Mail Order Madness (14 page)
He cringed. “You certainly weren’t looking for a family like mine then, were you?”
She laughed. “Not at all. The twins are one thing. When you mentioned having two
year olds, I knew they were young enough that I could raise them any way I saw fit.
The older two are more than I’d bargained for.” She watched as Lewis chased the ball
across the church lawn. “Of course, Lewis is already straightening up and doing what
he’s told. Albert and I have a lot more
battles of wills
ahead of us, I’m afraid.”
He took her hand in his. “I’m glad you took a chance on us. I’ll help with Albert
any way I can.”
“This is going to sound silly, but I feel kind of guilty for marrying you when I came
out here to marry your brother. It’s as if I’m cheating on him somehow.”
She shrugged to indicate she didn’t understand the feelings, but she couldn’t deny
them.
A look of sadness came over his face at her words. “It doesn’t sound silly at all.
I know just how you feel. Jesse died a good two weeks before you came here, and I
debated with myself every day and finally decided to ask you to marry me the day you
arrived. I didn’t feel like I should ask you, out of respect for him, but you’d never
really met.” David stared off into space for a moment. “I’m glad we’re married and
we really filled a need in each other’s lives. You didn’t have to go back to ‘the
demon horde’ and I got the wife I needed, but I wish we’d met under any other circumstances.”
She nodded. “So do I. What was he like? I mean, I read his letters, but there were
only two, and they were bare bones. What was he like as a brother?”
She hated how little she knew about the man she had planned to marry. With every
day that passed, she thought less about him and more about the man she had married.
Was she doing something wrong by not thinking of him more? Was it disloyal to his
memory when she really hadn’t ever known him?
David smile reminiscently. “There was only three years difference in our ages, and
we grew up pretty close. I always wanted to run off and get into trouble, and he
was always the voice of reason. He tried to talk me out of so many of the things
I did when I was a kid.”
“Like what?”
She wondered if she really wanted to know what type of trouble he’d gotten into
as a child, but she’d learned at their wedding lunch, the boys came by their mischief
making tendencies naturally.
He thought hard to come up with a good story. “Well, when I was about thirteen, I
had this mean teacher. She was the type who took you back to the cloakroom every
day and beat your bottom with a big paddle. I’d been beaten three times that day
already, so I wasn’t exactly pleased with her. Anyway, at the end of lunch recess,
just before she called us back, she always spent a couple of minutes in the outhouse.
So, at the beginning of lunch that day, I asked all the other boys for their suspenders
and tied them together, and then hid the long rope I’d made
out of them
in the bushes. When she went into the outhouse, I tied her in there. Charles helped
me.” He grinned at the memory. “Of course, Jesse was trying to talk me out of it
the entire time. I think that’s how Miss Schroeder knew it was Charles and me. We
got our butts whipped for that one, and we were suspended from school for three weeks.
Jesse was suspended too. I thought Ma was going to break her own rule and beat me
for sure, but she didn’t.”
“What did she do?”
She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to follow his rule and not use a switch on the
boys if they did something that bad.
He shrugged. “Told me to go talk to my father.”
“What did he do?”
She closed her eyes as she waited for the response.
Please tell me his pa at least told him it was a bad thing to do and he should never
do anything like that again?
“He kind of patted me on the head and said, ‘Boys will be boys.’ Then he let me help
him break a new mare he’d just gotten. Loved that horse. She’s the dam of most of
the horses we have on the ranch today.”
David grinned reminiscently as he finished the story.
“Sounds to me like you were rewarded for your bad behavior.”
No wonder he doesn’t have a big problem with most of the things his sons do. His
father was even worse.
“Well, I guess you could look at it that way.”
David shrugged as if he didn’t really care to think about it too much.
“No wonder the boys are so out of control. What kind of parent was Caroline?”
Please tell me she was strict with them, and they’ve had some discipline in their
lives. Otherwise my job is going to be so much harder than it would be.
He watched Lewis miss the ball as he tried to bat. “Not as strict as you are, but
she had the boys under control. Of course, Albert was only six when she died, and
Lewis was only
four
. I don’t know how she would have been with the boys at the age they are now.”
“You must really miss her.”
She wondered then if she’d ever live up to his previous wife, but decided not to
let it bother her. Caroline had given him four children and years of her life. He’d
known her for less than a week.
“Sometimes I miss her. She’s been gone for over two years, though, and the mourning
period is certainly over.” He stretched his legs out in front of him. “She was a
good wife to me, and I’m sorry she died, but it’s time for me to move on. Even if
Jesse hadn’t died, I’d have sent off for a mail order bride of my own.”
“What exactly happened with Jesse?”
She hadn’t asked before, because even though she was curious about the exact details,
it obviously hurt him to talk about it.
“Jesse came to my house for dinner on the twentieth of July. He was talking about
you and how you were going to come out here and marry him. He talked about his plans
to buy a ranch in the area. I offered to give him half my ranch, which I’ve done
a dozen times in the past. He refused, saying the spread shouldn’t be split, which
he always did. Really, the ranch is huge and I wanted to split it with him when Pa
died, but he said it needed to be kept together for my boys to inherit.” The look
of sadness in his eyes made her want to reach out and hug him. “Jesse told me he
had to go to The Acre to investigate a murder, and I told him to make sure someone
went with him or to go during the day.
” He took a deep breath. “Jesse had
never gone
to The Acre
at night, but he’d had to go during the day several times to report on different
things. He didn’t listen to me. Jesse always thought he was invincible. Anyway,
he wasn’t the object of the gunfire, but he got in the middle of a shoot-out, and
a stray bullet pierced his heart. He died right away.”
“I’m so sorry.”
She reached out her hand and squeezed his. She knew that even though he’d benefited
in a way from his brother’s death, he would have given anything to still have a brother.
David nodded. “So am I. He was my best friend as well as being my brother. I feel
like it’s my fault, because he wanted me to go to The Acre with him that night, but
another nanny had just quit on me, and I couldn’t leave the boys.”
“Why did the nanny quit?”
She was certain there had to be a reason. The boys probably gave her plenty of
reasons to quit.
David grinned sheepishly. “She got tired of the boys putting frogs in her bed.”
Susan closed her eyes. “Frogs?”
Susan silently vowed to start looking under the covers before she got into bed at
night. She wasn’t afraid of frogs, but certainly didn’t enjoy their slimy feel against
her skin.
“Frogs.”
“My brothers did that to me until I put a snake in their beds. They never did it
again.”
She shrugged as if she didn’t understand why they’d stopped, and gave him her best
innocent look.
David laughed. “
I know you don’t see it, but you are the perfect mother for my boys. You don’t take
any of their nonsense and you give as good as you get.”
“I’m not sure that’s such a good thing.”
Her brothers had loved calling her a tomboy and saying she wasn’t “girly” enough
to find a husband.
“With my boys it is! You have to be strong enough to fight back, or they’ll run all
over you.”
“Why did I marry you again?”
“You couldn’t resist my good looks and charming personality.”
She rolled her eyes. “That must be it.” Susan moved closer to David and rested her
head against his shoulder. She’d gotten up earlier than usual and was getting tired.
The heat of Texas was draining for her as well. She’d never felt heat like that.
She was thankful they’d found a spot in the shade for their picnic.
“You tired?”
“Exhausted.”
She was fighting to keep her eyes open.
“Stretch out and go to sleep. There’s nothing you need to do right now. It’s the
perfect opportunity.”
She shook her head. “I haven’t napped since I was a small child.”
How could she nap on the church lawn with a baseball game going on just a few feet
away?
“Sounds like you’ve
had no time to nap. You do now.”
“What about the boys?”
Her eyes drifted back to the game both of the older boys were currently engaged
in.
“I’m here. I can watch them while you sleep.”
“Are you sure?”
She’d never been so tempted to take a nap in her life.
“Absolutely.” He urged her to put her head in his lap and stretch out. The boys
were on either side of her. She was asleep in minutes, and he sat staring down at
her, amazed at how young she looked in her sleep. He knew she was only eighteen,
but with the boys, she acted as if she’d been in charge of children forever. Of course,
with her upbringing she’d been in charge of children since she was
a child herself
.
He only hoped she’d continue on as she’d started. His boys were a handful, and he
was grateful that she was doing so much with them, but more than anything, he was
thrilled she was his wife. He’d needed her as much as, if not more than, the boys
had.
The years since Caroline had died had been extremely lonely. Susan was bringing
everything back into focus for him, and he felt like there was now something to wake
up for every morning.
That evening the boys all went to bed right after they finished dinner at Susan’s
insistence. Even Albert only gave a token protest. They were all exhausted after
spending a long day outside playing hard.
Susan sat in the family parlor with David reading. It was the first chance she’d
had to just sit and relax since she’d been there other than the picnic. She’d done
a lot of reading on the train, but she felt as if she spent her whole life looking
for ways to sneak off and read on her own.
On her way to bed she stopped to peek in on the boys. She was amazed how young Albert
and Lewis looked as they slept. She dropped a kiss on each of their cheeks as she
pulled the sheets more snuggly around them.
When she was finished she turned and saw David watching her. She shrugged and walked
to the twins’ room. “They look like angels when they’re asleep.”
“If only they acted like them when they were awake,” he muttered under his breath.
“They wouldn’t be boys if they did.” She tucked the sheets around the twins before
tiptoeing out of their room.
“Are you glad Mrs. Hackenshleimer’s weekend off is over?”
She laughed softly. “I’m ready for her to be back. I can’t focus on the older boys
as much as I need to when she’s not here with the twins.”
She didn’t think she’d need a nanny forever, though. Yes, it was nice, but once
the boys were under control, she wouldn’t have nearly enough to do.
They went to their room together and she undressed for bed. She was surprised she’d
lost her self-consciousness around him so quickly, but she wasn’t complaining. Being
embarrassed around him every night wasn’t something she wanted.
She slipped between the sheets and
lay
on her side watching him undress. They hadn’t made love since their wedding night,
because he’d said she needed time to heal. She wondered if he
’d try to start something that night. She hadn’t seen him naked the one time they’d
been together, so she watched with interest. He obviously didn’t feel modest as he
dropped his pants and underwear to the floor.
When he was standing naked beside the bed, he caught her stare and raised an eyebrow.
“Get an eyeful?”
“I did. I didn’t see you the other night when we…consummated.”
Growing up on a farm you’d have thought she’d have seen an adult male nude at least
once in her life, but she hadn’t. And she certainly hadn’t seen an aroused adult
male, which was what she was looking at then.
“And?”
She had the grace to blush. “I like what I see,” she told him honestly.
He walked around to his side of the bed and pulled her into his arms. “Does this
mean you’re feeling ready to resume that part of our marriage?”
“I’m not sore anymore if that’s what you’re asking.”
He pressed a kiss to her lips and stroked a hand down her side. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I’m positive. I feel good as new.”
He slowly moved his hand around to her breast and over her hip.
He kept his movements slow and steady to try to ease her into the newness of lovemaking.
After a moment, she pushed against his shoulders until she’d reversed their positions
and he was on his back. “You take things so slow!” She kissed him the way he’d taught
her, her tongue entering his mouth to tangle with his. Her hands were all over him,
stroking him from shoulder to thigh and back again.
She wondered for a moment if he’d mind if she touched him
there
, but decided she didn’t care if he minded. She was curious, and she was going to
touch him anywhere she wanted. Anything he’d done to her was fair game as far as
she was concerned.
Her hand moved
down over
his belly until she found the part of him she was looking for, wrapping her hand
around it, and feeling it grow between her fingers. When he groaned, she jerked her
hand away, her eyes going to his face by the light of the full moon shining through
their open bedroom window.
He caught her hand and brought it back to him, whispering, “No, don’t stop.”
She spent a moment stroking him and learning the feel of him, before she rolled to
her back again, grasping his shoulder to pull him along with her. “I’m not fragile.
I won’t break.”
He grinned as he followed her down, his hands squeezing her breasts and learning their
feel. He was thrilled she was taking such an active part in their lovemaking, and
rolled on top of her, spreading her legs with his thigh.
When he entered her this time, she felt only pleasure. None of the pain from the
previous time was there.
Once he was fully inside her, he paused for a moment, looking down into her eyes in
the pale light. “Are you okay?”
“I was until you stopped.”
She heard his chuckle as she wrapped her legs around his waist, moving her hips with
his to urge him to go faster. She felt the same pressure building inside her as she
had on her wedding night, but this time it didn’t stop. It kept going until she thought
she would break, and then it happened. She felt like her world burst into a million
pieces. She bit into his shoulder to keep from shouting and waking the boys.
He groaned as he found his satisfaction and collapsed on top of her. “Are you okay?”
he whispered.
She laughed. “I’m more than okay. Can we do that every night?”
She was out of breath and eager all at once.
He grinned, brushing a kiss across her neck. “Sounds good to me.” He rolled off
her and pulled her into his arms. “If we wake up before the boys, we can do it every
morning, too.”
“Mmm…going to sleep right now.” She felt like she belonged somewhere for the first
time since she’d come to Texas. In his arms was where she should be.