The Blacksmith's Mail Order Bride (Wild West Frontier Brides Book 5) by Cindy Caldwell

Author:Cindy Caldwell [Caldwell, Cindy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Prickly Pear Press
Published: 2016-09-04T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

The ride from the blacksmith shop to his house was short—he frequently walked to work—but it was enough time for his heartbeat to slow. Between telling his new wife that he expected no marital relations from her and staring down the barrel of a shotgun, the last hour had beaten even Sadie’s baby groans for nerve-racking.

They’d fallen silent on the ride and the thunder had ceased. The creaking of the buggy wheels was the only thing disturbing the peace of the night. He’d lit the lantern on the side of the buggy, although he could have made it home with the light of the moon now that the clouds had cleared. Better safe than sorry, he always said, so he’d done it anyway.

It could have been that he just didn’t want to rush home. He’d thought he had at least one more night to work on Ma. Even with his grandmother’s help—and cryptic threat—he had a sneaking suspicion that this may not be easy. If his mother hadn’t spoken to Will and Carol for these past months, it didn’t bode well for her accepting a complete stranger into her home so suddenly.

But what his grandmother had said confused him. He hadn’t had time to really think that one through. He’d been prepared, as a result of his decision, to move elsewhere but to hear his grandmother say that it would be his mother who would be unwelcome shook the ground under his feet. He and Will hadn’t even talked about it as they’d hurried to Sadie and Tripp’s, but what did that mean?

As a result of the conversation that he’d hurried out of between his grandmother and his mother—he hadn’t wanted to be late to meet with his new bride—he was unsure what he’d be walking into. As he approached the house, he snuck a glance out of the corner of his eye at Olivia and hoped that if it couldn’t be peaceful, at least it might be civil.

He wished he didn’t even need to be thinking about that. He’d been around her a fair amount, now, and the scent of vanilla floating on the breeze toward him was anything but unpleasant. When he’d seen her in the light of the lamps at Sadie’s house, she was almost unrecognizable. The time he’d spent laughing and talking with her before the tide turned before supper was most pleasant, and he was struck by her good nature, even after everything that had happened to her. He wanted to ask more about what had happened at the ranch, how it might have happened, but he’d wanted to hear her laugh more and thought it a conversation best left to another time.

Maybe in a few days she might want to go back to the ranch. He’d love to see it, see where she’d grown up, what she did—what was left of it, anyway—but was unsure she’d want to. Besides, it might be good for her to take some time to get to know his mother while he was at work.

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