A Bride for Tom (7 page)

She glanced at Jenny as they got down from
their horses. “Do farmers live in this kind of house?”

“Most of them do, but we have one made of
lumber.”

“Tom still lives with you...at your parents’
home, right?”

“Yes, but he’s talking about getting his own
home before December.” She laughed. “He’d better get a move on it
though. It’s already the second of October.” Jenny took Jessica’s
horse’s reins. “I’ll take care of him. Why don’t you go into the
house and get things ready.”

“Is Tom going to have a sod house?”

“Yes. He can’t afford to make one out of
wood,” Jenny said. “He’s been holding off on getting his own home
because he isn’t married yet, but with the way Joel bothers him, I
think he’s itching to get out on his own.”

Jessica watched as Jenny took the horses to
the pasture behind the barn. She tried to visualize herself living
in a sod house. Peter had already set out a cute little home in
town. How much different would her life be if she were to marry Tom
instead? She rolled her eyes. Tom gave her one kiss and she was
thinking of marriage? It was ridiculous. Who knew what his motives
were or even if it would work out between them?

She slowly made her way to the sod house and
opened the door. It was small. She only saw enough room for a bed
and a small cookstove with two shelves along the wall. Would this
be something she could get used to? But as she thought about it,
the sod house didn’t look so bad. It didn’t come with a man who did
his mother’s bidding all the time. Or would it? Just what was Tom’s
relationship to his parents like? There were so many things to
consider in this whole thing.

Well, there was nothing to consider until she
talked to Tom, and she decided she would talk to him before the day
was over because this cycle of wondering was going to drive her
insane.

Chapter Ten

“Hey, Tom,” Neil began as he, Tom, and Jimmy
walked back to their horses after having a light lunch, “are you
courting Jessica?”

I wish.
“No,” Tom replied. “She’s
engaged to Peter what’s-his-name.”

“You mean, Connie James’ son?” Jimmy
asked.

“That’s the one. Peter James is his name,”
Tom said. He followed the other two to the barn and got his horse
out of one of the stalls. “Neil, you seem to take better care of
this barn than you do your own house.”

Neil shrugged as he gathered his bridle to
put on his steed. “I just sleep there.”

Jimmy looked at Neil. “You do take good care
of this barn. Why don’t you take care of your fence the same
way?”

Neil groaned. “I’m getting to that. Right now
I’ve been putting all my time into the harvest. That takes a full
day, you know.”

“I do know, but we just lost half the day in
chasing down your cattle.”

“I’ll check the rest of the fence for any
more tears, but that means I won’t be coming out to your place
tomorrow until the afternoon.”

“It’s worth it.”

While the two rambled on, Tom glanced over
his shoulder and saw Jessica and Jenny laughing as they sat on
their horses. For a moment—just a moment—he imagined what it would
be like if Jessica was always with them, helping the other women
make food for the men during the harvest, always giving him kisses
on the cheek, always being by his side... He sighed. Okay. So he
got it. She hadn’t been making him the butt of a joke when he went
to see her a couple days ago. He understood that now. But why was
she here? Didn’t Peter even care that she was gone?

“You have to get on the horse before you can
ride out of here,” Jimmy told Tom.

Tom turned his attention to his stallion and
got into the saddle. “I’m coming.” He urged the horse forward and
followed them out of the barn.

To his surprise, Jessica waited for him while
Jenny rode ahead with Jimmy and Neil. Jessica rode beside him. “I
enjoyed watching you out there.”

He glanced at her. “Really?” What was so
special about watching him round up cattle?

She smiled. “I guess it was nice to get a
look at what you do.”

“Oh, I don’t do that all the time. Most of
the time, I’m in the fields, except in winter when there’s nothing
going on.”

“Well, then what do you do during the winter
months?”

“Mostly stay inside and keep warm, though if
there’s something that needs fixing around the house, that’s the
time to do it. Of course, the animals always need to be cared
for.”

“That sounds good.”

He nodded, not sure what he could add to the
conversation. For some reason, the actual day-to-day activities
seemed more interesting when he was doing them instead of talking
about them. Finally, he asked, “Is your mother really alright with
you being out here?”

“I told her that I needed to apologize to
you. I don’t know what I did or said that gave you the impression
that I had Peter or Margaret hiding somewhere when you came over,
but I am sorry.”

His face grew warm from embarrassment. “You
don’t need to apologize.”

“Is that why you kissed me? Because you
thought I had them over?”

“Well, I thought that if Peter was there, he
wouldn’t keep hiding if another man kissed you. I mean, I know I
wouldn’t if I were him.”

“So, if you didn’t think he was there, then
you wouldn’t have kissed me?”

He laughed, more from the touchy topic than
from amusement. One bad thing about being out of earshot of
everyone else was that he couldn’t ask someone else a question and
cut off this particular topic. No. He was stuck with this
conversation whether he liked it or not. And he didn’t like it. He
didn’t think she had any dubious motives, but he didn’t need to
take another blow to his pride either. He took a deep breath as he
contemplated which answer to give that would do the least amount of
damage. “I knew you were engaged, so no, I wouldn’t have kissed
you.”

“And if I wasn’t engaged?”

Of course, I would have kissed you. A man
would have to be dead to not want to kiss you.
But he didn’t
dare say that. Instead, he said, “What difference does it make? You
are engaged.”

She didn’t seem happy with his answer but she
nodded. “You’re right. I guess it really doesn’t matter.”

“Right.” And really, it didn’t. Years from
now when she was living in Peter’s house and caring for his
children and welcoming him home from work with those sweet lips,
this conversation would be long forgotten.

Jenny pulled back her horse until they caught
up to her. “The snack we made isn’t very filling. Jessica, why
don’t you stay for supper?”

Tom shot his sister a ‘what are you doing?’
look, but she kept her eyes on Jessica.

Jessica looked between them. “I don’t know. I
just came out to talk for a little bit. I didn’t intend to stay
this long.”

“Is your mother expecting you back home
then?” Jenny asked.

“Well, no. Not really.”

What did that mean? Tom turned his attention
to her.

“Would you like me to stay for supper?”
Jessica asked him.

Why was she asking him? Tom didn’t know what
to say. He did like being around her, but she was engaged.
Shouldn’t she be wanting to spend the evening with Peter? Unless...
He glanced at Jenny. Maybe the two of them were becoming friends.
They did spend four hours together, talking and laughing. He got a
queasy feeling in his stomach. Was she going to be coming out and
visiting Jenny after she married Peter?

“Tom?” Jessica asked.

He looked at her. This was getting to be
unbearable. He knew he didn’t have a chance with her, and yet she
seemed to be looking at him as if he did. He shook his head to
clear it. This was ridiculous. He knew he wasn’t good with women,
but it never occurred to him how much he misunderstood them.

Jenny leaned forward and nearly slapped him
on the arm. “Tom?”

“Not so rough,” he snapped.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I slipped.”

He studied her expression and determined that
she was telling him the truth. Besides, it wasn’t Jenny who gave
him problems. Joel was the usual culprit. “I don’t think it’s up to
me whether Jessica stays or not,” he finally said. “I’m not the one
who’s making the meal.”

Why Jessica looked disappointed, he didn’t
know. But what he did know was that he didn’t feel like trying to
figure women out. Getting his own house was no longer an option. It
was a mandate. Then he wouldn’t have to watch Jessica come out to
see Jenny.

As if on cue, Jenny happily said, “Then it’s
official, Jessica. You are going to stay for supper!”

Well, at least the men and women separated
out this time of year, so he wouldn’t actually have to be with
Jessica. The thought was both relieving and depressing, and he
didn’t know what to do about it.

By the time they got back to his property, he
nearly raced his horse to the barn. As predicted, Joel was hanging
around and taking a break. Joel looked for just about any excuse to
avoid farm work. Tom couldn’t tell if that was because Joel was
opposed to farming or work in general. But right now he didn’t
care.

He got off the horse and handed the reins to
Joel who was mindlessly using a stick to scribble in the dirt of
the barn floor.

“What are you doing?” Joel asked, jumping
up.

“I got to use the outhouse. Take care of this
horse.”

Okay. So that was a lie, but he didn’t feel
like being around Jessica and she was due in the barn in less than
a minute. Before Joel could protest, he ran off.

Chapter
Eleven

“You did what?” Margaret asked the next
day.

Jessica stopped walking along the edge of the
park and gently nudged her shocked friend forward. “It was nothing.
Really. Absolutely nothing happened.”

Nothing interesting enough to talk about
anyway, which was why she didn’t want to tell Margaret anything
about going out to see Tom at all. Except Margaret had come by to
see her and found out from her mother. Not that her mother had
approved, but nothing had happened so how could anyone get upset
about it?

Margaret groaned but walked in step with her
friend. “Why did you do it?”

“I had to find out.”

“Find out what?”

Jessica tucked loose strands of hair behind
her ear. “Find out if there could be something between us.”

Margaret raised an eyebrow. “And?”

She sighed. “I already told you.
Nothing.”

“Hmm... You want there to be something.”

“What I want doesn’t matter.”

“No?”

“No.”

“So...are you still going to marry
Peter?”

Jessica knew this question was coming. Her
mother had asked the same thing. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

Startled, Jessica quickly glanced around.
Good. No one seemed to notice. She ushered her friend to the
nearest park bench so they could sit. “Not so loud,” she whispered.
“I don’t know. I can’t even remember why I agreed to marry him to
begin with.”

“Because you loved him.”

“Is that what I said?”

“Well...” Margaret frowned and thought it
over. “You must have at some point. Otherwise, why would you accept
his proposal?”

“Maybe for the same reason he asked. We were
expected to.”

“Your mother isn’t pushing you to marry
him.”

“No, she’s not. But it just seemed logical. I
mean, how long have we all known each other?”

“Our entire lives.” Margaret sat back and
looked at the trees in front of them. “Peter asked you. He didn’t
ask me.”

“Does that upset you?”

“I guess it did at first. I mean, you were
always prettier than me, so men notice you more than they notice
me. But then I saw the way he acts with his mother and decided I
was actually lucky to be off the hook.”

“I’ve thought the same thing.”

She scoffed. “That I was prettier than
you?”

Jessica shook her head and smiled. “There’s
nothing wrong with the way you look. You’re cute.”

“But not gorgeous.”

“Well, you have a better figure than me.
Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a full bust size.”

“I guess we both have things about ourselves
we don’t like so much, huh?”

“It’s called being human. No one is
perfect.”

Margaret nodded. “True. But still, you can
find a husband and I can’t.”

“What about Ethan? Hasn’t he talked to you
since the square dance?”

“Oh, he did. He wanted to know if you were
available.”

Jessica winced. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. You can’t help it if
men fall over themselves to speak to you.” She giggled. “Literally.
Do you remember Brian?”

“I asked you to never bring him up
again.”

“I know but... Wow. Whatever was he
about?”

Jessica chuckled. “Didn’t he ask to court you
after that?”

“Yes, but he was too strange.”

“So you could get a husband if you wanted.
You just don’t want to settle.”

“Because I might get the wrong one.”

Jessica pulled an imaginary piece of lint off
her blouse. “And I don’t want to marry the wrong one either.” She
took a deep breath, realizing that as soon as she said it, it would
be official. “I’m afraid Peter’s the wrong one.”

“And to think just a minute ago you didn’t
know if you should still marry him or not,” Margaret mused.

“My thoughts are jumbled up.”

“Well, let me help unjumble them for you. Go
tell Peter the engagement is off. I suspect you’ll be happier once
you don’t have to deal with him and his mother.”

That was true, and even if Jessica liked his
mother, she didn’t know if she could go through the rest of her
life feeling as if she had to fight her for Peter’s attention. She
hadn’t even realized how much it bothered her until the last time
she went to his mother’s to have dinner. “You’re right.” She took a
deep breath. “I’ll go talk to him after he gets off work.”