The Mistaken Mail Order Bride (15 page)

“Ida’s not nice,” Caleb said.

Her eyebrows furrowed. Caleb had said so
little up to now she hadn’t expected him to say something like
this. She thought maybe when he felt comfortable with her, he’d
tell her something about his past. But instead, he’d chosen this
time to speak up.

Then she recalled the day Ida came over and
how Caleb wouldn’t eat one of her cookies. “Caleb,” she began, “did
you know Ida was bad when she was here?”

He nodded.

“How?” she asked. Because she’d believed Ida
was nice. Nothing had warned her to be wary of her.

“Don’t know,” he said. “Just did.”

“What about Abe and Phoebe? What did you
think of them?”

“They’re nice.”

He’d had no trouble eating Phoebe’s cookies,
she recalled. “Well, you have a wonderful gift,” she told him. “I
wish I knew who I could trust. It’d make life a lot easier.”

“You’re nice,” Caleb said. “Eric’s nice,
too.”

This time when her eyes brimmed with tears,
it was for a pleasant reason. She wrapped him in her arms and gave
him a long hug. Usually, he wouldn’t hug her back, but today, he
put his arms around her and returned her hug.

“You’re such a sweet boy,” she whispered.
“Eric and I will do everything we can to give you a good life. I
promise.”

He didn’t respond, but then, he didn’t need
to. He’d already done so much for her. Of all the things that had
happened since she got here, this was one of the nicest ones, and
it’d happened in a way she’d least expected.

Chapter Twelve

W
hen Eric came home, he found Caroline at the cookstove, the
pot boiling over and smoke billowing up to the ceiling. She was
trying to pick up the pot with the edges of her sleeves, but this,
of course, wasn’t working very well.

Leaving the door open, he ran over to her
and took the dishtowels off the hook. “I got it,” he told her.

She stepped away from him and allowed him to
take the pot off the cookstove for her. He dumped it into the sink
then ran over to the window and waved the smoke toward it. She
hurried over to the door and shut it. She collapsed, her back
pressed against it. Her face was bright red, and sweat made the
strands of hair that had fallen out of her bun cling to her
neck.

Once the smoke dissipated enough so he
didn’t keep coughing, he went over to her, noting the embarrassed
expression on her face.

“I thought you were going to wait until we
went to Phoebe’s tomorrow before attempting to cook anything,” he
said, making sure he used a gentle tone so as not to embarrass her
further.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead, her
gaze lowering to the floor. “I know, but I’d already watched you
make soup and thought maybe this time I could do it.”

“This time?”

“I wasn’t successful with it back in South
Carolina, either,” she admitted.

Despite the situation, he chuckled. “In that
case, why don’t I make the soup? You can do everything else. That
is, unless there’s something else you’ve been known to burn in the
past.” He said the last part as a joke to let her know he wasn’t
upset by the mishap.

As he hoped, her lips curled up into a shy
smile. “I haven’t attempted anything but soup. I don’t know what
will happen when I do something else.”

He took her hand and led her over to the
couch. Glancing around, he noticed the door to Caleb’s room was
closed. “Is he taking a nap?”

“Yes. I thought I’d take the time to try
cooking something while he wasn’t around to see it.” She shrugged.
“In case it didn’t work.”

He urged her to sit on the couch next to him
and put his arm around her shoulders. “What started this whole
thing? You know I don’t mind cooking until you learn, and even
then, I don’t mind making meals from time to time.”

“I know. You’ve been very kind to me.”

“So why did you try to make soup?”

She let out a heavy sigh and adjusted the
skirt so it spread out neatly around her legs. “Remember what I
told you about Ida Conner coming here for a visit?”

He nodded.

“Well,” she cleared her throat, “as it turns
out, the visit wasn’t as pleasant as I thought it’d been.”

“Why not? Did she say something to you when
she was here?”

“No. She was very nice the entire time she
was here. It was what happened after she was here that’s the
problem.”

“What happened?”

“She’s telling people all about her visit
over here, but she’s adding things I never said.”

“Like what?” he coaxed.

“Oh, she’s saying things like I expect you
to wait on me as if you were one of my slaves. She thinks that’s
why I let you do the cooking. I told her I was going to learn, and
you’ve done me a great kindness in making the meals.” She turned
her eyes toward him, her expression pleading with him to tell her
the truth, even if she wouldn’t like it. “You don’t think I expect
you to do the cooking, do you?”

“
Of course not,” he assured
her. “I don’t feel like I have to do anything around here I don’t
want to do. It’s just going to take you time to adjust to your new
life, that’s all.”

“Because I’m too stupid to adapt
quickly?”

“No.” Where was this coming from? He’d never
once said she was stupid. He hadn’t even thought it. “Why would you
call yourself stupid?”

“I did get off at the wrong town, and then I
burned something as simple as soup.” She gestured to the cookstove.
“And soup is supposed to be one of the easiest things a person can
make.”

“I don’t think you’re stupid. I think you
just made some mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes.”

“Like you did when you married me?”

His eyes grew wide. Was Ida saying that,
too?

“They’re calling me your mistaken mail order
bride,” she said, looking down at her hands which were folded in
her lap. “And they’re right. You were supposed to be with Allison,
and I was supposed to be with Charles.”

“Allison didn’t show up. Are they calling
her my no-show mail-order bride?”

“I haven’t heard anyone mention her.”

Of course, Ida hadn’t. There wasn’t enough
juicy gossip for her to sink her teeth into over that one! No, Ida
had chosen another angle. He should have known something was up
when Caroline told him Ida came by. It only went to prove how
gullible he was when he assumed Ida had a genuine desire to welcome
Caroline to the town.

Now all those stares and snickers he’d
noticed made sense. The townsfolk were busy making up all kinds of
lies about his marriage, and none of it was flattering his wife.
She was such a sweet, trusting soul. The war hadn’t hardened her as
it might have hardened other women. In fact, the war had made her
more compassionate. It was probably why she felt compelled to take
an orphan under her wing.

“
Caroline,” he began as he
took one of her hands in his, “I don’t agree with what Ida’s
saying. I think you’re a wonderful wife. Remember when I said
everything happened for a reason?”

Her eyes met his, and he detected a spark of
hope in them. Maybe she needed to hear him reassure her that he
didn’t regret how things turned out. And he didn’t. He certainly
didn’t mind telling her that if that’s what she needed to hear.

He brushed her cheek with his free hand. “I
don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in fate. I think those
stagecoach drivers let you off here in this town because this is
where you’re supposed to be. I believe I was there that day waiting
for Allison because I was supposed to be there when you arrived.
Just as you were there when Caleb needed an understanding and kind
woman to give him a home. It all happened because it’s meant to
be.”

A tear slid down her cheek, so he leaned
forward and kissed it away. “I know this is easier said than done,
but try not to let what Ida’s saying bother you. It doesn’t matter
what she thinks. What matters is what we think.”

“I know. People will think whatever they
want, and there’s nothing I can do to change it. I learned that
when the Union soldiers came. I know some people in the North had
an unfavorable view of people in the South.”

“People like yourself?” he softly asked.

“Not all of us were the way they made us out
to be. In some ways, the slaves were like family, especially after
the war devastated our land. I didn’t see them as being beneath me
like the Union soldiers thought.”

“Like you don’t think I’m beneath you even
though Ida thinks you do?” he guessed.

She nodded. “One of the slaves…Bee…took care
of me and a couple of my friends after the war. Her sons protected
us. Some people couldn’t understand why they stayed and helped
us.”

Her eyes filled with tears, so she took out
a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped her eyes.

“Bee said she’d been there when I was born,
had watched me grow up with my friends, and felt as if we were a
part of her family,” she continued. “She told them it wasn’t the
color of a person’s skin that connected people. It was how they
cared for one another.” She took a deep breath and continued,
“After my parents and brother died, she took over as my mother, and
her sons treated me as their sister.”

“What happened to your parents and
brother?”

“My father and brother joined the war. They
thought the war would be over quickly, and never in my wildest
dreams did I think they’d die. My brother was shot in the field. My
father lost his leg. He soon came down with an infection, and
shortly after that, he died.”

“And your mother?” he whispered.

Again, she had to wipe the tears away.
“Union soldiers came. They wanted our food, and when they saw me,
they wanted to—”

Her voice choked, and he pulled her into his
arms. He rubbed her back. They hadn’t taken advantage of her. That
much he knew because she’d been a virgin on their wedding night.
“Your mother stopped them before they could touch you,” he said for
her.

“And paid for it with her life,” she added.
Though her voice was soft, there were tears in her voice.

“I’m sorry, Caroline.”

It seemed to him the world was full of
injustice, whether it was the slaves he’d helped to free, or Abe
who’d been an outcast in this town for reasons he had no control
over, or Caroline who’d had to grow up much too fast because of a
war she didn’t ask for, or Caleb who seemed to come out of
nowhere.

Well, he didn’t become a sheriff so he could
sit by and let people make things worse for those who’d already
suffered enough. He came here to make a difference. And he’d do it
no matter what it took.

“I’m going to have a talk with Ida,” he told
Caroline. “I’m not going to let her go around telling people things
about you that aren’t true.” It was enough the woman felt the need
to blab the details of the stagecoach dropping Caroline off that
day. She didn’t need to be distorting things on top of it.

“I’ve dealt with people like Ida before,”
Caroline said as she pulled away from him. She brushed a few
strands of hair out of her eyes, and he couldn’t help but notice
her face wasn’t quite so flushed anymore. “I should have known what
I was dealing with when she came here, especially when Caleb
wouldn’t eat one of her cookies.”

“I thought we decided Caleb didn’t like
cookies.”

“He does like them. He ate the ones Phoebe
made.”

Eric’s eyebrows furrowed. “He did?”

“In all the excitement of the day, I forgot
to tell you. But that’s not important. What is important is that
Caleb didn’t eat Ida’s cookies because he didn’t trust her. I asked
him how he knew, and he couldn’t explain it. He said he just knew
she was bad. I think he’s an unusually perceptive child.”

“It certainly seems like it.” He offered her
a smile. “He came all the way up here with you. I’d say that proves
you’re not the kind of person Ida’s making you out to be.”

“I thought of that while I was making the
soup.”

“And?”

“And it made me feel better about
everything.”

“Good.” He kissed her. “Now, I have to teach
Ida a lesson. I think she’s spread enough rumors.”

He hadn’t realized just how harmful rumors
could be until today, but he was going to put a stop to this
nonsense.

“What are you going to do?” Caroline asked
as he rose to his feet.

“I’m not sure yet, but when I do, I’ll let
you know.” Noting the confusion on her face, he gave her another
kiss. “Don’t make any more soup while I’m away,” he teased.

As he hoped, she chuckled. “I don’t think
there’s any danger of that.”

“We’ll have sandwiches tonight. It’s nothing
fancy, but it’ll do the job.”

“I think I might be able to handle
those.”

“I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we make them
together?”

Returning his smile, she agreed.