Did he tell you about that?”

“It wasn’t mentioned in his letter,” Theresa said, shaking her head. “And I haven’t asked him about it. We didn’t talk about her last night at dinner, and other than that, we have only seen him here today. I don’t want to bring up something that might hurt him. I felt he would tell me in his own time when he was ready.”

Melissa nodded, swerving her eyes back to where her brother was tossing water over the heads of the children surrounding him.

“I have to thank you, though,” Melissa continued.

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